PC Gamer argues that 2025 was a year full of high-profile AI embarrassments across games and entertainment, with Disney and Lucasfilm serving as the "opening salvo." From the report: At a TED talk back in April, Lucasfilm senior vice president of creative innovation Rob Bredow presented a demonstration of what he called "a new era of technology." Across 50 years of legendary innovation in miniature design, practical effects, and computer animation, Lucasfilm and its miracle workers at Industrial Light & Magic have blazed the trail for visual effects in creative storytelling -- and now Bredow was offering a glimpse at what wonders might come next.
That glimpse, created over two weeks by an ILM artist, was Star Wars: Field Guide: a two-minute fizzle reel of AI-generated blue lions, tentacled walruses, turtles with alligator heads, and zebra-stripe chimpanzees, all lazily spliced together from the shuffled bits of normal-ass animals. These "aliens" were less Star Wars than they were Barnum & Bailey. It felt like a singular embarrassment: Instead of showing its potential, generative AI just demonstrated how out of touch a major media force had become. And then it kept happening.
At the time, I wondered whether evoking the legacy of Lucasfilm just to declare creative bankruptcy had provoked enough disgusted responses to convince Disney to slow its roll on AI ventures. In the months since, however, it's clear that Star Wars: Field Guide wasn't a cautionary tale. It was a mission statement. Disney is boldly, firmly placing its hand on the hot stove. Other embarrassing AI use cases include Fortnite's AI-powered Darth Vader NPC, Activision's use of AI-generated art in what was widely described as the "weakest" Call of Duty launch in years, McDonald's short-lived AI holiday ad, and Disney's $1 billion licensing deal with OpenAI.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from DW: India has surpassed Japan to become the world's fourth-largest economy, according to calculations in the Indian government's end-of-year economic review. On current trends, India is expected to overtake Germany to become the world's third-largest economy within the next three years, the review said.
The review said India's gross domestic product has already reached about $4.18 trillion, and is projected to reach $7.3 trillion by 2030. On current trends, it said, India would trail only the United States and China in economic heft. India's real GDP grew 8.2% in the second quarter of the 2025-26 financial year, up from 7.8% in the previous quarter and marking a six-quarter high.
Export performance has also strengthened, the review noted. Merchandise exports rose to $38.13 billion in November, up from $36.43 billion in January, supported by engineering goods, electronics, pharmaceuticals, and petroleum products. Official confirmation however depends on data due in 2026 when final annual GDP figures are released. The International Monetary Fund suggests India will surpass Japan next year. The Reserve Bank of India has revised its growth forecast for the 2025-26 financial year upward to 7.3%.
Steve Jackson Games is relaunching Toon, the game where you get to play an animated character of your design from Saturday morning cartoons. Recreate a facsimile (or mockery) of your favorite cartoon character, all for $20 for the PDF! If you want a softcover of the rules, you can get that for $35 ($45 with shipping to the USA), which will also get you the PDF. In this game you can't get killed, you just fall down and will be back in the next scene.
Every character has a Schtick, a form of superpower, much like Popeye's spinach gives him temporary super-strength. Your toon has characteristics of Smarts, Brawn, Chutzpah, and Zip, you also have to decide Species, though you don't have to be organic or Earth-based. You wanna be a Martian? Go for it! You wanna be a toaster, or cloud, or imaginary friend? Why not! In this game, the game master is called the Animator, for obvious reasons.
The Backerkit project is open for another 16 days, and is already massively overfunded. They are projecting fulfillment by the end of next year. Presumably that's a massive overprojection and it will be filled well before then.
A family game of silliness suitable for ages six and up! And not for gamers who take things crazily serious. ;-) If someone is incapable of sticking their tongue thoroughly in their cheek, they really ought to witness a game before diving in, and there's really not much preventing them from jumping in in the middle of a session.
Axios reports that venture capitalist Alex Davis is warning that a speculative rush to build data centers without committed tenants could trigger a financing crunch by 2027-2028.
"This critique is coming from inside the AI optimist camp," notes Axios, as Davis' firm, Disruptive, "recently led a large investment in AI chipmaker Groq, which then signed a $20 billion licensing deal with Nvidia. It's also backed such unicorn startups as Reflection AI, Shield AI and Gecko Robotics."
Here's what Davis had to say in his investor letter this morning: "While I continue to believe the ongoing advancements in AI technology present 'once in a lifetime' investment opportunities, I also continue to see risks and reason for caution and investment discipline. For example, we are seeing way too many business models (and valuation levels) with no realistic margin expansion story, extreme capex spend, lack of enterprise customer traction, or overdependence on 'round-trip' investments -- in some cases all with the same company. I am also deeply concerned about the 'speculative' data center market. The 'build it and they will come' strategy is a trap. If you are a hyperscaler, you will own your own data centers. We foresee a significant financing crisis in 2027-2028 for speculative landlords. We want to back theowner/users, not the speculative landlords, and we are quite concerned for their stress on the system."
The full letter can be found here.
China is quietly mandating that chipmakers use at least 50% domestically made equipment when expanding capacity, "as Beijing pushes to build a self-sufficient semiconductor supply chain," according to Reuters. From the report: The rule is not publicly documented, but chipmakers seeking state approval to build or expand their plants have been told by authorities in recent months that they must prove through procurement tenders that at least half their equipment will be Chinese-made, the people told Reuters. The mandate is one of the most significant measures Beijing has introduced to wean itself off reliance on foreign technology, a push that gathered pace after the U.S. tightened technology export restrictions in 2023, banning sales of advanced AI chips and semiconductor equipment to China.
While those U.S. export restrictions blocked the sale of some of the most advanced tools, the 50% rule is leading Chinese manufacturers to choose domestic suppliers even in areas where foreign equipment from the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Europe remain available. Applications failing the threshold are typically rejected, though authorities grant flexibility depending on supply constraints, the people said. The requirements are relaxed for advanced chip production lines, where domestically developed equipment is not yet fully available. "Authorities prefer if it is much higher than 50%," one source told Reuters. "Eventually they are aiming for the plants to use 100% domestic equipment."
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: Mac Bauer is fast, but the city's trams, weighing more than 100,000lbs and traveling at a maximum speed of nearly 45mph, should be far faster than him. And yet as of late December, in head-to-head races against streetcars, the 32-year-old remains undefeated in his quest to highlight how sluggish the trams, used by 230,000 people daily, truly are.
Some races have pushed him closer to his limits as a runner. On other occasions, the car has been so slow he's had time to nip into a McDonald's before it reaches the last station. "I don't like winning. I really don't. I really, really wish these streetcars were faster than me," he said. "But they're not. And this is the problem." Bauer's rise as a running celebrity and transit critic embodies the mounting frustration of a city beset by chronic delays, congested streets and decades of under-built transit.
"Streetcars just shouldn't be stuck in traffic," he said, adding the system also needed more "signal priority" which gives the streetcars lengthened green lights and shortened red lights. Bauer started racing transit vehicles roughly a year ago after he and his wife realized how long it took them to traverse the city. He posted videos of those races to Instagram and quickly transformed into a minor celebrity. Bauer describes his runs as a form of social activism, and his ability to lay bare the absurdities of Toronto's beleaguered public transit system -- a person can outrun a streetcar! -- has struck a nerve with the tens of thousands of commuters who share his Instagram posts.
Кугач Михаил Юрьевич, «Зажгли ёлку». 1976 год. Холст наклеенный на двп, масло. Национальный художественный музей Республики Саха, Якутия.
Желаю каждому из вас в новом году здоровья, побольше светлых, радостных моментов, исполнения желаний. (не бойтесь желаний своих, как же иначе исполнится то, главное, которое президент Украины за нас озвучил?)
Я желаю всем жить в мире. Я хочу, чтобы мир наступил, и чтобы это был правильный, честный, справедливый мир, а не «мирные соглашения» уродов и ублюдков. Я желаю пользователям ЖЖ дальнейшего творчества — неважно где, на чьей платформе, на каком ресурсе, главное, чтобы дух творчества вас не оставил, несмотря на попытки крайне бездарных людей у нас этот дух отобрать. Желаю всем, кто обрел здесь друзей, их не растерять, а возможности у нас для этого есть. Наконец я желаю всем украинцам, всем израильтянам и всем хорошим людям на всей планете тихой и праздничной новогодней ночи. Пусть сбудутся наши мечты.
Протягом досить довгого часу щодня в останній день року я підбивав якісь підсумки та підбирав фотографії, але зараз, відверто кажучи, нахера то? Коли головна асоціація 2025 - ось ця картинка:
І далеко не факт, що в рік червоного єбисьвоноконем не стане ще гірше. Проте раніше я лишав і якусь пісню, от цю традицію не буду переривати - хай буде на противагу не дуже оптимістичній картинці. "Я знаю, всі імперії впадуть."
Two cybersecurity professionals who spent their careers defending organizations against ransomware attacks have pleaded guilty in a Florida federal court to using ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware to extort American businesses throughout 2023.
Ryan Goldberg, a 40-year-old incident response manager from Georgia, and Kevin Martin, a 36-year-old ransomware negotiator from Texas, admitted to conspiring to obstruct commerce through extortion. Between April and December 2023, Goldberg, Martin, and a third unnamed co-conspirator deployed the ransomware against multiple U.S. victims and agreed to pay ALPHV BlackCat's operators a 20% cut of any ransoms received. They successfully extracted approximately $1.2 million in Bitcoin from one victim, splitting their 80% share three ways before laundering the proceeds. Both men face up to 20 years in prison and are scheduled for sentencing on March 12, 2026.
The Justice Department noted that all three conspirators possessed specialized skills in securing computer systems against the very attacks they carried out. ALPHV BlackCat has targeted more than 1,000 victims globally and was the subject of an FBI disruption operation in December 2023 that saved victims an estimated $99 million through a custom decryption tool.
"Ах, Мэри, Мэри, Мэри, Как трудно в Эсэсэре, За то, что я Кирилл, Я сто рублей платил!" (из детского анекдота).
Пост из серии "не всё так однозначно", подразделы "опять эта проклятая неизвестность" и "начальству виднее".
А они точно-точно хотели вражескую заграницу отключить от российского сектора, или же всё-таки монетизироваться и задавить ботов?
Возможность для некириллического юзера постить посты, обойдя все рогатки оценок по "социальному капиталу жж" - это понятно зачем - чтобы не убивать заграничные журналы, в том числе просто иностранцев, к России и русским никакого отношения не имеющие, которым очень непросто будет зарегистрироваться в сбербанке или даже оплатить сервис.
Но тогда подобная же возможность появляется у хозяев ботов, и единственный способ её задавить - это не давать некириллическим юзерам постить комментарии в кириллические журналы.
Благостную картину портит лишь сокрытие новых постов некириллических журналов для юзеров в России, но и это можно при желании объяснить совершенно благими намерениями. Наверное, можно.
Но если вы, как я - давний пользователь ЖЖ, а уж тем более (не как я) популярный автор, вашего социального капитала должно же хватить (как у меня), чтобы постить в ЖЖ, переключившись на кириллические сервисы (*). Хотя, лично меня от этого шага что-то пока останавливает.
---- (*) Что опять же говорит в пользу благих намерений уважаемой Администрации. Ведь никто из активных популярных пользователей в правах урезан не будет, даже если и живёт на вражеском Западе и публикует разные нехорошие вредные посты.
Тут чуть больше двадцати лет 20 лет жизни. И так обидно, что не было до жж такого места, где б жизнь умещалась – в буковках, в фотках. Из жж можно узнать, когда зацвели вишни пятнадцать лет назад, и о чём мы болтали с Васькой в какой-нибудь зимний вечер – и вспомнить и обрадоваться, как в детстве подарку от Деда Мороза – и пережить заново – и знать, что всегда рядом – открыть и погрузиться. ЖЖ – это много приятелей, и несколько самых родных и близких друзей.
Когда-то казалось, что жж создаёт русскую культурную среду – без границ.
Потом народ побежал в ФБ. Я никогда этого не понимала. Совсем. Русские спецслужбы ровно с тем же успехом могли следить и за ФБ.
А уж неудобство ФБ очевидно – вместо ленты помойка, найти нельзя ничего... Даже с эстетической точки зрения выглядит безобразно.
В какой-то момент я стала писать под копирку посты и в ЖЖ, и в ФБ. Не из конформизма, а из чего-то вроде тщеславия – не хотелось писать просто в стол, хотелось, чтоб кто-нибудь читал, какого-то отклика. В жж даже личные друзья читать перестали.
Дрим открыла и туда время от времени копировала ЖЖ. Вот сейчас запустила очередной импорт. Последний был в 23 году. Наверно, придётся писать там.
В ЖЖ я нажала на кнопку, позволяющую кириллическому сервису доступ, чтоб сохранить возможность комментировать для людей в России, у которых этот доступ есть. Я глубоко уверена, что это изменение правил – просто, чтоб напакостить. Ничего нет за этим другого. Даже вряд ли деньги. Платный аккаунт стоит гроши. С другой стороны, конечно, курочка по зёрнышку клюёт...
Что жж-шные управители гады, я знала и без новшеств, но и Цукерберг – тоже гад, а уж сейчас, когда он без объяснений у кучи людей убрал аккаунты, – о чём говорить. Если о том, что с гадами не надо дела иметь, так уж уходить и оттуда.
А ещё в жж я честно проглядывала всю ленту, останавливаясь, когда что-то задевало, или даже просто когда хотелось человеку сказать «куку», кивнуть – что дескать, не в пустыню он пишет...
The global airline industry is on track to post an all-time profit high of nearly $40 billion in 2025, according to trade group IATA, surpassing the pre-pandemic 2019 figure of $26 billion, but carriers are still managing a net margin of just 4% -- roughly $7.90 per passenger. Economist adds: Not everything has been in the ascent. European and North American airlines, which account for three-fifths of the industry's net profits, have had to contend with circuitous long-haul routes to avoid Russian airspace since the start of the war in Ukraine. This year parts of the Middle East became no-go zones after Israel's strike on Iran in June. America's airlines were hit by a government shutdown that stopped federal workers from travelling and kept unpaid air-traffic controllers at home, disrupting flights.
What is more, despite a drop in fuel prices, which account for 25-30% of airlines' operating expenses, other costs have risen. Airlines flew 4.8 billion passengers in 2024, beating the 2019 peak, and that figure likely reached 5 billion in 2025 as combined revenues topped $1 trillion for the first time and load factors hit a record of nearly 84%.
But the industry is flying older planes because Boeing and Airbus can't deliver enough new ones. The duopoly shipped under 1,400 aircraft in 2025, well below the 2018 record of just over 1,600. Boeing has struggled since two fatal 737 MAX crashes in late 2018 and early 2019 led to a 20-month grounding, and a fuselage panel blew off another 737 MAX mid-flight in early 2024. Airbus cut its 2025 delivery target from 820 to 790 in early December due to a supplier's production flaw, and Pratt & Whitney engine problems have grounded a third of the global A320neo fleet.
IATA estimates the aircraft shortage won't resolve before 2031 at the earliest, and the global fleet's average age has climbed to 15 years from 13 in 2019. Annual fuel efficiency gains have slowed from about 2% to 0.3% in 2025, and an IATA and Oliver Wyman report pegs the cost of aging fleets -- extra fuel, repairs, spare parts -- at over $11 billion in 2025.
В Мариуполе торжественно открыли драмтеатр, который разбомбили вместе с прятавшимися там взрослыми и детьми. Который потом разобрали, срочно и тайно, чтоб никто ничего не нашёл. И построили свой поверх братской могилы.
Теперь открыли. Предновогодье. Песни, танцы, смех, ёлка, радость... Праздник для души, прям...
А сколько в той могиле было, сколько их там осталось, что стало с телами погибших не узнает, скорее всего, никто и никогда. Это ж не эксгумация на Волыни...
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