Tires might be one of the more prosaic parts of a car, but they are undoubtedly among the most important. Bench racers might obsess about powertrain specs, and average consumers mostly want to know that there's wireless charging for their phones, but it's the tires that actually make contact with the road. Without them, no one is going anywhere. At least not very far.

In the past, tires have been considered somewhat mysterious, with secret blends of rubber, carbon, and other stuff combined with clever arrangements of belts and wires to hold the whole thing together as it rotates faster and faster without flying apart. These days, we know an awful lot about how tires work. Or at least tire companies like Goodyear do, having amassed enough testing data to be able to simulate them accurately enough to shave months off a development schedule.

In fact, the use of simulation in tire research and development has quite a long history. Chris Helsel, who is now Goodyear's CTO, joined the company back in 1996; he was hired as part of a tiny team doing computer tire simulation. "At Goodyear in '96, it felt like almost late to the party in terms of doing what we call finite element analysis, which is basically breaking a large structure down into little parts," Helsel said.

Read full article

Comments

© Goodyear

"The geofencing system was created as a voluntary built-in safety feature," the company writes.

Make the most of every 24 hours.

The rise of AI NPCs has felt like a looming threat for years, as if developers couldn't wait to dump human writers and offload NPC conversations to generative AI models. At CES 2025, NVIDIA made it plainly clear the technology was right around the corner. PUBG developer Krafton, for instance, plans to use NVIDIA's ACE (Avatar Cloud Engine) to power AI companions, which will assist and banter with you during matches. Krafton isn't just stopping there — it's also using ACE in its life simulation title InZOI to make characters smarter and generate objects.

While the use of generative AI in games seems almost inevitable, as the medium has always toyed with new methods for making enemies and NPCs seem smarter and more realistic, seeing several NVIDIA ACE demos back-to-back made me genuinely sick to my stomach. This wasn't just slightly smarter enemy AI — ACE can craft entire conversations out of thin air, simulate voices and try to give NPCs a sense of personality. It's also doing that work locally on your PC, powered by NVIDIA's RTX GPUs. But while all of that that might sound cool on paper, I hated almost every second I saw the AI NPCs in action.

TiGames' ZooPunk is a prime example: It relies on NVIDIA ACE to generate dialog, a virtual voice and lip syncing for an NPC named Buck. But as you can see in the video above, Buck sounds like a stilted robot with a slight country accent. If he's supposed to have some sort of relationship with the main character, you couldn't tell from the performance.

I think my visceral aversion to NVIDIA's ACE-powered AI comes down to this: There's simply nothing compelling about it. No joy, no warmth, no humanity. Every ACE AI character feels like a developer cutting corners in the worst way possible, as if you're seeing their contempt for the audience manifested a boring NPC. I'd much rather scroll through some on-screen text, at least I wouldn't have to have conversations with uncanny robot voices.

During NVIDIA's Editor's Day at CES, a gathering for media to learn more about the new RTX 5000-series GPUs and their related technology, I was also underwhelmed by a demo of PUBG's AI Ally. Its responses were akin to what you'd hear from a pre-recorded phone tree. The Ally also failed to find a gun when the player asked, which could have been a deadly mistake in a crowded map. At one point, the PUBG companion also spent around 15 seconds attacking enemies while the demo player was shouting for it to get into a car. What good is an AI helper if it plays like a noob?

Poke around NVIDIA's YouTube channel and you'll find other disappointing ACE examples, like the basic speaking animations in the MMO World of Jade Dynasty (above) and Alien: Rogue Incursion. I'm sure many devs would love to skip the chore of developing decent lip syncing technology, or adopting someone else's, but for these games leaning on AI just looks awful.

To be clear, I don't think NVIDIA's AI efforts are all pointless. I've loved seeing DLSS get steadily better over the years, and I'm intrigued to see how DLSS 4's multi-frame generation could improve 4K and ray-tracing performance for demanding games. The company's neural shader technology also seems compelling, in particular its ability to apply a realistic sheen to material like silk, or evoke the slight transparency you'd see from skin. These aren't enormous visual leaps, to be clear, but they could help deliver a better sense of immersion.

Now I'm sure some AI boosters will say that the technology will get better from here, and at some undefinable point in the future, it could approach the quality of human ingenuity. Maybe. But I'm personally tired of being sold on AI fantasies, when we know the key to great writing and performances is to give human talent the time and resources to refine their craft. And on a certain level, I think I'll always feel like the director Hayao Miyazaki, who described an early example of an AI CG creature as, "an affront to life itself."

AI, like any new technology, is a tool that could be deployed in many ways. For things like graphics and gameplay (like the intelligent enemies in F.E.A.R. and The Last of Us), it makes sense. But when it comes to communicating with NPCs, writing their dialog and crafting their performances, I've grown to appreciate human effort more than anything else. Replacing that with lifeless AI doesn't seem like a step forward in any way.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/nvidias-ai-npcs-are-a-nightmare-140313701.html?src=rss

©

© NVIDIA

The standard bearer of ultralight laptops gets smaller than ever—but performance and battery life remain elusive.

The Nokia Design Archive features some of the company’s wackier mobile ideas, including wearables, a touchscreen credit card, and a phone that lets you feel the texture of images.

Chris Wright, President-elect Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Energy, is planning to tell senators in charge of his confirmation that he will focus on restoring American "energy dominance" at home and abroad. 

Wright, a fossil fuel executive who in the past has been critical of the media blaming climate change for repeated wildfires, is expected to deliver his opening statement before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday morning. Fox News Digital obtained a copy of the statement in advance ahead of the hearing scheduled to start at 10 a.m. ET.

"I am humbled by the great responsibility this position holds," Wright is expected to say in his opening statement. "America has a historic opportunity to secure our energy systems, deliver leadership in scientific and technological innovation, steward our weapons stockpiles, and meet Cold War legacy waste commitments." 

Describing himself as a "science geek, turned tech nerd, turned lifelong energy entrepreneur," Wright will tell the committee how his "fascination with energy started at a young age in Denver, Colorado." His opening statement discusses how he enrolled at MIT "specifically to work on fusion energy" and later started graduate school at the University of California at Berkeley where he worked "on solar energy as well as power electronics."

TRUMP EYES AN END TO NEW WINDMILL PRODUCTION UNDER SECOND TERM, SAYS THEY ARE 'DRIVING THE WHALES CRAZY'

"Energy is the essential agent of change that enables everything that we do. A low energy society is poor. A highly energized society can bring health, wealth, and opportunity for all," Wright will say. "The stated mission of the company that I founded – Liberty Energy – is to better human lives through energy. Liberty works directly in oil, natural gas, next generation geothermal and has partnerships in next-generation nuclear energy and new battery technology." 

"Energy has been a lifelong passion of mine, and I have never been shy about that fact," Wright plans to tell the committee. "Then again, I have never been shy about much. President Trump shares my passion for energy and, if confirmed, I will work tirelessly to implement his bold agenda as an unabashed steward for all sources of affordable, reliable and secure American energy."

On Tuesday, committee Democrats led by Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico called for Wright's confirmation hearing to be delayed by at least a week, citing how they had not yet received "the standard financial disclosure report, ethics agreement, or the opinions from the designated agency ethics officer and the Office of Government Ethics stating that the nominee is in compliance with the ethics laws." 

Chairman Mike Lee, R-Utah, has already pushed back the confirmation hearing for Doug Burgum, Trump's pick for interior secretary, by two days until Thursday due to an OGE paperwork delay, but Wright's remained on the schedule Wednesday. 

If approved as secretary, Wright would manage energy policy and production in the United States, as well as the nation's nuclear weapon stockpile. He would also work with Burgum on the National Energy Council, where they would develop Trump's energy dominance policy involving increased production of U.S. oil and gas.

Wright has indicated that he plans to resign as CEO and chairman of his fracking company, Liberty Energy, if approved.

DEMS BLAME LA FIRE ON 'CLIMATE CHANGE' DESPITE CITY CUTTING FIRE DEPARTMENT BUDGET

In his opening statement, Wright identifies three "immediate" tasks that he would focus his attention on if confirmed.

"The first is to unleash American energy at home and abroad to restore energy dominance," Wright will say. "The security of our nation begins with energy. Previous administrations have viewed energy as a liability instead of the immense national asset that it is. To compete globally, we must expand energy production, including commercial nuclear and liquified natural gas, and cut the cost of energy." 

"Second, we must lead the world in innovation and technology breakthroughs," the statement continues. "Throughout my lifetime, technology and innovation have immeasurably enhanced the human condition. We must protect and accelerate the work of the Department’s national laboratory network to secure America’s competitive edge and its security. I commit to working with Congress on the important missions of the national laboratories." 

"Third, we must build things in America again and remove barriers to progress," Wright will say. "Federal policies today make it too easy to stop projects and very hard to start and complete projects. This makes energy more expensive and less reliable. President Trump is committed to lowering energy costs and to do so, we must prioritize cutting red tape, enabling private sector investments, and building the infrastructure we need to make energy more affordable for families and businesses." 

WIRED’s advice columnist cracks open the publication’s archive to consider past promises about AI agents, and to get some advice on how we can use automation while retaining our humanity.

Looking to start a personal budget or save come cash? Here are a few smartphone apps that can help you penny-pinch your way to financial peace of mind.

• Have you bought a virtual reality or augmented reality headset?
• If so, you're part of a small group of consumers — despite repeated predictions that the market will boom.
• Meta alone has lost $60 billion on this tech over five years. It's going to keep spending, says Mark Zuckerberg.

Mark Zuckerberg has spent tens of billions of dollars chasing it. Some of the biggest names in tech, including Apple, Microsoft, Google and Sony, have poured in billions more. For years.

But so far, no one has nailed it.

Maybe one day wearing computers on our heads will be something many of us do all the time, instead of a novelty we try a few times and then forget. We're not there yet.

It doesn't matter whether you're talking about super high-end devices like the Apple Vision Pro or low-priced novelties, like early editions of Snap's Spectacles. Or whether you're discussing virtual reality devices that create an entirely new world around the user or augmented reality headsets that let you see the outside world as well as digital images. All of these devices have yet to take off. Consumer demand isn't budging.

That hasn't stopped the tech industry from trying. Or deterred people around the tech world from predicting that one day, this will be a huge market.

You can see this spelled out in a new chart from analyst and investor Matthew Ball, as part of a new report he's released on the problems in the video gaming business. This one tracks the gap between projected headset sales, as estimated by International Data Corp., and actual sales.

As you can see, while IDC has been continually bullish about VR and AR headsets, consumer interest has lagged far behind. No matter what's on offer, at whatever price, these devices seem mired in the 10 million units a year or less range.

That's not to suggest that Zuckerberg — who has racked up more than $60 billion in losses on this tech over the past five years, filings show — is chasing after the market because of an IDC estimate. It just shows you that for close to a decade, the industry has been excited about this stuff, while many consumers remain unimpressed.

I talked to Jitesh Ubrani, the IDC researcher who works on this stuff, about the gap between his company's projections — which, to be fair, are projections — and reality.

He said his shop has become less optimistic over time about the market, which you can see reflected on the right side of the chart.

"Everyone is a bit more realistic about these expectations," he said, noting that the market for the tech has been "notably volatile" over the past few years, as big players like Microsoft and Google temper their interest in headsets. Meta PR declined to comment.

In his public comments, Zuckerberg has been telling investors that he'll continue chasing virtual and augmented reality tech, and that they should expect to see more losses in the future.

For him, the stakes seem quite clear: He wants people to use a new computing platform instead of, or in addition to, phones. And he wants to be able to interact with them on that platform without Google or Apple getting involved, as they do with their mobile platforms. And if all of that happens — meaning that Zuckerberg essentially creates the next iPhone — then burning tens of billions on R&D will seem like a good bet.

Meanwhile, Meta does seem to be making progress. The Orion glasses Zuckerberg showed off last fall — but isn't selling yet — are super-impressive. I've tried them, and I could definitely imagine using some version of them if they were way cheaper, and worked as advertised.

But those are big ifs, and it's possible Meta never figures out how to make these things at scale, and in a way that will sell hundreds of millions of units per year — like Apple does with its phones. But someone, somewhere, will keep insisting that the headset of the future is just around the corner.

• Finland said a Russia-linked oil tanker was close to wreaking havoc on its undersea cables.
• Its president said that officials intervened about 12 minutes before the damage got "much worse."
• The tanker is accused of being part of a Russian "shadow fleet" sabotaging European infrastructure.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on Tuesday that his country had stopped the crew of a Russia-linked oil tanker just minutes before it caused catastrophic damage to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea.

"Had it continued for another 12 minutes, the carnage would have been much worse than the four basic cables that were there," Stubb told reporters at this week's Baltic-focused NATO summit in Helsinki.

The tanker, the Eagle S, was seized in late December as Finland probed recent damage to its Estlink-2 power line, one of two vital cables carrying electricity in the Baltic Sea.

Four data cables were also severed.

Finnish investigators have accused the Eagle S crew of trying to sabotage the cables by dragging the ship's anchor for miles along the seabed.

The Finnish head of the investigation, Risto Lohi, told Reuters on Tuesday that the Eagle S would likely also have attempted sabotage on the other power cable, the Estlink-1, had police not boarded the vessel.

"There would have been an almost immediate danger that other cables or pipes related to our critical underwater infrastructure could have been damaged," said Lohi, who is the chief of Finland's National Bureau of Investigation.

On Tuesday, Stubb said that Finland's security process for protecting the cables started with the private company overseeing them. If a cable is severed, the firm would alert the authorities, who then try to find possible ships around the location of the damage.

"Once that happens, you identify the ship and contact the ship. Number four, you stop the ship," Stubb said.

Stubb added that Finnish authorities would compel the ship to enter Finnish waters, where officers could then legally board the vessel.

That process is set to change now. European members of NATO announced at the summit that they would launch a new program, called the "Baltic Sentry," to collectively patrol near Baltic Sea infrastructure.

The surveillance program involves frigates, maritime aircraft, and "a small fleet of naval drones," said NATO's secretary-general, Mark Rutte, at the summit.

The investigation into the Eagle S is of particular significance to the European Union because it's suspected for years that Russia has been intentionally trying to covertly damage Western undersea infrastructure. Other cables, such as two fiber-optic data cables running between Finland and Germany, were cut last year.

Though the Eagle S is registered in the Cook Islands, European officials say it's tied to Russia because it was carrying 35,000 tons of unleaded gasoline loaded in Russian ports.

They have accused the ship of being part of a Russian "shadow fleet," or a network of vessels with owners registered outside Russia that are actually carrying sanctioned Russian oil.

Russia has denied being involved in any way with such sabotage. The Russian Foreign Ministry did not respond to a comment request sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

The longtime panelist on 'The View' said she didn't exactly impress Barbara Walters the first time she did stand-up in front of her

"The show was a blessing to provide for our family, but he still was working in real estate and all of those things," she tells PEOPLE while discussing her new book 'People Pleaser'

PEOPLE exclusively announced the former reality star's third pregnancy in November 2024

The OnePlus 13 sets the stage for a feisty battle for the smartphone crown in 2025.

Don’t cancel therapy just yet, but these portable, at-home massagers might be the hack you need after stressful days.

Even with innovative RGB applets, Das’ latest mechanical keyboard feels stuck in the past.

I reach for them more than my pricier pairs

It won’t solve all of your privacy problems, but a virtual private network can make you a less tempting target for hackers.

• UK markets are a mess with yields on government bonds at historic highs and the pound tanking.
• Worries about inflation, public finances, and sticky interest rates are behind the chaos.
• Here's a breakdown of what's going on and what it means for Britain.

UK markets are roiling as wary investors prepare for trouble. Here's a closer look at what's happening — and what it means for the British people and their beleaguered economy.

Gilts and pounds

Yields on UK government bonds, or "gilts," have recently surged, while the pound has sunk against the dollar and lost ground versus the euro.

The benchmark 10-year gilt yield jumped from about 4.2% at the start of December to 4.9% on Monday, its highest level since 2008. Over the same period, the 30-year gilt yield leaped from around 4.7% to almost 5.5% for the first time since 1998.

Meanwhile, the pound weakened to a 14-month low against the dollar on Monday, with £1 worth $1.21 compared to $1.34 as recently as September. Sterling also revisited its November low against the euro with £1 worth 1.19 euros.

Prices and rates

Gilt yields have climbed and the greenback has gained against the pound because of the UK's bleak economic outlook.

Official estimates show the economy failed to grow in the third quarter of 2024. In late November, Goldman Sachs economists forecast a meager 1.2% growth rate for 2025, below the Bank of England's 1.5% estimate.

Annualized inflation spiked to a multi-decade high of more than 11% in October 2022, spurring the BoE to raise its base interest rate to 5.25% by August 2023 — a huge increase from virtually zero going into 2022.

Inflation has cooled significantly from its peak but accelerated to 3.5% last November, far outpacing the BoE's target rate of 2%. The central bank has trimmed its base rate to 4.75%, but signs of stubborn inflation have cut the chances of a flurry of further cuts this year.

President-elect Donald Trump's plans to impose tariffs and cut taxes once he enters office have also stoked global inflation fears, eroding hopes for rapid rate cuts in the UK and other countries.

Steeper interest rates encourage saving over spending and investing and make borrowing more expensive, which can ease upward pressure on prices but can also temper growth.

Public purse pressure

Investors are worried the UK government is overspending. It borrowed about £113 billion in the eight months through November 2024, raising the national debt to about £2.8 trillion — more than double the level before the financial crisis of 2008.

Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor (finance minister), has signaled she may rein in spending by making greater cuts to public services — but tightening the purse strings threatens to further weaken growth.

Concerns about persistent inflation, the public finances, and stagnation have hammered market sentiment toward the UK economy. Investors now demand a higher return to hold government debt, which has pushed up gilt yields.

Flight to safety

The prospect of higher rates for longer should benefit the pound because the currency's holders can expect to earn more interest. But that effect is being outweighed by the dollar's strength, underpinned by similar concerns in the US of stubborn inflation, sticky rates, and rising Treasury yields. Investors are flocking to the greenback as a haven asset, heaping pressure on the pound.

"Bond market turbulence, fears over unsustainable debt, and a lack of investor confidence in Britain's long-term prospects are all combining to pull sterling lower," Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, said in a note.

"The combination of a robust dollar and a weakening pound is accelerating the capital flight from sterling. Investors are turning to safer currencies and assets, as the UK appears increasingly fragile in this turbulent environment."

Flashes of the past

The upswing in gilt yields and the pound's retreat against the dollar evoke the crisis sparked by then-Prime Minister Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget in September 2022.

The tax cut plans spooked investors with the prospect of reckless government borrowing, resurgent inflation, and interest rates staying higher for longer.

With some pension funds on the brink of collapse, the BoE stepped in to shore up markets and calm the situation. The chaos dissipated but Truss resigned a few weeks later.

This time, government officials have indicated that gilt markets are functioning normally and emergency intervention isn't warranted.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that the government would continue to comply with its fiscal rules and reiterated his confidence in Reeves.

Budget pressure

The UK government funds itself partly by issuing gilts, so higher yields mean it has to pay more interest to bondholders. That raises its borrowing costs and eats into its tax revenue, leaving it with less money to spend on public services.

"The Chancellor already had limited wiggle room and the risk is that she may have to either cut spending or raise taxes," Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said in an emailed note.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, made a similar point in an emailed note: "Rachel Reeves is losing her fiscal headroom and her manoeuvre margin with every basis point rise in borrowing costs, and that muddies the UK's growth outlook."

Feeling the squeeze

Higher gilt yields mean steeper interest payments for households and businesses too, tempering the economy's growth prospects further.

Moreover, a weaker pound makes imports more expensive. That could fuel inflation, curb growth, pinch businesses that rely on foreign goods, and turn the screw on households already mired in a cost-of-living crisis.

Many consumers are struggling after sharp rises in the cost of food, fuel, housing, and other essentials since the pandemic — especially when they're paying more for their mortgages, credit cards, and other debts due to rate rises.

"Inflationary pressures remain persistent and elevated, while at the same time the growth backdrop, exacerbated by the recent budget, is deteriorating and straining government finances further," Mark Dowding, BlueBay chief investment officer at RBC Global Asset Management, said in an emailed note.

"Moreover, households will face rises in energy costs, water bills and council tax in April, adding to the squeeze in consumer budgets."

Savills recently estimated that nearly 700,000 UK homeowners face higher mortgage costs when their fixed-rate deals ended this year. Many hoped the BoE would steadily cut its base rate and mortgage rates would decline.

"But now, the newly elected Labour government, which promised to rescue the country, improve finances, and boost growth, faces its own reckoning," Ozkardeskaya wrote.

"To deliver on its ambitions, it needs market support — a resource proving elusive. Without it, borrowing costs will spiral higher, forcing tougher choices: more taxes, less spending, and weaker growth. And none of that bodes well for the pound."