Game developer and Fullflower Studio founder Anne Shoemaker comes from a family of web developers, so she had some idea of what coding is well before most kids do. But when she was around 8 or 9 years old, her parents introduced her to a program called Scratch, a free tool aimed at helping children learn about programming. From there, she was hooked. A couple of years later, already set with a solid foundation, she started creating on Roblox, a platform that unites gamers and developers while also providing an environment where people can create their own games. “My favorite game on Roblox broke, and I was really sad. I wanted me and my friends to still be able to play it,” she said during last week’s Refinery29 Twitch stream. “I created a game that was similar. Then it got, like, 100 players and I was like, ‘You gotta keep going, that’s really cool.’”

An image-enhancement feature for Microsoft's Edge browser is raising eyebrows because it can send the

Three-fifths of businesses view generative artificial intelligence (AI) as a good opportunity but many fear they are exposed to cyberattacks, research has revealed. Businesses will “not progress” if they do not take risks, as the race to adopt new and emerging technologies heats up, according to accounting giant PwC. Around 37% of firms believe they are highly or extremely exposed to cyber risks, PwC’s survey of more than 3,900 firms around the world found. More leaders who are responsible for managing a firm’s risk said they thought cyber-related threats were a bigger concern than inflation. About a quarter felt that their organisation was very exposed to geopolitical conflict, amid the escalation of conflict in the Middle East. The survey highlights that if organisations don’t take risks, they will not progress Sam Samaratunga, PwC UK's global head of risk services But the survey, which had more than a quarter of responses from companies worth more than five billion US dollars (£4 billion), found that worries over cyberattacks or tech mistakes were not putting firms off transformation. About 60% said they think generative AI is an opportunity for their business rather than a concern. Generative AI, which refers to complex models which can create something completely new based on a vast set of data, has been cutting through into the mainstream with chatbots like ChatGPT. Earlier this month, British bank NatWest revealed it was launching an upgraded chatbot which is powered by the technology to have human-like conversations with customers. Sam Samaratunga, global and UK head of risk services for PwC UK, said: “In a world that is persistently in a state of flux, it is clear that organisations need to transform, with new and emerging technologies playing a critical role in that transformation. “So it is no surprise that cyber and digital risks are top-of-mind in 2023, with those leaders responsible for managing risk ranking cyber higher than inflation. “However, the survey highlights that if organisations don’t take risks, they will not progress.” Read More Young Britons turning to AI chatbots for help with school and work – survey Police to trial use of drones as first responders to emergencies Apple to adopt system to improve texting between iPhones and Android devices ICO seeks permission to appeal against Clearview AI tribunal ruling Users of iPhones can now check bank balance from Wallet app VR tool aims to help rail passengers spot and safely tackle sexual harassment

Microsoft knows that new video game console generations should come with change. Gamers want more

A 4,000-year-old site reminiscent of Stonehenge has been uncovered in the Netherlands for the first time. The monument was uncovered by Dutch archaeologists on Wednesday (21 June), uncovering an ancient religious site that has been nicknamed the “Stonehenge of the Netherlands”. Uncovered in the dig was a burial mound containing the remains of 60 men, women and children. The mound also served as a solar calendar, with the Sun shining directly through passages on the shortest and longest days of the year. Digging at the so-called “open-air sanctuary”, located in the town of Tiel, began in 2017, but the results of the archaeologists’ findings were only recently made public. A post on the town’s Facebook page, read: “What a spectacular archaeological discovery! Archaeologists have found a 4,000-year-old religious sanctuary on an industrial site.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter It continued: “This is the first time a site like this has been discovered in the Netherlands.” By comparing different samples of clay and their composition, three burial mounds were located during the excavation. The mounds are located just a few kilometres from the bank of the Waal River, with the main mound measuring 20 meters wide and its passages perfectly aligned to serve as a solar calendar. One of the archaeologists explained: “People used this calendar to determine important moments including festival and harvest days.” Dutch national broadcaster, NOS, added: “This hill reminded one of Stonehenge, the well-known mysterious prehistoric monument in Britain, where this phenomenon also occurs.” Other fascinating discoveries at the site included a single glass bead found inside a grave – analysis showed it originated in Mesopotamia, which is Iraq today. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

After statement-making performances against the Giants and the Jets, the Cowboys defense is hungry for more.

Microsoft has announced plans to build a quantum supercomputer after researchers said the next-generation machines will be able to outperform standard computers within the next two years. Quantum computers have the potential to be orders of magnitude more powerful than today’s leading supercomputers, but have so far failed to compete when it comes to practical tasks. A recent benchmark experiment from quantum computing researchers at IBM suggests that the machines will soon be able to perform useful calculations “at a scale where classical computers will struggle”, opening up a vast number of applications. “These machines are coming,” Sabrina Maniscalco, chief executive of quantum computing startup Algorithmiq, told the scientific journal Nature which published the research this month. Microsoft revealed its roadmap for building its first “quantum supercomputer” on Wednesday, following several years of research and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment into the technology. Quantum computers work by replacing traditional bits – the ‘ones’ and ‘zeros’ used to store and transfer digital data – with quantum bits, called qubits, that make use of a quantum phenomena known as superposition to exist in two states at once. This means they can serve as both a ‘one’ and a ‘zero’ simultaneously, so that each qubit added makes them exponentially more powerful than their traditional counterparts. Microsoft said it made its own breakthrough by engineering a new type of qubit, described in the journal Physical Review B on Wednesday, that is stable enough to work at scale on a quantum supercomputer. Microsoft describes a quantum supercomputer as one that can perform one million quantum operations per second, claiming its construction will be completed within the next decade. “Microsoft has achieved the first milestone towards creating a reliable and practical quantum supercomputer,” the firm wrote in a blog post detailing the roadmap. “Today marks an important moment on our path to engineering a quantum supercomputer and ultimately empowering scientists to solve many of the hardest problems facing our planet.” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said it was his company’s goal “to compress the next 250 years of chemistry and materials science into the next 25.” The announcements from IBM and Microsoft follow several major quantum computing breakthroughs in recent years. In 2019, scientists at Google announced that they had achieved something known as quantum supremacy, when their Sycamore quantum computer was able to solve a problem in 200 seconds that would have taken the most powerful supercomputer in the world 10,000 years to solve. The milestone has since been repeated by researchers in China, whose quantum computer is able to perform computations nearly 100 trillion times faster than the world’s most powerful supercomputer. While impressive, neither the Chinese machine nor Google’s Sycamore had any practical use. John Martinis, one of the Google researchers behind the 2019 milestone, said the latest news made him “optimistic that this will work in other systems and more complicated algorithms”. Read More Quantum computer discovers bizarre particle that remembers its past Quantum computing adopted by airlines and car makers in hunt for world's first commercial applications Breakthrough could soon allow us to actually use quantum computers, scientists say Elon Musk confirms cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg Apple starts letting developers make apps for its upcoming headset

Investment bankers are being singled out in a new report by nonprofit ShareAction that targets a planned framework

Bitcoin bulls are seeking to take advantage of light market liquidity ahead of the July 4 holiday to

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 5, 2023--

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Amazon's Fire TV Stick has grown from a curiosity to a powerful and portable media