All posts tagged: spark

Sydney Sweeney’s Euphoria Nude Scenes Continue To Spark Debate

Sydney Sweeney’s Euphoria Nude Scenes Continue To Spark Debate

Published by Sam Flores

Sydney Sweeney’s nude scenes in the new season of Euphoria were generating controversy before they’d even aired. In the latest episodes of the award-winning US drama, Sydney’s character Cassie has turned to modelling on OnlyFans, as a way of paying for the flowers in her upcoming wedding to Nate (played by recent Oscar nominee Jacob Elordi). Last week’s instalment saw Cassie posing in lingerie and dog accessories, which alarmed some viewers, as did a preview clip that included footage of the character posing in an “adult baby” outfit. Cassie’s OnlyFans storyline has been a difficult watch for some Euphoria viewers These latter shots were included in the latest episode of Euphoria, as part of a montage that saw Sydney’s character posing nude in a wet, see-through American flag, topless underneath American football gear and eating an ice cream which is dripping down her exposed breasts. After episode two aired, many critics voiced their discomfort with the scenes, and the portrayal of Cassie in Euphoria’s latest outing. “In season two, Cassie degraded herself for Nate,” one …

Gulf Shock May Spark Shortage Of World’s Most Critical Industrial Chemical, Used Heavily In Mining 

Gulf Shock May Spark Shortage Of World’s Most Critical Industrial Chemical, Used Heavily In Mining 

Published by Jenni Sidey

Goldman analysts Kyle Shaffer and Amanda Ross provided clients with a broad overview of industrials and natural resources amid energy disruptions in the Gulf area. In the note, they stated that the well-known Gulf energy shock is set to disrupt LNG production in Qatar for years to come. However, they also highlighted another emerging supply crunch that has received far less attention: sulfuric acid. “Some long-lasting consequences have also started to emerge, including a 3-5 years production loss for LNG facility in Qatar, a 6-12 month re-starting time for some aluminum facilities in the Gulf, and shortage of sulfuric acid which can potentially impact future production for copper and lithium” Shaffer and Ross said. About a third of the world’s sulfur comes from the Gulf region, where it is produced as part of oil and gas refining. Much of the sulfur is exported, primarily to fertilizer and industrial-processing hubs in Asia, North Africa, and, in Qatar’s case, some trading hubs across Asia and Europe. Goldman analyst James McGeoch noted on Wednesday that Shandong sulfuric acid …

Dollar jumps as failed US-Iran peace talks spark safe-haven push

Dollar jumps as failed US-Iran peace talks spark safe-haven push

Published by Sam Flores

LONDON, April 12 : The dollar jumped against other major currencies in early Asia trading on Monday, as investors sought its relative safety after marathon talks between Washington and Tehran failed to yield a peace deal, plunging markets into a seventh week of uncertainty. President Donald Trump on Sunday said the U.S. Navy would start blockading the Strait of Hormuz nL1N40U07M, a choke point for 20 per cent of the world’s daily energy supplies that Iran effectively closed since the war started in late February. That has driven oil prices up by over 30 per cent and fuelled fears of a widespread surge in inflation.  The dollar, which has acted as a safe haven given the limited exposure of the United States to imported energy-price inflation, rallied as Asian markets opened for trading, leaving the euro down 0.53 per cent at $1.1663 and gaining 0.1 per cent against the Japanese yen to trade at 159.43. US stock futures fell more than 1 per cent in late Sunday U.S. trading. Hopes the Middle East war was …

Forget Shokz: I tried the Suunto Spark earbuds for a month, and they’ve sold me on air conduction

Forget Shokz: I tried the Suunto Spark earbuds for a month, and they’ve sold me on air conduction

Published by skeptic

pros and cons Pros Outstanding audio quality. Reliable touch buttons and head movement control. The headset offers seven-hour battery life. IP55 dust and water resistance. Open-ear design. Cons Full support requires a Suunto watch. No wireless support for the charging case. Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. If you have read my headset reviews over the past couple of years, you’ve seen me move to using bone conduction headsets for safety reasons, and many of those headsets have been from Suunto. For the past month, I have been running with another option from Suunto that uses air conduction technology, and that is the Suunto Spark headset, available now for $179. Also: I found a smartwatch that’s just as reliable as my Garmin (but much cheaper) I continue to prefer bone conduction headsets that wrap around my head, but the Suunto Spark is a great option for those who want a higher-quality audio experience than what can be provided with bone conduction technology, while still providing a mostly open-ear experience for safety …

Dublin airport issues warning to passengers as protests spark delays on M50 | World | News

Dublin airport issues warning to passengers as protests spark delays on M50 | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

A major international airport has issued a warning to passengers this morning, April 10, as protests are raging on a nearby motorway. Dublin Airport has urged the passengers to allow extra time for their journey as a national fuel protest brought commuting routes into Dublin and other major roads around the country to a standstill for a third day. It published a statement on X this morning, reading: “Passengers travelling to/from Dublin Airport this morning are advised to allow extra time for their journey due to protest activity causing traffic disruption on some roads approaching the airport, including the M50. “Passengers should use live traffic apps (e.g. Google Maps & TFI Live) to identify their quickest/best route.” Several coordinated demonstrations are under way, involving slow-moving convoys on motorways, such as the M1 and M50, in protest at rising fuel prices as a result of the US and Israel’s war in Iran. Petrol and diesel costs have soared in recent weeks due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and the blocking of supplies through …

Where to start with: Muriel Spark | Books

Where to start with: Muriel Spark | Books

Published by Sam Flores

Next week marks 20 years since the death of the Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist Muriel Spark. She was best known for her 22 novels – uncanny, astute and witty – beginning with her 1957 debut The Comforters. Here, James Bailey, the author of a new biography, Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark, guides us through her oeuvre. The entry point Allowing for exceptions, a Spark novel has a particular method of reeling us in. She starts by introducing an enclosed community (be it of nuns, schoolgirls, or desert island castaways), which is full of gossip, deceptions and conflicts both petty and profound. Into this little world she drops a bomb: murder, scandal … or an actual bomb, if she’s feeling particularly reckless. She stands well back, and lets us watch as sparks fly. Anyone new to Spark’s way with a story would do well to start with 1959’s darkly comic Memento Mori. The novel introduces a cast of bickering pensioners, who find themselves troubled by …

Goodbye, Llama? Meta launches new proprietary AI model Muse Spark — first since Superintelligence Labs’ formation

Goodbye, Llama? Meta launches new proprietary AI model Muse Spark — first since Superintelligence Labs’ formation

Published by skeptic

Meta has been one of the most interesting companies of the generative AI era — initially gaining a loyal and huge following of users for the release of its mostly open source Llama family of large language models (LLMs) beginning in early 2023 but coming to screeching halt last year after Llama 4 debuted to mixed reviews and ultimately, admissions of gaming benchmarks. That bumpy rollout of Llama 4 apparently spurred Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to totally overhaul Meta’s AI operations in the summer of 2025, forming a new internal division, Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) which he recruited 29-year-old former Scale AI co-founder and CEO Alexandr Wang to lead as Chief AI Officer. Now, today, Meta is showing us the fruits of that effort: Muse Spark, a new proprietary model that Wang says (posting on rival social network X, used more often by the machine learning community) is “the most powerful model that meta has released,” and has “support for tool-use, visual chain of thought, & multi-agent orchestration.” He also says it will …

If Trump’s War in Iran Spirals Into a Full-Blown Recession, It Could Crush the AI Industry and Spark a Catastrophic Polycrisis

If Trump’s War in Iran Spirals Into a Full-Blown Recession, It Could Crush the AI Industry and Spark a Catastrophic Polycrisis

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Far be it from tech writers to chart yield curves or forecast jobs data, but it doesn’t take a tenured econ professor to notice the sorry state of the financial world. Thanks to Trump’s disastrous invasion of Iran, gas has surged to $9 a gallon in some places, the Dow and Nasdaq have officially entered a correction, and Bloomberg TV anchors are actively weighing the possibility of a full-blown “recession” on the airwaves. If they’re right, people across the US — indeed, the world — are in for plenty of financial pain. And though we’re fresh out of pity, the effects on the AI industry, which has long been speculated to be in a financial bubble, could be catastrophic. Well before the US war on Iran kicked off in late February, there were already trillions of dollars stuffed into the AI industry — a bottomless pit swallowing every last penny it comes across. Even several years into the …

Syrian authorities’ new limits on alcohol sales in Damascus spark backlash

Syrian authorities’ new limits on alcohol sales in Damascus spark backlash

Published by Sam Flores

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Crowds of Syrians rallied Sunday to protest authorities’ efforts to limit the sale and consumption of alcohol in Damascus, reflecting rising anxiety in the cosmopolitan capital that Syria’s new Islamist government may threaten long-held secular freedoms. Hundreds of residents from a range of religious sects poured into a grassy square in Bab Touma, a Christian neighborhood in Damascus, chanting “Syrians are united!” and brandishing signs that urged the government to safeguard personal liberties and religious minorities. “This is not about whether we want to drink alcohol, this is about personal freedom,” said Isa Qazah, a 45-year-old sculptor from the area who joined the protest along the medieval stone lanes near Damascus’ Old City. “We have come here to defend an idea.” Heavily armed security forces surrounded the protesters. The demonstration passed without incident. The controversy erupted last week, when the governor of Damascus issued a decree banning “the provision of alcoholic beverages of all kinds in restaurants and nightclubs” across the capital. Within three months, it says, restaurants must have tossed …

ChatGPT’s ‘Adult Mode’ Could Spark a New Era of Intimate Surveillance

ChatGPT’s ‘Adult Mode’ Could Spark a New Era of Intimate Surveillance

Published by skeptic

Julie Carpenter doesn’t blame human users at all for anthropomorphizing chatbots. The longtime human-AI interaction expert and author of The Naked Android sees generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, as intentionally designed to elicit these reactions from users through highly personalized memories and interactions that replicate social experiences. These one-sided connections may become even more complicated, and potentially disastrous, when AI-generated erotica is added as an option. Carpenter is apprehensive about OpenAI’s upcoming plans to allow adults to sext with ChatGPT. “I’m for people exploring their sexuality, but I want it in a way that’s safe for them as well as fun,” she says. “People have to be very aware that there’s a surveillance aspect to the data.” OpenAI first hinted at allowing adult users to generate erotica using ChatGPT two years ago in an official document describing how its models are designed to behave. While the company still seems to be planning its eventual release, the timeline is murky. In recent months, OpenAI’s advisory council of outside experts expressed concerns about the risks of this …