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Gadgets, much like fashion, can make style comebacks. For tech: we’ve lived through the ’80s beige keyboards, transitioned to the ’90s with gray and black plastic video game systems plus bright colors for Sony’s Walkman and Nintendo’s Game Boy handhelds, and then, at the turn of the millennium, welcomed the amazing see-through iMacs, N64 controllers, and other gadgets with clear casings. And just like the return of grunge makeup and baggy jeans, transparent tech is back. See-through devices are leapfrogging over the ’00s piano white iPods, ’10s matte black smartphones, and some of today’s colored aluminum and glass finishes to (hopefully) become the next big trend. Now, we’ve got clear smartphones like the Nothing Phone, see-through earbuds like the Beats Studio buds, colorful translucent shell casings for game consoles, and even chargers and USB-C cables that show off some capacitors for your pleasure. So dust off your Apple Studio Display CRT monitor, Toys R Us-exclusive Extreme Green colored N64 controller, and your other favorite transparent gadgets as you scroll through all of our clear tech news. https://www.theverge.com/23774468/clear-transparent-tech-gadgets-news-announcements-products

InnerSource is a software development strategy that applies open source practices to proprietary code. By adopting an open source mindset to software development, organizations can close gaps and break down silos, leading to a stronger and tighter software development lifecycle. “Ultimately, InnerSource helps teams build software faster and work better together—resulting in higher-quality development and better documentation,” said Herschmann. Developer Experience Developer experience refers to all aspects of interactions between developers and the tools, platforms, processes and people they work with to develop and deliver software products and services. Improving developer experience is critical to succeeding with digital initiatives and building high-performing teams. Gartner believes that developer experience extends beyond developer tools and technologies. “The tools used in day-to-day work certainly play a role in improving the quality of developer workflows. However, developer experience also depends on nontechnology factors. These include having dedicated time for deep, creative, meaningful work, as well as personal freedom to try new things without the fear of failure,” said Herschmann. AI-Augmented Software Engineering Teams AI-augmented software engineering leverages AI technologies to aid software engineering teams in creating and delivering applications faster. They can quickly generate different types of artifacts including design elements, application code or tests cases that they can then refine and reuse thereby accelerating the overall process. "AI augmented software engineering calls for making software engineering teams more efficient in their work by relieving them of tedious work, rather than letting the technology replace them," said Herschmann. AI-Empowered Applications The combination of available enterprise data, advanced model building capabilities, and generative AI services will result in data enhanced applications that drive better business decisions. AI-empowered applications can enrich the information available in enterprise and applications, automate workflows and build models that assess risk or recommend next best actions. For success when using AI, software engineering leaders should treat AI model development differently from application development and coordinate activities between development and model-building teams. Platform Engineering Platform engineering is the discipline of building and operating self-service internal developer platforms for software delivery and life cycle management. It helps developers discover, operate, secure, improve and build upon complex, distributed IT systems — especially when they are not technical experts in the underlying systems. Platforms improve overall developer experience with a curated set of tools and services. They also improve the consistency and quality of IT solutions and reduce redundant tools and processes, consolidate parallel efforts by multiple teams, enforce security and compliance standards, and include pervasive automation. Digital Immune System Digital Immunity interlinks practices from the areas of observability, software testing, chaos engineering, software development, site reliability engineering and software supply chain security to ensure high resiliency and quality of applications. “Many software engineering organizations are already using some of these strategies, but none of these practices by themselves will be sufficient to achieve the goal of building highly-resilient systems,” said Herschmann. “Together these practices constitute a powerful continuous quality approach to ensure that complex digital systems keep running even if the ‘house is on fire’.” Learn how to build a world-class software engineering organization using the Gartner Software Engineering Score. About Gartner Application Innovation & Business Solutions Summit The Gartner Application Innovation & Business Solutions Summit provides the latest insights into applications strategies, software engineering leadership, API strategies, development platforms, emerging technologies and more. Follow news coming from the conference on social media using #GartnerAPPS. About Gartner for Software Engineering Leaders Gartner for Software Engineering Leaders helps leaders align with stakeholders, retain and optimize teams and build innovative products that support and serve the entire organization, its partners and clients. Additional information is available at https://www.gartner.com/en/software-engineering. Follow news and updates from Gartner for Software Engineering Leaders on Twitter and LinkedIn. Visit the Gartner Newsroom for more information and insights. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/gartner-identifies-the-top-strategic-technology-trends-in-software-engineering-trends-for-2023

Reacting to the European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI) position, European truck and bus manufacturers voiced concern that targets may express ambition on paper but are unachievable in reality. “Decarbonising heavy-duty transport is not a solo endeavour,” stated Sigrid de Vries, ACEA Director General. “We operate within a highly interconnected transport ecosystem. To create an environment where vehicle manufacturers can thrive and meet targets, we need a collaborative effort from all stakeholders, including policymakers.” The challenge extends beyond the pervasive lack of charging and refilling infrastructure and requires addressing other demand-side measures as well. Customer demand for electric and hydrogen-powered trucks and buses still lags far behind conventional models. “ACEA’s members have made the investments, and zero-emission vehicles are ready to go, but customers must equally have the confidence to invest,” said de Vries. Policy makers have a wide toolbox at their disposal, such as purchase and tax schemes and other price signals to invest early in zero-emission models. However, their roll-out fails to match the ambition of the proposed CO2 targets. “Without enabling conditions in place, manufacturers will struggle to meet targets and face penalties while compliance largely depends on factors outside their direct control,” added de Vries. ACEA welcomes that some industry concerns have been addressed, but also regrets the inclusion of ‘small lorries’ (<5 tonnes) within the regulation’s scope despite data on CO2 values not being declared in the European Commission’s Vehicle Energy Consumption Calculation Tool (VECTO). This unnecessary overreach will inevitably undermine the regulation’s effectiveness, as these vehicles represent only a small share of heavy-duty transport emissions. Additionally, the ENVI position does not insert an earlier baseline for new vehicle segments, meaning the proposed 2030 reduction target compared to a 2025 baseline – which will only be known in 2027 – is highly unrealistic. In response, ACEA calls for a fit-for-purpose CO2 regulation for trucks and buses and that law makers address shortcomings in the upcoming plenary vote and trialogue negotiations. Only by holistically addressing enabling conditions and incentivising action by all stakeholders can we decarbonise transport and safeguard competitiveness. https://www.acea.auto/press-release/co2-targets-unachievable-without-enabling-conditions-warn-european-truck-and-bus-manufacturers/

In Gaza, the number of people internally displaced is estimated at about one million, including about 353,000 people staying in the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools in central and southern Gaza. They are living in increasingly dire conditions. For the ninth consecutive day, Gaza is under a full electricity blackout. Hospitals are on the brink of collapse They are operating at a bare minimum capacity and are struggling to keep emergency rooms operational, and are suspending some surgeries, working in darkness and limiting elevator usage. The World Health Organization (WHO) has documented 59 attacks on health care, with 16 health care workers killed and more than two dozen others injured. Twenty-six healthcare facilities have been damaged, as well as 23 ambulances. Water production from municipal groundwater sources is at less than five per cent of the level prior to the latest crisis. The lack of fuel, insecurity and road damage have brought water trucking operations to a halt in most areas. Our partners estimate that the average water consumption from all sources and for all needs - including cooking and hygiene - have dipped to three liters per day per person. According to WHO, between 50 and 100 litres of water per person per day are needed to ensure that most basic needs are met, and few health concerns arise. Nutritional health is deteriorating as water is extremely limited, bringing the risk of dehydration and people consuming water that is unfit to drink. Commercial stocks of essential food commodities are running low, with stocks in shops set to last only for a few more days. Despite immense challenges, the World Food Programme (WFP) is providing food and cash assistance each day In Palestine – for a total of 522,000 Palestinians since the start of the crisis. Many of the bakeries contracted by WFP to make bread for people in need are no longer operational. One was hit by a bomb on Wednesday. Others bakery might not be able to continue to operate due to lack of fuel but also shortages of essential ingredients such as flour. Only one of the five mills in Gaza is functioning. Sudan Yesterday [18 October], OCHA facilitated 44 trucks with relief supplies to Kordofan and Darfur. Prior to this, the movement of supplies was delayed for six consecutive weeks due to insecurity. The convoy is transporting supplies from the UN Refugee Agency, WFP and UNICEF. Regarding the health situation in the country, WHO says more than 1,400 suspected cases of cholera and 64 associated deaths have been reported in Sudan since a cholera outbreak was declared late last month. Humanitarian agencies have scaled up their response to the outbreak. The outbreak comes as Sudan’s health care system is stretched to its limits: Some 70 per cent of hospitals in conflict-affected states are not functional, and facilities in states not affected by conflict have been overwhelmed by an influx of people displaced by the fighting. UNICEF and WHO warn that at least 10,000 children under the age of 5 in Sudan could die by the end of this year due to rising food insecurity, as well as disruptions to health and nutrition services. Libya Five weeks after Storm Daniel brought catastrophic flooding to the country’s northeast, more than 43,000 people are still displaced – over one-third of them in Derna. An estimated 400 children are still unaccompanied and separated from their families. WHO reports that only 17 of more than 230 health facilities assessed after the floods are fully functional. The UN and our partners have reached some 156,000 people with humanitarian assistance, including food, safe drinking water, shelter supplies and other essential items. Our three-month Flash Appeal for $71 million to respond to the floods in Libya is currently 45 per cent funded. https://www.unocha.org/news/todays-top-news-occupied-palestinian-territory-sudan-libya

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Several US federal government agencies have been hit in a global cyberattack by Russian cybercriminals that exploits a vulnerability in widely used software, according to a top US cybersecurity agency. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency “is providing support to several federal agencies that have experienced intrusions affecting their MOVEit applications,” Eric Goldstein, the agency’s executive assistant director for cybersecurity, said in a statement on Thursday to CNN, referring to the software impacted. “We are working urgently to understand impacts and ensure timely remediation.” Aside from US government agencies, “several hundred” companies and organizations in the US could be affected by the hacking spree, a senior CISA official told reporters later Thursday, citing estimates from private experts. Clop, the ransomware gang allegedly responsible, is known to demand multimillion-dollar ransoms. But no ransom demands have been made of federal agencies, the senior official told reporters in a background briefing. CISA’s response comes as Progress Software, the US firm that makes the software exploited by the hackers, said it had discovered a second vulnerability in the code that the company was working to fix. The Department of Energy is among multiple federal agencies breached in the ongoing global hacking campaign, a department spokesperson confirmed to CNN.The hacks have not had any “significant impacts” on federal civilian agencies, CISA Director Jen Easterly told reporters, adding that the hackers have been “largely opportunistic” in using the software flaw to break into networks. The news adds to a growing tally of victims of a sprawling hacking campaign that began two weeks ago and has hit major US universities and state governments. The hacking spree mounts pressure on federal officials who have pledged to put a dent in the scourge of ransomware attacks that have hobbled schools, hospitals and local governments across the US. Since late last month, the hackers have been exploiting a flaw in widely used software known as MOVEit that companies and agencies use to transfer data. Progress Software, the US firm that makes the software, told CNN Thursday that a new vulnerability in the software had been discovered “that could be exploited by a bad actor.” “We have communicated with customers on the steps they need to take to further secure their environments and we have also taken MOVEit Cloud offline as we urgently work to patch the issue,” the company said in a statement. Agencies were much quicker Thursday to deny they’d been affected by the hacking than to confirm they were. The Transportation Security Administration and the State Department said they were not victims of the hack. The Department of Energy “took immediate steps” to mitigate the impact of the hack after learning that records from two department “entities” had been compromised, the department spokesperson said. “The Department has notified Congress and is working with law enforcement, CISA, and the affected entities to investigate the incident and mitigate impacts from the breach,” the spokesperson said in a statement. One of the Department of Energy victims is Oak Ridge Associated Universities, a not-for-profit research center, a department spokesperson told CNN. The other victim is a contractor affiliated with the department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, which disposes waste associated with atomic energy, the spokesperson said. Federal News Network first reported on the Department of Energy victims. Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the university’s renowned health system said in a statement this week that “sensitive personal and financial information,” including health billing records may have been stolen in the hack. Meanwhile, Georgia’s state-wide university system – which spans the 40,000-student University of Georgia along with over a dozen other state colleges and universities – confirmed it was investigating the “scope and severity” of the hack. CLOP last week claimed credit for some of the hacks, which have also affected employees of the BBC, British Airways, oil giant Shell, and state governments in Minnesota and Illinois, among others. The Russian hackers were the first to exploit the MOVEit vulnerability, but experts say other groups may now have access to software code needed to conduct attacks. The ransomware group had given victims until Wednesday to contact them about paying a ransom, after which they began listing more alleged victims from the hack on their extortion site on the dark web. As of Thursday morning, the dark website did not list any US federal agencies. Instead, the hackers wrote in all caps, “If you are a government, city or police service do not worry, we erased all your data. You do not need to contact us. We have no interest to expose such information.” The CLOP ransomware group is one of numerous gangs in Eastern Europe and Russia that are almost exclusively focused on wringing their victims for as much money as possible. “The activity we’re seeing at the moment, adding company names to their leak site, is a tactic to scare victims, both listed and unlisted, into paying,” Rafe Pilling, director of threat research at Dell-owned Secureworks, told CNN. This story has been updated with additional developments. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/15/politics/us-government-hit-cybeattack/index.html

the global fleet management, telematics and IoT software platform, share their insights on the top 10 leaders in the telematics and GPS tracking hardware manufacturing market. This ranking is designed to single out this year’s most po[CENSORED]r GPS hardware, based on the number of devices installed by Wialon telematic service providers over the past year. The Wialon platform is created by Gurtam, a European software developer with over two decades of experience in the telematics industry and the widest-ranging portfolio of telematics solutions. They have developed integrations with over 3,100 types of GPS tracking devices from 700 manufacturers. Additionally, Wialon can process data received from after-market sensors (weight, humidity, light, temperature and many others), cameras, tachographs and various other types of GPS hardware and tracking devices. Most Po[CENSORED]r Device 2023 The 2023 rankings reveal Teltonika Telematics hardware as the most frequently connected to Wialon, once again, with the Teltonika FMB920 ranking as the most po[CENSORED]r device of the year – connecting to the platform in more than 132,000 instances from June 2022 to May 2023. Video as Primary Solution to Traffic Safety and Driver Monitoring A key growth area for hardware manufacturers continues to be video solutions, driven both by national legislation across markets and by business necessity, driving applications such as traffic safety, driver activity monitoring and passenger traffic analysis to name a few. Wialon is proud to share that the following companies made its GPS Hardware Manufacturers Top 10 list for 2023: https://www.itnewsafrica.com/2023/07/wialon-reveals-top-10-gps-hardware-manufacturers-2023/

AI's a thorny subject, to say the least. The big issue with technology is that it advances in waves. There'll be a very long time where it feels like nothing's changing much at all, and then suddenly we're all saddled with something new to irreversibly change our lives. The trouble with these sudden ramps is it takes a while for the law, social etiquette, and plain ol' common decency to catch up. Generative AI's been no different—it's created ripples in art, music, writing, coding, design, and by virtue of the fact all of those are part of it in some way: game development. The latest two cents thrown into the ongoing debate comes via an interview from our friends over at Edge Magazine, who sat down with former Assassin's Creed lead producer Jade Raymond and Raph Koster, the former co-director of Everquest 2 co-director."AAA games have gone from taking teams of 50 people two years to make to now sometimes taking teams of hundreds of people more than ten years to make … [we believe] these technologies will eventually help game developers reverse that trend, and unlock more creativity from developers and players alike," says Raymond as she goes over the R&D projects of her new professional home, Haven Studios.It's true that the gulf between what game development used to be and what it is now—specifically in the big stonking budget department—has completely changed. What a studio can do has been rapidly overtaken by the expectations placed upon them and a market hostile to letting anyone take their dang time with anything, and it's led to all sorts of symptoms. Cold-shoulder layoffs of even talented workers, big releases plagued with performance issues, histories of unjustifiable (yet somehow still common) crunch culture: That's all been smushed into rising audience expectations. We've had some great games this year—so much so that Fraser Brown called this "the best summer for RPGs." But from a developer perspective? It's just rough out there right now. Whether AI can solve all of that, or whether it'll just be further petrol poured on the fire, it remains to be seen. Meanwhile Koster takes the view that this stuff's just inevitable, feelings be damned. "Developers hate it, many players dislike it, there's a general current against it, and the money is still going to drive absolutely everybody to do it, because otherwise the cost curves are not sustainable." A bit fatalistic, but not necessarily inaccurate. In terms of how the tech's playing out right now, it's been a mixed bag. Studios get dunked on for relying on this new tech, like this apology for Gollum that, for some reason, was likely written by AI instead of a person. It's also, as Koster notes, not universally liked by the people who make games, either. Take-Two's CEO described himself as "unenthusiastic", calling artificial intelligence "an oxymoron". Earlier this year, PC Gamer's Even Lahti had a roundtable discussion with Blackbird Interactive, who said there "is no AI-driven software that I know of that we would put in a shipped game". Not everyone's a naysayer, though. Ubisoft's hopping onto the AI train, firmly convinced it'll "profoundly transform creative industries." To be fair, Koster does point out it'll "suck at generating plots", which tracks—most AI I've seen try to weave a story makes something that kinda rhymes with one, but the lack of intent scuppers it. Tim Schafer of Psychonauts fame put it pretty well: "Super impressive, but also completely like: who cares?" Then again, assuming AI will be bad at something forever is a dangerous road. We haven't quite hit the ceiling yet. Raymond takes a less cynical bent, though, swinging so far in the other direction as to sound borderline Molyneuxian, which is a word I think I just made up. "Multiplayer games that are designed to be experienced and played across generations could be a new trend. Immersive games built to learn and develop hobby skills like gardening could be another niche." Granted, it seems she's less talking about AI-driven games here, instead taking stabs in the dark at how the landscape will change overall. She's not totally off base, either. Think about how VR's tech has birthed stuff like VR Chat—what we imagine as a modern VR headset isn't even old enough to drink in most countries, but you can straight up head over to VR Chat and get baptised by a licensed priest. From where I'm sitting, nobody has any idea of which way this'll all go, but there's sure going to be a lot of arguing between the now and the distant then.Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many. https://www.pcgamer.com/ai-in-big-budget-games-is-inevitable-say-dev-vets-from-assassins-creed-and-everquest-2-developers-hate-it-the-money-is-still-going-to-drive-absolutely-everybody-to-do-it/

rom meditation and breath work to ketamine journeys led by self-described shamans in high-end Manhattan clinics, therapies once considered alternative are increasingly being incorporated by the western mainstream – sometimes with the language and rituals of spiritualism creeping in. A new generation of counselors is taking this further, fusing psychotherapeutic and psychic services. Mainstream psychologists are concerned that without clear boundaries between the two, clients could be taken advantage of. As interest in spirituality booms – a 2022 study found that nearly nine out of 10 Americans hold one belief that can be described as “new-age spiritualism”, whether that’s reincarnation, telepathy, or astrology – some therapists working in more traditional counseling are moonlighting as psychics. Others, like Amanda Charles – a psychologist with a long-held interest in spiritualism, which she previously did not discuss with her therapy clients – are “coming out” as mediums. Charles said she was concerned that revealing her psychic beliefs would destroy her career. But, she said, “since coming out, I have clients all over the world”.Others stepping in to meet demand include Betsy LeFae, named one of Time Out’s top psychic mediums last year. She’s a former social worker who now runs the Trust Yourself: Intuition School, a self-help institution that teaches students how to “tune out negative influences/energy and find trust in their inner voice”. Ashley Torrent, who describes herself as a psychospiritual counselor and medium, offers counseling and readings to “honor the relationship between our humanity and our divinity”, and the Helix Training Program, based in New York, is a “non-denominational seminary” that offers “unique training in psychospiritual counseling and work in personal transformation”. Psychology Today keeps a list of practitioners in 39 US states who describe themselves as “spirituality therapists”; last year, the Washington Post reported that more than half of patients were interested in spiritually integrated therapy, and that training had popped up to teach clinicians how to incorporate ideas like mystical experiences into treatment. Even psychics who do not claim to be therapists cloak their branding in the language of personal reinvention. The psychic hotlines of yore have made way for gen Z-friendly apps like Kasamba, which offers a lineup of “expert advisers” to help “find your path to happiness”. Keen, the largest online database of mediums, claims to have served “14 million satisfied customers”, who have had a total of “45 million meaningful conversations”. The app’s logo is a green leaf, not unlike the emblem for the therapy app BetterHelp, which features two hands resting over an emerald-tinted fern – it’s a far cry from charging a dollar a minute to commune over the phone or working out of neon-lit basements. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/oct/18/the-counselors-fusing-therapy-and-psychic-readings-i-knew-every-word-my-client-was-going-to-say

Blood-soaked mattresses are strewn across the courtyard of the Al-Ahli Arab hospital, along with clothing and personal possessions left behind in the chaos that followed the blast and the huge fire it caused. In a nearby car park lie the smouldering wrecks of more than a dozen cars. The surrounding buildings are also damaged, apparently pockmarked by shrapnel. But no large impact crater is visible. There is an atmosphere of panic, with people struggling to understand what happened at a place that was supposed to be protected under international humanitarian law. "We left our home to come here," a woman who survived the explosion told the BBC. "We thought it would be safe, but then it got bombed."Doctors said that most of the victims were among the several thousand civilians who had been sheltering at the hospital since Friday. They fled there after the Israeli military told civilians to evacuate the north of the Gaza Strip, as it stepped up its air strikes on militant group Hamas. Many staying inside the courtyard were elderly or infirm, unable to leave for the south because they did not have access to transport. One witness told me that they had been sitting on the ground when it was rocked by a huge blast. People from all around the Gaza Strip soon arrived at the scene to try to help, he said. They collected bodies and began evacuating injured people. Those in a serious condition were taken away on motorbikes, while those less hurt had to make their way on foot to Shifa hospital, 3km (two miles) away. A second man said he heard something just before the blast but did not know what it was. He explained that he returned to the hospital afterwards because there was no other option. "Where else can we go? Are we leaving like in 1948?" he asked, referring to the first Arab-Israeli war, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced or fled from their homes. Despite their protected status, 20 hospitals in the north, including Al-Ahli Arab, have received orders to evacuate their patients and staff, according to the World Health Organization. The UN agency has said the orders are impossible to carry out, given the current insecurity, critical condition of many patients, lack of ambulances, and shortage of beds elsewhere, and warned that it will "further worsen the current humanitarian and public health catastrophe". https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67147059

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As the holiday season approaches, we are excited to share that we have a new PS5 model launching. To address the evolving needs of players, our engineering and design teams collaborated on a new form factor that provides greater choice and flexibility. The same technology features that make PS5 the best to play are packed into a smaller form factor, along with an attachable Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Drive and a 1TB SSD for more internal storage. The new PS5 has been reduced in volume by more than 30%, and weight by 18% and 24% compared to the previous models. There are four separate cover panels, with the top portion in a glossy look, while the bottom remains in matte. If you purchase the PS5 Digital Edition, you can add the Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Drive for PS5 later, as it will also be sold separately for 79.99 USD | 119.99 EURO | 99.99 GBP | 11,980 JPY. The new PS5 model will be available starting this November in the U.S. at select local retailers and direct.playstation.com where available. It will continue to roll out globally in the following months. Once inventory of the current PS5 model has sold out, the new PS5 will become the only model available.A variety of PS5 Console Cover colors for the new model will be available starting in early 2024, including an all-matte Black colorway and the Deep Earth Collection colors in Volcanic Red, Cobalt Blue, and Sterling Silver. Prices for the PS5 Console Covers will start at 54.99 USD | 54.99 EURO | 44.99 GBP | 7,480 JPY. Additional colors will be released in the future. We are ten days away from the launch of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, with additional games including Alan Wake 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launching shortly after. With these fantastic games coming, in addition to recent releases such as EA Sports FC 24, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, and Baldur’s Gate 3, there’s plenty for gamers to play on PS5 this holiday season. https://blog.playstation.com/2023/10/10/new-look-for-ps5-console-this-holiday-season/?sf269561474=1

Apple today announced the availability of new software tools and technologies that enable developers to create groundbreaking app experiences for Apple Vision Pro — Apple’s first spatial computer. Featuring visionOS, the world’s first spatial operating system, Vision Pro lets users interact with digital content in their physical space using the most natural and intuitive inputs possible — their eyes, hands, and voice. Starting today, Apple’s global community of developers will be able to create an entirely new class of spatial computing apps that take full advantage of the infinite canvas in Vision Pro and seamlessly blend digital content with the physical world to enable extraordinary new experiences. With the visionOS SDK, developers can utilize the powerful and unique capabilities of Vision Pro and visionOS to design brand-new app experiences across a variety of categories including productivity, design, gaming, and more. Next month, Apple will open developer labs in Cupertino, London, Munich, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo to provide developers with hands-on experience to test their apps on Apple Vision Pro hardware and get support from Apple engineers. Development teams will also be able to apply for developer kits to help them quickly build, iterate, and test right on Apple Vision Pro. “Apple Vision Pro redefines what’s possible on a computing platform. Developers can get started building visionOS apps using the powerful frameworks they already know, and take their development even further with new innovative tools and technologies like Reality Composer Pro, to design all-new experiences for their users,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “By taking advantage of the space around the user, spatial computing unlocks new opportunities for our developers, and enables them to imagine new ways to help their users connect, be productive, and enjoy new types of entertainment. We can’t wait to see what our developer community dreams up.” Developers can build new experiences that take advantage of the groundbreaking features of Apple Vision Pro by using the same foundational frameworks they already know from other Apple platforms, including powerful technologies like Xcode, SwiftUI, RealityKit, ARKit, and TestFlight. These tools enable developers to create new types of apps that span a spectrum of immersion, including windows, which have depth and can showcase 3D content; volumes, which create experiences that are viewable from any angle; and spaces, which can fully immerse a user in an environment with unbounded 3D content. To help developers optimize 3D content for their visionOS apps and games, an all-new tool available with Xcode called Reality Composer Pro lets them preview and prepare 3D models, animations, images, and sounds, so they look amazing on Vision Pro. Developers can also interact with their apps in the new visionOS simulator to explore and test various room layouts and lighting conditions. And every developer framework comes with built-in support for Apple’s innovative accessibility features to ensure spatial computing and visionOS apps are accessible to everyone. Starting next month, developers who have been building 3D apps and games with Unity’s robust authoring tools can port their Unity apps to Apple Vision Pro and take full advantage of its powerful capabilities. Developers who have previewed the visionOS SDK and APIs are excited for the potential of the platform and how it will enable them to create all-new app experiences for their users: “With Apple Vision Pro, Complete HeartX will help prepare medical students for clinical practice by using hyper-realistic 3D models and animations that help them understand and visualize medical issues, such as ventricular fibrillation, and how to apply their knowledge with patients,” said Jan Herzhoff, Elsevier Health’s president. “Learning through Complete HeartX on Apple Vision Pro will transform medical education and prepare future health professionals for practice.” “The djay app on Apple Vision Pro puts a fully featured DJ system right at a user’s fingertips. With a reimagined spatial interface, anyone can mix their favorite music and apply real-time effects using just their eyes and hands,” said Karim Morsy, Algoriddim’s CEO. “Whether for a beginner or a seasoned professional, djay on Vision Pro transforms the user’s surroundings with stunning environments that automatically react to their mix, enabling them to experience and interact with music in ways never before possible.”“JigSpace and Apple Vision Pro empower people and businesses to easily communicate their ideas or products in all-new ways,” said Zac Duff, JigSpace’s cofounder and CEO. “It uses the high-resolution CAD files companies already have, so their marketing, sales, product, or support teams can securely collaborate with colleagues or customers from anywhere in the world and get people to that ‘Aha!’ moment in a fraction of the time it usually takes. This level of fast, effective communication simply wasn’t possible before.”“Manufacturers can use AR solutions from PTC to collaborate on critical business problems by bringing interactive 3D content into the real world — from a single product, to an entire production line,” said Stephen Prideaux-Ghee, PTC’s chief technology officer of AR/VR. “With Apple Vision Pro, stakeholders across departments and in different locations can review content simultaneously to make design and operation decisions. This capability will unlock a level of collaboration previously not possible.”The visionOS SDK, updated Xcode, Simulator, and Reality Composer Pro are available for Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. Registered Apple developers have access to a variety of resources to help them design, develop, and test apps for Apple Vision Pro, including extensive technical documentation, new design kits, and updated human interface guidelines for visionOS. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/06/developer-tools-to-create-spatial-experiences-for-apple-vision-pro-now-available/

"Behold the 5-ton Mega-Karlach," states the deservedly proud lesser_panjandrum on the Baldur's Gate 3 subreddit as they post up a thrice-enlarged tiefling like they're showing off a genetically engineered golden retriever. To be fair, replace "genetically" with "magically" and that's almost what's happening here.As far as I can tell, this is an interaction between the Enlarge spell and the Elixir of the Colossus. The Enlarge spell doesn't stack by itself, but as long as you can get buffs that are technically different—as that Elixir seems to be—well, this happens. Giga-Karlach weighs in at 5,005kg, has a carrying capacity of 440kg (which lesser_panjamdrum notes is around '3,500 cups of flour') and is about 20ft tall, as noted by our friends over at GamesRadar. Her size category is also "Huge". As someone who's played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, the system that Baldur's Gate 3 is based on, this has a lot of implications that are cracking me up.Here's an excerpt from the Player's Handbook: "The Size Categories table shows how much space a creature of a particular size controls in combat." Controls is the key word, here, as the book notes that size isn't an "expression of its physical dimensions … a Medium creature isn't 5 feet wide, for example."Still, do you want to know what space a Huge creature occupies on a D&D grid? I hopped into Roll20 and cooked up a friendly size comparison for you, with a normal-sized Karlach for scale.The tabletop version of ultra-Karlach would control a 15ft by 15ft space on a combat grid, or nine squares. A medium creature occupies one. If you were running this with pen and paper, Karlach would have to squeeze to get through basically any doorway, would likely give at least three-quarters cover, and would be able to grapple a Gargantuan creature. Yes, rules-as-written, there is nothing this lady cannot wrestle. Unfortunately, due to what I can only describe as a shocking lack of vision (note: entirely reasonable limitations of a game engine) Larian Studios didn't program any kaiju battles for this exact scenario, so we'll just have to be happy with what we get: a wonderfully chonky version of everyone's favourite barbarian who can throw just about anyone that looks at her the wrong way. Oh, she'd also be able to land on people to turn them into paste. 5,005kg is exactly as heavy as that Owlbear from the piledriver strat a while back, meaning that yes—ultra-Karlach from the top rope could deal around 800 to 1,000 damage which, as I noted back then, is enough to kill an adult red dragon four times. I'm not sure it's canon: but it should be.Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many. https://www.pcgamer.com/power-hungry-baldurs-gate-3-player-stacks-karlach-with-enlargement-magic-until-shes-a-20ft-tall-5-ton-giantess-who-could-kill-a-dragon-by-jumping-on-it/

Fugees star Pras Michel, who was convicted in April on charges of conspiring to make straw campaign donations, witness tampering and acting as an unregistered foreign agent for China, appears to be breaking new legal ground by calling for a new trial by claiming his defense attorneys allegedly relied on artificial intelligence to compile their final argument for the jury. In a withering motion filed Monday night with a federal judge in Washington, Michel’s new attorneys argued that his Los Angeles-based lawyer David Kenner relied on the fledgling technology at critical points in Michel’s trial, contributing to “prejudicial ineffective assistance of counsel.”Kenner “used an experimental artificial intelligence (AI) program to draft the closing argument, ignoring the best arguments and conflating the charged schemes, and he then publicly boasted that the AI program ‘turned hours or days of legal work into seconds,’” Michel’s new defense team from D.C.-based ArentFox Schiff wrote. “It is now apparent that Kenner and his co-counsel appear to have had an undisclosed financial stake in the AI program, and they experimented with it during Michel’s trial so they could issue a press release afterward promoting the program — a clear conflict of interest.” “Michel’s prior publicist also informed members of the current defense team that Kenner proudly stated at the end of the trial words to the effect of ‘AI wrote our closing,’” former federal prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg wrote in a declaration accompanying the motion. Zeidenberg pointed to a press release a firm called Eyelevel appears to have issued in May, which included a photo of Michel and boasted that the company’s technology “made history last week, becoming the first use of generative AI in a federal trial.” The release quotes Kenner calling the AI tool “an absolute game changer for complex litigation.” The announcement does not mention that, after a three-week trial featuring a diverse set of witnesses ranging from Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, jurors took less than three days to convict Michel on all 10 felony charges he faced. Kenner and another defense attorney on the case, Alon Israely, did not immediately respond to messages late Monday night seeking comment on the claims in the new filing. Federal prosecutors claimed Michel took staggering sums of money — about $88 million — from wealthy Malaysian businessman Jho Low in a bid to enhance his influence in the U.S. and later to derail the investigation and prosecution of Low on fraud charges stemming from the collapse of Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MBD. The hip-hop star who came to prominence in the 1990s was accused of arranging to donate money from foreign nationals to President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012 and making intensive efforts to influence President Donald Trump’s administration to drop or resolve the charges against Low.Michel has been free on bond since the first charges were filed in the case in 2019 U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who oversaw the trial, allowed him to remain free pending sentencing. That hasn’t yet been scheduled. Partly due to a court order freezing his assets, Michel was in dire financial straits before and during the trial. He sold the rights to his past recordings and also sought to raise $2.6 million for his defense by pledging part of his frozen assets or his future earnings, Reuters reported in March. Michel is set to kick off a Fugees reunion tour Tuesday night linked to the 25th anniversary of Lauryn Hill’s solo album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” The announced schedule — beginning Tuesday night in Newark, N.J., and passing through Washington on Saturday — features more than 20 concerts, including two in Canada. It’s unclear whether Michel plans to attend all the gigs. Beyond the claims related to AI, the motion also makes a slew of other arguments criticizing Kenner’s handling of the case. Michel’s new attorneys argue that Kenner had a conflict of interest due to potential contempt of court citation over claims the defense leaked stamped grand jury exhibits to a Bloomberg reporter just prior to the start of the trial. The new lawyers also say Kenner was “deficient” by failing to seek separate trials for Michel on the straw donation charges related to the Obama campaign and the foreign-influence related charges from the Trump era. That decision may have been influenced by a “flat fee” Kenner agreed to with Michel, the new-trial motion says. “Michel’s counsel was deficient throughout, likely more focused on promoting his AI program and saving himself from the contempt proceeding than zealously defending Michel,” Zeidenberg wrote. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/16/pras-michel-fugees-trial-ai-closing-argument-00121900

came to the end of my degree and thought: “Oh my goodness, I’ve got to get a job. What can I do?” It was a combination of enjoying drama, theatre and public speaking, as well as spending time looking at books, that led me to train as a barrister. There are certainly lots of theatrics in court. Traditionally, you never wash your wig. When you start practising, your wig is shiny and white, so it’s obvious that you are new to the job. Once you have become seasoned, your wig will be dull and beaten up, which oddly gets you more respect. Court is an inherently formal environment – and the more formal the environment, the more amusing it is when someone gets something wrong. The public should refer to a high court judge as “my lord” or “my lady”, but I heard one witness use “mate”. An elderly client referred to a very dry, middle-aged judge as “young man”, which raised a snigger in the courtroom. Another guy, for reasons I never understood, called everyone “Dipper”. Outside the courtroom, he referred to me as Dipper. He referred to my client as Dipper. Then, in court, he referred to the judge as Dipper, which they found very irritating.Once, the opposing client didn’t have a solicitor – which is highly unusual and not recommended – and hadn’t made any contact, so we assumed they weren’t going to turn up. Then the door burst open and in he came. The first thing the judge said was: “You haven’t produced any evidence to support your case at all. Why shouldn’t I dismiss your claim straight away?” They pulled out a plastic bag, packed full of mouldy, musky-smelling documents, and emptied it all over the judge’s desk. The judge went absolutely berserk. I haven’t detected much change in people’s attitudes due to the pandemic. Sadly, human nature means just as many arguments still end up in legal disputes, although a lot of hearings are now online. This also means that people have trouble dealing with technology. One court attender couldn’t hear what was going on and got increasingly cross. He was effing and blinding that the system was rubbish, even though everyone in court could hear him. Suddenly, his son appeared in the background and said: “Dad, you’ve still got your headphones plugged in.” Naturally, people are far more relaxed addressing a judge on the screen at home than they would be in court. When I called one of my witnesses to appear before the judge, she appeared on the screen in her dressing gown, looking as if she was on holiday, smoking a cigarette. I sent an urgent text message: “Can you please at least put on a jumper and put out your cigarette when you are giving your evidence?” In another case, a farmer lost a litigation that resulted in him having to pay thousands of pounds to a neighbour. He went to the bank, asked for the thousands he owed in 2p coins, then mixed it into a huge pile of manure, loaded it on to a tractor, drove to his neighbours’ and tipped it all over their front garden. I had to admire his creativity. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/jun/03/the-judge-went-absolutely-berserk-my-life-as-a-barrister-in-badly-behaved-britain

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