In todays digital landscape, interacting with a wide variety of software and operating systems can often be a tedious and error-prone experience. Many users face challenges when navigating through complex interfaces and performing routine tasks that demand precision and adaptability. Existing automation tools frequently fall short in adapting to subtle interface changes or learning from past mistakes, leaving users to manually oversee processes that could otherwise be streamlined. This persistent gap between user expectations and the capabilities of traditional automation calls for a system that not only performs tasks reliably but also learns and adjusts over time.Simular has introduced Agent S2, an open, modular, and scalable framework designed to assist with computer use agents. Agent S2 builds upon the foundation laid by its predecessor, offering a refined approach to automating tasks on computers and smartphones. By integrating a modular design with both general-purpose and specialized models, the framework can be adapted to a variety of digital environments. Its design is inspired by the human brains natural modularity, where different regions work together harmoniously to handle complex tasks, thereby fostering a system that is both flexible and robust.Technical Details and BenefitsAt its core, Agent S2 employs experience-augmented hierarchical planning. This method involves breaking down long and intricate tasks into smaller, more manageable subtasks. The framework continuously refines its strategy by learning from previous experiences, thereby improving its execution over time. An important aspect of Agent S2 is its visual grounding capability, which allows it to interpret raw screenshots for precise interaction with graphical user interfaces. This eliminates the need for additional structured data and enhances the systems ability to correctly identify and interact with UI elements. Moreover, Agent S2 utilizes an advanced Agent-Computer Interface that delegates routine, low-level actions to expert modules. Complemented by an adaptive memory mechanism, the system retains useful experiences to guide future decision-making, resulting in a more measured and effective performance.Results and InsightsEvaluations on real-world benchmarks indicate that Agent S2 performs reliably in both computer and smartphone environments. On the OSWorld benchmarkwhich tests the execution of multi-step computer tasksAgent S2 achieved a success rate of 34.5% on a 50-step evaluation, reflecting a modest yet consistent improvement over earlier models. Similarly, on the AndroidWorld benchmark, the framework reached a 50% success rate in executing smartphone tasks. These results underscore the practical benefits of a system that can plan ahead and adapt to dynamic conditions, ensuring that tasks are completed with improved accuracy and minimal manual intervention.ConclusionAgent S2 represents a thoughtful approach to enhancing everyday digital interactions. By addressing common challenges in computer automation through a modular design and adaptive learning, the framework provides a practical solution for managing routine tasks more efficiently. Its balanced combination of proactive planning, visual understanding, and expert delegation makes it well-suited for both complex computer tasks and mobile applications. In an era where digital workflows continue to evolve, Agent S2 offers a measured, reliable means of integrating automation into daily routineshelping users achieve better outcomes while reducing the need for constant manual oversight.Check outthe Technical details and GitHub Page.All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,feel free to follow us onTwitterand dont forget to join our80k+ ML SubReddit. Meet Parlant: An LLM-first conversational AI framework designed to provide developers with the control and precision they need over their AI customer service agents, utilizing behavioral guidelines and runtime supervision. Its operated using an easy-to-use CLI and native client SDKs in Python and TypeScript .The post Simular Releases Agent S2: An Open, Modular, and Scalable AI Framework for Computer Use Agents appeared first on MarkTechPost.

Recent advancements in embedding models have focused on transforming general-purpose text representations for diverse applications like semantic similarity, clustering, and classification. Traditional embedding models, such as Universal Sentence Encoder and Sentence-T5, aimed to provide generic text representations, but recent research highlights their limitations in generalisation. Consequently, integrating LLMs has revolutionised embedding model development through two primary approaches: improving training datasets via synthetic data generation and hard negative mining, and leveraging pre-trained LLM parameters for initialisation. These methods significantly enhance embedding quality and downstream task performance but increase computational costs.Recent studies have also explored adapting pre-trained LLMs for embedding tasks. Sentence-BERT, DPR, and Contriever have demonstrated the benefits of contrastive learning and language-agnostic training for embedding quality. More recently, models like E5-Mistral and LaBSE, initialised from LLM backbones such as GPT-3 and Mistral, have outperformed traditional BERT and T5-based embeddings. Despite their success, these models often require large in-domain datasets, leading to overfitting. Efforts like MTEB aim to benchmark embedding models across diverse tasks and domains, fostering more robust generalisation capabilities in future research.The Gemini Embedding Team at Google introduces Gemini Embedding, a state-of-the-art model that generates highly generalisable text representations. Built on Googles powerful Gemini large language model, it leverages multilingual and code comprehension capabilities to enhance embedding quality across diverse tasks such as retrieval and semantic similarity. The model is trained using a high-quality, heterogeneous dataset curated with Geminis filtering, selection of positive/negative passages, and generation of synthetic data. Gemini Embedding achieves state-of-the-art performance on the Massive Multilingual Text Embedding Benchmark (MMTEB) through contrastive learning and fine-tuning, surpassing previous models in multilingual, English, and code benchmarks.The Gemini Embedding model builds on Geminis extensive knowledge to generate representations for tasks like retrieval, classification, and ranking. It refines Geminis initialised parameters and applies a pooling strategy to create compact embeddings. The model is trained using a noise-contrastive estimation (NCE) loss with in-batch negatives, while a multi-loss approach adapts embeddings across sub-dimensions. The training process includes a two-stage pipeline: pre-finetuning on large datasets and fine-tuning on diverse tasks. Additionally, model ensembling enhances generalisation. Gemini also aids in synthetic data generation, filtering, and hard negative mining to refine the models performance across multilingual and retrieval tasks.The Gemini Embedding model was evaluated across multiple benchmarks, including multilingual, English, and code-based tasks, covering over 250 languages. It demonstrated superior classification, clustering, and retrieval performance, consistently surpassing other leading models. The model achieved the highest ranking based on Borda scores and excelled in cross-lingual retrieval tasks. Additionally, it outperformed competitors in code-related evaluations, even when certain tasks were excluded. These results highlight Gemini Embedding as a highly effective multilingual embedding model, capable of delivering state-of-the-art performance across diverse linguistic and technical challenges.In conclusion, the Gemini Embedding model is a robust, multilingual embedding solution that excels across various tasks, including classification, retrieval, clustering, and ranking. It demonstrates strong generalisation even when trained on English-only data, outperforming other models on multilingual benchmarks. To enhance quality, the model benefits from synthetic data generation, dataset filtering, and hard negative mining. Future work aims to extend its capabilities to multimodal embeddings, integrating text, image, video, and audio. Evaluations on large-scale multilingual benchmarks confirm its superiority, making it a powerful tool for researchers and developers seeking efficient, high-performance embeddings for diverse applications.Check outthe Paper.All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,feel free to follow us onTwitterand dont forget to join our80k+ ML SubReddit. Sana HassanSana Hassan, a consulting intern at Marktechpost and dual-degree student at IIT Madras, is passionate about applying technology and AI to address real-world challenges. With a keen interest in solving practical problems, he brings a fresh perspective to the intersection of AI and real-life solutions.Sana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/Enhancing LLM Reasoning with Multi-Attempt Reinforcement LearningSana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/What if You Could Control How Long a Reasoning Model Thinks? CMU Researchers Introduce L1-1.5B: Reinforcement Learning Optimizes AI Thought ProcessSana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/Google AI Introduces Differentiable Logic Cellular Automata (DiffLogic CA): A Differentiable Logic Approach to Neural Cellular AutomataSana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/Evaluating Brain Alignment in Large Language Models: Insights into Linguistic Competence and Neural Representations Parlant: Build Reliable AI Customer Facing Agents with LLMs (Promoted)

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 is officially in development.Publisher Focus Entertainment and developer Saber Interactive have joined forces once again following the huge success of last year's Space Marine 2, which has sold 5 million copies."Were pleased to announce that the development for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 has officially begun at Focus Entertainment, Saber Interactive and Games Workshop," reads a statement. "Well share updates on this new title when the time is right. For now, our focus remains on delivering the best possible experience for Space Marine 2 players."There's no real detail on what to expect from Space Marine 3, but Focus did release the below image that confirms the return of Titus, not that there was any doubt about that. Games Workshop said Space Marine 3 "will boast an all-new immersive campaign and multiplayer modes," but again, there was no doubt about that either.Titus returns for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3.Focus said Space Marine 3 "promises an even more immersive experience, staying true to the Warhammer 40,000 universe, with intense, brutal, and spectacular gameplay.""We have been honored by the incredible response from fans following the launch of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2," said John Bert, Deputy CEO of Focus Entertainment Publishing."We will continue to support the game with exciting content and regular updates in the coming years. Today we are thrilled to announce that the adventure will continue with Space Marine 3. Players can look forward to an immersive campaign, a multiplayer mode, and innovations that will redefine the standards of third-person action games. Developed in close collaboration with Games Workshop, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 will take the genre to new heights by introducing large-scale battles that are even more spectacular.""Space Marine 2 has proven to be a transformative game for Saber," added Matthew Karch, CEO of Saber Interactive."It is the culmination of everything we have learned about game development in our 25 years in the business. We are now starting to develop Space Marine 3, a game that carries with it tremendous expectations from our rapidly expanding fanbase. While we will continue to support and grow the Space Marine 2 universe over the coming years, we will take all our learnings and apply them to an even bigger and more spectacular game for the third installment. We view this as an opportunity to create a true love letter to the Warhammer 40.000 universe."Some Space Marine 2 fans might be concerned about the timing of Space Marine 3's announcement coming as it does just half a year after Space Marine 2's release, but Games Workshop said Space Marine 3 "is likely years away from release.""The good news for all you Space Marine 2 fans is theres still years of support coming your way," Games Workshop added. "Saber Interactive and Focus Entertainment are working tirelessly to deliver a jawdropping lineup of new missions, additional upgrades and more enemies to introduce to the business-end of your bolt rifle. Horde mode is right around the corner!"The greenlight for Space Marine 3 comes as little surprise given how well Space Marine 2 did. Speaking to IGN following Space Marine 2's launch, Saber Interactive Chief Creative Officer Tim Willits said there was the possibility of story DLC, and revealed that ideas were already floating around for Space Marine 3.Without spoiling the Space Marine 2 campaign, it strongly suggests a continuation (IGN has reported on the enemy faction well probably see in Space Marine 3).Our game director Dmitry Grigorenko, he has proposed some story ideas that could either be DLC or a sequel, Willits said at the time. Yes, yes, yes! There's so many different factions... there are other chapters, too, that are interesting...Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

If you bought a brand new TV over the holidays and you're looking for a good audio solution at an excellent price, then one of the best Black Friday deals is back. Walmart is currently offering the Bose Smart Soundbar 550 for just $199 with free shipping after a massive $300 off instant discount. At this price, it's certainly one of the best soundbars you can get, especially if you're looking for an affordable soundbar that supports Dolby Atmos.60% Off Bose Smart Soundbar 550Bose Smart Soundbar 550 with Dolby AtmosThe Bose Smart Soundbar 550 measures a relatively compact 27" long and is a great complement to any TV sized 32" and higher. It houses a total of five speakers including two upward-firing speakers for Dolby Atmos compatiblity. If your content doesn't support Atmos, Bose uses its proprietary TrueSpace technology to simulate spatial audio. Another nifty feature is Bose's A.I. Dialogue Mode, which does a great job detecting dialogue in video content and amplifying the voices.True to its namesake, the Smart Soundbar 550 is a smart-enabled speaker with both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. Pair with with the Bose app on your mobile device to sync and stream via Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, and more. You can also pair it with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa for voice control.This was one of the best and most popular soundbar deals on Black Friday, and it's good to see it return for 2025. If you're looking for more options, check out our best soundbar picks of 2025.Why Should You Trust IGN's Deals Team?IGN's deals team has a combined 30+ years of experience finding the best discounts in gaming, tech, and just about every other category. We don't try to trick our readers into buying things they don't need at prices that aren't worth buying something at. Our ultimate goal is to surface the best possible deals from brands we trust and our editorial team has personal experience with. You can check out our deals standards here for more information on our process, or keep up with the latest deals we find on IGN's Deals account on Twitter.Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

At first glance, you might not think that an indie horror movie that explores grief, loss, and our relationships with our parents would have much in common with the gory, satirical superhero show The Boys, aside from the fact that they both star Colby Minifie. However, The Surrender does have an unexpected bullet point to add to the Venn diagram of these two projects characters pulling their own hair out, root and stem.In The Boys, Minifies character Ashley Barrett works for a company known as Vought International that has essentially manufactured superheroes and made them a commodity in this world. The Seven is the most popular superhero group that Vought oversees, and is led by Homelander (Antony Starr), an incredibly powerful but also incredibly unstable superhero. Ashleys job is essentially to help keep The Seven in line and their approval numbers high a task that proves to be so overwhelmingly stressful that she ends up wearing wigs to hide the fact that she has pulled out all her hair.Long story short, The Surrender isnt Minifies first experience with hair-pulling in a project. While this has become sort of a running joke in The Boys, The Surrenders depiction is a bit less comedic as both Megan (Minifie) and Barbara (Kate Burton) struggle with the death of Megans father and Barbaras husband, but that doesnt mean this coincidence wasnt fun to ask about.When Minifie, Kate Burton, and The Surrenders writer and director Julia Max stopped by the Den of Geek studio at SXSW to talk about the film, of course we had to ask about Minifies previous experience with hair-pulling on screen, and if she had any tips for Burton, her co-star, who yanks out some follicles in the film.The Boys has really figured out how to do it in a very effective way that doesnt pull as much of your own hair out as possible, Minifie explains before adding jokingly. Thats all I look for in a script. Send them my way if theres hair-pulling. She even gently pulls on her own hair adding to the jest as she says This is all a wig, Ive shaved my head, so its all good, were good to go.While its clear that Minifie is kidding about only taking roles that involve hair-pulling, it is nice to know that The Boys hair and makeup team is doing their best to keep her real hair intact. Theyve had years of Ashleys on-screen stress to master their methods, which now Minifie can impart on any other projects involving hair-pulling that she happens to take in the future.All jokes aside, both of these projects prove that Minifie is an actor to watch, and we cant wait to see what she does next, whether theres hair-pulling or not.The Surrender premiered at the SXSW Film Festival on March 9, 2025.

Forza Motorsport Update 18 is a testament to Velocity. Compete in new-to-Motorsport cars that demonstrate speed without compromise.Get ready to race! Velocity Month in Forza Motorsport invites you to become a master of speed and cornering using some of the most advanced cars ever manufactured. Obtain and race in several new-to-Motorsport cars, built to showcase the technical breakthroughs of high-performance engines when paired with cutting-edge aerodynamics. Over the next four weeks, Velocity Month introduces four Spotlight cars to the Showroom, three of which are new-to-Motorsport. These include the 2024 Lamborghini SC63, 2020 Oreca #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca 07, 2023 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, and the returning 2015 Koenigsegg One:1. In addition, the new-to-Motorsport 2014 Cadillac CTS-V Sport Wagon is now available to acquire from the Showroom! Challenge Hub rewards for Velocity Month includes four new-to-Motorsport cars. Complete the Featured Tour to add the ultra-sleek 2021 Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4 to your garage and the Open Class Tour to get the 2018 Lotus Evora GT430. Meanwhile, this months Rivals Challenges will score you the breathtaking 2024 Lamborghini Revuelto and the 1975 Forsberg Racing Nissan 'Gold Leader' Datsun 280Z. Both of these cars can also be purchased from the Showroom using credits. Dress up for the occasion in the Good Luck Suit and Cosmic Suit acquirable from the Challenge Hub during Velocity Month! Game Improvements and Release NotesForza Motorsport Update 18 rolls out for download starting Monday, March 10 on Xbox Series X|S and PC via the Microsoft Store and Steam. Spotlight cars and new in-game events will begin on Wednesday, March 12 starting at 5:00 PM PT (12:00 AM UTC on Thursday, March 13). Below is an overview of the changes and improvements included with Update 18: We've made improvements to Multiplayer matchmaking services in Forza Motorsport with the intended effect of improving population of lobbies. We recently tested these changes with participants in our Forza Insiders Program and are now rolling them out to all players with Update 18. For some HDR displays, the game would automatically configure its HDR Brightness value below 1,000 nits which made the highlights in the image look flat and clamped. The fix prevents the game from automatically configuring the value below 1,000 even if the display metadata reports that its peak luminance is under 1,000. Increased race duration of Short length races from 8 minutes to 10 minutes in Featured Multiplayer. Also, weve updated the Event schedule timing for Short and Medium length races to slightly increase the amount of time between races based on player feedback. Weve enabled the Lap counter in the HUD during Timed Races, which includes Practice as well as Multi-Class Races for easier lap tracking. In addition, Last Lap / Best Lap has also been enabled in the HUD during Timed and Multi-Class Races.Go to Forza Support to review the full release notes.Defy Speed Boundaries in the Velocity TourCompete in the Velocity Tour and experience an unforgettable journey of cutting-edge automobiles across four series: Lamborghini LMDh, Sebring LMP2, Production to GT, and Extreme Speed. Lamborghini LMDhExperience the next generation of advanced Lamborghini racing with the 2024 Lamborghini SC63, a car developed through an exciting collaboration between Lamborghini and Ligier. Sebring LMP2Compete in an endurance racing series inspired by the 12 Hours of Sebring! Push your skill, endurance and stamina to maintain velocity in the 2020 #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca 07 on Sebring International Raceway for an entire hour! Production to GTCelebrate this legacy of Porsche racing by driving the 2023 Porsche 911 GT3 RS and rival the current velocity of sports car racers. Extreme SpeedTheres no better way to conclude your journey in the Velocity Tour than with the first homologated car in the world with a power-to-weight ratio of 1:1. Step into the extremely rare 2015 Koenigsegg One:1 and experience its truly staggering speed on the racetrack. Complete all four series in the Velocity Tour in Career before April 23, 2025, to unlock the new-to-Motorsport 2021 Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4 from the Challenge Hub. This car is also obtainable by completing 10 races in the Velocity Series in Featured Multiplayer. Race Your Favorite Cars in the Open TourOnce you have mastered the speed and power of the Velocity Tour, check out the Open Class Tour to continue the journey of these cars. Available under the Featured tab in Career mode. Open Class Tour is where you can experiment with different upgrades and showcase your favorite tuned cars. Each update to Forza Motorsport refreshes the Open Class Tour with new events and a different reward car. Cars youve already upgraded in a different Builders Cup series can be further levelled up in the Open Class Tour. The Open Class Tour features six series, each with three races, that range from D Class to R Class. Continue upgrading your cars through each event and use them to complete all six series in the Open Class Tour before April 9, 2025, and you will receive the 2018 Lotus Evora GT430. You can also unlock this new-to-Motorsport car by completing 10 races in any Open Series in Featured Multiplayer. Spotlight Cars and VIP DiscountsSpotlight cars are featured in the Showroom every week. These cars correspond to the available in-game events and can be acquired with a temporary 30% discount using in-game credits. Velocity Month introduces four Spotlight cars to the Showroom, one per week, and three new-to-Motorsport. These Spotlight cars can be used in the Velocity Tour and Spotlight Rivals, the Velocity Series in Featured Multiplayer, as well as to complete Challenge Hub objectives. Spotlight CarDiscount StartsDiscount Ends2024 Lamborghini SC63Mar. 12 5pm PT / Mar. 13 12am UTCMar. 19 5pm PT / Mar. 20 12am UTC2020 Oreca #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca 07Mar. 19 5pm PT / Mar. 20 12am UTCMar. 26 5pm PT / Mar. 27 12am UTC2023 Porsche 911 GT3 RSMar. 26 5pm PT / Mar. 27 12am UTCApr. 2 5pm PT / Apr. 3 12am UTC2015 Koenigsegg One:1Apr. 2 5pm PT / Apr. 3 12am UTCApr. 9 5pm PT / Apr. 10 12am UTCForza Motorsport VIP Members benefit from a 15% four-week discount in the Showroom on the 2020 Chevrolet #3 Corvette Racing C8.R. In addition, VIPs receive an exclusive 15% discount on a high-speed hypercar or racecar every week in the Showroom throughout Velocity Month. Heres a look at the track worthy cars that will be going on sale for VIP Members over the next few weeks: VIP CarDiscount StartsDiscount Ends2020 Chevrolet #3 Corvette Racing C8.RMar. 12 5pm PT / Mar. 13 12am UTCApr. 9 5pm PT / Apr. 10 12am UTC2023 Cadillac #2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.RMar. 12 5pm PT / Mar. 13 12am UTCMar. 19 5pm PT / Mar. 20 12am UTC2023 Cadillac #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing V-Series.RMar. 19 5pm PT / Mar. 20 12am UTCMar. 26 5pm PT / Mar. 27 12am UTC2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06Mar. 26 5pm PT / Mar. 27 12am UTCApr. 2 5pm PT / Apr. 3 12am UTC2019 Aston Martin Valhalla Concept CarApr. 2 5pm PT / Apr. 3 12am UTCApr. 9 5pm PT / Apr. 10 12am UTCExclusive VIP discounts and VIP Rivals events require VIP Membership, available in the Premium Edition or Premium Add-Ons Bundle, sold separately. Compete Online in the Velocity SeriesUncompromised horsepower, advanced aerodynamics, and cutting-edge materials all are critical to crafting high velocity automobiles in the edge of control. Experience extreme speed using truly ultra-performance cars in the limited time Velocity Series in Featured Multiplayer. Race in a unique Featured Multiplayer Series inspired by the 2025 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. Compete on the world-famous Sebring International Raceway using cutting-edge Forza Proto-H cars in a limited-time endurance racing event. Other Featured Multiplayer Series available during Velocity Month include the Ferrari FXX Series, Forza P2 Series, Formula Mazda Spec Series, GTP/C Series, Mustang Shelby GT500 Spec Series, Community Choice Series, BMW M3 Spec Series, Modern Factory Racecar Series, and Lexus RC F Spec Series. Plus, fan favorite events like the Endurance Series, NASCAR Series, and Multi-Class Series remain open for you to join at any time. Heres a closer look at the Featured Multiplayer calendar of upcoming events for Velocity Month: Featured SeriesSpec SeriesOpen SeriesStartsEndsVelocity Series + 12 Hours of Sebring Series + Ferrari FXX SeriesEndurance Series + NASCAR Series + Forza GT3 Spec Series + Forza Touring Car Spec SeriesMulti-Class Series (ABCS) + Cycled Class Series (P,D,X,C,E Changes Daily) + S Class SeriesMar. 12 5pm PT / Mar. 13 12am UTCMar. 19 5pm PT / Mar. 20 12am UTCVelocity Series +Forza P2 Series + Formula Mazda SeriesEndurance Series + NASCAR Series + Forza GT2 Spec Series + Forza Touring Car Spec SeriesMulti-Class Series (ABCS) + Cycled Class Series (P,D,X,C,E Changes Daily) + R Class SeriesMar. 19 5pm PT / Mar. 20 12am UTCMar. 26 5pm PT / Mar. 27 12am UTCVelocity Series +GTP/C Series + Mustang Shelby GT500 Spec SeriesEndurance Series + NASCAR Series + Forza GT3 Spec Series + Forza Touring Car Spec SeriesMulti-Class Series (ABCS) + Cycled Class Series (P,D,X,C,E Changes Daily) + B Class SeriesMar. 26 5pm PT / Mar. 27 12am UTCApr. 2 5pm PT / Apr. 3 12am UTCVelocity Series +Community Choice Series + BMW M3 Spec SeriesEndurance Series + NASCAR Series + Forza GT2 Spec Series + Forza Touring Car Spec SeriesMulti-Class Series (ABCS) + Cycled Class Series (P,D,X,C,E Changes Daily) + A Class SeriesApr. 2 5pm PT / Apr. 3 12am UTCApr. 9 5pm PT / Apr. 10 12am UTCGo Even Faster in Velocity RivalsNew Featured Rivals events are also available for Velocity Month. Get in the ring and try to tame the imposing 2024 Lamborghini Revuelto! Feel the incredible speed of this plug-in hybrid supercar while you cruise around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in this months Featured Rivals event, Revuelto Revolution. Look forward to a Corvette Chase in VIP Rivals! Feel the speed of the 2020 Chevrolet #3 Corvette Racing C8.R while chasing your next rival around the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course! Get behind the wheel of a specialized Datsun 280Z and score some drift points! Custom built and tuned by Forsberg Racing this drift machine is ready to slide through the curves of Road Atlanta in this months Drift Rivals challenge, Speedy Sliders. Get a Drift Score of 15,000 or higher to unlock the 1975 Forsberg Racing Nissan 'Gold Leader' Datsun 280Z for your garage. Plus, there are additional Drift Rivals events for A Class, B Class, and C Class, where you can build your very own drift cars and dominate the leaderboard! There are only two weeks left to enter the Logitech McLaren G Challenge Bonus Stage! Achieve your fastest time at Sebring International Raceway Full Circuit in the 1969 McLaren #4 McLaren Cars M8B. One eligible driver will be selected to win a paid trip to a live Grand Prix race sweepstakes winners will be revealed on April 2. You can check out the full lineup of Velocity Month Rivals events below: Rivals EventCarTrackStartsEndRevuelto Revolution2024 Lamborghini RevueltoCircuit de Barcelona-CatalunyaMar. 12 5pm PT / Mar. 13 12am UTCApr. 9 5pm PT / Apr. 10 12am UTCVIP Rivals: Corvette Chase2020 Chevrolet #3 Corvette Racing C8.RMid-Ohio Sports Car CourseMar. 12 5pm PT / Mar. 13 12am UTCApr. 9 5pm PT / Apr. 10 12am UTCLogitech McLaren G Challenge Bonus Stage1969 McLaren #4 McLaren Cars M8BSebring International Raceway Full CircuitFeb. 19 4pm PT / Feb. 20 12am UTCMar. 26 4pm PT / Mar. 27 12am UTCOpen Class Drift A ClassA Class + RWDSuzuka East CircuitMar. 12 5pm PT / Mar. 13 12am UTCApr. 9 5pm PT / Apr. 10 12am UTCOpen Class Drift B ClassB Class + RWDMaple Valley Short CircuitMar. 12 5pm PT / Mar. 13 12am UTCApr. 9 5pm PT / Apr. 10 12am UTCOpen Class Drift C ClassC Class + RWDCatalunya National CircuitMar. 12 5pm PT / Mar. 13 12am UTCApr. 9 5pm PT / Apr. 10 12am UTCSpeedy Sliders1975 Forsberg Racing Nissan 'Gold Leader' Datsun 280ZRoad Atlanta Full CircuitMar. 12 5pm PT / Mar. 13 12am UTCApr. 9 5pm PT / Apr. 10 12am UTCSpotlight Lamborghini2024 Lamborghini SC63Virginia International Raceway Full CircuitMar. 12 5pm PT / Mar. 13 12am UTCMar. 19 5pm PT / Mar. 20 12am UTCSpotlight Oreca2020 Oreca #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca 07Laguna Seca Full CircuitMar. 19 5pm PT / Mar. 20 12am UTCMar. 26 5pm PT / Mar. 27 12am UTCSpotlight Porsche2023 Porsche 911 GT3 RSRoad Atlanta Full CircuitMar. 26 5pm PT / Mar. 27 12am UTCApr. 2 5pm PT / Apr. 3 12am UTCSpotlight Koenigsegg2015 Koenigsegg One:1Hakone Full CircuitApr. 2 5pm PT / Apr. 3 12am UTCApr. 9 5pm PT / Apr. 10 12am UTCGet Your Rewards in the Challenge HubVelocity Month introduces new rewards in the Challenge Hub. Prove your skills in iconic cars across refreshed Featured Challenges and Weekly Challenges. Challenge Hub objectives are spread across Career, Featured Multiplayer and Rivals. By playing these game modes, you can earn credit rewards, cars and race suits, including the new Good Luck and Cosmic gear. Car rewards in the Challenge Hub for Velocity Month include the new-to-Motorsport 2021 Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4, 2018 Lotus Evora GT430, 2024 Lamborghini Revuelto, and 1975 Forsberg Racing Nissan 'Gold Leader' Datsun 280Z. Heres a breakdown of the Challenge Hub objectives and rewards for Velocity Month: Featured ChallengesMar. 12 5:00 PM PT Apr. 9 5:00 PM PT | Mar. 13 12:00 AM UTC Apr. 10 12:00 AM UTCTitleDescriptionRewardVelocity ChallengeComplete all series in the Velocity Tour in Career OR Complete 10 races in the Velocity Series in Featured Multiplayer2021 Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4Open Class ChallengeComplete all series in the Open Class Tour OR Complete 10 races in any Open Series in Featured Multiplayer2018 Lotus Evora GT430Revuelto RevolutionComplete 10 clean laps in the Revuelto Revolution featured Rivals event2024 Lamborghini RevueltoGold RushGet a Drift Score of 15,000 or higher in the Speedy Sliders Drift Rivals event1975 Forsberg Racing Nissan 'Gold Leader' Datsun 280ZUp All Night to Get LuckyComplete any race at nightGood Luck SuitShoot for the MoonGet 1st place in any Career race or Featured Multiplayer raceCosmic SuitWeekly ChallengesWeek 1: Mar. 12 5:00 PM PT Mar. 19 5:00 PM PT | Mar. 13 12:00 AM UTC Mar. 20 12:00 AM UTCTitleDescriptionRewardSpotlight ChallengeComplete 5 clean laps in the 2024 Lamborghini SC6325,000 CreditsWeekly Skills ChallengeGet on the Podium in any Featured Multiplayer race OR Get on the Podium 3 times in Career races25,000 CreditsWeekly Safety ChallengeComplete 5 races without receiving a penalty in Featured Multiplayer25,000 CreditsWeekly Rivals ChallengeGet a Drift Score of 15,000 in the "Open Class Drift - A Class" Drift Rivals event25,000 CreditsWeekly Track ChallengeGet a Segment Score of 8 or higher at Watkins Glen10,000 CreditsWeek 2: Mar. 19 5:00 PM PT Mar. 26 5:00 PM PT | Mar. 20 12:00 AM UTC Mar. 27 12:00 AM UTCTitleDescriptionRewardSpotlight ChallengeComplete 3 laps in the 'Spotlight - #38 Oreca 07 '20 Rivals Event25,000 CreditsWeekly Skills ChallengeComplete 3 clean laps in Qualifying in Featured Multiplayer10,000 CreditsWeekly Safety ChallengeComplete 5 races without receiving a penalty in Featured Multiplayer25,000 CreditsWeekly Rivals ChallengeComplete 10 clean laps in any Rivals Event10,000 CreditsWeekly Track ChallengeComplete 10 laps on any Sebring layout10,000 CreditsWeek 3: Mar. 26 5:00 PM PT Apr. 2 5:00 PM PT | Mar. 27 12:00 AM UTC Apr. 3 12:00 AM UTCTitleDescriptionRewardSpotlight ChallengeReach Car Level 5 or higher in the 2023 Porsche 911 GT3 RS25,000 CreditsWeekly Skills ChallengeComplete 5 clean laps on WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Full Circuit10,000 CreditsWeekly Safety ChallengeComplete 5 races without receiving a penalty in Featured Multiplayer25,000 CreditsWeekly Rivals ChallengeBeat a rival in the 2023 Porsche 911 GT3 RS10,000 CreditsWeekly Track ChallengeGet on the Podium on any Road America layout10,000 CreditsWeek 4: Apr. 2 5:00 PM PT Apr. 9 5:00 PM PT | Apr. 3 12:00 AM UTC Apr. 10 12:00 AM UTCTitleDescriptionRewardSpotlight ChallengeGet on the podium in the 2015 Koenigsegg One:1 in a race with at least 10 opponents25,000 CreditsWeekly Skills ChallengeBeat 3 Rivals in the Spotlight - Koenigsegg One Rivals event10,000 CreditsWeekly Safety ChallengeComplete 5 races without receiving a penalty in Featured Multiplayer25,000 CreditsWeekly Rivals ChallengeBeat 5 Rivals in any Rivals Event10,000 CreditsWeekly Track ChallengeGet a Segment Score of 8 or Higher on any track10,000 CreditsFeel the Velocity in Robust SupercarsThats Velocity Month in Forza Motorsport! We hope you have fun racing and drifting in all the new-to-Motorsport cars and events coming to the game over the next four weeks. Porsche Motorsport Icons is the theme of our next update, and it will feature the arrival of new-to-Motorsport cars from the world-famous German marquee manufacturer. Stay tuned for more details in April!Sign up for the Forza Newsletter to stay informed about the latest updates in Forza games. Join the Forza Insiders Program for an exclusive opportunity to playtest future Forza Motorsport updates before they get released for everyone. Meet and chat with likeminded players in our Forza Discord server, and follow @ForzaMotorsport channels on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter) to stay up to date with the latest in-game events and community updates. Should you encounter any bugs while playing Forza Motorsport, those can be reported to us on the Troubleshooting Hub. If you have ideas for future content updates, we would love to hear from you on our Suggestions Hub, where you can also upvote existing topics shared by the community.Until the next one, buckle up and enjoy racing at speed with Velocity Month in Forza Motorsport!

SummaryOn the Official Xbox Podcast, Fatima Kardar introduced Copilot for Gaming, the ultimate gaming sidekick that helps players get to play faster, sharpen skills with expert coaching, and enjoy a more social gaming experience.Also on the podcast, Jason Ronald announced that the Xbox Play Anywhere library of titles has surpassed 1,000 games, with many more on the way.You can watch the latest episode of The Official Xbox Podcast on YouTube and Spotify, or listen on Apple Podcasts.This morning on The Official Xbox Podcast, Xbox Corporate Vice President of Gaming AI, Fatima Kardar joined Vice President of Next Generation, Jason Ronald to reveal exciting AI-powered updates that are coming directly to Xbox players, to help you save time, find new games youre likely to love, or even to help ease you back into a game you may have stepped away from.On the podcast, Kardar introduced Copilot for Gaming, which Xbox Insiders can get an early preview of on mobile soon. This AI-driven sidekick is designed to be your personalized gaming companion, helping you get to your favorite games faster, coaching you to improve your skills, and connecting you better with your friends and communities. Copilot for Gaming will be there when you need it but out of the way if you dont.Gaming is the only form of entertainment where you can get stuck, said Kardar on the podcast. So thats where you want something to show up to say, lets help you get past that.'Reading about it is one thing, seeing it in action is another, so we encourage you to watch the episode to see some prototypes of Copilot for Gaming here:Note: Copilot in-game assistance videos featured in the podcast are product concepts only.Copilot for Gaming is built on three principles: capability, adaptability, and personalization. It is designed to assist players in various ways, from personalized game recommendations and seamless game setup, to helpful coaching and maintaining connections with friends. Kardar emphasized that the player remains in control, deciding how and when to interact with the Copilot, ensuring that it enhances rather than disrupts the gaming experience.One of the primary problems Kardar highlighted that Copilot for Gaming aims to solve for is time management; to help players spend less time on tasks (searching, downloading, updating) and more time on what they love playing games: All of it is with one goal: to help you to get to play first. Whether its connecting players with games theyre likely to enjoy or reminding you where you left off on an old favorite, Copilot for Gaming is set to make gaming with Xbox more seamless and personalized.One particularly exciting area which Kardar demonstrated on the podcast is a future feature of Copilot for Gaming: in-game assistance. In example scenarios, players were presented using natural language, where Copilot was able to provide situation-specific advice to assist players in overcoming challenges and improving their gameplay.Its not just about AI showing up to help you, its about AI showing up at the right moment, Kardar elaborated. We really have to think about the experience weve built, it cannot be intrusive.Thats why engaging with features like this will be in the control of the player, when and if they choose. Player feedback is crucial in this journey; through the Xbox Insider Program, players will soon be able to try it and provide feedback to help shape the product directionbeginning first on mobile and gradually expanding across devices. This collaborative approach ensures that the AI solutions developed are truly aligned with player needs and preferences and dont disrupt your flow. You can find out more about joining Xbox Insider Program here.Also on this episode of the Official Xbox Podcast, Jason Ronald shared that over 1,000 titles are now supporting Xbox Play Anywhere. When players purchase an Xbox Play Anywhere game, you can enjoy it on Xbox and Windows 10/11 PCs at no additional cost, bringing your saves, progress, achievements, with you across devices. This flexibility holds obvious value for players, but Ronald also shared some player metrics showing Xbox Play Anywheres value for developers as well.When we look at data for titles that are Xbox Play Anywhere enabled, these titles get 20% more gameplay because its more flexible, because I can play on the go, said Ronald.For more details and to see these AI features in action, we encourage you to watch the latest episode of The Official Xbox Podcast on YouTube, or listen via Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

This article originally appeared in the February 2016 issue of ELLE DECOR. For more stories from our archive, subscribe to ELLE DECOR All Access.As Honeymooners in 2009, the young couple who now own Villa Le Scale (House of Stairs) first visited Capri, the Mediterranean island near Naples that has been a popular resort destination since Emperor Tiberius moved there from Rome in 27 A.D. The groom, a hedge-fund manager, was so smitten by Capris idyllic beauty that he vowed he would someday own a home in its hills. They returned five years later when a friend, knowing the couple were looking for a vacation home, told them of an early-19th-century villa on the island that had come on the market. This time, it was the bride who was smitten. Now a mother of three, she fell in love with the place as soon as she ascended its marble staircase under a canopy of scented local flora. I wanted the house before I got to the front door, she recalls. Gaelle Le BoulicautThe living room sofas by Arketipo are upholstered in a fabric by Gastn y Daniela, the cocktail table is by Mogg, the marble fountain is from the 18th century, and the custom-made rug is by De Dimora.Although they live in Geneva, the husband and wife are both from warmer climates: Hes Australian; shes Mexican. They met as teenagers at the United World College campus in the United States and married while living in London a decade later. They were looking for a place that offered a bit of sea and sun, where the children could run free, that they would remember fondly for the rest of their lives, she explains. Eager to start enjoying the gleaming white villawhich has five bedrooms in the main house and two more in a guesthouse near the poolthe new owners gave their designer just three months to make it a lovely yet livable indoor/outdoor retreat with soul. The task fell to the Lausanne-based designer Jorge Caete, whom the clients had just hired to decorate their primary residence. Jorge is amazing, the wife says. He was not only interested in both her and her husbands opinions, but also those of the children. He even interviewed my two-year-old son about the colors and furniture for his bedroom, she adds. Gaelle Le BoulicautOn the terrace, the sectional sofa is by Gervasoni, the love seat is by Casamilano, the cocktail table is by Boca do Lobo, and the side tables are by Arketipo.The organizing theme of their seductive home is la dolce vita, not so much the film as the concept. It wasnt going to be a museum to the 1960s, says Caete, but we wanted to capture something about the sweet life. For the wife, it was about having beauty around you in a world of contrastsimagine a young woman on a Vespa riding on ancient cobblestones while wearing high heels. Given the schedule, the project became the eye of a minor interior design storm, made all the more complicated by island rules that forbid moving furniture during the day and streets too narrow for a vehicle. I could have sourced everything from Naples, but that would have been too easy, Step Inside This Family-Friendly Island Villa Caete says with a laugh. Caetes decor complements the original 19th-century marble bathtub, an 18th-century fountain, and a 16th-century fireplace with sleek modern pieces from companies such as Gervasoni, Casamilano, and Boca do Lobo and by such top-tier designers as Paola Navone, Ingo Maurer, and Patricia Urquiola. British artist Philippa Smith moved into the villa for several weeks to create site-specific artworks that would amplify Caetes playful spirit and signature style, which finds a poetic balance, he says, between memory and modernism. After a year in their new vacation home, the clients are thrilled. The children seem happy, too. My five-year-old daughter recently asked me why we could not live in Capri all the time, her mother relates. She told me, Im sure we could learn Italian very well. Originally published in ELLE DECORATION Germany.

Shipping container homes aren't a new trend, but with soaring real estate prices, they're having their moment in the spotlight. For potential homeowners looking for a potentially cost-effective alternative to a traditional home, a shipping container home might be an appealing option. But how much does a shipping container home actually cost? The answer, of course, depends on the specifics of the home. For instance, an off-the-grid, tiny-house-style shipping container home might cost as little as $25,000, per the home services resource site Angi. But a luxurious custom build featuring four bedrooms and two bathrooms across two stories can easily increase that cost estimate tenfold or more. If you're interested in building a shipping container home, here's what you need to know about the cost.More Shipping Container Home InspirationWhat Is a Shipping Container Home?A shipping container home is exactly what it sounds likea house built from repurposed steel shipping containers, also known as intermodal containers. Yes, the ones that are loaded up onto cargo ships, trains, and truck beds and sent around the world! Because the containers are already weather-resistant, as they're often exposed to the elements on their voyages, they're a reasonably sound choice as a building material. Plus, they're modular, so it's pretty easy to add rooms to your shipping container home.Custom Container LivingHow Much Do Shipping Container Homes Cost?Ah, the million-dollar questionalthough it'll likely cost far less than a million dollars to build a shipping container home! But there are countless variables to consider when it comes to figuring out the cost. In general, shipping container homes start around $25,000 for a single-container tiny home. Add additional containers to your build, and the price climbs quickly. The sky is truly the limit when it comes to shipping container home costs. To help you set your budget, here's a breakdown of average costs by various metrics.Cost Per Square FootOn average, shipping container homes cost between $150 and $350 per square foot, per the home resource site Home Guide. Shipping containers come in several standard sizes:8 feet wide by 8.5 feet tall by 10 feet long (80 square feet) = $12k to $28k8 feet wide by 8.5 feet tall by 20 feet long(160 square feet) = $24k to $56k8 feet wide by 8.5 feet tall by 40 feet long (320 square feet) = $48k to $112,000Given that info, it's pretty easy to do the math to figure out what size your shipping container home will be, based on the size of the containers. For example, an 80 square foot container would run you about $12,000 to $28,000. Note that if you wanted additional head space, you'd have to purchase a high-cube container, which is 9.5 feet high, increasing the bottom line cost.Cost Per ContainerA lone shipping containernot one tricked out to be a homeusually costs between $1,200 and $10,000, according to Angi. Here's some general guidance as to how many containers you'll need for various home sizes, though you can often do more or less, depending on your design.Studio: 1 container = $1,2k to $10k1 Bedroom: 12 containers = $1,2k to $20k2 Bedroom: 24 containers = $2,4k to $40k3 Bedroom: 4+ containers = $4,8k to $40k4 Bedroom: 6+ containers = 47,2k to $60k+Shipping Container Home Cost vs. a Traditional HomeWhere do shipping container homes fit in among other popular home types? They're on the lower end of the spectrum. Because traditional homes are often larger than shipping container homes, they tend to cost more. A shipping container home is usually more similar in price to a tiny home, a prefab or modular home, or a manufactured home. Shipping Container Home Cost FactorsAs you're pricing out your shipping container home, here are some of the many factors you need to consider. For each category, the pricing can vary greatly due to the location your home is in or the materials you choose to use.Prefab vs. CustomA prefabricated, or prefab, shipping container home essentially comes turn-key or close to it. Overall, prefab shipping container homes are often less expensive than custom ones, but it all depends on the specifics of your project.SizeAs previously mentioned, the size of your shipping container home largely dictates the price. Naturally, smaller shipping container homes cost less than larger ones.Land and Site PreparationBefore you build your shipping container home, you need a suitable plot of land for it. Depending on the lot, you might need to do some pretty intense work in order to place your shipping container home on it, from clearing trees to land grading to pouring a foundation. (Your contractor can will be able to advise you on what needs doing.) And you'll also need to figure out utilities, such as septic or sewer, electricity, water, and gas. Finally, don't forget that you'll also need to pay for permits and labor! StructureA lot of work goes into converting a shipping container into a shipping container home, and that comes at a cost. At the very least, you'll need to install roofing, flooring, insulation, drywall, windows, doors, electrical, plumbing, and likely HVAC. For all of these things, you're looking at both material and labor costs, unless you have a background in general contracting, electricity, or plumbing and can save a little via DIY.FinishesNow for the fun part! How you want to finish your shipping container is up to you, but this is where things can get really expensive if you opt for luxury. We're talking about paint colors, fixtures, appliances, furniture, and decor. All these fun interior design choices add personality into your shipping container home, but can drive up its cost. Again, it's possible to save on labor costs via DIY, depending on the project. The bottom line: A shipping container is likely to be a bargain compared to a traditional home, but will range in price according to size, location, and the level of luxury involved.

When the modern-day internet began emerging in the early 2000s, finding hosting services and resources to run the new wave of dynamic web applications was hard. You needed a database to store application data. These were slow, expensive, and unreliable, regularly bringing applications to a grinding halt when a single instance failed. You needed a server to run interpreted languages like PHP, Python, or Ruby. These were equally expensive, often needed configuration, had security issues, and frequently ran out of memory or CPU resources, again bringing applications to a grinding halt.For anyone on a small budget, running web 2.0-era applications required constant configuration tweaking, tight performance streamlining, and cost reduction, all within the typically tight confines of what a provider would even let you change and manage yourself.Between those heady days and now, an increasing patchwork of hosting providers emerged to cope with the complexity and scale that web applications demanded. For the past 10 years, a significant proportion of applications have moved to a new generation called cloud hosting. The term cloud is a bit vague, and theres a popular (but not altogether accurate) phrase that says, The cloud is just someone elses computer. The cloud abstracts and simplifies the complexity of managing the infrastructure mentioned above. Instead of thinking about servers, you think of services and instances of services.In the modern infrastructure world, when a database is struggling, you add another instance.The of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!If you have so many database and application instances that youve lost track of whats happening, add another service or three for that, too.Taking this abstraction to an extreme, serverless has reached its peak popularity in the past few years. This approach aims to reduce servers and services to something more like a function call. Of course, a server still handles all these function calls and responses behind the scenes, but the argument is that you shouldnt need to worry about that and should only focus on sending and receiving data.More than 20 years later, web-based application developers lives are surely easier, arent they?No, not really. There are many issues with developing and maintaining apps that run in the cloud. Thankfully, several European operators are trying to make developers lives easier again.Before getting to them, heres a quick terminology guide.Private cloud: Services used by only one customer.Public cloud: Services shared by more than one customer.In both cases, customer data and details remain private, and everything could run in one or more locations. The main difference is that the provider carves out a digital tranche of territory just for that customer. This is probably defined in software, but it could be in hardware, and it could be a dedicated server running remotely or locally to the customer.With that in mind, lets dig into the problems in the cloud computing world.The cloud is consolidated and monopolisedCloud computing has hundreds of providers, yet most people only think of three: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure (Azure), and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) known as the hyperscalers of the hosting industry. The web is a big place, brimming with public and privately available sites, so precise numbers of what runs where are hard to come by. However, according to statistics from builtwith.com, about 12% of websites approximately 86.8 million in total run on AWS. The other two only host roughly another 12% combined. If you look at hosting companies that call themselves cloud, then according to techjury.net these percentages increase to 32% for AWS, 23% for Azure, and 10% for GCP.Yet with these statistics, defining what constitutes a website is complicated. Hyperscalers offer hundreds of different services that developers use for one or more parts of an application, some of which perform crucial functions that break an application if unavailable.This has caused problems in the past. Remember the various times when large amounts of online services were unavailable? That was probably due to one of these major companies experiencing an outage. This has led to many developers taking a multi-cloud or hybrid-cloud approach with their applications, spreading risk by hosting services across multiple providers. This solves a technical issue but brings more revenue to all cloud providers and increases complexity.This consolidation puts a tremendous amount of power into a handful of companies. If they change their policies, thousands of businesses could be left without a place to run. More concerning is that all of the top three in fact, all of the top five are US companies, except for Alibaba, based in China. The US already has data privacy, security, and law enforcement policies that concern many companies and jurisdictions, and while all the companies mentioned provide hosting options in a global variety of jurisdictions, what if politics in the US no longer respected these digital borders? No matter how unlikely some things can seem, consolidation is always dangerous.Diversifying the cloudDevelopers and their companies do not want to completely switch away from the cloud. Rather, they are looking for new options from the hyperscale hosts, especially in Europe, where there is a mixture of increased regulations and insecurity around using American services, alongside a degree of nationalism encouraging people to use European services.These trends create new global opportunities for alternative hosting providers, new and old, especially in Europe.I spoke to three of the largest hosting providers in Europe to find out if they are noticing the same trends and what they think the next 20 years of web hosting might look like. Two of them Frances OVH (the host of around 4% of websites) and Germanys Hetzner (around 5.5% of websites) have existed since the late 1990s, before the web 2.0 revolution and cloud was a term. The third is the UKs Civo, which is just seven years old, but has founders with many more years of experience helping companies bring their applications to the internet.European cloud providers are offering new approaches to hosting. Credit: ccPixs.comThe cloud hasnt lived up to its promiseAs developers rushed to the cloud, it promised to make developing and running large, complex applications easier and more cost-effective. Anyone who has sat back to look at the myriad tools and processes they now have to use and maintain for a cloud-native application might wonder how true that is. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) landscape map has become so large that other tools and working groups are needed to help people navigate it.While the hosts of yesteryear would charge a reliable and steady amount per month, hyperscale cloud companies tend to charge by usage, which leads to unpredictable and spiky costs that are often hard to interpret and act upon. A recent report from cloudzero states that more than 20% of respondents have no clear idea of their cloud costs, which can consist of thousands of rows of data. A report from IT support firm AAGfound that 82% of respondents find cloud spending challenging.The European differenceOVH, Hetzner, and Civo all said the interaction points to the hyperscalers have become overly complex, with too many layers of abstractions needed to get started. People are now accustomed to more user-friendly interfaces. If AWS arrived today with its byzantine UI, the service might struggle to attract as many users.For Europes cloud competitors, this presents an opportunity. With everything we do, we put ourselves in the shoes of a user, said Dinesh Majrekar, CTO of Civo. By using sensible defaults and clear cost indications, we aim to make it possible to scroll to the bottom of any form and create what you need.Hetzners approach is similar. As their spokesperson, Christian Fitz, told me, We offer a straightforward user interface and an easy setup process, ideal for users who need cost-effective servers without complex administration.Cost efficiencyOne of the biggest motivations in the current climate is cutting costs. The move to the cloud promised to save users money, or at the least, ensure they only spend money on resources when needed, rather than pay for idle machines. However, as the AAG report mentioned earlier shows, companies are now paying more than ever for running services. Granted, actual usage is likely also increased. For many, the issue is the inconsistent monthly bills and the lack of transparency in the relationship between services, usage, and costs. In recognition of how big this disconnect is, theres now an entire foundation, the FinOps foundation, dedicated to maximising the business value of the cloud, and OpenCost, an open-source tool that helps show the cost of infrastructure decisions, was recently welcomed into the CNCF.Around the time of KubeCon EU 2024, Broadcom had recently acquired VMWare and announced significant pricing changes. VMWare had been a popular option for running a private cloud, and while Broadcom rolled back some of the pricing changes, the experience caused many to look for more open and standards-based options for private cloud hosting. All three hosts emphasised the importance of allowing customers to switch between providers. The most controversial of these policies is charging for egress, i.e. the cost of moving data from a cloud service, which can make multi-cloud hosting prohibitively expensive.OVH has pledged not to apply these charges. Yaniv Fdida, the companys Chief Product and Technology Officer, said, We have no fees on egress or traffic in and out. The cloud should be free. This enables our customers to balance workloads and have free choice. This is part of our tagline, and as far as tools are concerned, we use open standards.This is a growing trend amongst providers. As Majrekar notes, We recently got rid of egress charges altogether. So thats something you dont have to worry about.A trustworthy cloudPerhaps due to anxieties about keeping valuable data in other territories, national pride, or regulatory reasons, European companies often look to alternatives to the hyperscale hosts.For OVH, that provides a chance to offer a more trustworthy service.As an older company, OVH runs its own data centres but also produces a lot of its own hardware in locations in Europe and North America. The hyperscalers make a lot of their own hardware too, but the only hosts I could find that make hardware in Europe are OVH and Hetzner. This creates what OVH calls the trusted cloud, where they can guarantee higher data sovereignty thanks to knowledge of the supply chain behind the hardware that processes customer data.This doesnt just lead to increased trust but also, as Fdida put it, an increased ability to innovate.Because we are not tied to any third-party suppliers, we can really accelerate our time to market and our durability and longevity, he said.A less wasteful cloudWhile the hyperscale hosts rush to open power plants to meet the high energy demands for generative AI applications, smaller hosts are taking different approaches. Sustainability is one area where European providers (and global providers European operations) excel and have the potential to lead the world as other regions start to pull back from sustainability commitments.Hetzner has made the issue a key selling point. As Fitz, their spokesperson, told me, Our commitment to environmentally friendly hosting spans many years; in Germany, we power our data centres exclusively with hydropower, and in Finland, we also use wind power. Hosting that aligns with sustainability goals is becoming increasingly important. Civo, meanwhile, partners with the UKs Deep Green to run graphical processing units (GPUs) that many AI-heavy processes use. Deep Green uses multiple methods to reuse the heat that servers generate. For example, the company submerges servers in a special liquid, heating that water and using it for other purposes. While Deep Green already has 1,500 sites around the UK, its unclear how many of these are used by Civo. Deep Green and Civo arent the only partners trying this idea in Europe. Swiss host Infomaniak does something similar. These projects are a great example of how Europes typically denser cities can use colocation.One aspect of making sustainable data centres that is often missed is the embedded carbon in buying and decommissioning servers. OVH has addressed this by recycling and reusing much of its hardware, keeping older machines running for less intensive use cases.The future of the cloudLooking back over nearly 30 years of web hosting, you can see many changes in demands, requirements, and ways the industry handles them. If the sudden surge in demand for new AI tools is anything to judge by, its hard to make predictions.Fdida thinks the next challenge for providers will be quantum computing.Quantum will drastically change the way we look at workloads, he said. We are a pioneer in Europe and have been delivering simulators of quantum computing in our cloud for the last two years. And we have a real one hosted in our facilities with a company. We believe that it takes time to materialise how quantum can disrupt completely because its a new paradigm of looking at computing, right?Another issue for the future will be complexity. Mark Boost of Civo hopes that moving forward will also mean a return to the simpler times.Before the cloud, you had hosting companies, you had FTP, and you could just move between providers, he said.Amazon pretty much defined this new market in the early days and has created this world of complexity, which means that freedom of movement is so difficult. Id love to see us get to that place, and I think the future will be that. Story by Chris Chinchilla Technology writer, podcaster, and video maker by day. Fiction, games, and music by night.chrischinchilla.com Technology writer, podcaster, and video maker by day. Fiction, games, and music by night.chrischinchilla.com Get the TNW newsletterGet the most important tech news in your inbox each week.Also tagged with