Apple and Metallica have teamed up to bring a free, immersive experience from one of the band's concerts to Apple Vision Pro. Starting on March 14, owners of the headset will be able to watch live performances of "Whiplash," "One" and, of course, "Enter Sandman" filmed at a stop on Metallica's M72 World Tour last year. An EP recorded at the show, titled M72 World Tour: Mexico City, will hit Apple Music this Friday and be available with spatial audio.To capture the set in 180-degree video and spatial audio, Apple constructed a custom stage setup with 14 Apple Immersive Video cameras. Some cameras were suspended on cables and on remote-controlled dolly systems.The immersive set will likely be a fun experience for those in the Venn diagram overlap of Metallica enjoyers and those who have splashed out $3,500 on an Apple Vision Pro (you'll be able to check it out by booking a free demo at an Apple Store too). But will it be as cool as the time lightning lit up the skies while Metallica played "Master of Puppets" at an outdoor show last year? Probably not.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/apple-vision-pro-users-can-check-out-a-short-immersive-metallica-concert-film-this-week-162611039.html?src=rss

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Warner Bros. Discovery has made the Discovery+ streaming app more like Max, and has introduced five great new features as part of the update.

Sam Srisatta, a 20-year-old Florida college student, spent a month living inside a government hospital here last fall, playing video games and allowing scientists to document every morsel of food that went into his mouth.From big bowls of salad to platters of meatballs and spaghetti sauce, Srisatta noshed his way through a nutrition study aimed at understanding the health effects of ultraprocessed foods, the controversial fare that now accounts formore than 70%of the U.S. food supply. He allowed The Associated Press to tag along for a day.Today my lunch was chicken nuggets, some chips, some ketchup, said Srisatta, one of three dozen participants paid $5,000 each to devote 28 days of their lives to science. It was pretty fulfilling.Examining exactly what made those nuggets so satisfying is the goal of the widely anticipated research led by National Institutes of Health nutrition researcher Kevin Hall.What we hope to do is figure out what those mechanisms are so that we can better understand that process, Hall said.Halls study relies on 24/7 measurements of patients, rather than self-reported data, to investigate whether ultraprocessed foods cause people to eat more calories and gain weight, potentially leadingto obesityand other well-documented health problems. And, if they do, how?At a time when Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made nutrition and chronic disease a key priority, the answers cant come soon enough.Kennedy has repeatedly targeted processed foods as the primary culprit behind a range of diseases that afflict Americans, particularly children. He vowed in a Senateconfirmation hearingto focus on removing such foods from school lunches for kids because theyre making them sick.Ultraprocessed foods have exploded in the U.S. and elsewhere in recent decades, just as rates of obesity and other diet-related diseases also rise.The foods, which are often high in fat, sodium and sugar, are typically cheap, mass-produced and contain added colors and chemicals not found in a home kitchen. Think sugary cereals and potato chips, frozen pizzas, sodas and ice cream.Studies have linkedultraprocessed foodsto negative health effects, but whether its the actual processing of the foods rather than the nutrients they contain or something else remains uncertain.A small2019 analysisby Hall and his colleagues found that ultraprocessed foods led participants to eat about 500 calories a day more than when they ate a matched diet of unprocessed foods.The new study aims to replicate and expand that research and to test new theories about the effects of ultraprocessed foods. One is that some of the foods contain irresistible combinations of ingredients fat, sugar, sodium and carbohydrates that trigger people to eat more. The other is that the foods contain more calories per bite, making it possible to consume more without realizing it.Teasing out those answers requires the willingness of volunteers like Srisatta and the know-how of health and diet experts who identify, gather and analyze the data behind the estimated multimillion-dollar study.During his month at NIH, Srisatta sported monitors on his wrist, ankle and waist to track his every movement, and regularly gave up to 14 vials of blood. Once a week, he spent 24 hours inside a metabolic chamber, a tiny room outfitted with sensors to measure how his body was using food, water and air. He was allowed to go outside, but only with supervision to prevent any wayward snacks.It doesnt really feel that bad, Srisatta said.He could eat as much or as little as he liked. The meals wheeled to his room three times a day were crafted to meet the precise requirements of the study, said Sara Turner, the NIH dietitian who designed the food plan. In the basement of the NIH building, a team carefully measured, weighed, sliced and cooked foods before sending them to Srisatta and other participants.The challenge is getting all the nutrients to work, but it still needs to be appetizing and look good, Turner said.Results from the trial are expected later this year, but preliminary results are intriguing. At a scientific conference in November, Hall reported that the first 18 trial participants ate about 1,000 calories a day more of an ultraprocessed diet that was particularly hyperpalatable and energy dense than those who ate minimally processed foods, leading to weight gain.When those qualities were modified, consumption went down, even if the foods were considered ultraprocessed, Hall said. Data is still being collected from remaining participants and must be completed, analyzed and published in a peer-reviewed journal.Still, the early results suggest that you can almost normalize energy intake, despite the fact that theyre still eating a diet that is more than 80% of calories from ultraprocessed food, Hall told the audience.Not everyone agrees with Halls methods, or the implications of his research.Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Childrens Hospital, criticized Halls 2019 study as fundamentally flawed by its short duration about a month. Scientists have long known that its possible to get people to eat more or less for brief periods of time, but those effects quickly wane, he said.If they were persistent, we would have the answer to obesity, said Ludwig, who has argued for years that consumption of highly processed carbohydrates is the prime dietary culprit and focusing on the processing of the foods is distracting.He called for larger, better-designed studies lasting a minimum of two months, with washout periods separating the effects of one diet from the next. Otherwise, we waste our energy, we mislead the science, Ludwig said.Concerns about the short length of the studies may be valid, said Marion Nestle, a nutritionist and food policy expert.To resolve that, Hall needs funding to conduct longer studies with more people, she said in an email.The NIH spends about $2 billion a year, about 5% of its total budget, on nutrition research, according to Senate documents.At the same time, the agency cut the capacity of the metabolic unit where investigators conduct such studies, reducing the number of beds that must be shared among researchers. The two participants enrolled now at the center and the two planned for next month are the most Hall can study at any one time, adding months to the research process.Srisatta, the Florida volunteer who hopes to become an emergency room physician, said participating in the trial left him eager to know more about how processed foods affect human health.I mean, I think everyone knows its better to not eat processed foods, right? he said. But having the evidence to back that up in ways that the public can easily digest, is important, he said.HHS officials didnt respond to questions about Kennedys intentions regarding nutrition research at NIH. The agency, like many others in the federal government, is being buffeted by the wave of cost cuts being directed by President Donald Trump and his billionaire aide Elon Musk.Jerold Mande, a former federal food policy advisor in three administrations, said he supports Kennedys goals of addressing diet-related diseases. He has pushed a proposal for a 50-bed facility where government nutrition scientists could house and feed enough study volunteers like Srisatta to rigorously determine how specific diets affect human health.If youre going to make America healthy again and youre going to address chronic disease, we need better science to do it, Mande said.Jonel Aleccia, AP health writerThe Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Some copycat versions of popular weight-loss drugs will soon be restricted in the U.S. The change comes as a federal judge declined an injunction that wouldve allowed compounding pharmacies to keep making more affordable versions.In a Good Morning America segment, Dr. Tara Narula, ABC News chief medical correspondent, explained how compound-drug creation works to meet demand. When a drug is in short supply, the FDA allows these compounding pharmacies to essentially create copycat drugs. But when the drug companies say, we are able to meet the demand, then those compounding pharmacies can no longer sell those drugs, Narula said.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will now begin restricting the creation of the compound drugs.In 2022, the popularity of weight-loss drugs was rising too quickly for drug companies to keep up with demand. Patients turned to compound versions, which were made by licensed pharmacists but were not FDA approved. Last year, around 200,000 prescriptions for copies of Novo Nordisks weight-loss drug Wegovy alone were being filled each month. But now, the makers of the original versions of the drugs say they are no longer facing shortages and have removed the drugs from the FDAs shortage list.Three weeks ago, the FDA made that declaration in a press release, and, at the same time, announced that selling copycat versions with rare exceptions was now illegal.In the release, Dave Moore, president of Novo Nordisk and executive vice president of U.S. operations and global business development, said, We are pleased the FDA has declared that supply of the only real, FDA-approved semaglutide medicines is resolved, affirming that Novo Nordisk is meeting or exceeding current and projected nationwide demand. No one should have to compromise their health due to misinformation and reach for fake or illegitimate knockoff drugs that pose significant safety risks to patients.Still, patients who rely on copycat weight-loss drugs pay a fraction of the price tag for the real thing, which averages around $1,000 per month. Narula said that patients wallets will certainly be impacted by the FDAs move. This is all going to affect people who are getting these drugs, usually at a much lower cost and much easier to find, Narula said. Telehealth companies, such as Hims & Hers Health, which capitalized on the supply issues by selling compound versions, may also be hard hit. Himss shares have already tumbled, dropping 46% since semaglutide was taken off the FDAs shortage list.To that end, a Change.org petition organized by the GLP-1 Collective, a nonprofit that advocates for access to the drugs, has sprung into action to combat the FDAs latest moves. The petition has garnered more than 24,700 signatures at the time of publication. The petition not only urges the FDA to allow compounding pharmacies to keep making the drugs, it also asserts the importance of generic versions of the drugs, insurance coverage, and competitive pricing.

The macOS installer is quick and easy to use, but you can find out more info on what happens during installations by checking its built-in logs. Here's how to look at them.Use the macOS installer logs to see what happened during installation.macOS installer files are called Packages and usually have a file extension of .pkg. When you open a .pkg to install software on your Mac, Apple's installer app performs a complex series of steps to verify and install the software.Most .pkg files are built to contain a series of standard steps in which the package is first verified, then payloads are decompressed and copied to the target drive. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Assassins Creed Shadowssteep PC requirements may have suggested that the game wouldnt be able to run on a Steam Deck, and sure enough, in February, Ubisoft said that at launch, it wouldnt support the device. Now, however, the company has backtracked and confirmed otherwise.Taking to Twitter, Ubisoft recently announced thatAssassins Creed Shadowswill support the Steam Deck at launch later this month after all. The company says it is currently awaiting the level of classification from Valve, which means we dont know if its going to be Stem Deck Verified- but itwillbe playable on the portable device, which is good news.More info to come soon, Ubisofts tweet said.On PC, meanwhile, the open world action RPG will also feature support for uncapped frame rates, ultrawide resolution, all Frame Generation tech, dynamic resolution scaling, and more. Read more on that through here.Assassins Creed Shadowslaunches on March 20 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.Many of you have been asking about Steam Deck. We are happy to say that we are supporting Steam Deck at launch and are currently awaiting the level of classification from Valve. More info to come soon. Assassins Creed (@assassinscreed) March 12, 2025

It seems like the long-rumouredThe Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivionremake allegedly in development at Virtuous might be coming sooner than expected. Leaks previously claimed that the title would be releasing at some point in late Spring or early Summer, though prominent leaker NateTheHate is now claiming that plans may have changed.Taking to Twitter, the leaker recently claimed that the remake will be officially announced as soon as either this month or April, and that it will release earlier than June, which was the original internal target. Interestingly, the leakers claims have also been corroborated by VGC, which claims the game would even release sometime next month.TheOblivionremake is allegedly being developed on Unreal Engine 5, with several major gameplay changes also being implemented, according to leaks from earlier in the year.Given Microsofts shifting strategy over the past year, presumably,Oblivionwill be a multiplatform title day and date. We should know for sure one way or another when the announcement arrives, so stay tuned for further details.Either this month or next month. Release is likely to be sooner than the original June target; but still working to get details on an updated release date. NateTheHate2 (@NateTheHate2) March 11, 2025

Intel has appointed a new CEO, three months after former CEO Pat Gelsinger was pushed out of the company. The companys new chief executive is Lip-Bu Tan, who served as CEO of chip design hardware and services company Cadence from 2009 to 2021 and as a member of Intels board of directors from 2022 to 2024.While Intels official story was that Gelsinger retired after less than four years in the CEO post, reporting quickly came out that he was pushed out by the board of directors after they lost faith in his strategy to turn things around at the beleaguered company. Gelsinger worked at Intel for 30 years, from 1979 to 2009, before leaving and eventually returning in 2021 to take the CEO job.Tan will take over as CEO on March 18th from interim co-CEOs David Zinsner and Michelle (MJ) Johnston Holthaus. Zinser will continue to be Intels CFO, while Johnston Holthaus will still be CEO of Intel Products.Intel has a powerful and differentiated computing platform, a vast customer installed base and a robust manufacturing footprint that is getting stronger by the day as we rebuild our process technology roadmap, Tan says in a statement. I am eager to join the company and build upon the work the entire Intel team has been doing to position our business for the future.This isnt the first time Tan has been tapped to become CEO following a period on a companys board; that happened with Cadence as well. According to Intels press release, Tan more than doubled Cadences revenue while he was CEO.The question now is whether Tan will resume Intels previous plan to win with its own wholly owned chipmaking business while simplifying its aims, accelerate plans to spin off some or all of its manufacturing business, or maybe even wind up selling off parts of the company.In his first public memo as CEO, Tan doesnt offer many obvious hints about what he wants to do next, but he does suggest that Intel will continue to offer manufacturing as well as chip design:Together, we will work hard to restore Intels position as a world-class products company, establish ourselves as a world-class foundry and delight our customers like never before. Thats what this moment demands of us as we remake Intel for the future.He also says Intel will be an engineering-focused company, and one that needs to take calculated risks to disrupt and leapfrog in future.

Emotion recognition from video involves many nuanced challenges. Models that depend exclusively on either visual or audio signals often miss the intricate interplay between these modalities, leading to misinterpretations of emotional content. A key difficulty is reliably combining visual cuessuch as facial expressions or body languagewith auditory signals like tone or intonation. Many existing systems also lack the capability to explain their decision-making process, which makes it hard to understand how a specific emotion is detected. Furthermore, these models can sometimes generate reasoning that does not directly reflect the input data, or they might fail to fully utilize important audio details. These issues become even more pronounced when models encounter unfamiliar scenarios, emphasizing the need for a more robust and interpretable approach to multimodal emotion recognition.Introducing R1-Omni by Alibaba ResearchersIn their recent work, Alibaba Researchers present R1-Omni, an application of Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Reward (RLVR) to an omni-multimodal large language model tailored for emotion recognition. R1-Omni builds on the established HumanOmni framework and applies RLVR to fine-tune the model for handling both video and audio data. The method begins with a cold start phase, where the model is pre-trained using a combined dataset from Explainable Multimodal Emotion Reasoning (EMER) and a manually annotated dataset. This initial training helps the model learn basic reasoning skills before being refined with RLVR. By integrating a rule-based reward mechanism into the training process, R1-Omni is optimized not only for accurate emotion prediction but also for generating clear and interpretable explanations that describe how visual and auditory information interact.Technical Insights and Benefits of the ApproachAt the core of R1-Omnis design is the integration of Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards (RLVR) and Group Relative Policy Optimization (GRPO). RLVR replaces the need for subjective human feedback with a verifiable reward function that assesses the models output against objective criteria. The reward system is straightforward: if the models emotion prediction matches the ground truth, it receives a reward of 1; otherwise, it receives 0. Additionally, a format reward ensures that the output adheres to a specified structure, where the reasoning process is clearly separated from the final prediction by designated tags.GRPO further refines the training process by comparing groups of candidate responses, allowing the model to identify and favor those with more coherent and interpretable reasoning. This mechanism helps minimize the occurrence of unsupported or misaligned reasoning while improving the overall quality of the predictions. Together, these technical strategies contribute to enhanced reasoning, a better understanding of multimodal inputs, and improved performance, particularly when the model is tested on data it has not seen before.Experimental Results and Key ObservationsThe study presents a comprehensive set of experiments that compare R1-Omni with several baseline models, including the original HumanOmni-0.5B and models trained with supervised fine-tuning (SFT) on the EMER and MAFW-DFEW datasets. On the DFEW dataset, R1-Omni achieves an Unweighted Average Recall (UAR) of 65.83% and a Weighted Average Recall (WAR) of 56.27%. These scores are notably higher than those obtained with other approaches. Similarly, on the MAFW dataset, R1-Omni demonstrates improved performance, highlighting its capability to classify emotions accurately across various classes.An additional strength of R1-Omni is its ability to generate detailed and coherent reasoning processes. Visualization examples provided in the study show that, compared to other models, R1-Omni offers explanations that better reflect how visual and audio cues contribute to the prediction. The model also shows strong generalization capabilities when evaluated on the RAVDESS dataseta collection featuring professional actors and standardized speech. This suggests that the model is capable of adapting to different types of input data while maintaining a consistent level of performance.Concluding Thoughts and Future DirectionsIn summary, R1-Omni represents a thoughtful approach to the challenge of multimodal emotion recognition. By leveraging Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards, the model is refined not only to predict emotions with greater accuracy but also to articulate the reasoning behind its decisions. This approach helps address some of the long-standing issues in the field, such as the integration of multimodal data and the interpretability of model outputs.Despite its advances, R1-Omni still faces challenges. For instance, improving subtitle recognition and reducing instances of unsupported reasoning remain areas for further exploration. Future research may focus on enhancing the underlying model, refining the integration of audio cues, and deepening the models reasoning capabilities to better mimic the subtlety of human emotional understanding.Overall, R1-Omni offers a promising framework that balances technical rigor with the need for interpretability, contributing valuable insights into the development of more transparent and effective multimodal emotion recognition systems.Check outthe Paper 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. Asif RazzaqWebsite| + postsBioAsif Razzaq is the CEO of Marktechpost Media Inc.. As a visionary entrepreneur and engineer, Asif is committed to harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence for social good. His most recent endeavor is the launch of an Artificial Intelligence Media Platform, Marktechpost, which stands out for its in-depth coverage of machine learning and deep learning news that is both technically sound and easily understandable by a wide audience. The platform boasts of over 2 million monthly views, illustrating its popularity among audiences.Asif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Building an Interactive Bilingual (Arabic and English) Chat Interface with Open Source Meraj-Mini by Arcee AI: Leveraging GPU Acceleration, PyTorch, Transformers, Accelerate, BitsAndBytes, and GradioAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Google AI Releases Gemma 3: Lightweight Multimodal Open Models for Efficient and OnDevice AIAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/A Step by Step Guide to Build an Interactive Health Data Monitoring Tool Using Hugging Face Transformers and Open Source Model Bio_ClinicalBERTAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Reka AI Open Sourced Reka Flash 3: A 21B General-Purpose Reasoning Model that was Trained from Scratch Parlant: Build Reliable AI Customer Facing Agents with LLMs (Promoted)