Grindr is potentially facing lawsuits from numerous users who allege that the dating app shared extremely confidential personal data with advertising firms, including disclosing their HIV status in some instances.
Law firm Austin Hayes is preparing to sue the app’s American owners in London’s High Court, claiming a breach of UK data protection laws.
The firm asserts that thousands of Grindr users in the UK had their information misused. They state that 670 individuals have already signed the claim, with “thousands more” showing interest in joining.
Grinder has stated it will vigorously respond to these allegations, pointing out that they are based on an inaccurate evaluation of past policies.
Established in 2009 to facilitate interactions among gay men, Grindr is currently the largest dating app worldwide for gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals, boasting millions of users.
The lawsuit against Grindr in the High Court centers on claims of personal data sharing with two advertising companies. It also suggests that these companies may have further sold the data to other entities.
New users may not be eligible to take part, as the claims against Grindr primarily cover the period before April 3, 2018, and between May 25, 2018, and April 7, 2020. Grindr updated its consent process in April 2020.
Los Angeles-headquartered Grindr ceased passing on users’ HIV status to third parties in April 2018 following a report by Norwegian researchers uncovering data sharing with two firms. In 2021, Norway’s data protection authority imposed a NOK 65 million fine on Grindr for violating data protection laws.
Grinder appealed the decision from Norway.
The Norwegian ruling does not specifically address the alleged sharing of a user’s HIV status, recognizing that a user registered on Grindr is likely associated with the gay or bisexual community, making such data sensitive.
Chaya Hanumanjee, managing director at Austin Hayes leading the case, remarked, “Our clients suffer greatly when their highly sensitive data is shared without consent, leading to fear, embarrassment, and anxiety.”
“Grindr is dedicated to compensating those impacted by the data breach and ensuring all users can safely utilize the app without fear of their data being shared with third parties,” Hanumanjee added.
The law firm believes that affected users might be entitled to significant damages but did not disclose details.
A spokesperson from Grindr stated, “We prioritize safeguarding your data and adhering to all relevant privacy regulations, including in the UK. Our global privacy program demonstrates our commitment to privacy, and we will vigorously address this claim.”
Maddie Lane and Phoebe Colin were unaware of the cameras recording them as they strolled down a bustling street in Manchester last April.
On a warm spring day, the women sported brightly colored cycling shorts, completely oblivious to being surreptitiously filmed by a person with a device placed below waist level.
Colin expressed her discomfort upon watching the video, stating, “I don’t like it. You can see them zooming in on our butt cheeks.”
The perpetrator boldly shot a high-definition video, capturing them primarily from behind just a few meters away, before moving around to capture their faces, which were unmistakably visible.
Feeling violated, Lane mentioned, “I had no idea they were filming us. We were just wondering, ‘Why didn’t we notice them?’”
What intensified their fear was how they discovered the existence of the video. Lane received an Instagram message from an anonymous sender containing a link to the footage, insinuating, “Hi, is this you?” They proceeded to track down Colin and send her a similar message revealing the video’s online presence.
Lane shared their apprehension, saying, “The fact that they found us on social media was frightening. We still don’t know who they are.”
Despite reporting the incident to the police, there were no consequences. Colin recollected, “They informed us that there was nothing they could do and advised us to reach out if it happened again.”
The perpetrator appears to have filmed the two individuals in this video from close proximity. Photo: Joel Goodman/Guardian
This video is one among several targeting women in tight attire or short dresses, captured without their awareness in various UK towns and cities.
In response to the escalating issue, authorities urged women to report such incidents, emphasizing they would take a firm stand provided genuine victim or community reports were received.
Recent legislation has equipped the police with enhanced powers to seek stalking protection orders (SPOs) against offenders, aimed at curbing stalking behavior early on by prohibiting certain actions such as capturing images of perpetrators.
The changes announced by the Home Office on the first day of National Stalking Awareness Week enable police to apply for victim protection orders based on civil standards, simplifying the process by eliminating the need for conclusive criminal evidence.
The unsettling experience of Lane and Colin resonates with many women venturing out in Manchester on weekend nights, with similar incidents being common.
At popular venues like Printworks, incidents of secret video recordings have been reported, highlighting the urgent need for action and awareness.
The women at Deansgate, where numerous such videos circulated on social media, expressed concern over the pervasive issue of privacy invasion and objectification.
By sharing their thoughts and experiences, these women emphasized the importance of social change and actively confronting such reprehensible behavior.
IIn its initial days after release, Fallout, the Prime Video series based on the popular post-apocalyptic video game franchise, quickly became a global sensation. Topping the UK charts and ranking as one of the top three most-watched titles on Prime, it garnered widespread acclaim. This success led to Amazon announcing the renewal of the show for a second season within just one week of its global release across 240 countries and territories.
Amazon stated, “The expectations were high among fans of this iconic video game, and we are pleased to have exceeded them so far, attracting millions of new followers to the series.”
The triumph of Fallout, set two centuries after a nuclear catastrophe and featuring Ella Purnell, Kyle MacLachlan, and Aaron Moten, signifies the rise of video game adaptations into mainstream entertainment. Recent successes like HBO’s The Last of Us and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which grossed $1.36 billion, highlight the increasing prominence of game-inspired content.
Rhys Elliott, a games industry analyst, compared game adaptations to superhero films, noting a shift towards gaming IP in Hollywood. The positive response to titles like Fallout and The Last of Us suggests a growing acceptance of gaming narratives in mainstream media.
Upcoming projects such as a Minecraft movie and a The Legend of Zelda adaptation by Margot Robbie reflect the industry’s evolving interest in gaming IP. The success of recent adaptations has debunked the myth of a curse surrounding game-to-film transitions, attributing it to faithful storytelling and star-studded productions.
Jonathan Nolan’s involvement in Fallout, driven by his passion for the game, underscores a new era where filmmakers appreciate the essence of gaming narratives. This collaboration between game developers and seasoned filmmakers has redefined the landscape of video game adaptations.
The shift towards gaming IP signifies a significant change in the industry’s approach to adapting video games. As Hollywood embraces this newfound gold rush, film studios are learning to leverage the global appeal of game franchises for successful adaptations.
Despite past misfires, recent successes have instilled confidence in the potential of video game adaptations. With a focus on engaging a broad audience and respecting the source material, these projects are redefining the narrative surrounding game-to-film transitions.
“MMonopoly is Silicon Valley’s answer to Darth Vader and is “a condition of all successful business,” said Peter Thiel. This aspiration is widely shared by Valley giant Gamman, his new acronym for Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Nvidia. And with the advent of AI, each one’s desire to reach that blessed state before others gets there is even greater.
One sign of their anxiety is that they are spending insane amounts of money on the 70-odd generative AI startups that have proliferated since it became clear that AI was going to be the new thing. Microsoft, for example, reportedly spent $13bn (about £10.4bn) on OpenAI, while leading a $1.3bn funding round for DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleiman’s startup Inflection. He was also an investor. Amazon invested $4 billion in Anthropic, a startup founded by refugees from OpenAI. Google invested $500 million in the same business, he pledged an additional $1.5 billion, and he invested an unknown amount in A121 Labs and Hugging Face.
(Yes, I know the name doesn’t mean anything.) Microsoft also invested in his French AI startup, Mistral. and so on. In 2023, only $9 billion of the $27 billion invested in AI startups was invested. From a venture capitalist company –Until recently, the company was by far the largest funder of emerging technology companies in Silicon Valley.
what’s happening? After all, the big tech companies have their own “fundamental” AI models and don’t need what smaller companies have built or are building. And every penny drops. We’ve seen this strategy before. An existing company discovers and captures potential competitors at an early stage. For example, Google acquired YouTube in his 2006. Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion in 2012 when it had only 13 employees, and WhatsApp in 2014 (for $19 billion, which seemed an exorbitant amount at the time).
With the 20/20 vision of hindsight, we now see that these were all anti-competitive acquisitions that should have been resisted at the time and were not. That’s why it’s so refreshing to know that at least one regulator, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), seems determined to learn from its history.
in Speech given at a gathering of American antitrust lawyers Just over a week ago in Washington, CMA CEO Sara Cardel called for ensuring the market for fundamental AI models is supported by fair, open and effective competition and strong consumer protections. announced that he had decided to do so. Her concern is that the growing presence of a few large incumbents across the AI value chain (the series of steps required to turn inputs into usable outputs) will undermine competition and limit companies’ options. This meant that there was a possibility that these markets could be formed in a way that degraded quality. and consumers.
She cited three major risks to competition. One is that companies that control critical inputs for developing the underlying model may restrict access to protect themselves from competition. Powerful incumbents may exploit their positions in consumer and business markets to limit competition in model deployment and thereby distort choice. And we believe that partnerships between key players have the potential to strengthen or expand existing market power across the value chain.
He also said the CMA would take action to assess and mitigate competition risks from new technologies through its formidable investigatory powers, including merger control reviews, market investigations and possible designations under new digital competition laws. I warned you.
It was truly amazing to hear a major regulator speak like this about the technology industry. Cardel said the CMA will be a technology industry that believes in being proactive and (as is often said) moving quickly to break things, rather than waiting for problems to arise before acting. He suggested that he would try to stay ahead of the big players rather than lag behind them. He said the CMA is already preparing for this task based on what it has learned so far from adapting to technology platforms. Rather than focusing only on individual parts of the chain, the value of AI model deploymenthe aims to look at the entire chain holistically. It also plans to use its merger review powers more aggressively to assess the impact of alliances and AI investments on competition.
Isn’t that exciting? But in some ways it is no surprise as it is one of the few British institutions that seems able to use the post-Brexit freedoms as an opportunity for creativity and innovation. And bigwigs who are tempted to dismiss Cardel’s speech as mere fiery rhetoric should reflect on the CMA’s recent track record. A thorough investigation into Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, for example; or how Meta forced the sale of Giphy, an online database and search engine that allows users to find and share animated GIF files. Cardel may be lower profile than her U.S. FTC counterpart Lina Khan, but it’s clear she means business. People with strong possessiveness should be careful.
A convicted sex offender who created over 1,000 indecent images of children has been forbidden from using any “AI creation tools” for the next five years, marking a significant case in this realm.
Anthony Dover, 48, was instructed by a British court in February not to use artificial intelligence-generated tools without prior police authorization, as part of a sexual harm prevention order issued in February.
The prohibition extends to tools like text-image generators that produce realistic-looking photos from written commands, as well as the manipulation of websites used to generate explicit “deepfake” content.
Mr. Dover, who received a community order and a £200 fine, was specifically directed not to utilize the Stable Diffusion software known to be exploited by pedophiles to create surreal child sexual abuse material.
This case is part of a series of prosecutions where AI-generated images have come to the forefront, prompting warnings from charities regarding the proliferation of such images of sexual abuse.
Last week, the government announced the creation of a new crime that makes it illegal to produce sexually explicit deepfakes of individuals over 18 without their consent, with severe penalties for offenders.
Using synthetic child sexual abuse material, whether real or AI-generated, has been illegal under laws since the 1990s, leading to recent prosecutions involving lifelike images produced using tools like Photoshop.
These tools are increasingly being used to combat the dangers posed by sophisticated synthetic content, as evidenced by recent court cases involving the distribution of such images.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) emphasized the urgent need to address the production of AI-generated child sexual abuse images, warning about the rise of such content and its chilling realism.
Law enforcement agencies and charities are working to tackle this growing trend of AI-generated images, with concerns rising about the production of deepfake content and the impact on victims.
Efforts are underway to address the growing concern over AI-generated images and deepfake content, with calls for technology companies to prevent the creation and distribution of such harmful material.
The decision to restrict adult sex offenders from using AI tools may pave the way for increased surveillance of those convicted of indecent image offenses, highlighting the need for proactive measures to safeguard against future violations.
While restrictions on internet use for sex offenders have existed, limitations on AI tools have not been common, underscoring the gravity of this case and its implications for future legal actions.
The company behind Stable Diffusion, Stability AI, has taken steps to prevent abuse of their software, emphasizing the importance of responsible technology use and compliance with legal guidelines.
○On April 21, 1989, Nintendo released a chunky gray gameplay rectangle for Japanese stores. It’s safe to say that no one expected much of it. Inside Nintendo’s Kyoto headquarters, the portable console was reportedly not a very popular project. However, within two weeks, the initial production run of 300,000 units had all been sold out. The Game Boy was released in the United States later that year, and would be released around the world over the next few years. We’ve found it to be equally popular wherever we go. Thirty-five years later and nearly 120 million units later, it remains the fourth best-selling gaming console of all time.
Like Sony’s Walkman, the Game Boy was an icon of technological design at the time, and is still instantly recognizable just by its silhouette. Developed by a team led by Satoru Okada and Gunpei Yokoi in Kyoto, the Game Boy was probably inspired by Yokoi’s dictum of “lateral thinking through dead technology” – do more with less, which continues at Nintendo to this day. This is an outstanding example of the technical principle of doing. It has a very simple design with four buttons and a cross-shaped D-pad, so it’s easy to use just by looking at it. Thanks to the grayscale screen, the battery lasted for several days of play. And, most importantly for the accident-prone kids of the ’90s (and their parents), you can throw this thing off a bridge and it’ll probably still work.
Gunpei Yokoi’s design principles made the Game Boy an international phenomenon. Photo: Associated Press
The Game Boy wasn’t the first handheld game console, nor was it the best game console at the time. Even in the late 80’s, it had a thick, retro feel. That screen didn’t have a backlight, but it was also sensitive to glare from bright sunlight, so I had to crawl across the screen to find the perfect amount of light (or use a large square I had to buy a portable lamp. more battery). Meanwhile, the Atari Lynx and Sega Game Gear arrived soon after with much better hardware and color graphics.
But it was the Game Boy that was the bestseller, spawning direct and spiritual successors from the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance to the Nintendo DS and even its Switch. These are all consoles that you can hold in your hand. The reason is that, unlike its rivals, it had an extraordinary game whose vibrancy went beyond the scope of its small gray-green screen.
The most memorable of these is definitely Tetris. Tetris wasn’t made specifically for Nintendo’s small console – it’s been playable on computers since 1984 – but it turns out the Game Boy was made for Tetris. Alexey Pajitnov’s shape slot puzzle game has found its perfect home on this small console. Its rudimentary graphics abilities were sufficient to render some configurations of falling blocks. In the US and Europe, the Game Boy was bundled with the game. So when you think of Tetris’ Earworm theme song, the bleeppy 8-bit Game Boy version of him probably comes to mind.
Block Rocking Blocks: Tetris battles have become a holiday staple for many families. Photo: Boston Globe/Getty Images
You can even play Tetris with friends, as there’s a port on the side that lets you connect your console with a cable, the Game Boy’s most advanced feature. This is what inspired Satoshi Tajiri, a quiet programmer who had a childhood interest in insects, to create Pokemon, the Game Boy’s most enduring game. From pixels and pure imagination, Pokémon has created a world full of distinctive creatures that kids and adults alike can lose themselves in and swap and battle over Link’s cables. Despite being released towards the end of the Game Boy, it became a phenomenon.
How a geeky little game like this – Pokemon battles are primarily about numbers and type matchups – became the single most profitable entertainment franchise on the planet, surpassing Mickey Mouse and Star Wars. is incredible to me. This is a testament to the creative vision of the creator, as well as the imagination of his 90s children, who did not suffer from elementary expressions. But it also teaches us about the power and intimacy of handheld gaming consoles. With television, games were rooted in the living room or bedroom. On the Game Boy, it became part of family vacations, long car trips, and lunch breaks at work. Games have become part of everyday life.
This handheld console spawned many hit series. Photo: Nintendo
Perhaps this is what helps games like Super Mario Land and the heartbreaking, otherworldly The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening stay alive in the memories of those who play them. I remember we played Zelda on the commuter train. I met lifelong friends at my first job. After school, I got together with my friends at the playground and played Pokemon. On my day off, I played Tetris and had a high score competition with his older brother. Many people still have their Game Boys sitting in drawers or boxes in the attic. Their emotional value is so high that people can’t bring themselves to throw them away.
Here’s a favorite photo of four kids with bowl cuts from the ’90s crowd around women I was concentrating on my Game Boy. You can almost see the cartridge inside. It’s Super Mario Land. As far as I know, the origin of this photo is lost to time, but I’d like to think it’s herGame Boy, and she teaches the kids how to get past one of its more difficult levels. This image, for me, perfectly sums up this console and what it feels like to play it. Gameboys were shared by families and played by everyone, girls and boys, men and women. It was a portal to other small worlds and introduced millions of people to the magic of gaming.
New research has discovered that despite restrictions on advertising campaigns targeting young people, children are being inundated with gambling promotions and content that resembles gambling while browsing the internet.
The study, commissioned by charity GambleAware and funded by donations from gambling companies, highlights the blurred line between gambling advertising and online casino-style games, leading to a rise in online gambling with children unaware of the associated risks. It warns that gambling advertisements featuring cartoon graphics can strongly attract children. Recently, a gambling company promoted a new online slot game on social media using a cartoon of three frogs to entice players.
GambleAware is recommending new regulations to limit the exposure of young people to advertising. Research conducted by the charity revealed that children struggle to differentiate between actual gambling products and gambling-like content, such as mobile games with in-app purchases.
Zoe Osmond, CEO of GambleAware, emphasized the need for immediate action to protect children from being exposed to gambling ads and content, stating, “This research demonstrates that gambling content has become a part of many children’s lives.”
GambleAware chief executive Zoe Osmond said urgent action on internet promotions was needed to protect children. Photo: Doug Peters/Pennsylvania
The report also points out that excessive engagement in online games with gambling elements, like loot boxes bought with virtual or real money, can fall under a broader definition of gambling. It calls for stricter regulation on platforms offering such games to children.
Businesses are cautioned against using cartoon characters in gambling promotions, as they may appeal to children. However, there is no outright ban on using such characters. Online casino 32Red, for instance, recently advertised its Fat Frog online slot game on social media with a cartoon frog theme.
Dr. Raffaello Rossi, a marketing lecturer focused on the impact of gambling advertising on youth, criticized regulators for not acting swiftly enough to address the proliferation of online promotions enticing children. He called for new advertising codes to regulate social media promotions effectively.
The Gambling and Gambling Council assured that their members strictly verify ages for all products and have implemented new age restriction rules for social media advertising.
Recent data from the Gambling Commission indicates that young people are now less exposed to gambling ads compared to previous years. While no direct link between problem gambling development and advertising has been established.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) stated that it regulates gambling advertising to safeguard children and monitors online gambling ads through various tools and methods.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport affirmed its focus on monitoring new forms of gambling and gambling-like products, including social casino games, to ensure appropriate regulations are in place.
Kindred Group, the owner of the 32Red brand, was reached out to for comment.
Even for able-bodied climbers, climbing Britain's three highest peaks can seem like a test of determination. But Martha Lane Fox has undergone 47 surgeries and suffers from impaired balance, nerve damage, and constant pain, requiring two canes to get anywhere. This is a remnant of the car accident that almost killed her 20 years ago.
On Saturday, she completed the first leg of “Martha's Mountain Mission” by reaching the summit of Snowdon or Yul Wiffa. Scafell Pike, England's highest mountain, will be next on May 6th, followed by Ben Nevis on September 7th.
“My body is not like other people's,” she said. observer. “I suffer from severe pain and incontinence and have very severe nerve damage. So all of these things make it a very big hurdle for me to try to walk for any length of time, let alone really long. Not to mention the hours going uphill and all the way back down.”
Martha's Mountain Mission marks the 20th anniversary of Lane Fox's car accident in Morocco. She's 31, just sold lastmount.com, the travel and gift company she founded with Brent Hoberman seven years ago, and is on vacation with her boyfriend of six weeks, Chris Gorrell Burns.
When Lane Fox was thrown from the passenger seat of a convertible and landed on a rock, it seemed like a new chapter in her life was about to end.
“I almost died,” she said in a low voice. “When you walk into the trauma room on the scale, they score you. I think up to 39 – 39 is dead. I was 37 at the time. So you can't get any closer to death. I don't think I could, and I was very, very hurt.
“But I was very lucky to be able to escape from Morocco first. It wasn't planned by me, my family planned it. Then I went to work at one of the best hospitals in the country, John – He was taken to Radcliffe Hospital. [in Oxford]is reinstated, then transferred to other hospitals over the next few years, and then continually reinstated.
“So most people who go through something like that don't have all of that available to them.”
That's one reason she's walking. to raise her £300,000 for four charities. first day trauma This is for people in Lane Fox's situation, helping people with catastrophic injuries rebuild their lives. There are countless decisions to be made about treatment, finances, and what you need to do to recover. “So when I have a bad moment, I especially think of the Day One Trauma people.” [to motivate me],” she said.
Lane Fox broke 28 bones, suffered a stroke and was hospitalized for just under two years, as surgeon after surgeon tried to fix or simply alleviate her injuries. For the past 20 years, she has been in and out of hospital, and this is the inspiration for another charity she supports. horatio's garden.
On Saturday, friends will join the Martha Lane Fox in Eriri National Park (Snowdonia). Photo: Courtesy of Martha Lane Fox
“They are building beautiful gardens and spaces in each spinal unit for people like me who are stuck in the hospital for a very long time and can’t go outside,” she said. “When something like that happens, it doesn't really end. It changed my life forever. I'm lucky. I mean, in my heart, I'm not kidding. I'm lucky. I have the resources and support to survive and thrive. So I feel lucky.”
Thanks to their support, Lane Fox was able to build on its success during the dot-com boom and indeed grow. Three years after her accident, she joined the board of Marks and Spencer, was appointed to the House of Lords, and worked with David Cameron's government to improve computer literacy.
Another charity activity is ability net. This is a reminder for us to work with developers and technologists to remember older people and people with disabilities who are often excluded from digital life. Fourth, i am the code wants to help 1 million girls and young women become programmers by 2030.
Lane Fox became Chancellor of the Open University in 2014 and had twin sons through surrogacy with Gorrell Barnes in 2016. Seven-year-olds Milo and Felix joined their girlfriend, along with more than 30 friends, on a run up and down Snowdon yesterday.
Still, the effects of her injury continue. “I do a lot of physical therapy anyway, because otherwise I wouldn't be able to exist,” she said. “But 2022 was a really bad year for me. I had sepsis and almost lost my leg. I was really sick, I was back in the hospital a lot.” Last year At 50 years old, she had only one ambition. That means she doesn't have time to be hospitalized.
“It made my mind clear. I wanted to do something so scary that it felt like a goal I had achieved, but at the same time something so scary that people might give me money. That's why I came up with the now somewhat crazy idea of climbing these three peaks. ”
After spending Saturday in Wales in the cold April sun, a weary Lane Fox was looking ahead to his next two challenges.
“It was much harder coming down, but I'm alive, and I’m so happy every day,” she said.
“Ben Nevis is the hardest. But one thing at a time.”
TWhile last year’s Hollywood writers and actors strike was about a variety of factors, among them fair pay and back pay, one concern far outweighed the others. It was a breach of a type of generative AI that can generate text, images, and video. people’s lives. It was a foregone conclusion that we would use generative AI in the content we watch, from movies to television to tons of trash on the internet. Pandora’s box has been opened. But the cry at the time was that even with a three-year contract, this technology was developed, deployed and deployed so quickly that protections were ensured against companies using AI to cut corners. If they did, it would be a victory.
It was no fuss. In the mere months since the Writers Guild and Actors Guild signed a historic deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the average social media user has almost certainly become aware of AI, whether they realize it or not. You will have encountered the generated material. Efforts to curb celebrity porn AI deepfakes have even reached the notoriously recalcitrant and insensitive US Congress. The internet is currently rife with misinformation and conspiracies, and with the presence of generative AI; Tore what was left of our shared reality to shreds., Kate Middleton’s AI deepfake video seemed like a not-unreasonable conclusion to many. (For the record, it was real.) Hollywood executives are already testing OpenAI’s upcoming text-to-video program, Sora, and producer Tyler Perry said: canceling his studio’s $800 million expansion Because “jobs will be lost” in Atlanta.
In short, many people are scared, or at best wary, and with good reason. That’s all the more reason to focus on the small battles over AI, rather than through an apocalyptic lens. Because amidst all the big talk about Taylor Swift deepfakes and the potential job apocalypse, generative AI is creeping into movies and TV in small ways, some potentially creative, some latent. Because it’s unlucky. In recent weeks alone, many examples of AI being used legally in and around creative projects have tested what audiences pay attention to and receive, and what is ethically acceptable. We are investigating.
'TThe part where the mother and child get separated on the Red Mountain is a level fairly early in the game where you have to go back and find the mother. I was completing the sound design and music in the hospital. She was right next to my mother as she slept while she was recovering from open heart surgery. ”
Todd Baker pauses for a moment. He recalls the development process for Monument Valley 2, a 2017 indie puzzle game. Biggest success stories It will remain in the history of mobile games. The second game is more experimental than the first. The number of stories has increased and the atmosphere has changed. While the first title was all optical illusions and impossible objects, the sequel moves away from his MC Escher-inspired towers and spiers to non-Euclidean geometry and brutalism.
At the center of it all are a mother and daughter, wordlessly walking back and forth in each other's paths, desperately trying to stay together as the world heaves and undulates and does its best to tear them apart. It's about women's heritage and relationships, and for Todd there were parallels between fiction and reality. “The fact that this game is about a mother and a child, and the fact that I lost my mother at the end of the year when I was making this game, is very heartbreaking.”
“I wanted the music to speak and tell the story”…Monument Valley 2. Photo: ustwo
Monument Valley 2's soundtrack is the kind of music you want to listen to when you're not playing. Even when separated from the parent game, it's still very enveloping, very rich and textured, and provides a comfortable background for whatever you're doing. Waves of warm, organic tones and ambient, soothing sounds wash over you. This was always Baker's intention. Even before the unfortunate coincidence of fictional and real losses, Monument Valley 2's soundtrack was designed to be soothing, familiar, and gorgeous.
“Basically, what I was trying to do was create the sound of a really warm hug,” Baker said with a laugh, referring to one of the early stages of the game, when the child first comes to his mother. He described the moment he was held in his mother's arms. “At that moment, the kid comes in and I hug him, and there’s a lot of bass going on…I needed a really warm, fuzzy feeling, like this is where I want to be right now. .”
This moment in the game is very important. It's all about setting what's at stake. Yes, this story is abstract and minimalistic, but this moment has such power. Baker creates an impromptu acoustic guitar melody that he layered on three tracks and played on an EBow for a slightly supernatural sound, all backed up by an intoxicating supporting bass note, but it's not unlike the visuals here. I am doing a very important job. Establish everything that's at risk, Apple/iOS friendly, “bright on white”. If you don't watch the game to the end, you'll never see these two reunite.
That resonated with the audience, Baker said. “What's amazing is that now I get messages from people saying, 'This was the soundtrack of my childhood,'” Baker laughs. “They talked to me as adults now who were playing this game when they were 11 or 12 years old and said this is nostalgic and it's a safe space for them. It touches people's hearts. , they have a lot of nostalgia for it now.”
'It touched people's hearts'…Todd Baker performs music from Monument Valley 2 at London's V&A. Photo: ustwo
Baker was responsible for not only the music for Monument Valley 2, but also the entire sound design. Things like how a chime sounds when you swipe or tap on certain interactive elements, or how a little music plays as you explore a curious geometric world. It gets sucked in. This was an opportunity for him to emulate the approach Martin Stig Andersen took with Limbo and Inside. Both games had a huge influence on Monument Valley 2's audio, even though they couldn't be more different in tone.
“From the beginning, I was confident that I could do this. We were able to do the whole project holistically, including discussions about whether to license the music or use other artists for the trailer.” But for this one…I had to bring it myself. I wanted the music to speak and tell the story, and I wanted the rest of the development team to be really excited about it.”
As Baker says this, he imitates a hug and brings it around himself, recreating the hug he tried to evoke in the hearts and ears of players in the game's early moments. A decade after the original game was released, Apple still promotes both Monument Valley and the sequel on the App Store, with the latter installed on at least 30 million of his devices. There's no doubt that millions of people heard echoes of that hug and Baker's relationship with his mother. If you've never played this game with the sound on, find your headphones, head over to the App Store, and give it a try. I promise you, it's worth the effort.
I I've been watching the last few episodes of the Fallout series on Prime Video. It's funny and gory, sometimes sentimental, and sometimes silly. In other words, it's exactly the kind of game that oscillates between quiet, tragic moments in which you explore traces of America and scenes in which you run out of ammunition and are chased down a hill by an irradiated scorpion.
Fallout's ensemble cast – highlighted by Walton Goggins' near-immortal ghoul and Ella Purnell's wide-eyed vault-dweller – deftly compartmentalize the different facets of the game's personality. As director Jonathan Nolan pointed out in an interview last week with Bethesda's Todd Howard, game director, this is a common device in television storytelling, but rare in games. Grand Theft Auto V does it well. Each of the three main characters represents a different part of his DNA in GTA (Trevor of violent chaos, Michael of authoritative crime drama, and Franklin of Compton realism).But in most games we play One Or we shape the character so that it becomes unique to us.
It makes it difficult to adapt the game to the screen. But instead of trying to convey the experience of playing a game, Fallout takes a step back to let the broken yet strangely optimistic world of Fallout take center stage, with each character exploring different aspects of that world. is showing.
“Even if you say you're adapting Fallout 3, whose Fallout 3 are you talking about? Because the way you play that game is very different from the way I play it. Because it could have been different,” Nolan told me. “That's the beauty of this kind of game.” [Bethesda] I'm drawn to the types of games that make the most of the medium and decide who your character will be within that world. Obviously, it doesn't lead directly to the series. ”
I was interested: how did Will Nolan play Fallout 3? “I always play as a Boy Scout first because I think my parents are watching,” he said. “So I'm going to make the smart decision and try again and play as a complete heel. But then I get weird, I get uncomfortable, I end up falling into a morally compromised middle ground.” It's a little pitiful.
Aaron Moten, right, one of the stars of Fallout. Photo: Jojo Wilden/Prime Video
I can relate. chaotic good In most games where it's allowed, I'm willing to cause chaos wherever I go, and happily align myself with characters and factions in power, but I’d never do anything to hurt people. I know it’s a game, but Assumption I want it to be a no-consequences place where I can experiment with morality, but I can’t bring myself to play the villain. This is in contrast to many players I know. They immediately start causing chaos in the game world just to see what happens. The kind of person who shoots horses in Red Dead Redemption.
“Every time I get a game and test it, I immediately think, “What will this game be able to do?” No matter what we do, every time we hand the player a weapon, the first thing they see is I’m going to shoot anyone who does,” Todd Howard said with a laugh. “It could be their mother. They’ll shoot whoever it is. Then they’ll be like, ‘Well, I’ll reload.’ ”
Trying to design a choice-based game based on the random whims of the players must be a nightmare, but Howard and Bethesda have decades of experience with it. When I interviewed him over the years, he talked about how players and systems interact to create new stories, and how games make what they do in-game real and meaningful. He spoke eloquently about the unique mechanism that makes you feel as though you are in the dark. You can’t do that with TV or movies. But as the Fallout show proves, if it’s made by people who really understand it, can We tell unique stories that still capture the essence of the games people love.
Fallout is great because, while this is also true of other successful game-to-movie adaptations in recent years, Appearance Yes, the sets are perfect, and they nail the game’s retro-future, nostalgic aesthetic. That’s because Nolan and screenwriters Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner actually played Fallout, understood it, and felt the power of its storytelling for themselves. Rather than trying to clumsily adapt the game’s story into a TV script, they wrote an amazing game expansion fan fiction on a very high budget. I’m all for this approach. Now that we have a generation of TV producers and filmmakers who grew up with games and truly understand them, I would like to see more of them.
Criticism has been directed at Mark Zuckerberg’s meta by Britain’s terror watchdog for reducing the minimum age for WhatsApp users from 16 to 13. This move is seen as “unprecedented” and is expected to expose more teenagers to extremist content.
Jonathan Hall KC expressed concerns about the increased access to unregulated content, such as terrorism and sexual exploitation, that meta may not be able to monitor.
Jonathan Hall described the decision as “unusual”.
According to Mr. Hall, the use of end-to-end encryption by WhatsApp has made it difficult for meta to remove harmful content, contributing to the exposure of younger users to unregulated materials.
He highlighted the vulnerability of children to terrorist content, especially following a spike in arrests among minors. This exposure may lead vulnerable children to adopt extremist ideologies.
WhatsApp implemented the age adjustment in the UK and EU in February, aligning with global standards and implementing additional safeguards.
Despite the platform’s intentions, child safety advocates criticized the move, citing a growing need for tech companies to prioritize child protection.
The debate over end-to-end encryption and illegal content on messaging platforms has sparked discussions on online safety regulations, with authorities like Ofcom exploring ways to address these challenges.
The government has clarified that any intervention by Ofcom regarding content scanning must meet privacy and accuracy standards and be technically feasible.
In a related development, Meta announced plans to introduce end-to-end encryption to Messenger and is expected to extend this feature to Instagram.
In the UK, a quarter of three and four-year-olds now own a smartphone, and even children under 13 have smartphones, according to new data. As ministers consider banning mobile phone ownership for children under 16, half of children are already using social media.
Reports from the communications regulator Ofcom show a significant increase in online activity among toddlers to school-age children, with social media usage among 5 to 7-year-olds rising from 30% to 38% in the past year. Furthermore, 76% of children in this age group are using tablets.
These findings support the arguments of those close to Rishi Sunak, urging him to regulate young children’s phone and social media usage. Discussions on potential measures are expected to begin in the coming weeks, with proposals including banning the sale of mobile phones to under-16s, enhancing parental control capabilities, and raising the minimum age for social media platforms to 16.
It is concerning that despite the age requirement of 13 for social media apps, half of children aged 3 to 12 are using at least one social media platform. Michelle Donnellan, the Tech Secretary, emphasized the importance of implementing online safety laws to protect children.
The figures underscore the negative impact of widespread social media use on children’s mental health, with a significant increase in depression and anxiety among adolescents. Experts like Jonathan Haidt recommend delaying smartphone ownership until the age of 16 to address these issues.
Tech Secretary Michelle Donnellan said the figures showed why the Government’s online safety laws were essential. Photo: Andy Lane/EPA
Child safety advocates urge action to enforce age restrictions on social media platforms. Organizations like the Molly Rose Foundation and NSPCC emphasize the need for stronger regulations to protect children online.
New data from Ofcom also reveals an increase in messaging and calling among 5 to 7-year-olds, with more children using apps like WhatsApp and TikTok. The vast majority of children aged 3 to 17 are now online, with younger children favoring tablets and older children owning smartphones.
The smartphone ownership statistics are based on a survey of 2,480 parents with children aged 3 to 17. Ofcom defines smartphones as devices that enable app download, web browsing, and online activity.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, still wields influence over the cryptocurrency almost 14 years after vanishing.
This week, a protocol crafted by Nakamoto (an individual or group that went silent in December 2010) will trigger the “Bitcoin halving,” which has historically been tied to price increases. The upcoming halving is set to occur this Saturday.
Here’s a breakdown of what the Bitcoin halving entails and its potential ramifications.
What is Bitcoin halving?
It revolves around how Bitcoins are recorded and generated. Cryptocurrency transactions are recorded on a public ledger called the blockchain. These transactions are grouped into blocks by “miners,” solved, and linked. Miners use specialized hardware to solve cryptographic puzzles and, crucially, receive rewards in newly minted Bitcoins.
Nakamoto’s goal was to cap the total number of Bitcoins at 21 million, so the protocol adjusts to limit the influx of new coins into the market. This is accomplished by halving miners’ rewards every 210,000 blocks, approximately every four years.
The imminent halving is slated to take place early Saturday in the US and UK, reducing the reward for adding a new block to the blockchain from 6.25 Bitcoins to 3.125 Bitcoins. Bitcoin, currently with over 19 million coins in circulation, will continue halving until an estimated 21 million by 2140.
What impact will it have on the price of Bitcoin?
A halving leads to a decrease in the supply of new Bitcoin, potentially raising its price. It’s an economic principle that a decrease in supply with stable demand should drive up the price of an asset.
Data from 10x Research shows that the average prices following the past three halvings (2020, 2016, 2012) increased by 16% in the subsequent 60 days. The 2016 halving initially saw a 6% dip but then rebounded strongly in 2017.
Experts suggest that halvings usually lead to rising prices due to reduced supply, with a peak typically occurring around 500 days post-halving. However, markets have already factored in the halving, and significant price hikes aren’t expected immediately after.
Are there any negative effects?
Bitcoin mining companies, which bear energy and equipment costs to validate transactions, may face financial strain as rewards shrink.
Andrew O’Neill, managing director of digital assets research at S&P Global, notes that halving the block rewards can impact miners’ profitability significantly, leading to potential closures of unprofitable businesses.
For Bitcoin mining to be economically sustainable, broader adoption across the global economy is required to boost miners’ earnings from transaction fees. However, concerns are rising about the environmental unsustainability of energy-intensive Bitcoin mining.
Critics fear that amateur investors may be drawn into price spikes and hype surrounding the halving, adding another layer of negative impact.
YYou might recall the Reigns series, known for its tie-in with Game of Thrones. The hallmark of the game is its Tinder-esque card swiping, where you swipe left and right to make instantaneous decisions before witnessing the outcomes. After crash-landing on a random planet, you find yourself becoming a part of an intergalactic rock band. This seems like an obvious choice, considering that you accidentally kill the band’s guitarist on a ship that spirals out of control. From there, you embark on a journey across the stars, visiting planets, picking up stowaways, encountering eerie space creatures, and occasionally uncovering secrets about space (or ships with mystical consciousness).
You’ll also experience numerous deaths. Rarely have I played a game where death occurs so frequently yet remains entertaining. I’ve succumbed to deadly space germs, suffocated by fluffy space bunnies, and even had my head bitten off by a shark-like manager. I’ve encountered explosions, gasped for air, choked, and starved. On one occasion, I accidentally wiped out all life in a solar system by plugging in a guitar amp. Each time you die, you’re reborn at the last planet you visited and ready to embark on another journey. With Reigns, there are no lasting repercussions, only temporary and catastrophic setbacks.
This doesn’t entirely eliminate the frustration. I lost most of my space battles, which quickly became tedious. When you aim to progress by acquiring a new guitar or visiting specific planets, random mishaps can lose their charm. Repetitive scenarios begin to surface fairly soon, within a few hours. However, Reigns never fails to be engaging, and I find myself eager to jump back in to see what absurdity unfolds next.
Reigns Beyond serves as a wild space adventure that you can dive into for brief 10-minute sessions, and the swift and witty dialogue is impressive. However, I began to question why I was part of a band. While you may land on a planet and perform a concert, these musical interludes are repetitive, unchallenging, and trivial. It’s amusing and surprisingly expansive as a space ensemble comedy, but somewhat superficial as a band buddy comedy. I also ponder if the title is facing any resistance at this point. “Reigns” made sense when it focused on being a monarch of varying competence, but it doesn’t quite embody comedic sci-fi, so it receives a pass. Sacrifices were made. It’s a minor tragedy. Because you won’t encounter anything as ludicrous as this multi-hour space journey for under-fives.
T
Tech company Nothing’s latest low-cost Bluetooth earphones offer great sound and noise cancellation at an even more competitive price, while still standing out from the crowd with their cool design.
The London-based company has launched the affordable £99 (€99/$99) Ear (a), which retains almost everything great about its previous Nothing earphones. That’s £30 cheaper than its predecessor and the new £129 (€149/$149) Ear, which lets you customize the sound and adds a few more features.
Ear (a) maintains the same shape as its predecessor, but with an infusion of color to make it more vibrant. The fit and finish remain excellent, and the company’s transparent design showcases some of the internal workings.
The Nothing earphones manage to stand out from the crowd despite their AirPod-like shape. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Stalks features the same playback, noise canceling, and volume squeeze controls as its predecessor. These are customizable and work really well by pinching once, twice, or thrice, or by squeezing and holding the stem. However, the double squeeze and hold gesture required some practice to master consistently.
The earbuds’ bodies and silicone tips provide a comfortable and secure fit for long listening sessions. The battery offers 5-6 hours of playtime and can be recharged an additional 3 times with the case.
The Ear (a)’s case is also compact, similar in size to industry leaders like Apple’s AirPods, and fits snugly into the watch pocket of jeans. It features USB-C charging, foregoing Qi wireless charging for a smaller form factor.
The flip-top case has a clear lid that makes it easy to slip into your pocket, but the glossy plastic base is prone to scratches. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
specification
water resistance: IP54 (splash proof)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3 (SBC, AAC, LDAC)
Battery life: 5.5 hours with ANC (24.5 hours with case)
Earphone dimensions: 30.9×21.7×24.3mm
Earphone weight: 4.8g each
Driver size: 11mm
Charging case dimensions: 47.6×63.3×22.7mm
Charging case weight: 39.6g
Case charging: USB-C
Great sound for the price
The Nothing X app for Android and iPhone shows battery life, updates, controls, and customize sounds. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The earbuds support Bluetooth 5.3 and have multi-point capability, allowing you to connect two devices simultaneously for easy switching. They support SBC and AAC Bluetooth audio formats as well as the high-quality LDAC, common on Android devices.
Nothing continues to deliver superior sound quality compared to its competitors at this price point. The Ear (a) is well-rounded in its sound profile and closely resembles its pricier Ear counterpart. It handles complex tracks effortlessly and offers a wide and expansive soundstage. While it delivers deep bass, there is also ample treble detail.
With the new bass enhancement feature, you can immediately experience more bass. This feature has 5 levels and can be adjusted in the Nothing X app along with the basic equalizer settings.
The noise cancellation is effective, particularly at maximum setting, in dampening out commute noises and office chatter. It performs well with high-pitched sounds and offers improved handling of keyboard clicks and voices compared to its predecessor. The ambient sound mode is one of the best available, and call quality in various environments is decent, albeit slightly artificial-sounding.
sustainability
Various internal parts are visible through the transparent shell, but cannot be accessed or repaired. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The earbuds and case batteries are designed to retain at least 80% of their original capacity after 500 full charge cycles. Out-of-warranty replacement cases or earbuds cost £39.99 each, but the earbuds are not repairable and ultimately disposable.
Despite containing recycled tin, Nothing does not offer trade-in programs for its audio products or publish environmental impact assessments. The earbuds have an estimated carbon footprint of 2.72kg.
price
Nothing Ear (a) is priced at £99 (€99/$99), available in three colors, and shipping from April 22nd.
For comparison, the Ear costs £129, the Fairphone Fairbuds costs £129, OnePlus Buds Pro 2 is priced at £179, Google Pixel Buds Pro at £199, and Apple AirPods Pro 2 at £229.
verdict
The Ear (a) has set a new standard for quality in the low-end market. At just £99, it offers better sound and noise cancellation than most rivals, and has an interesting-looking transparent design.
The earbuds perform well, provide a comfortable fit, have good controls, support multipoint Bluetooth, and offer solid battery life. The new, smaller, more pocket-friendly case is a clear improvement over previous Nothing earphones. While it may lack advanced features like a full equalizer or spatial audio support, for top-notch audio quality and noise cancellation, it’s a great value. However, to enhance everyday user experience further, a larger investment may be necessary.
The major drawback is the non-replaceable batteries in the earbuds and cases, making them disposable in the long run. Fairbud has shown it’s possible to have replaceable components, prompting others to follow suit.
Strong Points: Great value, interesting design, great sound and noise cancellation for the price, comfortable fit, great call quality, stable controls, multipoint, Bluetooth 5.3 with cross-platform apps.
Cons: Disposable, case easily scratched, no head-tracking spatial audio support, no future-proof LC3 or Auracast support.
The Ear (a) is a great set of affordable earbuds that beat the competition in sound and noise cancellation and have a standout design. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Interactive true crime-style podcasts that armchair detectives can engage with are nothing new (see below solve), but modern audio games are highly appealing.
In cold tape, Andrew Fairfield, a behavioral scientist, was murdered on an Antarctic base during the long winter (a setting familiar to fans of recent True Detective TV seasons). There are 16 other people left at the base, all of whom are suspects.
Listeners are invited to assist DCI Tessa McAllister by piecing together victims’ audio diaries, secret recordings, police interviews, and other compelling evidence. Moreover, those who solve the case will have the opportunity to be selected as Super Sleuth 2024 at Crime Con London 2024 and enter a competition where they can win £10,000 in prizes (literally all the time spent on real crime might pay off).
At the top of this week’s list is Alice Levine’s new show featuring a woman who purchases a cheap island off the coast of Nicaragua and invites a Channel 4 camera crew to film a new reality series with her there. However, multiple disasters ensue…
Holly Richardson television editor assistant
This week’s picks
Muhammad Ali, one of the subjects of Kate Griggs’ dyslexic thinking lessons. Photo: Photoreporters Inc/REX
the price of paradise Wide range of weekly episodes available The story of Jane Gaskin, who bought a private island off the coast of Nicaragua on the cheap, is fascinating. In 2002, the former Playboy Bunny became the unexpected star of Channel 4’s reality show No Going Back, but Alice Levine, in all her gory glory, brought the story to a new audience. This is the story of a family who leave behind a comfortable life in England, but soon find themselves embroiled in controversy, corruption, and kidnapping. Hannah Verdier
Deep Cover: The Nameless Man Weekly episodes widely available starting Monday “There’s a confession, but there’s no body.” Director Jake Halpern’s carefully researched fourth season follows the pair as they investigate rumors of a teenager who bragged about killing a black man in order to join a white supremacist group. depicts a federal agent. But who was the man? And can Halpern solve the murder the other way around? HV
dyslexia thinking lessons Wide range of weekly episodes available Grit, determination, heightened spatial awareness: all qualities that Muhammad Ali (pictured above) possessed, and which presenter Kate Griggs identified as a form of dyslexic thinking. In a fascinating podcast, she tells her wife Ronnie about the skills that have made him a champion. Other exciting guests include wildlife presenter Hamza He Yassin and author Riz He Pichon. HV
apple and tree Wide range of weekly episodes available Narrator Vogue Williams connects parents and children in this warm and intimate podcast. First up is Sam. He has a tender and understanding conversation with his intelligent father Rakku about growing up gay in the Indian community. It’s a beautiful conversation until he tells his father’s gay friends that he came out while watching The X Factor. HV
Cold Tape: Beyond Winter Wide range of weekly episodes available A cold case involving the murder of a behavioral scientist at a remote base in Antarctica in the dead of winter sets the stage for this innovative murder mystery game. You must try to solve murder cases through a cache of files such as audio diaries and police interviews. If you can crack the case, you could win a £10,000 reward. HV
There’s a podcast for that
Timecop’s Gloria Ruben and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Photo: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy
This week, graham virtue Our picks for the 5 best podcasts on bad movie, from the chaotic “How Did This Get Made?” Until TCM’s masterfully produced The Plot Thickens: The Devil’s Candy.
How was this made? One way to squeeze entertainment value out of a bad movie is to hear smart people making fun of it. For more than 300 episodes, hosts Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas have used wrecking balls to make movies subpar. As actors in film and television, they bring inside information, unexpected empathy, and explosive anger to live shows that blare with infectious energy. The 50 Shades series has been given some punishment in recent series, but upcoming episodes will feature zany action movies like The Beekeeper and Shark Attack 3: Megalodon, which were featured on a recent UK tour. I am planning to work on it.
Police have uncovered a disturbing trend among university students, who are resorting to cyber fraud to boost their income. They have managed to infiltrate a large phishing site on the dark web that has defrauded tens of thousands of individuals.
The site, known as LabHost, has been operational since 2021 and serves as a hub for cyber fraud, enabling users to create realistic-looking websites mimicking reputable companies like major banks. It has ensnared 70,000 users globally, including 70,000 individuals in the UK.
Victims unknowingly provided sensitive information, which was then used to siphon money from their accounts. The perpetrators behind the site profited by selling this stolen data on the dark web to other fraudsters.
According to the Metropolitan Police, the primary victims fall within the 25-44 age bracket, with a significant portion of their activities carried out online.
Law enforcement authorities have apprehended one of the alleged masterminds behind the site, along with 36 other suspects detained in the UK and abroad. The arrests were made at various airports in Manchester, Luton, Essex, and London.
British police are facing mounting pressure to demonstrate their effectiveness in combating the rising tide of cyber fraud.
Despite the relatively small impact of dismantling this particular site, the police intend to dismantle additional cyber fraud operations to undermine the confidence of criminals who believe they can act with impunity.
While fraud and cybercrime present considerable challenges for law enforcement agencies, they often compete for resources with other policing priorities, such as safeguarding children and enhancing women’s safety.
LabHost managed to amass significant amounts of sensitive data, including 480,000 debit or credit card numbers and 64,000 PIN numbers, generating over £1 million in membership fees from 2,000 individuals who paid in cryptocurrency.
The company lured users with tutorial videos on committing crimes using the site and on utilizing new consumer products. It promised quick installation of software in five minutes and offered “customer service” in case of any issues.
DI Oliver Richter noted the shift in cyber fraud from requiring technical skills like coding to now being accessible to individuals ranging from late teens to late 20s, many of whom are college students.
He expressed concern that these users may not fully grasp the risks and consequences of their actions, assuming anonymity and ease of operation.
Following the dismantling of the site, 800 users received warnings that the police were aware of their activities.
Detective Inspector Helen Rance, head of the Metropolitan Police’s cybercrime unit, described the LabHost bust as a sophisticated operation targeting those who have commercialized fraudulent activities. She highlighted collaboration with 17 factions globally, both in the public and private sectors.
She emphasized the success of penetrating the service, identifying the perpetrators, and understanding the scale of their illicit operations.
Tesla is seeking shareholders’ re-approval for CEO Elon Musk’s hefty $56 billion compensation plan from 2018, which was previously rejected by a Delaware judge in January for being excessive and unjustified.
Musk’s compensation, tied to Tesla’s market value increase to $650 billion over the next decade, currently stands at over $500 billion, according to LSEG data, excluding salary or cash bonuses.
The rejection from Delaware Court of Chancery’s Kathleen McCormick criticized the board’s decision, deeming the compensation “incalculable” and unfair to shareholders.
Tesla’s move for a fresh shareholder vote appears to bolster support for Musk’s pay package and challenge the court’s ruling, which disapproved the largest corporate pay package in America.
In response to the court’s decision, board chair Robin Denholm expressed disagreement, stating that the ruling did not conform to corporate law principles.
In 2023, Musk’s compensation was recorded as $0, as he does not draw a salary but is compensated through stock options. The court case also mentioned Musk’s involvement in an attempt to disrupt Twitter Inc.’s acquisition deal.
Tesla is suggesting a re-vote on the original 2018 compensation package, contemplating legal considerations, as well as seeking approval from shareholders to relocate its state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas.
Ahead of the market opening, shares of the leading automaker rallied by 1%.
This year has been challenging for Tesla, with reports of underperforming against market expectations and observing its first decline in deliveries in four years, prompting a workforce reduction of 14,000 employees. The broader electric vehicle industry has also experienced a slowdown, with major players like Ford revising their plans.
Meanwhile, Apple scaled back its self-driving electric car project, leading to layoffs, indicating a shifting landscape in the electric vehicle sector.
The EU has given TikTok 24 hours to conduct a risk assessment of a new service it has launched over concerns it could encourage children to become addicted to videos on the platform.
Launched this month in France and Spain, TikTok Lite, an app that lets you earn rewards just by watching, is effectively TikTok’s coin currency that rewards points earned through Amazon coupons, gift cards via PayPal, or “tasks.” We offer prizes such as:
“Tasks” include watching videos, liking content, following creators, inviting friends to TikTok, and more.
The European Commission said TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, should have carried out a risk assessment before introducing the app, and said it was now seeking “further details”.
The intervention comes months after sweeping new laws came into force under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires technology companies and social media platforms to follow new rules regarding the services they offer to users and the removal of illegal content. It was done later.
In February, the commission launched a formal investigation into TikTok, alleging violations of the DSA in areas related to the protection of minors, advertising transparency, and risk management around addictive design and harmful content. We evaluated whether there is any gender.
Investigations into child protection on TikTok include age verification, an issue highlighted by a Guardian investigation into the platform last year.
While the commission said its request for further information regarding TikTok’s internal controls does not prejudge the possibility of further action, the commission said in response to the request that “any information that is inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading” We have the power to impose fines.”
The organization said its request related to concerns “about the potential impact of the new Tasks and Rewards Lite program on the protection of minors and the mental health of users, particularly in relation to the potential stimulation of addictive behavior.” He said that
Last year, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy formally warned the nation that social media poses a “risk of serious harm” to the mental health of children and adolescents.
In September, TikTok was fined 350 million euros by the EU’s chief regulator for violating privacy laws regarding the processing of children’s personal data.
In addition to the 24-hour deadline for the risk assessment, TikTok must also provide other information by April 26, the commission said.
The company said it would honor the request. “We have already been in direct contact with the commission regarding this product and will respond to requests for information,” a TikTok spokesperson said.
The company said the benefit is limited to people aged 18 and over, subject to age verification, and the maximum payment is set at €1 (approximately £0.85) per day.
Red, yellow, and green are now the colors of traffic lights, but that wasn’t always the case. The first (and disastrous) attempt to install a traffic light occurred on December 10, 1868, which also marks the official date of the installation of the world’s first traffic light. It was located in front of the British Parliament in London and consisted of two movable signs mounted on lever-operated arms, illuminated at the top for visibility at night. Unfortunately, the unlucky scoreboard didn’t last long, as it exploded less than two months later, killing the police officer who was putting up the sign.
Traffic lights started to be installed worldwide with the advent of electricity in cities. Cleveland (USA) was home to the first two-color traffic light operating on electricity. Detroit and New York added yellow between red and green in 1920. In Europe, Paris saw the first traffic lights in 1923, followed by other major cities. A year later, Berlin, Milan, Rome, London, Prague, and Barcelona also installed traffic lights.
The first treaty on the unification of road signals was signed in Geneva in 1931 with the goal of enhancing road traffic safety and facilitating international traffic on roads with standardized traffic lights. Most of the signs seen on streets today were established by this agreement, making the three colors of red, yellow, and green the standard for traffic lights. The choice of colors for traffic lights was inspired by railway traffic conditions, where red indicated stopping, white indicated moving, and green indicated caution. The introduction of yellow was to address the confusion caused by white, which could easily be mistaken for starlight at night.
When it comes to color perception, red has the longest wavelength, followed by yellow and green. Longer wavelengths travel farther, which is why colors with longer wavelengths are chosen for signal transmission. As a result, red light can travel the farthest, making it visible even in conditions like rain or fog.
Child sexual exploitation is increasing online, with artificial intelligence generating new forms such as images and videos related to child sexual abuse.
Reports of online child abuse to NCMEC increased by more than 12% from the previous year to over 36.2 million in 2023, as announced in the organization’s annual CyberTipline report. Most reports were related to the distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including photos and videos. Online criminals are also enticing children to send nude images and videos for financial gain, with increased reports of blackmail and extortion.
NCMEC has reported instances where children and families have been targeted for financial gain through blackmail using AI-generated CSAM.
The center has received 4,700 reports of child sexual exploitation images and videos created by generative AI, although tracking in this category only began in 2023, according to a spokesperson.
NCMEC is alarmed by the growing trend of malicious actors using artificial intelligence to produce deepfaked sexually explicit images and videos based on real children’s photos, stating that it is devastating for the victims and their families.
The group emphasizes that AI-generated child abuse content hinders the identification of actual child victims and is illegal in the United States, where production of such material is a federal crime.
In 2023, CyberTipline received over 35.9 million reports of suspected CSAM incidents, with most uploads originating outside the US. There was also a significant rise in online solicitation reports and exploitation cases involving communication with children for sexual purposes or abduction.
Top platforms for cybertips included Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Google, Snapchat, TikTok, and Twitter.
Out of 1,600 global companies registered for the CyberTip Reporting Program, 245 submitted reports to NCMEC, including US-based internet service providers required by law to report CSAM incidents to CyberTipline.
NCMEC highlights the importance of quality reports, as some automated reports may not be actionable without human involvement, potentially hindering law enforcement in detecting child abuse cases.
NCMEC’s report stresses the need for continued action by Congress and the tech community to address reporting issues.
We are witnessing the emergence of AI, a development that was unexpected by many. Let’s explore this further.
If you’ve interacted with an AI assistant extensively, you may have noticed a distinct quality in their responses. Unless deliberate efforts are made to deviate from the default settings, the text generated by AI can seem oddly produced, even if technically correct in terms of grammar and meaning.
Certain patterns are evident. Chatbots exhibit an exaggerated use of language models influenced by reinforcement learning with human feedback. The result? A willingness to please and a generally optimistic demeanor, desirable traits for an assistant role (or any role).
There are also areas where the AI hesitates to venture. Initiating a scenario like a romantic encounter between Mickey Mouse and Barack Obama can trigger various safety mechanisms, revealing the AI’s reluctance to engage in certain topics.
Other subtle indicators include a tendency to present both sides of an argument, an aversion to brief responses, and impeccable spelling and grammar, akin to “writing by a robot.”
Additionally, specific terms like “Learn more” recurrently used by ChatGPT raise flags on AI involvement, pointing towards the increasing integration of AI models in various fields for enhancing written content.
Dr. Jeremy Nguyen’s exploration suggests ChatGPT’s influence on certain PubMed articles. Photo: Jeremy Nguyen/X
A different dataset reveals that words like “Explore,” “Tapestry,” “Will,” and “Exploit” are more frequent in ChatGPT’s output compared to general internet usage.
Understanding the inner workings, GPT-4 serves as a vast language model processing extensive data to predict the next word in a sentence, a task requiring substantial data sets and sophisticated processing.
Transitioning this into a chatbot involves reinforcement learning with human feedback, engaging human testers to provide feedback for refining the AI’s responses, a resource-intensive process demonstrating the growing reliance on AI in content creation.
While AI advances in various sectors, the physical manifestation of AI technology is slowly emerging, as evidenced by Limitless’s innovative pendant for intelligent conversation tracking.
Looking ahead, AI hardware like Rabbit’s R1 proposes novel solutions for enhancing daily tasks through AI agents, emphasizing the evolving integration of AI in our lives.
As AI hardware gains traction, the future holds a vast landscape of possibilities, with ongoing advancements shaping the interconnected realms of AI technology and human interaction.
The Ministry of Justice has declared that the creation of sexually explicit “deepfake” images will soon be considered a criminal offense under new legislation.
Those found guilty of producing such images without consent could face a criminal record, an unlimited fine, and possible imprisonment if these images are distributed widely.
The ministry stipulates that creating a deepfake image will be punishable, irrespective of the creator’s intentions for sharing it. Last year’s online safety laws already criminalize the dissemination of intimate deepfakes, made easier by advancements in artificial intelligence technology.
The offense is anticipated to be added to the Criminal Justice Bill currently under parliamentary review. Minister Laura Farris affirmed that the creation of deepfake sexual content is unacceptable under any circumstances.
“This reprehensible act of degrading and dehumanizing individuals, particularly women, will not be tolerated. The potential repercussions of widespread sharing of such material can be devastating. This government is unwavering in its stance against it.”
Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, voiced support for the new law, stating: “It is imperative to criminalize the production of deepfake pornography. Imposing someone’s image onto explicit content violates their autonomy and privacy, posing significant harm and must be condemned.
Law enforcement must be equipped with the necessary training and resources to enforce these laws rigorously and dissuade offenders from acting with impunity,” added Cooper.
Deborah Joseph, editor-in-chief of Glamor UK, lauded the proposed amendments, citing a survey revealing that 91% of readers perceive deepfake technology as a threat to women’s safety. Personal accounts from victims emphasized the severe impact of this activity.
“While this marks a crucial initial step, there remains a considerable journey ahead for ensuring women feel completely safeguarded from this atrocious practice,” asserted Joseph.
TTick, tick. In the dripping confines of Fedora 1, an aquatic space colony with an exquisite retro-futuristic design, it is time, not water, that exerts undeniable pressure on its inhabitants. A cataclysmic meteor looms on the horizon, threatening to wipe them out. But these endearingly eccentric characters, including the titular Harold, are in no hurry for anyone, preferring to spend their days wandering down the barrel of cosmic disaster.
It’s no surprise that a leisurely-paced adventure game like Harold Halibut was created by a team that takes a similarly slow approach to time. It’s been 14 years since game director Onat Hekimoglu came up with his first idea for his game while studying for his master’s degree in his lab in Cologne. At the time, it was a weird point-and-click adventure with pristine stop-motion visuals. Elements of that version still exist today, with the main character, Harold, a melancholy caretaker who spends his days looking out to sea. But over the years, the game has become more mechanically sophisticated, narratively expansive, and visually beautiful.
Well, Harold Halibut is a wonderful blend of analog and virtual, with so much tactility and convincing textures that you find yourself reaching for the screen at various points while playing the game. You may want to physically touch them.
Like classic sci-fi films like Solaris, the game’s drama unfolds on a macrocosmic and microcosmic scale, delving into the inner lives of its eccentric cast as they ponder the universe’s biggest questions. . In one sequence, Harold cries out as he cleans a giant filtration pump, and in that moment he transforms from a man who does a boring job without complaining to a man with long-repressed emotions. You can see it changing. This sweet and tender scene sets up the rest of the game. Harold searches for the meaning of his life in a surprisingly cozy corner of the universe.
Create an action figure around a complex virtual playset…Harold Halibut.
Photo: Slow Brothers
As development progressed, the technology behind Harold Halibut gradually improved as the team moved funds from one pot to another, working on ad-hoc contracts.Under experiment photogrammetry During the project phase, “it was clear that Unity had limitations.” [the software used to make the game]” says Hekimoglu. The lights were off. The engine couldn’t handle huge HD scans. However, in 2015, physically-based rendering arrived, making objects in games look more realistic. Another major software update brought the team closer to…
Tillman recalls that Harold Halibut’s unconventional development was the opposite of most games. “People typically start with the technical limitations and adapt their creative decisions to that,” he says. “We came up with the concept of world-building, the way things looked, the mood, the lighting, the atmosphere, his art very early on. And then it took a long time. [technology] To get closer to it. He says the team has now reached a satisfactory conclusion that “it looks exactly as we envisioned it a long time ago.”
It’s been 14 years since Hekimoglu’s original concept, but it would be inaccurate to say that Harold Halibut has ever been in the doldrums. development hell. Rather, this group of artists, outsiders to the video game industry, continued to work steadily, following a completely different commercial logic and on a completely different schedule. To be sure, there were some bad points as well. The mutual termination of his contract with publisher Curve Games, the coronavirus pandemic, and a crisis with his team that he says has reached a “breaking point.”
But events like these energized the group, Tillman said. For several months, the team vowed to each other, “No matter what happened, we would see it through to the end,” with the same determination as our unlikely hero, Harold.
Numerous companies, including a national leisure center chain, are reassessing or discontinuing the use of facial recognition technology and fingerprint scanning for monitoring employee attendance in response to actions taken by Britain’s data authority.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) instructed a Serco subsidiary to halt the use of biometrics for tracking employee attendance at its leisure centers and prohibited the use of facial recognition and fingerprint scans. The ICO also issued stricter guidelines.
Following an investigation, the ICO found that more than 2,000 employees’ biometric data was unlawfully processed at 38 Serco-managed centers using facial recognition and, in two instances, fingerprint scanning to monitor attendance.
In response, Serco has been given a three-month deadline by the ICO to ensure compliance with regulations and has committed to achieving full compliance within that timeframe.
Other leisure center operators and businesses are also reevaluating or discontinuing the use of similar biometric technology for employee attendance monitoring in light of the ICO’s actions.
Virgin Active, a leisure club operator, announced the removal of biometric scanners from 32 properties and is exploring alternatives for staff monitoring.
Ian Hogg, CEO of Shopworks, a provider of biometric technology to Serco and other companies, highlighted the ICO’s role in assisting businesses in various industries to meet new standards for biometric authentication.
The new ICO standards emphasize exploring alternative options to biometrics for achieving statutory objectives, prompting companies to reconsider their use of such technology.
1Life, owned by Parkwood Leisure, is in the process of removing the Shopworks system from all sites, clarifying that it was not used for biometric purposes.
Continuing discussions with stakeholders, the ICO aims to guide appropriate use of facial recognition and biometric technology in compliance with regulations and best practices.
The widespread concerns raised by the ICO’s actions underscore the need for stronger regulations to protect employees from invasive surveillance technologies in the workplace.
The case of an Uber Eats driver facing issues with facial recognition checks highlights ongoing debates about the use of artificial intelligence in employment relationships and the need for transparent consultation processes.
Emphasizing the importance of respecting workers’ rights, the use of artificial intelligence in employment must be carefully regulated to prevent discriminatory practices and ensure fair treatment of employees.
Tesla, the electric car manufacturer, is reducing its global workforce by more than 10%, which is approximately 14,000 jobs, in response to decreased demand and pricing pressures. CEO Elon Musk made this announcement in a memo that was initially reported by Elektrek. Tesla currently employs 140,473 individuals, as stated in its annual report.
Musk explained that Tesla’s rapid growth led to duplicated roles and responsibilities, necessitating these layoffs. He noted, “There’s nothing we hate more, but it has to be done. This allows us to be lean, innovative, and greedy for the next cycle of growth.”
This decision comes after a challenging start to the year for electric car companies, with Tesla reporting lower-than-expected car deliveries in the first quarter of 2024. The company attributed this decline to production challenges and a slowdown in global demand.
According to critics, including Ross Gerber from Gerber Kawasaki, Tesla’s sales dip in a growing economy highlights concerns about lack of advertising, competition, and leadership. The company aims to boost profit margins amidst price cuts and increased competition.
The layoffs reflect the broader trend of slowing growth in the electric vehicle market, impacting Tesla’s performance. Tesla’s stock has seen a decline in value, losing around a third of its market capitalization this year.
Additionally, Reuters reported that BP is scaling back its electric vehicle charging business, reducing its workforce by more than 10% to focus on commercial electric vehicles. The company cited a need for greater precision and effectiveness in achieving its goals.
Tesla has facilities across the US, Germany, and China. The company has not yet responded to requests for comment.
Former President Donald Trump’s social media company saw a 12% drop in shares on Monday due to a regulatory filing stating the potential sale of millions of additional shares. This resulted in a further decline in stock prices.
The filing revealed that 146.1 million shares of Trump Media & Technology Group could be sold, including 114.8 million owned by Trump himself. Additionally, 21.5 million shares could be sold through warrants issued during the company’s merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp.
Since its market debut on March 26, parent company Truth Social has seen a 60% decrease in stock price. Trump is currently unable to sell any of his shares due to a lock-up agreement until September, tying his wealth to the company’s value. If the price remains stable, he stands to make significant profits from the stock.
On the same day, Trump, the presumed 2024 Republican nominee, began a criminal trial in Manhattan facing 34 felony charges related to falsifying business records in connection to payments to Stormy Daniels. This marks the first criminal trial of a US president and is expected to continue for about six weeks.
Trump is currently under financial strain due to various legal battles over the past year, owing approximately $500 million from civil cases. Trump media has received support from some of his major political donors, providing a lifeline for him to pay off his debts.
Recently, Democratic advocacy groups urged Congress to investigate Trump Media due to suspicious activities. In early April, two Florida brothers pleaded guilty to insider trading linked to the social media company. Additionally, reports suggest that the company is relying on loans from a Russian-American businessman facing federal investigations for money laundering and insider trading.
○On April 6, Maryland passed the first “Kids Code” bill in the US. The bill is designed to protect children from predatory data collection and harmful design features by tech companies. Vermont’s final public hearing on the Kids Code bill took place on April 11th. This bill is part of a series of proposals to address the lack of federal regulations protecting minors online, making state legislatures a battleground. Some Silicon Valley tech companies are concerned that these restrictions could impact business and free speech.
These measures, known as the Age-Appropriate Design Code or Kids Code bill, require enhanced data protection for underage online users and a complete ban on social media for certain age groups. The bill unanimously passed both the Maryland House and Senate.
Nine states, including Maryland, Vermont, Minnesota, Hawaii, Illinois, South Carolina, New Mexico, and Nevada, have introduced bills to improve online safety for children. Minnesota’s bill advanced through a House committee in February.
During public hearings, lawmakers in various states accused tech company lobbyists of deception. Maryland’s bill faced opposition from tech companies who spent $250,000 lobbying against it without success.
Carl Szabo, from the tech industry group NetChoice, testified before the Maryland state Senate as a concerned parent. Lawmakers questioned his ties to the industry during the hearing.
Tech giants have been lobbying in multiple states to pass online safety laws. In Maryland, these companies spent over $243,000 in lobbying fees in 2023. Google, Amazon, and Apple were among the top spenders according to state disclosures.
The bill mandates tech companies to implement measures safeguarding children’s online experiences and assess the privacy implications of their data practices. Companies must also provide clear privacy settings and tools to help children and parents navigate online privacy rights and concerns.
Critics are concerned that the methods used by tech companies to determine children’s ages could lead to privacy violations.
Supporters argue that social media companies should not require identification uploads from users who already have their age information. NetChoice suggests digital literacy education and safety measures as alternatives.
During a discussion on child safety legislation, a NetChoice director emphasized parental control over regulation, citing low adoption rates of parental monitoring tools on platforms like Snapchat and Discord.
NetChoice has proposed bipartisan legislation to enhance child safety online, emphasizing police resources for combating child exploitation. Critics argue that tech companies should be more proactive in ensuring child safety instead of relying solely on parents and children.
Opposition from tech companies has been significant in all state bills, with representatives accused of hiding their affiliations during public hearings on child safety legislation.
State bills are being revised based on lessons learned from California, where similar legislation faced legal challenges and opposition from companies like NetChoice. While some tech companies emphasize parental control and education, critics argue for more accountability from these companies in ensuring child safety online.
Recent scrutiny of Meta products for their negative impact on children’s well-being has raised concerns about the company’s role in online safety. Some industry experts believe that tech companies like Meta should be more transparent and proactive in protecting children online.
IIf you were to ask director Jonathan Nolan what his favorite movie of the year was from the late 2000s, he would most likely name a video game instead. “I started playing Pong years ago with my brother Chris because I grew up watching the whole history of the medium, and the storytelling, the tone, the things that we were doing in the game had this level of audacity. That’s when I started,” he says. “That's what I felt [2008’s] Fallout 3: Audacity. Frankly, I didn't feel that way in the film and television industry at the time. ”
Director Nolan, who has just finished directing the first series of Amazon Prime's Fallout TV show, will be sitting next to video game director Todd Howard, who led the development of Fallout 3 and 4, and will be attending a number of premieres for the first series. Two episodes told to me before time. It's clear within minutes that Nolan understands the game almost as well as Todd. He says he's drawn to games where your options are open, where you decide for yourself who you want to be, and where your decisions affect the world around you – games like Todd Howard's . The two meet like old friends, are comfortable around each other, and are passionate about each other's work.
A scene from Amazon Prime's Fallout. Photo: Amazon Prime
“I talked to a lot of people about making a Fallout movie or TV show, and I kept saying no to everyone,” Howard says. “I loved the work that Jonah did in film and television, and in some of the interviews he did, he mentioned his love for the game…I told someone he was perfect. I said, ‘Can someone help me?’ We met and luckily hit it off. I found out he was very familiar with Fallout.”
That conference took place in 2019. At the time, there was no precedent for a proper video game animation, despite many ill-fated attempts over the years. (We're in a different place now; the curse of video game movies is broken, and there are now plenty of TV and movie adaptations.) Todd also envisioned Fallout as a movie. There wasn't, he says. “My take in 2019 was that it’s hard to translate games because a lot of games are about specific characters you play. But for me, it’s the world of Fallout, the characters…the people always wanted to condense Fallout 3 and 4 into a two-hour experience, and I always felt that way too. But high-end television can tell a long story.”
The first two Fallout games punished '90s computer RPGs with a dark sense of humor and a strong anti-nuclear message. As the show's writer Graham Wagner points out, they could have been written by: adbusters. Over 200 years after the first bomb was dropped, he emerges from an underground vault as a survivor of a nuclear war and quickly realizes that life above ground is short, cruel, and dangerous.
Jonathan Nolan attends the world premiere of “Fallout'' in Hollywood. Photo: Tommaso Boddi/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty Images
When Bethesda revived the series in 2008 with Fallout 3, it brought a bit more hope and lightness to its wasteland, maintaining its retro-futuristic aesthetic and dark humor while still offering its biting satire, punishment for nature. , toned down some of the overt anti-American rhetoric. Military expansionist message. Fallout 3 and 4 have a lot of emotional stories, but they also have a lot of mini Nucruncher weapons and comic violence.
The show leans into this vibe. Unlike HBO's The Last of Us, this isn't a self-indulgently serious look at a post-apocalyptic world. Featuring cowboy mutants, terrifying wildlife, toxic vault dwellers, a malfunctioning jetpack, and plenty of jokes. bemany of Goa. Like the game where you cheerfully scavenge while turning on the radio, it can turn into a life-or-death battle with super mutants in a matter of seconds, and the series changes its tone from comedy to horror from moment to moment. . . One scene shows the horrifying moment a nuclear war breaks out, while another sees a slapstick battle with an irradiated bear.
The show plays with different aspects of Fallout's personality quite cleverly by splitting the perspective between three characters. Lucy is a Vault-dwelling genius with a tough personality that makes her the most suitable replacement for the player. Her behavior when she leaves the vault is very similar to my behavior in the game. She approaches people to greet them, peeks into abandoned buildings to find something useful, and inadvertently gets caught up in escalating fights. And pranks.
Ella Purnell (Lucy) in Fallout on Amazon Prime. Photo: Prime Video (via AP)
That wavering tone is a challenge for filmmakers, but it's exactly what Nolan loved about the game. “It was a world and a tone! I had never experienced anything like that. [mix of] Darkness and emotion – the politics of it are so delicious and fun and it feels alive and important… There are all these weird pockets of a previous world that has escaped the apocalypse and metastasized into something else, but with elements of comedy There is also. I had never really worked on it in my career. ”
“I think that was the hardest thing they had to do, to weave it onto the screen in a way that you would be there.” do not have I’m in control,” Howard said. “When you play the game, you Please be the director. ”
I've always viewed the world of Fallout as somewhat nihilistic. Most video games, especially the post-apocalyptic ones, offer some degree of hope for saving or restoring the world. You have a reason to be a hero. But in Fallout's wasteland, the world is already broken, so you might as well do what you want. Nowhere is this more evident than in Obsidian's Fallout New Vegas (2010), with its faded but still glittering city of vice and morally ambiguous story.
But Nolan sees it the other way around. “Look at the great Cormac McCarthy and The Lord. It's a fucking black hole. No light leaks out of that story. Nobody's going to make it. On the other hand, one of my favorite things about Fallout It feels like the beginning of a thousand new worlds, not the end of the world.”
Todd Howard at the world premiere of Fallout. Photo: Leon Bennett/Getty Images
Ironically for a TV show based on a video game, the Fallout series has very few CG effects. Everything from gore to retro-futuristic aesthetics was achieved with practical effects. Howard says it was amazing to step into the world of Fallout that the television production team had created in real life. “I thought there would be more movie magic because we were going to do a set, but they literally just built a multi-level vault,” he laughed. “They were obsessed with everything. I went into the superintendent's office and sat down at the desk and there was a pile of papers and someone had written a note. Then I turned it over and it was about the power in the safe. There was a report. There was also a real jet pack!”
“At that point I almost lost the support of the producers,” Nolan interjects wistfully. “I just thought it would happen. Better If only I had a real jetpack. ”
VIDEO gaming conventions are usually noisy as thousands of attendees line up under the screens for a chance to play one of the hundreds of unreleased titles on display.
Somerset House, now in its 10th year, play this now Mainstream exhibitions are to folk festivals what raves are to folk festivals. None of the experimental games featured here are going to be advertised on the side of the bus. Especially since many of them are his one-off games that use custom-made controllers (like thick rope, hatched with copper bands, or an old suitcase lined with speakers) connected to a bus. Access the laptop through the tangle of wire in the umbilical cord. Few of these games adhere to the traditional rules and trends found in mainstream video game design. It may not have a “win state” or it may offer a set of “open play” tools that allow visitors to create their own rules. The key is eccentricity. If you have played other games, the program will suggest: play this now.
This year's theme is fashionably chosen as Liminality. Liminal spaces (places that exist on the border between two states) have become a popular hashtag on social media, even though the term is most often applied to a general atmosphere rather than anthropological criteria . Perhaps all video games are liminal spaces that exist between reality and fantasy, but these exhibits go beyond just a shared aesthetic. In the words of Artistic Director Maria Lujan Oulton, they aim to provide a space for “activation, creation, and reconfiguration of the world.”in the other side of the gardenFor example, artist Laura Paravecino revisits the animal-rich forests of her childhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. This work is a melancholy recreation of a lost world. “Now we rarely see these animals that once flew and leaped all around us,” she wrote.
Concessions are being made to ease new entrants.In the first room I found crash boardNow, stand on a real skateboard and control your avatar by leaning from side to side. Your avatar surfs through glitchy cyberspace on a vast projector screen in front of you. This is a reassuringly recognizable entry point, as publishers of mainstream games were exploring exactly this kind of interface at the height of the Nintendo Wii's popularity.
That's true edge of the world Video work by Natalie Maximova exploring the cutting edge of commercial video games (not all exhibits are strictly interactive) cyberpunk 2077, where the virtual world flattens and disappears. This is Machinima, one of several works by him that remix or reinvent existing works. Serafin Alvarez 2014 Strategy of the maze Another amazing example is the endless series of interconnected hallways, each recreated from sci-fi movies such as: forbidden planet, event horizon and ender's game.
Lo-fi rules…young visitors playing hopscotch. Photo: Ben Peter Catchpole
Some of this year's exhibits are culturally familiar. hopscotch – arguably the most lo-fi exhibit – is taped to the hallway floor and shows how our homes became stages of transition between two social stages during lockdown .Andrew Sheerin's Memory game for forgetfulness/Memory game for memories It's essentially a card game called Concentration, except that the image on the back of the oversized card is a satellite photo of a conflict zone in the Middle East. This is the work of Astro.Log.IOHere, you enter your initials, date, time and place of birth, squat in a tent and listen to the “sonification of the sky at birth”. This is an eerie return to the celestial context of one's own starting point.
Astro.Log.IO of “celestial body”. Photo: Ben Peter Catchpole
Visitors expecting the latest blockbuster or escape room style puzzles will be disappointed. Play Now Now you can answer the question, “What happens when nerds go to art school?” As befits an event about interactivity, the festival rewards those who participate, not just observe. And as video game publishing giants continue to narrow the realm of video game possibilities, each release seems like an attempt to recreate their previous successes. fortnite or call of dutyhow refreshing it is to step away from the ruthless demands of commerce and witness the breadth and brilliance of interactive art.
“Are we really in an AI bubble?” asked a reader of last month’s column about the apparently unstoppable rise of Nvidia. “And how do we know that?” That was a good question, so he asked the AI, which pointed out: investmentpedia, written by someone who knows this stuff. Bubbles taught me that he goes through five stages. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross said that people live with sadness.. For investment bubbles, the five stages are displacement, boom, euphoria, profit taking, and panic. So let’s see how this maps onto our previous experience with AI.
First, displacement. It’s easy. It was ChatGPT wotdunnit. When it appeared on November 30, 2022, the world just went crazy. Then everyone realized, this That’s exactly what was being tweeted around AI! And people were fascinated by the discovery that they could talk to machines, and that machines could talk to them (well, write them) back in coherent sentences. it was done. It was like the moment people saw in the spring of 1993. mosaicthe first proper web browser, and suddenly the pennies dropped. this That was the purpose of the “Internet”. And Netscape held his initial public offering in August 1995, stock prices skyrocketed, and the first Internet bubble began to inflate.
Second stage: Boom. With the launch of ChatGPT, all the big tech companies have actually been playing with this AI technology for years, but were too scared to tell the world due to the inherent instability of the technology. It became clear that it couldn’t be done. But once the ChatGPT creator let his OpenAI let the cat out of the bag, fomo (fear of missing out) took over. And other companies have learned that Microsoft stole their advances by secretly investing in his OpenAI, and in doing so gained privileged access to his powerful GPT-4 large-scale multimodal model. This realization created a sense of alarm. Microsoft’s president, Satya Nadella, inadvertently revealed that his intention was to make Google “dance.” If that was indeed his plan, it worked.Google, which considered itself a leader in machine learning, released Bard chatbot before you’re ready Then he retreated amidst the voices of ridicule.
But that excitement also stirs up the lower echelons of technology, and suddenly there’s a surge in startups being founded by entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs who see the big “foundation” model of tech companies as a platform on which new things can be built. I saw it. Once you look at the web As such a basic foundation. These seedlings were funded in the old-fashioned way by venture capitalists, but some of them were funded by tech companies and companies like his Nvidia, which was producing hardware that could allegedly build the future of AI. received significant investment from both.
The third stage of the cycle, euphoria, is the stage we are in now. The winds of caution are shifting, and ostensibly rational companies are betting huge sums of money on AI. OpenAI boss Sam Altman began by saying, Raise $7 trillion from Middle East oil states For the big push to create AGI (artificial general intelligence). He also partnered with Microsoft to stargate supercomputer. All of this seems to be based on articles of faith. So to create a superintelligent machine, all you need is (a) infinitely more data and (b) infinitely more computing power. And the strange thing is that at the moment the world seems to be taking these fantasies at face value.
This begins the fourth stage of the cycle: profit taking. At this point, an astute operator notices that the process is becoming unstable and initiates an escape before the bubble bursts. No one is actually making money from AI yet, except the companies that build the hardware, so maybe the people who own stock in Nvidia, Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet (née Google). Other than that, there are very few benefits to be gained. It turns out that this generative AI is great at spending money, but not great at generating investment returns.
Stage 5 – Panic – awaits. At some stage the bubble gets punctured and a rapid downward curve begins as people scramble to get out while they can. In the case of AI, it is unclear what triggers this process. Governments may eventually grow tired of out-of-control giant corporations draining investors’ money. Or will shareholders come to the same conclusion? Or finally realizing that AI technology is causing an environmental disaster. Data centers cannot be spread all over the earth.
But it will burst someday. Nothing grows exponentially forever. So, back to the first question. Are we in an AI bubble? Is the Pope a Catholic?
I
In the early 2000s, Olivia Packenham came home from school, heard the familiar dial-up tone of her family’s computer connecting to the Internet, and was transported to the virtual game world of Neopets in her AOL browser.
Packenham, who started playing at the age of 8, played for many years before losing interest in high school. But in December 2023, after almost her 15-year hiatus, she logged back into her neopets.com. Then she realized that her childhood pets were waiting for her. Her favorite “Bruce” (the Neopets version of Penguin) is now over 21 years old.
Packenham says that when she opens Neopets today, it’s like going back to that time in her life. This time, my mother didn’t yell at me because the family’s phone line was clogged.
“It was like walking into a museum of the early 2000s Internet,” said Packenham, 32. And he is one of the thousands of players who have returned to Neopets over the past year.
Packenham’s return was no coincidence. His Neopets, which announced a bold rebrand in 2023, is consciously courting former fans with the promise of reuniting with old digital friends who have remained largely unchanged.
Returning Neopians (user community name) cites several reasons for returning. A woman who went by the username Solabee said she started playing the game at age 9 and began playing almost every day after her return. The resurgence of Neopets felt very special to millennials, she said. In fact, 40% of her users are between the ages of 25 and 34, and 26% of her users are between the ages of 18 and 24, the next largest demographic. Revisiting this site reminds me of a hopeful time in Internet history, when logging online was still new and exciting. Many of the Neopians interviewed for this article prefer to keep their online personas separate from their real lives and asked to be quoted by their usernames.
“We are the most nostalgic generation, so when major global events or crises occur, we all want to go back to the safest time in our lives, which is our childhood,” Soraby said.
Olivia Packenham's Neopets, the penguin-like "Bruce" variety. Photo: Courtesy of Olivia Packenham.
Neopets' strong start and long decline
Neopets started in 1999 as an early internet universe where users could care for a variety of virtual pets and play mini-games. A crude social network that predates Facebook, the site allowed users to add friends, send each other messages, exchange resources and virtual currency, and battle. It peaked in the mid-2000s with more than 25 million active users, but its popularity quickly declined as competing gaming and social sites exploded on the Internet.
The platform has changed hands multiple times since its founding, slumped amid acquisitions, and had just 100,000 users when it was acquired by Chinese company NetDragon in 2017. Further deepening the decline was the decline of Adobe's Flash Player (software). Powered most of the site – Browsers began to be phased out Neopets started around 2017 and was officially discontinued in 2020. Neopets received little attention and the interface was not updated.
That's because entrepreneur and investment consultant Dominic Lo, who joined NetDragon as new markets director in 2020, launched an internal campaign to revive the Neopets brand, calling it a "giant leap of faith." ” until he called it. Ms Lo, 36, recalled that after she immigrated to Hong Kong as a child, she used Neopets to keep in touch with friends in Canada. He realized that his Neopets was at risk because NetDragon had shut down several underperforming sites it had acquired.
“Despite its decline over the past decade, when lack of updates and flash outages made half the site unplayable, a quarter of the remaining users log on every day,” he said. “Seeing how close-knit the rest of the community is, and as a player myself, I resonated with the emotional attachment that drove these core users to support Neopets. Perhaps this is why We’ve found that we have probably the most sticky customer base.”
Law persuaded NetDragon's upper management to give Neopets a "final blow" to save it, spinning Neopets into an independently owned company with a management team of which he is now CEO. We finalized the acquisition agreement. The move was backed by undisclosed external investment. Under a group known as Neopets Team (TNT), the company began restoring the site's functionality, updating its design, and improving its most famous classic games. Next, TNT wants to enable more mobile capabilities. Although much of the site is still bogged down with some glitches, Roe said that its failure to change with the times has ironically been an asset.
“With no updates, we basically preserved early internet culture in its purest form,” he said. “When a user logs on, the game looks 99% the way he did, and his pet is there. It's like reuniting with an old friend. There aren't many experiences in life that allow you to relive your childhood. there is no.”
Difficulties in reviving Neopia
Efforts to revive Neopets have intensified, with monthly user numbers nearly tripling to 300,000 in the past six months, and the company on track to be profitable by the end of 2024, Lo said. .
“We believe this is the beginning of recovery. But there is still much work to be done,” Lo said.
In addition to prioritizing bringing lapsed users back to the site, Neopets is seeking to license the intellectual property for its trading card game and branded Monopoly board.
“We're already on track to be profitable, but we want to make sure it's sustainable and future-proof our intellectual property so we can survive for years to come.” Mr Law said.
As pressure continues to make Neopets financially viable in the real world, the company's new leadership will also have to contend with the digital financial component of the site, which operates on the Neopoints cryptocurrency. With few updates to the site over the years, a huge black market has emerged for specific pets, and the site's virtual economy has suffered from hyperinflation.
Neopets' original logo and creatures. Photo: Neopets
Neopets runs on a complex economy consisting of two main components: items and Neopoints. Throughout the years
Twenty years ago, scientists announced the creation of a new miracle substance that would revolutionize our lives. They named it graphene.
Graphene is made up of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern, making it one of the strongest materials ever produced. It is more resistant to electricity than copper and has excellent heat conductivity.
The potential applications of graphene seemed limitless, with predictions of ultra-fast processors, quicker battery charging, and stronger concrete. It was even proposed as a solution for potholes in roads.
Professor Andre Geim (left) and Professor Konstantin Novoselov from the University of Manchester discovered graphene. Photo: John Super/AP
The scientists behind the discovery, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 for their work. The National Graphene Institute was established at the University of Manchester.
Despite the initial hype, the graphene revolution has not materialized as expected. Challenges in scaling up production have hindered its widespread adoption.
Sir Colin Humphreys, a materials science professor at Queen Mary University of London, pointed out that the main issue lies in the difficulty of producing graphene on a large scale.
He explained that the original method of creating graphene was not conducive to mass production and that significant investments by companies like IBM, Samsung, and Intel have been made to develop scalable production methods.
Recent advancements in manufacturing techniques show promise for the resurgence of graphene technology. Companies like Paragraph are now producing graphene-based devices in large quantities.
Graphene-based devices are being used for various applications, including sensors for detecting magnetic fields and differentiating between bacterial and viral infections.
Additionally, graphene devices are expected to be more energy-efficient than current technologies, offering a promising future for the material.
While the graphene revolution may have been delayed, it holds the potential to address pressing global challenges and significantly impact modern life.
Graphene “has the potential to make a real difference to modern life,” says Sir Colin Humphreys, professor of materials science.
Photo: AddMeshCube/Alamy
The hyped science failed to make the grade.
nuclear power “Our children will have immeasurably cheap electrical energy in their homes.” – Louis Strauss, then chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, in 1954.
Sinclair C5 “This is the future of transportation” – promotional materials for the 1985 Sinclair C5 electric scooter/car. Sales in the first year were predicted to be 100,000 units, but only 5,000 units were sold. Project has been abandoned.
medical advances “The time has come to close the book on infectious diseases and declare that the war on epidemics has been won” – in the words of Dr. William H. Stewart, Surgeon General of the United States from 1965 to 1969.
“circleWait a minute, wait a minute. You haven’t heard anything yet.” So was the first line of dialogue heard in the 1927 feature film jazz singer. This was the first time that the mass media conveyed the sights and sounds of the scene together, and the audience was mesmerized.
Since then, black and white has given way to color, frame rates and resolutions have increased, and sound quality has improved, but the media we consume still remains overwhelmingly, if not exclusively, our eyes and ears. We are responding to
The average person now spends nearly seven hours a day watching screens, and with most of that time spent indoors, our overreliance on sight and sound is only increasing. But if a human considers that he is a five (or five) animal, probably even more) senses, aren’t we ignoring other abilities? And what is it doing to us?
Many psychologists classify our primary senses as either rational or emotional, and there is evidence to support this. “Odor [and taste are] Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, says, “Rational senses such as hearing and vision are directly connected to emotional processing areas of the brain.” In fact, Spence says more than half of the neocortex, and therefore more than half of the brain’s volume, is devoted to processing what we see.
There’s no denying that we are highly visual creatures, which is part of the reason why our media is primarily audiovisual. “I think this is largely due to the fact that much of the information we consider important today is conveyed through visual and auditory means,” said Meike Scherer, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Durham University. “But what we think is important isn’t necessarily what we need.”
If you ask people which sense they can’t live without, most people will say sight, but evidence shows that what we really lack is smell. “The rates of suicide and suicidal ideation are much higher among people with anosmia, because anosmia is so tied to our emotions,” Scherer says.
So does ignoring some senses in favor of others affect our emotional lives? Our emotional health is tied to our social health, but… The answer is almost certainly yes. “Smell is a very important cue for social communication, but this is something that is not implemented in any of the technologies we use today,” Scherer says.
For example, it has been found that after shaking someone’s hand, we tend to subconsciously smell their palm. “It gives you hints about all sorts of things, from their health to their age and even their personality,” Spence says. “A lot is lost when we only interact digitally.”
Touch is equally important to our emotional lives, and the finger-focused haptics of digital devices are not enough. C-tactile afferents are a type of nerve receptor that is abundant in the hairy skin of the arms (but not on the pads of the fingers) and has been shown to produce positive emotions when stimulated. “These receptors like slow, warm, tactile strokes,” says Spence.
The cool and smooth touch screen of your smartphone cannot replace other human skin, which is soft, warm and imperceptibly smelly. For adults, this may mean less satisfaction with their social lives, but for a generation of children who are increasingly socialized through technology, the effects can be profound.
Scherer says children learn to interpret their own senses by referring to each other’s senses. We learn to associate subtle smells with the sound of someone yelling or the sight of a smile, and may learn to use these signals to navigate social situations in the future. “Children who grow up with less input basically have less training to be able to categorize what certain things smell like and what certain exposures mean,” Scherer said. To tell. “If you suddenly take away something that has evolved over millions of years, you’re not only removing one sense from her, but it’s affecting how all of her other senses work.”
Marianna Obrist, Professor of Multisensory Interfaces at University College London, said: Everything is multisensory.
For example, it’s easy to think that the experience of eating is primarily about taste, but the shape and color, smell and sizzle, temperature, texture and weight of food are influenced by our senses of sight, smell, hearing and touch. appeal to. “All these senses are already activated before you eat,” says Obrist. Then there’s mouthfeel, the physical sensation of spiciness and sourness, and of course, flavor.
Removing just one of those sensations can affect the entire experience. For example, if you eat ice cream in the dark, It is unlikely that you will enjoy it, or even be sure of what it tastes like. “Each time we receive multisensory stimulation, we are able to develop a better and richer representation of our surroundings,” Scherer says.
So What are we doing to make our technology more multisensory? sense x, an EU-funded project aimed at helping designers come up with new ways to integrate feel, smell and taste into products. The team’s efforts included spraying scents under subjects’ noses to highlight key moments in director Christopher Nolan’s film interstellar, irradiate ultrasound to simulate contact, Powerful acoustics to suspend food It can be attached to the tongue without the need for wires or tubes.
It’s hard to imagine I’ll be watching it any time soon. Colonel Kilgore’s speech by Robert Duvallapocalypse of hellThe most famous line, while the smell of eau na palm hits your nose from your laptop in the morning, the smell-taste interface may be just around the corner. Researchers are already using AI to try to find the primary odor that creates any odor, and Obrist hopes to create a digitally controlled system with applications in research, healthcare, and immersive reality experiences. I’m the chief scientific officer at OWidgets, a company that makes scent delivery systems.
Almost all the input we receive from electronic devices is visual or auditory, so it is processed by the cortex, the rational part of the brain. Photo: Alex Segre/Alamy
Companies like China’s Dexta Robotics are also bringing tactility to virtual reality with gloves called “gloves.” dexmo.
“Dexmo can provide haptic and force feedback simultaneously,” said Aler Gu, CEO of Dexta. “So when you scroll your finger over a virtual brick, you can feel the surface texture. When you grab a brick and move it from one point to another, you can feel its physical shape.”
Media that engage all of our senses will certainly enrich our daily interactions with technology, but it’s not hard to imagine more insidious uses emerging. In 1957, an American market researcher named James Vicary claimed to have created a movie by splicing together the scenes “Eating Popcorn” and “Drinking Coca-Cola.” He reported that sales of popcorn and Coca-Cola increased by 57.5% and 18.1% respectively, and the concept of subliminal advertising was born.
Vicary was later exposed as a fraudster, and the effectiveness of subliminal advertising has gained worldwide attention. discussion issues Since then, has technology that can deliver smells and tastes digitally become a gift to unscrupulous advertisers? Masu. [these senses]. They can be very powerful,” says Scherer. “We’re very emotional decision-makers, so there’s a lot of potential for that to influence our decisions.”
Research has shown that exposure to certain tastes and smells can influence our judgments of other people’s appearance and personality, and even change our behavior.For example, taste bitter foods can make us hostile,and 2005 patent application The scent of pink grapefruit suggests to men that it can make women appear younger than their actual age.
Obrist’s team discovered that: Sour taste makes people more willing to engage in risky behavior. “You might be doing electronic banking or shopping online and drinking a sour lemon drink. That may indirectly influence your decision-making,” she says. say. It’s not hard to imagine how e-commerce and gambling apps will be affected. Devices that can deliver tastes and smells can be exploited.
To some extent, this is already happening.Companies are known for pumping pleasant scents into their stores, and American chain Cinnabon Intentionally place the oven near the store entrancesometimes creating baking trays with just sugar and cinnamon to tempt passing shoppers.
Elon Musk has made a significant reversal in one of his most infamous decisions by reintroducing blue checkmarks on the social network.
The entrepreneur and former “Chief Twit” tweeted last week about the new policy that grants “Premium” status to users with more than 2,500 “verified subscriber followings” and “Premium +” to those with over 5,000. This policy is now being implemented.
The two-tier paid service offers various benefits, including fewer ads, better placement within the site’s algorithmic curation for lower-tier users, and access to X’s “anti-wake” AI chatbot Grok, zero ads, and improved reply prioritization for higher-tier users.
The most well-known perk of both tiers is the coveted blue checkmark next to a user’s profile. Previously known as “authentication,” the checkmark was reserved for high-profile users who verified their identity. Now, it is available to anyone subscribed to the service.
Last year, Musk’s company started removing the “legacy” checkmark to incentivize users to subscribe to Blue. However, this move negatively affected the social status of certified users within many communities. In response, the checkmark is now being reinstated for free, much to the disappointment of users who had never paid for it before.
Users like Marcy Wheeler and journalist Lauren Good expressed their frustration with the new status of the blue checkmark.
The exact number of blue checks approved and their necessity remain unclear as the social network continues under Musk’s leadership without providing comments to inquiries.
From T-shirts with changing messages to carpets that can detect your position, the future of smart textiles seems to come straight out of a sci-fi novel.
Researchers now claim they have created a smart fiber that can achieve just that, without the need for a battery pack.
A team of Chinese researchers have developed textile-based electronics that utilize the human body as part of a circuit to harness electromagnetic energy from the environment.
This innovation could pave the way for a “body-bound” fiber electronics technology that functions without electronic chips or batteries and could be applied in various scenarios.
Co-author Chengyi Hou from Donghua University in Shanghai explained, “When electromagnetic energy passes through a fiber, it is converted into different forms of energy, including visible light or radio waves. Therefore, the fiber not only emits light but also produces an electrical signal when in contact with the human body.”
Hou highlighted that these radio signals are programmable by manipulating different aspects of the system, such as the fiber’s contact area with the body and its diameter.
The team stated that this method resolves a major challenge in integrating electronic systems into textiles, which is the necessity of rigid components.
Hou mentioned, “We have successfully achieved mass production of this new type of fiber electronics, which is as thin and soft as traditional fibers. The next step is to implement it.”
The team has created prototypes like a wearable cloth display with a cloth keyboard, intended for individuals with hearing impairments to aid in communication, as well as textile controllers for gaming.
Additionally, they developed a wireless tactile carpet that illuminates underfoot, providing emergency lighting at night and wirelessly transmitting signals to control household devices like lights.
Researchers have created a carpet that can glow underfoot and transmit signals that can be used to control switches in appliances such as lights. Photo: Yang Weifeng
Read more about the study here. The team assures that the fiber is constructed from three layers of inexpensive materials, making it durable, washable, and sweat-resistant.
An accompanying article suggests that this technology can also be utilized in robots, robotic prosthetics, and capturing haptic information to enhance human interactions and object recognition.
Dr. Luigi Occhipinti, a research director at the University of Cambridge specializing in smart electronics, biosystems, and AI, acknowledged the potential of this approach.
He stated, “By being constantly surrounded by various electromagnetic fields, we are developing innovative electronic textiles with skin sensors and unconventional electronics, powered uniquely through energy harvesting. This has the potential to unlock a new realm of self-powered wearable electronics for continuous health monitoring.”
Following a dry run of Taiwan’s presidential election this year, China is anticipated to disrupt elections in the United States, South Korea, and India with artificial intelligence-generated content, as warned by Microsoft.
The tech giant predicts that Chinese state-backed cyber groups will target high-profile elections in 2024, with North Korea also getting involved, according to a report released by the company’s threat intelligence team.
“As voters in India, South Korea, and the United States participate in elections, Chinese cyber and influence actors, along with North Korean cyber attack groups, are expected to influence these elections,” Microsoft mentioned.
Microsoft stated that China will create and distribute AI-generated content through social media to benefit positions in high-profile elections.
Although the immediate impact of AI-generated content seems low in swaying audiences, China is increasingly experimenting with enhancing memes, videos, and audio, potentially being effective in the future.
During Taiwan’s presidential election in January, China attempted an AI-powered disinformation campaign for the first time to influence a foreign election, Microsoft reported.
The Beijing-backed group Storm 1376, also known as Spamoflage or Dragonbridge, heavily influenced Taiwan’s elections with AI-generated content spreading false information about candidates.
Chinese groups are also engaged in influencing operations in the United States, with Chinese government-backed actors using social media to probe divisive issues among American voters.
In a blog post, Microsoft stated, “This may be to collect intelligence and obtain accurate information on key voting demographics ahead of the US presidential election.”
The report coincides with a White House board’s announcement of a Chinese cyber operator infiltrating US officials’ email accounts due to errors made by Microsoft, as well as accusations of Chinese-backed hackers conducting cyberattacks targeting various entities in the US and UK.
While spying in Mallorca, Kristen Ager-Hansen received an email from the Conservative party headquarters. The email expressed gratitude for his interest in attending a private dinner with Suela Braverman, who was the Home Secretary at the time and oversaw Britain’s security services.
Ager Hansen, a Norwegian businessman, claimed to employ veterans of CIA, Mossad, and MI6 in his operations, catering to clients like eccentric billionaires with services ranging from surveillance to social engineering.
In July 2023, the Conservative Party received a £70,000 donation from nChain, a company where Ager Hansen was the CEO. Questions arose about the legitimacy of the donations and the scrutiny on the money influencing British politics.
Ager Hansen’s controversial past included orchestrating stings and covert operations, leading to his appointment as nChain’s CEO. He had confrontations with the law and creditors, showcasing his aggressive and unconventional tactics.
Despite the questionable donations and connections, Ager Hansen continued to make moves in high-profile circles, engaging with influential figures like Rishi Sunak and proposing lucrative projects to the Conservative Party.
Arger Hansen claims he orchestrated the sting to discredit lawyers litigating cases in the cryptocurrency industry. Photo: Rex/Shutterstock
“Data geek and intelligence officer”
Ager Hansen’s tumultuous career, marked by bankruptcies and legal issues, culminated in his role as nChain’s CEO. His aggressive and unorthodox approach to business and personal conflicts shaped his reputation as a street fighter.
His involvement in high-stakes operations with a team of experts from intelligence agencies painted a picture of a complex and controversial individual who thrived in chaotic environments.
Suela Braverman, then Home Secretary, at the 2023 Conservative Party Conference. Photo: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
“Serious and inappropriate”
The Conservative Party’s association with Ager Hansen raised concerns about transparency and accountability, especially regarding the donations and the nature of his past operations. The party’s handling of the situation and his subsequent dismissal from nChain added to the controversy surrounding his actions.
Despite the fallout, Ager Hansen’s connections and proposed projects continued to spark intrigue and speculation, highlighting the complex web of relationships and influences within British politics.
The lawsuit filed by comedian George Carlin’s estate against a comedy podcast that allegedly used artificial intelligence to mimic his voice has been settled. This case marked one of the first legal battles in the United States regarding the use of deepfakes to replicate celebrity personalities.
The Dudesy podcast, created by former Mad TV comedian Will Sasso and author Chad Krutgen, has agreed to remove all episodes from the internet and cease using Carlin’s voice, likeness, or image in any future content. A representative for Sasso, Daniel Dell, declined to comment on the matter.
The settlement was praised by Mr. Carlin’s family and estate attorney, although the terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Kelly Carlin, George Carlin’s daughter, expressed her satisfaction with the swift resolution and responsible actions taken by the defendants. She emphasized the need for safeguards against the misuse of AI technology, not only for artists but for everyone.
Following the release of the Dudesy podcast special titled “George Carlin: I’m Glad He’s Dead,” the estate filed a lawsuit citing violations of Carlin’s publicity and copyright rights. The foundation claims the podcast is a disrespectful imitation of a renowned American artist’s work.
Despite initial claims that the podcast’s AI character, “Dudesy,” generated the content, it was later clarified that the fake Carlin set was entirely written by Krutgen and not AI-generated. The potential harm of such deepfake content circulating online was highlighted by Carlin’s estate.
The settlement coincides with growing concerns in the entertainment industry over artificial intelligence’s implications. Unauthorized use of generative AI tools and deepfake technology has prompted calls for stricter regulations to protect artists’ rights.
While the legal implications of AI-generated content remain uncertain, the case involving George Carlin’s estate underscores the need for safeguards against misuse of technology. The debate over whether AI-generated imitations qualify as parody under fair use laws is ongoing.
Josh Schiller, an attorney representing Carlin’s estate, emphasized the distinction between AI-generated impersonations and traditional forms of parody. The settlement sets a precedent for future cases involving the misuse of AI technology in creating counterfeit content.
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