Artificial intelligence (AI) is estimated to generate up to $680 billion for the telecommunications industry over the next 15 to 20 years, said John Hoffman, CEO of the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) Limited this week. Hoffman was citing a McKinsey report when making the remarks in a speech that he delivered at the opening ceremony of the 2024 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit, which is being held in east China’s Zhejiang Province. He said AI is emerging as a powerful force with the potential to transform business and society on an unprecedented scale. About 81 percent of telecom operators around the world are testing generative AI solutions and “Chinese operators are one of the leaders in the space, with big investments, strong government support and a booming tech landscape,” Hoffman said. “China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom have already made huge strides in AI research and applications, with solutions that are transforming public services, supply chains and healthcare,” he said. For instance, an intelligent computing service platform has been launched in northwest China to assist local flood control efforts, while an AI database in the country’s southwest is committed to the protection and development of cultural diversity. Across the world, Hoffman said, over 150 million people could have their lives improved by mobile big data and AI solutions in the next five years. Noting that AI brings responsibilities alongside opportunities, Hoffman called for greater attention to the ethical and sustainable development of AI technology. The summit, themed “Embracing a People-centered and AI-for-good Digital Future: Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace,” will last until Friday.
The Gruesome Goat’s Tongue: Greatest Torture of All Time?Repealing no-fault divorce has so far stalled across the US. Some worry that'll changeThe PlayStation 5 has entered the latter stage of its lifecycle, Sony announced back in February. The fourth anniversary of the console has been marked by impressive victories and surprising setbacks . 2024 felt like an inflection point for the PS5, with Sony unofficially turning the page on the PS4 and paving the way for the next era of its first-party blockbuster exclusives. It was another lowkey great year for what is increasingly becoming the default high-end gaming console. There were excellent updates to the PS5 home screen UI, a slew of great exclusive games from second- and third-party partners, and an entire update to the console in the form of the $700 PS5 Pro. PS VR2 became platform agnostic, a 30th Anniversary celebration unveiled nostalgic accessories for longtime fans, and the base tier of PS Plus continued to deliver plenty of premium freebies. The lack of a new big-budget first-party game and the abysmal failure of Concord sent up red flags, but not major hurdles to a platform that soared to 65.5 million units sold last month. All of this as an executive shakeup saw Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan replaced by co-CEOs Herman Hulst and Hideaki Nishino , reporting up to Sony COO Hiroki Totoki. Highly respected long-time PlayStation veteran Shuhei Yoshida, one of the last familiar faces in the top ranks of the console maker , also announced he was leaving in a year when PlayStation went very quiet, with just a few State of Play livestreams and no major summer showcase. The next phase of PlayStation is coming, and 2024 showed that even seeming “off years” can still deliver for players in spades. The Hardware After tons of reporting, rumors, and speculation, 2024 was the year Sony finally launched the PS5 Pro . Its hefty price tag promised no-compromises gaming, with upscaled 4K resolution at 60fps thanks to a more powerful GPU and new machine learning technology called PSSR. The results so far have been good to mixed, with some games looking more gorgeous than ever while certain third-party releases struggle to play nice with PSSR and studios race to amend their PS5 Pro updates in the face of unexpected visual downgrades . This has put the device, at least early on, firmly into the “nice but unnecessary” category of upgrades. Denser visual detail at higher framerates and greater ray-tracing options bring the PS5 console experience into closer parity with mid-level PC gaming, but don’t quite offer the “oh shit!” moments that might make even longtime fans feel the need to run out and immediately pick one up. That’s especially the case when even the base PS5 continues to perform so well and feel perfectly adequate in the near-term. This could be another indication that the console arms race is slowing to a crawl, with future generations yielding even more granular improvements. But the PS5 Pro’s PSSR tech also provides a glimpse at where console manufacturers could leverage AI to try to make up ground. Sony recently announced a partnership with AMD called Project Amethyst to “support broad work and machine learning across a variety of devices” in an effort that would pay dividends for other companies as well. The company is also reportedly already working with AMD on the PS6. For now, the PS5 still isn’t getting a price drop. In fact, it actually became more expensive this year in certain regions, including Japan. The DualSense controller also received a stealth price hike. A temporary Black Friday sale took the PS5 all-digital price down to $375, only $25 less than what it launched at in 2020. The PS5 got better in 2024, but not cheaper. The Software The PS5 interface received a notable refresh this year in the form of a new customizable welcome hub . The default module when you start up the console comes with new backgrounds and a bunch of tiles that can be swapped in with various widgets, from trophies and controller battery life to news about wishlisted games, console storage, and who’s online. It’s a seemingly small touch that goes a long way toward making the PS5 ecosystem easier to parse, navigate, and engage with, and it might just be the start of a bold new era for the system’s UI. There were a few other updates to the firmware in 2024. Adaptive charging made the console more energy-efficient for newer PS5 models, including the Slim and Pro, and party share now lets you circulate session invites directly on social media and other messaging apps. There’s still no great way to directly share screenshots and gameplay footage on social media after Sony cut integration with X (formerly known as Twitter), though the PlayStation App is getting closer to being the remote second screen for the PS5 it deserves to be. But the biggest software update of all this year didn’t come to the PS5 at all—it came to the PlayStation Portal. The not-quite-a-gaming-handheld peripheral can now play a growing list of games directly from the cloud rather than needing to stream them from a home console strictly as a remote play device. This change essentially doubles the value of the $200 accessory, and potentially serves as a bridge to a future in which a full-fledged Sony handheld reportedly in development can play new games natively as well. The Networks and Services This portion of our annual PlayStation report card usually focuses almost exclusively on the services portion of the equation, but 2024 showcased some significant lapses in network functionality. While it still pales in comparison to the infamous 2011 PSN outage, the services were down intermittently for almost a full day back in the fall . It was a reminder of how much of the platform relies on constant connectivity to deliver on its promise, from multiplayer-only games to always-online single-player campaigns. Any outage, no matter how brief, is also notable in the context of Sony charging $10 a month for the ability to play online. PlayStation Stars , a smaller rewards initiative incorporated into the PS app rather than the console itself, nevertheless raised questions when it was offline for multiple weeks over the summer with no real explanation from Sony as to why the service had gone down. Coupled with issues with activity cards and various high-profile firmware bugs, the normally quite stable PS5 platform wobbled more than usual in 2024. PS Plus’ Netflix-like library of downloadable games was on much firmer footing, however. PS Plus Premium, the most expensive of the service’s three tiers at $160 per year, added a bunch more PS classics to help round out its back catalog. Subscribing fans finally got access to the Sly Cooper trilogy, the first two Legacy of Kain games, Dino Crisis , and a bunch of other old-school favorites. For the program’s price, though, there still really needs to be a better alternative for accessing the vast reservoir of PS3 exclusives. Insomniac’s WW2 alien shooter trilogy Resistance also arrived on Premium, but only via streaming. And while the middle tier—PS Plus Extra—continues to be hit-or-miss with what great games are added or rotated out , the base PS Plus catalog continues to be full of bangers. 2024 saw the addition of A Plague Tale: Requiem , Nobody Saves the World , Immortals of Aveum , Tunic , Sifu , Borderlands 3 , Streets of Rage 4 , Little Nightmares II , and the Dead Space remake, just to name a few. At the same time, we’ve gotten fewer and fewer high-profile day-one PS Plus releases. Animal Well was a GOTY contender but Foamstars and Quidditch Champions were both duds. Still, the cumulative library competes with the best of what Extra has and offers a great way to catch up on many of the best games of recent years. The Games Sony’s impressive first-party studios mostly took a backseat in 2024 with two important exceptions: Astro Bot and Concord . The first, from Asobo Studio, married the whimsy and creativity Sony’s Japan Studio was once synonymous with to the high bar of quality and production values showcased by the company’s more recent big-budget blockbusters. Astro Bot was announced in May and won best game at The Game Awards 2024 just seven months later. It’s a top-tier action platformer that also shows how the DualSense controller’s haptic gimmicks can transform the feel of otherwise familiar gameplay. Coupled with Lego Horizon Adventures , Sony demonstrated a new family-friendly range outside of the grim, violent prestige games that have defined its brand in years prior. Concord , meanwhile, was an Icarus moment for Sony’s first-party live service initiative. The hero shooter from Firewalk Studios had a development budget of over $200 million, sources told Kotaku earlier this year , which culminated in a fine but forgettable multiplayer experience which failed to attract players so spectacularly at launch that Sony yanked the plug less than two weeks later with full refunds and a complete server shutdown. The company closed the studio it had purchased only the year prior and promised to incorporate the learnings from the debacle into its ongoing strategy. How Sony, renowned since the middle of the PS4 generation for quality checks and proactive player feedback, failed to spot any warning signs and instead ploughed full speed ahead either speaks to the overall challenge, complexity, and random luck of making live-service hits or to serious blindspots within PlayStation Studios. 2024 also saw the shutdown of London studio and mobile game maker Neon Koi, as well as the cancellation of multiple unannounced projects and hundreds of cuts across various studios, including Bungie. It all comes as the larger game industry grapples with high costs and delayed development timelines in a release climate that’s more competitive than ever. Yet where Concord crashed, Helldivers 2 soared . Arrowhead Game Studios’ squad-based, ragdoll-physics alien shooter is one of the bestselling games of the year, especially on PC. Despite controversies around the required PSN login on Steam, nerfs to fan-favorite builds and battle pass gear, and a mid-year slowdown in new content, the game has delivered a fascinating, evolving storyline like a sci-fi D&D campaign made up of millions of players, all while continuing to push out regular new updates . It was a game worth buying a PS5 for, and not because it relied on the typical Sony blockbuster’s mix of expensive cinematic narratives and lush production values. What might have seemed like an otherwise quiet year for the PS5 was bolstered by other console exclusives both big and small, like Granblue Fantasy: Relink , Rise of the Rōnin , Stellar Blade , Silent Hill 2 , and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth . The mix of action adventure, open world, RPG, and survival horror went a long way to rounding out an otherwise sparser release calendar compared to the post-covid high-water mark set by 2023. Xbox’s multiplatform strategy also saw critically acclaimed hits like Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment arrive on PS5 alongside multiplayer juggernaut Sea of Thieves and the open-world survival sim Grounded . and the biggest 2024 game that wasn’t available on PS5, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle , will still arrive their early next year. The PS5 might be heading into the latter stage of its lifecycle, but it feels like the best years are still in front of it. Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsuhima 2, titled Ghost of Yotei , was revealed earlier this year for a 2025 release, and Naughty Dog finally teased its first new, non- Last of Us project in a long time. It’s called Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and promises a bold new sci-fi direction for the premier PlayStation studio that may also see it return a bit to its action-adventure roots. Fans are also still waiting on reveals for Santa Monica’s new not- God of War project, and leaks suggest Bend Studio will offer Sony’s next risky experiment in live-service gaming. Plus a multiplayer Horizon Zero Dawn game could be arriving as early as next year, and Insomniac’s Wolverine has been dark for a while as well. Sony recently promised at least one new single-player blockbuster every year. 2024 didn’t have one, and it still turned out to be a great year for the platform. .
Trump threatens 100% tariff on the BRIC bloc of nations if they act to undermine US dollar
Can Starbucks fix long lines at its airport cafes?Showing 1 to 10 of 10 results (window.adq = window.adq || []).push((api) => api.addSlot({"key":"card","index":"1","searchTerm":null,"fullSearchTerm":null})); Wolf Hall 2015 Drama History 15 Summary: Historical drama about Henry VIII's adviser Thomas Cromwell. Adapted from Hilary Mantel's Booker prize-winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, it stars Mark Rylance and Claire Foy. RT says:: There’s much jubilation at court because the country is calm and Henry VIII (Damian Lewis) has finally got the male heir he so desperately wanted. However, as we know from our history lessons, the joy is short-lived... much like the king’s most recent wife. There seems to be an unseemly haste to marry him off again, preferably to a French bride to destabilise relations between Spain and France. And, although the king is in mourning, he’s not averse to the idea of wifey number four. His adviser Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance) continues to tread a precarious path balancing complex political manoeuvrings with personal anguish and conflicts, while outwitting his many enemies in court and managing the capricious king (who is becoming noticeably unwell). It’s no wonder Cromwell is plagued by nightmares and distressing memories. Peter Kosminsky’s magical production is riveting and the supporting cast (including Timothy Spall as the glowering Duke of Norfolk) is brilliant, yet it’s hard to tear your eyes away from the incomparable Rylance, his impassive face revealing nothing... and yet saying so much. JANE RACKHAM How to watch Fatal Attraction 2023 Drama Thriller 18 Summary: An affair threatens the lives of Dan Gallagher and his wife, Beth, in this reimagining of the 1987 movie, exploring marriage and infidelity through the lens of modern attitudes toward strong women, personality disorders and coercive control RT says:: Subtlety isn’t this thriller’s strength, with lines early on about bad decisions leading to terrible outcomes hinting at the ill-fated extra-marital affair to come. But neither is it particular pacy. In fact, so little happens in the first episode of tonight’s double bill that it feels more like Fatal Inaction. With the second hour, though, comes the fling, as Los Angeles DA Dan Gallagher (Joshua Jackson) strays with colleague Alex Forrest (Lizzy Caplan). But even after that, we get little clue as to whether this reimagining of the 1987 movie (first available on Paramount+) will update its reductive sexual politics. Where it does part company with the original is in a flashforward to 15 years in the future, which depicts Dan in straitened circumstances. But, unfortunately, the whole thing is too glum to really grab attention. DAVID BROWN How to watch Asia 2024 Documentary and factual Nature Summary: David Attenborough presents a documentary exploring the wildlife of the world's largest continent, revealing its most remarkable landscapes and animals RT says:: Asia is the world’s most densely populated continent, so humans and animals need mutual respect and tolerance if they’re to co-exist successfully. In this episode we zip from India to Japan to Singapore seeing wonderful examples of this. Tigers in Bhopal, for instance, have learnt to become “invisible” to make the most of the city’s rich hunting grounds. There’s some glorious wildlife photography but most entertaining is the footage of a canny elephant in Sri Lanka that has discovered that if he stands in front of a bus, blocking its way, he can demand substantial fruit treats from the passengers. A pachyderm’s road toll, if you like. JANE RACKHAM How to watch Spider-Man: Homecoming Action Sci-fi 2017 Jon Watts 127 mins 12 Summary: Superhero action adventure starring Tom Holland, Michael Keaton and Robert Downey Jr. Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, yearns to become a member of super-team the Avengers, and is frustrated when Tony Stark urges him to first finish high school. However, when Parker discovers a local man is illegally selling alien technology, the nascent hero spies an opportunity to prove his world-saving worth. RT says:: The “Tom Holland era” Spidey films inject a super sense of fun into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The action kicks off with Spider-Man: Homecoming, which pits young Peter Parker (Holland) against the fearsome Vulture (Michael Keaton). He teams up with Jake Gyllenhaal’s globe-headed Mysterio in SpiderMan: Far from Home (showing Monday) before the multiverse cracks open to unleash all kinds of chaos (plus some crowd-pleasing cameos) in Spider-Man: No Way Home (showing Tuesday). Holland is set to sling webs again in a fourth film, due in cinemas in 2026. JOSH WINNING How to watch (window.adq = window.adq || []).push((api) => api.addSlot({"key":"card","index":"2","searchTerm":null,"fullSearchTerm":null})); Cape Fear Thriller Crime/detective 1991 Martin Scorsese 122 mins 18 Summary: Thriller starring Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange. After 14 years behind bars, brutal rapist Max Cady is free to exact revenge on the man who could have kept him out of jail, lawyer Sam Bowden. Too clever to attack his victim directly, the devious ex-convict begins a reign of terror that threatens Bowden's wife and teenage daughter. Determined to crush the family, Cady's sadistic campaign causes underlying tensions to explode with devastating results. RT says:: All you need to know about Martin Scorsese’s lurid 1991 remake of the 1962 potboiler is this: to play the villainous Max Cady, who’s out of prison and seeking revenge against his former defence counsel (Nick Nolte), Robert De Niro paid a dentist $5,000 to grind his teeth down to points. After filming wrapped, De Niro paid four times as much to have them fixed. This isn’t a film that suffers from an excess of restraint. But Scorsese’s clearly enjoying himself channelling a deranged Hitchcock. CALUM BAKER How to watch Inside Barlinnie 2024 Documentary and factual News and current affairs Summary: A look at the Glasgow prison's recent past and how it has shaped the approach to modern jails and rehabilitation, as well as exploring the lives of prisoners and staff RT says:: As a rule, prison documentaries are harrowing affairs; this one feels relatively positive. The opening episode of a series first shown in Scotland, about Glasgow’s HMP Barlinnie, looks at how conditions have improved there since a low point in the late 1980s. “The place is an absolute dungeon,” one inmate complains, but Scotland’s largest prison used to be a lot worse. A major riot and siege in 1987 became a watershed and helped to start a process of improvement. Not that it’s a holiday camp now: it still operates at 140 per cent capacity and drug use is rife. DAVID BUTCHER How to watch Nativity! Children's Entertainment 2009 Debbie Isitt 101 mins U Summary: Comedy starring Martin Freeman. Despite being traumatised by a bad review years earlier, primary school teacher Paul Maddens is tasked with directing the annual Nativity play. Taunted by a teacher from a rival school, Paul foolishly promises that an old flame, now a Hollywood producer, is coming to see his production. RT says:: How’s this for a novel approach to making a film? When writer/ director Debbie Isitt wrote the script for this 2009 school-set festive romp she refused to let the actors read a single page — even during filming. “The actors improvise their way through the film, making it up as they go along,” Isitt explained of her method, which saw Martin Freeman — as a primary school teacher putting on a Nativity play — devising his material on the spot, alongside co-stars Ashley Jensen, Pam Ferris and Ricky Tomlinson. The whittling down of over 100 hours of footage into this enjoyable comedy could be considered a Christmas miracle. JOSH WINNING How to watch Desert Island Discs RT says:: Back in August, Desert Island Discs presenter Lauren Laverne revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer. Her treatment meant her being off air for three months, with repeats filling the DID slot. Now she makes a welcome return. She is currently recording new interviews, although this is one she did in July. Comedian Mark Steel talks about his own experience of cancer, along with much else in a life full of politics and performing. And then there’s the discovery he made about his origins. SIMON O’HAGAN How to listen Young Chorister of the Year - Final 2024 Music Lifestyle Summary: On the first Sunday of Advent, Aled Jones and the Rev Kate Bottley host the final of BBC Young Chorister of the Year with judges Katherine Jenkins, Bob Chilcott and YolanDa Brown RT says:: So, off to Manchester’s esteemed Hallé St Peter’s, opened in 2013, for the cheerily festive Young Chorister of the Year final. Following the senior chorister heat last week, judges including Katherine Jenkins assess young (10—13 years) choristers’ performances of a Christmas carol or a sacred song, from the Sussex Carol to Bob Chilcott’s rather lovely and rather more contemporary The Time of Snow. Presenters Aled Jones and the Rev Kate Bottley give the competition an assured touch and once the winners in both age groups have been announced, junior and senior (14—17 years) choristers will join Jones in a rendition of O Come, O Come Emmanuel. JOHN AIZLEWOOD How to watch Antiques Roadshow Season 47 2024 Season 47 Documentary and factual Lifestyle Summary: Amazing items, poignant stories, beautiful locations. Fiona Bruce and the experts uncover fascinating family and social history embodied in priceless, personal and peculiar items. RT says:: The Roadshow’s trip to Cromford Mills in Derbyshire earlier this year obviously produced too many fascinating treasures to cram into just one programme. So here we are again for the third time. And there are — to quote another TV antiques expert from an earlier time — some real bobby dazzlers on display. Among the items up for appraisal is a collection of Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren designs, including a sought-after Pirate outfit and a pheasant feather tie and shirt that belonged to McLaren. And it’s not the only piece of clothing that catches the experts’ eyes: Chris Yeo is fascinated to be shown a 300-year-old pair of long johns that were made for the emperor of Japan. JANE RACKHAM How to watch
Ad industry’s depiction of men as dim-witted goofballs is anti-comedyHONOLULU (AP) — KyeRon Lindsay and Terence Harcum each scored 16 points as Murray State beat Loyola Chicago 71-68 on Wednesday for seventh place at the Diamond Head Classic. Lindsay also had five rebounds and four steals for the Racers (7-6). Harcum went 5 of 10 from the floor, including 2 for 6 from 3-point range, and 4 for 6 from the line. AJ Ferguson shot 4 of 8 from the field and 2 for 4 from the line to finish with 11 points. The Ramblers (9-4) were led by Miles Rubin, who posted 16 points and three blocks. Des Watson added 12 points and Sheldon Edwards had 10 points. Lindsay scored eight points in the first half and Murray State went into halftime trailing 36-34. Harcum led the way with 10 second-half points. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Two Greenpeace members arrested for protest at Poilievre's residence