PlayCanvas Engine 2.9.0 is here! 🚀 🏃 Major 3D... Gaussian Splat performance upgrades 🎥 New high-level camera controls API 🖼️ WebGPU Indirect Draw support ...and much more! Release Notes:show more

🚨 SplatTransform 2.0 is here!🚨 Open source CLI tool... and library for 3DGS processing NEW: Fully automated, lightning fast creation of high quality collision for your splats. Outputs: 🧊 Voxel format 🔼 Mesh format See both formats in action in the video. Links 👇show more

The (Processing) Level Required to Be Super We’ve had... clients ask us whether our 3D/4DGS capture and processing pipeline holds up in high-end VFX cinematic shots. Last year we were fortunate to work on the Superman production with Framestore (capturing Superman’s parents for a hologram), with our work shown on IMAX screens ~30 m high—so we’re confident the quality delivers. For this R&D preview, we ran test captures using an affordable off-the-shelf temporal plugin to reduce flicker and improve stability over time. We recorded @ 48fps from our 196x machine vision cameras and trained the 4DGS using Postshot at Ultra quality ~20 million splat resolution. What you’re seeing are stop-motion 3DGS frames. Each frame is an individual Gaussian Splat—processed to ~20 million splats for the full scene, then cropped and cleaned to ~6 million splats per frame. Our system—and the 3DGS process—picks up fine details like stray fine hairs, skin pores and woven cloth threads. Thanks for watching & stay super! Learn more @ #3DGS #4DGS #VFX #GaussianSplatting #IMAX #VolumetricCapture #Superman 4K Version here -show more

Release: LichtFeld Studio v0.5.3 is out! With 316 commits... merged into master, this release is a huge step forward for LichtFeld Studio. What's new in v0.5.3 • Vulkan viewer/rendering migration: New Vulkan viewport pipeline, pass graph, VkSplat renderer, Vulkan point-cloud renderer, 3DGUT/VkSplat support, improved alpha/depth composition, tighter CUDA/Vulkan interoperability, and device matching on multi-GPU systems. • RAD + LOD workflow: Added RAD file export/import, RAD LOD viewer, Spark-style GPU LOD selection, GPU-driven page prefetching, a bounded VRAM pool, out-of-core PLY-to-RAD LOD conversion, and RAD import/export speedups of approximately 3–5×. • HiGS / macro-tile inference: Added a macro-tile inference path for the Vulkan viewer, including macro sorting, batched rasterization, composition, and capacity management. • Asset Manager: Added and significantly enhanced the Asset Manager with thumbnails, SH information, faster synchronization, import-from-URL support, docked mode, data-loading popup integration, and general UI cleanup. • Viewport export: Integrated viewport export directly into the application as a toolbar/overlay tool, added fast render_view_u8-style readback paths, fixed high-resolution clipping issues, improved orthographic export parity, resolved 32K image/video export problems, and added post-export GPU resource cleanup. • Selection and tooling: Added and reworked selection toolbar controls, the Select menu, ring selection, color eyedropper, distance-from-center selection, faster point-cloud and zoomed-out selection paths, Vulkan measurement tool fixes, and drag-and-drop scene graph improvements. • UI/RmlUi platform work: Major RmlUi redesign efforts, hot reloading for RML/RCSS/Python UI files, reactive UI/store integration, viewport toolbar flyouts, improved histogram interactions, input settings enhancements, custom TRS gizmos, and numerous panel, tooltip, and localization fixes. • Windowing and UX: Added borderless window support, title bar drag/maximize/restore behavior, work-area-aware maximize functionality, resize responsiveness and performance improvements, and DPI/UI scaling fixes. • Training and data features: Added adaptive depth loss and depth gradients for the EWA rasterizer, mask loading/application fixes, a new combined Ignore+Segment mask mode, --add-splat, --freeze, improved checkpoint and training state handling, and training speed and VRAM optimizations. • COLMAP/equirectangular support: Added SPHERICAL/equirectangular camera model support and canonical EQUIRECTANGULAR handling, along with fixes for undistortion and camera export. This release will be available to all supporters as a Windows binary via approximately in about an hour. At the same time, LichtFeld Studio remains committed to being free and open source under GPLv3 and can also be built directly from source. Please consider supporting the ongoing development of LichtFeld Studio through a donation via the portal or the supporters page. Thank you to everyone who supports this project financially, contributes code, reports bugs, provides datasets, helps with the website, and contributes in countless other ways. A special thank you to our foundational sponsor Core11 and our Gold Sponsor Volinga, whose support has helped make the current state of the software possible. Thank you as well to every donor and to all of our new Bronze Sponsors. Looking ahead to v0.6 For the next major release, work will focus primarily on stability and user experience. This includes improved cleanup workflows and the ability to modify training parameters while training is in progress. I would also like to introduce a native .licht project format that allows users to save and restore their complete editor state. You can find links to our main sponsors below. Please also visit our website to discover all our Bronze Sponsors. Hint: We do not yet have a Silver Sponsor or Platinum 😉show more

Today, we’ve successfully launched Band Oracle v3 Testnet Phase... 2 — our biggest upgrade yet. This release makes BandChain faster, more transparent, and more interoperable than ever. Let’s break down what’s new👇 What did we achieve? — 3x Faster blocktime from 3s —> 1s — 10x symbols cap expand from 100 —> 300 symbols — 10x Higher Throughputs: 40k to 400k TX/day — 3x Max TXs Support/ Day: 7.2M TXs —> 21.6M TXs 🌐 New Data Tunnel routes are LIVE We’re expanding Band’s oracle reach across the multi-chain world: —> Cosmos - The Interchain ⚛️’s IBC-Hook: seamless interchain contract querying —> Router Protocol: Bridging & EVM chains & Soon on Solana —> Axelar Network: ongoing collab for cross-chain verified feeds Interoperability is no longer a wishlist — it’s real. 🛠️ Minor upgrades with major impact: — Cylinder CLI runs standalone — Signal times are now block-based (not machine time) — Auto-select TSS groups — Yoda now auto-bumps gas to avoid TX failure — Telemetry for BeginBlock/EndBlock durations It’s all about smoother ops for devs and validators. 🧪 What’s next? ✅ Recap + docs for Testnet Phase 2 ✅ More Data Tunnel stress testing ✅ Backend + validator-side optimizations 🚀 Mainnet Launch in Q3 2025 We’re almost there. Band Oracle v3 is becoming the go-to open data oracle for all ecosystems. Fast. Transparent. New standard for Multi-chain native. Thanks to the validators, devs, partners, and Band community for building this with us. Let’s keep going. Read the full announcement here:show more

🪴 GT Protocol Monthly Recap: May 2026 May focused... on launching advanced trading infrastructure, introducing AI risk-management tools, and shipping major platform upgrades. 🚀 Hyperliquid Vaults Live Run multiple algorithmic strategies on a single Hyperliquid Vault inside GT App. Enjoy automated execution, auto-rebalancing, and protocol-level security. You can find Vault trading on the Hyperliquid exchange account connection page in the Trade on Vault section. Try it in GT App 👉 🤖 AI Hedge Fund Experiment Live An experimental AI Hedge Fund powered by 5 independent LLM models is live on Hyperliquid. Each model manages $10,000 to test different AI trading personalities and allocation strategies. Discover it now here 👉 📈 Isolated Margin & AI Risk Tools Isolated Margin is live across GT App for precise risk management. Enhanced with AI-powered logic, it assists with dynamic asset monitoring and smarter strategy deployment. Try it in GT App 👉 🔥 Top Strategy Performance Top trader strategies like "lebakien" achieved over +141% profit this month. Users can explore metrics and follow the strategies of top traders directly in the marketplace. Explore Marketplace 👉 🛠 Key Product Updates ⚙️ Strategy Discovery: enhanced demo trading flows and top trader strategy integration. ⚙️ AI Strategy Chat: demoed a flow to create, launch, and test strategies via natural language chat. ⚙️ Advanced Execution: added manual safety orders for granular control over active positions. ⚙️ Testing & Validation: optimized historical data validation for more accurate strategy testing. ⚙️ Knowledge Hub: launched GT Protocol Learn and a new Knowledge Base for streamlined support. ⚙️ Performance: upgraded website structure and improved overall page responsiveness. Find all the latest GT App updates Here 👉 Discover guides, insights, and resources in Learn 👉 and Knowledge Base 👉 📰 GT Protocol AI Digests 4 new AI Digest issues (No.89–92) are live on Medium, covering AI-native hardware, data privacy, and the evolution of AI agents. Read More 👉 May brought institutional-grade AI strategy management closer to every user.show more

$KNDX 🏆 Here we are: #Altseason🔥 $ETH will flip... $4K into support soon. You cannot fathom the heights we are going to reach. 📈 Don’t chase the hype. Find your high conviction bags. Kondux has all it takes to make it into the top 50 in 2025: ✅ First mover infrastructure use cases. ✅ Proprierary #LLMs for #AIAgents ✅ Hitting all hot narratives for 2025: #AI + #NFTs + #GameFi + #RWAs ✅ The first and only crypto project creating a tokenized pipeline for security and creator monetization using #OpenUSD ✅ Building the first of it’s kind 3D #NFT Marketplace where all Game avatars and in-game and/or #RWA assets can be traded on. ✅ The first and only crypto project joining NVIDIA Omniverse™ Cloud, Graphics Delivery Network (GDN), for real time 3D rendering. ✅ AI integrations powered by NVIDIA Omniverse ➡️ This is $LINK level innovation brought onto the Blockchain. Roadmap 2025 dropping soon. The catalysts are unreal. 🤯 Chart consolidating for the next massive leg up. 🚀 50M MC is so extremely undervalued. You are not ready for the next phase of Kondux 💰 New ATHs real soon. ⏳ $XRP $ADA $AIXBT #VIRTUAL $GOAT #GRIFFAIN $ACT $BEAM $RIO $ONDO $BYTES $PAAL $GPU $RENDER #ai16z $HYPE $IMX $APESshow more

OptimAI Lite Node v1.1: Built for Scale, Designed for... You! 💕 In just 2 weeks since the launch, the OptimAI Network has seen explosive growth—130,000+ active node participants powering the future of decentralized AI. With this incredible momentum came a new challenge: ensuring our network could scale seamlessly to support massive concurrent connections and real-time participation. That’s why we’ve rolled out OptimAI Lite Node v1.1—a major upgrade focused on: + Stabilizing infrastructure to handle high traffic from a global community. + Enhancing performance for smoother data mining, validation, and edge compute participation. + Refining user experience with UI updates that make contributing effortless. Every line of code and infrastructure upgrade was made with one goal in mind: to support YOU—the builders, validators, and visionaries of the OptimAI ecosystem. Now’s the time to bring more friends into the journey. 🔥 The more we grow, the smarter and stronger the network becomes—and the greater the rewards. Let’s keep building, validating, scaling. Together we’re not just powering AI—we’re reshaping how it’s built. Join or revisit the node here: 🌐 Chrome Extension: 📱Telegram Mini-App: What’s Coming Next: OptimAI Edge Node & the Rise of Agentic AI 🔸OptimAI Edge Node (Mobile) We’re working hard on the next major release: the Edge Node for mobile, which will allow mining and AI tasks to run in the background—unlocking more earning opportunities and decentralized compute power from your smartphones. 🔸More Task Types & Missions Expect new types of contributions, from AI-enhanced data validation to edge inference and scraping automation—powered by autonomous mining agents. 🔸Expanded Rewards Program As we grow, more reward tiers, bonuses, and campaigns will be introduced. Your participation now paves the way for long-term benefits. Also, do not forget to checkout our article below and learn more about our latest Community Tips & Best Practices!👇 __________________ OptimAI Network #L2 #DePIN Reinforcement Data Network for #Agentic #AI Mine Data. Fuel AI. Earn Rewards. Turn Your Data into Tomorrow’s AI #Agent. Visit our website at:show more

PREVIEW: I was invited to a press preview of... Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced in Paris, back in April, as I previously mentioned, and I played ~3 hours🚀 Here are my impressions: 🎞️Visuals & Performance: being a remake, the visuals are quite well upgraded, making the most of modern tech and the beauty of the setting, creating a breathtaking atmosphere ✅Stunning environment ✅Dreamy natural beauty & grounded world ✅Photorealistic character models ✅Smooth animations ✅Sharp resolution ✅Runs at 60fps 🕹️Gameplay & Upgrades: The game is a faithful remake, with new gameplay systems, along with enhancements to the original formula ✅New gameplay systems ✅Faithfulness is the main priority ✅Enhanced parkour (still faithful) ✅Manual jumps and side ejects ✅Seamless exploration of cities ✅Zip-lines added ✅Dynamic weather ✅Brand new content expanding narrative ✅Quests with new secrets ✅Original modern day replace with rifts ✅Rifts explore “what if” scenarios ✅6 hours of extra gameplay ✅3 new recruitable officers ✅New storylines for the new officers ✅New chapter to play as Robert Mena ✅Extended endings for iconic characters ✅Hideout side quests ✅New collectibles ✅Forts modernized with new content ✅New voice lines for activities ✅New islands with rewarding secrets ✅New world moments ✅New content for the hideout ✅History of the villa explored ✅Heated shots new naval weapon in seq 3 ✅Explosive fire barrels w/wider effect ✅Swivel gun can now be manually aimed ✅Rebuilt combat system rewarding to skill ✅No skill trees, all unlocks from the start ✅Enemies now have defense meter ✅Meter is depleted with a perfect parry ✅New perfect parry depends on weapon ✅Heavy strike (high damage/wide area) ✅Shove to wall/ground > new take downs ✅Stealth inspired by Shadows ✅Crouch option added ✅Visibility affected by day/night & weather ✅Whistle/breaking things blow your cover ✅Rope dart unlocks in sequence 3 ✅Ambient dialogue leads to new quests ✅Raise and lower your hood option The new enhancements make the game far more entertaining compared to the original, except for one controversial change of bit having Hidden Blade combat, except in stealth assassinations/take downs Everything else effectively elevates the original design and makes gameplay either feel just as good, or more refined 🧬Changes: with this remake comes a few elements that were removed from the original, which may upset some players ✅Menus have been revamped and they don’t feature the DNA sequence tracker ✅Difficulty can be tailored with much more detail from the menu ✅Switch between and choose your favorite Sea Shanties to be performed by your crew ✅No hidden blade combat. The Hidden Blade is mainly used for stealth take-downs ✅No present day segments. I was informed that it will be replaced with new moments that explore Edward’s past with his wife, along with some “what if” scenarios like Edward siding with the Templars, for example, likely related to Juno’s involvement in the original narrative 📜Thoughts: While the demo I played featured only a portion of the map, Resynced has potential to replace the original as the definitive experience of Edward Kenway’s story I also wasn’t able to experience any of Rifts that replace the modern day, so for me, as a fan of the series’ lore and present day since 2007, the absence of a traditional modern day is the only let down that prevents me from fully replacing the original with it, as present day and sci-do elements are the DNA of the franchise and what makes it stand out It would also be great if mission replay is added later, a feature the OG had by default, like its predecessors That said, everything else very much elevated what was in the original, which made going back to replay it show how dated it feels by comparison I look forward to the final game, and to see future games inherit this formula of a defined protagonist, focused progression and no RPG elements😎show more

SERAPH: A new round of major events in Diablo... is about to begin! 🚀 Each new event is a new opportunity. Let's first review the achievements SERAPH has made before. 🏆 Seraph Achievements: Genesis NFT (Weapons) 0.06e ==》0.628e 💎 SERAPH Priority Pass Freemint ==》3.2e 🚀 In traditional GameFi, the issue of the death spiral of the initial NFT launch is often encountered. However, SERAPH achieved a tenfold floor price increase with a public sale of 0.06e and has stably maintained this position. This highlights the commendable tokenomics of the project. 📈 Additionally, SERAPH's gameplay is quite impressive. The Twitter community shows a high level of engagement, with many players sharing their gaming experiences. During the third testing phase, players were not just playing SERAPH for profit but were immersed in the game, experiencing the storyline and the thrill of gameplay. 🎮🔥 New Major Event: After the War of Light, the life fortress of Seraficia faces energy depletion. As chaos spreads, the Archangel Seraf crafted the World Ring from the souls of all life, a powerful shield against chaotic attacks. 🌌🛡️ To protect the hard-won peace, fallen heroes are bestowed with new souls, transcending the limits of time and space. Barbarians, Valkyries, Witches, and Necromancers reassemble on the lands of Seraficia. Reborn SOULs, the legends of heroes. 🌟 In the shimmering rune light, we summon the most outstanding legion of heroes to face this gradually collapsing world. ⚔️ >>Hero Series NFT The newly launched Hero Series PFP NFT primarily features human heroes such as Barbarians, Valkyries, Witches, and Necromancers. It also includes angels, demons, and other otherworldly races, showcasing numerous characters developed in the game so far. 🎭 Specific Acquisition Methods: Hero Series NFTs will be sold through a limited whitelist and public sale lottery. Whitelist distribution channels include: 【Veteran Players Exclusive】- Ongoing support from our veteran players; 【DC Exclusive】- New players participating in this DC event; 【Community Collaboration】- Communities collaborating with Seraph. 【Veteran Players Exclusive】 Veteran players will have their whitelist distribution rules, which can be followed in later project updates. 【DC Exclusive】 New players can acquire whitelist status by participating in various activities in DC, accumulating Soul shards through DC events. Ways to earn them include: 1⃣️ Participate in team-organized activities and games. 2⃣️ Create unique and high-quality content, such as videos, posts, art, to earn Soul shards. 3⃣️ During flash community events/tasks, active community members may discover additional Soul shards. 4⃣️ Interact with the Engage bot in the 💠│engage channel. 5⃣️ Warriors making genuine contributions to the community may receive random Soul shard rewards. 【Community Collaboration】 Members of gaming communities can participate in special activities in their own communities to obtain whitelist spots. T1 labs will also have a series of events to secure whitelist spots. 🤝 SERAPH Elite Test Server Note: The test server does not involve digital assets, and all data will be uniformly deleted after the test. 🧪 To welcome the new content, the game's official release includes a small-scale test. This test is mainly for early experience and bug testing, providing an opportunity to explore new features. Players are encouraged to actively participate and explore to get a glimpse of what's to come. 🌐 Test Start Time: February 5, 2024, 11:00 (UTC+8) 📅 Test Method: Limited invitation using activation codes 💌 Invitation Targets: Top-ranking users from the previous three game tests; Active users involved in SERAPH community building. 🎉 Test Content: Significant structural and numerical optimization of the economic system; All-new concepts for NFT treasures; Comprehensive adjustments to skill balance and numerous detailed optimizations and bug fixes, etc. This test is open for PC/IOS/Android, allowing testing across multiple platforms simultaneously. 🕹️📱💻 Research Analyst: 比特狸狸show more

This app has completely transformed over the last three... years and it is amazing to see how far it has come. - Launched X Chat and encrypted DMs - Launched Video/Audio calling - Launched Ad revenue share program for the creators - Reached a new alltime high of userseconds - Launched Community Notes - Community Notes passed 1M contributers mark - Launched the AI driven algo - Paid millions to the creators - Integerated Grok within the app - Rebranded as 𝕏 - Open sourced the recommendation algorithm. - Over 500 million posts everyday - Over 100 billion impressions daily - 650+ million users - 400000+ communities - #1 News App in 155+ countries - 2 billion+ app downloads - People are spending more time on X - 6th most visited website - Launched X Pro - Announced X Payments - Reduced child sexual abuse material by around 95 since the acquisition - Released subscriptions for creators - Removed legacy checkmarks - Prioritized the verified accounts to fight spam bots - All time low hate speech levels - Released new features in the shortest time period in Xs history - Exposed truth via Twitter files - Removed censorship - Restored free speech - Launched long form posts / Articles. - Improved the live streaming quality - Started paying the creators twice in a month - Added live chat to live streams - Enhanced the Community Notes algorithm - Added an ability to post timestamps while uploading videos - Added an edit post feature - Added view counts on posts publicly - Enhanced the support for Premium users - Added similar posts button - Added new app icons for premium users - Launched different tiers for Premium - Launched Verified Organizations - Added bookmark button on home timeline for posts - Over Ninety percent of the top 100 advertisers have returned to X - Video views are up as compared to previous years - All time high platform usage - Added more privacy options for calling - Introduced recruitment jobs feature for verified organizations - Expanded the community notes in more countries worldwide - Improved ad experience - Increased group chat size to 200 people - Lowered the eligibility threshold for ads revenue sharing from 15M to 5M - Rolled out vertical video ads for brands - Improved communities experience - Announced the removal of tweepcred system - Added live streams on the top bar of the feed - Improved live streaming tested game streaming - Launched the immersive video player - Made the process of reporting a post easier - Improved the UI - Announced the ability of group calling - Announced the removal of block feature except for DMs - Major upgrades to videos and media - Secured money transmission license in multiple states for payments - Introduced video downloads for verified users - Added an ability to limit replies to verified users only - Launched expanded bios - Made communities accessible in more countries - Added ID verification - Added an ability to hide likes - Added a tab for verified followers on user profiles - Added an ability to accept dms from verified users only to prevent spam - Introduced dm support for the ad customers - Announced that X will fund legal representation for users fired from their jobs for their posts - Included posts from communities in for you feed - Renamed notes feature to articles that will have no character limits - Added highlights tab to the profiles - Improved account analytics - Added an ability for community admins to spotlight their community in the profile - Introduced voice dms - Deleted millions of bot accounts - Introduced an ability to upload long videos - Improved advertisement brand safety - Introduced formatting for long form posts - Extended the community notes availability to more countries - Introduced individual reply to dms custom emoji reactions - Launched faster playback mini player for videos - Added an ability to allow dms from subs only - Continued UX/Ui improvements - Added air play button for videos on iOS - Added an ability to fast forwardrewind videos on - Became the most downloaded news app in multiple countries - Improved ad relevance - Removed child po*n - Introduced rate limits to prevent data scraping - Added fast forward backward feature to videos - Launched subscriber only replies - Launched spaces on web - Added an ability to hide the blue checkmark - Reduced scam accounts - Improved engagements for advertisers - Reinstated a multitude of suspended accounts - Introduced Multiple organization affiliate badges - Improved post analytics - Community notes debunking propaganda misstatements - Introduced verified badges for organizations - Launched X TV and many more features.show more

🌟 Fortnite Ecosystem v41.00 Update Summary 📅 June 5,... 2026 🎮 Major Creator Updates: 1️⃣ Sidekicks as NPCs in UEFN Sidekicks are now available as scriptable NPCs in UEFN. Creators can customize how they look, animate them, script behavior with Verse, and even bring a player’s own Sidekick into an island experience. Important note: 🔹 Publishing islands with Sidekick NPCs opens July 23 🔹 Creature based islands may get new Discover opportunities 🔹 Great for monster battlers, cozy farming games, creature RPGs, companion adventures, and more 🔹 Epic plans to feature creature-based islands in a new creature-based Collection page 2️⃣ Custom Weapon Templates Creators can now use Scene Graph weapon templates for: 🔸 Pistol 🔸 SMG 🔸 Assault Rifle 🔸 Shotgun You can customize how weapons look, sound, and play, including mesh, VFX, audio, damage, fire rate, spread, and recoil. Important note: These Scene Graph entities are not compatible with older saving methods like the Save Point device. Epic says to use Verse persistence. 3️⃣ Mobile Controls Upgrade (Experimental) Big step for mobile friendly Fortnite games. 🔹 Touch Input Gestures 🔹 Custom touchscreen control layouts 🔹 Tappable custom HUD widgets 🔹 Verse API to detect touch enabled devices 🔹 New Designing for Mobile guide This should help genres like tycoons, puzzle games, menus, inventories, and mobile first UI feel way better. 4️⃣ Community Events Starting June 8, creators can create events in Fortnite Communities and share them in game. Events can show in: 🔸 Following tab 🔸 Creator Profile page 🔸 Island page 🔸 Island Lobby, if enabled Epic is also testing a Community Events row in Discover, but it will not show for all players and placement is not guaranteed. 🛠 UEFN Workflow Updates: 🔸 Push Changes now incrementally cooks only modified project parts 🔸 New Edit List Panel shows what is live and what still needs a push 🔸 Launch Session now combines multiple session actions 🔸 New Session Inspector gives better visibility into launch and Live Edit status 🔸 New Publishing Report helps catch issues before publishing 🔸 Improved Verse warning panel with direct VS Code links 🔸 New Editor Gizmo System 🔸 Physics setting moved into Island Settings 🔸 New Memory Snapshot tools help identify asset memory costs 🔸 Asset validation now warns when static meshes exceed 30k vertices at LOD0 Important Live Edit note: Live Edit is improved, but some changes can still require Push Changes. The new tools make it clearer what is already live and what still needs to be pushed. ⚠️ Important Publishing Change: Illegal Property Override warnings are now errors in v41.00. That means new or updated islands with these errors are blocked from publishing. Current published versions where the warning appeared will stay live. 👤 Follow a Developer Update: In v41.10, Epic will remove the Follow a Developer button from the Developer Profile Link device. The device itself will still be usable, and existing follower counts are not affected. If your island currently tells players to follow you through that device, update those callouts before v41.10. 🧑‍🚀 Hero Device Star Wars Update: More Star Wars characters have been added to the Hero device for Star Wars islands: 🔹 Luke Skywalker 🔹 Obi-Wan Kenobi 🔹 Mace Windu 🔹 Kylo Ren 🔹 IG-11 🔹 Moff Gideon 🔹 Boba Fett 🔹 Mandalorian (Pen & Ink), Clone Wars Anakin, and Clone Wars Ahsoka were also added to cosmetic-based devices 📦 New Content: 🌾 Cozy and Creature Tools 🔸 Plumpton Architecture Kit 🔸 Plumpton Farm Gallery 🔸 Pet Props Gallery 🔸 Updated foliage 🔸 Plumpton Feature Example ☕ New Prefabs and Galleries 🔹 Latte Landing Prop Gallery 🔹 Latte Landing Bun Store 🔹 Latte Landing Big Shots Cafe 🔹 Latte Landing Krunchy Krickets 🔹 Latte Landing Espresso Experiments 🔹 Latte Landing floors, walls, and roofs 🔹 More Plumpton props, plants, farm, pet shop, tavern, farmhouse, and more 🔫 New Weapons and Items: Weapons: 🔸 Vanguard Burst Rifle 🔸 The Voidblade’s Burst Rifle 🔸 Extending Focus Shotgun 🔸 Reacher Extending Shotgun 🔸 Chaos Exploder Rifle 🔸 Dark Voyager’s Chaos Rifle 🔸 Exotic Overdrive Pulse Rifle 🔸 Exotic Recon Bow 🔸 Exotic Leaping Lightning Gun Items: 🔹 Seven Sliders 🔹 Limitless Seven Sliders 🔹 Brick-a-Bunker 🏃 Player Movement Device Update: More movement settings are now available directly in the Player Movement device, giving creators better control over which players are affected. Includes: 🔸 Jump Fatigue 🔸 Slide Kick 🔸 Shoulder Bashing 🔸 Wall Kick 🔸 Roll Landing 🔸 Glider Redeploy 🔸 Player Flight 🔸 Flight Speed 🔸 Infinite Wall Kicks 🔸 Sprint and boosted jump energy costs 🧪 Experimental and Beta Updates: 🔹 Skeletal Animation in Scene Graph is now experimental 🔹 Physics remains Beta 🔹 Mobile touch controls and gesture support are experimental 🔹 Skeletal Animation in Scene Graph cannot be used in published islands yet 🛠 Community Bug Fixes: 🔸 Fixed server degradation from adding and removing entities 🔸 Fixed some Physics Materials not being exposed 🔸 Fixed some session launch cook errors 🔸 Fixed Fortnite not closing properly after launching a session through UEFN 🔸 Fixed crashes after repeated entity spawning and despawning 🔧 More Fixes: 🔹 Fixed quickbar and phone tool freezes 🔹 Fixed thumbnail capture preview actor issues 🔹 Fixed building on Instanced Static Meshes 🔹 Fixed Live Edit visual update issues 🔹 Fixed several editor crashes and performance issues 🔹 Fixed inventory UI not showing Fortnite item info correctly 🔹 Fixed multiple physics, movement, swimming, gliding, and launch pad issues 🔹 Fixed Scene Graph prefab and Verse path issuesshow more

Shell in the Spotlight Again as More Motorists Blame... Contaminated Fuel Sold at Their Stations for Engine Damage Fuel service stations operated under the Shell brand, which is managed by Vivo Energy Kenya, are once again on the spot after another frustrated motorist blamed poor-quality fuel for allegedly damaging his car engine. The incident reportedly happened just moments after the driver refueled at Shell Links Road in Mombasa when the vehicle began losing power on the way to Voi. Despite pushing forward, the problem worsened, and the car eventually stalled a few kilometres before Kitui, forcing the motorist to seek emergency mechanical assistance. A mechanic from Kitui ran a diagnostic test and found severe engine damage, including a completely worn-out piston, citing contaminated fuel as the likely cause of the problem. With no alternative, the motorist had the vehicle towed back to Mombasa and reported the matter to Vivo Energy Kenya. A representative from the company requested a fuel sample for testing at their laboratory. On Tuesday, they informed her that the sample had passed all tests. The motorist, dissatisfied with Vivo Energy’s response, instructed his mechanic to conduct a more thorough inspection of the engine to determine the extent of the damage. Upon dismantling the engine, the mechanic once again confirmed that one piston was completely worn out, an issue he attributed to contaminated fuel. According to the mechanic, the level of damage was consistent with prolonged exposure to poor-quality fuel, suggesting that the problem began soon after refueling. The motorist, convinced that bad fuel was responsible, claims to have gathered video evidence showing the fuel sample in a mixed and compromised state. She insists that the sample, which was taken directly from her vehicle, appeared discoloured and inconsistent with what is expected of high-grade V-Power petrol. Despite presenting this evidence, Vivo Energy reportedly maintained that their tests found no issues with the fuel. The motorist is now escalating the matter, determined to hold Vivo Energy accountable for the damage. She has shared video evidence, showing the contaminated fuel and is calling for independent testing to verify its quality. Frustrated by what she sees as the company’s unwillingness to take responsibility, she is considering legal action and has reached out to consumer rights groups for support. This case adds to growing complaints from Kenyan motorists about fuel quality, with recent independent tests exposing major discrepancies in octane levels at several stations. An automotive content creator Kim JH of Tanuki Garage recently went around Nairobi, purchasing fuel samples from different stations and conducting on-the-spot octane tests. The findings revealed that some premium fuels, including Shell V-Power, underperformed compared to standard fuels. For instance, Total Limuru Road recorded the highest performance with a PON of 92, while Shell V-Power scored lower, challenging the common perception of premium fuel superiority. His findings, shared widely on social media, sparked outrage, with motorists demanding accountability from fuel retailers. Following the viral exposé, oil marketers, including Vivo Energy rushed to dismiss the findings, arguing that independent tests lacked credibility and did not follow industry-approved procedures. Shell Kenya, through Vivo Energy, insisted that its fuel met regulatory standards, pointing to tests conducted by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA). However, the issue has refused to die down as more motorists continue to report unusual engine problems after refueling from previously reputable stations. Meanwhile, consumer advocacy groups have joined the debate, urging EPRA to conduct random and independent fuel quality tests at petrol stations across the country. They argue that the current reliance on oil marketers’ internal tests is inadequate and fails to protect motorists from potentially damaging fuel. The controversy has also drawn the attention of lawmakers, with some calling for stricter oversight and stiffer penalties for companies found selling substandard fuel. For motorists like the one affected at Shell Links Road, the issue is not just about technical standards but about accountability and compensation for the damage suffered. "Hi Nyakundi. I am Here to seek your intervention I fueled at shell links road ,vpower on Saturday, by the time I reached voi my car lost power I kept going but got worse as I moved. A few kms before kitui,the car stalled...I called a mechanic from kitui who came with a diagnosis machine and from what he said,I had put bad fuel. I towed the car back to msa. I reported to vivo. A guy from vivo by the name Brian mbaabu called and asked me to take the fuel for tests in their lab. He then called yesterday, on Tues and said that the sample passed all tests.... I asked my mechanic to open up the engine and to our surprise one piston is totally worn out an indication of bad fuel I will attach all I have including videos as I got the sample and it's all mixed up"show more

home page hero ✨ Design notes: - "Forever" hero... text dot pixel FX done in unicorn.studio. (I will do a whole tutorial on this later. Unicorn's WebGL engine is absolutely wild and very powerful / robust) - built in Framer - I wanted to recreate the iOS unlock effect where your home screen icons cascade into place in a beautifully timed choreography. This took a lot of careful timing using Framer's "Appear" effect on the hero text and surrounding avatars because it was super important that we didn't lose the legibility of our main message ("Build Your Forever Audience") with all the animations. - If you look closely, the choreography is setup to lead your eye through the hero text first starting with "Build Your" then "Forever" and finally "Audience." - With those text layers in place + the surrounding avatars, there is a slight 1 sec pause before the remaining elements slide in below and above (How it works, CTA buttons, announcement badge, and lastly the main nav). - All told the entire loading sequence is 6 seconds - Custom particle system powers the interactive star field (the stars slowly gravitate to your pointer position, and the star field perspective changes ever so subtly as you move your mouse around on the page) - I have 3 shooting stars made of small white line layers that start out off canvas rotated at different angles that shoot across to another point off canvas at random times on a loop effect. - Given this hero scene is in space, I wanted the surrounding avatar elements to "float" in low gravity mode. For this I used Framer's loop effect that slowly oscillates the layer's y position. I then offset the delay of each element randomly to stagger the floating loop so each avatar floats independently/randomly - The final major treatment for this hero scene was the scroll animations on the avatars. I wanted to create a bit of a warp speed effect when you scroll down, as if the avatars were being pulled or sucked into a worm hole as you scroll down below this hero fold. - To accomplish this, I applied Framer's scroll transform affect set to "section in view" on each of the floating avatars, and set the "scroll to" position of the upper avatars to be much, much further away on the y-axis than the "scroll to" position of the lower avatars. (eg. -1700px on upper most avatars vs. -600px on lowest positioned avatars). This effectively causes the upper avatars to slide up off the hero canvas with much greater velocity than the lower positioned avatars. - And when you scroll back up to the hero section, the inverse happens where the lower positioned avatars "arrive back in place" from up above the hero canvas before the upper avatars come back into the scene and settle in place. - Overall I wanted this hero section to feel alive. The floating avatars, particle system with very subtle star movements, and the Caustics effect on the "Forever" text all sort of move at the pace of slow breathing - which is a great pace to create a sense of life and comfort in your scene. Conversion Results (so far) - When this new Framer site launched along with Calaxy v1.9 release on Base a couple weeks ago, we saw a surge in traffic, around 20k page views in the first few days. - Of those 20k hits, 11k visited the app install page ( - which is our main CTA - We saw around 10K new users in the first week after v1.9 launch Overall I'm very happy with the new site and early performance metrics. Lots of tweaking to do but its a good start. If you are a designer building in Framer - hit me with any questions on the above hero notes. Happy to share more specifics! 👾show more

My Lost Soul Aside Impressions: I’m playing on the... PS5 Pro in performance mode with a VRR display, and I’m very satisfied with the performance. For me, the image looks sharp and the gameplay runs very smooth with 60fps. Even during big boss fights, I haven’t noticed any significant drops. Claims that the game runs at 20fps are absolute nonsense. I wouldn’t recommend quality mode, as the missing frames per second and the input delay are a major disadvantage, especially with such fast-paced gameplay. Visually, I’d say the game looks very good, but not outstanding. Environmental details are sometimes not fully polished, and the facial animations could be better. On the other hand, the characters are incredibly detailed, which I really enjoyed. The combat animations are absolutely fantastic, and the choreographed fight cutscenes are brilliant. Boss fights are simply phenomenal and I loved every second of them. The whole experience feels like a mix of Final Fantasy and Devil May Cry. Bosses also come with certain mechanics you have to trigger, which adds depth. The soundtrack has impressed me so far, mixing rock tracks with softer melodies that really bring the fantasy world to life. However, the audio mixing between cutscenes and gameplay is sometimes off and should be fixed. The game is very linear, which I personally find refreshing and not a negative at all. The map reminds me of Final Fantasy X, with some side paths that hide chests or items. Puzzles are simple but help break things up. Larger areas are often rather empty though, and exploration can feel unrewarding when all you find is “+7 gold.” The story so far is quite predictable. I didn’t enjoy the English voice acting and switched to the Chinese original, which feels much better. I also made some adjustments to improve my experience: in the sound menu, I boosted the weapon effects and increased the music volume. In combat, I found there’s too much chatter and subtitles are distracting, so I turned them off completely. The game is challenging, and I’d definitely consider it demanding. There are no difficulty options, but if you die often enough, you’ll get amulets that make the gameplay noticeably easier. Now, onto the clear highlight of the game: the combat system. My goodness, it’s amazing. The chaining of attacks and overall complexity are simply brilliant. It’s an endless fireworks display of effects, and for me the wait was truly worth it. At first, combat might seem simple, but as you progress you unlock new weapons with their own skill trees, special attacks that can be upgraded, new combo actions, and the ability to switch weapons instantly in battle to chain them into even more combos. Different weapons can also interact with the environment and trigger special effects. It’s just genius. Another fantastic feature is weapon customization. You can freely change the appearance of your weapons, as every weapon can take on the look of another. You can also adjust details in real time, resize parts, reposition them, and all changes are applied instantly without requiring resources. Even better, these customizations carry over into cutscenes. When you move to the next level, the camera zooms out and shows your characters in a charming overworld view, similar to Expedition 33. A really nice touch. So far, I’ve been enjoying the game immensely, and I simply couldn’t put it down. If you’re expecting a combo-based combat system, you definitely won’t be disappointed in my opinion. The linear level design felt incredibly refreshing, and it genuinely transported me back to the PS2 era, always leaving me with a warm feeling in my heart.show more

Just finished a one-week trip to China. I've now... "survived" all the major (~20) L2 self-driving and robotaxi vehicles in both the US and China. Some thoughts & observations: ▶️L2 self-driving I tested major brands like $Huawei, $Li, $NIO, $Xpeng, and $Xiaomi. Overall, they exceeded my expectations. The rides were not overly cautious and handled complex situations (yes, road conditions in China are very challenging!) quite well. Nothing compares to $Tsla's approach. I see imitation learning/end-to-end as the only effective approach for self-driving. While Chinese peers perform well on main roads, they struggle on frontage roads due to reliance on high-precision maps and rule-based methods (e.g. cars stopped in the middle of the road where there was no clear white lining). Chinese EVs' self-driving capabilities are far ahead of those from US and EU brands. I doubt any Chinese players can profit from L2 self-driving, not because it’s not useful, but because it’s hard to differentiate, and price wars dominate the market in China. Chinese consumers and regulators seem much more receptive to self-driving. Even with a 5/10 self-driving capability, cars are practically *hands-free(!)* Insurance-wise, for L3+ cars, OEMs bear responsibility for incidents, so OEMs avoid labeling cars as L3+. ▶️Robotaxi I tested major brands like $Didi, and $Bidu. I'd rate equal to $Waymo, and it's ahead of other peers. However, the same issue applies here: user experience is nearly perfect (in Yizhuang, Beijing), but expansion is the real question. Chinese robotaxi companies are very sophisticated. While the rest of the world focuses on technology, Chinese peers treat it as a product, considering unit economics, operations, mass production, etc. Interestingly, most companies expressed a preference NOT to operate fleets themselves. They aim to be asset-light and let fleet managers handle operations. Policy Support: China has a very clear approval process, driven by data (autonomous driving distance, fully driverless distance, intervention rate, passenger ratings, etc.). ▶️Chinese EVs In major cities like Beijing or Shanghai, EV adoption (green license plates vs. gas cars with blue license plates) seems to be 40%+. If 40% of cars on the road are EVs, then EV penetration (defined as the % of new car sales) must already be over 50%. In shopping malls, the ground floor is filled with EV showrooms—easily 10+ brands, many of which are unfamiliar Chinese brands. It appears almost too easy to make an electric car, which is a stark contrast to the US. $Xiaomi, for example, can achieve a 10% gross profit margin in its first year of operation, compared to $RIVN's -45%. Additionally, $Xiaomi cars are priced at 30% of $RIVN's price. It's fascinating to see how China transitioned from "couldn't make their own gas cars at all (only JVs)" to "dominating EVs globally." The government deserves credit for setting the direction and executing effectively. China now controls the entire supply chain, with $CATL holding 40% of the global market share. 🔹How did it happen? The success of the industry Incentives were set just right: the government provided incentives early on to make EVs and gas cars have comparable MSRPs, allowing consumers to choose based on functionality. This approach differs from how the IRA offers incentives... Perfectly competitive market: $TSLA was brought in, and competition was welcomed, unlike the US, which has a 100% import tax on Chinese EVs. Strategic regulations: License plate restrictions were used effectively; for example, taxis and minivans are required to be EVs. 🔹The challenges Despite the success, the industry faces challenges with low-margin companies and struggling stocks. The intense competition shows no sign of ending. Well-funded global OEMs and Chinese state-owned car companies continue to subsidize, leading to new EV brands emerging annually. The natural tendency in China is to race to the bottom. I think this ties back to China's history as the "world’s factory," where manufacturers price products at "cost plus" versus the US and developing countries, which price based on "affordability/value creation." 🔹The wow EV feature >Software features that surprised me the most: - Everything in the car can be voice-controlled. Not just simple tasks like playing music; users can adjust the height of the steering wheel and set the temperature easily. - Self-parking, which $Tsla has yet to release to all FSD users, is already a table stake in China (I'd rate the quality as 10/10). >Other fun hardware features: - Mini fridges in the car - Infotainment systems - IoT: remote access the car/home via cellphone - all connected together - Heads-up displays - UV-protected glass roofs: $Xiaomi took $Tsla's design, but the glass roof of the $Xiaomi car is made of double layers with silver, blocking 99.9% of UV and infrared rays...as a result, heat is no longer a problem inside the carshow more

Universities and High Schools have not moved rapidly enough... to guide students to have skills for the next decade. THEY HAVE FAILED. It is a massive crisis that can be averted by understanding what AI and Robotics will bring about. Solutions are knowing how to use these tools and new industries that will rise. But this situation is also on ALL OF US. No “job” is safe from founder to entry level in most industries. You and I, by what we do, will be “replaced” ultimately. What to do? AI and Robotics are tools, the next decade is owned by those who know how to use them expertly, but this is also temporary. We have to understand that what we do for “work” will change giving ultimately a greater value to those that are: Creative Flexible Always learning Willing to be wrong Love being human Love being alive Know history Covet wisdom Knowing all tech has downsides Building strong family and friends Realize many institutions have failed The first four are required for you to be able to live through this period with your sanity intact. The rest will allow you to thrive. There are no true careers at this point anymore. There are advocation and vocations which will either earn you money or give life meaning. We will learn that we are not “what we do”, just like we knew for 99% of human existence. Let that sink in. — You and I are far, far ahead of knowing this and we can do two things: 1) Laugh at the “clueless” 2) Help people understand with grace Go to Reddit if you are 1, in fact don’t follow me because you will not like this next decade and what I post. You are 2 and thank you. Even if you and I have not solved this issue, we can help people understand what is ahead and with determination and creativity bound together to solve it locally. Or human family has done this millions of times. The evidence is: you are here. The Neo Luddite movement has not even begun and it will potentially rip apart society even more than all the fashionable moment in the recent past has. These Luddites will have a good point with the wrong answers cooked up by dying academics that cling to labels, “virtues” and victim hood. It will be readymade for some governments to enter in as “big daddy” to “help us”. You will not like what they do, but you will only know when it is too late. It will include YOU “volunteering” to “leave” by 60, to “help out” CanadaPod style. “Brian, I’m 24 what do I do?”. I hope to do much more here to help. But I do know this: 1) Learn a trade or vocation because it’s valuable. It may also be free to low cost if you do it right. 2) Learn everything you can about USING AI and TRAINING YOUR AI. Your expertise will be in the top 1% for a decade. But not forever. 3) Understand Bitcoin and how it will rise while other things sink. This is a short list for now. We will know more moving forward. When you see videos like this posted below, know one thing: Many of these folks had no real family of mental and physical support. Maybe no parent or one parent. Maybe only a broke system to prepare them for—nothing. This was not their doing. Now it is not your “job” to help them, it is your survival to help them if that is what you need. See some day after the dust settles these 20 year olds will be 40 year olds and running YOUR world. And at some point you may need them more than you think you do. You will need them, as they need you now. THIS IS WHAT PAST WISDOM KNEW. The elders of the past never found the need to piss on the youth and hope for the best. THE YOUTH ARE OUR BEST, let us all find ways to change it, even if every aspect of “the system” wants us to berate them into the ground.show more

🚨 OPERATIONAL UPDATE: ISRAEL U.S. WAR WITH THE ISLAMIC... REPUBLIC - Reporting Window: LAST 24 HOURS • Iran widened its fire again with a broad evening missile barrage on central Israel and continued attacks across the Gulf, including a drone strike that hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport • Israel intensified strikes across Iran, with reported hits in Tehran, Qazvin and Alborz industrial areas, plus continued pressure on missile infrastructure and launch cells • Hezbollah kept the northern front active, including a direct rocket hit on a building in Kiryat Shmona, while Israel deepened its Lebanon campaign and Katz publicly framed the objective as a security zone up to the Litani • The diplomatic track moved forward, but only in the strangest possible way: Trump says talks are progressing, Iran still publicly denies direct negotiations, and multiple reports now point to JD Vance as Tehran’s preferred American interlocutor • The big picture is unchanged: the war is still live on every major front, but the center of gravity is shifting toward a contest over how it ends, who gets to define victory, and whether the Gulf will stay adjacent to the war or be pulled fully into it The most important thing to understand about the last 24 hours is that this was not a quiet period masked by negotiations. It was the opposite. The battlefield remained active from Tehran to southern Lebanon to Kuwait, even as Washington and Tehran edged further into a murky negotiation channel. That is what gives the last day its character: not de escalation, but simultaneous escalation and diplomacy, both moving at once. Open source reporting reflects the same picture, with repeated indications of strikes in Tehran and Qazvin, attacks near Baghdad airport, a Kuwait airport fuel fire, and a large Iranian barrage toward central Israel late in the window. **Special thanks to Michael W for your continued contribution to the open-source intel picture behind these updates. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🚀 IRANIAN MISSILE FIRE ON ISRAEL Iran kept up the pressure on Israel in two different ways over this window. Earlier in the cycle, a cluster warhead strike wounded nine people in Bnei Brak, with additional damage in Petah Tikva, while Hezbollah fire from Lebanon killed a woman near Mahanayim Junction and wounded several more in Kiryat Shmona. Later, near the end of the reporting window, Iran launched another broad barrage toward central Israel, with warnings stretching across Gush Dan, Sharon, Wadi Ara, Samaria, Judea and the Dead Sea region. Open source reporting you provided tracked that second wave in real time, showing how broad the alert footprint was even though initial reports indicated no immediate casualties from that specific evening barrage. This is what stands out operationally: Iran’s missile campaign is not gone, but it looks increasingly built around selective disruption rather than the huge opening barrages of the war. The salvos are still dangerous, still capable of civilian casualties and still capable of producing visually dramatic and politically effective moments, but they are landing against a backdrop of steadily intensifying strikes on Iran’s launch network. That makes each successful hit feel more deliberate and more strategic. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ✈️ THE AIR CAMPAIGN OVER IRAN KEPT MOVING Israel’s strike campaign inside Iran also remained broad and geographically layered. Reuters reported renewed Israeli strikes as talks were being floated through intermediaries. Open source intelligence adds texture to that by showing repeated reporting from open source channels of impacts in eastern and western Tehran, the Alborz industrial zone in Qazvin province, and additional blasts reported across Khuzestan and other regions. There were also repeated reports of targeted assassination attempts in east Tehran, which fits the broader pattern of not just degrading launchers and production nodes, but also hunting the people tied to them. The color here matters. This no longer looks like a campaign limited to air defenses and obvious military compounds. The picture from the last 24 hours is of a system being pressed from multiple angles at once: missile depots, industrial support zones, launch crews, command elements and regime infrastructure in and around Tehran. Open source reporting reinforces that sense of breadth, especially the repeated references to Qazvin and Alborz secondary explosions and to ongoing heavy activity over Tehran. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚡ THE ENERGY WAR IS STILL HOT The clearest new regional energy development in this window was Kuwait. Reuters reported that a drone attack hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, causing a fire but no casualties. That matters not because the material damage was catastrophic, but because it again shows Iran or Iran aligned actors reaching directly for civilian and logistical energy infrastructure in Gulf states. This was not an abstract threat anymore. It was a live strike on a functioning international hub. Your outbox tracked the same event quickly and repeatedly, alongside additional open source reporting about nearby attacks and power disruptions in Kuwait. At the same time, the diplomatic and military discussion around the Strait of Hormuz kept shaping everything else. Markets moved on talk of a U.S. proposal and possible hosted talks in Pakistan or Turkey. Oil eased on negotiation optimism, but the underlying structure of the crisis remains the same: Iran still retains the ability to disrupt shipping and energy confidence without fully “closing” the Strait in a formal sense. That is why even modest signs of diplomacy can move oil sharply, and why even a localized drone strike in Kuwait still carries outsized weight. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🇱🇧 LEBANON IS NOT A SIDESHOW The northern front kept boiling. Reuters reported that Israel now intends to occupy a swathe of southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, with Defense Minister Israel Katz explicitly describing a “security zone” concept. That is not rhetoric you use if you still think this is a short punitive phase. At the tactical level, Hezbollah continued to demonstrate that it can still impose costs, including a direct rocket hit on a building in Kiryat Shmona and earlier casualties in the north. Meanwhile, open source reporting pointed to Israeli strikes in Nabatieh, Rashidiya, Bchamoun and broader southern Lebanese infrastructure, which matches the picture of sustained pressure rather than episodic retaliation. The broader meaning is straightforward. Israel is signaling that if the Iran war ends inconclusively on the Iranian front, it does not intend to leave Hezbollah’s northern threat structure intact and simply hope for the best. Lebanon is being shaped now as part of the endgame, not just the current fight. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🇮🇶 IRAQ STAYED ACTIVE TOO Iraq remained active in the background, but it should not be treated as background noise. Open source intel reporting includes repeated reporting on a targeted U.S. strike on a vehicle near Baghdad airport and continued militia related activity tied to U.S. positions and proxy structures. That comes after the prior cycle’s major strikes on PMF and militia command nodes. It fits the larger pattern we have now seen for weeks: Iraq is not the main theater, but it is still one of the places where the war keeps trying to widen horizontally. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🌍 THE NEGOTIATION TRACK GOT STRANGER, NOT CLEARER Trump is still publicly presenting the talks as real progress. Reuters reports that Pakistan conveyed a U.S. proposal, with Pakistan or Turkey possible venues, and that Washington has floated a broader framework dealing with nuclear capability, missiles and proxies. At the same time, Iran continues to publicly deny meaningful direct talks and has toughened its public stance, insisting on guarantees, compensation and no rollback of its missile deterrent. What makes the last 24 hours more interesting is the growing focus on who would even talk for the United States. Times of Israel and Jerusalem Post reporting both indicate that JD Vance is increasingly central to the diplomacy, with Tehran reportedly preferring him over Witkoff and Kushner. The diplomatic track here appears as both real and deeply unstable, with questions about who on the Iranian side actually holds authority and whether Washington is now seeking an end state short of outright regime collapse. That shift matters because it tells us something important: Washington increasingly seems to be searching for an off ramp that still looks like victory, while Israel and Gulf allies appear much less comfortable with ending this war before Iran’s military and proxy architecture are degraded further. That tension is now one of the defining features of the conflict. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📌 WHAT MATTERS MOST RIGHT NOW 1️⃣ The war is still fully active across multiple fronts Iran hit central Israel again, Kuwait airport was struck, Lebanon stayed hot and Israel kept pounding targets inside Iran. Negotiations did not replace combat. They were layered on top of it. 2️⃣ The pressure on Iran’s internal military system keeps deepening The accumulating pattern of strikes in Tehran, Qazvin, Alborz and other areas suggests a campaign that is still broadening the target set, not narrowing it. Open source reporting in your files strongly supports that picture. 3️⃣ The diplomatic track is real, but it is not clean Trump is selling progress. Iran is denying direct talks. Vance is becoming more central. And nobody looking at the battlefield would conclude that the war is genuinely close to stopping on its own. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ BOTTOM LINE The last 24 hours painted a clearer picture than some of the recent reporting windows. This is no longer just a war of salvos and counterstrikes. It is now a war over end states. Iran is still trying to prove it can widen the cost map, not just hit Israel but keep the Gulf under pressure too. Israel is still trying to prove that sustained, system level degradation inside Iran can continue even while diplomacy swirls overhead. And Washington is trying to find a formula that can stop the war without looking like it backed down. That is why the reporting feels different now. The battlefield is still violent, but the arguments over how this ends are becoming just as important as the strikes themselves.show more

In 2025, demand for blockchain applications with genuine real-world... utility has collided with a technical barrier that leaves developers questioning what they can realistically build. Anyone building things like tokenized assets, supply chains, AI agents, or prediction markets still juggle a mess of middleware, and somehow end up spending more time stitching than innovating. How so? Every: - Bridges to move assets, - oracles to fetch data, - indexers to make that data searchable, - relayers and bots to keep everything on schedule— is necessary, but each layer also adds cost, latency, and new risks. The end result is an application that’s expensive to run, fragile under stress, and slower than the Web2 software it’s trying to replace. This is the problem Rialo says it wants to solve. Built by Subzero Labs and backed by $20 million from investors like Pantera Capital and Coinbase Ventures 🛡️, Rialo’s pitch is simple: instead of accepting the middleware tower as an unavoidable cost of doing business, compress it into the base chain itself. But Rialo doesn’t describe itself as another Layer 1, its very name, Rialo Isn’t a Layer One, makes that clear. The team frames it instead as a unified real-world network: a protocol rebuilt from the ground up with the assumption that external connectivity is not an afterthought but a core design principle. To understand what this means, consider how today’s dApps are typically assembled. A typical RWA dApp stack involves: - Oracle providers (Chainlink, Pyth, Band) for asset pricing and event settlement - Bridges (Wormhole, Multichain, custodians) for cross-chain asset movement - Indexers (The Graph, Aleph, Stacks API) for querying and preprocessing chain data - Schedulers/relayers for automated tasks and monitoring - Web2 integrations via cloud services, centralized APIs, and off-chain pipelines Each of these steps adds another vendor, another trust boundary, and another operational layer to monitor. By the time the application is live, it resembles a patchwork of loosely coupled services, each carrying its own risks. You don’t have to look far for proof: - Base went dark for 29-43 minutes in August 2025 when its sequencer misfired, freezing every DeFi app on it. - A few months earlier, an AWS outage rippled through Binance and KuCoin, stalling withdrawals because even “decentralized” systems leaned on centralized middleware. - When Infura has faltered, Ethereum dApps have gone offline in sync, not because Ethereum broke, but because the middleware holding it together did. What should feel like building an application instead feels like maintaining a fragile machine. Rialo architecture embeds the primitives that normally live in middleware directly into the protocol. Smart contracts on Rialo can: - be event-driven, able to respond not just to blockchain state changes but also to external events through built-in webhook and API triggers. - fetch data from the web natively, without relying on external oracles or relayers. - include privacy and identity management—KYC hooks and two-factor authentication, at the protocol level rather than as add-ons. - handle cross-chain communication without wrapped assets or third-party bridges. - run on a virtual machine that is compatible with ecosystems like Solana but extended with RISC-V to support modern programming concepts such as async/await and event loops. If these features work as intended, the implications are significant. Today, much of a team’s energy goes into building and maintaining infrastructure: fullnodes, indexers, monitoring scripts, oracle integrations, relayer logic, bridge infrastructure. Each requires engineering headcount and ongoing maintenance. With Rialo, much of this is absorbed by the protocol, freeing developers to concentrate on business logic. Projects can deliver production-grade dApps with smaller, leaner groups focused directly on product design and execution. Operational costs also shrink: indexing and oracle services can run into thousands of dollars a month; collapsing those into built-in functions reduces recurring expenses while simplifying onboarding for new developers. But folding middleware into the chain doesn’t erase complexity, it reshapes it. Some of the problems to be encountered include: - Scale and complexity: Rialo’s validators won’t just be securing transactions; they’ll also be securing APIs, cross-chain data, and scheduled triggers. Any failure in one subsystem could ripple across the entire network. - Performance vs. decentralization: Richer indexing, scheduling, and data ingress could make nodes heavier to run, narrowing who can realistically participate as a validator. That risks reducing the decentralization blockchains depend on for resilience. - Governance pressures: Disputes or failures involving real-world data feeds, external APIs, or cross-chain actions will arise more often, requiring not just technical fixes but robust social infrastructure, clear rules for voting, transparent arbitration, and mechanisms for community trust. Without them, Rialo risks re-centralizing decision-making around a handful of operators. Where, then, does this model make the most sense? That would be in sectors where external connectivity is indispensable and middleware bloat has consistently been a blocker: - Real-world assets: settling tokenized securities or commodities against off-chain events. - Supply chains: triggering a payment the moment a shipment clears customs, without relying on a third-party oracle. - Agent systems: AI agents interacting with real-world APIs and on-chain contracts simultaneously. - Real-time markets: prediction markets or insurance contracts that must resolve immediately against external data. For purely on-chain domains like DeFi primitives or NFTs, where composability matters more than external triggers, the advantages may be less pronounced. This shift is familiar to anyone who remembers the rise of Web2 platform services. Just as Heroku and Firebase abstracted away server maintenance so developers could focus on building products, Rialo is betting that a unified real-world network can let blockchain developers do the same. Adoption will ultimately depend on: - whether its protocol primitives mature quickly, - whether the ecosystem builds out SDKs and tooling that make them usable, - whether compliance features can adapt to changing regulations, - and whether governance proves resilient under adversarial conditions. The first applications will be the test case. If they show that Rialo can replace a fragile patchwork of middleware with a secure, auditable, and cost-effective base layer, it could set a new standard for real-world connectivity in blockchains. If not, it risks simply moving complexity from one part of the stack to another. But at a minimum, Rialo has forced the question: should real-world connectivity in blockchains continue to depend on layers of external vendors, or should it be built into the chain itself? That’s the question Rialo has put on the table — and it’s why I got interested in Rialo .show more

Here’s my analysis on NotPixel Airdrop: - Mining phase:... it was entertaining to paint on the canvas alongside with many of you! Personally, I had fun drawing 🧡 together with you, just for fun, no competition. For that I will rate it a ✅ - Earn Launchpool: personally, I think this is great that there’s such a tool, that allows holders effortlessly farm tokens. For me it’s a ✅ - Distribution: the major frustrations has been caused by the overload of the smart contract for Airdrop claim, where the biggest frustrations came from the fact that many were not able to claim their tokens for long (Including me) and watched the price go from $0,5 to $0,8 & to $0,2. Personally, I think that if Airdrop claim was done prior to the launch, it may have been better. For that, I will put a ❌ - Launch: NotPixel decided to launch its PX token only on DEX’es on TON. the price at launch actually was at $0,5-$0,8 however, it shortly went down to $0,2 , causing frustration to the community & making them question “who sold?!” & “why no CEX listings?” Here, it’s important to understand the way Sasha & his team decided that they want to build the project. As they mentioned on X “start from the basics, start from 0.” While many dislike this approach, I personally believe that this is how the launches must be happening. Launch on DEX -> generate traction & volume -> go list on CEX’es -> create more news -> grow more from new ppl joining For that I will put ✅ - Team allocation: while many have speculated that “team sold”. this is completely not true. In fact, team has locked their allocation & it can be verified on chain. Which is ✅ for me. - Future plans: NotPixel will have a big canvas on which you will be able to paint, but this time, with some NFT mechanics & PX token integration. For which it is ✅ to me. Burning: NotPixel plan with the new update also includes a mechanism for Burning, which means that PX token will be deflationary. Which is ✅ - ownership revoked: meaning that PX token supply cannot be increased. Nor any modifications could be made to the smart contract at this point. Which is a big ✅ in my opinion - Community: while many are still frustrated with the current token price on the market, many express desire for token appreciation & further growth. One of the interesting feedbacks I saw on the timeline was “NotPixel forced us all to hold”. Which shows that there are ppl who are not willing to get less than their target. Also many express that they want to see PX on CEX’es. For it to grow even more. ✅ - Holders: as with any Airdrop, many have sold their tokens on the market, the volume also came down a bit. However, what’s interesting is that while ~200k ppl sold, the token still fluctuates between the lowest point $0,13 to $0,26. Which shows that there’s a demand & ppl are accumulating more tokens. Currently PX has 205k holders. Which is a ✅ - BuyBacks: the NotPixel team recently announced the buybacks with the money raised from the NotPixel stickers sale. Which created more support for the price on the market. ✅ - Expectations vs reality: Many community members said that they were expecting price to be above $1 as minimum, many were predicting as high as $10. In reality, the price at launch turned out to be much lower than many expected. Leading to the frustration being expressed on the timeline. Which is understandable. ❌ Conclusion: - Mining phase: ✅ - Earn Launchpool: ✅ - Distribution: ❌ - Launch: ✅ - Team Allocation: ✅ - Future plans: ✅ - Burning: ✅ - Ownership revoked: ✅ - Community: ✅ - Holders: ✅ - BuyBacks: ✅ - Expectations vs reality: ❌ This is not bad execution, not many ppl will be able to pull this off in crypto. No one knows the future, but I chose to believe that Sasha & NotPixel team has a plan. Currently they are not listed on any CEX’es, but I think that Sasha & his team could easily get there. Let’s see what the future holds for us 🙌show more