The latest Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument results fall short of the discovery threshold but strengthen evidence for dynamical dark energy.

A memo detailing plans for USAID touts blockchain technology. It feels like a fake technological solution for a problem that doesnt exist, says one expert.

Adobe is working with Microsoft to develop anAI agentthat can generate graphics and design content from within the Microsoft 365 interface.The Adobe Express Agent, still under development, will allow users to create and embed graphics directly within productivity applications such as Word and PowerPoint, according to Aubrey Cattell, vice president for Adobes Creative Cloud Developer Platform and Services.Thecompany touted the moveduring this weeksAdobe Summit, but has not said when the generative AI (genAI) tool would be released; it will ultimately be available to Microsoft 365 customers as a Copilot plugin.Were building it in partnership with [Microsoft] as they kind of build out their strategy for all third-party agents, Cattell said.The agent can create an image for the document, suggest options to generate images, or ask questions. Users can specify within the 365 chatbot interface what images they wantto embed in documents, and the tool will then generate them.Adobe already has a cloud-based Adobe Express app, which uses generative AI (genAI) to create content for documents, flyers, social media posts and resumes. The tool runs in browsers and mobile devices.The Adobe Express Agent is different, as it takes cues from a Word or PowerPoint document and can understand user intent, allowing it to create something thats more visual here to express ideas, Cattell said in an interview.You can draw the context from whats in the document to help you generate something thats more germane, Cattell said.Once users request an image, the agent relies on Adobes Firefly text-to-image and text-to-design generative AI model to create content. For example, users might have a concept of a social media post or an ad campaign, which can be described to the Adobe Express Agent. It would generate that image and you could just drag it right into your document or into your PowerPoint presentation, Cattell said.A basic version of Adobe Express is already available for free. (Adobe has also integrated itinto Wix for website creation, and in Box to store and edit images.)Adobe has also shipped an Adobe Express custom GPT for ChatGPTwhere users can request an image using the conversational interface. But theres an advantage to integrating the agent with the Microsoft 365 interface.Its literally a Copilot to the artifacts that knowledge workers are creating [it] is super powerful and definitely levels us up, Cattell said.She stressed that Adobes platform strategy is to be where our users are in the places where theyre getting work done.Besides creating more engaging content, Adobes tools are designed to be safe, understanding that organizations or creators cant afford oops moments, said Liz Miller, vice president and principal analyst at Constellation Research.These are truly agentic additions to a workers day, Miller said. For Adobe, agents are interactive, they reason, they are autonomous, they take action. This definition is wildly important, not just for Adobe but for their customers as well.

Signal is standing its ground to protect its apps security, threatening on Wednesday to leave France if encryption backdoor requirements are enacted, just as it said it would do in Sweden.Those hyping this bad law have rushed to assure French politicians that the proposal isnt breaking encryption. Their arguments are as tedious as they are stale, as they are laughable. For those catching up, lets review the basics: end to end encryption must only have two endssender and recipients. Otherwise, it is backdoored, wrote Signal CEO Meredith Whittaker in a post on X. Whatever method is devised to add a third endfrom a perverted PRNG in a cryptographic protocol, to vendor-provided government software grafted onto the side of secure communications that allow said government to add themselves to your chatsit rips a hole in the hull of private communications and is a backdoor.The Signal CEO added: This is why, as always, Signal would exit the French market before it would comply with this law as written. At this moment especially, there is simply too much riding on Signal, on our being able to forge a future in which private communication persists, to allow such pernicious undermining.Whittaker shared similar thoughts when government officials in Sweden last month attempted a similar end run around encryption.Like all legislative bodies, the French legislators are debating various approaches to encryption and its not yet clear whether they will end up demanding an encryption backdoor.But even setting aside the French authorities ultimate decision, Whittakers argument about the cybersecurity disaster that will result from undermining encryption is valid.Communications dont stay within jurisdictional boundaries, which means a hole created in France becomes a vector for anyone wanting to undermine Signals robust privacy guarantees anywhere, Whittaker wrote. Instead of contending with unbreakable math, they only have to compromise a French government employee, or the vendor-provided software used to sideload government operatives into your private chats.This encryption backdoor argument is also hitting many other governments globally. Apple, for example, is currently appealing an encryption backdoor demand from the UK, and the United States is chiding those same UK officials for even trying to demand an encryption backdoor.The underlying issue here is not limited to government encryption backdoors. If either side of an encrypted conversation is intercepted, the same problem occurs. The Ukrainian military, for example, is now fighting an aggressive phishing campaign that plants malware, oftentimes a keylogger, that bypasses the encryption even more effectively than would a backdoor.Endpoint interception has also turned around and bitten the cyber crooks themselves. Europol officials in December stumbled on a cyberthief that cleverly used an app that made messages disappear a few minutes after being read. But, given that experienced thieves know enough to not trust other thieves, one of the recipients screen-captured a discussion about money-sharing with his colleagues. That act made all of his encrypted messages readable for law enforcement.Many issues with backdoors, say analystsAnalysts are concerned about the growing demands for backdoors. Aisling Dawson, digital security industry analyst at ABI Research, saw Whittakers post and said that many government encryption proposals fail to display an understanding of the technical implications of such a backdoor and that these governments face the prospect of increasing numbers of organizations exiting their marketspace, triggering economic losses and reducing the number of security vendors within the ecosystem, or creating the potential for legal and judicial challenges to proposed regulatory action.Dawson also saw the encryption backdoor attempts as dangerous.The use of terms like side-client scanning within these proposals are complicating and perhaps deliberately obfuscating governments intentions with regard to these new proposals which is, at its core, a desire for more backdoors into vendors secure communications, Dawson said. Piercing through vendors cryptographic wall to create a governmental backdoor creates a hole, and it seems fantastical to believe cybercriminals and malicious attackers wont also attempt to exploit that hole.Dawson also argued that there are legal issues raised by backdoors, above and beyond cybersecurity and privacy concerns.Frances proposal raises challenges when it comes to prospective defendants challenging any evidence obtained via surveillance through an encryption backdoor, given that the bill inhibits disclosure of any surveillance operations to defendants, Dawson said. This fundamentally runs against defendants right to hear and challenge evidence placed against them per their ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights] Article 6 fair trial rights.Other analysts shared similar concerns.Fred Chagnon, principal research director at Info-Tech Research Group, said the encryption backdoor approach being debated by the legislators in France is somewhat different than what some other governments are considering.France wants to take a different approach with a ghost participant, which would allow government entities to silently join encrypted conversations, basically creating a backdoor in real time, Chagnon said. Governments need to engage with these [encryption] providers to find a solution that doesnt fundamentally weaken security instead of pushing for regulations that force companies to break their own encryption.And Anshel Sag, a principal analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, has more general concerns about the government activities throughout Europe around encryption.I think this is an unsettling trend were starting to see from European governments, the UKs request of Apple being a similar issue. Backdoors are inherently problematic because they simply give bad actors opportunities to take advantage of those backdoors as well, Sag said. Additionally, they create a false sense of security and safety that is no longer there because of the backdoor. Backdoors are simply antithetical to the security and safety that so many of these companies have built their reputations on.

Ubisoft's "Assassin's Creed Shadows" can now be downloaded from the macOS App Store, as the game debuted across all compatible platforms, including Mac, PC, and various consoles.Assassin's Creed Shadows is now available on the Mac App Store.Assassin's Creed Shadows takes the iconic franchise to 16th-century feudal Japan. Players can switch between two protagonists of completely different backgrounds and skills: Fujibayashi Naoe, a shinobi assassin, and a legendary samurai known as Yasuke.The dual-character approach allows for diverse gameplay mechanics and storylines, as players have the option to switch between Naoe's stealth missions and Yasuke's combat-packed scenes, although both are part of the main storyline. The game is a sequel to Assassin's Creed Mirage, and revolves around the conflict between the Assassin Brotherhood and their enemies, the Templar Order. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

PBS SoCal has picked up on an effort by a group of 24 students from Utah Valley University to help in the recovery effort after the Eaton fire destroyed some 9,400 homes and other structures in Altadena and Pasadena. Architect and Assistant Professor Gordon MacKay is leading the group and tells the outlet: "What I think it should do for an architect is allow them to give these homeowners a better price because the design portion is done. This will give them a really good, scaled drawing of what they had so that they can hopefully get what they deserve from their insurance companies."More of our coverage of rebuilding efforts following theLos Angeles Fires can be found here:AIA Pasadena & Foothill launches 'Ask an Architect' program for residents impacted by recent firesSoCalNOMA supports rebuilding historically Black communities of AltadenaL.A. offers waivers to homeowners affected by wildfires to access to their building plans

Von Gerkan, Marg & Partners (gmp) has shared new images from their 2019 prefabricated K-12 design for Frankfurts diverse Westend community that now stands as one of the EUs and worlds largest modular timber school buildings.Photo by Marcus Bredt, courtesy of gmp.The fully demountable 175,000-square-foot school building temporarily accommodates 2,000 students while their new permanent building was being completed nearby. It was built in under 24 months using 350 prefabricated modules and 176,000 cubic feet of wood taken from Central European forests.Photo by Marcus Bredt, courtesy of gmp.The firm says the combination of strategy and material results in a 30% improvement of Energy Conservation Regulations (EnEV) metrics, with another 60% reduction in terms of the time spent on construction.Photo by Marcus Bredt, courtesy of gmp.The design's compactness responds to the relatively confined site while reducing the distances traveled within the high school and the elementary school...

The Future Games Show Spring Showcase ended with a surprising announcement the return of Painkiller. Developed by Anshar Studios and published by 3D Realms and Saber Interactive, its out this Fall for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out the first gameplay below.Based on the 2004 title of the same name by People Can Fly, Painkiller is touted as a reimagining with three-player co-op support (though its playable offline). As one of four Champions, players must battle Azazel, hordes of demons and the Nephilim before they can lay waste to Earth.Along with classic weapons, Painkiller sports some new additions and traversal abilities like hooking and dashing. Each Champion has varying energy, power, damage, and health, while Tarot Cards provide buffs to abilities. Synergize with players, and you may stand a chance against the overwhelming forces of evil.Stay tuned for more details and gameplay from Painkiller in the coming months. As for People Can Fly, they have a new project in the works in Lost Rift, a survival title entering early access this year.

Though The Last of Us Part 2 Remastereds PC launch is imminent, Naughty Dog, Nixxes, and Iron Galaxy Studios have some new content that will also be available for PS5 players. Two new characters are coming to No Return Bill and Marlene from The Last of Us Part 1.Each has a unique playstyle. Bill is a Smuggler who cant dodge but is tougher against melee strikes and gets double rewards from drops. He can also pick up a custom pump shotgun from dead drops. Marlene is a Risk Taker armed with a Custom Assault Rifle, capable of choosing a different route once and All or Nothing Gambits.But thats not all, as four new maps have been added to the mode, including Overlook, School, Nest, and Streets. These will be familiar to campaign fans and mix up the tension of No Return. All this content (and some new Trophies) will be available on April 3rd alongside the PC version as part of patch 2.0.0.As previously announced, those who optionally link their PSN account on PC will also receive a new skin for Ellie based on Jordans jacket from Intergalactic. Stay tuned for detailed patch notes, and head here to check out the PC requirements.

Remedy Entertainmentunveiled a new gameplay trailer forFBC: Firebreak, a three-player co-op FPS where the Federal Bureau of Controls first-response unit must contain an escalating paranatural threat. When the Oldest House, the Bureaus shifting headquarters, falls under siege by a relentless paranatural force, only Firebreak its most adaptablRead More