Author: zppiot

However, nowadays the crunch is less likely to be glamorized than to be seen as a form of exploitation that risks causing mental illness and burnout. Part of the issue is that crunch time used to be just before a game launched, but now whole game development periods are “crunchy.” With games getting more expensive, companies are incentivized to make even more short-term profits by squeezing developers.  But what if AI could help to alleviate game-development hell? It may already be happening. According to a recent poll by a16z, 87% of studios are using generative AI tools like Midjourney to create in-game environments. Others are…

What’s new: Roblox has announced plans to roll out a generative AI tool that will let creators make whole 3D scenes just using text prompts. Users will also be able to modify scenes or expand their scope—say, to change a daytime scene to night or switch the desert for a forest.How it works: Once it’s up and running, developers on the hugely popular online game platform will be able to simply write “Generate a race track in the desert,” for example, and the AI will spin one up.  Why it’s a big deal: Although developers can already create similar scenes…

Apple kicked off its splashy “It’s Glowtime” event Monday, at which it unveiled its new iPhone 16. The event, held at Apple’s Cupertino, California, headquarters, also marks the tech giant’s foray in earnest into generative AI. Called Apple Intelligence, Apple’s AI is designed to help customers “get things done effortlessly,” the company said in a preview of the new feature. New watchesApple CEO Tim Cook kicked off the event by presenting new base and “Ultra” Apple Watch models, which start at $399 and $799, respectively. The new series 10 watch can be preordered immediately and will be available on September 10. The Ultra can…

“Organisms try not to process information that they don’t need to because that processing is very expensive, in terms of metabolic energy,” he says. Polani is interested in applying these  lessons from biology to the vast networks that power robots to make them more efficient with their information. Reducing the amount of information a robot is allowed to process will just make it weaker depending on the nature of the task it’s been given, he says. Instead, they should learn to use the data they have in more intelligent ways. Simplifying software Amazon, which has more than 750,000 robots, the…

Another innovative approach is the concept of a Common Patient Data Model (CPDM). This standardized framework defines how patient data is organized, stored, and exchanged across different health-care systems and platforms, addressing interoperability challenges in the current health-care landscape. The road ahead: Continuous innovation As we look to the future, it’s clear that technological advancements in radiology will continue at a rapid pace. To stay competitive and provide the best patient care, health-care organizations must prioritize ongoing innovation and the adoption of new technologies. This includes not only IT systems but also medical devices and treatment methodologies. The health-care providers…

We live in an age of alternate facts. More and more Americans are getting their information almost entirely from outlets that echo their own political point of view. And then, of course, there’s social media, where there are few (if any) filters between users and a wide world of misinformation.For example: On July 13 a sniper came within inches of assassinating Donald Trump as he addressed an outdoor rally in Pennsylvania. Within minutes, social media was alive with uninformed speculation. One woman posted, “Who did it?  I bet you it was the government themselves. They’re all on the same side.”Koppel…

Boeing’s Starliner returns safely to Earth, but without crew – CBS News Watch CBS News Early Saturday morning, a chapter of the ongoing space saga involving two U.S. astronauts came to a close when Boeing’s Starliner capsule returned to earth from the International Space Station, but with no one aboard. Mark Strassmann has the latest. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On #Boeings #Starliner #returns #safely #Earth #crew

We’re giving away 25 complimentary virtual (livestream) tickets to EmTech MIT, our flagship event on emerging technologies and trends. Winners will get a complimentary livestream ticket, that includes livestream access to the event on MIT campus from September 30 – October 1, 2024 plus on-demand access for three months after the event. You’ll hear from technology and business leaders, such as Rivian Founder & CEO, RJ Scaringe, Google Cloud CTO, Will Grannis, Slack CEO, Denise Dresser, and MIT VP of Research, Ian Waitz, about the business impacts of generative AI and climate tech on profitability and sustainability. Here’s what to expect…

On Monday, Apple is expected to reveal its iPhone 16 models along with other new products, in a livestreamed event called “It’s Glowtime.” The latest generation of iPhones will mark what one analyst called Apple’s “biggest upgrade cycle in its history.”The event is scheduled to take place on September 9 at 1 p.m. Eastern time at the tech company’s Cupertino, California, headquarters. All eyes will be on Apple’s latest line of iPhones, all models of which will be powered by Apple Intelligence — Apple’s response to the generative AI revolution — which will be integrated into iOS 18, according to an…

Roblox’s new tool works by “tokenizing” the 3D blocks that make up its millions of in-game worlds, or treating them as units that can be assigned a numerical value on the basis of how likely they are to come next in a sequence. This is similar to the way in which a large language model handles words or fractions of words. If you put “The capital of France is …” into a large language model like GPT-4, for example, it assesses what the next token is most likely to be. In this case, it would be “Paris.” Roblox’s system handles…

Nickel may not grow on trees—but there’s a chance it could someday be mined using plants. Many plants naturally soak up metal and concentrate it in their tissues. The US government is now spending $9.9 million funding research on how to use that trait for plant-based mining, or phytomining.  It could be a good new way to source increasingly in-demand metals like nickel, crucial for the lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles. But for now, the goal is just to better understand which plants could help with mining and determine how researchers can tweak them to get our hands on…

Metals like nickel, crucial for the lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, are in high demand. But building new mines to meet that demand can be difficult because the mining industry has historically faced community backlash, often over environmental concerns. New mining technologies could help diversify the supply of crucial metals and potentially offer alternatives to traditional mines.   “Everyone wants to talk about opening a new gigafactory, but no one wants to talk about opening a new mine,” says Philseok Kim, program director at ARPA-E for the phytomining project. The agency saw a need for sustainable, responsible new mining technologies,…

Last month, two young paddleboarders found themselves stranded in the ocean, pushed 2,000 feet from the shore by strong winds and currents. Thanks to the deployment of a drone, rescuers kept an eye on them the whole time and safely brought them aboard a rescue boat within minutes.In North Carolina, the Oak Island Fire Department is one of a few in the country using drone technology for ocean rescues. Firefighter-turned-drone pilot Sean Barry explained the drone’s capabilities as it was demonstrated on a windy day. “This drone is capable of flying in all types of weather and environments,” Barry said.  Equipped…

“Open source is critical,” says David Harmon, director of software engineering for AMD. “It provides an environment of collaboration and technical advancements. Savvy users can look at the code themselves; they can evaluate it; they can review it and know that the code that they’re getting is legit and functional for what they’re trying to do.” But OSS can also compromise an organization’s security posture by introducing hidden vulnerabilities that fall under the radar of busy IT teams, especially as cyberattacks targeting open source are on the rise. OSS may contain weaknesses, for example, that can be exploited to gain…

Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is used in high-voltage equipment on the grid. It’s also, somewhat inconveniently, a monster greenhouse gas.Greenhouse gases are those that trap heat in the atmosphere. SF6 and other fluorinated gases can be thousands of times more powerful at warming the planet than carbon dioxide, and yet, because they tend to escape in relatively small amounts, we hardly ever talk about them.Taken alone, their effects might be minor compared with those of carbon dioxide, but together, these gases add significantly to the challenge of addressing climate change.Casey Crownhart, our senior climate reporter, has drawn up a quick cheat…

Greenhouse gases are those that trap heat in the atmosphere. SF6 and other fluorinated gases can be thousands of times more powerful at warming the planet than carbon dioxide, and yet, because they tend to escape in relatively small amounts, we hardly ever talk about them. Taken alone, their effects might be minor compared with those of carbon dioxide, but together, these gases add significantly to the challenge of addressing climate change.  For more on the specifics of sulfur hexafluoride, check out my story from earlier this week. And in the meantime, here’s a quick cheat sheet on the most…