Why big tech B2B research doesn’t work for your startup.Startups are nothing like big companies. Their approach to UX research is, and should be, very different from what at big companies do.Startups live in the zero-to-one phase. Peter Thiel coined the term in his airport blockbuster book called —you guessed it— Zero-to-One. It defines the first phase in the life of a startup: from idea to live.While the terminology varies, most UX research can be classified into two groups:Generative researchEvaluative research“Generative research (sometimes called foundational, exploratory, or (as in this Field Guide) discovery research) helps researchers gain a deep and highly detailed understanding of the target audience, the market, and even internal project goals. […] Evaluative research is used to evaluate people’s responses to a product or solution.” — User InterviewsGenerative research is great at the start, to dive deep into user problems. Evaluative research is useful at getting feedback on existing prototypes or live products.Big companies separate them and mostly focus on evaluative research. While that works for them, it’s not useful during the zero-to-one phase. I’ll tell you why.Different size, different concernsYou see, big companies get big, not because they dupe investors, but because they find a market and a way to make the stuff it wants, at a profit. They have product-market fit, and now that they’re big, their goal is to improve their existing products.“Markets that do not exist cannot be analyzed: Suppliers and customers must discover them together.” ― Clayton M. Christensen, The Innovator’s DilemmaB2B startups, on the other hand, live in the zero-to-one zone. They have no market nor customer base. They haven’t found product-market fit. Once they do, their main concern becomes growth. Until then, their UX research should focus on deeply understanding user problems.What works for “Big Co.” won’t work for your startupThere’s a fallacy in the startup world of thinking that “oh, if it works for {insert big co. name} it’ll work for me!” — it might, but most likely it won’t. And it won’t work for a number of reasons.One reason is that Big Co. already has a user base that’s familiar with their product. Incremental changes can be compared against a control group and improvements or degradations can be measured. Startups don’t usually have that baseline and, if they do, it’s hard to determine whether a change in some number is statistically significant or random.Another reason is that Big Co. can deploy a team of researchers to carry out many customer conversations in parallel. A startup, however, usually has a single designer who has to book, conduct, summarize and share findings alone. Moreover, any time spent doing that is time away from other areas of design work.Thirdly, and like I mentioned before, Big Co. is not worried about disruptive innovation. They care about dominating their space by ever increasing their market share. They do this by gradually tackling adjacent problems to their core product, not by moving into different markets.What’s a startup to do?Startups are small and scrappy. That’s a double-edge sword. While it’s true they don’t have the resources of larger companies, their tiny size makes them nimble and allows them to pivot really fast in the light of new knowledge.Rather than building a convoluted infrastructure with many moving parts, I’m a big proponent of being practical. You probably already have all the tools you need to implement an effective strategic UX research process.A practical approach to strategic UX researchRather than splitting generative and evaluative research, or focusing primarily on the evaluative part, it’s helpful to organically combine both types and to do it continuously.By holding frequent check-ins with your customers, you build relationships that encourage them to share their challenges beyond mere product feedback. Identifying these challenges is key to strengthen your product’s value proposition.Sharing your findings with the rest of the team can spark conversations on framing user challenges as opportunities. Even if you’re a solo designer, you shouldn’t work alone.Simple goes a long wayInstead of investing in specialized tools that cost money and take time to learn, use Notion or Google Docs.Once you figure out what works and what doesn’t, you’ll be in a better position to choose a specific tool to improve your workflow.The approach I’ve been following for the past few years is simple:Make a list and reach out to existing customers (Notion, email)Have casual conversations, not interviews (generative + evaluative research)Have recurring check-insMaintain a simple database with insights (Notion)Share the knowledge with your team (Slack and team meetings)Use the tools you already have.Keep things simple and iterateA lot of guides focus on what so and so big company does to leverage research across a 2,000+ people product department. But like I mentioned, those processes don’t apply to the large majority of B2B startups.Rather than getting paralyzed thinking you need some perfect process, start simple, with the tools you already have and tweak things as you go.SourcesInformation, inspiration and co-creation — Elizabeth B.-N. Sanders, Ph.D, 2005Continuous discovery habits — Teresa TorresThe Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail — Clayton M. ChristensenScaling your B2B growth engine — Lenny’s newsletterWhich UX research methods — NN Group.Types of user research methods — User TestingThe zero-to-one research was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Recent advances in long-context (LC) modeling have unlocked new capabilities for LLMs and large vision-language models (LVLMs). Long-context vision–language models (LCVLMs) show an important step forward by enabling LVLMs to process hundreds of images and thousands of interleaved text tokens in a single forward pass. However, the development of effective evaluation benchmarks lags. It is still unclear how well current LCVLMs perform in long-context settings, what tasks they struggle with, and how robust they are to input length variation. Current benchmarks face the following problem: (a) Limited coverage of downstream tasks, (b) Insufficient coverage of image types, (c) Lack of context length control, and (d) Single context length. Various techniques have extended context windows for LVLMs, including longer pre-training lengths, position extrapolation, and efficient architectures. Models like Gemini-2.5 and Qwen2.5-VL have adopted these approaches alongside vision token compression methods to accommodate longer sequences. For evaluation, the Needle-in-a-Haystack task became a standard benchmark for testing LC ability by inserting information at specific depths within long texts. However, existing vision-language benchmarks remain limited, focusing only on NIAH variants or long-document VQA tasks. Even MileBench contains short-context tasks with an average length of only 9K tokens, failing to evaluate true LC capabilities across diverse vision-language applications. Researchers from HKUST, Tencent AI Seattle Lab, University of Edinburgh, Miniml.AI, and NVIDIA AI Technology Center have proposed MMLONGBENCH, the first comprehensive benchmark for evaluating LCVLMs. It comprises 13,331 examples spanning five downstream task categories, including Visual RAG and Many-Shot ICL, covering natural and synthetic image types. All examples are standardized across five input lengths from 8K to 128K tokens using a cross-modal tokenization scheme combining vision patches and text tokens. Through benchmarking 46 closed-source and open-source models, the research reveals that single-task performance poorly predicts overall LC capability, both model types struggle with LC tasks, and stronger reasoning models show better LC performance. Researchers construct LC by inserting gold passages containing answers among large sets of distracting passages retrieved from Wikipedia. For ViQuAE, gold passages from KILT are used, while InfoSeek uses lead sections from Wikipedia entity pages. Further, Wikipedia pages are split into 100-word passages, and retrieved distractors are added until reaching desired input lengths. Many-shot in-context learning tasks utilize four diverse image classification datasets: Stanford Cars, Food101, SUN397, and iNat2021, accommodating 500 images within 128K context windows. Cross-modal token counting combines text tokens using the Llama2 tokenizer with visual tokens processed through 14×14 patches and 2×2 pixel unshuffle compression, ensuring compatibility with modern LVLMs for evaluation. The evaluation on MMLONGBENCH across tasks and context Lengths shows that all models struggle, but closed-source models perform better. For the longest input length of 128K, all models struggle with long-context vision-language tasks, with GPT-4o achieving only 62.9 average performance. Gemini-2.5-Pro became the strongest performer, outperforming open-source models by 20 points except on ICL tasks. Further, Ovis2-34B model achieves a score of 41.6 on summarization, similar to GPT-4o (42.4). Qwen2.5-VL-32B achieves a SubEM score of 64.6 on VRAG, even better than Gemini-2.0-Flash. Models show generalization capabilities beyond their training context lengths, with Qwen2-VL-72B achieving a 51.9 average score at 128K despite a 32K training window. In conclusion, researchers introduced MMLONGBENCH, the first comprehensive benchmark for evaluating LCVLMs across diverse downstream tasks. It provides a rigorous foundation for diagnosing frontier model capabilities by covering five distinct task categories with unified cross-modal token counting and standardized context lengths. The evaluation of 46 models demonstrates that single-task performance unreliably predicts overall long-context ability, and frontier models face significant challenges in OCR accuracy and cross-modal retrieval. MMLONGBENCH is a standard evaluation framework to drive future research toward more efficient vision-language token encodings, robust position-extrapolation schemes, and improved multi-modal retrieval and reasoning capabilities. Check out the Paper and GitHub Page. 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. Sajjad AnsariSajjad Ansari is a final year undergraduate from IIT Kharagpur. As a Tech enthusiast, he delves into the practical applications of AI with a focus on understanding the impact of AI technologies and their real-world implications. He aims to articulate complex AI concepts in a clear and accessible manner.Sajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Enhancing Language Model Generalization: Bridging the Gap Between In-Context Learning and Fine-TuningSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Salesforce AI Researchers Introduce UAEval4RAG: A New Benchmark to Evaluate RAG Systems’ Ability to Reject Unanswerable QueriesSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Google Researchers Introduce LightLab: A Diffusion-Based AI Method for Physically Plausible, Fine-Grained Light Control in Single ImagesSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/DanceGRPO: A Unified Framework for Reinforcement Learning in Visual Generation Across Multiple Paradigms and Tasks

Posted on : May 23, 2025 By Tech World Times Business  Rate this post Cubicle walls are more than just barriers separating workspaces—they influence office acoustics, aesthetics, and overall functionality. Selecting the right cubicle walls can improve employee focus, enhance workplace design, and create a more productive environment. Understanding the balance between sound control and visual appeal is essential for designing effective office spaces. Acoustics Office noise can be disruptive, reducing concentration and efficiency. Choosing cubicle walls with proper soundproofing helps maintain a quiet and focused work environment. The thickness of cubicle walls affects noise reduction, with thicker walls providing better sound insulation. Acoustic materials such as fabric-covered panels, foam inserts, and soundproof glass help absorb noise and minimize distractions. Additional acoustic solutions include desk-mounted privacy screens, carpets that reduce sound reflections, and strategically placed cubicles that avoid noisy office areas. Offices that prioritize acoustics create workspaces where employees can focus without being interrupted by surrounding noise. Aesthetics The design and visual appeal of cubicle walls contribute to the office atmosphere. A well-designed workspace fosters employee motivation and creates a professional environment. Different finishes, such as fabric-covered walls, glass partitions, or wood panels, offer varied aesthetic choices that complement office decor. Customization options allow businesses to integrate company branding, inspiring artwork, or greenery to enhance workspaces. Thoughtful lighting placement ensures that cubicle walls do not obstruct natural light, keeping the office bright and inviting. Choosing stylish cubicle walls creates an appealing environment where employees feel engaged and productive. Modular Options Modern offices require flexibility, and modular cubicle walls provide adaptable solutions that can be adjusted as workplace needs evolve. Modular walls allow for easy reconfiguration, making them a cost-effective choice for dynamic office layouts. Sliding or foldable walls, movable partitions, and interlocking panel systems give businesses the ability to change office layouts without extensive remodeling. Modular designs also help create multi-functional workspaces, accommodating both collaborative and private work areas. Investing in modular cubicle walls ensures that the office remains adaptable to future changes and growth. Conclusion Choosing cubicle walls that improve acoustics and aesthetics results in a more comfortable and efficient workspace. Soundproof walls enhance focus by reducing noise distractions, while stylish designs create an engaging work environment. Modular options offer flexibility, allowing businesses to adjust office layouts as needed. By selecting the right cubicle walls, companies can build workspaces that support productivity, creativity, and employee well-being.  Tech World TimesTech World Times (TWT), a global collective focusing on the latest tech news and trends in blockchain, Fintech, Development & Testing, AI and Startups. If you are looking for the guest post then contact at techworldtimes@gmail.com

For many, it's the biggest and most nerve-wracking night in the creative calendar. D&AD held its 63rd awards ceremony last night (Thursday 22 May) at London's Southbank Centre and handed out a record-breaking 668 Pencils across all categories. Most significantly, three coveted Black Pencils—the highest D&AD accolade—were awarded to groundbreaking work that exemplified the year's themes of commercial impact and narrative excellence. With no quota system for Pencil awards, D&AD maintains its reputation for uncompromising standards. In some years, no Black Pencils are given out at all, making the awarding of three a significant achievement for these winners: Designing Paris 2024 by W Conran Design won in Graphic Design for its innovative approach to sports marketing. The judges highlighted how the design created a unifying yet distinctive feel that successfully merged heritage elements with modern sporting aesthetics. A$AP Rocky - Tailor Swif by Iconoclast LA won in Music Videos, exemplifying the year's emphasis on narrative storytelling. The winning work featured long-form storytelling where music was integral to the narrative structure rather than an afterthought, demonstrating how narrative arcs can transcend different mediums and artistic disciplines. Spreadbeats by FCB New York won in Digital Marketing for what the agency described as "Innovation through nostalgic technologies." This work aligned with a trend of brands cleverly inserting themselves into events, sports, and games through inventive approaches. Commercial and creative This year's judging process marked a major evolution in D&AD's approach. Jurors emphasised the critical importance of commercial viability, seeking work that demonstrates tangible business impact and drives meaningful behavioural change rather than celebrating creativity for its own sake. In other words, if there was ever a danger that agencies would make work primarily to win awards rather than serve the client, that's now history. In 2025, you have to do both. "This year's awards celebrated the power of design not just as a form of art but as a catalyst for commercial success and behavioural change," noted Dara Lynch, CEO of D&AD. "The idea is that innovative ideas must possess both aesthetic appeal and tangible impact." The Black Pencil winners perfectly embodied this philosophy. For instance, W Conran Design's 'Designing Paris 2024' was recognised for illustrating how design thinking can transform an entire city's attitude and behaviour. Judges from the Graphic Design category praised it as "a breakthrough for sports marketing and traditional sports marketing aesthetics," noting its playful yet scalable approach that successfully blended heritage with contemporary sport. The return of craftsmanship Alongside commercial effectiveness, jurors were looking for exceptional craft. From Radio and Audio to Film, their message was clear: in an increasingly automated creative landscape, looking good simply isn't enough. "The resurgence of craftsmanship stands as a reminder that in an era of automation, true excellence lies in the thoughtful execution of ideas," Dara explained. "It's not enough just to look good; true creative excellence must also leave a lasting impression." This was particularly evident in D&AD's new Creator Content category, where judges called for clearer definitions of craft excellence and higher standards in content creation. The winning entries all demonstrated work that creates meaningful impact and genuinely engages audiences. Global Participation The 2025 D&AD Awards achieved unprecedented global reach, with entries submitted from 86 countries worldwide—the highest number in the awards' history. This international participation resulted in over 30,000 pieces of work from 11,689 total entries. "It's exciting to see so many brands and companies refreshing their identities," said D&AD trustee Lisa Smith, global executive creative director at Jones Knowles Ritchie. "Judging has been challenging. Too many entries follow the same established design codes and trends, making everything start to look and feel alike, regardless of category. The work that stood out was the kind that breaks away from the expected: inspiring, well-crafted, and truly fit for purpose." The awards ceremony also recognised outstanding agency performance across various specialisations. FCB New York claimed the prestigious title of Advertising Agency of the Year, while Serviceplan Design was named Design Agency of the Year for the first time. DIVISION continued their remarkable winning streak, earning Production Company of the Year for the fifth consecutive year. In the network categories, Serviceplan took home Independent Network of the Year, while FCB was also named Network of the Year. Apple received recognition as Client of the Year, acknowledging its commitment to creative excellence across its marketing initiatives. Presidential recognition The 2025 D&AD President's Award went to Koichiro Tanaka, founder of interdisciplinary creative boutique Projector. Chosen by D&AD President Kwame Taylor-Hayford, Tanaka was recognised for his pioneering work at the intersection of storytelling, interactivity, and craft, which helped define a formative era in digital creativity. "I'm very honoured," Tanaka said. "To receive this award from D&AD, which has lived longer than I have, and to feel part of its long story is now something I live with. Being recognised with care and an open heart is a special thing to me." Kwame, who is co-founder of Kin, explained his choice: "Koichiro Tanaka's pioneering work at the intersection of storytelling, interactivity, and craft helped define a formative era in digital creativity. His career journey, bold ideas, and meticulous attention to detail have been a constant source of personal inspiration." Beyond the three Black Pencils, the ceremony awarded three White Pencils, 48 Yellow Pencils, 176 Graphite Pencils and 434 Wood Pencils. Additionally, four Future Impact Pencils were awarded, recognising work that demonstrates potential for significant positive change. The diverse range of winning work spanned 44 categories, from traditional advertising and design to emerging areas like Gaming & Virtual Worlds and the newly introduced Creator Content category. Craft categories collectively garnered 198 Pencils, underscoring the year's emphasis on exceptional execution. The complete list of Pencil-winning work and shortlisted entries are showcased on the D&AD website, while the official D&AD Rankings will be released alongside the digital D&AD Annual. These rankings provide definitive tables of the most successful companies, networks, countries and clients based on the awards results.

For the past few years, Six One Indie has been delivering stellar showcases that highlight an often overlooked category of games: indies. Though these titles might be made by smaller teams working on a much smaller budget compared to their AAA counterparts, you'd be wrong to think they don't contain every bit the charm and artistry of those promoted all across your social media timelines--and the games below serve as irrefutable proof.Though the team at Six One Indie featured nearly 50 games in its May showcase--the entirety of which you can watch here--we decided to round up just a few dozen of our favorites. From cozy titles like Bobo Bay to the hilariously bizarre Dinoblade, these are some of the indie that we immediately added to our Steam wishlist. Shadows of Chroma TowerShadows of Chroma Tower combines stylish, high-contrast art direction with "the best features of dungeon crawlers and ARPGs" to create a frenetic experience you can play by yourself or with friends. You'll be able to join factions, choose from five classes and six professions, upgrade a robust skill tree, and truly tailor your experience as you make your way up the tower in search of the game's big bad. Mouse: P.I. For Hire"Steamboat Willie-meets-John Wick" is probably one of the strangest combination of words I've ever used to describe a game, but when it comes to Mouse: P.I. For Hire, it just makes sense. In it, players take on the role of Jack Pepper, a hyper-violent private investigator with a strong right-hook and an arsenal of weapons at his disposal, one of which is quite literally a ray gun that causes heads to explode. Its gritty, blood-splattering content is in stark contrast to game's visuals, which draw inspiration from 1930s cartoons, making the whole experience even more over-the-top. All that plus some neo-noir vibes and a jazzy soundtrack make this a game all you shooter fans should definitely keep an eye on. LeilaUbik Studio's Leila is one of the handful of games Six One Indie showed off that is available now--and for only $12, I might add. The hand-animated, story-driven puzzle game sees you relive a woman's "fragile memories" as she undergoes a deeply personal and transformative journey. It's worth noting that Leila features strong adult themes and some body horror, so don't go in expecting something "cozy." However, if you're looking for a dark, cerebral experience, this might be a great pick. Muffles' Life SentenceMuffles' Life Sentence is another game that is already available to play on Steam for the low price of $0, so there's really no reason to not give it a lil' whirl. The "darkly quirky" RPG take place in a prison where inmates are "remade" to match their crimes, and features gameplay stylings that are sure to delight fans of Paper Mario or Undertale. DinobladeSometimes, you can come up with an extremely cool idea for a game just by taking two really cool ideas and mashing 'em together. Such is the case with Dinoblade, a new action RPG that sees players take on the role of a young, blade-wielding Spinosaurus who must fight off other dinosaurs in order to prevent an extinction. It's ridiculous, yes, but what's not ridiculous is how much developer Team Spino commits to the bit--the game looks extremely cool and seems like it'll be a blast for fans of over-the-top action titles like Devil May Cry. Bobo BayHave you ever wished you could stay in Sonic the Hedgehog's chao gardens just a bit longer? Bobo Bay might be the game for you. The pet simulation title sees you care for, collect, breed, train, and accessorize adorable little creatures, all while readying them up for fun competitions such as races and wrestling matches. Though the game isn't scheduled to release until next year, those interested can play its alpha build now. Oscuro Blossom's GlowIf you're looking for a delightful-looking puzzle platformer accompanied by gorgeous, 2D, illustrative art, you should check out Oscuro Blossom's Glow. In it you play as Selene, a young girl with the ability to emit light; naturally, this power helps her traverse the lush woodlands she find herself in by creating life, dispelling creatures, and more. The game currently has a demo available to play over on its Steam page. Truth ScrapperInsertdisc5, the studio behind 2023's indie gem In Stars and Time, is back with a new game that looks every bit as lovely as its predecessor. In Truth Scrapper you play as Sosotte, a member of the Truth Scrapper guild who is sent to investigate a mysterious sinkhole that has destroyed the community's "sense of will." The only problem? The vast majority of your memories reset at the end of each day, and you're the one responsible for choosing which ones stay and which ones to abandon. 1000 Deaths1000 Deaths is a "gravity-bending 3D platformer" that features some truly fun visuals and an early 2000s, Adult Swim feel. However, to relegate it to just another platformer is a disservice, as 1000 Deaths also features a unique spin: the ability for players to make choices that completely alter the game's mechanics, story, and level design. This chaotic, hardcore, action game aims to set the stage for some fun speed-running opportunities--if its players can stay alive. Sound interesting? Fortunately, you can check out 1000 Deaths' demo now. Cast n ChillA massive departure from the previous entry on this list, Cast n Chill features a far more relaxing gameplay loop. The cozy idle game sees its players explore serene lakes, rivers, and ocean with their loyal pup, their only goal being to catch some fish. As they play, they'll get the chance to upgrade their gear, granting them the ability to reel in more impressive catches. It's a low stakes experience accompanied by some truly picturesque pixel-art, and best of all, you can play the game's demo right now. Future Vibe CheckEven if you've played automation games before, I can almost guarantee that you've never played one quite like this. In Future Vibe Check, players are tasked with slowly building a factory that doesn't just create products--it creates music, too. As they rebuild the given area, the structures they place create their own unique sounds whenever energy courses through them. Curious as to how that will play out? Fortunately, you can try Future Vibe Check's demo now. Scratch the CatFor all the Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Sly Cooper, Croc, and other 3D mascot platformer fans out there, here's a new game to keep on your radar. In Scratch the Cat, players take on the role of DJ Scratch, a sleek-looking cat who is on a journey to reclaim his stolen records. The adventure game features some remarkable visuals that are absolutely on par other games in the genre, and seems like it'll be ripe with collectibles, unique bosses, and plenty of ways to traverse and explore. Jump the TrackBilled as an "explosive comedy that blends visual novel with pachinko," Jump the Track looks like an incredibly charming game with plenty of style and humor. When not dishing out some pinball action, the game unfolds in an almost comic book-style way, as it tells the story of Sam, "a young dreamer struggling in the gig economy" whose fortune might just change tonight. Jump the Track currently has a demo available to play on Steam, as well as an extremely close release date: May 28, 2025. Rogue EclipseIn Rogue Eclipse, players get the chance to traverse stunning seas of stars and comets as they take down starfighters, armadas, and otherworldly behemoths. That said, it's not just a flight-based shooter, as Rogue Eclipse features an "epic roguelike campaign" as well. Developer Huskraft calls the game "easy to learn, tricky to master, and impossible to put down," and after this first-look, it's easy to see why. Guilty as Sock!One of the more bizarre games in the showcase, Guilty as Sock! looks incredible and I cannot wait to force my friends play it with me. The multiplayer, court simulator sees you and your pals jump into a chaotic trial where each person plays a sock puppet bound to a specific role--lawyer, judge, etc.--and must then present evidence cards that help support their agenda. While your friends testify, you can choose to throw paper balls and mock them in an attempt to shake them up and sway the verdict in your favor--it'll be up to the judge to call the behavior out, or encourage it. All in all, it's some real Among Us-style nonsense that I will absolutely be playing later this week, thanks to its new demo. Rue ValleyRue Valley is yet another title on this list with a demo I downloaded immediately. The gritty-looking narrative RPG follows a man trapped in a time loop and whose choices are bound by his mental state; if he is introverted, for example, even if you want him to go up and talk to a woman at a bar, he might not be able to muster up the courage. It will then be up to you to figure out how to deal with his various mental hurdles, form relationships with complex characters, and break out of the loop. Carimara: Beneath the Forlorn LimbsThere were a lot of game shown at Six One Indie's May showcase that featured some truly fantastic art direction, and Carimara: Beneath the Forlorn Limbs is absolutely one of them. The bleak, horror-adjacent title sees players take on the role of the Cariamara, a mysterious figure whose mission is to conjure up ghosts and answer their questions using a deck of cards. Described as a "short and creepy fairytale," this one might not be for the easily perturbed--but looks potentially delightful for those of us who love disturbing little creatures and moody, PS1-era visuals. A Week in the Life of Asocial GiraffeHave you ever just wanted to be left alone? That's precisely how this giraffe feels, and is the conceit behind A Week in the Life of Asocial Giraffe. In it, your goal is simple: avoid all social contact. However, the citizens of Friendly City do make things a bit harder thanks to their chatty nature. It is up to you to help our giraffe friend do all his chores and live his best life, all while avoiding people by solving point-and-click puzzles and utilizing stealth. If you're looking to give it a go, the game's demo is now live on Steam. InkshadeAnother visually remarkable entry on this list, Inkshade is turn-based tactics game that sees players take control of strange wooden miniatures that are "wrapped in a web of locked rooms and orchestrated by an otherworldly game master." The end goal of Inkshade is to guide these tokens to a mysterious realm known as the abyss, but they'll first need to conquer the continent, procure an airship, and sail through "cursed skies," and none of that will be easy. However, if you're interested in giving it a shot, you can play the game's demo now. One Way HomeBased on its trailer, One Way Home reminds me a lot of Limbo or Inside, albeit with realistic visuals, more horror, and some cool "choose-your-own" adventure elements. The game follows Jimmy Taylor, a 12-year-old boy who gets involved in a car accident on his walk home from school. When he comes to, Jimmy finds himself thrust into a mysterious version of his world that, while seemingly devoid of humans, is filled to the brim with monstrosities and disturbing visuals. What ensues is a tense-looking puzzle platformer in which player-choice dictates the skills, locations, enemies, and endings Jimmy stumbles upon--and thanks to its new demo, you can get a first glimpse at how this will all play out now. Kabuto ParkWith its playful visuals and adorable premise, Kabuto Park looks perfect for those seeking a game with a bit of whimsy and childlike wonder about it. At its core, the game revolves around bugs: finding them, catching them, training them, and ultimately winning the Summer Beetle Battle Championship with them. As players bug-catch and battle, they'll also gain the ability to upgrade their equipment, allowing them to find even "rarer, stronger, and shinier little friends" to use in the game's card-based competitions. Sounds cute, right? If you think so, I've got great news for you: the game comes out on May 28. Oh and if you're feeling really antsy, you can play the demo right now. Quite a RideIt's just you, your bicycle, a half-charged cellphone, and one very good boy against the world in the upcoming psychological horror game Quite a Ride. In it, you play as someone whose quick trip to their friend's house is derailed by the sudden presence of a dense, oppressive fog filled with eldritch horrors. As such, you have no choice but to keep pedaling--even as the beings following you grow so close you can hear them breathe and the world shifts around you. And though this and the game's beautiful, Pacific Northwest vibes are already enough to make me extremely interested in it, Quite a Ride also has another thing going for it: collective progress. This means that player's collective, global efforts will change the game over time by introducing new characters, locations, and secrets. We'll see if I am actually brave enough to play it, but wow am I eager to try. OddbatOddbat likens itself to Celeste in that it is an extremely challenging platformer filled with secrets and over 700 unique levels. That said, it is immediately obvious that its personality, humor, and style are all its own. In Oddbat, you play as a vampire on a mission to perform an elaborate ritual. However, you'll need to drain the blood of seven bosses and make your way through five unique dungeons to do so. Naturally, you'll need to rely on one of your most iconic vampiric powers--the ability to become a bat--to help you accomplish your goals. With its cheeky tone and monochromatic color scheme, Oddbat looks to be shaping up into a viciously fun and stylish platformer.

Author I was reviewing some of my old blog posts from last year and noticed that all of the images have disappeared. Here is an example:https://gamedev.net/blogs/entry/2284060-rock-layers-for-real-time-erosion-simulation/(I can't even make this link pretty anymore, the link popup when selecting text won't even let me paste in a link like it used to)There should be several images and illustrations, but they are no longer there. I will be making backups of my blogs locally in case the text is also deleted… It will take some effort to find the deleted images.Furthermore, this entire website is almost unusable without an ad blocker due to the extreme number of ads. For example, the above linked blog post, there are at least 3 inline ads that have been inserted directly into the text, with no easy way to tell what is an ad and what is the blog. As I am writing this post I have had to close multiple popup ads that show from both the bottom and top of the screen, as well as sides. It's positively one of the worst web browsing experiences that I have had in 30 years. Even piracy sites (bad offenders) have fewer less intrusive ads.I think this site moving from the old PHPBB to whatever garbage software it currently uses was one of the worst decisions in its history. I've been coming here since 2005-2006 and it's never been worse. Agreed! 100% needs to be fixed. I get it. It costs money to run the site. This isn't the way to do it. 

This article contains Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning spoilers. Before Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning earned its latest title, it was previously called Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 2. Considering Part 1’s muted box office reception in 2023 (back when it had the unenviable task of opening sans IMAX screens a week before Barbenheimer), Paramount was probably wise to change it. And yet, as late as November of last year, the still untitled Mission: Impossible 8 was apparently at the center of competing marketing visions between the studio and its star/producer/living manifestation of destiny: Tom Cruise. According to a THRFinal Reckoning moniker that came to pass, plus all the callbacks and cameos that were spoiled in the film before release (I for one wish I hadn’t known that Rolfe Saxon’s delightful reprisal of the CIA analyst who had the worst day of his life in the original 1996 Mission: Impossible was returning). Yet while the film put “final” in the title, and the word was dropped heavily throughout the script—including by Shea Wingham when he promised Ethan Hunt that they were going to have “a reckoning”—the creative loggerheads over whether this really was the end seems to have bedeviled M:I8 all the way to the closing sequence. For deep in London’s busy Trafalgar Square, a retinue of familiar faces gather in the crowds beneath Nelson’s Column. Cruise’s Ethan is there, of course, as is Hayley Atwell’s Grace and Simon Pegg’s Benji. Even Pom Klementieff seems locked in as a permanent IMF fixture, which is impressive since canonically she was trying to kill all these folks only a month earlier. In many ways it gives closure to the adventure we just watched… but only to a point. In fact, like so much else of The Final Reckoning, the ending feels like a variation of scenes we’ve already seen in this series, such as the surviving members of the team gathering for a victory drink in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, or having a celebratory stroll through the London evening streets (which is the original deleted ending to Mission: Impossible – Fallout). Ultimately much of Final Reckoning feels like a retread of something the series has done relatively recently, and often better, including an ending that refuses to say goodbye to anyone—except maybe Ving Rhames’ fan favorite Luther, who like Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa in the last movie discovered that the only way for their actor to retire from the series was by being killed off by a pretty underwhelming villain named Gabriel (Esai Morales). Otherwise though, this is the conclusion of almost any other Mission flick, and one that feels faintly tinkered with. It is easy to speculate, for instance, whether that scene was a reshoot since none of the stars are seen in the same shot together. Even the setting beneath Nelson’s Column looks like an untied thread after we previously spied the statue of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson at the beginning of the film right before our first shot of Ethan in London. The historical Nelson died ostensibly saving the world (at least from the British perspective) at the Battle of Trafalgar where he led the Royal Navy in a rout of Napoleon Bonaparte’s ships, cementing British supremacy of the seas for the next hundred years. The subtext of beginning the movie with Nelson, therefore, would seem to be that we were about to see another great man give his life to save the world from a megalomaniac. Instead Ethan not only survived The Final Reckoning, but pretty much went through the exact same ending he experienced in Mission: Impossible – Fallout where Cruise’s hero was forced to commandeer one flying contraption (a biplane now instead of a helicopter) in order to hijack another with his enemy, all so he can snap some MacGuffin into place at a great height while the rest of the team disarms the proverbial ticking bomb that is about to destroy the world. This in no way is meant to undercut the pure spectacle thrill of The Final Reckoning’s climax. Seeing Tom Cruise cling from a biplane that is doing barrel rolls in IMAX is worth the price of admission alone. However, the repetitive nature of it suspiciously resembles a compromise. The Mission films during Christopher McQuarrie’s superb tenure as writer-director—beginning with Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation 10 years ago—are famous for their playing the story by ear on the set. Yet despite Dead Reckoning and even the first act of Final Reckoning inserting some pretty major setups meant to confront Ethan’s past (including with the man who apparently killed a great love of his life 35 years ago and sent him into the IMF) nothing significantly is resolved. We never learn exactly who Ethan was before the IMF, what Gabriel meant to him, or how much this film is about him living with the losses of Ilsa and Luther. Furthermore, even Shea Wigham’s threat that they would have “a reckoning” when this is all over—which comes after the limp reveal that Agent Briggs is actually Jim Phelps Jr.—culminates in nothing more than a handshake and hug. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! The ending of “the Final Reckoning” is treated like an afterthought. In one sense, this is no dealbreaker. Even the best Mission films, which I count Cruise and McQ’s partnership on Fallout and Rogue Nation as the pinnacle of, have never been “plot movies.” With the exception of maybe the first film’s techno thriller elements, every M:I flick is about the spectacle and/or the fun of the team dynamics. They are affirmations of Cruise’s movie stardom achieving an almost religious apotheosis. Yet by marketing the eighth film as the last one, Final Reckoning set expectations its star clearly had no intention of meeting. In retrospect, we should have believed Cruise back in 2023 when he said “I hope to keep making Mission: Impossible movies until I’m [Harrison Ford’s] age.” So the end of Final Reckoning is no ending at all for the franchise, which which becomes a problem when it fitfully attempts to emulate the gravity of franchise closers like The Dark Knight Rises, No Time to Die, and Avengers: Endgame (at least in terms of Iron Man and Black Widow). There are no real goodbyes in Final Reckoning, but the movie is still almost certainly a farewell of sorts—to this iteration of the franchise which began a decade ago. McQuarrie is, again, the greatest collaborator Cruise has ever found on this series. They created the platonic ideal of what a Mission film should be in Rogue Nation and then elevated it to rarified, god tier levels within the action genre in Fallout. But it would seem McQuarrie has pushed his messianic interpretation of Ethan to a breaking point. That becomes more pronounced, too, when considering the latest entry began production during COVID and ended it on the other side of the labor strikes of 2023, causing its budget to reach a reported $400 million zenith. That is a record no studio Still, I suspect if anyone can convince a studio to invest in a franchise even after that kind of budget explosion, it’s Cruise. And until relatively recently he has kept the Mission films healthy and exciting by bringing in new directors who radically reinvent it in terms of tone, aesthetics, and even interpretations of the central character. Cruise’s all-American farmboy turned spy in Brian De Palma’s original film is not the Kung fu-kicking rebel in John Woo’s M:I2, and neither are convincingly J.J. Abrams’ familiar schtick of a suburban everyman (or woman) who has an espionage secret in the closet. McQuarrie’s version of Ethan is my favorite: the reckless gambler with a heart so big that it will redeem all mankind of its sins one insane stunt at a time. But between the 63-year-old movie star getting older and Final Reckoning arguably missing the highs of Fallout in spite its bigger budget, it is likely time to soft reboot the series again. Which might explain the non-ending of Ethan Hunt drifting into the crowd, heading toward his next reinvention.

Microsoft is now testing a new feature in Notepad that can generate text for you using AI. It’s part of a Windows 11 update being released to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels with Copilot Plus PCs. The update also includes new AI-powered features for Paint like a sticker generator, and improvements to the Snipping Tool that can automatically crop and resize screenshots based on what you’re selecting.Notepad’s new Write feature can be used to “quickly draft text based on your prompt,” according to the Windows Insider Blog, “or build upon existing content with AI-powered assistance.” You can either right-click where you want new text to be inserted in a document or after selecting existing text you want to use as a reference.After selecting the new Write feature in Windows’ Copilot menu, a prompt will appear where instructions can be entered. The AI-generated output will appear in the document but you’ll have the option to keep it, discard it if it’s not what you’re looking for, or refine the output by entering follow-up prompts. The feature was first discovered earlier this year in code included in test builds of Windows 11.Write follows two other AI-powered tools Microsoft has been testing with Notepad. Summarize, first introduced last March, can generate a summary of the text in a document while Rewrite, which began testing last November, can adjust the tone of text, shorten or lengthen it, and rephrase sentences.Paint’s new Sticker generator creates a small selection of stickers based on your description that can also be used in other apps. Image: MicrosoftJoining AI features already being tested in Microsoft Paint like Generative Fill, Generative Erase, and the Cocreator tool that can create images based on text prompts and reference sketches, is a new Sticker generator. A new button in the Copilot menu opens a prompt where you can describe the sticker you want to create. Paint will then generate a small set of stickers based on your description that can be added to your canvas or copied over to other applications.Paint is also getting a new Object select tool that relies on AI to create smart selections that takes most of the grunt work out of isolating and manipulating specific elements in a photo or painting.Windows 11’s Snipping tool will use AI to automatically adjust the size and cropping of a screenshot based on what you’re selecting on screen. Image: MicrosoftTo potentially make it easier to screenshot exactly what you need and immediately share it without edits, Windows 11’s Snipping Tool is gaining a new Perfect screenshot button on its toolbar. When framing a screenshot using the rectangle tool Perfect screenshot will use AI to “intelligently resize based on the content in your selection,” but you’ll still have the option to resize or reposition the selected region of your screen before capturing it.It’s being joined by a new Color picker in the Snipping tool that lets you see the HEX, RGB or HSL color values below an eyedropper cursor, and it can be zoomed for more precision by either scrolling or using Ctrl +/- keyboard shortcuts.You’ll need to be signed into your Microsoft account to use Notepad’s new Write feature which will use the same credits system as other AI-powered Windows 11 features do. Microsoft hasn’t yet announced what pricing for these credits will be if it eventually starts charging for them.See More:

Harvest, pack, ride Gouach wants you to insert and pluck the cells from its Infinite e-bike battery Tiny French firm wants to keep a few bad cells from spoiling a lot of e-bikes. Kevin Purdy – May 22, 2025 4:12 pm | 11 Credit: Gouach Credit: Gouach Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more E-bike batteries are, for the most part, a collection of 18650 batteries, packaged together and welded in series and parallel, attached to a battery management system (BMS). A "dead" e-bike battery may only have two or three truly dead cells inside, while the remainder work fine. This is useful knowledge that, for the most part, very few e-bike owners can really use. Arc welders are not a common tool to own, and most e-bike batteries are not designed to be opened, safely or otherwise. French firm Gouach, essentially a three-person company, is pitching its Infinite Battery as the opposite of this status quo. It's a durable, fireproof casing into which you can place and replace 18650 batteries using only a screwdriver. It keeps you updated on the status of cell performance and heat through a Bluetooth-connected app. And it's designed for compatibility with "90% of existing e-bike brands," or you can upgrade an existing "acoustic" model. Circuit boards, bent to riders’ will Alexandre Vallette, CEO of Gouach, told Ars that developing a system for no-weld battery wiring involved "a lot of trial and error" over four years. A typical "spring" contact for an 18650—the kind used by most devices that take AA or AAA batteries—doesn't work, because bike rides can knock them loose with vibration. What emerged were custom-printed circuit boards (PCBs), with just-flexible-enough contacts cut into the board to carry the current from each battery to the BMS, allowing for thermal monitoring across numerous points on the package. The Infinite Battery's case, too, was born of hard-won experimentation. Gouach provided early versions of its refillable batteries early on for a European bike-share company, using an off-the-shelf "shark"-style casing. Like anyone who lives in a city with dockless bike-sharing, they discovered the variety of places and angles at which people will leave a shared bike. Water ingress killed a number of bike batteries. "It was really a setback for the company [Gouach] at the time," Vallette said. "But we knew that the technology itself was good, so we designed our own casing." Gouach's casing is now rated IP67, Vallette said, and meets UL 2271 standards. Gouach's video demonstrating its battery case's fire resistance. Unexpected resistance There are three avenues for selling the Infinite Battery, as Vallette sees it. One is working with e-bike makers to incorporate Gouach's tech. Another is targeting e-bike owners and small bike shops who, this far into e-bikes' history, might be dealing with dead batteries. And then there are folks looking to build their own e-bikes. The Infinite Battery will be made available in 36 V and 48 V builds, and Gouach's app promises to help owners connect it to a wide variety of bikes. Actually fitting the battery case onto your bike is a different matter. Some bikes can accommodate the Gouach kit where their current battery sits, while others may end up mounting to a rack, or through creative, but hopefully secure, frame attachments. One of the biggest compatibility challenges, Vallette said, was finding a way to work with Bosch's mid-drive motors. The communications between a Bosch motor and battery are encrypted; after "a serious effort," Gouach's app and battery should work with them, Vallette said. Gouach, having raised more than $220,000 on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo from about 500 backers, and $3.5 million in venture funding, is getting close to offering the batteries through its own storefront. Gouach's roadmap puts them in mass production at the moment, with assorted bugs, certifications, and other matters to clear. EU-based backers should get their kits in June, with the US, and an open online store, to follow, barring whatever happens next in international trade. Vallette said in mid-May that the US's momentary 145 percent tariffs on Chinese imports disrupted their plans, but work was underway. If nothing else, Gouach's DIY kit shows that a different way of thinking about e-bike batteries—as assemblages, not huge all-in-one consumables—is possible. Kevin Purdy Senior Technology Reporter Kevin Purdy Senior Technology Reporter Kevin is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering open-source software, PC gaming, home automation, repairability, e-bikes, and tech history. He has previously worked at Lifehacker, Wirecutter, iFixit, and Carbon Switch. 11 Comments