In this series, I combined the forms and vitality of insects with the image of the girl. Like insects, which may appear small and fragile yet possess intricate structures and unique ways of surviving, the girls in these works also carry an unfamiliar strength and sense of combativeness beneath their soft appearances. Dragonfly wings, the colors and movements of bees, and the sharp forms of praying mantises are transformed into the girls' clothing, poses, weapons, and overall atmosphere. Through the image of the girl, these works explore the coexistence of fragility and strength, beauty and threat.

Keith Midson has added a photo to the pool:

Seadaisies along the Taroona foreshore near Hinsby Beach, Tasmania.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Google DeepMind released its newest world model, Genie 4, in research preview on Tuesday. The latest model generates the most photorealistic and interactive worlds yet, allowing users to type prompts mid-simulation to change the scene. The model also generates real-time audio that matches the simulated world, including music, ambient noises, and interactive dialogue.

[...] Google released its predecessor, Genie 3, as a research preview a little over a year ago. Aside from being far more photorealistic and featuring audio, Genie 4 allows for freeform edits, like changing the weather or camera angle in real time or adding new people or objects. It can maintain a consistent scene for up to two minutes, double its predecessor's limit, and offers better physics and more human-like characters. Gemini, Google's AI model, is also mo "What we'll increasingly see in the future are these hybrid world models, where you have a combination of Gemini writing code and text, and Genie ingesting that in real time and simulating reality at different levels of abstraction," Tejas Kulkarni, research director at Google, said during a briefing.

Genie 4 is now available to select testers, with a broader rollout planned in the coming weeks for Google AI Ultra subscribers.

You can watch a demo of Genie 4 on YouTube.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Work has value beyond the income it provides.

Early indications suggest it will be some time before the shape of new government and who will lead it is clear

• Israel election – live updates

• Rise of Palestinian parties in Knesset will redraw Israel’s political landscape

Israel’s election appeared to have delivered no clear winner on Tuesday night after a historic turnout by voters for an election described by some as the most consequential in the country’s history, and marked by a record participation by Israeli Arab voters.

Exit polls published on Tuesday evening suggested that the opposition bloc of parties led by the former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Gadi Eisenkot, would win most seats in the Knesset by a slight margin, edging out Benjamin Netanyahu’s right and far-right coalition despite the prime minister’s Likud emerging as the largest party.

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Oren, Alon and Tal Alexander sentenced to prison in New York after being convicted in sex trafficking case

Three Florida brothers who exploited the wealth and influence of their family’s luxury real estate business to drug and rape dozens of women were each sentenced to 30 years in prison in New York on Tuesday for sex trafficking.

Twins Oren and Alon Alexander, 39, and Tal Alexander, 40, were convicted in March on multiple charges after a five-week trial heard details of years of sexual assaults committed in Miami, New York and other high-end locations including the Hamptons; Aspen, Colorado, and on a Caribbean cruise.

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Death from above, Franz Sedlacek