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Baldur’s Gate 3's reactivity didn’t ruin Veilguard's linearity for me - it let me enjoy it more

Minor spoilers for the first few hours of Veilguard and heavy spoilers for Baldur’s Gate 3

For all the things I ended up enjoying about Dragon Age: The Veilguard, it isn’t much of an RPG. What little roleplaying it does offer revolves around what flavour of supportive hero you prefer, and you can count the number of impactful dialogue decisions on a three-fingered hand. This might sound utterly damning in the wake of Baldur's Gate 3’s incredible reactivity, and if I approached games as some sort of tedious comparative intellectual exercise rather than just, y’know, seeing how I felt about them, then I suppose it would be. Weirdly, though, the recent memory of Baldur’s Gate 3 didn’t diminish my time with Veilguard at all. It was actually the opposite: it freed Dragon Age from having to carry the torch for a certain period in Bioware’s history, and let me enjoy Veilguard for what it was.

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The Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth celebrates 10 year anniversary with online co-op announcement and sale

Beloved roguelike traumatic-childhood-em-up The Binding Of Issac: Rebirth turned 10 yesterday, and it’s half off on Steam to celebrate. What’s more, maker Edmund McMillen has announced that the foretold online co-op update is due on the 18th of this month, alongside a “considerable” balance update. Consider me considering the considerability of said considerable update!

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Take-Two are selling Private Division and closing Roll7 and Intercept, because they're in "the business of making great big hits"

Take-Two Interactive have sold their publishing label Private Division to an unnamed party, along with five of Private Division's "live and unreleased titles". The GTA 6 publisher have also finally confirmed that they have shut down OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome devs Roll7 together with Kerbal Space Program 2 creators Intercept Games, months after performing mass layoffs at both studios.

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Some guy complained this fishing game only caters to queer players, so the dev added a "straight" title - it costs $9999

When multiplayer fishing game Webfishing came out last month, it offered a relaxing hangout zone for cats and dogs. Everything revolves around catching, selling, and collecting the fish that gather in the rivers of a small island. It also lets you customise your character with clothing. Mostly simple hats and shorts, but some options let players celebrate their sexuality, such as a rainbow-adorned t-shirts, or titles that hang above your character which simply say "Trans" or "Bi". All this led one player to complain there was no "Straight" title. So, the developer added one. It costs 10 grand.

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Ubisoft is being sued over The Crew in a lawsuit that compares the server shutdown to a bumperless pinball machine

"Imagine you buy a pinball machine, and years later, you enter your den to go play it, only to discover that all the paddles are missing, the pinball and bumpers are gone, and the monitor that proudly displayed your unassailable high score is removed". As reported by Polygon, that's an argument put forth by a new lawsuit against Ubisoft, filed by two Californian players of The Crew. They're suing the company in a proposed class action lawsuit over shutting down the racing game's servers, rendering it unplayable.

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Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 patch adds a new weapon, plus some tweaks for the existing arsenal

"Where’s my Neo-Volkite pistol, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2?" was my perhaps slightly ungrateful reaction upon booting the action game up after the previous patch. "I didn’t even know what a Neo-Volkite pistol was until five minutes ago, but now this whole game is trash until I get one!." As promised in the roadmap, the last big update added a whole new Operations map, complete with a gargantuan new pseudo-boss in the form of a hierophant bio-titan. It did not, however, give me my beloved pistol. It’s fine. It’s in now, along with a few, less Neo-Volkite updates to other weapons.

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California wine country tries to get back to business despite wildfire destruction

Watch Video | Listen to the Audio

JUDY WOODRUFF: Firefighters say they are making some progress battling the wildfires in Northern California. In all, the fires have consumed more than 220,000 acres, an area larger than New York City.

More than 5,700 structures have been destroyed. And at least 41 people have died, making it the deadliest wildfire in the state’s history.

The wine industry and the tourism business connected with it are trying to take stock. More than $50 billion in California’s economy comes from the wine business. And nearly 24 million people visit the region for that reason every year.

Special correspondent Joanne Jennings reports from Napa County.

JOANNE JENNINGS, Special Correspondent: The Mayacamas mountain range creates a natural barrier between Sonoma and Napa Counties. And it is here where the massive Nuns fire is posing a tough challenge for some 11,000 firefighters who are taming the blaze with aircraft and units on the ground.

CAPT. MARK BRENNERMAN, Viejas fire Department: We’re going around and making sure none of these fires that are still smoldering and smoking, we’re not going to get another big fire out of them.

JOANNE JENNINGS: Even as firefighters are battling shifting winds, owners and workers in Wine Country are trying to determine just how much damage has been done.

The tony Highlands gated community was among the first to be consumed by flames when the Atlas fire raced through this canyon, leaving several mansions in rubble. Down the hill, at the Silverado resort, charred remnants of the Safeway PGA Tour remain. The major golf event had just wrapped up last Sunday afternoon, a few hours before flames engulfed tents and grandstands, forcing spectators and athletes to evacuate.

MAN: Do you see how it burned right up to the retaining wall here?

JOANNE JENNINGS: Silverado resident Steve Messina stayed behind and shot video of fire crews containing the flames, which consumed some condos. Within minutes, flames raced three miles down Silverado Trail, home to several storied hillside vineyards.

Most wineries in the region have been spared the worst. But hundreds suffered some damage. And at least eight vineyards have been significantly damaged or destroyed.

Pierre Birebent, who has been making wines for the family-owned Signorello estate for 20 years, rushed to his winery as quickly as he could.

PIERRE BIREBENT, Signorello Estate Vineyards: I jumped right in my truck, came down, and then when I was riding down, I saw the hill all flaming.

JOANNE JENNINGS: Two vineyard workers joined him to help save the estate’s tasting room.

PIERRE BIREBENT: But the smoke was getting very thick, and the wind was very strong. And after an hour, we couldn’t breathe anymore. At the moment, I was so upset. It was rage to see that I couldn’t do anything. But it was like fighting a giant.

JOANNE JENNINGS: The tasting room, which also housed the winery’s office and a dining room, burned to the ground. But Birebent says he wants to focused on what survived.

Fortunately, he said, the fire stopped short of reaching the vineyard, the crush pad, or any of the barrels of wine stored on site; 95 percent of this year’s grapes were already picked.

But, to be on the safe side, Birebent is taking these samples to a lab to make sure the juice is not too acidic for winemaking. If the crops are OK, a staff of 25 employees will have jobs to return to.

As the fires begin to recede and the smoke clears, people here are beginning to wonder when the tourists, who fuel much of the economy, will return.

It’s a serious concern for Andrew and Jeni (ph) Schluter, who are self-employed and are raising a young family.

ANDREW SCHLUTER, Andrew’s Tours and Transportation: I do wine tours and transportation for people. And my business started to do really, really well. I was on track to have the best month ever.

JOANNE JENNINGS: Andrew just bought this new SUV, which has been idle in his driveway collecting ash. Jeni is a personal trainer and has family who lost their homes in the fires. She’s just not sure how they’re going to make ends meet.

WOMAN: I think we’re just overwhelmed, you know? And uncertainty is kind of scary.

ANDREW SCHLUTER: We will hopefully get by for awhile, but we might make — have to make some hard decisions shortly.

JOANNE JENNINGS: While fires burn nearby, some vineyards are already open to tourists. At the Raymond Vineyard, workers are crushing grapes at a feverish pitch. The tasting room is open for the first time since the fires started.

Jeremy and Erika Moore arrived from Tennessee yesterday. They considered canceling their trip, but decided the best way they could help people here is to give them their business.

JEREMY MOORE, Tourist: On the one hand, a few hundred yards from here, you can see them shuttling up with the helicopters fighting fires, but then here it’s beautiful. They are doing some great tastings, and they are working outside on the crops. So, it’s a weird combination of tragedy, but then at the same time business must go on, too.

JOANNE JENNINGS: Proprietor Jean-Charles Boisset owns several wineries in California, France and Canada, but like many other people here, he and his family had to evacuate their home when the flames came dangerously close.

Still, he is bullish about the future of the wine industry in this region.

JEAN-CHARLES BOISSET, Boisset Collection: Napa has been one of the most amazing agricultural places in California for a long time, so it will survive those fires. What I love, as a Frenchman here in California, is that amazing American positive attitude.

We will recover. We will walk again, run again, and we will welcome all our guests and give them the dreams of fine wine.

JOANNE JENNINGS: For the PBS NewsHour, I’m Joanne Jennings in Napa Valley, California.

The post California wine country tries to get back to business despite wildfire destruction appeared first on PBS NewsHour.




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Karen Pence to outline goals for art therapy initiative

File photo of Karen Pence (right) by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

WASHINGTON — When Karen Pence found out that an art therapist in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico couldn’t afford the clay her clients needed, she sprang into action.

A trained watercolor artist and advocate of the little-known mental health profession, Vice President Mike Pence’s wife went to the Virginia art supply store she frequented when they lived in the state during his tenure in Congress, bought 120 pounds of self-drying clay and packed it aboard Air Force Two for their flight down to survey the damage.

“She cleaned him out,” the vice president said of the store’s owner.

Mrs. Pence made art therapy her cause ever since she first learned about it more than a decade ago. She has visited numerous art therapy programs, both in the U.S. and abroad, and on Wednesday in Florida, nine months into the administration, she planned to formally announce the goals for her art therapy initiative.

She wants to help people understand the difference between art therapy and arts and crafts, and to grasp that art therapy is a viable option for treating trauma, injury and other life experiences. She also wants to encourage young people to choose art therapy as a career.

“I don’t think that a lot of people understand the difference between therapeutic art and art therapy,” Mrs. Pence, a trained watercolor artist, told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview before the announcement at Florida State University in Tallahassee. The school has an art therapy program she described as “tremendous.”

Blabbing to a girlfriend can be therapeutic, she explained, but it is not the same as art therapy, which has three elements: a client, a trained therapist and art.

READ MORE: VP Pence’s wife aims to raise awareness about art therapy

As passionate as she is about raising art therapy’s profile, other issues help make Karen Pence tick, too.

One of them is helping military families, especially spouses. Her only son, Michael, is in the Marines.

There’s also her interest in honeybees. Mrs. Pence installed a beehive on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory, where the vice president’s official residence is located, to help call attention to a decline in managed bee colonies that officials say could negatively affect U.S. agricultural production. She had a beehive at the Indiana governor’s residence for the same reason.

Now 60 and married to the vice president since 1985, Mrs. Pence has long been viewed as one of her husband’s most trusted political advisers. They are often together on trips, at the White House, or at the observatory, almost always holding hands.

Since returning to Washington in January (the family lived in the area when her husband served in Congress), she has accompanied the vice president on goodwill tours of Europe, Asia and Latin America, as well as trips to survey recent hurricane damage in Texas, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. She tries to visit art therapy programs wherever she goes. Journalists who travel with Pence often keep an eye out for his wife; she often brings them cookies when he ventures back to the press cabin for small talk.

READ MORE: Devastated Puerto Rico needs unprecedented aid, says governor

She’s even done a little campaigning, urging Virginians to vote next month for Ed Gillespie in what’s viewed as a tight gubernatorial race.

“It really makes a difference, I can tell you. Nobody thought that we were going to win,” she said, an apparent reference to the Trump-Pence ticket.

The vice president often refers to his wife as the family’s “prayer captain.” She has led congregations in prayer during their hurricane-damage trips.

“We’re people of faith so we just try and approach everything with prayer,” Mrs. Pence said from her sunny, second-floor office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the White House complex, where she and her staff enjoy coveted views of the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial. Art therapy drawings given as gifts adorn the outer office.

She proudly displayed several of her paintings, including of the Capitol dome, the vice president’s residence, a Ball canning jar-turned-flower vase, a cardinal bird and a pink peony. She turns many of her watercolors into prints and boxed notecards that she gifts to art therapists she meets.

Except for myriad pets, including two cats, a dog and a rabbit named Marlon Bundo, the Pences are empty nesters. Their son and two adult daughters are off on their own.

“I think for us this is a good time in our life for this role because our kids are out of college. They’re living their own lives,” Mrs. Pence said.

She’s also launching a blog in conjunction with Wednesday’s announcement to chronicle her visits to art therapy programs.

The post Karen Pence to outline goals for art therapy initiative appeared first on PBS NewsHour.




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Escaping Harvey Weinstein was a ‘cat-and-mouse game,’ says Katherine Kendall

Watch Video | Listen to the Audio

HARI SREENIVASAN: Let’s turn to the continuing fallout and reaction to the Harvey Weinstein story.

Yesterday, Weinstein resigned from the board of his production company following numerous revelations of sexual harassment and several allegations of assault.

More than three dozen women have said Weinstein harassed them. While Weinstein has admitted to behaving inappropriately, he has said he didn’t physically assault anyone.

One of those women is Katherine Kendall. She was a 23-year-old actress who met Weinstein in 1993. She alleges that he invited her to his apartment in New York, where, she says, he took off his clothes and asked for a massage.

As other actresses began coming forward about their painful experiences, she also went public with her own story.

She joins me now from Los Angeles.

First, thanks for joining us.

And I don’t want to relive something that’s painful for you, but you are taking a public stance on it.

For people who don’t know your story, what happened?

KATHERINE KENDALL, Actress/ Photographer: Well, I was you know, a young actress, and I had had a formal meeting at the Miramax office earlier that day.

And then, at the end of the meeting, which I thought went really well, he invited me to come to screenings. He said: “Welcome to the Miramax family. You know, come to premieres, screenings, et cetera. In fact, there’s one this afternoon. Would you like to come?”

And I said, “Sure.”

And I ended up going to see a movie with him. It ended up just being a movie, not a screening, but the film “Red Rock West.” And, you know, that’s right when I had this sort of sinking feeling that something wasn’t going right.

And then, after the movie, we walked for a few blocks. And he said he needed to go up to his apartment to get something, and would I just come with him real quick? And I sort of said no, and we went back and forth on that for a minute. It was sort of a negotiation with him always, trying to sort of stand my ground, but then be convinced it was OK.

I did go into his apartment. Once there, we talked for a long time about art and movies. And I felt like he was treating me like an intellect.

And I felt like the meeting was going really well, and sort of continued. I didn’t feel unsafe once I was in there. And, at one point, then, he got up to go to the bathroom. And he came back in a robe and asked me to give him a massage.

And I was extremely uncomfortable. And I was like, oh, God, no, I’m not comfortable with that. And we went back and forth on that.

And then he went back to the bathroom again, and came back this time completely naked. And, you know, that changed it entirely for me, too. It just took it to the next place. It was completely disorienting. And I was scared, you know? I was really scared.

And then it became sort of a cat-and-mouse game of, like, how am I going to get out of there?

And I’m — it’s hard to make sense of what someone is trying to do to you when they’re fully naked, and they’re…

HARI SREENIVASAN: Yes.

KATHERINE KENDALL: You know, I’m 105 pounds. He’s a large man standing between me and the door.

And, I mean, I felt very resolute, like, I will definitely get out of here somehow. But I’m not — I’m not sure — I’m not sure what’s going to happen here. You know, a lot was going through my head.

And he said, well, if you won’t give me a massage, will you at least show me your breasts? And it was just — you know, it was, all in all, an extremely humiliating experience for me.

And even though I got away, I felt like something had still — like something horrible had just happened to me.

HARI SREENIVASAN: You know, in the immediate aftermath, did you tell someone about it? Because you have said before that you felt ashamed…

KATHERINE KENDALL: I did.

HARI SREENIVASAN: … even though you were the victim.

KATHERINE KENDALL: I did.

It’s really interesting how that happens. And I think — you know, I’m older now, and I have done some work on myself. And I have learned that a lot of people feel that way.

It’s — it’s not — it wasn’t just me. But the just me feeling that this is my fault, this must have only happened to me, there’s something wrong with me, is so common when someone perpetrates against you.

HARI SREENIVASAN: What were the…

KATHERINE KENDALL: And I did. I told my mom.

And I told some good friends. But, you know, one of the things that happened was, I didn’t want them to tell anybody. You know, people wanted to help me, but they didn’t know how, and I didn’t want them to try too hard, because I didn’t want it to backlash.

I was scared. And I think that it’s important to remember that we don’t really come from a culture that supports women in talking about sexual harassment, in my — in my experience, that is. And, you know, I just haven’t felt like it was something I was going to get support on…

HARI SREENIVASAN: You know, how long…

KATHERINE KENDALL: … in the bigger picture.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Yes.

How long did this feeling last? Or, I guess, what are the longer-term ripple effects here? Did it shake your confidence in your abilities?

KATHERINE KENDALL: I think it did. I think it did. I think it did.

I think it made me feel like, wow, you know, that was a wash. He wasn’t interested at all in what I had to say, or, you know, he didn’t see any talent there or intellect there. He was assessing the situation the whole time for something else.

And I think that — that did hurt. You know, I wish it didn’t.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Yes.

KATHERINE KENDALL: But he had produced so many movies that I thought were wonderful. And it was — it’s hard when someone has made art that you love, and how do you stay attached to liking their art, but feeling conflicted about them?

And, yes, I think it does have long-term effects. I think you tuck it away. And then, for me, also, I realized that it came back when I would see his name or see him in person. I would start to sort of tremble all over again.

I mean, I wouldn’t think about him on a daily basis or anything for years, and then I would see him, and I would think, oh, I don’t feel well. I got to get out of here.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Right.

KATHERINE KENDALL: You know, it would bring up so much emotion.

And the most recent one was the woman in New York, the Italian model. I felt so, so enraged when I saw what happened there, and that they sort of — the police had him, and that then he got away. And then she was being dragged through the press as somebody who just, you know, wanted a payout, et cetera.

HARI SREENIVASAN: You know, in the wake of that, there was — a friend of yours had tweeted, “At some point, all the women who have been afraid to speak out about Harvey Weinstein are going to have to hold hands and jump.” This was back in 2015.

And from your Twitter account, you said, “Agreed.”

It seemed like you almost had the opportunity to come forward.

What made you want to come forward now? Has this become a turning point in the industry?

KATHERINE KENDALL: This is a turning point. It’s a turning point.

There are so many times when I thought about it, and then felt like — there were times when I thought about it and said, well, I have nothing to lose, I will just do it. And then I thought, I — I just didn’t have the strength or the courage yet.

And I think somebody like Jodi Kantor doing the story for The New York Times, the fact that she thought it was a story at all was startling to me and made me feel like, wow, something is going to be done.

And I knew she had told me — I mean, they were looking for women that this had happened to, because they’d been hearing rumors for so long that it happened to so many people. And she had told me other people were coming out.

And I thought, I can’t — when I watched Rose McGowan or any of the other actresses come forward, I just — or Ashley Judd — I just thought, they look strong to me, and I don’t want to be the one that stays silent.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Well, Katherine Kendall…

KATHERINE KENDALL: I want to stand beside them.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Katherine Kendall, thank you very much for speaking with us.

And, hopefully, there are other people that are empowered by you coming forward.

KATHERINE KENDALL: I hope so. Thank you.

The post Escaping Harvey Weinstein was a ‘cat-and-mouse game,’ says Katherine Kendall appeared first on PBS NewsHour.




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JWST found rogue worlds that blur the line between stars and planets

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted six strange worlds the size of planets that formed like stars – and the smallest may be building its own miniature solar system




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What are the weird noises coming from Boeing's Starliner capsule?

NASA is investigating a strange noise coming through the speaker on Boeing’s Starliner capsule, which has been beset with technical issues




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The Starliner stranding shows why NASA was wise to have a backup plan

Space missions are extremely hard. Things going wrong should be expected, so having a sensible plan B is crucial




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A small asteroid hit Earth and burned up over the Philippines

A newly spotted asteroid named 2024 RW1 burned up in the atmosphere over the South Pacific, creating a spectacular bright flash in the sky over the Philippines just hours after first being detected




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Chinese rover finds further evidence for an ancient ocean on Mars

Data collected by the Zhurong rover and orbiting satellites suggests the existence of an ancient shoreline in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars




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Chinese nuclear reactor is completely meltdown-proof

The first ever full-scale demonstration of a nuclear reactor designed to passively cool itself in an emergency was a success, showing that it should be possible to build nuclear plants without the risk of dangerous meltdown




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Will implants that meld minds with machines enhance human abilities?

Devices that let people with paralysis walk and talk are rapidly improving. Some see a future in which we alter memories and download skills – but major challenges remain




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Can AI chatbots be reined in by a legal duty to tell the truth?

To address the problem of AIs generating inaccurate information, a team of ethicists says there should be legal obligations for companies to reduce the risk of errors, but there are doubts about whether it would work




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What can governments do about online disinformation from abroad?

A cyberterrorism charge in Pakistan connected to riots in the UK illustrates how authorities are reaching across borders to tackle disinformation, but bringing overseas suspects to justice won't always be possible




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AIs are more likely to mislead people if trained on human feedback 

If artificial intelligence chatbots are fine-tuned to improve their responses using human feedback, they can become more likely to give deceptive answers that seem right but aren’t




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Drone versus drone combat is bringing a new kind of warfare to Ukraine

Machines are fighting machines on the Ukrainian battlefield, as a technological arms race has given birth to a new way to wage war




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Microscopic gears powered by light could be used to make tiny machines

Gears just a few micrometres wide can be carved from silicon using a beam of electrons, enabling tiny robots or machines that could interact with human cells




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Are we really ready for genuine communication with animals through AI?

Thanks to artificial intelligence, understanding animals may be closer than we think. But we may not like what they are going to tell us, says RSPCA chief executive Chris Sherwood




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Mountaineering astronauts and bad spelling? It's advertising's future

Feedback digs into a baffling ad for a mobile game and identifies a new and devilish way to advertise a product online: make it as confusing as possible to encourage people to click (it worked on Feedback)




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Audio AIs are trained on data full of bias and offensive language

Seven major datasets used to train audio-generating AI models are three times more likely to use the words "man" or "men" than "woman" or "women", raising fears of bias





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Warn Your Children: Deadpool & Wolverine Is Now on Disney+

Just in time to watch with the whole family over Thanksgiving.





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Gary Lineker replacement decided as BBC tipped for rogue MOTD appointment



Express Sport writers have decided who should replace Gary Lineker




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Gary Lineker releases statement as BBC confirm Match of the Day exit



Gary Lineker is the longest-serving Match of the Day host since the BBC first aired the show in 1964.




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Ronnie O'Sullivan leads stellar line-up for new snooker events in major shake-up



Ronnie O'Sullivan has agreed to compete in new snooker events.




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Gary Lineker 'strikes new BBC agreement' after Match of the Day exit confirmed



Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker has sealed a new agreement with the BBC just hours after his exit was confirmed.




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Video Friday: Zipline Delivers



Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.

ICRA@40: 23–26 September 2024, ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
IROS 2024: 14–18 October 2024, ABU DHABI, UAE
ICSR 2024: 23–26 October 2024, ODENSE, DENMARK
Cybathlon 2024: 25–27 October 2024, ZURICH

Enjoy today’s videos!

Zipline has (finally) posted some real live footage of its new Platform 2 drone, and while it’s just as weird looking as before, it seems to actually work really well.

[ Zipline ]

I appreciate Disney Research’s insistence on always eventually asking, “okay, but can we get this to work on a real robot in the real world?”

[ Paper from ETH Zurich and Disney Research [PDF] ]

In this video, we showcase our humanoid robot, Nadia, being remotely controlled for boxing training using a simple VR motion capture setup. A remote user takes charge of Nadia’s movements, demonstrating the power of our advanced teleoperation system. Watch as Nadia performs precise boxing moves, highlighting the potential for humanoid robots in dynamic, real-world tasks.

[ IHMC ]

Guide dogs are expensive to train and maintain—if available at all. Because of these limiting factors, relatively few blind people use them. Computer science assistant professor Donghyun Kim and Ph.D candidate Hochul Hwang are hoping to change that with the help of UMass database analyst Gail Gunn and her guide dog, Brawny.

[ University of Massachusetts, Amherst ]

Thanks Julia!

The current paradigm for motion planning generates solutions from scratch for every new problem, which consumes significant amounts of time and computational resources. Our approach builds a large number of complex scenes in simulation, collects expert data from a motion planner, then distills it into a reactive generalist policy. We then combine this with lightweight optimization to obtain a safe path for real world deployment.

[ Neural MP ]

A nice mix of NAO and AI for embodied teaching.

[ Aldebaran ]

When retail and logistics giant Otto Group set out to strengthen its operational efficiency and safety, it turned to robotics and automation. The Otto Group has become the first company in Europe to deploy the mobile case handling robot Stretch, which unloads floor-loaded trailers and containers.

[ Boston Dynamics ]

From groceries to last-minute treats, Wing is here to make sure deliveries arrive quickly and safely. Our latest aircraft design features a larger, more standardized box and can carry a higher payload which came directly from customer and partner feedback.

[ Wing ]

It’s the jacket that gets me.

[ Devanthro ]

In this video, we introduce Rotograb, a robotic hand that merges the dexterity of human hands with the strength and efficiency of industrial grippers. Rotograb features a new rotating thumb mechanism, allowing for precision in-hand manipulation and power grasps while being adaptable. The robotic hand was developed by students during “Real World Robotics”, a master course by the Soft Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich.

[ ETH Zurich ]

A small scene where Rémi, our distinguished professor, is teaching chess to the person remotely operating Reachy! The grippers allow for easy and precise handling of chess pieces, even the small ones! The robot shown in this video is the Beta version of Reachy 2, our new robot coming very soon!

[ Pollen ]

Enhancing the adaptability and versatility of unmanned micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) is crucial for expanding their application range. In this article, we present a bimodal reconfigurable robot capable of operating in both regular quadcopter flight mode and a unique revolving flight mode, which allows independent control of the vehicle’s position and roll-pitch attitude.

[ City University Hong Kong ]

The Parallel Continuum Manipulator (PACOMA) is an advanced robotic system designed to replace traditional robotic arms in space missions, such as exploration, in-orbit servicing, and docking. Its design emphasizes robustness against misalignments and impacts, high precision and payload capacity, and sufficient mechanical damping for stable, controlled movements.

[ DFKI Robotics Innovation Center ]

Even the FPV pros from Team BlackSheep do, very occasionally, crash.

[ Team BlackSheep ]

This is a one-hour uninterrupted video of a robot cleaning bathrooms in real time. I’m not sure if it’s practical, but I am sure that it’s impressive, honestly.

[ Somatic ]




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What Should Biden Do? Get a Peace Deal in Ukraine

The end to this bloody stalemate must come with negotiation, and Putin should not wait until Trump is in the White House, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins




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EA FC 25 offering Ballon d'Or nominee in Ultimate Team for free this weekend – here's how



EA FC 25 players can snag some big freebies this week, with EA Sports celebrating the Ballon d'Or in style for all Ultimate Team players with some of the best players around.




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NASA wants to shift talk on unexplained sightings 'from sensationalism to science'

NASA said Thursday that the study of UFOs will require new scientific techniques, including advanced satellites as well as a shift in how unexplained sightings are perceived.




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House Republicans demand Biden Cabinet members preserve all documents, communications

House Republicans on Tuesday demanded that each member of President Biden's cabinet preserve all relevant documents and communications, a move that signals future investigations into the Biden administration.




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Report: NFL intentionally delayed fine for 49ers' Nick Bosa until after election

According to a report Tuesday, the league deliberately decided not to impose an immediate fine on San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa for wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat during a postgame television interview.




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A Good Bundle – This is Fine

A Good Bundle is a rag-tag alliance of a great many indie game devs, from big dogs to folks with one smallish title to their name. It’s a game bundle, sure, but it’s not your typical bundle. There are 151 games (& tools) by 115 devs in here, and it’s all for charity: split 50/50 […]




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BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2021: What time is it, what TV channel is it on and who are the nominees?




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BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2022: Who are the nominees?





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Shooting stars of 2023 – who will shine brightest in your sport?



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Raul Torras Martinez killed at Isle of Man TT





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BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award 2023: What time does it start tonight and who are nominees?





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Are federal IT systems supporting the targeted service outcomes? Deloitte examines the future role of the government

In an interview with IT World Canada, consulting giant Deloitte highlighted the importance of an ecosystem-based approach to tackle issues around digital equity in Canada and service delivery challenges in the public sector. “Our strong view is that the people of Canada benefit when there’s effective collaboration between public and private organizations, including on critical […]

The post Are federal IT systems supporting the targeted service outcomes? Deloitte examines the future role of the government first appeared on ITBusiness.ca.




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Hashtag Trending Mar.5- Apple Music fined for market dominance; LockBit back from the dead; OpenAI kills ChatGPT plugins

Apple Music gives a whole new meaning to the phrase the hits just keep on coming.  It’s not the opposing candidates, it’s public AI systems that are spreading election disinformation, and LockBit, the cybercriminal gang may be back from the dead and saying so long to the ChatGPT plugins, which went from innovation to legacy […]

The post Hashtag Trending Mar.5- Apple Music fined for market dominance; LockBit back from the dead; OpenAI kills ChatGPT plugins first appeared on ITBusiness.ca.




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NASA provides explanation for 'strange noises' coming from Starliner spacecraft

NASA discovered the cause of a pulsating noise coming from a speaker on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft after astronaut Butch Wilmore reported the sound.



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Boeing's troubled Starliner spacecraft lands back on Earth without a crew

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft landed on Earth Saturday morning, with two test pilots left behind because of NASA's concerns that their return was too risky.



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