Our annual gathering, MAICON (Marketing AI Conference) has wrapped, and Paul and Mike dive into a bit of the key event takeaways, including an impromptu/modified closing keynote breaking down the Strawberry (OpenAI o1) launch. Also, OpenAI’s $150B valuation and Google’s Notebook LM update make for an exciting episode! Continue reading “OpenAI o1, Google’s Insane NotebookLM Update, MAICON 2024 & OpenAI’s $150B Valuation”
NEED TO KNOW
What is it? A city builder and society sim set in a frozen world
Expect to pay: $44.99/£37.99
Developer: 11 bit studios
Publisher: 11 bit studios
Reviewed on: Intel i7-9700K, RTX 4070 Ti, 16GB RAM
Steam Deck: Not Verified
Multiplayer? No
Link: Official site
Citizens of New London: As you prepare to banish me from our city forever, I hope you understand that I always had good intentions. I never meant to run out of food, let hundreds of you perish from cold, or have the streets patrolled by giant fascist robots who stomp entire buildings flat while trying to prevent a single starving child from stealing a chocolate bar. Things just… got outta hand.
But before I step out onto the frozen tundra to die despised and alone, I would like to point out that a lot of what went wrong is, from my perspective, entirely your fault. If you could agree on a school curriculum our city wouldn’t have roving gangs of knife-wielding children. If you’d let me harvest dead citizens for spare parts you might have replacements for those eyes you lost due to working double shifts in my horribly squalid factories.
And frankly, if you hadn’t kept sabotaging my efforts to bring new technology to our city I wouldn’t have had to use quite so much new technology—like my merciless mechanized police robots—to brutally punish you. Farewell! I hate you all.
30 years after the events of the original Frostpunk, the world is still freezing cold and society is still a hot mess. Frostpunk 2 is much bigger than the first game—in Frostpunk you finish the campaign with a city of maybe 800 citizens, whereas now you start out with a population 10 times that. This increase in scale isn’t entirely successful: as a city builder, Frostpunk 2 is far more abstract than the original, and I never felt much of a connection to, or interest in, my city as a physical place. As a society management simulation, however, Frostpunk 2 is just as effective as the original. It’s packed wall-to-wall with torturous choices, agonizing consequences, and a sliding scale of morality that’s slippery as ice.
Once again you’re in charge of New London, decades after it was founded and built in the original game. The breaking news isn’t great: coal, which has kept the city’s generator burning for 30 years, is dwindling. It’s time to expand the borders and harvest more materials from the frozen ground outside the city, while restlessly searching the distant frigid wastelands for entirely new resources, like oil, to keep your people alive and warm.
In Frostpunk 2 you longer place roads, houses, or single factories in your city as you expand, but lay out massive districts that can support thousands of people. Instead of a timescale of hours or days, entire weeks rush by in a matter of seconds. This transformation from the small settlements of the original game to a massive metropolis is exciting, especially visually, but it loses something in the process.
My city looks gorgeous, a sprawling network of dieselpunk pipelines, busy roadways, and fume-belching factories, but even at its slowest speed it’s like looking at a city in timelapse, which makes it feel all the more artificial. Even after hours of construction and planning, my city never felt like a place I actually built. You can zoom in on one building per district for a closer look and see a little vignette of citizens at work, but it never feels like you’re peering into a living, breathing place.
There’s still some degree of micromanagement and strategy. Harvesting the tundra means deploying “frostbreakers” to smash the ice and expose the resources beneath, which then can be harvested by building an extraction district on top. There are bonuses and penalties from certain layouts—housing does well next to sources of heat, but suffers from pollution when they’re too close to industrial areas. You no longer assign workers to buildings, but you can adjust the output of districts, which dictates what percentage of workers it will employ, letting you underclock districts if you need their workforce elsewhere.
Still, fine-tuning my districts doesn’t quite capture my interest the way most city builders do when they have a more street-level granularity to their systems. Most of the depth of Frostpunk 2 is reserved for the most challenging element of the city: dealing with the people who live in it.
Influencing every action you take in Frostpunk 2 are New London’s factions and communities. You begin the game with only two or three factions in your city, but as the months and years pass the choices you make, or don’t make, will give rise to more. During times of unrest or sweeping change, smaller factions may splinter off the main groups, and while they only represent a small percentage of your population, they can still create big problems.
My city’s biggest faction was the Stalwarts: law-and-order fanatics who pretty quickly started suggesting disturbing ideas like “thought control” programs and human experimentation on prisoners—even before I’d built a prison. I also had more moderate groups like the Frostlanders, who had tried (and failed) to establish their own city outside the walls, and New Londoners who were dedicated to keeping the central generator running.
Pilgrims loathe technology so much they want me to shut off the giant generator that’s kept humanity alive for the past 30 years.
But my choice to research and implement new tech saw the rise of a group called Pilgrims, who loathe technology so much they want me to shut off the giant generator that’s kept humanity alive for the past 30 years. Hardcore survivalists called the Icebloods also appeared, extreme badasses who walk around shirtless in the cold and wrestle bears—like, for real, bears—but also think city guards should be immune from prosecution. They worry me. They all worry me.
Factions don’t just beef with you but with each other. As the Pilgrims were getting more and more annoyed with my insistence on providing heat to my citizens, they requested that I let a bunch of them leave the city to explore the frozen world outside. That was 100% fine with me—the fewer Pilgrims on my streets, the better, right? But while they were off chanting in the snow (or whatever cold-loving zealots do), the Stalwarts saw their chance to grow in power. They visited the Pilgrims’ unattended kids and indoctrinated them into their “youth program.” That made the Pilgrims even more unhappy, and I wasn’t crazy about the idea of the Stalwarts boosting their numbers with brainwashed kids, either.
Getting laws passed among these conflicting factions almost always requires making deals: a group can be persuaded to vote against their interests in exchange for some consideration later, like agreeing to research a branch of technology they favor, or letting them set the agenda for the next vote. Break a promise you made, and their approval of you will plunge, sometimes so much they’ll become actively hostile and begin holding anti-you rallies, which can shut down your districts until you either start giving them what they want or send in a stronger faction to run them off. There’s a dilemma for you: should I squash the zealot community by empowering the fascist community? Spoiler: I did.
Compromising with myself was sometimes easier than compromising with factions.
That was just one of many steps I took down a darker path. Despite my semi-good intentions I slowly found myself worn down by the endless political give and take and the occasional major crisis, and soon I was making decisions not because they felt right but because they would give me what I wanted with the least resistance. Compromising with myself was sometimes easier than compromising with factions. “Okay, it’s gonna make the zealots even angrier if I pass an organ donation law, so I’ll let them have religious funerals instead. And if people need transplants… well, I’ll deal with that later. Somehow.”
Once I started betraying my own values it was pretty easy to keep on doing it. At first I scoffed at the idea of robot patrols, but then crime went through the roof and passing reasonable laws would have taken far too long and cost me more political capital than I could spend. And there was my city’s biggest and most favorable faction essentially elbowing me and pointing at a button labeled “activate giant robot cops.” Crime went down. That makes it worth it, right?
Other choices feel doomed from the start. Mandatory schooling for kids seems logical (especially because if you don’t put kids in school they begin knife-fighting in the streets) but what agenda should be taught? Survival classes on how to endure the cold and kill seals for meat makes sense, but don’t we as a society want to progress beyond mere day-to-day survival?
Well, how about a mixed curriculum, with some time spent on math and science and theoretical tech, and some spent on practical knowledge. Well, no, because while trying to take a balanced approach you’ve instantly made every single faction unhappy. They don’t see it as you giving them some of what they want, they see it as you denying them most of what they want. This is what you’re dealing with in Frostpunk 2. An unreasonable, angry mob that won’t meet you halfway and, quite frankly, deserves to feel the wrath of giant terror-bots at every turn.
Thankfully, I could take a break from my massive toxic city on the brink of disaster by poking my head up and exploring the world around me. The wasteland is dotted with resource nodes to harvest, frozen settlements to plunder, and tidbits of lore about what’s happened in the decades since the events of the first game. Best of all, there are larger locations in the world you can turn into proper colonies. Peel off a couple thousand citizens, send them there, and begin building housing and mining operations just like at home, though on a much smaller scale than New London.
There are huge benefits to colonization—connect your colonies and main city with trails and skylines and you can ship resources like oil, food, and manpower between them, which saved New London from outright disaster on more than one occasion. The only downside is handling the needs of one city is already a lot, and each colony is like adding another hand grenade to your juggling act. I sent those pesky Pilgrims to go colonize a new location, and they immediately began sabotaging it. God, I hate them. Maybe those thought control programs aren’t a bad idea.
Not so shockingly, on more than one occasion my “trust” meter—the constantly shrinking line at the bottom of my screen—went completely dark. Pass enough unpopular laws, break enough promises, run out of food because you were too busy tinkering with a colony instead of minding the shop, and your competing factions will finally agree on something: kicking you out of office and into the snow to die. On the plus side there are lots of ways to start over: in addition to the New London campaign, there’s a sandbox mode with seven different starting locations, different win-states to choose from, and other modifiers to play with.
As a city builder, Frostpunk 2 is a bit of a step down from the original due to the increase in scale, which unfortunately keeps the city at arm’s length. As a society sim, however, it’s every bit as engrossing as the first Frostpunk. Like a tiny snowball rolling down the side of a mountain and eventually becoming an avalanche, even the smallest choices can have major consequences.
In his article for the Sydney Morning Herald, James Pearson highlights the incredible resurgence of video technology company Atomos, comparing its journey to a phoenix rising from the ashes. When Atomos first listed on the ASX in 2018, its stock price skyrocketed by 210% in just three days, thanks to its innovative Ninja video recorder and monitor. The Ninja product, which allowed users to record high-quality video directly from cameras, caught the attention of major tech players like Apple, which integrated its ProRes codec into Atomos devices, further fueling the company’s rapid rise.
However, Atomos faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Slowing sales, combined with a high research and development budget, led to the departure of CEO and co-founder Jeromy Young in 2021. The company struggled financially, but in 2023, Young returned, leading a bold restructuring effort. Under his leadership, Atomos launched new products like the Ninja Phone and the Sun Dragon lighting system, raising $16 million in capital. The company’s stock, which had been suspended, was relisted on the ASX and saw a significant price rally, signaling a renewed optimism for the brand’s future.
Pearson concludes that Atomos is now positioned for a strong comeback in the tech industry. With its recent innovations and a renewed focus on product development, Atomos has the potential to drive future growth and restore shareholder confidence. The launch of the Ninja Phone and Sun Dragon could be the catalyst the company needs to regain its foothold in the competitive video technology market. This remarkable turnaround story shows Atomos’ resilience and ability to adapt in a rapidly changing industry.
Read the full article by James Pearson for Sydney Morning Herald HERE
Learn more about Atomos below:
There are a SSRS report and stored procedure to record new rows into SQL server table by using few parameters. So, basically we have users actions in SSRS report, where they choosing options from few lists with given options, then record it with a button, then we got new rows with data in SQL database.
I got an issue as a BI developer, have to add more parameters to be recorded by report/form, so trying to figure out how to make this process more flexible and optimised.
Came with an idea to use some web-form for this goal. But i’ve never worked with web/page coding. So far discovered there are many ways to achieve it, like ASP.NET application in Visual Studio, node.js, Power Automate/Apps.
What solution might be optimal to that type of task?
The Roku Channel has reached a major milestone by fully blending into Google TV’s search tools.
Google TV really wants to lock in its spot as the go-to streaming hub. It’s packed with free channels, personalized picks, watchlist options, and access to nearly every popular streaming app. After landing on Google TV in July of last year, The Roku Channel now sits alongside apps like Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Disney+ in search recommendations, according to Cord Cutters News.
With the streaming service now built into its search tools, Google TV makes it easier for viewers to find tons of free content. The Roku Channel’s massive library includes thousands of shows and over 350 live TV channels.
The exact timing of the integration isn’t clear, but it fits with Google’s plan to boost free ad-supported viewing. To get The Roku Channel recommendations, just download the app on your Google TV, activate it via the Google TV Mobile app, go to your profile, choose “Manage services,” and switch on The Roku Channel.
This move signals Google’s growing effort to double down on free streaming after it recently rebranded its hub to Google TV Freeplay.
The Google TV Freeplay section boasts over 150 curated FAST channels and replaces the old Google TV label under “Free built-in channels,” better reflecting its offerings.
While it’s not a game-changer, the new branding sets the stage for Google to broaden its free content lineup, possibly adding more channels from its own platforms like YouTube.
With the new Roku integration and the rebranding to Google TV Freeplay, Google is clearly aiming to boost its competitive edge by offering a wider range of budget-friendly entertainment options. This move not only strengthens Google TV’s position as a major streaming player but also helps increase its revenue as streaming hardware gets cheaper.
If you’re a writer who has considered working with an agency then you’ll be interested in this first-person case study. Working with agencies isn’t for everyone but for some it can be the financial and career breakthrough you’re looking for as a freelancer.
It was May 2014, and I was panicking.
I was laid off from my job at a New York media startup three months before, and was squirreling away whatever severance money I had left.
To complicate things, I moved to Orlando after getting married, abandoning the biggest media market in the country for a city where media jobs were scant.
So, I did what any job seeker would do and scoured the job boards.
I came across the Orlando Public Relations Society’s job board and saw a contract position working for a local marketing agency on a hospital’s website redesign.
That three-month project launched my freelance career and became part of a strategy I’ve used the last three years to continually increase my income while growing a sustainable freelance content-marketing business.
Most freelancers shy away from working with agencies for two reasons: the positions are usually in-house and the pay can be lower than working directly with a client.
Those are valid concerns, but with the rise of content marketing there are more opportunities for remote work than ever.
My first agency project, which involved creating content for a large hospital’s website, required four in-person meetings over three months. I did most of my work from home.
That first position led to more projects with the agency, producing ghostwritten blog posts, press releases and content for email campaigns. Eventually the agency put me on retainer—and I still work for that team today.
Freelancing is a hustle.
Getting clients—and keeping them—is key to building a business. But this is often the most difficult part for freelancers. Marketing takes time, but agencies cut down the lead time for freelancers to get new clients because they’ve already done the hard work of building the relationship. They also manage the whole process, so you don’t have to worry about all the administrative work and meetings that are part of a direct client engagement.
Over the years, all my agency work has been remote. I’ve worked with an agency in California that hires freelancers to produce longform B2B content, a New York-based content marketing agency that works with Fortune 500 companies and a Boston content marketing agency that does the same thing.
I’ve also worked with the in-house content studios of a few New York media companies, another type of agency that’s emerged as the content marketing industry has grown. Many of these clients pay $1 a word. Some pay less, but all have given me a steady stream of work, which mostly has helped me avoid the financial ups and downs that are typical with freelancing.
The best thing about working with an agency is that if you’re good, the work keeps coming. But how do you get work in the first place? Follow these tips.
Reach out to local marketing and PR agencies. Marketers are skilled strategists—not skilled writers, so many agencies need people with journalism skills to write for their clients. Consider purchasing a Book of Lists from your local business journal, a comprehensive directory of the top local companies that also has contact info for their key executives. Or, scour online sources to find information for agencies in your area.
After you’ve identified companies, send the marketing manager or director a letter of introduction (LOI) highlighting your writing experience and subject expertise. Make the letter concise and tailor it to their business. You may get work right away or it may take months. Either way, an LOI can put you on a marketing manager’s radar and establish an initial relationship.
If you live in a smaller town, social media is the best way to expand your reach. Stay active on LinkedIn and Twitter (X), because this is where potential clients live. Engage in conversation, like their posts and share interesting content. Last year, I landed work after staying in touch with a former colleague on LinkedIn who now worked for an in-house content studio. She wouldn’t have known I was now freelancing had I not updated my profile.
Join the local chapter of a marketing or public relations organization. Attend chapter events or volunteer. Doing this will let you connect with people in the industry you’d likely never meet. If you’re an experienced freelancer, join the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). ASJA is starting to embrace content marketing and holds virtual events and a big conference every year where you can connect with clients.
Start a blog focused on a topic you’re passionate about. I attended a webinar with Skyword, a content marketing agency that works with big clients, and their community manager said they often look at a writer’s blog when selecting freelancers for campaigns. A blog can show potential clients your writing style and knowledge about a topic—and it doesn’t cost you a cent to launch one with a platform like Medium.
Working for agencies has helped me create a sustainable freelance business.
I love doing content marketing, but there’s no way I would have written for brands like Hewlett-Packard or Marriott without an agency.
Freelancing can be feast or famine, but agencies can help you navigate these extremes so you never starve for work.
Donald Trump, who previously called Bitcoin a scam, has launched a new cryptocurrency venture called World Liberty Financial. “Crypto is one of those things we have to do,” he said in an interview on X. “Whether we like it or not, I have to do it.” The news comes just a day after a likely assassination attempt against Trump at his Florida golf course.
Trump is entering the venture with his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, along with two crypto entrepreneurs: Chase Herro (who once called stablecoins “borderline a Ponzi scheme”) and Zachary Folkman, who founded a company called Date Hotter Girls. Trump’s 18-year-old son Barron Trump, who has no known crypto expertise, is also listed as “chief DeFi [decentralized finance] visionary.”
The tokens themself are supposedly based on US dollar stablecoins. Some involved in the venture have touted it internally as a borrowing and lending platform, according to The New York Times.
Cryptocurrency is generally supposed to be decentralized, but a large chunk of the governance tokens for World Liberty Financial could be held by insiders, according to a draft white paper for the project seen by CoinDesk. The remaining 30 percent would be distributed “via public sale” with some of the money raised from that also going to project insiders.
When asked questions about the venture in an X Spaces interview (above), Trump appeared to know next to nothing about it. “It’s so important. It’s crypto. It’s AI. It’s so many other things. AI needs tremendous electricity capabilities beyond anything I ever heard,” he said. He deferred to Barron’s expertise, saying he has “four wallets” and equated it to learning a language like Chinese.
Some comments in the Spaces interview weren’t kind. “Let’s be honest Trump doesn’t even know what crypto is or why he’s being asked to shill it,” said one. Others noted that launching such a venture just ahead of an election was inappropriate.
“I think it genuinely damages trump’s electoral prospects, especially if it gets hacked (it’ll be the juiciest DeFi target ever and it’s forked from a protocol that itself was hacked),” said crypto industry notable and self-proclaimed Trump supporter Nic Carter in a post on X.
Now more than ever, retail stores can’t afford to be left behind by their rivals. With such cutthroat competition to gain more customers, your retail store’s design must capture interest and attention right from the get-go. So it’s a really good thing that 3D rendering firms and retail store design services are here to the rescue – and to help our businesses stand out. This blog delves into these services and how they can help transform commercial spaces in more ways than you can imagine.
These days, the importance of creating experiential and immersive spaces has become even more prominent. Marketers and designers alike are going beyond the limits of creativity to entice the public and take their shopping experience to the next level. With the rising expectations of modern consumers, retail stores are also forced to look for ways to set themselves apart from the rest without losing their connection with their main customers.
RELATED: Getting approval for retail projects with CGI and 3D rendered drawings
Gone are the days of uninspiring, bland, and boring layouts. Today, immersive environments have become the norm as these can tell stories and encourage better and deeper customer engagement. Pop-up shops and flagship stores are now focused on offering unforgettable and noteworthy moments and experiences to their customers that are way above simple transactions.
Retail store design and 3D architectural rendering services use computer-generated animations or images of interior design concepts. These services help you view and check the entire furniture layout, spaces, shopping areas, and other details of the design. Retail store 3D rendering often includes photorealistic representations of fixtures, furniture, and other retail environment elements. Every nook and corner is realistically lit, and all surfaces have photorealistic materials.
3D rendering of retail spaces can also feature cars, clothes, food, jewelry, or everything else you wish to showcase. These renderings can highlight the look and feel of a retail design before its implementation. Retail store 3D rendering and design help architects and designers envision what the finished project will look like in their spaces. They can also come in handy for marketing and advertising purposes.
RELATED: How the Metaverse will redefine retail and shopping experiences for companies
3D renderings are imperative for businesses hoping to come up with visually enticing merchandising designs for their shops. These renderings are also useful if you plan to make significant updates to existing shop layouts and launch a new product line. This is made possible by letting 3D designers get an accurate visualization of how products will look within the shop environment. With the help of 3D renderings, stakeholders can also make their decisions according to solid evidence instead of just relying on guesswork alone.
Retail store 3D rendering and design services can also help you understand how things will appear in real life and avoid the expensive mistakes of organizing structures, walls, and furniture. You will also see a more realistic view of the retail area before installing the first structure or wall. Photorealistic retail store 3D renderings and designs also effectively showcase to customers what to expect before they visit or shop at the store.
RELATED: How is 3D product rendering and visualization used by manufacturers and retailers?
If you’re still unsure if utilizing 3D commercial rendering firms and retail store design services for commercial spaces are worth it, here are some benefits that will convince you to use them sooner rather than later:
It’s completely nightmarish for developers to realize that a design is simply impossible right in the middle of the construction. This can end up as a costly mistake, not to mention that it can also make the whole process last longer than necessary. This is why it’s essential for stakeholders to know how the shop will look. This will also ensure that the design caters to customers’ needs and demands. Without these services, the whole process will become too grueling for everyone involved.
In cases like this, 3D rendering and retail store design services can be a true lifesaver. Everything can be determined even before the start of the construction, and different layouts and designs can be tested to identify the best one. Flaws can also be detected and rectified in 3D, which can be used as a guide during space construction. Adjusting a retail store’s 3D rendering is more affordable compared to changing an entire shop mid-construction.
RELATED: Fashion industry: benefits of 3D design technology for product development services
Since preliminary visualization services no longer require physical setups, retailers can save more on the costs of materials required for construction. It also cuts down the necessary labor for the setup and takedown processes.
With the upfront availability of virtual tours and photorealistic images, customers already know what exactly they will get into before they set foot in physical shops. It helps eliminate surprises the moment they arrive at the shops. This makes their overall shopping experience more seamless, more convenient, and more enjoyable than ever before.
Since detailed 3D renderings are available upfront, designers do not need to make changes repeatedly, ultimately saving them money and time. This also reduces the energy costs required for changing existing structures or setting up physical mock-ups. You can just imagine what will happen if you use the wrong materials or install the wrong structures that don’t look the same as what you expected. Fixing this will cost you a fortune. However, with the help of retail store 3D photorealistic rendering professionals, you can prevent these costly mistakes.
RELATED: What are the main types of commercial construction drawings used by companies?
With photorealistic 3D rendering and retail store design services, commercial spaces can more accurately represent the appearance of the different elements in a specific environment and improve their sense of how customers will perceive them. These 3D visualizations will help promote the space not just after construction but even before, as they help the installation team see how and where everything should be. Having a photorealistic render to refer to makes it easier to follow all the necessary details and materials.
It’s never easy to decide on a shop’s design because every key player will likely have a different preference. This will lead to needless delays in the construction and development process, resulting in unwanted frustrations that could have been avoided otherwise. Things get even more challenging if you use simple black-and-white drawings to make your design more convincing. With retail space drawing services and 3D design, you can showcase several options for the design of the exterior and interior spaces of the store in higher quality. This makes it easier to get everyone involved on the same page.
RELATED: Why are companies and firms moving from 2D to 3D CAD architectural renderings and models?
There’s no denying that some of the world’s most successful retail brands achieved their fame not just because of their products alone but also because of the ambiance in their physical stores. Many of these brands make significant investments down to the smallest details to achieve a store atmosphere that can create a good and long-lasting impression.
These fine details can also work wonders in simulating customers’ imaginations, helping them identify and connect better with your brand, which will ultimately convince them to buy and patronize your products. You cannot just rely on 2D drawings if you need to pitch this distinct vibe or atmosphere to stakeholders. After all, describing it with mere words isn’t easy at all.
This is where 3D architectural visualization companies and retail store design services can be a true godsend, as these are less consuming and more effective than traditional methods. You can further enhance the experience by adding people to the 3D rendering itself, helping stakeholders envision how prospective customers can connect with and relate to the brand.
RELATED: Why hire an architectural design service?
Photorealistic retail store 3D renderings can also serve as effective virtual showrooms where customers can browse online before they make their purchasing designs personally at the shop itself. You can come up with virtual tours or walkthroughs where people can navigate the space directly on their computers.
Now that you’ve learned the benefits of photorealistic retail store 3D rendering and design for commercial spaces, here are a few tips on how to pull it off.
When creating photorealistic retail store renders, always begin with quality assets that closely match your preferred output results. These may include detailed geometry for items present in the scene or high-resolution textures for area surfaces.
Keeping up with the latest trends is very important these days. There are numerous Pinterest boards, architectural catalogs, and other resources where you can look for the trendiest ideas and concepts on retail spaces, interior designs, and others.
RELATED: 3D Visualization: the future of architectural design
Lighting has an important role to play in creating realistic renders. Pick lighting solutions that closely match your desired result.
To improve your renders, you might want to incorporate post-processing methods such as sharpening filters, color correction, and the like.
Different settings, such as ambient occlusion, global illumination, and anti-aliasing, can greatly affect your finished project, so be sure to familiarize yourself with these settings in advance to have better control over the results.
Cad Crowd will connect you with the best 3D rendering and design services that will transform your retail store and commercial space! Contact us for a free quote today.
Since 2022, Amazon has held a second Prime Day of sorts in October and that sale event is coming back this year, too. Prime Big Deal Days returns on October 8 and 9, but we’re already starting to see some decent deals pop up across Amazon’s site. As per usual, most of the deals we expected to see on October Prime Day will be exclusively for Prime members — and some of the early Prime Day deals we’re seeing now have followed suit.
If you don’t have a Prime membership, don’t fret too much — there are always a few discounts available for all shoppers. However, if you pay the $139 annual fee for Prime, now’s the time to put it to even better use. These are the best October Prime day tech deals we’ve found ahead of Prime Big Deal Days. We’ll be updating this post regularly in the lead-up to October Prime Day, so check back for the latest deals.
While it’d be wishful thinking to see discounts on the new AirPods or Apple Watch Series 10, there are still some decent Apple deals you can snag right now on iPads and accessories, plus some Beats gear.
Apple Magic Mouse (black) for $85 ($15 off): The white version of Apple’s popular accessory is still cheaper at $68, but the black colorway rarely goes on sale. Both mice pair quickly and are relatively light with responsive touch gestures.
Apple iPad (10th gen) for $299 ($50 off): The base iPad didn’t receive a refresh this year (yet), but Apple did cut the price to $349. It’s still selling for cheaper right now, down to $299, which is a record low.
Apple iPad Air (13-inch) for $720 ($80 off): The large model of our favorite iPad returns to one of its frequent sale prices. It’s about $20 more than its record low, but it’s still a good deal if you’ve been eyeing the 13-inch Air.
Apple Pencil (1st gen) for $69 ($30 off): If you have a 10th-gen iPad or older, this is the stylus to get. We’ve seen this discount for a couple of weeks now, but it’s still $10 below the average sale price. It’s also discounted at Walmart.
Beats Studio Pro x Kim Kardashian headphones + 2 years of AppleCare+ for $270 ($109 off): If you’re really into the muted colors in this collection, this is the best deal we’ve seen on Beats’ pro-level headphones with AppleCore+ protection.
Beats Fit Pro Earbuds for $159 ($41 off): Our overall favorite pair of earbuds for running are on sale for $41 off. They’ve hit this price point often over the past few months, but it’s a decent discount on buds we found to be comfortable with a secure fit and great audio quality.
Beats Studio Buds for $99 ($51 off): They’re a tad old at this point, but the Studio Buds remain a decent buy at under $100.
We expect to see more Amazon gear go on sale as we get closer to October Prime Day, but for now, these discounts present a good opportunity to save on a few of our favorites.
It’s always a good idea to wait until shopping events like October Prime Day to stock up on charging gear from Anker, or any other company. It’s a safe bet that many more Anker devices will go on sale during the days of fall Prime Day, but those in need of an extra power bank or charger immediately can snag a few for less right now.
Early Prime Day deals on tech include discounts on robot vacuums, webcams, smart plugs and more. There are also gaming accessories that you can grab for cheap, along with storage gear in all shapes and sizes.
iRobot Roomba Vac robot vacuum for $170 ($80 off): This affordable robo-vac is only $10 more than it was during July Prime Day right now, making it an even better option if you want a robot vacuum without spending a ton.
Logitech Brio 500 Full HD Webcam for $93 ($37 off): Our top pick for the best webcam you can buy right now is $37 off, a decent discount even if it’s not a record-low sale. If you spend a lot of your day on video calls, this will be a solid upgrade to your computer’s built-in cam. It has a wide field of view, auto-light correction and shoots 1080p video.
Samsung Pro Plus microSD card for $100 ($20 off): This newly released, 1TB variant is down to its best price yet. The Pro Plus is the top pick in our guide to the best microSD cards.
Samsung T7 Shield (4TB) for $282 ($218 off): If you’re looking for a high-capacity portable SSD that can take a beating, this deal is the best price we’ve seen on the 4TB T7 Shield since June.
Baseus 30W/10000mAh MagSafe power bank for $28 ($18 off): Clip the 40-percent off coupon to get a record-low price on a power bank that earned a place in our guide to the best power banks you can buy. It quickly refills MagSafe-compatible phones and has a handy built-in cable.
Kasa Smart Plug EP25 (4-pack) for $34 ($16 off): These are our top pick in our guide to the best smart plugs available right now thanks to their compatibility across all four of the main smart home ecosystems, their easy setup process and reliable connection.
TP-Link AC1200 WiFi Extender for $20 ($30 off): Our top budget pick in our best Wi-Fi extenders guide is more than half off right now. While not a rare deal, it’s still a record-low price on a handy device that could help eliminate dead zones around your home.
8BitDo Ultimate C wired gaming controller for $15 ($5 off): Now at $1 cheaper than it was during Prime Day in July, this 8BitDo accessory is an even better option for PC gamers or folks looking for a more comfortable Steam Deck controller.
ASTRO Gaming A40 TR wired gaming headset for $100 ($30 off): Our pick for the best gaming headset is $30 off, a discount we’ve seen a few times this year. We found these to be comfortable with better sound than many headsets, but the mic performance is only OK.
While these discounts aren’t technically October Prime day tech deals, we’d be remiss not to mention them. While sales on streaming services are becoming more common, there isn’t as much rhyme or reason to them as there is to, say, Amazon’s Prime Day sale cycle. That said, if you see a discount on a service you’ve been meaning to try, it’s worthwhile to jump on it.
October Prime Day will be held on October 8 and 9 this year.
October Prime Day is a members-only sale event run by Amazon in which the online retailer has thousands of sales on its site that are exclusively available to those with an active Prime members.
October Prime Day will last two full days.
Most October Prime Day deals will not be revealed until the days of the event. However, in years past, we’ve seen everything from clothing to household essentials to outdoor gear go on sale during this event. Engadget cares most about tech deals, and in past fall Prime Days, we’ve seen things like phones, tablets, headphones, earbuds, robot vacuums, smart home gear and more receive deep discounts.
Yes, because most deals will be Prime exclusives. However, there are always a few decent deals available to all Amazon shoppers, so it’s worth checking out Amazon’s site during October Prime Day to see where you can save even if you don’t pay for Prime.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Visual Studio 2022 introduced a new XAML designer for building WPF apps, with a goal of increasing the performance and reliability of the designer. The new designer can quickly open a XAML file by using WPF’s built-in parser and display. This new design has a nuanced behavior when the root XAML element derives from an abstract base class. This article helps with understanding implications for using an abstract base class and describes workarounds which can ensure a smooth design experience.
When working with the XAML Designer, the base class of the root element is instantiated for display purposes. This allows developers to visualize and interact with their UI components directly within the designer, while the custom control is being developed. In the example screenshot below, the base class of the root element is UserControl. The custom control’s derived class is specified in the x:Class attribute as TestControl. Therefore, an instance of UserControl is instantiated for display in design view:
However, an issue arises when the root element’s base class is abstract. Since abstract classes cannot be instantiated, the XAML Designer will find the first non-abstract base class and instantiate that instead. Most of the time, this will work well, but there are cases where this will break design view, possibly showing an error message. One case where design view breaks is when the abstract base class defines a property that is crucial for display, such as the Content property.
Imagine you have an abstract base class as follows:
If this abstract class is the base class for your custom control, the XAML Designer will not be able to instantiate AbstractControlBase and will instead instantiate the Control class. The reason is that Control is the first non-abstract base class. This leads to any reference to AbstractControlBase being broken in design view. In the following screenshot, it shows how a ControlTemplate cannot be applied to AbstractControlBase, and the Content property cannot be used to display anything in design view:
To mitigate this issue, there are practical workarounds that ensure that the XAML Designer continues to function seamlessly.
One approach is to refactor your code by transferring the properties critical to design view to another level of base class that is not abstract. This adjustment allows the XAML Designer to instantiate and render the necessary components. The following code shows how the Content property was moved from AbstractControlBase to a new ControlBase class:
In the XAML file, the base class stays as AbstractControlBase, but the control template now applies to the concrete base class ControlBase:
Another strategy is to derive the abstract class from WPF’s ContentControl, which already provides common properties that are used for display in design view, such as the Content property. This method circumvents the instantiation issue associated with abstract classes, allowing your UI elements to be properly displayed while designing your XAML content.
Understanding the implications of using abstract base classes and implementing effective workarounds can significantly enhance your design workflow. By moving properties to non-abstract base classes or utilizing standard controls, you can ensure that your UI components are rendered accurately, allowing you to harness the full potential of the XAML Designer.
If you have feedback about the XAML Designer, please let us know by using the Visual Studio Feedback Tool. We’re eager to hear what you think!
