Thursday 25th April 2024

  • 'Metaphor: ReFantazio' Steals the Best Ideas From 'Persona 5'

    When it came time to make Metaphor: ReFantazio, developer Atlus had a guiding principle: make a video game that was a culmination of all the beloved RPGs the company had made before it. “We decided to challenge the fantasy genre,” director Katsura Hashino said this week during an online demo of the game. Atlus has been making games for some 35 years, and it wanted to pull together an all-star team to commemorate the anniversary.

    Hashino has been instrumental throughout the Persona series; following Persona 5’s release, he moved away from P-Studio—the team working on Persona games—to start Studio Zero, another internal Atlus group. For Metaphor, Studio Zero brought in Persona character artist Shigenori Soejima and longtime composer Shoji Meguro. They also brought in guest developers Koda Kazuma, concept artist for NieR:Automata, and Ikuto Yamashita, one of the artists behind the beloved anime Neon Genesis Evangelion.


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  • Somehow This $10,000 Flame-Thrower Robot Dog Is Completely Legal in 48 States

    If you've been wondering when you’ll be able to order the flame-throwing robot that Ohio-based Throwflame first announced last summer, that day has finally arrived. The Thermonator, what Throwflame bills as “the first-ever flamethrower-wielding robot dog” is now available for purchase. The price? $9,420.

    Thermonator is a quadruped robot with an ARC flamethrower mounted to its back, fueled by gasoline or napalm. It features a one-hour battery, a 30-foot flame-throwing range, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for remote control through a smartphone.


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  • Why We Need Intergenerational Friendships at Work

    Managers today are leading up to five generations at the same time. And that brings with it a new challenge: Poorly managed generational differences between employees can be damaging, resulting in age bias, negative impact on job attitudes, dysfunctional team dynamics, and even lower levels of overall job performance. Well-managed generational diversity has the potential to bring substantial benefits, ranging from knowledge transfer and mentoring to innovation and reduced turnover. It creates opportunities to develop something even more invaluable: intergenerational workplace friendships. Here’s how managers can help nurture these relationships:

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  • Charlotte Tansill & Adam Kornblum on CeraVe's Super Bowl Ad Campaign

    In this episode, Wharton experts speak with Charlotte Tansill of Ogilvy and Adam Kornblum of L'Oréal.

    Wharton’s Barbara Kahn and Annie Wilson speak with Charlotte Tansill, North America president of Ogilvy PR, Social & Influence, and Adam Kornblum, global chief creative at L’Oréal, about the success of CeraVe’s Super Bowl ad, working with Michael Cera, the beauty brand landscape, and more.

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  • What is an AI anyway?

    When it comes to artificial intelligence, what are we actually creating? Even those closest to its development are struggling to describe exactly where things are headed, says Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, one of the primary architects of the AI models many of us use today. He offers an honest and compelling new vision for the future of AI, proposing an unignorable metaphor — a new digital species — to focus attention on this extraordinary moment. (Followed by a Q&A with head of TED Chris Anderson)Continued here

  • The art of persuasive storytelling

    "Storytelling is one of the most powerful marketing and leadership tools there is," says communications expert Kelly D. Parker. She explains how stories make proposals of all kinds more memorable — and shows how you can craft a compelling narrative to connect, persuade and drive meaningful action.Continued here

  • The weird and wonderful art of Niceaunties

    Welcome to the "Auntieverse" — a surreal tribute to "auntie culture" by artist Niceaunties, inspired by the spirit of the women who care for each other and their families. From sushi-bedecked cars with legs to hot tub baths full of ramen, Niceaunties shares a visual feast that fuses AI and imagination and celebrates the eccentric, vibrant world of aunties with reverence and awe.Continued here

  • The Fall Guy spotlights its amazing stuntmen in meta marketing video

    Universal Studios has been going meta with its marketing for its forthcoming action comedy The Fall Guy. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt are the marquee stars; Gosling plays a Hollywood stuntman trying to make a movie with his estranged ex-girlfriend (Blunt). But it's the actual stuntmen standing in for Gosling during action sequences who get the spotlight in a new promotional video for the film.

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  • Updating California's grid for EVs may cost up to $20 billion

    California's electric grid, with its massive solar production and booming battery installations, is already on the cutting edge of the US's energy transition. And it's likely to stay there, as the state will require that all passenger vehicles be electric by 2035. Obviously, that will require a grid that's able to send a lot more electrons down its wiring and a likely shift in the time of day that demand peaks.

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  • Google can't quit third-party cookies--delays shut down for a third time

    Will Chrome, the world's most popular browser, ever kill third-party cookies? Apple and Mozilla both killed off the user-tracking technology in 2020. Google, the world's largest advertising company, originally said it wouldn't kill third-party cookies until 2022. Then in 2021, it delayed the change until 2023. In 2022, it delayed everything again, until 2024. It's 2024 now, and guess what? Another delay. Now Google says it won't turn off third-party cookies until 2025, five years after the competition.

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