Do you often find yourself wishing you could stream your favorite shows and access content from any location, despite regional restrictions? Are you also keen on protecting your online privacy and keeping your data secure? If these concerns resonate with you, AdGuard VPN might be the ideal solution. This VPN service prioritizes your privacy and […]
The post Deals: All-in-One AdGuard Bundle 5-Year Subscription appeared first on Geeky Gadgets.
Vosteed’s new locking mechanism makes their latest pocket knife a must-have. The ‘Vanchor Lock’ builds on the best features of all existing locking mechanisms, delivering reliability, safety, and swift, single-handed deployment in the blink of an eye. Combine that with the Ankylo’s ridiculously sharp Bohler Elmax steel blade and its ergonomic aluminum handle and you’ve got yourself a tactical knife that’s a treat for eyes and a savior of lives…
Designer: Vosteed
Click Here to Buy Now: $159 $169 ($10 off) Hurry! Only 167 left of 700. Raised over $120,000.
On the surface, the Vosteed Ankylo looks like a pretty well-made EDC designed for all sorts of tasks. It’s rugged without overplaying the rugged aesthetic, is peppered with functional details that make it a great knife to use, and comes in a variety of colors to choose from. The knife sports an all-metal design that gives it heft and weight, while allowing you to maneuver it confidently. On the front sits a 3.18″ medium-sized reverse-tanto blade that’s great for cutting, piercing, whittling, scraping, and self-defence. The blade, made from Bohler Elmax steel, is harder than most, making it perfect for all sorts of cutting activities. The reverse tanto profile’s character is accentuated by the blade’s curved belly, which allows you to rock the knife while cutting. A finger groove at the base of the knife lets you comfortably rest your index finger, textured jimping on the top gives you a perfect place to rest your thumb, and a cutout in the blade allows you to swiftly deploy the blade from within the knife.
The Vosteed Ankylo’s unique Vanchor mechanism allows for fast and reliable deployment
The Ankylo’s crown jewel, however, is hidden away from sight within its aluminum body. While most knives have a liner lock, frame lock, or button lock, the Ankylo opts for something even better. The folks at Vosteed realized that while all three locking mechanisms were great, they all had their own trade-offs too. Some either made the knife weak, while others were tough to use with one hand. Designed to mitigate any of these drawbacks, the Ankylo boasts what Vosteed calls a ‘Vanchor’ lock. This patented locking mechanism is CNC-machined from a plate of stainless steel, and is secured by a magnetic button that lets you easily deploy or retract the blade. Unlike most locking mechanisms, the Vanchor lets you open or shut your knife in mere milliseconds with a single hand – a feature so incredibly captivating that it becomes a fidget activity too. When deployed, the Vanchor plate reinforces the blade, acting almost as a tang to give your knife stability and durability during use.
Deploy and use the Ankylo even with gloves on
It’s this Vanchor lock, combined with the Ankylo’s all-metal design that makes it such a pocket powerhouse. Whether it’s something benign as opening boxes, something as difficult as carving wood, or even something as mission-critical as self-defence, the Ankylo’s size, construction, ergonomics, and Elmax steel blade all play their part in the knife’s grand choreography. The blade cutout lets you deploy your knife instantly (even with gloves on), going from 0 to 100 in mere milliseconds, while a satisfying button lets you just as quickly shut the blade right back in. When you’re not using the Ankylo, chances are your thumb and forefinger will find themselves fidgeting wth it, almost like one would with a butterfly knife.
The Ankylo comes in 6 color variants all sporting a 6061 space-grade aluminum handle, that patented Vanchor lock, and the quick-deploying Elmax steel blade. The knife measures a respectable 4.5 7 inches long when closed, opening up to a mid-size 7.75 inches in length which is in the sweet spot for a good, ergonomic mid-sized knife. Each knife weighs 4.76 ounces or 135 grams (optimized for reliability and maneuverability), and you can choose from 6 CMF variants, which feature a choice between handle colors, handle textures, and even a regular or black stonewashed blade. The Ankylo knife, which gathered much support at last year’s BladeShow West 2023, begins shipping in June this year.
Click Here to Buy Now: $159 $169 ($10 off) Hurry! Only 167 left of 700. Raised over $120,000.
The post This EDC’s Millisecond-Deploy Mechanism and ‘Vanchor’ Lock make it the ultimate Tactical Pocket Knife first appeared on Yanko Design.
As a die-hard enthusiast of both timepieces and Formula 1, the comeback of the TAG Heuer Formula 1 Series 1 not only grabs my attention—it’s also gearing up to increase my spending habits this month! This iconic watch, first introduced in 1986, was a pivotal point for TAG Heuer and played a key role in rejuvenating the Swiss brand during the quartz crisis. Its vibrant, robust design has survived and flourished, turning into a valued collector’s piece.
Designer: TAG Heuer + Kith
Teaming up with Kith, the trend-setting powerhouse that’s all about shaking up the fashion scene, TAG Heuer has given this classic sports watch a slick modern makeover. Limited to just under 5,000 pieces, the collection illustrates the nostalgia that often fuels contemporary watch collecting, coupled with the exclusivity and appeal that modern collectors want.
Just like the Swatch MoonSwatch sparked a frenzy in the watch world by adding a playful and accessible spin to Omega’s classic design, the TAG Heuer Formula 1 Kith collection is set to generate similar excitement. As such, it’s sure to mix the thrill of “get it before it’s gone” with some cool, fresh updates. I imagine it will attract long-time original series fans and a new generation captivated by unique collaborations and storytelling through design.
Swatch x Peanuts Snoopy MoonSwatch
The new series introduces significant updates to meet modern expectations. Sapphire crystal now replaces the original plastic dial coverings, improving both durability and clarity. High-grade rubber straps have been used in place of the original plastic ones, providing enhanced comfort and wearability. Personally, I prefer high-quality rubber straps because they are more casual and comfortable for daily wear. The collection includes five models with stainless steel cases, two of which have black PVD coatings to match their bezels. Additionally, five models maintain the original Arnite cases, now offered in new colorways created in partnership with Kith.
TAG Heuer Formula 1 | Kith (References WA121L.BT0014 & WA121J.BT0012)
Ronnie Fieg, the founder of Kith and a significant figure in the streetwear and sneaker industry, brings his personal passion for vintage TAG Heuer Formula 1s to this collaboration. This enthusiasm is echoed in the collection’s unique design elements. The all-plastic versions, as well as two steel versions with bright blue and green bezels, are available exclusively at Kith’s boutiques in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Toronto, Hawaii, Tokyo, and Paris, as well as on its website.
These watches represent a return to the brand’s adventurous and innovative roots for fans of TAG Heuer’s racing heritage. This watch lets you own a piece of motorsport history, refreshed for today. It’s a direct link to racing legends, updated with modern style—perfect for everyday wear or showing off at special events. The balance between preserving nostalgic features like the 35mm sizing and vibrant color palettes and introducing upgrades showcases TAG Heuer’s dedication to respecting its past while pushing forward.
As TAG Heuer and Kith prepare to launch, there’s a buzz among Formula 1 fans and watch enthusiasts. This isn’t just another watch hitting the market. It’s a big deal, a cultural happening. It’s a one-of-a-kind piece that might sell out as quickly as a race car zips around the track. It could even match the recent hit collaborations by Swatch.
The post TAG Heuer’s Iconic Return with the Reinvented Formula 1 Kith is Retro and Hot first appeared on Yanko Design.
This one's a bummer. Mega-publisher Take-Two Interactive is shuttering Rollerdrome studio Roll7 and Kerbal Space Program 2 team Intercept Games, according to paperwork seen by Bloomberg.
Roll7 is based in London, and was founded in 2008 by lifelong friends Tom Hegarty and Simon Bennett. Roll7 is the studio behind OlliOlli, OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome, all fantastic games with wheel-based mechanics. OlliOlli was a Vita hit in 2014 and World landed in early 2022 — they're both great, and the latter in particular is a flow-state-inducing skateboarding platformer with an adorable art style. Rollerdrome was one of our favorite games of 2022; it's a luscious third-person rollerskating-and-gunplay title that looks like a slice of 1970s dystopian sci-fi.
Roll7 has picked up multiple prestigious awards over the years, including recent wins at BAFTA and DICE. As the studio name implies, Roll7 developers know how to make incredibly smooth action games.
Take-Two purchased Roll7 in November 2021 and made it a subsidiary of Private Division, the company's label for small- and mid-size publishing deals. According to Bloomberg, Take-Two plans to close Roll7 and will offer severance packages to staff.
Intercept Games is based in Seattle and is responsible for Kerbal Space Program 2, a popular flight-simulation title that's still technically in early access on Steam. Take-Two founded Intercept in 2020 specifically to manage Kerbal Space Program 2, and the game has been receiving updates since going live in February 2023.
Take-Two has yet to confirm that it's closing Intercept Games — but it hasn't said it isn't, either. The company filed a notice in Washington on Monday outlining plans to lay off 70 people in the state and permanently close their place of business, and some Kerbal developers have confirmed their recent departures. Private Division will continue to update Kerbal Space Program 2, Take-Two said in a statement.
Take-Two is one of the largest video game companies around, reporting $5.3 billion in revenue last year. It's the owner of Grand Theft Auto and the parent company of Rockstar Games, 2K, Private Division, Zynga and — very recently — Gearbox Software. Take-Two purchased Borderlands studio Gearbox in March for $460 million. Grand Theft Auto VI, arguably the most anticipated game of the decade, is due to add billions to Take-Two's bottom line in 2025.
In April, Take-Two announced plans to lay off 5 percent of its employees, or roughly 600 people, by the end of 2024. It also canceled some in-development projects. When news of the planned firings broke last month, Take-Two didn't identify which studios would take the hit, but now we know it includes Roll7 and Intercept. The company laid off some Private Division workers in 2023 as well.
An estimated 9,400 people have been laid off in the video game industry so far in 2024, and a total of 10,500 workers were let go in 2023. Sony, Microsoft and Riot Games have fired a combined 3,300 employees this year alone, and the fallout from Embracer Group's funding implosion keeps spreading, with numerous shuttered studios and more than 1,400 displaced workers.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/take-two-is-shutting-down-the-studios-behind-rollerdrome-and-kerbal-space-program-2-000253545.html?src=rss“If my Grandmother had wheels, she would be a bike,” as chef Gino D’Acampo once said.
No, this isn’t a car… or at least that’s what UK-based automotive marque Engler wants you to believe. Equipped with a V12 engine under its hood, this literal quad-bike takes the term gaslighting quite seriously! Yes, it runs on gas and outputs a whopping 1200 horsepower, but it also confuses you into thinking it’s a car. However, if you had to go simply by technical definitions, the lack of a steering wheel puts the Engler V12 in quad-bike territory. Yes, I get it, I’m just as confused as you are!
Designer: Engler
At the heart of this beast lies a V12 engine, a powerhouse delivering an astounding 1,200 horsepower. What makes the Engler V12 truly remarkable is its power-to-weight ratio, maintaining a 1:1 ratio with its 1,200 kg frame, a feat that echoes the ambitious designs of hypercars. It’s not just about the raw power, though; the Superquad (yes, that term just sounds odd) brings 1,200 Nm of torque to the table, ensuring that this machine is as capable of thrilling acceleration as it is of performing practical tasks, such as towing.
Despite its formidable capabilities, the Engler V12 is, at its core, still a quad bike—albeit one that pushes the envelope of what a quad bike can be. Traditional quad bikes, like the Yamaha Raptor 700R, offer around 40 horsepower and are praised for their performance. The Engler V12, however, multiplies this figure by 30, challenging the very nature of quad bike dynamics. This machine doesn’t lean into corners like a motorcycle nor does it offer the protective enclosure of a car, presenting a unique blend of exposure and exhilaration that is rare in the automotive world.
Quad bikes, by design, are not typically associated with high-speed stability, especially not at the theoretical top speed of 250 mph that the Engler V12 proposes. The design and engineering choices made to accommodate such speed and power in a quad bike frame ensure that riding the Engler V12 is nothing short of an adventure. It’s a vehicle that demands respect and bravery from its rider, blending the thrill of high speeds with the raw, unfiltered connection to the machine that only a quad bike can offer.
The post The World’s First V12 Quad Bike Looks Suspiciously A Lot Like A Hypercar first appeared on Yanko Design.
Snapchat will finally join most of its messaging app peers and allow users to edit their chats. The feature, which will be rolling out “soon,” will initially be limited to Snapchat+ subscribers, the company said.
With the change, Snapchat users will have a five-minute window to rephrase their message, fix typos or otherwise edit their chats. Messages that have been edited will have a label indicating the text has been changed. The company didn’t say when the feature might be available to more of its users, but the company often brings sought after features to its subscription service first. Snap announced last week that Snapchat+, which costs $3.99 a month, had reached 9 million subscribers.
The app is also adding several non-exclusive features, including updated emoji reactions for chats, the ability to use the My AI assistant to set reminders and AI-generated outfits for Bitmoji. Snap also showed off a new AI lens that transforms users’ selfies into 1990’s-themed snapshots (just don’t look too closely at the wireless headphones appearing in many of the images.)
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/snapchat-will-finally-let-you-edit-your-chats-223643771.html?src=rss
Iconic design studio Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has recently unveiled plans for an innovative timber college building that merges cutting-edge engineered wood with traditional Japanese joinery techniques to form a rather impressive-looking and sustainable structure. Dubbed the Makers’ KUbe, this unique educational facility is designed for the University of Kansas’ School of Architecture and Design. It includes a timber frame which will be insulated with a hemp-based material, and gently wrapped in glass. These little features will add an exceptional look, and allow the natural beauty of wood to truly shine through.
Designer: Bjarke Ingels Group
The Makers’ KUbe features a stripped-back design that uses only what is needed. It leaves the mechanical electrical and plumbing systems on display. It also features a glass exterior which is a wonderful mix of opaque and clear glass, hence providing privacy, and reducing glare at certain points.
“The Makers’ KUbe is a 50,000-square-foot [roughly 4,600 sq m] mass timber cube structure,” explains BIG’s press release. “The KUbe’s distinct timber diagrid frame – engineered by structural engineer StructureCraft – is optimized to reduce material and curtail carbon-intensive concrete. Inspired by traditional Japanese joinery techniques, the building’s structure uses tight-fit dowels and notched glulam – or glue-laminated timber – to create an all-wood structure with columns and beams that run diagonally, without steel plates or fasteners.”
The interior of the building includes six floors, and an open plan layout which provides flexible glass space, creating an environment of collaboration between students. The structure also includes a central staircase which facilitates easy access between the spaces. It will also contain 3D-printing facilities and robotic labs, as well as a cafe. The second floor will include two bridges that connect to the adjacent buildings. The structure was built using wood, and it will feature solar panels on the roof to reduce dependency on the grid. Rainwater harvesting will be utilized for irrigation.
Since it is a timber building, there is concern about fire safety. However modern engineered wood was used to construct the structure, and it has been proven to perform better than steel in a fire.
The post BIG Designs A Timber College That Merges Cutting-Edge Engineered Wood With Traditional Japanese Joinery first appeared on Yanko Design.
Facebook’s News Feed algorithm has long been at the center of debates about some of Meta’s biggest problems. It’s also been a near constant source of complaints from users. But, if a newly filed lawsuit is successful, Facebook users may be able to use the social network with a vastly different feed. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University is suing Meta on behalf of a researcher who wants to release a browser extension that would allow people to “effectively turn off” their algorithmic feeds.
The extension was created by Ethan Zuckerman, a researcher and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He argues that Facebook users would be better off with more control over their feeds. “The tool, called Unfollow Everything 2.0, would allow users to unfollow their friends, groups, and pages, and, in doing so, to effectively turn off their newsfeed—the endless scroll of posts that users see when they log into Facebook,” the lawsuit explains. “Users who download the tool would be free to use the platform without the feed, or to curate the feed by refollowing only those friends and groups whose posts they really want to see.” (Meta officially renamed the News Feed to “Feed” in 2022.)
Zuckerman isn’t the first to come up with such a tool. He was inspired by a similar project, also called “Unfollow Everything,” from 2021. Facebook sued the U.K man who created that extension and permanently disabled his account. Zuckerman is trying to avoid a similar fate with his lawsuit. The suit, filed in San Francisco federal court Wednesday, asks the court “to recognize that Section 230 protects the development of tools designed to empower people to better control their social media experiences.”
The case could be a novel test of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which is mostly known as the law that shields online platforms from legal liability for the actions of their users. But unlike recent Supreme Court cases involving the statute, Zuckerman’s case “relies on a separate provision protecting the developers of third-party tools that allow people to curate what they see online, including by blocking content they consider objectionable.”
A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment on the lawsuit. The company has a history of heavy-handed tactics when it comes to independent researchers. In addition to shutting down the earlier version “Unfollow Everything,” the company disabled the Facebook accounts of a group of NYU researchers attempting to study political ad targeting in 2021. Those types of tactics have led to some researchers pursuing “data donation” programs, which recruit volunteers to “donate” their own browsing data for academic studies.
If released, Zuckerman’s browser extension would also have a data donation component, allowing users to opt-in to sharing “anonymized data about their Facebook usage.” The data would then be used for research into the effects of Facebook’s feed algorithm.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-researcher-is-suing-meta-for-the-right-to-turn-off-facebooks-news-feed-210344993.html?src=rssThe nostalgic play of the Tetris game has got generations of love and for good reason. 15-year-old Willis Gibson finally managed to beat Tetris by reaching level 157 of the classic video game and setting the internet on fire. Now that Willis has got this challenge under his belt, a LEGO enthusiast has got a real-world Tetris set game to engage in.
This is a LEGO Ideas submission by designer victorvey300 that’s insanely clever and seems like total fun to kill some free time. The real-life Tetris game incorporates the gameplay and elements of the video game ingeniously and challenges even the most seasoned Tetris fans to get a high score.
Designer: victorvey300
Called the Tetris Solid, this LEGO set has got my solid vote for being the next big LEGO Ideas project that should hit the shelves ASAP. The small case with the LEGO bricks opens up to reveal the vertical lanes where you slide the tetrominoes in the desired orientation. A rollable treadmill on the right shows the next brick to slide, and you have to think fast on your heels where the brick should go. You can even keep a score of how well you are playing which is ingenious.
Pretty obviously, you cannot make the lines disappear when a horizontal gap is filled (it’s real life not a video game graphic, remember). That’s why the maker took the liberty to tweak the rules a bit, wherein you have to fill the board complexly with all the pieces, just like a puzzle game. A Tetris spin-off for sure but still has the classic influence for the most part which is impressive.
You win if you manage to add all the pieces to the board without any gaps being left. Of course, it’ll take a lot of tries before you get the hang of it but if you do fail, there is a reset button in the form of a lever that lets all the pieces drop back into the box to start fresh. To commemorate Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of Tetris, the box has a hidden compartment that reveals the geniuses’ diorama complete with a PC depicting the time when he created the game.
That said, the current 4,000-odd supporters for the Tetris Solid is quite low considering how cool this idea actually is. Let’s hope this LEGO idea reaches more enthusiasts who’ll eventually push it into becoming an official LEGO set someday.
The post This playable Tetris LEGO set will have you brain exercising for hours on end first appeared on Yanko Design.
It turns out the lay of today’s AI landscape can be traced back to — what do you know — fear, jealousy and intense capitalist ambition. Emails revealed in the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Google, first reported by Business Insider, show Microsoft executives expressing alarm and envy over Google’s AI lead. That spurred an urgency that led to the Windows maker’s initial billion-dollar investment in its now-indispensable partner, OpenAI.
In a heavily redacted 2019 email thread titled “Thoughts on OpenAI,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella forwards a lengthy message from CTO Kevin Scott to CFO Amy Hood. “Very good email that explains, why I want us to do this ... and also why we will then ensure our infra folks execute,” Nadella wrote.
Scott wrote that he was “very, very worried” about Google’s rapidly growing AI capabilities. He says he initially dismissed the company’s “game-playing stunts,” likely referring to Google’s AlphaGo models. One of them beat Go world champion Ke Jie in 2017, a remarkable feat at the time. (Google’s later models surpassed that one, dropping the need for human training altogether.)
But Scott says brushing off Google’s game-playing progress “was a mistake.” “When they took all of the infrastructure that they had built to build [natural language] models that we couldn’t easily replicate, I started to take things more seriously,” Scott wrote. “And as I dug in to try to understand where all of the capability gaps were between Google and us for model training, I got very, very worried.”
Scott recounts how Microsoft struggled to copy Google’s BERT-large, an AI model that deciphers the meaning and context of words in a sentence. Scott pinned the blame on infrastructure leaps its rival had made — and that Microsoft hadn’t.
“Turns out, just replicating BERT-large wasn’t easy to do for us. Even though we had the template for the model, it took us ~6 months to get the model trained because our infrastructure wasn’t up to the task,” the Microsoft CTO wrote. “Google had BERT for at least six months prior to that, so in the time that it took us to hack together the capability to train a 340M parameter model, they had a year to figure out how to get it into production and to move on to larger scale, more interesting models.”
He also admired and envied Google’s Gmail auto-complete capabilities, saying it was “getting scarily good.” He commented that Microsoft was “multiple years behind the competition in terms of [machine learning] scale.” He commented on the “interesting” growth of OpenAI, DeepMind and Google Brain.
Scott touted Microsoft’s “very smart” people on its machine-learning teams but said their ambitions were curbed. “But the core deep learning teams within each of these bigger teams are very small, and their ambitions have also been constrained, which means that even as we start to feed them resources, they still have to go through a learning process to scale up,” Scott wrote. “And we are multiple years behind the competition in terms of ML scale.”
After prompting Hood that Scott’s concerns were “why I want us to do this,” meaning invest in OpenAI, the company made good on its CEO’s wishes. Microsoft invested a billion dollars in the Sam Altman-led startup in 2019, and the rest is a rapidly changing history. (It’s now invested $13 billion.) It’s a technology that does some incredible things but threatens to gut the labor market and give propagandists their most powerful tools to date in what was already an age of rampant disinformation.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-openai-partnership-was-born-from-google-envy-202143989.html?src=rss