Navigating the dense urban canyons of cities like San Francisco or New York can be a nightmare for GPS systems. The towering skyscrapers block and reflect satellite signals, leading to location errors of tens of meters. For you and me, that might mean a missed turn. But for an autonomous vehicle or a delivery robot, that level of imprecision is the difference between a successful mission and a costly failure. These machines require pinpoint accuracy to operate safely and efficiently. Addressing this critical challenge, researchers from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have introduced a groundbreaking new method for visual localization during CVPR 2025 Their new paper, “FG2: Fine-Grained Cross-View Localization by Fine-Grained Feature Matching,” presents a novel AI model that significantly enhances the ability of a ground-level system, like an autonomous car, to determine its exact position and orientation using only a camera and a corresponding aerial (or satellite) image. The new approach has demonstrated a remarkable 28% reduction in mean localization error compared to the previous state-of-the-art on a challenging public dataset. Key Takeaways: Superior Accuracy: The FG2 model reduces the average localization error by a significant 28% on the VIGOR cross-area test set, a challenging benchmark for this task. Human-like Intuition: Instead of relying on abstract descriptors, the model mimics human reasoning by matching fine-grained, semantically consistent features—like curbs, crosswalks, and buildings—between a ground-level photo and an aerial map. Enhanced Interpretability: The method allows researchers to “see” what the AI is “thinking” by visualizing exactly which features in the ground and aerial images are being matched, a major step forward from previous “black box” models. Weakly Supervised Learning: Remarkably, the model learns these complex and consistent feature matches without any direct labels for correspondences. It achieves this using only the final camera pose as a supervisory signal. Challenge: Seeing the World from Two Different Angles The core problem of cross-view localization is the dramatic difference in perspective between a street-level camera and an overhead satellite view. A building facade seen from the ground looks completely different from its rooftop signature in an aerial image. Existing methods have struggled with this. Some create a general “descriptor” for the entire scene, but this is an abstract approach that doesn’t mirror how humans naturally localize themselves by spotting specific landmarks. Other methods transform the ground image into a Bird’s-Eye-View (BEV) but are often limited to the ground plane, ignoring crucial vertical structures like buildings. FG2: Matching Fine-Grained Features The EPFL team’s FG2 method introduces a more intuitive and effective process. It aligns two sets of points: one generated from the ground-level image and another sampled from the aerial map. Here’s a breakdown of their innovative pipeline: Mapping to 3D: The process begins by taking the features from the ground-level image and lifting them into a 3D point cloud centered around the camera. This creates a 3D representation of the immediate environment. Smart Pooling to BEV: This is where the magic happens. Instead of simply flattening the 3D data, the model learns to intelligently select the most important features along the vertical (height) dimension for each point. It essentially asks, “For this spot on the map, is the ground-level road marking more important, or is the edge of that building’s roof the better landmark?” This selection process is crucial, as it allows the model to correctly associate features like building facades with their corresponding rooftops in the aerial view. Feature Matching and Pose Estimation: Once both the ground and aerial views are represented as 2D point planes with rich feature descriptors, the model computes the similarity between them. It then samples a sparse set of the most confident matches and uses a classic geometric algorithm called Procrustes alignment to calculate the precise 3-DoF (x, y, and yaw) pose. Unprecedented Performance and Interpretability The results speak for themselves. On the challenging VIGOR dataset, which includes images from different cities in its cross-area test, FG2 reduced the mean localization error by 28% compared to the previous best method. It also demonstrated superior generalization capabilities on the KITTI dataset, a staple in autonomous driving research. Perhaps more importantly, the FG2 model offers a new level of transparency. By visualizing the matched points, the researchers showed that the model learns semantically consistent correspondences without being explicitly told to. For example, the system correctly matches zebra crossings, road markings, and even building facades in the ground view to their corresponding locations on the aerial map. This interpretability is extremenly valuable for building trust in safety-critical autonomous systems. “A Clearer Path” for Autonomous Navigation The FG2 method represents a significant leap forward in fine-grained visual localization. By developing a model that intelligently selects and matches features in a way that mirrors human intuition, the EPFL researchers have not only shattered previous accuracy records but also made the decision-making process of the AI more interpretable. This work paves the way for more robust and reliable navigation systems for autonomous vehicles, drones, and robots, bringing us one step closer to a future where machines can confidently navigate our world, even when GPS fails them. Check out the Paper. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also, feel free to follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to join our 100k+ ML SubReddit and Subscribe to our Newsletter. Jean-marc MommessinJean-marc is a successful AI business executive .He leads and accelerates growth for AI powered solutions and started a computer vision company in 2006. He is a recognized speaker at AI conferences and has an MBA from Stanford.Jean-marc Mommessinhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/jean-marc0000677/AI-Generated Ad Created with Google’s Veo3 Airs During NBA Finals, Slashing Production Costs by 95%Jean-marc Mommessinhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/jean-marc0000677/Highlighted at CVPR 2025: Google DeepMind’s ‘Motion Prompting’ Paper Unlocks Granular Video ControlJean-marc Mommessinhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/jean-marc0000677/Snowflake Charts New AI Territory: Cortex AISQL & Snowflake Intelligence Poised to Reshape Data AnalyticsJean-marc Mommessinhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/jean-marc0000677/Exclusive Talk: Joey Conway of NVIDIA on Llama Nemotron Ultra and Open Source Models

Gardenful / TAOASave this picture!© Tao LeiLandscape Architecture•Beijing, China Architects: TAOA Area Area of this architecture project Area:  227 m² Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2024 Photographs Photographs:Tao LeiMore SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. This is an urban garden built for private use. As a corner of the city, I hope to fill the whole garden with abundant nature in this small space. The site is an open space in a villa compound, surrounded by a cluster of European-style single-family villas typical of Chinese real estate. Modern buildings greatly meet the requirements of indoor temperature and humidity comfort because of their complete facilities, but the building also has a clear climate boundary, cutting off the connection between indoor and outdoor, but also cut off the continuity of nature and life.Save this picture!Save this picture!There is no simple definition of the project as a garden or a building, too simple definition will only fall into the narrow imagination, the purpose is only to establish a place that can accommodate a piece of real nature, can give people shelter, can also walk in it. It is the original intention of this design to build a quiet place where you can be alone, a semi-indoor and semi-outdoor space, and re-lead the enclosed life to the outdoors and into the nature.Save this picture!Save this picture!The square site in the middle of the garden, which is a relatively independent space, the top shelter provides a comfortable life and cozy, the middle of the garden exposed a sky, sunshine and rain and snow will be staged here. With the corresponding land below, the trees and vegetation of the mountains are introduced into it, maintaining the most primitive wildness. To remain wild in this exquisite urban space, in this abstract geometric order, will naturally get rid of the wild gas of the original nature. A spatial transformation is made on both sides to the north, through the stairway and the upward pull of the roof space, extending the narrow auxiliary garden, which has no roof and is therefore bright, maintaining a different light and shade relationship from the central garden, which is filled with rocks and plants transplanted from the mountains.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The structure of the garden is thin and dense synthetic bamboo, and the cross combination of dense structures forms a partition of the space, like a bamboo fence, forming a soft boundary. The interior of the space is lined with wooden panels, and the exterior is covered with thin and crisp aluminum panels. The "bridge" made of stone panels passes through different Spaces, sometimes standing between the bamboo structures, sometimes crossing the rocks, walking between them. Moving between order and wildness.Save this picture!Nature is difficult to measure, and because of its rich and ever-changing qualities, nature provides richness to Spaces. This is from the mountains to large trees, rocks, small flowers and plants, as far as possible to avoid artificial nursery plants. The structure of the garden will geometrically order the nature, eliminating the wild sense of nature. The details of nature can be discovered, and the life force released can be unconsciously perceived. The nature of fragments is real, is wild, and does not want to lose vitality and richness because of artificial transplantation. The superposition of wild abundance and modern geometric space makes it alive with elegance and decency.Save this picture!Save this picture!The nature is independent of the high-density urban space, becoming an independent world, shielding the noise of the city. These are integrated into a continuous and integral "pavilion" and "corridor" constitute the carrier of outdoor life of the family, while sheltering from the wind and rain, under the four eaves also create the relationship between light and dark space, the middle highlights the nature, especially bright, and becomes the center of life. From any Angle one can see a picture of hierarchy and order, a real fragment of nature, built into a new context by geometric order. The richness of nature is therefore more easily perceived, and the changes of nature are constantly played out in daily life and can be seen throughout the year.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less Project locationAddress:Beijing, ChinaLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeTAOAOffice••• Published on June 15, 2025Cite: "Gardenful / TAOA" 15 Jun 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1028408/gardenful-taoa&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save想阅读文章的中文版本吗?满园 / TAOA 陶磊建筑是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Extra-sensory perception The nine-armed octopus and the oddities of the cephalopod nervous system A mix of autonomous and top-down control manage the octopus's limbs. Kenna Hughes-Castleberry – Jun 7, 2025 8:00 am | 19 Credit: Nikos Stavrinidis / 500px Credit: Nikos Stavrinidis / 500px Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more With their quick-change camouflage and high level of intelligence, it’s not surprising that the public and scientific experts alike are fascinated by octopuses. Their abilities to recognize faces, solve puzzles, and learn behaviors from other octopuses make these animals a captivating study. To perform these processes and others, like crawling or exploring, octopuses rely on their complex nervous system, one that has become a focus for neuroscientists. With about 500 million neurons—around the same number as dogs—octopuses’ nervous systems are the most complex of any invertebrate. But, unlike vertebrate organisms, the octopus’s nervous system is also decentralized, with around 350 million neurons, or 66 percent of it, located in its eight arms. “This means each arm is capable of independently processing sensory input, initiating movement, and even executing complex behaviors—without direct instructions from the brain,” explains Galit Pelled, a professor of Mechanical Engineering, Radiology, and Neuroscience at Michigan State University who studies octopus neuroscience. “In essence, the arms have their own ‘mini-brains.’” A decentralized nervous system is one factor that helps octopuses adapt to changes, such as injury or predation, as seen in the case of an Octopus vulgaris, or common octopus, that was observed with nine arms by researchers at the ECOBAR lab at the Institute of Marine Research in Spain between 2021 and 2022. By studying outliers like this cephalopod, researchers can gain insight into how the animal’s detailed scaffolding of nerves changes and regrows over time, uncovering more about how octopuses have evolved over millennia in our oceans. Brains, brains, and more brains Because each arm of an octopus contains its own bundle of neurons, the limbs can operate semi-independently from the central brain, enabling faster responses since signals don’t always need to travel back and forth between the brain and the arms. In fact, Pelled and her team recently discovered that “neural signals recorded in the octopus arm can predict movement type within 100 milliseconds of stimulation, without central brain involvement.” She notes that “that level of localized autonomy is unprecedented in vertebrate systems.” Though each limb moves on its own, the movements of the octopus’s body are smooth and conducted with a coordinated elegance that allows the animal to exhibit some of the broadest range of behaviors, adapting on the fly to changes in its surroundings. “That means the octopus can react quickly to its environment, especially when exploring, hunting, or defending itself,” Pelled says. “For example, one arm can grab food while another is feeling around a rock, without needing permission from the brain. This setup also makes the octopus more resilient. If one arm is injured, the others still work just fine. And because so much decision-making happens at the arms, the central brain is freed up to focus on the bigger picture—like navigating or learning new tasks.” As if each limb weren’t already buzzing with neural activity, things get even more intricate when researchers zoom in further—to the nerves within each individual sucker, a ring of muscular tissue, which octopuses use to sense and taste their surroundings. “There is a sucker ganglion, or nerve center, located in the stalk of every sucker. For some species of octopuses, that’s over a thousand ganglia,” says Cassady Olson, a graduate student at the University of Chicago who works with Cliff Ragsdale, a leading expert in octopus neuroscience. Given that each sucker has its own nerve centers—connected by a long axial nerve cord running down the limb—and each arm has hundreds of suckers, things get complicated very quickly, as researchers have historically struggled to study this peripheral nervous system, as it’s called, within the octopus’s body. “The large size of the brain makes it both really exciting to study and really challenging,” says Z. Yan Wang, an assistant professor of biology and psychology at the University of Washington. “Many of the tools available for neuroscience have to be adjusted or customized specifically for octopuses and other cephalopods because of their unique body plans.” While each limb acts independently, signals are transmitted back to the octopus’s central nervous system. The octopus’ brain sits between its eyes at the front of its mantle, or head, couched between its two optic lobes, large bean-shaped neural organs that help octopuses see the world around them. These optic lobes are just two of the over 30 lobes experts study within the animal’s centralized brain, as each lobe helps the octopus process its environment. This elaborate neural architecture is critical given the octopus’s dual role in the ecosystem as both predator and prey. Without natural defenses like a hard shell, octopuses have evolved a highly adaptable nervous system that allows them to rapidly process information and adjust as needed, helping their chances of survival. Some similarities remain While the octopus’s decentralized nervous system makes it a unique evolutionary example, it does have some structures similar to or analogous to the human nervous system. “The octopus has a central brain mass located between its eyes, and an axial nerve cord running down each arm (similar to a spinal cord),” says Wang. “The octopus has many sensory systems that we are familiar with, such as vision, touch (somatosensation), chemosensation, and gravity sensing.” Neuroscientists have homed in on these similarities to understand how these structures may have evolved across the different branches in the tree of life. As the most recent common ancestor for humans and octopuses lived around 750 million years ago, experts believe that many similarities, from similar camera-like eyes to maps of neural activities, evolved separately in a process known as convergent evolution. While these similarities shed light on evolution's independent paths, they also offer valuable insights for fields like soft robotics and regenerative medicine. Occasionally, unique individuals—like an octopus with an unexpected number of limbs—can provide even deeper clues into how this remarkable nervous system functions and adapts. Nine arms, no problem In 2021, researchers from the Institute of Marine Research in Spain used an underwater camera to follow a male Octopus vulgaris, or common octopus. On its left side, three arms were intact, while the others were reduced to uneven, stumpy lengths, sharply bitten off at varying points. Although the researchers didn’t witness the injury itself, they observed that the front right arm—known as R1—was regenerating unusually, splitting into two separate limbs and giving the octopus a total of nine arms. “In this individual, we believe this condition was a result of abnormal regeneration [a genetic mutation] after an encounter with a predator,” explains Sam Soule, one of the researchers and the first author on the corresponding paper recently published in Animals. The researchers named the octopus Salvador due to its bifurcated arm coiling up on itself like the two upturned ends of Salvador Dali’s moustache. For two years, the team studied the cephalopod’s behavior and found that it used its bifurcated arm less when doing “riskier” movements such as exploring or grabbing food, which would force the animal to stretch its arm out and expose it to further injury. “One of the conclusions of our research is that the octopus likely retains a long-term memory of the original injury, as it tends to use the bifurcated arms for less risky tasks compared to the others,” elaborates Jorge Hernández Urcera, a lead author of the study. “This idea of lasting memory brought to mind Dalí’s famous painting The Persistence of Memory, which ultimately became the title of the paper we published on monitoring this particular octopus.” While the octopus acted more protective of its extra limb, its nervous system had adapted to using the extra appendage, as the octopus was observed, after some time recovering from its injuries, using its ninth arm for probing its environment. “That nine-armed octopus is a perfect example of just how adaptable these animals are,” Pelled adds. “Most animals would struggle with an unusual body part, but not the octopus. In this case, the octopus had a bifurcated (split) arm and still used it effectively, just like any other arm. That tells us the nervous system didn’t treat it as a mistake—it figured out how to make it work.” Kenna Hughes-Castleberry is the science communicator at JILA (a joint physics research institute between the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado Boulder) and a freelance science journalist. Her main writing focuses are quantum physics, quantum technology, deep technology, social media, and the diversity of people in these fields, particularly women and people from minority ethnic and racial groups. Follow her on LinkedIn or visit her website. 19 Comments

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" A still from a demo shot created using MotionMaker, the new generative AI toolset introduced in Maya 2026.1 for roughing out movement animations. Autodesk has released Maya 2026.1, the latest version of its 3D modeling and animation software for visual effects, games and motion graphics work.The release adds MotionMaker, a new AI-based system for generating movement animations for biped and quadruped characters, especially for previs and layout work. Other changes include a new modular character rigging framework inside Bifrost for Maya, plus updates to liquid simulation, OpenPBR support and USD workflows. Autodesk has also released Maya Creative 2026.1, the corresponding update to the cut-down edition of Maya for smaller studios. MotionMaker: new generative AI tool roughs out movement animations The headline feature in Maya 2026.1 is MotionMaker: a new generative animation system.It lets users “create natural character movements in minutes instead of hours”, using a workflow more “like giving stage directions to a digital actor” than traditional animation. Users set keys for a character’s start and end positions, or create a guide path in the viewport, and MotionMaker automatically generates the motion in between. At the minute, that mainly means locomotion cycles, for both bipeds and quadrupeds, plus a few other movements, like jumping or sitting. Although MotionMaker is designed for “anyone in the animation pipeline”, the main initial use cases seem to be layout and previs rather than hero animation. Its output is also intended to be refined manually – Autodesk’s promotional material describes it as getting users “80% of the way there” for “certain types of shots”. Accordingly, MotionMaker comes with its own Editor window, which provides access to standard Maya animation editing tools. Users can layer in animation from other sources, including motion capture or keyframe animation retargeted from other characters: to add upper body movements, for example. There are a few more MotionMaker-specific controls: the video above shows speed ramping, to control the time it takes the character to travel between two points. There is also a Character Scale setting, which determines how a character’s size and weight is expressed through the animation generated. You can read more about the design and aims of MotionMaker in a Q&A with Autodesk Senior Principal Research Scientist Evan Atherton on Autodesk’s blog. According to Atherton, the AI models were trained using motion capture data “specifically collected for this tool”. That includes source data from male and female human performers, plus wolf-style dogs, although the system is “designed to support additional [motion] styles” in future. Bifrost: new modular character rigging framework Character artists and animators also get a new modular rigging framework in Bifrost.Autodesk has been teasing new character rigging capabilities in the node-based framework for building effects since Maya 2025.1, but this seems to be its official launch. The release is compatibility-breaking, and does not work with earlier versions of the toolset. The new Rigging Module Framework is described as a “modular, compound-based system for building … production-ready rigs”, and is “fully integrated with Maya”. Animators can “interact with module inputs and outputs directly from the Maya scene”, and rigs created with Bifrost can be converted into native Maya controls, joints and attributes. Bifrost: improvements to liquid simulation and workflow Bifrost 2.14 for Maya also features improvements to Bifrost’s existing functionality, particularly liquid simulation. The properties of collider objects, like bounciness, stickiness and roughness, can now influence liquid behavior in the same way they do particle behavior and other collisions. In addition, a new parameter controls air drag on foam and spray thrown out by a liquid. Workflow improvements include the option to convert Bifrost curves to Maya scene curves, and batch execution, to write out cache files “without the risk of accidentally overwriting them”. LookdevX: support for OpenPBR in FBX files LookdevX, Maya’s plugin for creating USD shading graphs, has also been updated. Autodesk introduced support for OpenPBR, the open material standard intended as a unified successor to the Autodesk Standard Surface and Adobe Standard Material, in 2024. To that, the latest update adds support for OpenPBR materials in FBX files, making it possible to import or export them from other applications that support OpenPBR: at the minute, 3ds Max plus some third-party renderers. LookdevX 1.8 also features a number of workflow improvements, particularly on macOS. USD for Maya: workflow improvements USD for Maya, the software’s USD plugin, also gets workflow improvements, with USD for Maya 0.32 adding support for animation curves for camera attributes in exports.Other changes include support for MaterialX documents and better representation of USD lights in the viewport. Arnold for Maya: performance improvements Maya’s integration plugin for Autodesk’s Arnold renderer has also been updated, with MtoA 5.5.2 supporting the changes in Arnold 7.4.2.They’re primarily performance improvements, especially to scene initialization times when rendering on machines with high numbers of CPU cores. Maya Creative 2026.1 also released Autodesk has also released Maya Creative 2026.1, the corresponding update to the cut-down edition of Maya aimed at smaller studios, and available on a pay-as-you-go basis.It includes most of the new features from Maya 2026.1, including MotionMaker, but does not include Bifrost for Maya. Price and system requirements Maya 2026.1 is available for Windows 10+, RHEL and Rocky Linux 8.10/9.3/9.5, and macOS 13.0+.The software is rental-only. Subscriptions cost $255/month or $2,010/year, up a further $10/month or $65/year since the release of Maya 2026. In many countries, artists earning under $100,000/year and working on projects valued at under $100,000/year, qualify for Maya Indie subscriptions, now priced at $330/year. Maya Creative is available pay-as-you-go, with prices starting at $3/day, and a minimum spend of $300/year. Read a full list of new features in Maya 2026.1 in the online documentation Have your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we don’t post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.

These annual rankings were last updated on June 6, 2025. Want to see your firm on next year’s list? Continue reading for more on how you can improve your studio’s ranking. Traversing the German nation, one will encounter a similar historic program to other European capitals — Romanesque churches, Renaissance monuments and more — blended with functionalist and modernist structures. Early twenty-first-century Germany gave rise to the thriving Bauhaus. Founded by Walter Gropius, this school introduced brand-new architectural thinking, an ideology rooted in function, clarity and mass production. Materials like concrete and glass were favored, socially progressive housing blocks were constructed, and a newfound appreciation for modernism emerged. The spirit of the great Bauhaus teachers — Mies van der Rohe, for example — vigorously lives on and inspires contemporary designers today. Additionally, modern industrial architecture took off post-war and has played a prominent role in the nation’s economic growth, continuing to do so today. The architectural devastation from WWII resulted in mass reconstruction efforts. The post-war restoration and rebuilding embraced a functional attitude, which continued the legacy of the Bauhaus movement despite its closing over a decade prior. Today, German architecture continues to champion the nation’s modernist brilliance through innovative designs that push technological boundaries and celebrate culture. With so many architecture firms to choose from, it’s challenging for clients to identify the industry leaders that will be an ideal fit for their project needs. Fortunately, Architizer is able to provide guidance on the top design firms in Germany based on more than a decade of data and industry knowledge. How are these architecture firms ranked? The following ranking has been created according to key statistics that demonstrate each firm’s level of architectural excellence. The following metrics have been accumulated to establish each architecture firm’s ranking, in order of priority: The number of A+Awards won (2013 to 2025) The number of A+Awards finalists (2013 to 2025) The number of projects selected as “Project of the Day” (2009 to 2025) The number of projects selected as “Featured Project” (2009 to 2025) The number of projects uploaded to Architizer (2009 to 2025) Each of these metrics is explained in more detail at the foot of this article. This ranking list will be updated annually, taking into account new achievements of Germany architecture firms throughout the year. Without further ado, here are the 30 best architecture firms in Germany: 30. Format Elf Architekten © Format Elf Architekten Simple and touching. Format Elf Architekten is an architecture firm that focuses on residential architecture. Some of Format Elf Architekten’s most prominent projects include: Longhouses, Bad Birnbach, Germany FORMSTELLE, Töging am Inn, Germany House B, Munich, Germany Die Basis, Munich, Germany The following statistics helped Format Elf Architekten achieve 30th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 4 29. Bruzkus Batek Architects © Jens Bösenberg | Whitelight Studio GmbH BRUZKUS BATEK Since 2007, this internationally active office specialised in designing hotels, offices, shops, restaurants and private housing – and particularly in the detailing of high-quality interiors. After 10 successful years, it is time for a change. As of 2018, Bruzkus Batek is splitting into BATEK ARCHITECTS and ESTER BRUZKUS ARCHITECTS. Some of Bruzkus Batek Architects’ most prominent projects include: Razorfish, Berlin, Germany Office Ester Bruzkus Architekten, Berlin, Germany Colette Tim Raue Munich, Munich, Germany Apartment PP, Berlin, Germany Dean, Berlin, Germany The following statistics helped Bruzkus Batek Architects achieve 29th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 3 Total Projects 28 28. Ester Bruzkus Architekten © Ester Bruzkus Architekten Founded in 2002 in Berlin, Ester Bruzkus Architekten is an architecture and interior design practice with global ties: Berlin, New York, Paris, Tel Aviv, Boston, Dubai, Moscow, Vladivostok, Tenerife. We have extensive experience with design at many scales: from the design of tables and furniture to exquisite residences and workspaces to international theaters, restaurants and hotels. Straight lines, precise planning, material contrasts – and plenty of surprises. The architecture of Ester Bruzkus and her team makes use of contrasts of thick and thin, sharp and soft, curved and straight, rough and smooth, common and opulent, colorful and restrained, playful and well-resolved. Special projects result from a dialogue of space and light, materiality and color, existing constraints and new opportunities – and especially a synergy between the needs of the client, the space and the aspirations of great design. Some of Ester Bruzkus Architekten’s most prominent projects include: Razorfish, Berlin, Germany Office Ester Bruzkus Architekten, Berlin, Germany Colette Tim Raue Munich, Munich, Germany Apartment PP, Berlin, Germany Dean, Berlin, Germany The following statistics helped Ester Bruzkus Architekten achieve 28th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 3 Total Projects 34 27. Architekten Wannenmacher + Möller © Architekten Wannenmacher + Möller GmbH Architects Wannenmacher + Möller, based in Bielefeld Germany, has been in practice for almost 60 years. Today the office is run by second generation Andreas Wannenmacher and Hans-Heinrich Möller. It was founded by Gregor Wannenmacher in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1955. Over the years the office grew continuously and became one of the largest architectural firms in the German region Eastern Westfalia. Most of the activities were focused in this region. During the last years, however, the office had the opportunity to design buildings and control their realization outside this region, some of them in foreign countries throughout Europe, Asia, and the USA. Some of Architekten Wannenmacher + Möller’s most prominent projects include: Ford Hagemeier Halle , Germany Wohnhaus Möllmann, Bielefeld, Germany House P+G, Weinheim, Germany House in Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany Borchen Sports Hall, Borchen, Germany The following statistics helped Architekten Wannenmacher + Möller achieve 27th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 14 26. Design.Develop.Build – GA Tech | PBSA | RWTH © Design.Develop.Build - GA Tech | PBSA | RWTH Students from the Georgia Institute of Technology, RWTH Aachen University and PBSA Düsseldorf design, develop and build civic architecture. Some of Design.Develop.Build’s most prominent projects include: Guga S’Thebe Children’s Theatre, Cape Town, South Africa The following statistics helped Design.Develop.Build achieve 26th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 2 A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 1 25. Ecker Architekten © Ecker Architekten Ecker Architekten is an architecture and design firm based in Germany. Ecker Architekten’s design portfolio includes a variety of architectural projects, such as cultural, commercial, government and health, educational, and more. Some of Ecker Architekten’s most prominent projects include: The Forum at Eckenberg Gymnasium, Adelsheim, Germany Field Chapel, Buchen (Odenwald), Germany Kindergarten Dandelion Clock, Germany Kanzlei Balkenhol, BW, Germany Branch Bank in Hettingen, Hettingen, Germany The following statistics helped Ecker Architekten achieve 25th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 8 24. Sehw Architektur © Helin Bereket “Sehw stands for meaningfulness, emotion, attitude and change.” Our mission: building architecture sustainably, thinking innovatively and creating social added value. “Sehw stands for an aesthetic of sustainability in architecture.” // Sustainability // Acting sustainably We are not just planning for today but for the generation of tomorrow and beyond. For us, sustainable architecture means forward-looking planning and the development of future-proof utilization concepts. In times of rapid climate change, we are committed to resource-conserving construction methods and the use of renewable energies. Recyclable building materials and circular economy are the basis for a long life cycle and corresponding sustainability certifications of our buildings. We value and protect existing structures and materials. Some of Sehw Architektur’s most prominent projects include: KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany Weitblick Innovation Campus, Augsburg, Germany Inclusive School Centre Döbern, Döbern, Germany The Copper Coil, Rostock, Germany Around the Corner – Student Apartment Building, Berlin, Germany The following statistics helped Sehw Architektur achieve 24th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 18 23. PHILIPPARCHITEKTEN Anna Philipp © PHILIPPARCHITEKTEN Anna Philipp A passion for houses. There’s nothing more significant to describe what our architecture office is about: houses — simple, yet complex. The archetype of all construction is our passion. That’s what we stand for. On this we work holistically with a team of architects and engineers. Center of our designing is the human being. We understand architecture as a second skin, which must be tailored. At the same time it’s essential to reflect the unique character of the location. The goal is a harmonious triad of mankind, nature and architecture. The focus and specialization on houses and villas is faced by a wide diversification in the range of services offered. Some of PHILIPPARCHITEKTEN Anna Philipp’s most prominent projects include: Villa Philipp, Waldenburg, Germany Villa Lombardo, Lugano, Switzerland A monastery of modernity, Augsburg, Germany Villa Schatzlmayr, Passau, Germany Villa Mauthe, Bahlingen, Germany The following statistics helped PHILIPPARCHITEKTEN Anna Philipp achieve 23rd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 22 22. KRESINGS © Roman Mensing KRESINGS is a studio for architecture, interior design, urban planning and product design with offices in Munster and Dusseldorf. Since its founding by Rainer Maria Kresing in 1985 four further partners joined the management: Kilian Kresing, Christian Kawe, Matthias Povel and André Perret. More than 60 employees — architects, designers, planners and engineers — guarantee a broad range of creative and qualified services. Experience meets creative ease. The studio has been awarded with national awards like those of the BDA (Bund Deutscher Architekten) and the DAM (Deutsches Architektur Museum). KRESINGS: Experts and team players in areas of office and industrial buildings, facilities for research, education and culture as well as individual designs for residential buildings. Some of KRESINGS’ most prominent projects include: Student Residence Boeselagerstraße, Münster, Germany Headquarters Mitsubishi Electric Europe, Ratingen, Germany Petting Zoo, Öhringen, Germany Freiherr-vom-Stein-High-School, Münster, Germany Residential Building Hoher Heckenweg, Münster, Germany The following statistics helped KRESINGS achieve 22nd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 33 21. 3deluxe © 3deluxe The interdisciplinary design collective 3deluxe, consisting of about 30 individuals centered around Dieter Brell, Peter Seipp and Andreas and Stephan Lauhoff, has been creating groundbreaking impulses in the fields of architecture and interior design, graphic and media design. In creative synergy hybrid forms of two and three dimensional design are created: graphic works develop a spatial impact, while architectural drafts are based on communication principles. In this way, complex collages are contrived, so called ‚multilayered atmospheres‘, that foster multiple sensory experiences and allow for a multitude of potential interpretations. Paramount is the broadening of an absolute understanding of space and image towards a dynamic, processual approach. Some of 3deluxe’s most prominent projects include: V- Plaza Urban Development, Kaunas, Lithuania Kaffee Partner Headquarters, Osnabrück, Germany Butterfly Pavilion, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Leonardo Glass Cube, Bad Driburg, Germany Cyberhelvetia The following statistics helped 3deluxe achieve 21st place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 2 Featured Projects 3 Total Projects 20 20. Christoph Hesse Architects © Deimel und Wittmar Christoph Hesse Architects was founded in 2010 by Christoph Hesse, has offices in Korbach and, since 2018, in Berlin. The architectural practice currently employs an international team of 15 people and has won numerous awards. Some of Christoph Hesse Architects’ most prominent projects include: VITOS Outpatient psychiatric clinic for traumatized refugees, Korbach, Germany Villa F / the off-the-grid house in the central highlands of Germany, Medebach, Germany StrohTherme, Medebach, Germany Room of Silence, Korbach, Germany The following statistics helped Christoph Hesse Architects achieve 20th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 2 Featured Projects 2 Total Projects 4 19. Zeller & Moye © Zeller & Moye Zeller & Moye is a design studio based in Mexico City and Berlin that works at the intersection of architecture, arts, design and latest technology through an experimental, multidisciplinary and collaborative working culture. Some of Zeller & Moye’s most prominent projects include: HAUS KÖRIS, Brandenburg, Germany SANDRA WEIL Store, Mexico City, Mexico TROQUER FASHION HOUSE, Mexico City, Mexico CASA VERNE, Mexico City, Mexico CASA HILO, Mexico The following statistics helped Zeller & Moye achieve 19th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 12 18. Ippolito Fleitz Group – Identity Architects © Ippolito Fleitz Group - Identity Architects Ippolito fleitz group is a multidisciplinary, internationally operating design studio based in Stuttgart.We are identity architects. We work in unison with our clients to develop architecture, products and communication that are part of a whole and yet distinctive in their own right. This is how we define identity.With meticulous analysis before we begin.With animated examination in the conceptional phase. With a clarity of argument in the act of persuasion.With a love of accuracy in the realisation.With a serious goal and a lot of fun along the way. Working together with our clients.As architects of identity, we conceive and construct buildings, interiors and landscapes; we develop products and communication measures. Some of Ippolito Fleitz Group – Identity Architects’ most prominent projects include: Das GERBER, Stuttgart, Germany Hunke – Jewellers and Opticians, Ludwigsburg, Germany Bella Italia Weine, Stuttgart, Germany ippolito fleitz group | Residential Building, Denkendorf, Germany WakuWaku Dammtor, Hamburg, Germany The following statistics helped Ippolito Fleitz Group - Identity Architects achieve 18th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 26 17. VON M © Zooey Braun VON M is an architecture and design firm based in Germany. VON M’s design portfolio includes a variety of architectural projects, such as cultural, residential, educational, commercial, hospitality and sport, and more. Some of VON M’s most prominent projects include: Museum Luthers Sterbehaus, Eisleben, Germany BHM Pavillon, Wolfegg, Germany Kinder- und Familienzentrum, Ludwigsburg, Germany Hotel Bauhofstrasse, Ludwigsburg, Germany HS77, Stuttgart, Germany The following statistics helped VON M achieve 17th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 6 Total Projects 11 16. Plastique Fantastique © Plastique Fantastique Plastique Fantastique is a collective for temporary architecture that samples the performative possibilities of urban environments. Established in Berlin in 1999, Plastique Fantastique has been influenced by the unique circumstances that made the city a laboratory for temporary spaces. Plastique Fantastique’s synthetic structures affect surrounding spaces like a soap bubble does: Similar to a foreign body, it occupies and mutates urban space. Their interventions change the way we perceive and interact in urban environments. By mixing different landscape types, an osmotic passage between private and public space is generating new hybrid environments.Regardless the way people view a bubble, walk around its exterior or move inside it, the pneumatic structure is a medium to experience the same physical setting in a temporary extraordinary situation. Some of Plastique Fantastique’s most prominent projects include: LOUD SHADOWS, Terschelling, Netherlands Blurry Venice, Venice, Italy Aeropolis, Copenhagen, Denmark superKOLMEMEN, Helsinki, Finland MOBILE PPS (Personal Protective Space) for Doctors The following statistics helped Plastique Fantastique achieve 16th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 5 15. 4a Architekten © 4a Architekten GmbH Shaping atmosphere, lending identity, creating quality of space — these are the values that characterize the buildings of 4a Architekten. The starting point and guiding principle of our work is the concept of architecture as living space. Our buildings come into being through intensive team work shaped by interdisciplinary thinking and action. What characterizes a location in terms of its culture and history? What are the client’s expectations and objectives? What is viable within the budget and what are the benefits for users? These questions and this approach bring us to solutions with an individual character — and they apply just as much to the planning of buildings as to the design of interior spaces. Some of 4a Architekten’s most prominent projects include: Therme Lindau on Lake Constance, Lindau, Germany Balingen Civic Hall, Balingen, Germany Emser Thermal Baths, Bad Ems, Germany Spreewald Spa Hotel, Burg, Germany Stegermatt Aquatic Centre, Offenburg, Germany The following statistics helped 4a Architekten achieve 15th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 7 Total Projects 15 14. schneider+schumacher © schneider+schumacher / Frankfurt - Vienna - Tianjin Our architectural approach is characterized by the enjoyment we have in finding solutions to the complex demands of today’s buildings. We adapt our buildings to fit into their surroundings, yet we also create landmarks. Pragmatic poetry, nurtured not only by design clarity and a conscientious attitude towards the task in hand, but also by a delight in fine details. This design process is constantly informed by the dialogue that takes place on a daily basis between the various professional disciplines in all our specialized divisions – architecture, construction and project management, design, a.o. — and international offices. schneider+schumacher is headquartered in Frankfurt (GE), and has two branches in Vienna (AU) and Tianjin (CN). Some of schneider+schumacher’s most prominent projects include: Autobahn Church, Wilnsdorf, Germany Oil Harbour Bridge, Raunheim, Germany DOXX – Quayside Development at Mainz Customs Port, Mainz, Germany Städel Museum Extension, Frankfurt, Germany Siegerland Motorway Church, Wilnsdorf, Wilnsdorf, Germany The following statistics helped schneider+schumacher achieve 14th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 1 A+Awards Finalist 2 Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 12 13. ingenhoven associates © ingenhoven associates Celebrating 40 years of excellence since 1985, the studio is pioneer in sustainable architecture, designing and delivering projects of all sizes and typologies across nearly every region of the world, adhering to the highest green building standards, including LEED, Green Star, Minergie, BREEAM, DGNB and CASBEE. With a tailored approach to each location, the multinational, interdisciplinary team creates nuanced architectural solutions with added value and positive social impact. Some of ingenhoven associates’ most prominent projects include: Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Düsseldorf, Germany Freiburg Town Hall, Freiburg, Germany Kö-Bogen 2, Düsseldorf, Germany Marina One, Singapore, Singapore Daniel Swarovski Corporation, Männedorf, Switzerland The following statistics helped ingenhoven associates achieve 13th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 2 Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 28 12. gmp · Architects von Gerkan, Marg und Partner © HG Esch Photography The architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) are an architectural practice that was founded in Hamburg and has branches worldwide. With our generalist approach and more than 50 years of experience, we complete projects in dialogue with our clients and the participating planning disciplines, at all scales and cultural contexts, covering all design phases and working on all continents. The range of our projects extends from family residences to high-rise buildings, from stadiums to concert halls, from office buildings to bridges, and from door hardware to urban planning. With holistic sustainability in mind, we aim to create new and refurbished architecture that is long-lasting and goes beyond temporary fashions, taking into account the global challenges and issues of urbanization, digitalization, and mobility. Some of gmp · Architects von Gerkan, Marg und Partner’s most prominent projects include: Guna Villa, Jūrmala, Latvia Universiade 2011 Sports Center, Shenzhen, China Olympic Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany Twin Towers, Commodity Exchange Plaza, Dalian, China The following statistics helped gmp · Architects von Gerkan, Marg und Partner achieve 12th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 8 Total Projects 36 11. kadawittfeldarchitektur © kadawittfeldarchitektur We are kadawittfeldarchitektur. Originally founded in Aachen in 1999, we today stand for more than just architectural design. The interdisciplinary approach of our work, linking architecture, interior and product design on the one hand and at the interface of town planning and urban projects on the other hand, reflects the full range of our creative output. kadawittfeldarchitektur develops added value space. In a team of more than 170 persons, we create architecture with added value space for living, communication and work environments. In the way we deal with volumes, materials, structures and functions, we strive to integrate our schemes into their surroundings with the objective of creating contemporary and sustainable architecture and meeting the needs of both the users and the general public. Some of kadawittfeldarchitektur’s most prominent projects include: CELTIC MUSEUM, Glauburg, Germany ADIDAS LACES, Herzogenaurach, Germany SPZ, HALLEIN, Hallein, Austria SENIOR CITIZENS RESIDENCE ALTENMARKT, Altenmarkt im Pongau, Austria SALZBURG CENTRAL STATION, Salzburg, Austria The following statistics helped kadawittfeldarchitektur achieve 11th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 8 Total Projects 32 10. GRAFT © GRAFT What is graft? The English word ‘graft’ provokes a variety of meanings and multiple readings. It stands for transplants in the field of medicine, for cheating, but also for hard work.  In the terminology of botany, grafting is described as the addition of one shoot onto a genetically different host. Some of GRAFT’s most prominent projects include: Ice Stadion “Arena Schierke”, Wernigerode, Germany Show Palace Munich, Munich, Germany Autostadt Roof and Service Pavilion, Wolfsburg, Germany Eiswerk, Berlin, Germany Villa M , Berlin, Germany The following statistics helped GRAFT achieve 10th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 2 Featured Projects 7 Total Projects 17 9. HENN © HENN HENN is an international architecture studio with over 75 years of experience in designing innovative work environments across office, science, healthcare, industry, education, and culture. An interdisciplinary team of 400 professionals works from offices in Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, and Shanghai. The design process is collaborative and driven by curiosity. HENN draws from the rich expertise of three generations and a global network of partners. All three generations share a common mindset: openness and curiosity. This spirit drives the studio to continuously question and redefine architectural typologies. HENN was founded in 1947 by Walter Henn in Dresden. Early on, he specialized in industrial buildings and played a key role in establishing the Braunschweig School through his academic work. Some of HENN’s most prominent projects include: Porsche Pavilion, Wolfsburg, Germany Zalando Headquarters Berlin, Berlin, Germany Bugatti Atelier, Molsheim, France MobileLife Campus, Wolfsburg, Germany The CUBE, Dresden, Germany The following statistics helped HENN achieve 9th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 2 A+Awards Finalist 2 Featured Projects 6 Total Projects 30 8. Auer Weber © Aldo Amoretti Photography Founded in 1980, we are an internationally active architectural firm with offices in Stuttgart and Munich. We employ around 150 people from 20 countries and work on projects of various sizes and tasks from initial design through to completion. Each year, we create entries for between 30 and 40 competitions in our two offices, from which we generate a large proportion of our orders. These range from buildings for the community to educational and administrative buildings, sports and leisure facilities and large infrastructure projects. The diversity of our architecture is the result of in-depth study of the building tasks and where these tasks originate. Some of Auer Weber’s most prominent projects include: Aquatic Centre “Aquamotion” Courchevel , Saint-Bon-Tarentaise, France Arena du Pays d’Aix, Aix-en-Provence, France Extension of the District Office in Starnberg, Starnberg, Germany ESO Headquarters Extension, Garching, Germany Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Route de Torcy, France The following statistics helped Auer Weber achieve 8th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 2 A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 9 Total Projects 24 7. Peter Ruge Architekten © Peter Ruge Architekten GmbH Identity+Sustainability=Architecture Peter Ruge Architekten is a locally and internationally active planning office based in Berlin. Our mission is simple: to develop and build sustainable architecture of the future. The agenda of the team along with three partners Peter Ruge, Kayoko Uchiyama and Matthias Matschewski includes new buildings, optimization of existing properties and urban planning designs. The projects are holistic, i.e. adapted to the climate, culture and needs of the users, and have received numerous awards and certifications. Our detailed understanding of sustainable design processes supports the decisions of our clients. In education field, Prof. Ruge shares our knowledge with a global design community at DIA, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences in Dessau, Shenyang Jianzhu University in China and Kyoto Seika University in Japan. Some of Peter Ruge Architekten’s most prominent projects include: Busan Opera House, South Korea, Busan, South Korea Congress Center Hangzhou, Hangzhou, China House O, Germany, Potsdam-Mittelmark, Germany LTD_1 Hamburg, Germany, Hamburg, Germany Muzeum Lotnictwa Krakow, Poland The following statistics helped Peter Ruge Architekten achieve 7th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 12 Total Projects 18 6. HPP Architects © Christa Lachenmaier Photography HPP Architects is one of Europe’s leading architectural partnerships with a full range of architectural and master planning services. Since its foundation by Professor Hentrich, the 4th generation of HPP partnership today includes a global team of more than 25 nationalities and 480 architects, engineers, urban designers and specialists. Today it comprises 13 offices including 8 regional offices in Germany and 5 international branches in Turkey, China and Netherlands. HPP Architects’ headquarter is located in the Düsseldorf Media Harbor, further offices are located in Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Istanbul, Leipzig, Munich, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Stuttgart. HPP completed more than 1200 buildings worldwide and aspires to create architectural quality of lasting value beyond the here and now: timeless and yet clearly part of their time, innovative and equally grounded in history. Some of HPP Architects’s most prominent projects include: LVM 5 , Münster, Germany Medical Library Oasis (O.A.S.E.), Düsseldorf, Germany Hochschule Ruhr West, Mülheim, Germany Henkel Asia-Pacific and China Headquarters, Shanghai, China Dreischeibenhaus, Düsseldorf, Germany The following statistics helped HPP Architects achieve 6th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 3 Featured Projects 12 Total Projects 25 5. Behnisch Architekten © David Matthiessen The Stuttgart-based practice known today as Behnisch Architekten was founded in 1989 under the leadership of Stefan Behnisch. Originally established as a branch office of Günter Behnisch’s practice Behnisch & Partner, it became independent in 1991 and has subsequently developed into an international practice with offices in Stuttgart, Munich, Los Angeles/California (1999 – 2011), and Boston. These offices are directed by Stefan Behnisch and his partners in varying combinations. The Partners are Robert Hösle, Robert Matthew Noblett and Stefan Rappold. Stefan Behnisch is involved in all three offices. From the outset, the social dimension of architecture has been a fundamental aspect of the firm’s design philosophy. Some of Behnisch Architekten’s most prominent projects include: SC Workplaces, California City of Santa Monica Public Parking Structure #6, Santa Monica, California Primary School Infanteriestrasse, München, Germany Harvard University Science and Engineering Complex, Boston, Massachusetts John and Frances Angelos Law Center, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland The following statistics helped Behnisch Architekten achieve 5th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Finalist 9 Featured Projects 8 Total Projects 24 4. wulf architekten © Tobias Vollmer wulf architekten emerged from the architecture practice established 1987 in Stuttgart by Tobias Wulf. Currently the office is managed by Tobias Wulf, Jan-Michael Kallfaß, Ingmar Menzer and Steffen Vogt. From 1996 to 2018, Kai Bierich and Alexander Vohl were partners of Tobias Wulf at wulf architekten. Currently, the company has about 140 employees, nine of them being senior architects. With three office locations – Stuttgart, Berlin and Basel (CH) – wulf architekten is also working on projects abroad. Some of wulf architekten’s most prominent projects include: Parking Garage Facade P22a at the Cologne Exhibition Centre, Cologne, Germany Four primary schools in modular design, Munich, Germany School Center North, Stuttgart, Germany Canteen and Media Center for North vocational school center, Darmstadt, Germany Chamber of Industry and Commerce, headquarters, Stuttgart, Germany The following statistics helped wulf architekten achieve 4th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 1 A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 11 Total Projects 18 3. TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten © TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten GmbH TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten design, plan and build for national and international clients in the public and private sectors. The company, with offices in Hamburg, Berlin and Dresden, is named after Sergei Tchoban, architect BDA, and his partner Ekkehard Voss, architect BDA (1963-2024). With over 150 highly qualified, interdisciplinary employees and many years of experience, it offers architecturally and functionally sustainable solutions for a wide range of building projects in Germany and abroad. TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten is member of the Association of German Architects (BDA), the Chambers of Architects in Hamburg, Berlin and Saxony, the Förderverein Bundesstiftung Baukultur e.V. as well as of the European Architects Network (EAN). Some of TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten’s most prominent projects include: EDGE Suedkreuz Berlin, Berlin, Germany SKF Test Centre for large-scale bearings, Schweinfurt, Germany Seestraße, Berlin, Berlin, Germany Koenigstadt-Quartier, Berlin, Germany EMBASSY – Living alongside Koellnischer Park, Berlin, Berlin, Germany The following statistics helped TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten achieve 3rd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 1 A+Awards Finalist 6 Featured Projects 12 Total Projects 29 2. Barkow Leibinger © Barkow Leibinger The scope of Barkow Leibinger’s work spans from cultural projects to industrial ones. Their focus on industrial architecture includes master planning and building representational and functional buildings for production, logistical and office spaces. Some of Barkow Leibinger’s most prominent projects include: Production Hall Trumpf, Hettingen, Germany Stadthaus M1 – Green City Hotel, Freiburg, Germany Harvard ArtLab, Boston, Massachusetts Production Hall, Grüsch, Switzerland Fraunhofer Research Campus, Waischenfeld, Germany The following statistics helped Barkow Leibinger achieve 2nd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: Featured Projects 12 Total Projects 17 1. J.MAYER.H © J.MAYER.H J. MAYER H’s studio, focuses on works at the intersection of architecture, communication and new technology. From urban planning schemes and buildings to installation work and objects with new materials, the relationship between the human body, technology and nature form the background for a new production of space. Some of J.MAYER.H’s most prominent projects include: MIAMI MUSEUM GARAGE, Miami, Florida n.n. Residence, Moscow, Russia Hasselt Court House , Hasselt, Belgium Highway Rest Stops, Tbilisi, Georgia Rest Stops, Gori, Georgia Featured image: Tram Stops, Kehl, Germany The following statistics helped J.MAYER.H achieve 1st place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Germany: A+Awards Winner 5 A+Awards Finalist 3 Featured Projects 19 Total Projects 30 Why Should I Trust Architizer’s Ranking? With more than 30,000 architecture firms and over 130,000 projects within its database, Architizer is proud to host the world’s largest online community of architects and building product manufacturers. Its celebrated A+Awards program is also the largest celebration of architecture and building products, with more than 400 jurors and hundreds of thousands of public votes helping to recognize the world’s best architecture each year. Architizer also powers firm directories for a number of AIA (American Institute of Architects) Chapters nationwide, including the official directory of architecture firms for AIA New York. An example of a project page on Architizer with Project Award Badges highlighted A Guide to Project Awards The blue “+” badge denotes that a project has won a prestigious A+Award as described above. Hovering over the badge reveals details of the award, including award category, year, and whether the project won the jury or popular choice award. The orange Project of the Day and yellow Featured Project badges are awarded by Architizer’s Editorial team, and are selected based on a number of factors. The following factors increase a project’s likelihood of being featured or awarded Project of the Day status: Project completed within the last 3 years A well written, concise project description of at least 3 paragraphs Architectural design with a high level of both functional and aesthetic value High quality, in focus photographs At least 8 photographs of both the interior and exterior of the building Inclusion of architectural drawings and renderings Inclusion of construction photographs There are 7 Projects of the Day each week and a further 31 Featured Projects. Each Project of the Day is published on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Stories, while each Featured Project is published on Facebook. Each Project of the Day also features in Architizer’s Weekly Projects Newsletter and shared with 170,000 subscribers.     We’re constantly look for the world’s best architects to join our community. If you would like to understand more about this ranking list and learn how your firm can achieve a presence on it, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at editorial@architizer.com. The post 30 Best Architecture and Design Firms in Germany appeared first on Journal.

Text embedding and reranking are foundational to modern information retrieval systems, powering applications such as semantic search, recommendation systems, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). However, current approaches often face key challenges—particularly in achieving both high multilingual fidelity and task adaptability without relying on proprietary APIs. Existing models frequently fall short in scenarios requiring nuanced semantic understanding across multiple languages or domain-specific tasks like code retrieval and instruction following. Moreover, most open-source models either lack scale or flexibility, while commercial APIs remain costly and closed. Qwen3-Embedding and Qwen3-Reranker: A New Standard for Open-Source Embedding Alibaba’s Qwen Team has unveiled the Qwen3-Embedding and Qwen3-Reranker Series—models that set a new benchmark in multilingual text embedding and relevance ranking. Built on the Qwen3 foundation models, the series includes variants in 0.6B, 4B, and 8B parameter sizes and supports a wide range of languages (119 in total), making it one of the most versatile and performant open-source offerings to date. These models are now open-sourced under the Apache 2.0 license on Hugging Face, GitHub, and ModelScope, and are also accessible via Alibaba Cloud APIs. These models are optimized for use cases such as semantic retrieval, classification, RAG, sentiment analysis, and code search—providing a strong alternative to existing solutions like Gemini Embedding and OpenAI’s embedding APIs. Technical Architecture Qwen3-Embedding models adopt a dense transformer-based architecture with causal attention, producing embeddings by extracting the hidden state corresponding to the [EOS] token. Instruction-awareness is a key feature: input queries are formatted as {instruction} {query}<|endoftext|>, enabling task-conditioned embeddings. The reranker models are trained with a binary classification format, judging document-query relevance in an instruction-guided manner using a token likelihood-based scoring function. The models are trained using a robust multi-stage training pipeline: Large-scale weak supervision: 150M synthetic training pairs generated using Qwen3-32B, covering retrieval, classification, STS, and bitext mining across languages and tasks. Supervised fine-tuning: 12M high-quality data pairs are selected using cosine similarity (>0.7), fine-tuning performance in downstream applications. Model merging: Spherical linear interpolation (SLERP) of multiple fine-tuned checkpoints ensures robustness and generalization. This synthetic data generation pipeline enables control over data quality, language diversity, task difficulty, and more—resulting in a high degree of coverage and relevance in low-resource settings. Performance Benchmarks and Insights The Qwen3-Embedding and Qwen3-Reranker series demonstrate strong empirical performance across several multilingual benchmarks. On MMTEB (216 tasks across 250+ languages), Qwen3-Embedding-8B achieves a mean task score of 70.58, surpassing Gemini and GTE-Qwen2 series. On MTEB (English v2): Qwen3-Embedding-8B reaches 75.22, outperforming other open models including NV-Embed-v2 and GritLM-7B. On MTEB-Code: Qwen3-Embedding-8B leads with 80.68, excelling in applications like code retrieval and Stack Overflow QA. For reranking: Qwen3-Reranker-0.6B already outperforms Jina and BGE rerankers. Qwen3-Reranker-8B achieves 81.22 on MTEB-Code and 72.94 on MMTEB-R, marking state-of-the-art performance. Ablation studies confirm the necessity of each training stage. Removing synthetic pretraining or model merging led to significant performance drops (up to 6 points on MMTEB), emphasizing their contributions. Conclusion Alibaba’s Qwen3-Embedding and Qwen3-Reranker Series present a robust, open, and scalable solution to multilingual and instruction-aware semantic representation. With strong empirical results across MTEB, MMTEB, and MTEB-Code, these models bridge the gap between proprietary APIs and open-source accessibility. Their thoughtful training design—leveraging high-quality synthetic data, instruction-tuning, and model merging—positions them as ideal candidates for enterprise applications in search, retrieval, and RAG pipelines. By open-sourcing these models, the Qwen team not only pushes the boundaries of language understanding but also empowers the broader community to innovate on top of a solid foundation. Check out the Paper, Technical details, Qwen3-Embedding and Qwen3-Reranker. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also, feel free to follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to join our 95k+ ML SubReddit and Subscribe to our Newsletter. 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/A Step-by-Step Coding Guide to Building an Iterative AI Workflow Agent Using LangGraph and GeminiAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/From Clicking to Reasoning: WebChoreArena Benchmark Challenges Agents with Memory-Heavy and Multi-Page TasksAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Mistral AI Introduces Mistral Code: A Customizable AI Coding Assistant for Enterprise WorkflowsAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/NVIDIA AI Releases Llama Nemotron Nano VL: A Compact Vision-Language Model Optimized for Document Understanding

🍉🍋🐍🍇🍎 "Brainmelting Snake" Serpentes is back An updated offering of blissful boomer arcade goodness is here! It's Snake, but every fruit has 5 effects assigned to it randomly. Eat the fruits to reveal their effects, then use them to your advantage... or die trying. Based on a hellishly addictive hidden gem made by Benjamin Soulé in 2015, this new Serpentes got a second serving of 11 fresh fruits to unlock, mix, and match with the old ones, featuring new mechanics, reworked old ones, and a new original soundtrack by Pentadrangle. Boomer Arcade at its crunchiest Select two bonuses to start your run, then score the best possible score in 60 seconds. Death is inevitable, but dying only means retrying the very next second, as the fruits' properties get reshuffled. As you reach higher scores and fill up the leaderboard, you'll unlock new bonuses to select at the start, and new fruits to mix into the game for new effects. Strategize on the fly The fruits have 5 rows of properties. The first row is simply score. The second one adds and removes lengths of tail. The third one adds enemies, obstacles, it makes your snake faster, and some other fun things. The fourth row makes your next fruit more valuable, or maybe you'll get a wider selection of fruits, or you'll get a way to destroy some of the enemies and obstacles. Finally the fifth row holds a variety of powerful bonuses and mini-games that play through the game of Snake. Complete a row on all the fruits to get 20 extra seconds on the timer. Quickly pick up 5 of a same fruit to unlock its fifth property. Try different priorities. Adapt your strategy to the effects you uncover. Or die and restart. After all, a run is just 1 minute. Pay to win The free demo for this game is essentially the same as the full game. However, the demo only lets you select one starting bonus, instead of two. This makes it considerably harder than the full game, though not impossible, and we believe it's representative enough to get an idea of whether this game is for you. Besides this, the demo mostly features the fruits from the original version, and only 2 of the 11 unlockable new ones. Controls This game plays entirely with the keyboard, or with a gamepad. (keyboard still required to input your name at least once for the leaderboard) Use directions to move your snake, and hold them to move faster. That's it. 🍌🍑🐍🍒🥑 Praise for Serpentes "It captures the spirit of the original Snake perfectly [...] and then dials it up to eleven." — Derek Yu"Each variation of the Snake theme has generally been the same until Benjamin Soulé released 'Serpentes'." — Indie Retro News"[about Serpentes] I love the way it feels in my brain." — The Beauty of Games, by Frank Lantz🍋🍊🐍🥝🍍 This game was partially funded on Patreon by people like you! Our 3€-per-month Patreon subscription gives you our games as they come out, starting with the last game that came out when you subscribe. At this time, that means this game! If you have the means, subscribing for 5€ per month makes your name appear in the credits of the games that come out while you are subscribed, and gives you the OST of the games on Bandcamp. For 10€ per month, you also get access to a Discord channel where we frequently post news, articles and other resources we find interesting or helpful. The games are given out as Itch keys and Steam keys to be redeemed on our website. The games initially release on Itch, and then come to Steam a bit later. When the game releases on a platform, the corresponding key appears. You can cancel your subscription at anytime and it won't revoke your game keys. This game is currently an Itch exclusive. But it will come out on Steam eventually. If you feel so inclined, wishlisting Serpentes there would be very helpful to us! Buying the game here on Itch, or getting it through our Patreon subscription, will get you a Steam key when it releases there. 🍋🍑🐍🥑🍉 Discord If you'd like you can come to our Discord to share your best scores and compare strategies! It's also a great place to talk with us and get news for this and our next projects! 🍎🍍🐍🍊🍓 Are you press or a content creator? If you're a streamer, youtuber, or press and you'd like to cover the game, you can request a press key using this form! We've also uploaded a few assets you might find useful, including screenshots and thumbnail material! Find them here! 🍌🍒🐍🍓🥝 About PUNKCAKE As PUNKCAKE Délicieux we make a new game every month, which you can get by subscribing to our Patreon for 3€/month or buy separately on Itch io for 6$! Subscribe to our newsletter! Join our Discord! Follow our Bluesky! Subscribe to our Youtube! 🍇🍋🐍🍍🍊 Changelog: Quickpatch 1.0b: Fixed the Lychee unlock. Fixed a crash when trying to delete highscores. More informationPurchaseGet this game and 23 more for $66.00 USDSerpentes Release Sale! 🐍🍒View bundleBuy Now$6.00 $5.40 USD or moreIn order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $5.40 USD. You will get access to the following files:Download demo

Jun 03, 2025Ravie LakshmananWeb Security / Digital Identity Google has revealed that it will no longer trust digital certificates issued by Chunghwa Telecom and Netlock citing "patterns of concerning behavior observed over the past year." The changes are expected to be introduced in Chrome 139, which is scheduled for public release in early August 2025. The current major version is 137. The update will affect all Transport Layer Security (TLS) server authentication certificates issued by the two Certificate Authorities (CAs) after July 31, 2025, 11:59:59 p.m. UTC. Certificates issued before that date will not be impacted. Chunghwa Telecom is Taiwan's largest integrated telecom service provider and Netlock is a Hungarian company that offers digital identity, electronic signature, time stamping, and authentication solutions. "Over the past several months and years, we have observed a pattern of compliance failures, unmet improvement commitments, and the absence of tangible, measurable progress in response to publicly disclosed incident reports," Google's Chrome Root Program and the Chrome Security Team said. "When these factors are considered in the aggregate and considered against the inherent risk each publicly-trusted CA poses to the internet, continued public trust is no longer justified." As a result of this change, Chrome browser users on Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, Android, and Linux who navigate to a site serving a certificate issued by either of the two CAs after July 31, will be served a full-screen security warning. Website operators who rely on the two CAs are recommended to use the Chrome Certificate Viewer to check the validity of their site's certificates and transition to a new publicly-trusted CA as soon as "reasonably possible" to avoid any user disruption. Enterprises, however, can override these Chrome Root Store constraints by installing the corresponding root CA certificate as a locally-trusted root on the platform Chrome is running. It's worth noting that Apple has distrusted the Root CA Certificate "NetLock Arany (Class Gold) Főtanúsítvány" effective November 15, 2024. The disclosure comes after Google Chrome, Apple, and Mozilla decided to no longer root CA certificates signed by Entrust as of November 2024. Entrust has since sold off its certificate business to Sectigo. Earlier this March, Google revealed that the CA/Browser Forum adopted Multi-Perspective Issuance Corroboration (MPIC) and Linting as required practices in the Baseline Requirements (BRs) to enhance domain control validation and flag insecure practices in X.509 certificates. Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE    

The Steam Deck changed the game for PC players, opening up a world of portability that was usually reserved for Nintendo fans. Naturally, manufacturers tried to follow suit with Windows-based handhelds and the results are, shall we say, mixed. Now, Valve has released official instructions for installing its SteamOS on devices other than the Steam Deck. Let's dive into how to do it—and whether you should.I should note up front: This is going to be a nebulous area when it comes to official support from the company that made your handheld. At time of writing, the Lenovo Legion Go S is the only handheld with the "Powered by SteamOS" branding (besides the Steam Deck itself), meaning it's officially supported with a final build. You can install SteamOS on devices like the Legion Go and the ROG Ally, but their support isn't final.Also, it should go without saying, but we'll say it anyway: If you wipe Windows from your handheld, you won't be able to play Windows-based games that aren't supported via SteamOS. That largely consists of online games that require anti-cheat software, but it's worth checking sites like ProtonDB to make sure your favorite games will work on SteamOS.Why should you install SteamOS on your Windows handheld?So, with the caveats out of the way, what are the upsides? Put (overly) simply, Windows is not designed for handhelds. In fact, under the hood, Windows tends to see your gaming handheld as a laptop. Right down to including things like Microsoft Teams that run in the background, or popping up alert boxes that interrupt your game to inform you of a low battery.Now that people are able to experiment with SteamOS and Windows on the same hardware, it's becoming clearer that Windows itself is a massive nerf to both frame rate and battery life. Even gaming laptops, which can often last all day for normal work, can struggle to get even a few hours of gameplay while away from a charger. That's why it's so important to tweak your settings for the best battery life.Gaming handhelds only make this problem worse with a smaller form factor, and thus a smaller battery. In my own experience, I've struggled to get two hours of playing a lightweight game like Stardew Valley from a Windows handheld, while the Steam Deck and even the Switch can get upwards of six hours or more.Since Windows is primarily designed as a desktop (and secondarily as a tablet) computer, it's also harder to tweak settings using controller inputs. What, exactly, is the controller equivalent of Ctrl+Alt+Delete again? While you can plug in a keyboard to dig around in your handheld's settings, it's just easier to do on SteamOS, since its interface has been built from the ground up for controller input.At this point, Valve has also shown that running Steam games via the Proton compatibility layer works so well that it's almost seamless. I admit, when the Steam Deck was first announced, I expected games to be broken or perform much worse than their native Windows counterparts. Four hundred hours in Hades II later, though, and it's clear that many games can actually run better on SteamOS than Windows.Step 1: Download and prepare a SteamOS recovery image USB stickWith all that out of the way, let's get started. To install SteamOS on your gaming handheld, you'll need two things: the SteamOS recovery image and a USB stick (preferably USB-C) with at least 8GB of storage. Make sure anything on that USB stick is properly backed up, because this process will reformat that device.The Steam Deck recovery image can be found here. It's a little over 3GB, so it might take a little while to download, depending on your connection. While you wait for that, you'll also need a utility to create the recovery USB drive. Valve recommends Rufus for Windows users, and Balena Etcher for Mac or Linux users. Once the recovery image is downloaded, use whichever tool you chose to write the recovery image to your USB drive. This process should be relatively straightforward. Rufus, for example, will present you with a dropdown to select which drive to write the file to under Device, and under Boot Selection, click Select to pick the recovery image file. Click Start and wait. Reminder: This will wipe the contents of your USB drive.Step 2: Disable Secure Boot on your handheldThis part can be a bit tricky, and the exact process will vary depending on which handheld you own. Valve has a breakdown of the steps here for a couple specific devices, like the Legion Go and the ROG Ally. However, other devices like those from MSI or Ayaneo will have their own process.In general, the steps will usually go something like this:Reboot to the bios. Similar to how you can hold Del or F2 on a computer while rebooting to get to the bios, your gaming handheld has a similar process. Often it's holding a button like Volume + while pressing the power button, but check your specific device's instructions if that doesn't work.Navigate to the Secure Boot settings. You may have to poke around for this one. Look for categories like Security, and you may need to switch to an Advanced settings mode or menu to find it. This setting should be called Secure Boot. Change this to Disabled.Save settings and restart your device. Once you've changed the Secure Boot setting, make sure to save the changes to your bios and restart.Depending on the device, you might have to use the touchscreen to navigate the bios, or even plug in a keyboard or mouse. Again, Valve has specifics for a couple of devices in the link above, but if you're lost, your device's manufacturer will be your best bet for getting specific instructions.Step 3: Boot using the SteamOS recovery image Credit: Eric Ravenscraft Once you've disabled Secure Boot, you can plug the USB stick into your handheld and restart the device. At this point, you should end up at a boot menu that lets you choose which drive to boot to. Once again, this process will sometimes differ by device, so if you're not sure how to get to the boot menu, check your device's documentation.When you get to the boot menu, select your USB drive with the SteamOS recovery image on it. This will take you to a SteamOS desktop environment. Here, you'll see four shortcuts on the desktop. The one we care about is labeled "Wipe Device & Install SteamOS". Give that a single tap (double-tapping will launch it twice, so be careful).At this point, you should see a warning that proceeding with this step will erase everything on your device. If you had any important game saves, media, or work files (for some reason) on this device that weren't already backed up, you can still bail on this process and reboot to Windows to save them. This is the point of no return, though. Make sure you're ready before moving forward.Step 4: Familiarize yourself with your new handheld's quirks Credit: Eric Ravenscraft The install process won't take too long, and when it's done, your handheld will restart and begin setup as though it's a natural-born Steam Deck. There are a few quirks, though. For example, in my testing on the Legion Go, the device tutorial pointed to the "Steam button" on the bottom-left side, but used the Xbox logo. In reality, the corresponding button was at the top-right, and had a Legion logo. It also pointed to a microSD card slot on the bottom of the device that doesn't exist.Unless you're using an official "Powered by SteamOS" device, prepare for some awkwardness while using the device. Aside from the tutorial, I found some games I wasn't able to install—pressing "Install" on Doom Eternal simply did nothing, for example—and it took some time to figure out which hardware buttons were mapped to which Steam Deck input.To my surprise, some things that I expected to be broken worked perfectly when I tested this. The Legion Go is unique in that its controllers can be detached, Joy-Con style, from the handheld. I expected them to be laggy or non-functional when I played with SteamOS, but they worked perfectly during a Hades II run—a game that isn't very forgiving of input lag.Your mileage can and will vary depending on what games you want to play and what hardware you want to run SteamOS on. Still, as we wait for manufacturers to more officially support SteamOS—or for Microsoft to make a proper handheld of its own—it's exciting to finally be able to have a choice in platform for these devices.

If it seems like every tech company is trying shove AI into all of their products and services, that's because they are. And as someone who rarely (if ever) uses AI, it's a lot: I don't need AI to write my emails, nor do I want it to generate realistic videos that might trick viewers into thinking they're human-made. I certainly don't need it to serve up incorrect information when I try to search the internet.But Firefox's latest AI feature seems genuinely useful, likely because it isn't "making" anything for me. Instead its new AI-powered link previews simply show a small summary of the content on a webpage hidden behind a URL, so you'll have a better idea whether or not it's worth clicking on. Mozilla first announced these AI-generated link previews last month, before rolling them out as part of Firefox 139. The feature is currently in the "experimental" phase, and Mozilla is open to user feedback on how to adjust it. Here's how it works in its current iteration: When you hover your cursor over a URL and hit the corresponding keyboard shortcut, Firefox retrieves and analyzes the webpage's HTML without actually loading the page. It then looks for metadata that can help inform the page's title, description, and cover image. Once it has the data it needs, it displays whatever it has pulled up in a pop-out window.Like what you see? Go ahead and click through to see the full page. Not what you're looking for? Move on to the next link. Assuming the summaries are accurate, I can actually see this being something I rely on to give me an idea of whether or not a particular link is relevant to my current query—especially once Mozilla irons out some of the bugs. How to test out Firefox's AI-generated link previewsIn order to try AI link previews for yourself, you need to be running Firefox 139 (or newer). (If you're not sure which version you're on, open Firefox, head to Settings > General, then scroll to Firefox Updates. If there's a new update, install it, then relaunch the browser.)That accomplished, head back to Settings, then select Firefox Labs. Under "Customize your browsing," click the checkmark next to "Link previews." Credit: Lifehacker Now, open any website, hover over any link on your screen, and hit Shift + Alt (Windows) or Shift + Option (Mac). A small pop-up window should open immediately, along with the webpage's title and a brief description. Soon, you should also see the cover image for the page, then, after a few moments, Firefox will generate the page's "Key points." Credit: Lifehacker Are Firefox's AI link previews worth using?So far, the feature has been a bit hit-or-miss for me. Sometimes the key points it offers up are three well-summarized takeaways from the article. Other times, they are quotes lifted straight out of the article. Plagiarism aside, it's tough to get a sense of the scope of an article if the "key points" are just listing the first few ideas in the text. I suspect part of the problem is that what the AI sees as most important will vary based on how each site is configured: I found the previews frequently copied the text on Lifehacker articles verbatim, for example, while summarizing articles found on other sites. Again, this feature is in development, so Mozilla may need to figure out how to accommodate the variations in in websites design to make it uniformly useful. But as AI features go, I don't hate it, and in 2025, that's saying something.