HTo find out how Facebook and Instagram's algorithms influence what appears in your news feed, Guardian Australia tested them on a completely blank smartphone linked to an unused email address.
Three months later, without any input, it was full of sexist and misogynistic content.
The Guardian Australia's explore page for dummy Instagram accounts set up in April. Photo: Instagram
The John Doe profile was created in April as a typical 24-year-old male. Facebook was able to collect other information about us, such as our phone type and Melbourne location, but because we had opted out of ad tracking, Facebook couldn't know what we did outside the app.
Facebook left me with little to fall back on, with no likes, comments or accounts added as friends, while Instagram requires users to first follow at least five accounts, so I chose popular suggested accounts, such as the Prime Minister and Bec Judd.
Meta says its algorithm ranks content according to people's interests, but we wanted to see what happens in the absence of such input. We scrolled through our feed every two weeks to see what was on offer.
What did we see?
Initially, Facebook showed jokes about The Office and other sitcom-related memes alongside posts from 7 News, the Daily Mail and Ladbible. The next day, it also started showing Star Wars memes and gym and “dudebro” style content.
By the third day, “traditional Catholic” type memes started appearing and the feed veered towards more sexist content.
Three months later, memes from The Office, Star Wars, and The Boys are still appearing in the feed, now interspersed with extremely sexist and misogynistic imagery that appears in the feed with no input from the user.
On Instagram, the explore page is filled with women in skimpy outfits, but the feed is largely innocuous, mostly Melbourne-related content and foodie influencer recommendations.
An example of a misogynistic meme shoved into the feed of a blank Facebook account. Photo: Facebook
TThe business casual revolution of the 1990s and the rise of the tech billionaires in the early 2000s are said to have ushered in a new era of liberating employees from the shackles of dress codes. Mark Zuckerberg transformed the hoodie and jeans into a symbol of the new economy meritocracy, the uniform of genius hackers that would shake up the traditional industrial coat-and-tie aesthetic of the East. In the digital economy, many imagined, the most successful companies would allow their talented employees to wear whatever they wanted while splashing around in colorful ball pools.
But as Facebook engineer Carlos Bueno wrote in a 2014 blog post: Inside the MiratocracyIn the 1960s, we simply replaced the rigid dress code with a slightly less rigid one. The new world is actually not so free. The cognitive dissonance is clear in the faces of recruiters who pretend that clothing is no big deal, yet are clearly disappointed when they show up to an interview in a dark worsted business suit. “You are expected to conform to the rules of your culture before you can demonstrate your true worth,” Bueno writes. “What wearing a suit actually signals, and I don't mean this as a myth, is non-conformism, one of the most serious sins.”
As the rich get fabulously rich, they seem to become even more determined to look as plain as possible.
This reality was on full display earlier this month at the Sun Valley Conference, better known as “summer camp for billionaires.” Since the tradition began in 1984, organizers have been gathering the wealthiest and most influential people for the multi-day conference. A treasure trove of top CEOs, tech entrepreneurs, billionaire investors, media moguls, and more convene at the invitation-only meeting to privately decide the future of the world.
This year's attendees included Jeff Bezos, who continues his incredible transformation from nerd to muscle man. Looking like a successful SoulCycle instructor, he strolled around the resort grounds layered with pearl grey jeans, a skin-tight black T-shirt, and a multitude of colorful bracelets (possibly from the American luxury brand David Yurman).
Jeff Bezos at Amazon's Seattle offices on May 2, 2001, and with his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez at a meeting in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 11, 2024. Composition: AP, Reuters
Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav tried to at least bring some style to the event, donning a brown corduroy trucker jacket, slim-legged blue jeans, smart white sneakers, and a white bandana around his neck. But most of the men in attendance were dressed in scruffy polos, T-shirts, and simple button-down shirts. Billionaire OpenAI CEO Sam Altman looked like he was at freshman orientation in a plain gray T-shirt, blue jeans, and a black backpack slung over each shoulder.
This is not necessarily a bad outfit – many of them are – but one wonders if something has been lost in the move away from coats and ties. A few generations ago, men of this social class would have worn something more visually interesting. In the 1930s, Apparel Arts, a leading men's fashion trade magazine that advises men on how to dress for different environments, recommended the following for resort wear: a navy double-breasted sport coat with a polka-dot scarf and high-waisted trousers in Cannes; a mocha linen beach shirt and wide-cut slacks with self-strap fastenings on the Côte d'Azur; and a white shawl-collar dinner jacket with midnight blue tropical worsted trousers and a white silk dinner shirt for semi-formal evening wear.
The advantage of these clothes is not so much about appearances or elegance, but rather the way they create a unique silhouette. The tailored jacket is particularly useful in this regard. Made from layers of haircloth, canvas, and padding, pad-stitched together and shaped with darts and expert pressing, the tailored jacket creates a flattering V-shape without having one. That silhouette is why Stacey Bendet, founder of fashion company Alice & Olivia, is always the most stylish person at these conferences (this year, she wore flared pants, a long leather coat, giant sunglasses, and a Western-wear hat, each element creating a unique shape). In contrast, Tim Cook's basic polo shirts and slim jeans did little to replicate his physical build.
To me, dressing like this, surrounded by guys in t-shirts and sloppy polo shirts, is pretty funny, and honestly, thank god people like this exist. pic.com/Jaraz4d8XB
In his book Distinction, Pierre Bourdieu correctly recognizes that the notion of “good taste” is merely a habit or taste of the ruling class. He is, of course, not the first to make this observation. In the early 20th century, German sociologist Georg Simmel noted that people often use fashion as a form of class differentiation. According to Simmel, style spreads downward as the working class imitates those deemed socially superior, at which point members of the ruling class move on to another class. But the publication of Distinction in 1979, based on Bourdieu's empirical research from 1963 to 1968, stands out, especially for its understanding of men's style. At the time, the coat and tie was in decline. By the time the book was translated into English in 1984, the suit was drawing its last breath before the rise of casual Fridays, tech entrepreneurs, and remote work would change men's dress forever.
Today's ruling class is hardly inspiring in terms of taste. The preponderance of tech vests replacing navy blazers shows that socioeconomic class still dictates dress habits, even if the style is less appealing. Ironically, while the elite are increasingly dressing like the middle class who go shopping at Whole Foods Market, wealth inequality in the United States has worsened roughly every decade since the 1980s, the last time men were still expected to wear tailored jackets.
To be honest, Jensen Huang was shining: he discovered the power of the jacket, he discovered the uniform (black leather jacket), and also, his tailoring seems pretty good. pic.com/ryjCqD1uaI
If there's a silver lining to all this, it's that the history of clothing in the 20th century is about how influences changed. As the century progressed, men began to receive dress dictates from different social classes, not just those with economic or political power: artists, musicians, and workers. Many of the more provocative fashion moments of this period were about rebellious youth taking a stance of rebellion against the establishment. These included swing kids and hip-hop, bikers, rockers, outlaws, beats and beatniks, modernists and mods, drag and dandies, hippies and bohemians. In recent years, Zuckerberg and Bezos have made an effort to move away from the fleece uniform, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang looks pretty stylish in a head-to-toe black uniform that includes a variety of leather jackets. But for the most part, today it's better to look elsewhere for dress dictates. The ruling class may shape our world, but don't let them shape your outfit.
circleJD Vance was a student at Yale Law School in 2011 when he attended a talk by conservative tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Vance didn’t know Thiel at the time, but over the next decade he became Thiel’s employee, friend, and recipient of his generosity. Thiel’s millions of dollars paved the way for Vance to become a senator.
Vance wrote that Thiel’s speech “was the defining moment of my time at Yale Law School.” Essays for 2020 Vance said Thiel’s talk about the failure of elite institutions and his Christian faith made him rethink his own faith and quickly planned a career outside of law, perhaps tinkering with technology and venture capital before entering politics.
Vance is best known for the hardscrabble upbringing he described in his autobiography, “Hillbilly Elegy,” but in the years after graduating from Yale he developed extensive ties to Silicon Valley investors and elites. His experience as a venture capitalist combined with his status as a rags-to-riches media fixture forged the core connections that powered his political climb and helped him assemble an influential following that pushed him to become Trump’s running mate.
After graduating from Yale and briefly working in corporate law, Vance moved to San Francisco and joined Thiel’s venture firm, Mithril Capital, in 2015. After his best-selling book “Hillbilly Elegy” gained him national fame in 2016, he joined Revolution, a venture capital firm founded by former AOL CEO Steve Case.
Vance returned to Ohio and stayed in the tech venture capital world. Leaving the Revolution Vance received funding from Thiel in early 2020 to co-found a venture firm, Naria Capital, which, like Thiel’s, was named after the elven ring of power in “The Lord of the Rings.” Naria’s other notable investors include former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist who endorsed Trump last week. The avowed goal of Vance’s firm was to invest in early-stage startups in cities that Silicon Valley often overlooks.
In 2021, Naria Capital led a group of conservative investors, including Thiel, to invest in Rumble, a video streaming platform positioning itself as a less moderated, right-leaning version of YouTube. Naria co-founder Colin Greenspon touted the investment as a challenge to Big Tech companies’ control over online services, a topic conservatives have frequently discussed amid the backlash against content moderation surrounding the pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. It was also around this time that Thiel, a major financial backer of Trump during the 2016 campaign, invited Vance to meet with Trump for the first time, in a secret meeting at Mar-a-Lago in February 2021. According to the New York Times:.
Vance and Thiel’s longtime relationship also paid dividends in the 2022 Senate race, with Thiel pouring a massive $15 million into Vance’s campaign. According to the Washington Posthelped garner support for President Trump and led Vance to win the fiercely contested Republican primary and Senate elections.
While Thiel has vowed in recent years to stay away from donating to the 2024 election, Vance has since tried to ingratiate himself with Trump through other Silicon Valley connections. The Ohio senator introduced prominent venture capitalist David Sachs to Donald Trump Jr. in March. The New York Times reported.Vance attended a pro-Trump fundraiser for Sachs in June, which he co-hosted with Chamath Palihapitiya, Sachs’ co-host on the popular podcast “All In.” The event, which cost $300,000 to attend, was held at Sachs’ San Francisco mansion, where investors thanked Vance for helping make the fundraiser happen. During an informal conversation at the dinner, Sachs and Palihapitiya said Trump said: Vance as his running mate.
Sachs spoke at the Republican National Convention on Monday, days after calling Trump to endorse Vance as his running mate, along with Elon Musk and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. According to AxiosThiel also voiced his support for Vance during a private phone call with Trump, according to The New York Times. After Trump confirmed Vance would be his running mate, Sachs and Musk tweeted their congratulations, with Musk saying the victory was “ringing off.”
Many of Vance’s wealthy tech elite and venture capitalist backers now appear ready to offer even more concrete support. Investors including Musk, Andreessen, and Thiel’s Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale have ReportedlyPlanning a donation Huge sums of money supporting the Trump and Vance campaigns.
Struggling with my ancient Nokia 3210, I tried to finish my text after 10 minutes of furious tapping. This “detox” phone, part of a new trend for those seeking relief from tech stress, was really testing my patience.
Sending a message while on a school trip to the Museum of London Docklands, I tried to avoid looking at my phone. The kids with me were puzzled by my texting struggles and the outdated phone.
Despite feeling embarrassed, I pressed on with a semi-urgent message to a friend, as more people opt for simpler phones due to concerns about mental health and technology overload.
As I prepare to start boarding school without my smartphone, I reflect on the ban on new students bringing them. This shift towards low-tech devices raises questions about our dependence on technology.
Cut off from my work email and limited internet access, I grapple with significant news events offline, highlighting the challenges of disconnecting in a hyper-connected world.
Unable to use predictive text and facing the drawbacks of a basic phone, I grapple with the loss of convenience brought on by smartphones. Stepping away from technology reveals both freedom and discomfort.
The reintroduction of Nokia 3210 and similar devices underscores the nostalgia for a simpler time when conversations mattered more than social media likes. These “detox” phones offer a reprieve from the digital noise of modern smartphones.
Zoe Wood with a Nokia 3210: “Perfect for people who don’t want to be in touch or who are on holiday.” Photo: Linda Nylind/The Guardian
Disconnecting from my smartphone lifestyle forces me to rely on traditional methods for daily tasks. This shift highlights the convenience of smartphones but also the unique benefits of simpler technology.
While low-end phones offer relief from the constant demands of smartphones, their limitations and price point present challenges for those accustomed to the conveniences of modern devices.
THsinchu Science Park on Taiwan’s west coast is so lush, with well-planned and clearly signed roads and modern, well-maintained buildings that from the outside, most visitors would not even realise they were visiting one of the world’s most important factories.
Once known for its fish ball street food, Hsinchu is now known as Taiwan’s Silicon Valley, a tech-centric microcosm that channels workers from schools to universities and into the world’s leading semiconductor industry that’s crucial to global supply chains.
Chips, or semiconductors, are the tiny technological components that power almost everything: your computers, your mobile phones, your cars, etc. A single chip contains tens of billions of transistors needed to make electronic devices work, and the most advanced chips (mainly made in Taiwan) contain even more.
Taiwanese semiconductors were thrust into the spotlight this week after Donald Trump rehashed old accusations that Taiwan has stolen U.S. business, using the allegation to question whether the U.S. would continue its longstanding support for Taiwan if he is re-elected president in November.
“They took over almost 100% of our semiconductor industry,” he argued in an interview with Bloomberg. “We should never have allowed that to happen.”
In some parts of Taiwan, Trump’s comments were like a gangster asking for protection money, given that the United States is Taiwan’s most important security partner in countering the threat of Chinese annexation.
There is little evidence to support Trump’s claim that Taiwan has stolen U.S. property, but there is no denying that Taiwan controls nearly 100% of the cutting edge of the global semiconductor industry.
Taiwan produces about 90% of the world’s most advanced semiconductors, most of which are produced through Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest producer and a major supplier to Apple and Nvidia.
“Taiwan was simply more competitive than other countries,” said Raymond Kuo, a political scientist at the RAND Corporation.
People walk in front of the TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) logo at the Taiwanese semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company’s building in Hsinchu. Photo: SOPA Images Limited/Alamy
Manufacturers like TSMC rose to prominence by focusing on research and development and relentless efficiency, allowing them to pack more transistors onto a smaller chip than their competitors. Taiwanese workers are highly educated, and in a society where salaries are low compared to the cost of living, semiconductor jobs are well-paying but highly demanding. Taiwan’s labor protection laws are much weaker than those in the United States and other countries. For Taiwanese people, working for TSMC or a similar company is seen as a prestigious job with a bright future.
“[Companies] Masters or PhD holders can run the factory in three shifts. [fabrication plants] “Every day, new chipmakers are coming in,” Kuo said. “There’s also a whole secondary industry ecosystem built to support them.”
Taiwan’s vice minister for science and technology said on Thursday that Taiwan has spent 30 to 40 years developing its industries so “it is impossible to simply replace and difficult to imitate.”
While other countries are trying to catch up, some reports suggest the gap is widening. Taiwan’s monopoly on the components that literally power the world raises concerns about the vulnerability of global supply chains, especially if China’s leaders were to one day order an invasion or attack.
“It’s not hard to imagine Beijing using its control of these production facilities to coerce other countries into submitting to its subjugation,” Kuo said. “Semiconductors will become another tool Beijing can use to coerce other countries economically and politically.”
During the pandemic, the world got a firsthand look at how a supply chain crisis and chip shortage can affect global trade, as factory closures snowballed into a global chip shortage, delaying manufacturing and sending prices of autos and other products soaring.
In response to the crisis, other countries have tried to diversify their supply sources, mainly through Taiwanese companies setting up new manufacturing plants overseas, but with limited success.
Thanks to U.S. incentives, some of Taiwan’s production has shifted to the U.S., and TSMC is spending billions to build new factories overseas, including a $65 billion investment in three factories in Arizona. In Arizona The facility revealed challenges in replicating the Taiwanese model for a variety of reasons, including differences in approaches to labor rights and worker demands.
TSMC founder and former chairman Morris Chang previously said the cost of the U.S. project would be much higher, describing it as a “wasteful, expensive and wasteful endeavor.”
For Taiwan, this advantage is a good thing from a national security perspective: Geopolitical observers call Taiwan’s semiconductor industry a “silicon shield,” serving as an incentive for the international community to keep Taiwan away from Beijing’s control.
In response to Trump’s remarks, Taiwanese officials emphasized the strength of U.S.-Taiwan relations and extensive international cooperation in the semiconductor sector (Taiwan is home to several foreign semiconductor companies), but also indicated their intention to keep Taiwan’s research and development domestic and maintain its industrial dominance.
“Diversification means countries have less reason to defend Taiwan,” Kuo said. “Why should they defend it when they can easily switch to another supplier?”
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta announced that it would not release an advanced version of its artificial intelligence model in the EU, citing “unpredictable” behavior of regulators.
The owners of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are preparing to make the Llama model available in a multimodal format, meaning it can work with text, video, images and audio, not just one format. Llama is an open-source model, meaning users can freely download and adapt it.
But a Meta spokesperson confirmed that the model would not be available in the EU, a decision that highlights tensions between big tech companies and Brussels amid an increasingly tough regulatory environment.
“We plan to release a multi-modal Llama model in the coming months, but it will not be released in the EU due to the unpredictable regulatory environment there,” the spokesperson said.
Brussels is introducing an EU AI law which comes into force next month, while new regulatory requirements for big tech companies are being introduced in the form of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
However, Meta’s decision regarding its multimodal Llama model has implications on its compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): Meta was ordered to stop training its AI models on posts from Facebook and Instagram users in the EU for potential violations of privacy regulations.
The Irish Data Protection Commission, which oversees Meta’s compliance with GDPR, said it was in discussions with the company about training its models.
However, Meta is concerned that other EU data watchdogs could step in to the regulatory process and halt its approval. Although a text-based version of Llama is available in the EU, and a new text-only version is due to be released in the EU soon, these models have not been trained on EU Meta user data.
The move comes after Apple announced last month that it would not roll out some new AI features in the EU due to concerns about compliance with the DMA.
Meta had planned to use the multimodal Llama model in products such as Ray-Ban smart glasses and smartphones. Llama’s decision was first reported by Axios.
Meta also announced on Wednesday that it had suspended use of its Generative AI tool in Brazil after the Brazilian government raised privacy concerns about the use of user data to train models. The company said it decided to suspend use of the tool while it consults with Brazil’s data authorities.
Are you facing an existential crisis from scrolling through your phone? A recent study conducted by an international team of experts aimed to explore this issue. Read the full report in the Journal of Computers in Human Behavior.
The study surveyed 800 college students in the US and Iran and discovered a connection between doomscrolling – excessive consumption of negative news – and feelings of existential anxiety, distrust of others, and despair.
Researcher Reza Shabahan from Flinders University highlighted that constant exposure to negative news can indirectly cause trauma, affecting even those who have not experienced direct trauma.
The study revealed that continuous exposure to negative news led individuals to believe that life is fragile and limited, humans are inherently lonely, and people have little control over their lives.
In the case of Iranian students, doomscrolling was also linked to misanthropy, a deep disdain and mistrust of humanity.
The researchers suggested that constant exposure to negative news reinforces the idea that humanity is flawed and the world lacks justice, challenging individuals’ beliefs about the fairness and goodness of the world.
However, they acknowledged limitations in their sample selection and size, cautioning against drawing definitive conclusions about the association observed.
Professor Helen Christensen from the University of New South Wales expressed interest in the study but cautioned that biases could exist due to the sample size.
Digital behavior expert Dr. Joan Orlando emphasized the potential long-term impact of doomscrolling on mental health, likening it to being constantly berated.
Orlando recommended being mindful of how social media and news consumption affect mental well-being, suggesting a delay in checking such platforms upon waking up.
She further emphasized the importance of understanding the impact of media consumption on one’s worldview.
For more insights, check out a Joint submission by mental health organizations ReachOut, Beyond Blue, and Black Dog Institute on the impact of social media on young Australians.
George Herman, CEO of Beyond Blue, highlighted the dual nature of social media in affecting young people’s mental health and called for social media platforms to take responsibility for their impact.
He stressed that individuals should have a say in the content they are exposed to and questioned social media platforms on their strategies to address the issue of doomscrolling.
The TUC is determined to continue the fight for union recognition at Amazon despite workers at the US retailer’s Coventry warehouse being denied collective bargaining rights by a narrow margin of 29 votes.
In a significant vote that could have compelled Amazon to allow trade unions in the UK for the first time, 50.5% of the voting workers chose to reject GMB union representation, a result that could have been overturned if just 15 people had switched sides.
General secretary of the TUC, Paul Nowak, stated, “Amazon is actively working to prevent workers from having an independent voice at their workplace. This is not the end – our movement remains united to expose bad employers.”
According to union sources, Amazon had instilled a culture of fear and used intimidation tactics to suppress support among the 3,000 workers at the West Midlands site during the over a year-long battle for recognition.
GMB activists were permitted to present their case to workers in a timed meeting before the vote, while managers conducted separate information sessions to argue against approval.
GMB senior organizer Stuart Richards mentioned that the union would explore legal avenues. He added, “Amazon has been relentless in its attacks on its own employees. Workers have been subjected to pressure to attend lengthy anti-union seminars.”
Workers were granted the right to a binding vote by an independent Central Arbitration Committee in April after a GMB campaign, as Amazon had initially refused voluntary recognition. The voting process had oversight from independent advisers appointed by the CAC.
Had employees voted in favor of recognition, GMB would have had the authority to negotiate pay and working conditions on their behalf, marking the first time Amazon would have recognized a trade union in the UK.
Additionally, it would have been the first instance of employees of an internet retailer receiving recognition rights outside the US.
Mr. Richards expressed concerns about Amazon’s conduct and reiterated the ongoing determination of workers to seek justice.
“Although Amazon’s anti-union stance prevailed in this instance, the underlying issues around work intensity and pay that sparked this dispute remain unresolved,” noted Callum Kant, a senior lecturer at the University of Essex who studies the gig economy.
Under current regulations, a union cannot reapply for recognition for the same group of workers for three years after losing a vote. The government has indicated plans to ease the process of securing recognition as part of its new worker-friendly policies, though the impact on cases like Amazon’s remains uncertain.
Amazon responded, stating, “We appreciate all those who participated in this vote. At Amazon, we prioritize direct engagement and regular conversations with our employees. We value these relationships and strive to offer career growth opportunities in a safe environment with competitive pay and benefits.”
H
How can we make drawing fun for people who don’t have any artistic talent? Game developers have come up with a few answers, or at least they’ve tried. There’s the straightforward approach, like Mario Paint. There, players are given a mouse accessory and a creation tool similar to Microsoft Paint, Okami sees painter’s brushes used as weapons and magic wands in a Zelda-like world, and The Unfinished Swan sees the world (and story) slowly revealed to them by the player’s splattered ink.
Été, an upcoming painting game, aims to give players the feeling that they are making the world more beautiful than the process of putting a picture on a canvas. The game makes painting a breeze. “Like many games, Été uses role-playing to realize a fantasy – the fantasy of being a painter – by assuming that the player’s avatar is already a talented painter,” says creative director Lazlo Bonin. “Painting in Été isn’t about skill, it’s about creativity and fun.”
Bonin was born and raised in Montreal, Canada, where the game is set. He loved the city’s beautiful summers. “After months of harsh winter, the city suddenly comes alive during this season, and everyone seems to try to enjoy the moment as much as possible,” he says. Été is French for both “summer” and “something that’s gone by,” expressing the nostalgic, rose-tinted memories of childhood summers.
The game didn’t originally start out as a painting game; it became one because it seemed the most natural way to tell a story surrounded by nostalgic beauty. The mishmash of aesthetic influences includes the 1998 French children’s game “Uncle Ernest’s Secret Album,” which inspired Eté’s canvas designs, and the film “Amelie,” which influenced the game’s atmosphere. Bonin calls the game a “celebration of the bliss of the everyday” in an “ideal city.”
In Été, painting is fun because it’s a means to explore and understand the environment around you. As players walk through the city, they beautifully paint their surroundings. Think Super Mario Sunshine with a water gun to remove dirt, but in reverse. “By using paint, we’ve made walking and exploring active instead of passive,” Bonin says. “You need to paint to reveal the shapes and colors of the world around you. This makes you pay much more attention to your surroundings than if the world was already revealed and colored for you.”
Été’s canvas also offers more creative freedom, functioning more like a simpler art tool, letting you paint whatever you want, and Bonin says the game’s 2D creation tools, shown off in the pre-release demo, have already inspired some highly detailed artwork.
Bonin hopes that the game’s focus on finding beauty in everyday places will inspire a similar impulse in the real world. “A close friend once told me that Été is a game of ‘seeing, not seeing, and listening, not hearing,'” Bonin says. And what better time for the release than the middle of a Montreal summer?
RDust off your cream polo shirts and put away those Bruce Springsteen football chants whose lyrics have absolutely no relation to reality. Euro 2024 is over. Apart from the actual football (which is probably the best), this is a total first for the tournament. The level of interest in what actually happened on the pitch was easily rivalled by the debate over the pundit podcast commentary.
Well, maybe “expert commentary” isn’t the exact word to use, considering Gary Lineker made a lot of headlines when he said England’s match against Denmark was “terrible”. The rest is soccerBut it was worth noting that the podcast caused a furor (albeit one that relied on out-of-context quotes) culminating in the England captain being cornered at a press conference. There were articles trying to create a “Battle of the Garrys” pitting Lineker’s podcast against Gary Neville’s. There were also articles analysing how much money was being made from making nasty comments about England into people’s earpieces (imagine that! Being paid to be an honest pundit about bad football!).
This time, what was happening on the Euro 2024 podcast was more interesting than what was happening at Euro 2024. And as podcasts grow, the importance of shows about soccer tournaments will become more prominent. Maybe the next England manager’s goal is to build a team that’s more entertaining than what you can listen to on Spotify. It might be harder than they think…
In other podcast news, this week we have some truly outlandish stories, including members of ZZ Top impersonating another band for money and an extortion plot involving Charlie Sheen’s former bodyguard. We also have the second season of a fantastic show introducing us to a London life coach who convinced a number of women to betray their families, and inspiring people who tried to make a difference in the early days of the AIDS epidemic.
Alexi Duggins Deputy TV Editor
This week’s picks
(Real) zombies. Photo: Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy
The truth about fake zombies Widely available, with weekly episodes
In 1969, St. Albans-based band The Zombies had a hit single in the US and began playing gigs around the country. But they’d split up years earlier, never known success, and never really toured. This show is both a fanboy homage and a deep dive into how two separate groups (including two members of ZZ Top) ruthlessly pretended to be The Zombies for money. It’s a vibrant slice of pop history set against the backdrop of a wild story. Alexi Duggins
The lawyer who defended Matthew McConaughey after he was caught playing the bongos naked at 2 a.m. An FBI informant. Charlie Sheen’s former bodyguard. There’s a wealthy Texan who was the target of blackmail for having an affair with an escort, and who ended up spiraling out of control and leaving two people dead. advertisement
Welcome to the dark side of healing. This podcast delves into the world of upper-class young women in London who all turn to the same “self-help coach.” But as Grace Hughes-Hallett discovers, a pattern soon emerged in which these women were turning their backs on their families. Holly Richardson
The second season of Dane Stewart’s podcast focuses on pioneers who tried to make a difference in the early days of the AIDS epidemic but were thwarted by prejudice. It’s fascinating to hear the story of Dr. Joseph Sonnabend, who cured the mysterious disease that was affecting gay men in New York at the time. Hannah Verdier
Super psychotherapist Esther Perel has compiled some of her best observations about love with beach listening in mind. She sits down with couples in therapy as they air their feelings about big questions about love, including dilemmas around polyamory, reproduction, and divorce. Perel’s thought-provoking questions will get you into the therapy room, and her wise asides will take you out of it. HV
There is a podcast
Kathy Burke, host of “Where There’s a Will, There’s a Wake.” Photo: Linda Nylind/The Guardian
The federal police union is calling for the establishment of a dedicated portal where victims of AI deepfakes can report incidents to the police. They expressed concern over the pressure on police to quickly prosecute the first person charged last year for distributing deepfake images of women.
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus introduced legislation in June to criminalize the sharing of sexually explicit images created using artificial intelligence without consent. The Australian Federal Police Association (Afpa) supports this bill, citing challenges in enforcing current laws.
Afpa highlighted a specific case where a man was arrested for distributing deepfake images to schools and sports associations in Brisbane. They emphasized the complexities of investigating deepfakes, as identifying perpetrators and victims can be challenging.
Afpa raised concerns about the limitations of pursuing civil action against deepfake creators, citing the high costs and challenges in identifying the individuals responsible for distributing the images.
They also noted the difficulty in determining the origins of deepfake images and emphasized the need for law enforcement to have better resources and legislation to address this issue.
The federal police union emphasized the need for better resources and legislation to address the challenges posed by deepfake technology, urging for an overhaul of reporting mechanisms and an educational campaign to raise awareness about this issue.
The committee is set to convene its first hearing on the proposed legislation in the coming week.
and othersLike many of you, I deeply resent the insidious penetration of subscription services. I started with an affordable, shareable Netflix subscription years ago. Then Spotify, then Disney+ when I had kids, then Prime Video, all of which somehow made sense. Then Fitbit started charging me to unlock features on a device I’d already bought. Google now charges me a monthly fee to store the photos I take with my Google phone in its cloud. I pay a yearly fee for an app that lets me look at guitar tablature. Last week, I tried to buy protein powder only to find I could only buy it if I committed to at least a three-month supply. That’s awful.
When it comes to gaming, I’ve been an Xbox Live subscriber on and off since 2003. PlayStation Plus came later, and Nintendo Online came much later with the launch of the Switch. I don’t play many live service games, but otherwise I would have paid £8.99 for the Battle Pass. To add to this already difficult situation, last week Microsoft announced an update to their video game subscription offers that required a spreadsheet to understand.
Currently, there are two words, Game Pass Standard and Game Pass Core, but they both mean the same thing. There is also Game Pass Ultimate, and some of these options apply to PC as well, while others don’t. Some offer new Microsoft games from day one, some don’t. Some include cloud gaming, some don’t. And they all have higher prices now. I’m not stupid, so even after going through these options multiple times, I can’t 100% explain what they mean and how they differ without referring to a table.
“It’s like an Animal Crossing tax.” Photo: Nintendo
PlayStation Plus is now almost as confusing and expensive. The options are called Plus Premium, Plus Extra (also synonyms), and Plus Essential, and the linguistic clarity is enough to make you want to scream into a pillow. They all come with different perks, but you can’t play online with friends without paying. As for Nintendo Switch Online, well, it has almost no perks, so it feels like a tax on Splatoon 3 or Animal Crossing. But at least it’s simple, with only two options, and significantly cheaper than Xbox or PlayStation.
I hate feeling like I’m paying a small mortgage to every entertainment and services company in existence. You could argue that every company is an option, but it doesn’t feel that way. And outside of gaming, most of these services have proven to capture the market with a relatively cheap introductory price, get everyone to switch, and then raise prices once their competitors fall far enough behind. This is why I’m skeptical of things like Game Pass in general. At the moment you can’t claim it’s a very generous offer with a great games library, but if in 10 years’ time Microsoft has bought up the games industry further and decided to charge you £30 a month to play Call of Duty, you’re going to be in trouble.
I often affectionately tease my partner about his unwavering attachment to physical media. In addition to a record collection that’s thousands of records long and shelves of Blu-rays and DVDs, he also buys boxed games on discs and cartridges like it’s 2005. But his approach is starting to seem like an act of rebellion: At least, despite the decline of video game retail, there’s still the option to actually buy and own games.
He’ll be the only one laughing when, in future, I pay £100 a month for an Ultra Super Game Cloud Box Plus to access and play my digital library of games I bought 10 or 20 years ago.
What to Play
Short, simple and anxiety relieving…Flock. Photo: Annapurna Interactive
Under review Swarm This week’s game is super simple, short and anxiety-relieving. Ride your bird through colorful and bizarre landscapes, identifying and recruiting wildlife. They all look a bit like flying fish, but you’ll know the difference between a piper and a greaves, a bell and a droop, and some animals are hiding. Really It blends in well with the environment and feels like a puzzle game, where you’re figuring out how to find a creature based on a sentence from a field guide.
I wish there was more to the game – the creatures that follow you around don’t do much, for example – but it’s relaxing and stylistically interesting.
Available on: PlayStation 4/5, Xbox, PC Estimated play time: 5 hours
What to Read
Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, chairman of the Saudi Esports Federation. Photo: Anadolu/Getty Images
I reported last year that the Olympics had tried but failed to include esports. The IOC has now He signed a 12-year contract New event series with Saudi Arabia eSports OlympicsSaudi Arabia is already hosting an esports World Cup, and its Savvy Games Group has made huge investments in various gaming companies, all of which can be seen as an extension of the country’s broader sports-washing efforts.
Listen up, all you old-school Roller Coaster Tycoon fans. Frontier has announced Planet Coaster 2A sequel to a highly detailed theme park simulation You will also be able to build a water park..
MobileGamer.biz speculates that: Only 2,000 people have paid Resident Evil 7The reported revenue figures suggest this is a technically impressive iOS port, which, if correct, raises the question of whether the market for premium console-style games on smartphones even exists.
Nintendo in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Asker Karimalin/Alamy
The well of questions is drying up, so please send them in. I dug through the email archives for this one. Luke:
“With all of this, with game industry layoffs, the state of console gaming, and late capitalism, where does Nintendo fit in? All this? Big Because 3 is primarily a games company and not a division of a large tech company, they have quietly continued to operate without any major hiring or firings. Is this a by-product of their business culture, or something else?
There are many reasons why Nintendo is particularly resilient: it has large cash reserves, sells consoles at a profit rather than at a loss on hardware to make money on games, and has very high staff retention, allowing for the transfer of organizational knowledge. The company’s much-missed former president, Satoru Iwata, made headlines during the Wii U era when he cut his own salary to protect staff from layoffs. But this is not unusual: Japanese companies generally do not hire and fire employees repeatedly due to employment laws.
This article Gaming Industry Let me explain the labor protections that Japanese developers enjoy. It’s nearly impossible to fire employees unless a company is on the brink of bankruptcy. And this is just one of the many reasons why Japanese companies are not affected by the current flurry of layoffs. Thanks to investment from China and the size and profitability of the mobile games market, the games industry is stable and actually growing in Japan.
If you have any questions for the Question Block or any other comments about the newsletter, Please email us at pushingbuttons@theguardian.com.
Year: The word “aura” comes from Latin and Ancient Greek and originally meant a gentle breeze. Today it’s more commonly used to describe the subtle, pervasive quality that emanates from someone, which is exactly what we’re talking about here.
And Auramax? It’s new. It’s similar to looksmaxxing, but…
Hold on, what is looksmaxxing? For example, exercising or making cat noises will help you maximize your physical attractiveness…
Are you meowing like a cat? In practice, this means pushing the tongue up in the mouth to improve the jaw and facial structure.
What happens if I get tetanus? It’s a shame, but it’s worth it. Anyway, Auramax is the same kind of idea, but aimed at improving your energy and overall presence.
And where is this aura?Is amaxxing happening?Mainly TikTok, However, other platforms are available.
What should I do? You could also learn from 18-year-old Canadian content creator, Frankie Mekhi. Share your aura upgrade It has 250,000 followers.
It 250,001. Frankie’s number one rule is “Don’t try to emulate someone else’s aura. It has to come from within, it has to be authentic.”
[Takes notes: writes “within” and “authentic”]Second rule: No barking.
Don’t bark? Don’t talk too much!
[Zips mouth closed] Next, you need to find your purpose.
[Trying to talk with mouth closed] it is In capital letters? That’s correct. Also, people with auras have achieved great things in some way.
Hmm, that might be difficult. Maybe your aura score has dropped too quickly. Aura scores are interesting because they actually happen on TikTok, where users are giving and taking away aura points from other users.
How does scoring work? Well, doing something impressive like having other friends with auras might give you points, or it might cost you points…
Bark? Possibly, but Susanna Merrick says there is no such thing as a premium aura level.
Who is Susanna Merrick?? A New York-based aura stylist. “People don’t need to know who they are.” she told The Cut. “They need to discover who they are.”
I would like to know, is Auramax mainly for men? Mekhi said his audience is primarily young men, but The Cut reported that young women are also joining the conversation about Auramax, but in a different way.
What’s the difference? Instead of trying to exude presence, ask how many aura points you might lose because of how you acted during a difficult experience. Bullying or sorrow.
please tell me: “Or you can just be yourself and not worry about how much of a person you are or how other people perceive you.”
Do not say: “You either get it or you don’t. And if you try too hard to get it, you definitely won’t get it, brother.”
yesWhile the name might lead you to think of a game about herding sheep, it’s actually a lot stranger than that. teeth They’re sheep, but they’re fluffy flying sheep that float around after you as you ride on the back of a giant, colorful bird. Every now and then, they’re sheared and knitted into new jumpers or hats with pom-poms so the sheep look like naked, purple, aerial sausages with eyes. But the majority of your flock is actually made up of flying fish. Or are they fish? Some are curvy like eels, some moo like chickens, and some look like winged whales. Like we said, it’s pretty weird.
Your job in Flock is to find them in the wild, identify them from their short but varied and obvious written clues (“drooping proboscis,” “vertical stripes,” “often mistaken for a noisy radish”), and fill a field guide full of these big-eyed, flying-fish-like creatures. They all resemble sea creatures through a slightly surreal pop art filter, but are so well drawn that you can now tell the difference between a Cosmet and a Beul, a Thrips and a Rustic. Some camouflage among weeds and leaves, others flee when you approach, and others chirp at you while sunning themselves on rocks. You can find a piper to teach the birds to sing, and then collect them like a piper into a cloud of creatures that will follow you.
I’m still not very good at charming creatures. I can’t get the timing right and often end up frightening the birds with my off-key shrieks instead of leading them into the flock. But I morning It’s good at finding them. The flying is done for you. Birds fly around trees and mossy rocks automatically, so you’re free to observe your surroundings and listen for the chirps and twitters that announce the presence of undiscovered birds and fish. I navigated by sound as often as by sight. The nature-inspired soundscapes are one of Flock’s strongest features, along with the eye-catching art and cute, witty writing.
I enjoyed my few days with Flock, though I wish it were longer. There were some really interesting environmental puzzles that made me want to find other creatures hiding out on the plateau. Most creatures were easy to find, but a few required some fun deduction from a single sentence in the field guide. Once or twice, a creature in my entourage would tell me the location of another creature or help me find something, but most creatures just follow the player around and don’t do anything. I couldn’t help but imagine a more ambitious version of this game, one where the main creatures give you interesting abilities once you’ve filled out the field guide, and you can do things with your friends in races and challenges. But in under five hours, I’d done everything there was to do.
And yet I keep firing up Steam Deck just to fly around the swamps and moss forests for a few minutes – it’s so relaxing, so fun to look at, and so endearingly quirky that it stands out from the crowd.
Samsung’s first entry into Microsoft’s new Arm-powered Copilot+ PCs is the Galaxy Book 4 Edge, set to deliver impressive speed and battery life that can compete with Apple’s MacBook Air.
This sleek, ultra-thin laptop comes in 14-inch or 16-inch sizes and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip, aiming to challenge Intel as the top PC laptop chip.
Prices start at £1,399 (€1,699/$999.99) for the base model, with the top-of-the-line 16-inch version priced at £1,700, positioning it as a premium competitor to products from Microsoft, Dell, and Apple.
The Galaxy Book features HDMI, USB-A, a microSD card slot, and a USB4 port, all in an incredibly thin and light 16-inch design. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The laptop boasts a familiar Samsung Galaxy Book design with premium aluminum construction, but lacks originality in its aesthetics.
The standout feature is the vibrant OLED touchscreen display, though it may attract fingerprints and could be brighter. The anti-reflective coating enhances usability under various lighting conditions.
While the keyboard is standard, the oversized trackpad feels somewhat redundant with its traditional mechanical design. The speakers are decent but can be obstructed when using the laptop on soft surfaces.
The 16-inch model includes a number pad on the right side, contributing to a slightly off-center keyboard and trackpad layout. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The laptop’s webcam offers AI effects but lacks facial recognition, requiring a fingerprint scan for unlocking.
Specifications
Screen: 14″ or 16″ 3K AMOLED 2880 x 1800 (120Hz)
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: 512GB or 1TB
Operating System: Windows 11 Home
Camera: 2 megapixels (1080p)
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, 2 x USB4, headphones, HDMI2.1 (USB-A and microSD 16″ only)
If you’ve ever stumbled across a misogynistic video by an influencer online, you know how harmful this content can be, but did you know that more than two-thirds of boys ages 11 to 14 are exposed to this kind of harmful and damaging “manosphere” content? 70% of teachers have noticed an increase in sexist language Will it be used in classrooms in the 12 months leading up to February 2024?
The study was published earlier this year: The rise of aggroismIt depicts a boy’s gradual slide into a misogynistic mindset, which leaves him feeling lonely and sad, and negative towards his female teachers and even his own sister.
The film, produced by Vodafone and the charity Global Action Plan, depicts the impact that harmful AI-powered algorithms are having on pre-teen boys. It reflects growing concern among parents, with one in five noticing a gradual change in the language their sons use to talk about women and girls. Experts are now urging families to talk to their sons about what may be on their phones and how it’s reaching them.
Psychologist Dr Ellie Hanson says: “Social media is designed to keep you online as long as possible, so they target your emotions. They exploit emotions such as shock, fear, anxiety, paranoia, superiority, indignation and sexuality. These emotions have been found to be captivating.”
Worryingly, many boys come across this content while searching for something unrelated, such as fitness or gaming videos. Hanson says explaining how social media algorithms are designed is important because it invites kids and teens into the conversation, which is much more effective than telling them not to look.
Teenage boys often come across harmful content while searching for something else: photos with models posing. Photo: Carol Yepes/Getty Images
“Questioning things is a normal part of being a teenager,” she says, “so let’s use that tendency to encourage them to question the tools being used to manipulate them online.”
Hanson says that simply explaining that these platforms directly benefit from your engagement with their content is a strong first step. The content that attracts the most attention is often controversial and conspiratorial. This has resulted in a plethora of influencers who promote a distorted view of masculinity that is sexist, offensive and offensive. This leads to negative and disrespectful behavior towards women and girls, and also damages boys’ mental health and ability to form relationships. Two-thirds of boys They said seeing harmful and negative content online left them feeling anxious, sad and scared.
Kate Edwards, deputy director of online child safety at the NSPCC, says parents need to be aware of how quickly their children’s phones and tablets can become inundated with harmful content. “Social media is currently made up mainly of short form content – videos streamed quickly one after the other. Once you watch something in full, react to it, like or comment, the app will serve you more and more similar content. It can quickly pull you down a rabbit hole,” Edwards said.
“There are steps you can take to teach the algorithm that you don’t want to see it anymore. Look for a ‘hide’ button or a ‘I didn’t like that’ option. Explore the different settings in the app, by yourself and with your child.”
Vodafone co-designed Digital Parenting Toolkit We’ve teamed up with the NSPCC to help parents get ahead of potential risks. It’s full of conversation starters, activities and tips to help young people stay safe while using the internet, as well as advice on what to do if they come across something inappropriate.
Sir Peter Wanless (right): “This toolkit encourages families to have open conversations about their children’s mobile phone use.” Composition: Getty Images, Adrian James White
Sir Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, says he is particularly proud of the partnership with Vodafone because it helps navigate an online world that can be overwhelming and confusing for parents as well as children. He says: “The toolkit encourages families to have open conversations about their children’s mobile use, for example discussing situations that might arise online. It also covers safety features available on phones and setting boundaries, such as enforcing screen time limits.”
But screen time rules and parental controls are only one piece of the puzzle: while parents can help stem the flow of harmful content, there is a growing belief that to break the cycle, tech companies themselves need to take action.
To appeal this, Global Action Plan has filed a petition It calls for regulators such as Ofcom to require platforms to take control away from AI-powered algorithms and enforce “safety by design”, which was a key element of the 2023 policy. Online Safety ActBut there are growing concerns that the app may get away with only having bare-bones functionality.
“Despite parents’ best efforts, children are still vulnerable to manipulative algorithms. We should do our best, but the most power lies with the tech companies and regulators,” Hanson said.
Find out more about Vodafone’s pledge to help four million people and businesses bridge the digital divide. here
Many of us rely on the Internet for various aspects of our daily lives. Whether it’s for work, entertainment, or staying connected, millions of people expect to have access to the Internet at all times. However, for those living in poverty, digital access is often a luxury that they cannot afford. This lack of access leads to isolation and exclusion from many essential parts of life. It is crucial to take thoughtful and conscientious action to help those struggling with digital poverty stay connected.
If you want to learn more, here are five common myths about digital poverty and the reality behind them:
Myth 1 – Everyone has access to the Internet now
According to the Digital Poverty Alliance, one in seven people in the UK (around 9.5 million people) are experiencing some form of digital poverty. Ofcom’s 2023 forecast, Online Nation, found that 7% of UK households lack internet access at home. Another million people are at risk due to the cost of living crisis. Digital poverty affects people from all walks of life, especially those who are already disadvantaged.
Vodafone is partnering with the Trussell Trust to provide free data and calls to people classified as digitally excluded who visit or call food banks. A helpline has been set up to assist people facing financial hardships.
Myth #2 – Internet access is a luxury, not a necessity
It may seem like a minor inconvenience, but the lack of internet access can severely impact a person’s life. Jobs, shopping, and accessing support services are all done online nowadays. Digital exclusion makes it harder for individuals to improve their situations and exacerbates existing difficulties.
Eniola Akinlabi, campaigns and communications manager at Tottenham Foodbank, notes the transformative impact of providing digital access to those in need.
Connectivity is crucial in today’s digital society, affecting our finances, social connections, job opportunities, education, and health.
However, a significant number of people in the UK lack internet access, leading to digital exclusion with serious consequences.
“Approximately two million UK households have no internet access, and many lack the digital skills needed to fully utilize technology. Equal access to connectivity, skills, and devices remains a challenge,” said Nicky Lyons, Vodafone UK’s chief corporate affairs and sustainability officer.
Regional disparities in the UK exacerbate digital poverty, with 5G “dark zones” impacting those without reliable indoor signals.
800,000 (pdf): The number of people in deprived rural areas who would benefit from 5G Standalone.
Nearly half (46%) of rural deprived areas lack 5G coverage compared to inner-city areas.
47% of small and medium-sized businesses in rural areas face connectivity issues.
5G technology can save GBP 8.6 billion, benefiting businesses with increased productivity.
Vodafone is taking steps to bridge the digital gap by providing devices, connectivity, and digital skills training to those in need.
“At Vodafone, we aim to ensure no one is left behind. We have already assisted 2.6 million individuals and businesses with free connectivity, devices, and training, with a goal of reaching 4 million by 2025,” said Vodafone’s Lyons.
Over 2.6 million people and businesses have benefited from Vodafone’s free connectivity, devices, and training.
1.3 million free SIM cards are provided by Vodafone to a national data bank in partnership with The Trussell Trust.
Learn more about Vodafone’s efforts to bridge the digital divide for four million people and businesses here
SOpa (Spanish for “soup”) is a game about a young boy who goes to get potatoes for his grandma and finds himself lost in a magical world at the back of the pantry. “It feels like the pantry is getting longer and longer,” explains creative director Juan Castañeda. “And as he tries to grab a bag of potatoes, he's drawn into another world of fantasy and magical realism. He goes on different adventures and meets different characters, but at the end of the day, he's just trying to get potatoes for grandma's soup.”
As video game quests go, this is surprisingly mundane — not unlike rescuing a princess trapped in a castle or saving a land in peril — but you soon discover there's more to it than just the lost potato. “There's another layer to the story, and that's what the game is really about,” says Castañeda. “Every time you return to the kitchen, things change in unexpected ways, and with each adventure you pick up hints about a mysterious traveler who passed these paths long ago.”
An ancient mystery lies behind your initial quest to find cooking ingredients, and as the game progresses, elements of magical realism come to the forefront, making it “a little hard to know what's fantasy and what's reality,” Castaneda said.
Sopa is being developed by StudioBando, a team of around a dozen developers working remotely across countries including Colombia, Mexico, Argentina and the US, who have previously worked on mobile titles. Super Best Ghost Game “Sopa will be the studio's first release for consoles and PC, but Castañeda hails from Colombia, the birthplace of magical realist author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and he says that Marquez's novels, including One Hundred Years of Solitude, were a major influence on Sopa.
“He's a kind of national treasure, a national hero,” Castañeda said, noting that Márquez's presence can be seen throughout the country. “We grew up hearing his stories, we grew up reading his books. It's something that is deeply ingrained in the heart of every Colombian.”
Colombia also has deep roots in Sopa. Castañeda says the game is based on his grandmother's house in a rural Colombian town swallowed up by a growing city. “It was a traditional colonial house with a big garden,” he says, recalling the place always bustling thanks to his grandmother's 15 children. “Some of them had their own children, and the house was always bustling,” he recalls. “Every room was always full.”
Photography: StudioBanda
In contrast, Sopa offers a quieter experience, at least at first. The young protagonist, Miho, is bored hanging out watching TV at her grandmother's house and reluctantly gets up to help prepare soup. The show he's watching, The Voltage Templars, is a homage to the Power Rangers that Castañeda remembers as a child, just one of the many American and Japanese shows that flooded Colombian television.
“There wasn't much Colombian media at the time, other than radio,” he says. “As a kid, I wanted foreign frozen yogurt, I wanted to watch American shows, I wanted to read foreign books, and I ignored a lot of the really beautiful and special things around me.” Miho's reunion with her own culture forms the basis of Sopa, as she dives into a world steeped in Latin American traditions. “Through these adventures, you pick up the pieces of these traditions and learn to appreciate them.”
Sopa appears to be part of a trend, alongside games like 2023 award-winning Venba, about reconnecting with cultural traditions through cooking, and Indonesian hit A Space for the Unbound, as creators increasingly depict cultures outside the U.S., Europe, and Japan that have traditionally dominated video games. “Maybe people all over the world are feeling the same way I am, and telling personal stories about their place,” Castaneda says.
Photography: StudioBanda
Besides Garcia Marquez, Castañeda said The Little Prince, Alice in Wonderland, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Pinocchio, and especially the Pixar film Coco were major influences on Sopa. Though the idea was born about 10 years ago, the game's development has been ongoing for about five years, starting with studio co-founders Castañeda, Holt, and co-writer Nelson Guevara. “We all basically went back home to finish the game and keep costs down,” Castañeda said.
“It's not like we had a ton of money saved up from previous successes. It was a really humble start and quite tough. It was very hard to get support for a long time.” He pitched the game to publishers but was rejected one after the other, with companies unwilling to believe the team could realise their ambitions or doubting that there was a market for it.
Photography: StudioBanda
Meanwhile, Castañeda says he received plenty of support from his peers in the gaming industry. “For a long time, no one was willing to back the project and help us make it, but personally, I had a lot of supporters and people with beliefs in the gaming industry who helped us get the project out there.” The big breakthrough came at a meeting with Microsoft. “We pitched the game, but it wasn't even a video call, it was just audio, so I had no idea what they thought,” Castañeda recalls. “Then, a week later, in the middle of the night, I got an email saying they liked the project and wanted to back it.
“I remember calling my teammates in tears to tell them the news, because that day I had been talking to my advisors and I was like, 'Was I just stupid? The Earth is showing us that we shouldn't make this game. Nothing is happening to us.' And then that same night I got the news that they were going to help us out with an initial investment.”
That was last fall, in the midst of a tumultuous time in the games industry, with frequent layoffs and studio closures, “everything crashing and burning around us and just being scared,” Castaneda says. Perhaps Sopa is not just a game about reconnecting with Latin American traditions, but also a game about tenacity and, above all, hope.
Sported video game releases are often low-key. New versions come out every year, but apart from character updates and gameplay tweaks, not much changes from edition to edition. Unlike Grand Theft Auto diehards, sports game fans don’t plan midnight release parties.
But EA Sports College Football 25, which launches worldwide on July 19, isn’t your typical game. It might just be the most anticipated sports video game ever in the U.S. To understand why, we need to go back to the beginning.
EA Sports has started making college football video games Released for the Sega Genesis in 1993Other studios dabbled in college football, but by the late 2000s, EA Sports’ franchise, NCAA Football, had established itself as the market leader. The games were well received critically and commercially, and the final version, NCAA 14, was released in 2013. It is reported that about 1.5 million units were sold..
But the NCAA Football franchise had a problem that had nothing to do with critics or consumers: the court. (The terminology surrounding the game can be confusing to those who aren’t fans of college sports. The NCAA is the primary governing body for college sports in the United States; the NCAA Football franchise takes its name from this organization.)
Franchises like Madden, NBA2K and EA Sports FC have negotiated rights with various athletic associations as well as professional leagues to allow their teams and athletes to feature in their games, but college students are not defined as professional athletes, and NCAA institutional policy in the 2010s prohibited players from receiving financial compensation for their abilities.
So while previous NCAA Football releases have included actual teams like the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Florida Gators, the athletes were simply known as QB #7 or RB #21 rather than by their real names.
But in NCAA Football 2009, for example, you didn’t have to be Hercule Poirot to realize that QB #15 had the same height, weight, hair color, and skill attributes as Tim Tebow, the actual quarterback for the Florida Gators.
Athletes have noticed too: In July 2009, former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon led a class action lawsuit by college athletes alleging that NCAA organizations, EA Sports, and College Licensing Companies had illegally used their likenesses without compensation.
Until now. In February 2021, EA Sports released a tweet that stunned the college football world. The game is back.
The advent of name, image and likeness rights deals has allowed EA Sports to include real-life players in the new edition. Photo: EA Sports
By 2020, it had become clear to college sports industry leaders that the NCAA’s strict policy of forbidding athletes from monetizing their name, image and likeness rights would not stand up to political and legal scrutiny. In July 2021, the NCAA officially changed its policy, allowing athletes to earn revenue by appearing in commercials, promoting products on social media and, of course, appearing in video games. With a way for athletes to earn revenue from their participation, schools quickly agreed to participate in the revamped NCAA Football series. This year’s games will feature more than 11,000 athletes, real players.
These events are meant to build bridges between the various groups that make up the College Football 25 community, from new fans to those nearing 40-year-olds who remember previous editions of the franchise. If you ever wonder why a coworker booked a last-minute vacation or was slow to respond to Slack, maybe they have their eyes on leading North Texas to new heights. Dynasty ModeThere are closeted gamers and NCAA die-hard fans who haven’t picked up a controller since the game was discontinued in 2014. But the passion for the game remains, with more than 120,000 people Fictional National Championship Streaming on Twitch during the pandemic.
That deep love for the series extends to the people making the game: EA Sports production director Christian McLeod said in June that the entire development process “has been a labor of love for the whole team.”
The project is especially rewarding for McCloud, who took an unconventional career path. A self-described “super fan” of college video games since the early 1990s, McCloud originally worked as a chemical engineer and wrote about sports video games on the side. A developer discovered his work and eventually contacted him to join the NCAA football team as a designer. Other key players on the development and design side of the project also came from outside the games industry.
“I really believe that if you’re really passionate about something, especially in the games industry, you should bring that passion to your work,” MacLeod says. “We can teach you how to be a designer. We can teach you how to be a producer. But you can’t teach passion.”
That passion is what helped bring the game back to life. When the series was canceled, a group of fans started a mod called College Football Revamped to keep the PC version of the game updated. While other game studios would have tried to sue and kill the project, EA instead hired several people from the Revamped team to help create College Football 25.
The new edition isn’t just for fans in the US: for the first time, fans outside of North America can easily play the game without worry. About region-locked hardware.
College Football 25 will be the first in the series to be released worldwide. Photo: EA Sports
One such avid fan is Ben Parker from Bishop’s Stortford, England, who told me he first discovered American football through the Madden series.
“I’ve always been a big soccer fan, but Madden showed me that American football is so much more than I ever imagined. It’s like a human version of chess and I found it fascinating,” Parker said.
While following the NFL, Parker became aware of the college game. “I decided to buy a copy of the 2006 Rose Bowl on eBay. That year, Vince Young, Reggie Bush and Keith Jackson were the announcers and the Rose Bowl was perfectly staged. Even though it had been months since the game itself, it was so incredibly dramatic to watch and I thought, ‘I want to know more about this sport.'”
Parker picked up an imported version of NCAA 2006 on eBay and played it religiously, and he and many other Europeans and South Americans I spoke to believe the video game could be another avenue to grow college football’s international audience, especially given the difficulties of watching live broadcasts outside the U.S.
Industry analysts expect the Madden series to outsell NCAA College Football 25 due to the NFL’s popularity both domestically and internationally, but schools and licensing industry sources are confident this year’s collegiate release will do well commercially.
It means a new generation of fans will be exposed to the passion of not just video games, but college football itself. And it might have been worth the wait.
circlehat Intention How will AI affect jobs? After “Will AI destroy humanity?”, this is the most important question about technology and it remains one that is extremely difficult to pin down, even as the frontier moves from science fiction to reality.
At one extreme there is the somewhat optimistic assertion that new technologies will simply create new jobs. At the other extreme there are fears that companies will replace their entire workforce with AI tools. The debate is often about the speed of the transition rather than the end state. A cataclysmic change that is completed in a few years is devastating to those caught in the middle, whereas a cataclysmic change that takes 20 years may be survivable.
Even the parallels with the past are not as clear-cut as we would like: the internal combustion engine eventually put an end to horse labor, but the steam engine, on the other hand, had a much bigger impact. increase Number of draft animals employed in the UK. Why? The arrival of the railways increased freight traffic in the country, but deliveries could not be completed from warehouse to doorstep. Horses were needed to do the things that steam engines could not do.
Until it isn’t.
Steam power and the internal combustion engine are examples of general-purpose technologies, breakthrough technologies that revolutionize the entire structure of society. There are not many such technologies, even if you count from writing, or even before that, from fire itself. It is pure coincidence that the initial letters of the term “Generative Pretrained Transformer” are the same, which is why GPT looks like GPT.
That’s not a job, idiot
Humans are not horses, and AI tools are not humans.
Humans are not horses [citation needed]It seems hard to believe that AI technology will be able to do everything humans can do. Becoming HumanThis is an inconveniently circular argument, but an important one: horses still race, because if you replace horses with cars, it’s no longer a horse race. [citation needed]people will still provide the services they want for one reason or another, and as culture warps around the rise of AI, some of those services will teeth You might be surprised. For example, AI in healthcare is underrated because for many people, the “human touch” is bad The problem is the doctor who worries they are judging your drinking, or the therapist who lies to you because they want you to like them.
As a result, many people like to think in terms of “tasks” rather than jobs: take a job, define it in terms of the tasks it contains, and ask whether an AI can do them. In doing so, we can identify some jobs that are at risk of being completely cannibalized, some jobs that are perfectly safe, and a large intermediate group of jobs that will be “impacted” by AI.
It’s worth pointing out an obvious fact: this approach results in a higher number of jobs that are mechanically “influenced” and a lower number of jobs that are “destroyed.” (Even the jobs most influenced by AI are likely to have some tasks that the AI finds difficult.) That may be why the technique was pioneered by OpenAI, who in a 2023 paper wrote: The researchers in the lab:“80% of workers are in occupations where at least 10% of the work requires a law degree, and 19% of workers are in occupations where more than half of the work requires a law degree.”
The report claimed between 15 and 86 professions were “completely at risk”, including mathematicians, legal secretaries and journalists.
I’m still here. But a year on, the idea is trending again, thanks to a paper from the Tony Blair Institute (TBI). The giant think tank, powerful and influential even before Labour’s landslide victory two weeks ago, is now seen as one of the architects of Starmerite thought. And it believes the public sector is ripe for disruption through AI. According to the TBI paper: The potential impact of AI on the public sector workforce (pdf):
More than 40% of the tasks performed by public sector workers could potentially be partially automated through a combination of AI-based software, such as machine learning models and large-scale language models, and AI-enabled hardware, ranging from AI-enabled sensors to advanced robotics.
Governments will need to invest in AI technology, upgrade data systems, train employees to use the new tools and cover the redundancy costs of early retirement – costs that are estimated to amount to £4 billion under ambitious implementation plans.That averages $1 billion a year for the term of this Congress.
Over the past few weeks TechScape has been keeping a close eye on the new Government’s approach to AI. Tomorrow, the King’s Speech is expected to announce the AI Bill, and we will hear more. The TBI paper makes one takeaway worth watching: Will investment in transformation approach £4 billion a year? There is a lot that can be done for free, but much more could be done with more money. The institute estimates that spending would return more than nine times, but a £20 billion bill would be hard to get through Parliament without question.
AI Geek
Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke at the Tony Blair Institute’s Britain’s Future conference on 9 July. Photo: Yui Mok/PA
The report drew renewed attention over the weekend as critics took issue with its methodology. From 404 Media:
Breaking down work into tasks is already done by a huge database created by the US Department of Labor. But with 20,000 such tasks, describing which ones should be exposed to AI is a daunting task. In a similar paper from OpenAI, “the authors personally labeled a large sample of tasks and DWAs, and hired experienced human annotators who reviewed the output of GPT-3, GPT-3.5, and GPT-4 as part of OpenAI’s tuning efforts,” but they also had the then-new GPT-4 perform the same tasks and found a 60-80 percent match between robots and humans.
Many of us have a collection, known as the Shame drawer, tucked away in our homes. This dusty cavern is filled with old phones, tablets, dongles, and various knick-knacks that were once cherished but are now obsolete. While it may seem difficult to part with these items, the reality is that they are unlikely to serve any purpose in the future.
By letting go of our outdated devices, especially those with the latest iOS updates, we can give them a new lease on life. This could make a significant impact if they are passed on to individuals who can benefit from them.
Vodafone’s Great British Tech Appeal is an organization that accepts donations of used mobile phones, tablets, and laptops. Explore how these donated devices are helping to bridge the digital divide.
Reduce, reuse…reconsider?
The amount of electronic waste generated by the rapid cycle of mobile technology is staggering, especially in the UK, which is among the top producers of e-waste per capita globally. As a result, many individuals in the UK lack access to smartphones, tablets, and laptops, exacerbating the digital divide.
It’s essential to consider donating devices to extend their life and help those in need. Each device donation can make a meaningful difference to individuals who are currently on the wrong side of the digital divide.
left behind
A significant percentage of households in the UK cannot afford or choose not to subscribe to telecommunications services, preventing them from accessing the internet. This lack of connectivity impacts various demographics, including children and families in need of support.
The Great British Tech Appeal aims to address these gaps by repurposing old devices for those who require them the most, such as refugees, individuals at risk, and children in care.
Push forward
Barnardo’s is a recipient of the Great British Tech Appeal, which aims to repurpose unused devices for charitable causes. The campaign has already made a positive impact by donating thousands of devices to various organizations.
Despite the progress made, there is still a vast number of discarded devices in UK households. It’s crucial to encourage people to donate their old gadgets to support those in need and reduce electronic waste.
Clearing the Past
Recycling old tech can seem intimidating due to varying regulations and disposal methods. Initiatives like Vodafone’s Great British Tech Appeal aim to simplify the process by providing guidance on how to donate devices and ensure they are properly handled.
By following recommended steps, such as factory resetting phones and removing personal data, individuals can contribute to a sustainable recycling process that benefits those in need.
Old Phone, New Start
Vodafone’s efforts to bridge the digital divide have had a significant impact on communities in need. By donating devices and providing connectivity, the organization has supported vulnerable individuals, including refugees and children in care, during challenging times such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
These donations have facilitated vital communication between separated families and provided essential support to those facing adversity. By participating in the Great British Tech Appeal, individuals can contribute to transforming lives through technology.
Answering a call
Donating old devices to initiatives like the Great British Tech Appeal is not only rewarding but also impactful. By following a simple donation process, individuals can help close the digital divide and support those in need.
Vodafone’s commitment to providing free connectivity and devices to millions of people underscores the importance of ensuring that no one is left behind in the digital age. By donating and participating in such campaigns, individuals can make a significant difference in bridging the digital gap.
Learn more here about Vodafone’s pledge to help millions bridge the digital divide.
TThe best-selling PC game of 1997, Riven It now seems like a relic of a lost creative era. Set on a sunlit archipelago that would be swarming with Instagram influencers if it were real, the game combines computer-generated stills from postcards with live-action footage to create an elaborate island-scale escape room. Packed across five CDs, the game is a technical marvel, but its depths were only understood by those with the tenacity and tenacity to master lateral thinking. Few designers have come close to matching ingenuity or ability since. Riven– Similarities; the memory sank like a pebble in a still ocean.
After 30 years, this remake is back Riven The mysterious and enchanting world of Islands is recreated as a fully realized destination. To explore these islands, you walk over scorched cliffs and through stone-cold tunnels, rather than clicking through richly rendered still images (there’s also the option to play with a VR headset, for those ready and equipped for it). The basic beats and rhythms will be familiar to fans; you’ll still be playing with a mouse in one hand and a notebook in the other, cracking codes and figuring out how the world’s creaky underlying mechanisms fit together. But much has also changed, including the solutions to some of the puzzles. And there are new characters, including a star-studded appearance by real-life investigative journalist Ronan Farrow (who, along with his mother, actor Mia Farrow, is an avid fan of the islands). Riven And its predecessor mist).
The oppressive, murky pace won’t be to everyone’s tastes, and you’ll need a powerful machine to recreate the world as the author intended, but surprisingly, Riven‘s mystical powers have only grown stronger with each passing year. There’s nothing quite like it. As many of us count the days until summer vacation, it’s a destination without tourists, with lush scenery and tricky puzzles that, when solved, provide an invigorating, satisfying feeling.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk has announced plans to donate $45 million per month from July onwards to support a super PAC working towards the election of Donald Trump.
Musk, a tech billionaire who recently endorsed Trump, has already made a substantial donation to America PAC. The exact amount of this donation will be revealed in election filings on July 15, as per Bloomberg.
Reports from both The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg are based on anonymous sources familiar with Musk’s plans. With an estimated net worth of $252 billion, Musk is considered one of the wealthiest individuals globally.
The potential donation from Musk is described as “tremendous” by The Wall Street Journal, highlighting that the largest known donation in the 2024 election cycle so far is $50 million. This amount was contributed by the great-grandson of banker Thomas Mellon to a pro-Trump super PAC.
As of June 30, there were no records of Musk donating to the super PAC, according to a review by The New York Times.
America PAC has garnered support from Musk’s tech industry associates, as reported by The New York Times. Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir with Peter Thiel, has also endorsed the PAC, along with the Winklevoss twins, crypto entrepreneurs critical of Biden’s policies.
America PAC, launched recently, aims to finance robust Republican voter mobilization initiatives in key states to counter Democratic efforts, according to The New York Times.
Contrary to earlier reports, Musk clarified in a tweet in March that he had not made any donations to U.S. presidential candidates.
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Electric cars scares some people of the dark: their batteries produce much less carbon dioxide but require more power to run, prompting ominous warnings that Britain and other wealthy countries could plunge their citizens into darkness if they ban new petrol and diesel sales.
In recent months, UK net-zero skeptic newspapers have warned that a shift to EVs “risks overwhelming the grid and causing catastrophic blackouts” if intermittent solar and wind don't provide the needed power. Another article argued that “we don't need an enemy force to plunge us all into darkness – just some electricity customers doing their normal thing on a normal winter's night.”
But many who work in the electric vehicle industry believe these fears may be unfounded, arguing that the transition to electric vehicles is an exciting, potentially lucrative opportunity to build a smarter, greener energy system.
In the UK, polluting coal-fired power plants have been largely replaced by wind farms and solar panels. These renewable energies do not emit carbon dioxide, but they suffer from intermittency problems and cannot provide enough power on cloudy days or at night when there is no wind. Add in the prospect that all new cars will be electric by 2035 and it is not an exaggerated question how the power grid will keep supply and demand in balance.
Shifting demand
The transition to electric vehicles will undoubtedly require more electricity generation as electric vehicles, rather than land-based fossil fuels, become the primary source of energy for transportation, but smart technology can be used to shift demand away from peak times, such as 5pm in winter, when demand for electricity risks outstripping supply.
This isn't just a pipe dream: home charger company MyEnergy calculates that if balancing services were enabled across all installed compatible chargers, it could “provide over 1GW of demand-shifting flexibility to the grid, more than 98% of the UK's major fossil fuel power stations.”
Octopus Energy, which has quickly grown to become the UK's largest electricity supplier, says its Go electricity tariff manages the charging of the batteries of 150,000 electric vehicles. Charging them all at once would require 1GW of power, but smart chargers hold off charging until off-peak hours at night, shifting demand away from peaks. Electricity is also cheaper during off-peak hours, with clear benefits for consumers: Octopus says its customers save an average of about £600 a year.
In the UK, polluting coal-fired power stations have largely been replaced by wind farms and solar panels, which suffer from “intermittency issues”. Photo: Martin Meissner/AP
One gigawatt is the equivalent of a medium-sized power station, enough to power 600,000 homes. Electric vehicles on UK roads are already on the rise in the UK. Peak electricity demand in winter is 61.1GWAccording to the National Grid, delaying charging for just a few hours can help reduce energy consumption.
Jack Fielder, chief strategy officer at MyEnergy, said: “If every EV charger could provide a grid balancing service and every driver took part in a grid balancing program, we could collectively eliminate periods of strain on the grid.”
It could also be useful when power supply exceeds demand, such as on warm, windy nights, said Chris Pateman-Jones, chief executive of charging company Connected Curve.
“Instead of wasting renewable energy, I see EVs as a giant sponge,” he says. For consumers, there will be little change: Connected Curve data shows that most cars are already charged by midnight, leaving them idle for hours before they're needed.
Powered by car battery
It's not just the timing of when electrons flow into car batteries that will help the National Grid Electricity Supply Operator (NGESO), the company responsible for balancing the U.K. power grid: It calls demand shifting a “low-regret action that will help reduce the impact on peak demand and reduce renewable curtailment,” but it also wants electrons to flow in the other direction.
Vehicle-to-grid technology is an attractive prospect: instead of building power plants, hydroelectric storage, or stationary battery fleets, the idea is to harness the energy stored in car batteries. Cars could become portable power packs, providing backup for homes in the event of a blackout, and even allowing drivers to earn money by selling power back to the grid.
NGESO is Annual estimate It predicts what the UK electricity system will look like in 2035 and 2050. It sees a growing role for cars feeding power back into the grid, and in the most optimistic scenario, capacity could reach 39GW (equivalent to one-tenth of the vastly expanded generating capacity).
Toxic PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ used in lithium-ion batteries that are essential to the clean energy transition New research findings As the emerging industry expands, it will pose threats to the environment and human health.
The multifaceted, peer-reviewed study focused on a little-studied and unregulated subclass of PFAS called bis-FASIs, which are used in lithium-ion batteries.
Researchers have found alarming levels of chemicals in the environment near manufacturing plants and in remote locations around the world, found that they can be toxic to living organisms, and found that battery waste in landfills is a major source of contamination.
“The nation faces two important challenges — minimizing water pollution and increasing access to clean, sustainable energy — and both are worthwhile,” said Jennifer Gelfo, a researcher at Texas Tech University and co-author of the study.
“But there is a bit of a tug-of-war between the two, and this study highlights that there is now an opportunity to better incorporate environmental risk assessments as we expand our energy infrastructure,” she added.
PFAS are a group of about 16,000 man-made compounds that are most commonly used to make products that are resistant to water, stains, and heat. PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down naturally and are known to accumulate in the human body. PFAS have been linked to cancer, birth defects, liver disease, thyroid disease, a dramatic drop in sperm count, and a variety of other serious health problems.
As the transition unfolds, public health advocates have begun sounding the alarm about the need to find alternatives to toxic chemicals used in clean energy technologies like batteries and wind turbines.
The paper notes that few end-of-life standards exist for PFAS battery waste, and most ends up in municipal waste sites, where it can leach into waterways, accumulate locally or be transported long distances.
When historical leachate samples were examined for the presence of the chemical, no detections were found in samples taken before the mid-1990s, when the chemical was commercialized.
The study points out that while BisFASI can be reused, previous research has shown that only 5% of lithium batteries are recycled. Unless battery recycling is dramatically scaled up to keep up with demand, it is predicted that 8 million tonnes of battery waste will be generated by 2040.
“This shows we need to look more closely at this class of PFAS,” Guelfo said.
Little toxicity data exists on bis-FASI, so the study also looked at its effects on invertebrates and zebrafish. Effects were seen even at low levels of exposure, suggesting it may be as toxic as other PFAS compounds known to be dangerous.
Researchers also took water, soil and air samples around a 3M plant in Minnesota and other large facilities known to make the chemical. Guelfo said the levels in the soil and water are of concern, and that detection of the chemical in the snow suggests it could easily travel through the air.
This could help explain why the chemicals have been found in China’s seawater and other remote locations not close to production plants.
The most commonly used definition of PFAS worldwide includes bis-FASIs, but one division of the EPA considers them to not belong to a chemical class, and therefore they are not included in the list of compounds monitored in U.S. waters. The EPA’s narrow definition of PFAS has been criticized by public health advocacy groups for excluding some chemicals at the urging of industry.
But the new study, combined with previous evidence, shows that bisFASI, like most other PFAS, is persistent, mobile and toxic, said co-author Lee Ferguson, a researcher at Duke University.
“This classification, coupled with the massive increase in clean energy storage that we’re seeing, should at the very least sound alarm bells,” he said.
Located on a traffic island on the outskirts of Coventry, a small yet dynamic organizing team from the GMB union is challenging Amazon with homemade signs and orange bucket hats.
In a historic vote last week, over 3,000 Amazon workers were given the opportunity to participate in a vote that could potentially lead to the company recognizing a trade union in the U.K. for the first time. This is part of a series of battles worldwide over union recognition at the retail-to-cloud conglomerate founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, now valued at over $2 trillion.
If successful, the GMB victory would grant workers the right to negotiate with Amazon on matters such as wages, hours, and holidays, something the famously anti-union company opposes. GMB also believes that recognition would give them an advantage in addressing health and safety concerns within the expansive Coventry warehouse, known as BHX4.
The ongoing campaign at BHX4 sheds light on the barriers unions face, despite promises from the new Labour government to bolster trade union influence.
Results of the vote, held after a month-long process, are expected on Monday. Workers have received support from local Labour Party MP Taiwo Owateme, who commended their efforts.
Kate Gorton, GMB member, union To raise awareness about voting, snacks, drinks and gifts were distributed to employees at the end of each shift. Photo: Fabio De Paola/Observer
At the approach to BHX4, a dedicated GMB team welcomes workers as they arrive for the night shift amidst the sounds of dhol drummers creating a festive atmosphere.
These workers are encouraged to vote “Yes!” and many show support by honking or signaling approval from their vehicles. The campaign aims to bring positive change to the work environment at BHX4.
Meanwhile, GMB activists at another entrance offer refreshments and free hats to workers, urging them to vote in favor of recognition.
Despite some workers bypassing the activists, many engage in conversation, accept hats and drinks, and express their support for GMB.
The GMB’s current push for full authorization is their second attempt after withdrawing the initial application last year, citing Amazon’s strategic hiring practices to influence the outcome.
As the vote results await, GMB and other trade unions remain hopeful for meaningful changes under Labour’s New Deal for Workers, advocating for stronger collective bargaining and workers’ rights.
Amidst Amazon’s resistance to unions globally, the Coventry activists persevere, optimistic that they can achieve historic recognition. The company maintains that employees have the choice to join a union and emphasizes its commitment to direct engagement with employees.
IBlocky World Chipotle Burrito BuilderIn Chipotle, players don the uniforms of the Tex-Mex restaurant chain and make burritos for virtual customers. Available toppings are taken from Chipotle’s real-world menu; shirts and caps feature the Chipotle logo. And when the game launched two years ago, the first 100,000 players earned “Burrito Bucks” to use in their burritos. Chipotle website.
after that Hyundai Mobility Adventure You can test drive models made by Korean manufacturers. Samsung Galaxy Station Here’s a mockup of the company’s latest smartphone designed to help travel to extraterrestrial worlds. Telefonica Town The challenge is to climb an assault course made from products featured in the telecommunications giant’s catalog. Vans World They just hand you a skateboard so you can do a few kickflips in a park plastered with shoe companies’ logos.
These are just a few of the corporate theme parks available. Robloxis one of the world’s most popular online video game platforms, with an average of 77 million players per day earlier this year, and is especially popular with children and younger players (58% of users self-reported as being under 16 years old). The end of last year), Roblox lets you explore fantastical virtual worlds, jumping over obstacles, finding hidden collectibles, and role-playing different tasks just like a kid would on the playground.
But the platform’s biggest selling point is its basic development tools, which allow anyone with little to no computer knowledge to create and share their own video games. Though this toolset is limited by design, it has attracted many people over the past few years, and not just aspiring game developers. This toolset has made Roblox a favorite playground for corporate advertisers, who use the development tools to create branded Roblox games to share with the game’s millions of players.
These advergames (advertisements presented in the form of video games) typically sprinkle corporate branding onto a set of game mechanics simple enough for Roblox’s younger player base. Broader suspicions Criticism that Roblox does not adequately protect children (which the company denies) has led to companies rushing to develop ad-supported games. Brands from Walmart to Wimbledon, McDonald’s to Gucci, Nike to the BBC have launched ad-supported games on the platform. Some have garnered hundreds of thousands of hits, others tens of millions. Seeking more brand involvement By promoting its large, young user base as a major attraction in a competitive advertising market.
An action shot from Vans World, where the company built a virtual skatepark in Roblox complete with footwear messaging. Photo: Vans / Roblox
“In the context of the attention economy, where consumers are exposed to hundreds, even thousands, of ads a day, capturing and maintaining attention is crucial,” says Yusuf Ochi, associate professor of marketing at Bayes Business School, City, University of London. “We are exposed to thousands of ads every day, many of which we don’t remember. Advagames circumvent these filters more effectively by integrating brand messaging into games.”
Öç’s own research has found that ads that utilize interactive features like touching, swiping, and tilting a phone screen can influence consumer preferences and purchase intent. Roblox allows brands to bring these interactive elements into a ready-made, engaging space.
“Roblox’s popularity with a younger demographic opens up new avenues for us to reach and engage the next generation of consumers in a sector where we’re already investing heavily,” said Robert Jan van Dormael, vice president of marketing for consumer audio at Samsung-owned Harman.
JBL, one of Harman’s hi-fi brands, released an official Roblox game in February, where players can collect audio snippets and arrange them into custom tracks, explore pastel-colored worlds and collect virtual currency to spend on cosmetic headphones and portable speakers, all accurately modeled after real-life JBL products. Since its release, it has attracted 1.4 million players, with average playtime over six minutes and engagement metrics orders of magnitude higher than other games. A few seconds A person typically spends an hour reading a social media post…
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Weather apps were a staple of the first iPhone in 2007, and their popularity hasn’t waned since. Forecast accuracy and options may have improved dramatically, but forecast results often vary widely from app to app.
Most weather services start with roughly the same data, because weather agencies tend to use networks of instruments to record their observations and share them freely. But there are differences in how each agency analyzes and models the data to create forecasts, and the chaotic nature and complexity of the weather system means that small changes can create big fluctuations.
A good weather app might not be able to brighten up the currently lackluster British summer, but it can help you prepare for the drizzle and occasional sunshine. Here are our picks for the five best weather apps.
Most accurate: UK Met Office
Founded in 1854, the Met Office is one of the world’s oldest national weather services, and its app is the UK’s most popular. Its supercomputers analyze 215 billion weather observations every day, at a speed of 14 quadrillion calculations per second. The resulting models are then fine-tuned by meteorologists to create forecasts. The process seems to work well, as the app was named most accurate in the World Meteorological Organization’s Weather App Awards. In addition to hourly and daily forecasts, the app features long-range forecasts for up to a month, and maps showing rainfall and cloud cover for the past six hours and the next five days.
Best for simplicity: BBC Weather
The BBC Weather app used forecasts from the UK Met Office until 2018, but is now provided by DTN (formerly MeteoGroup). Its output is based on the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMRWF) model as well as their own in-house model. Simple and basic, the app features a 14-day hourly forecast including temperature, wind, humidity, and visibility. The BBC recently revealed that they choose the most pessimistic outlook when choosing a symbol to represent the day’s forecast, a good choice for those looking for a pleasant surprise.
On July 11th, unexpected heavy rain hit Warsaw, Poland. Photo: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock
Best for extensive data: AccuWeather
US-based AccuWeather claims to have the most data in its forecasts, incorporating over 190 climate models, including those from the Meteorological Agency. The company’s app provides minute-by-minute forecasts and “feels like” temperatures that factor in sun intensity, wind, humidity, cloud cover, and elevation. It also offers a detailed air quality index and a range of other variables, including dew point temperature, indoor humidity, and cloud ceiling height. To use many features, such as hourly 10-day forecasts and longer-term 90-day forecasts, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid version.
For weather enthusiasts, FlowX lets you compare forecasts from different weather agencies, including ECMRWF, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Canadian Meteorological Centre. Select a forecast and it will be displayed on a map that you can scroll through in time. Choose whether to see precipitation, cloud cover, temperature, and even wave height and surface ozone levels, allowing you to make your own informed decision about the chances of rain or shine.
Best for aesthetics: Yr
The lesser known Yr app is a joint venture between the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, the latter of which was founded in 1866 and is almost as old as the Meteorological Office. It’s one of the easiest to use apps to scroll through a photorealistic sky to see what the sky will look like for the next 48 hours. It’s also perfect for off-grid adventures, as it provides accurate forecasts based on your coordinates, rather than searching for the weather in your nearest area like most apps do.
vinegarFrancesca Simon, author of the children’s book “Horrid Henry,” pulls out her phone and checks the weather multiple times a day — not just where she is, but where her friends and family live, where she went on holiday, and where she grew up.
“I love weather apps. I think they’re magical,” she says. She has about 10 locations logged, and her friends tease her about her “weather porn” habits. “If I don’t like what I see on one app, I check another one.”
This week, Simon She shared her weather app obsession with Queen Camilla As the two discuss a miserable summer day at a charity event.[Camilla] “She said everyone was making fun of her … so we were laughing at each other’s obsession,” Simon said.
It’s an obsession shared by millions: If you’re going on vacation, planning a summer barbecue, worrying about your yard, or suffering from hay fever, you probably check the app at least daily to see the latest weather forecast.
The app provides much more localized and detailed information in graphical form than traditional weather forecasts, including wind speeds and chance of precipitation.
This is a lucrative business. Most basic weather apps are free to use, but they make money from advertising, paid upgrades, and data monetization. According to Statista in 2022, global revenue for the weather market is Projected to reach $1.58 billionThe majority of its revenue comes from advertising.
be Last year’s YouGov pollIn 2015, apps were the primary source of weather information for Americans, used by 53% of people. One in five people said they check the app multiple times a day, and the older people they are, the more frequently they check it.
For people with specific weather needs, bespoke apps may be available. For example: the wind is strong Wind speed and direction are tracked and the Met Office has introduced UK-specific Coastal Forecasts (in partnership with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution) and Mountain Forecasts.
Most apps provide wind speed and direction, sunrise and sunset times, UV forecasts, pollen counts, air pollution index, etc. Some apps even provide users with extreme weather alerts.
The Met Office launched its weather forecast app in 2010 and released a major update in 2016. By 2023, it expects to have around 6.2 million users, most of them in the UK. Usage spikes during severe weather events, such as named storms or heatwaves.
Met Office spokesman Graham Mudge said the app was in “continuous development” and had become more refined since its launch.
The center offers “detailed information for the next 24 hours,” but the further out a user looks, the more general the forecast becomes. “We’re recognized as one of the best centers in the world for our accuracy,” Mudge says. “We’re very proud of that.”
As a government agency, the Met Office provides data to other forecasters, but three years after the BBC released its weather app in 2013, it switched to a private weather company, Meteor Group, now known as DTN.
DTN “pulls data from multiple sources, including satellite imagery, global ocean and continental datasets, and real-time observations from a network of more than 20,000 sensors,” said Renee Vandewege, the company’s general manager of weather and climate information. The data is “processed in a high-performance cloud environment using AI and machine learning.”
“DTN believes our forecasts are among the most reliable in the industry and globally leading,” Vandewege added.
The BBC acknowledged earlier this year that the symbols that summarise the day’s weather on its app (which has been downloaded more than 28 million times) could paint an overly gloomy outlook: “The symbol of the day reflects the weather conditions that are likely to have the greatest impact on people’s lives,” it said. A BBC spokesman told The Sunday Times:.
“This may focus on short periods of weather on a particular day and is designed to be read in the context of the bigger picture and hourly details that change depending on the latest data.”
The company works with the National Center for Atmospheric Science to monitor and evaluate the accuracy of its forecasts across all platforms, including its app.
UK weather has always been changeable, but meteorologists say the global climate crisis is making it even less predictable and more prone to extreme weather – which could lead to increased reliance – or, as Simon puts it, obsession – with weather apps.
In the UK, “weather patterns rarely stay in one place for more than a few days at a time compared to other parts of the world such as California, which makes forecasting even more difficult”, Mudge said.
“Located between the Atlantic Ocean and the European continent, with the tropics to the south and the Arctic Circle to the north, the UK has an almost unique relationship with the weather globally.”
Vandewege said: “Checking the weather app is a global phenomenon. The weather affects every aspect of our lives – from what we wear, what we do and, in many cases, what we eat, to the more severe weather impacts, such as risks to safety and business operations.”
As weather data becomes more accessible, it’s not just the next local downpour that drives app usage: “Users are increasingly interested in knowing what the weather is like in multiple locations, not just their own local area.”
Meta has lifted previous restrictions on Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts as the 2024 presidential election approaches, the company announced on Friday.
After being banned for his online behavior during the January 6 riot, President Trump was allowed to return to the social network in 2023 with “guardrails” in place. But those guardrails have now been removed.
“In assessing the responsibility of permitting political expression, I believe the American people should be able to hear from presidential candidates with the same standards,” Mehta said in a blog post, alluding to Trump formally becoming the party’s nominee at the Republican National Convention scheduled for next week.
As a result, Mr. Trump’s account will no longer be subject to the harsh suspension, which he said was instituted in response to “extreme and extraordinary circumstances” and “was not necessary to apply.”
“All US presidential candidates are required to follow the same community standards as all Facebook and Instagram users, including policies to prevent hate speech and incitement to violence,” the company said in a blog post.
Since returning to the meta social network, Trump has mainly used his account to share campaign information, attacks on Democratic candidate Biden and memes.
Critics of Trump and online safety advocates have expressed concern that his return could lead to an increase in misinformation and incitement to violence like that seen during the storming of the Capitol, which initially prompted the president’s travel ban.
The Biden campaign condemned Mehta’s decision in a statement on Friday, calling it a “greedy and reckless decision” that amounts to “a direct attack on our security and democracy.”
“Restoring his access would be like giving car keys to someone you know is going to drive his car into a crowd and off a cliff,” campaign spokesman Charles Kretschmer Luttwak said. “It’s like giving a megaphone to a real racist who is going to shout hatred and white supremacy from the rooftops and make it mainstream.”
In addition to the Meta platform, other major social media companies, including Twitter (now X), Snapchat and YouTube, have also banned Trump’s accounts due to his online activity surrounding the January 6 attack.
The former president was allowed to return to X last year following a decision by Elon Musk, who bought the company in 2022, but has yet to tweet.
Trump Came back It is set to appear on YouTube in March 2023. He remains banned from Snapchat.
Trump launched his own social network, Truth Social, in early 2022.
The Last of Us is a story of tension: between love and loss, violence and intimacy, protection and destruction, life and death. It’s also a study in how fragile life can be and the terrible stubbornness of the will to survive. As a composer, Gustavo Santaolalla’s job was to navigate that tension and create a soundtrack, a reconciliation between the game’s conflicting themes. His mission was to compose music for a video game that was doing something different and really wanted to say something.
Santaolalla shared with me that as a child in rural Argentina, one of his tutors quit after only a few lessons, telling his parents, “I can’t teach you anything.” His career began in 1967, when he co-founded Arco Iris, a band that specialized in fusing Latin American folk and rock. After a brief stint leading a collective of Argentine musicians in Soluna, he went independent, releasing solo albums and beginning to compose for television shows, advertisements, and eventually films (most notably Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and The Motorcycle Diaries).
In 2006 and 2007, he won Academy Awards for his performances in Brokeback Mountain and Babel, respectively. Now a big name in Hollywood, he was headhunted by many TV and film directors and producers, as well as game developers, in the years that followed.
“After I won the Oscar, I was approached by a few companies to do music for video games,” Santaolalla recalls. “A European company approached me to do a Western video game. It was going to be a big project, financially, in terms of visibility and what it could represent, but it was all pretty similar. I wanted to do something that would connect emotionally with what I was doing in the game, something more than just gymnastics or shooting or fighting or surviving.”
Two sides to the story…The Last of Us. Photo: Sony
Santaolalla was approached by Naughty Dog around 2009, early in the game’s development, to work on The Last of Us. The story is about an orphaned girl named Ellie and a man named Joel who is grieving the loss of his daughter. Set against the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse, the two slowly open up and show each other their weaknesses. The closer the two protagonists get, the more they hurt each other, depicting a complicated hedgehog dilemma relationship.
It was perfect for Santa Olaya, who was able to bring his Argentinian-inspired soulfulness to a non-Western setting, imbuing the urban ruins of Boston, Massachusetts, with an Americana vibe that was dreamy and familiar, yet distinctly American. Even the way he plays his guitar, scraping and scratching the strings with the pads of his fingers, suits the instrument’s understated humanity.
The soundtrack’s greatest attraction is the captivating interplay between Santa Olaya’s signature instrument, the Bolivian guitar, the Ronroco, and the Fender VI, a six-string bass guitar from the ’60s that sounds an octave lower than a guitar and a bit different from a modern bass. Listen to any song on the soundtrack and you can hear the gentle conversation between the two instruments, quiet but constant, sometimes agreeing, sometimes disagreeing.
The bass, famously used on Beatles and Cream records, is Joel’s voice; and the more delicate but no less powerful Ronroco is Ellie’s voice. “This six-string bass is definitely the masculine side of this story,” Santaolalla tells me. “And Ronroco, the delicate side of the music, is Ellie’s side of the story. I didn’t think of it that way when I wrote the song, but listening to it again, it’s so clear to me.”
“And the banjo and electric guitar fill the middle, the central role between these two extremes. As the story unfolded in Part II and we started introducing more characters and complexities, the music needed a richer tone. We couldn’t just stick to the combination we used in the first game.”
Everything Santaolalla does is “instinctive,” he says. He spontaneously introduced the banjo to Abby’s theme in The Last of Us Part II, and it was a perfect fit. He wasn’t born a banjo player, so using the instrument in his score feels foreign to his ears, searching, reflective, pensive. “I got out of bed one day, picked up my banjo, and it just came out of me,” he laughs. “Some of the character themes are magical in the way they happen. They come out when I’m not really thinking about it. I pick up an instrument, and it’s like someone else is playing it.”
The 72-year-old has an intuitive feel for his scores and knows that as a listener, his emotional response comes both from “what I hear” and “from what I actually hear.” and “What you can’t hear” is one of the reasons why The Last of Us’ score stands out. Game music is full of extremes: soaring bombast, orchestral high notes, intensity. The Last of Us is quite different, more introspective and quiet, expressing as much through the absence of music as through melody. The HBO TV series he composed for follows the same principle.
“We love the space that silence creates” – Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey of The Last of Us TV series. Photo: HBO/AP
“I love using silence,” Santaolalla enthuses. “I love it. I love the space silence gives, because it gives resonance to the sounds you play around it.” Suddenly, he begins talking about parkour, a recent new interest of his, sparked by a group of British athletes. Stoller.
“I linked the jumps in parkour to the silence of music, and I think that’s really important,” he says. “Runners measure their jumps, they run, and they measure again before they jump, right? They measure their jumps, they decide how many steps they’re going to take before they put their feet on the ground and jump. It’s like choosing a note to play before you get quiet, before you jump. And you choose a note to play when you land, and with that note silence wins. You don’t fall. You’re in that space, in that moment of silence, and when you land it all makes sense.”
This interview, the master class he taught, and Game Music Festival I spent a fair bit of time with Santaolalla at his concert at London’s Southbank Centre. The way his brain works, and the way he connects concepts to practice, is inspiring. When he performed “Ando Rodando,” a song from his 1982 album, Santa OlayaThe show is now dedicated to Joel for its “gritty, rock” nature, and the room was met with stunned silence. That Santaolalla was able to find traces of The Last of Us characters deep within his previous work and bring them into his performance demonstrates his deep understanding and love for Naughty Dog’s work.
MaPregnant women have become familiar with their first look at the baby through a blurry, black-and-white ultrasound scan that they share with loved ones. However, in many parts of the world, this is still considered a luxury. AI is now being utilized to create technology that can provide this essential pregnancy milestone to those who truly need it: a health check-up on their baby.
A pilot project in Uganda is utilizing AI software in ultrasound imaging not just to scan the fetus but also to encourage women to seek medical services early on in their pregnancy, aiming to reduce stillbirths and complications.
In low- and middle-income countries, the availability of trained experts and equipment to conduct these scans is mainly limited to urban hospitals, making the journey from rural areas long and costly for women.
Dr. Daniel Lukakamwa, an obstetrician-gynaecologist at Kawempe National Hospital in Kampala, Uganda, who is involved in the development of the AI software, underscores the importance of early pregnancy examinations in saving lives.
“Pregnant women are increasingly interested in undergoing ultrasound scans,” Lukakamwa stated. “There’s a high willingness to participate in the study without any hesitations. It seems that we are getting overwhelmed.”
Lukakamwa emphasized the significance of tackling delayed births within obstetric care. He added, “The early stages of pregnancy are critical because any abnormalities or subsequent complications can lead to stillbirth.”
A software called ScanNav FetalCheck Software based on AI has been developed by Intelligent Ultrasound. It enables precise dating of a pregnancy without the need for a specialized ultrasound technician to assess the fetus’s progress inside the uterus.
This technology allows for accurate pregnancy dating without the need for a specialized ultrasound technician. Photo: @GEHealthcare
The technology enables midwives or nurses to perform the scan by simply placing an ultrasound probe on a woman’s abdomen, with the program providing the necessary data. It can also be used with a portable device for in-home care.
A significant aim of the trial at Kawempe Hospital is to develop a tool that can predict which pregnancies are at the highest risk of stillbirth, while also aiding in engaging with women at an early stage.
Radiologist Jones Biira mentioned, “Mothers who have given birth are referring us to take part in studies. They talk to the mothers and more and more are joining the research programme. They really like it and they trust our findings.”
The primary concern facing the staff is “probably the power outages,” she noted.
For Sarah Kyolaba, 30, from Kikoni village, the technology has given her more control over her second pregnancy.
“You can see how the baby is moving and how the organs are developing,” she says. “When you do a scan, you can see everything. It’s good to see that the baby is thriving and moving.”
She discovered during her first pregnancy that her baby was too large and would require a Caesarean section shortly before delivery, catching her off-guard. “They told me I had to have a Caesarean section, but I wasn’t prepared for that,” she disclosed.
AI is involved in the largest study ever to evaluate the use of aspirin in preventing pre-eclampsia. Clinical trials are ongoing in Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa to compare the impact of two different aspirin doses on women at high risk of pre-eclampsia.
Accurate gestational age is critical for this trial because the risk of pre-eclampsia changes as pregnancy progresses, and early administration of aspirin depends on knowing the exact gestational age.
Dr. Angela Koech, an obstetrician in rural Kenya and a research scientist at the Aga Khan University in Nairobi, emphasized the importance of knowing the precise number of weeks pregnant.
Dr. Alice Papageorgiou, co-founder of Intelligent Ultrasound, believes that AI can enable hospitals in disadvantaged countries to “develop the same capacity as higher-income countries.” Photo: Intelligent Ultrasound
“One of the biggest challenges I face is when a mother develops complications, typically in the later stages of pregnancy, and I have to make decisions,” Koech explained, highlighting the role of leading research leading to the AI ultrasound program.
“For instance, if a woman presents with pregnancy-induced hypertension or preeclampsia in the third trimester, I may have to decide on the timing of delivery based on the baby’s survival odds. The decision varies significantly based on whether the woman is 30, 32, 34, 36, or 38 weeks along.”
Koech emphasized the risks of delivering extremely premature babies in rural facilities lacking neonatal care units. She said, “When a mother gives her last period as pregnancy age but you’re uncertain, the decision becomes very challenging and unreliable.”
Many individuals in rural Kenya delay seeking medical assistance until late in pregnancy, with some considering it inappropriate to announce a pregnancy early, while the expenses and long travel time to antenatal clinics present further challenges.
Dr. Alice Papageorgiou, co-founder of Intelligent Ultrasound and director of clinical research at the Oxford Institute of Maternal, Child and Perinatal Health, acknowledges concerns that the technology could be viewed as providing subpar services to women in lower-income countries.
“Ideally, we should focus on building capacity in these environments by providing the right equipment, training, and resources similar to high-income countries. However, the reality is that this hasn’t been accomplished in recent decades. So, as an interim solution – one that may only be temporary – I believe it is a good solution,” she concluded.
Peppa Pig Play-Along Podcast All episodes available now on Audible The Pig Queen has been an icon to toddlers around the world for 20 years, so it’s about time she entered the world of podcasting. Kids and their parents can enjoy together as Peppa Pig explores big emotions, long drives, and what to do when you’re not tired at bedtime. From the creator of hits like Peace and Harmony, it’s packed with catchy tunes and, of course, some digging into Daddy Pig. Hannah Verdier
Hysterical Wondery+, weekly episodes When a group of girls at an upstate New York school started experiencing convulsions, tremors, and other mysterious symptoms, doctors were baffled. Was it all in their imagination? Or was social media to blame? Now Dan Taberski (Missing Richard Simmons) is investigating the outbreak, which he’s dubbing “mass hysteria,” to uncover links to other unexplained occurrences. HV
Mummy Pig, George Pig, Daddy Pig and, best of all, Peppa Pig will be making their podcast debut. Photo: Everett Collection/Alamy
Pop Culture Debate Club BBC Sounds, weekly episodes If you still miss Call Your Girlfriend, Aminatou Saw’s show puts two pop culture fans head-to-head in a fun debate about important issues. Would you rather spend time with the cast of New Girl or Community? Which is the better sports movie, Space Jam or D2: The Mighty Ducks? Saw has the final say. HV
Coatbridge: The disappearance of Moira Anderson All episodes available now on Audible In 1957, 11-year-old Moira Anderson disappeared during a snowstorm in Coatbridge, a small town near Glasgow. Journalist Rachel Rebes helps Moira’s old neighbour Sandra Brown share her memories. What begins as grief for a missing schoolmate unravels as Brown worries about her own father and discovers a cycle of abuse. HV
The Master: An Indictment Against Neil Gaiman Tortoise, all episodes now available The four-part series reveals the facts that two women have alleged sexual abuse against the author, juxtaposing the accusers’ testimonies, Gaiman’s denials, and conflicting accounts of events (based on consensual relationships) to create a confusing and sometimes difficult story to listen to. Alexi Duggins
There is a podcast
Author and critic Maggie Nelson is a guest on the Commonplace Poetry Podcast. Photo: Deirdre O’Callaghan/The Guardian
this week, Amar Kalia select The 5 Best Poetry PodcastsFrom exploring classic works to the creative secrets of contemporary authors Poetry exchange The easiest way to become familiar with poetry is to listen to it read aloud, analyzed, and explained. Interesting people reading poetry This show does just that, as artists and writers share their favorite poems and briefly discuss their emotional resonance. If you want to dig a little deeper, you can also try this fascinating podcast, where hosts Fiona Bennett and Michael Shaffer first ask their guests to share a meaningful poem, then delve into the poem’s personal meaning and importance to the reader. Hear everyone from actors Brian Cox and Andrew Scott to poet Sarina Godden talk about the power of poetry in everyday life.
commonplace In this long-running series, author Rachel Zucker not only talks about the magic of poetry itself but also interviews poets about their craft and how their everyday encounters influence their creativity. In conversations that can last more than two hours, Zucker offers insight into life and how to navigate it, asking questions about everything from writers’ morning routines to how much sleep they get. Among the poets interviewed are former US presidential candidate Eileen Myles, best-selling author Maggie Nelson, and US Poet Laureate Ada Limon. Perfect for a long journey or a lazy morning, Zucker’s passion for art in all its forms is captivating.
A mouthful of air For an in-depth analysis of a university lecture, check out poet Mark McGuinness’ series, “A Mouthful of Air.” Weaving together interviews with contemporary poets about their work and original explorations of classics such as Chaucer, Emily Dickinson, and D.H. Lawrence, McGuinness doesn’t shy away from textual analysis but rather walks his audience through concepts and teases out myriad meanings from the pages. For a more comprehensive analysis, check out The Poetry Foundation’s Poetry Talk The podcast is also rigorous with roundtable discussions between a group of scholars and writers analyzing classic works and forgotten greats.
Poems that fell off the shelf Focusing on contemporary poetry, this Poetry Foundation series is packed with amazing work by living authors you’ve probably never heard of. Striking the perfect balance of analysis and freewheeling conversation about a writer’s life and inspiration, host Helena De Groot’s episodes include everything from interviews with authors to in-depth reviews of new anthologies to tributes to recently deceased poets. With over 100 episodes to choose from, recommended primers include translator Emily Drumsta’s look at the rhythm of different languages, Hawaiian poet No’u Revilla’s importance of place in one’s work, and Mahogany L Browne’s attempted censorship of the children’s book “Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice.”
Slow down With each episode only five minutes long, The Slowdown has created a genre of its own across 1000 episodes. Combining ASMR relaxation with poetry lessons, the show features a daily reading of a new work by host and poet Major Jackson, accompanied by a brief introduction to the subject. Jackson strays from Western staples to take a broader look at world literature. Read in his soothing baritone, the episodes are incredibly relaxing and meditative, but thankfully, they’re so short they can easily be replayed for fresh insights.
Please try…
From Jameela Jamil to former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, Rylan Clark’s new BBC podcast has some seriously interesting guests. How to get noticed.
The Economist’s new series boom! It examines how the Baby Boomer generation has influenced politics, including the current U.S. presidential election.
With England taking part in the Euro 2024 final this weekend, now’s the perfect time to listen to the Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast, which is turning into Football Daily for the duration of the tournament.
MaAsteroids hurtling at planet-destroying speeds, glowing spheres of hot gas, black holes from which even light cannot escape: outer space can be the stuff of nightmares, but for Celine Veltman, a 28-year-old Dutch game maker who spent her childhood stargazing, it’s the stuff of dreams. She’s channeling this cosmic wonder into a video game with the most ambitious ambition: the creation of a solar system. Rocks collide with each other, chemical reactions occur, and planets and life itself are born in the depths of space.
Curiosmos’s bright, easy-to-follow visuals, more children’s picture book than Terrence Malick, express Veltman’s objectives for the project and its inception: “I want to inspire more people to become as passionate about space as I am,” she says, speaking animatedly of supernovae and protoplanetary disks.
The idea came to Veltman while she was visiting a friend with two young children in 2018. The kids begged the developer for an iPad, so Veltman came up with what she wanted them to play: a “silly” game about astronomy, one that would “make them laugh” while also teaching a lesson about the very building blocks of life.
Speaking to a backdrop of sculptures on shelves in his artist studio in Utrecht, Netherlands, Veltman explains that this whimsical space adventure relies on solid physics and programming from his colleagues Guillaume Pauli and Robin de Paeppe. Curiosmos is a game of interlocking systems that produce unpredictable outcomes: an asteroid blows off parts of the planet to expose a molten core, drifting clouds create the perfect conditions for plant life, and strange, ungainly creatures begin to waddle around. There are touches of 2008’s Spore in this primitive life simulator, but Veltman specifically references the games of renowned designer Keita Takahashi (specifically Noby Noby Boy and Wattam) for working with “goofy, unconventional concepts.”
The task of translating the universe’s almost unfathomably complex secrets into gameplay proved to be a challenge. “Sometimes I almost regret it,” says Veltman, who relied on her instincts about what key information to include, leaving out magnetic fields and including rings of debris. Ultimately, she says with a wry smile, people need to understand that “planets are fragile, and can turn into big piles of dust.”
While the subject matter might evoke a touch of existential dread, Curiosmos is designed to feel good in the player’s hands. “That was a big part of the design,” Veltman says. Hurling asteroids makes satisfying noises, and terrain explodes with satisfying sounds. Veltman, a hobbyist potter, understands the power of touch; even Curiosmos’s transforming planets look like they’re made of clay.
Curiosmos also has personal meaning for Veltman: “During development, I realized I was saddened to be an artist instead of a scientist,” she says. The game is her attempt to ease this tension and “give meaning to science by creating art.”
Veltman hopes it will have the same kind of impact, if not the same scale, as educational YouTube channels. In a nutshell“The astronomy community is a huge part of our lives,” Veltman says. “They’re the foundation of our planet. They’re the cornerstone of our planet’s astronomy.” Veltman is a scientist who translates arcane scientific concepts into videos of “optimistic nihilism” for his 22.5 million subscribers. Curious Moss has a similar energy, seeking to make the universe’s most remote, strange, and unsettling mysteries “accessible to everyone.” Perhaps this, Veltman thinks, could pique the curiosity of many new astronomy enthusiasts.
Since November, I have been using my boss’s car for work and after crossing the Dartford junction of the M25 for the first time, I attempted to pay the Dart toll. The website clearly stated, “there are no crossing fees payable.”
I assumed that this meant my boss had the car registered to his Dart account, so I did not add it to my account.
Three months went by, and I started receiving penalty charge notices (PCNs). I currently have 23 PCNs totaling £2,230 for crossings between November 2023 and February 2024. I appealed, but all were rejected.
If the first PCN had been sent sooner, I would have accepted my mistake and paid the fee. However, I do not agree with the rest and it seems like a consequence of a management failure. I have since learned of others facing the same struggle. Can I be of assistance?
L.S., Tonbridge
In the weeks following our previous coverage of the Dart fee issue, we have received numerous letters from frustrated users, and yours is one of the most severe cases.
It seems that the chaos in the payment system resulted from a new company, Conduent, taking over in July.
Reports indicate that thousands of fines have been imposed, affecting over 2,500 vehicles per operator.
Figures obtained by Fleet News through a Freedom of Information request in May revealed a 50% increase in PCNs issued for non-payment.
We reached out to National Highways, who manage the crossing, regarding your case. They have agreed to waive the notices if you pay the £65 in crossing charges owed. The company also apologized for any inconvenience caused and stated they have improved their procedures to prevent similar issues in the future.
Always make sure to obtain and keep receipts for all payments when using a crossing to avoid issues.
It’s best to double-check and not assume everything is fine if you encounter an error message when paying for your trip.
If you have received a PCN, please contact the Dart Rate Enforcement Team at 0300 1313 120.
Letters are appreciated, but we are unable to respond individually. Please reach out to us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or send correspondence to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Kindly provide a daytime telephone number where you can be reached. Submission and publication of letters are subject to our terms and conditions.
I I’m a comedian, a Twitch streaming clown, and a journalism degree holder. While people typically conclude their bios with a third funny thing, I’m here for serious research. When I was asked to write this column, I did the usual amount of research and read all of the previous articles in preparation.
Believe it or not, many people will take this opportunity to feature up-and-coming comedians, some of whom they know personally. This is a bit of nepotism, but it’s meant to encourage talented friends who deserve the spotlight. This is nasty, biased journalism that can only serve the greater good. We won’t do that here today, and we certainly won’t do it while I’m on the roster.
This column describes funny internet happenings that have nothing to do with me. I don’t know any of these people, and frankly, I don’t want to know them. Not because they’re bad people, I’m just worried they’ll hate me. My self-esteem couldn’t take the hit it would take right now.
With rigorous and objective research (I looked at TikTok likes going back to 2020. Help me, my retinas are burning), I’ve quality controlled this list to ensure that it’ll make you laugh every time you see it. Sorry if you didn’t laugh, but my research suggests you’re wrong! Oh, that’s a shame! Cry instead of crying. Cry if you’re sad!
1. Important Stories
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This man has a compelling story, long but worth listening to. It has an important message, and the man who told it is brave. God bless America.
2. Families that label together label together
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This perfectly captures the vibe of Christmas through to New Year’s, the time of year when you’re with your family and going crazy, but in a fun way! And because they’re good kids and just want to help their parents, there are three parts to this one. A heartwarming story that ends with the label maker company sending them even more labels? That’s the Internet, baby.
3. Got it, Fluff!
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The star of this video is Fluff, a person with that exact in-the-moment energy I wish I could always have. We’ve all been Fluff at some point in our lives. We’ve all misunderstood instructions for comedic effect. But could we have understood it like Fluff did? I don’t think anyone can, but I hope we can all strive for it.
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DJ Mandy is a true artist. A DJ who can create the perfect chaotic track but is also open to “feedback”. The internet loves to make jokes about people who are doing stuff that is intentionally funny but DJ Mandy knows how to turn that into engagement and sold out live sets. My feedback is DJ Mandy, please do an Australian tour when you can.
This song is also very nostalgic for me because the building I used to live in had frequent parties and emergency evacuations almost every week. The building also had flammable cladding, so if DJ Mandy had played on our balcony, we would have had problems (because her songs are so hot).
An innovative British startup focusing on technology to prevent cold and damp in rental homes has received new funding to expand its operations. This comes as landlords are now recognizing the importance of addressing mold issues in older social housing units.
Switchey has raised £5 million, with existing investors AXA IM Aults and Octopus Ventures each contributing. The company aims to use this funding, combined with a previous investment round of £6.5 million led by AXA, to install its technology in 1 million UK social housing units.
Switchey’s technology, utilized by over 130 social housing providers, monitors humidity, temperature, and pressure to prevent mold, lower heating costs, and enhance communication between tenants and landlords.
The quality of social housing has been under scrutiny following the tragic death of a two-year-old who succumbed to mold in his rented flat. Switchy’s CEO Tom Robbins stated that there is a growing demand for improved housing standards, prompting landlords to seek technology-driven solutions.
The company aims to address the disparity in access to cost-saving technology, particularly for those struggling with heating bills. Switchey’s equipment has already made a significant impact, helping families living in unsafe conditions due to damp and mold.
In addition to reducing heating costs and improving housing conditions, Switchey’s technology contributes to environmental sustainability. The company is part of initiatives like the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to promote energy-efficient solutions.
Revenue at Switchey has doubled over the past three years, reaching £10 million in the last fiscal year. While focused on scalability, the company remains committed to its social and environmental mission.
Edward Kieran, a partner at Octopus Ventures, highlighted Switchey’s focus on social housing and environmental impact. The company has achieved B Corp Status and counts AXA as its largest shareholder.
Founded in 2015 by Adam Hudakowski and Ian Napier, Switchey has connected 35,000 devices in homes to date. The company aims to reach a million homes over the next five to ten years as a tribute to Napier, who tragically took his own life in 2019 but played a crucial role in shaping the company’s vision.
Amid regulator scrutiny over big tech companies’ relationships with artificial intelligence startups, Microsoft is stepping down from its observer role on OpenAI’s board, and Apple will no longer appoint executives to similar positions.
Microsoft, the primary funder of ChatGPT developer, announced its resignation in a letter to the startup, as reported by the Financial Times. The company stated that the resignation, as a mere observer with no voting rights on board decisions, is effective immediately.
Microsoft highlighted the progress made by the new OpenAI board post the eventful departure and reinstatement of CEO Sam Altman last year. The company mentioned that OpenAI is heading in the right direction by emphasizing safety and nurturing a positive work culture.
“Considering these developments, we feel that our limited observer role is no longer essential,” stated Microsoft, which has invested $13 billion (£10.2 billion) in OpenAI.
However, Microsoft reportedly believed that its observer role raised concerns among competition regulators. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is reviewing whether the deal equated to an “acquisition of control,” while the US Federal Trade Commission is also investigating View Partnerships.
While the European Commission opted out of a formal merger review regarding Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI, it is examining exclusivity clauses in the contract between the two entities.
An OpenAI spokesperson mentioned that the startup is adopting a new strategy to engage key partners like Microsoft, Apple, and other investors on a regular basis to strengthen alignment on safety and security.
As part of this new approach, OpenAI will no longer have an observer on the board, meaning Apple will also not have a similar role. Reports had surfaced earlier this month about Apple intending to include App Store head Phil Schiller on its board, but no comment has been received from Apple.
Regulatory scrutiny has intensified on investments in AI startups. The FTC is investigating OpenAI and Microsoft, along with Anthropic, the creator of the Claude chatbot, and their collaborations with tech giants Google and Amazon. In the UK, the CMA is looking into Amazon’s partnership with Anthropic, as well as Microsoft’s ties with Mistral and Inflection AI.
Alex Hafner, a partner at British law firm Fladgate, indicated that Microsoft’s decision seemed to be impacted by the regulatory landscape.
“It’s evident that regulators are closely monitoring the intricate relationships between big tech firms and AI providers, prompting Microsoft and others to rethink how they structure these arrangements in the future,” he commented.
ohOne of the biggest changes in the modern video game industry is happening just beyond the reach of the average console gamer. Free-to-play gacha games, where you spend real money or in-game currency for a randomly selected set of characters and weapons, are booming in the Chinese market, led by publishers like miHoYo, NetEase, and Yostar. Some of the most popular games in this genre include Genshin, Arknights, and Another Eden, with tens of millions of players on smartphones and significant revenue from players willing to pay to enhance their collections.
More recently, the genre has expanded beyond mobile with Zenless Zone Zero, the newest addition. Developed by HoYoverse, the game is an expansive, anime-inspired action role-playing adventure set in a chaotic sci-fi dystopia. Earth has been invaded by extra-dimensional aliens, and human survivors now reside in New Eridu, a city built on the remains of a previous civilization. Players can choose to play as Wise or Bell, sibling hackers who run a video rental store, or as proxy agents sending teams of warriors on missions for clients.
Everything you do earns you some form of currency… Zenless Zone Zero. Photo: HoYoverse
Similar to the popular Persona RPG series, Zenless Zone Zero combines story, beat ’em up, and life simulation elements. Players navigate through various activities like fighting aliens, managing a video store, running errands, playing games, and capturing photographs of neighborhood cats. Actions in the game earn players currency, which can be used for upgrades and acquiring new characters. Completing contracts involves solving puzzles before battling aliens, leading to more lucrative missions and a continuous cycle.
Combat is straightforward with one button for attack and another for dodging. Characters have unique abilities and weapons, each with special and ultimate moves for enhanced gameplay. Switching between characters during combat adds visual effects and explosions, making it engaging.
Laser beams, bullets, blades flying…Zenless Zone Zero. Photo: HoYoverse
Visually, the game embodies cyberpunk anime with a rundown cityscape contrasted by advanced technology. Marauding gangs, AI raids, and cute robots coexist in a dystopian setting reminiscent of Studio Ghibli and Ghost in the Shell. The game allows for exploration of the environment, interactions with characters, and development of human relationships among the agents. The gacha system in the game entices players with rare items available for limited times, encouraging engagement through in-game currency or real money.
Zenless Zone Zero is a captivating gacha game with a mix of gameplay elements and a compelling narrative. Despite the controversial nature of gacha games, the experience offered by Zenless Zone Zero is engaging and rewarding, making it a fair exchange for players invested in its world.
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