South Africa’s transition away from the dirtiest fossil fuel has been marred by the botched approach to the

The Atari home video game system took the late1970s and early 1980s by storm, complete with faux wood paneling and a classic joystick with a big red button. Rival systems eventually surpassed the video-game pioneer but its iconic status, and fans, remained.

Facebook is known for its recognisable 'f' logo using the colours light navy blue and white - however, people can't help but notice something different. Some have noticed that once logged into their account there has been a slight tweak to the blue colour they have been familiar with in recent years. The new blue announced by the social media platform is richer, bold and darker in a move which is "Redefining Facebook’s brand identity." “We’re excited to launch the first phase of a refreshed identity system for Facebook, with a focus on fostering effortless, self-initiated exploration and connection across every touchpoint," the announcement read. There were three "key drivers" in regards to the brand design update which include: "Elevate the most iconic elements of our brand to create a distinctive, refreshed Facebook." The second is to "Unify how the Facebook brand comes to life across product-to-marketing experiences." On the topic of blue tone change, this came from wanting to "create an expansive set of colours — anchored in our core blue — that is comprehensive and vibrant, and also designed to be more accessible for people." Of course, Facebook users couldn't help but notice the colour change and took to social media to question if their eyes were deceiving them. Elsewhere, a Mark Zuckerberg product has been deemed the 'cringiest AI of all time'. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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.

Tim Cook describes his first experience with Apple’s forthcoming Vision Pro headset as an “aha moment”. The mixed reality device, he claims, has the potential to usher in an entirely new era of computing, having a profound impact on the way we work, communicate and experience the world – just like the iPhone did 16 years ago. And for it to succeed, just like the iPhone, it’s going to need apps. The Apple CEO is in London at the end of a whirlwind European tour to meet with app developers that he hopes will be among the first to realise his ambitions for the Vision Pro. The UK has the largest developer community in Europe, and as he meets three of them, he is clearly curious about their apps. It is a common sight with Cook: app developers on their best behaviour, nervous with anticipation, instantly relaxing as he focuses on them, genuinely interested, warming to his encouragement and questioning. “I think the apps today are outstanding,” he says. “It’s a reminder of the empowerment of the App Store. I’m still amazed that an entrepreneur in any country in the world in a basement can start a company and it can be global,” he snaps his fingers, “like that.” Cook likes to talk about Apple’s app developers because he takes pride in the jobs created by the Apple ecosystem. Estimates suggest that half a million jobs are now directly connected to the iOS app economy, which is up nearly 70 per cent compared to 2019. UK app developers have earned nearly £7.5 billion from their apps, Apple says. When Cook took over from Steve Jobs as CEO in 2011, the app economy was still in its infancy: Instagram was less than a year old and apps like Deliveroo and Tinder did not even exist yet. Just over a decade later Apple’s App Store is now facilitating more than $1 trillion in billings and sales annually, helping the company to become the richest in the world. Among the app developers showing off their creations at Apple’s Battersea Power Station headquarters is Joseph Mambwe, whose fitness app Gym Streak aims to manage your workout for you. Mambwe says that, at the app’s core is a demonstration that “resilience is a superpower that is available to everyone, along with persistence and the will to keep going.” The app uses augmented reality (AR) to create videos where the animated figure demonstrating the exercises appears to be working out in your living room. Also in attendance is Andy Weekes, the creator of Night Sky, which also uses AR to make stars, planets and even the International Space Station appear onscreen as you point your iPhone at the place they are in the sky. It can send reminders and messages so you can share what you see – and even what you can’t – with friends and family. There is a regular refrain from the developers about the Apple Vision Pro, which is set to launch early next year: Something like Night Sky could be jaw-droppingly good on the spatial computing headset, with its immersive, wraparound display. Cook says they’re looking forward to it. “We have developer labs in London and Munich, and we’re seeing some incredible work. There’s so much excitement out there.” The tech boss says Vision Pro has become part of his nightly routine, helping him understand how it could become an industry-defining product. “There are huge differences in how people look at it, depending on if they’re read about it or actually tried it,” he says. “I believe even more about how profound spatial computing is. When you’ve tried it, it’s an aha moment, and you only have a few of those in a lifetime.” Throughout the app demonstrations, the developers talk about the support they receive from Apple. “These apps,” Cook says afterwards, “allow developers to make people more sustainable, give somebody educational knowhow about space or even democratise personal training. These are big ideas. These apps are great collaborations, but our whole company is based on collaboration.We really believe one plus one equals three. “We’ve always viewed ourselves as tool makers,” he adds. “So to make tools that allow other people to change the world in their own way and for us to have a role in that makes my heart sing… We’ve always believed our tools should be as easy to use as our products, so we try to make the developer tools simple. It’s the developer’s idea that’s the big lift, not the act of doing it themselves. It’s great to see the validation of that playing out.” Through the powerful processors in the latest iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, Cook believes Apple iOS is now “the best gaming platform out there”. Games also form a major part of Vision Pro’s appeal, allowing users to interact and compete within an entirely new dimension. “There’s significant excitement about our role in gaming, and we’re very serious about it,” he says. “This is not a hobby for us. We’re putting all of ourselves out there.” Read More ‘I saw the future. It left me in tears’ Tim Cook says Vision Pro release is on track: ‘I watched Ted Lasso Season 3 on it’ New discovery is ‘holy grail’ breakthrough in search for aliens, scientist say Musk confirms he is cutting election integrity staff from X/Twitter ahead of 2024

Debates around the legalisation of cannabis have existed for years, with cannabis currently considered a class B drug in the UK. This means you can be prosecuted with up to five years in prison or a fine of up to £2,500 if you're found in possession of it. Different factors can affect how cannabis will affect you. For example, smoking weed will meant the effects kick in a lot faster than if you were to take an edible. Age, height, weight, and tolerance levels can also change how you experience the effects of cannabis. However, here's a quick breakdown of how cannabis effects you, minute-by-minute: It can take anywhere between 2 and 10 minutes for the effects of smoking weed to kick in. However, according to Healthline if you take an edible, you could be waiting for half an hour to two hours before you start to feel the effects. One of the first effects you'll begin to feel is an increase in pulse rate. WebMD suggests that your heart rate can rise by 20 to 50 bears from the normal rate of 50 to 70 bears per minute. Your heart rate can stay at the increased rate for up to 3 hours after you use cannabis. Next, the blood vessels in your eyes will dilate, likely turning your eyes red as a result. If you smoked the cannabis, the THC (the main psychoactive compound in cannabis) will be fully absorbed into your blood around the 20-minute mark. However, if you took an edible this takes longer due to the THC needing to be absorbed by your liver. The body's neural chemistry can be altered once the THC is fully settled in your system, stimulating the part of your brain that responds to pleasure. This releases dopamine, resulting in the relaxed state often associated with smoking weed. However, some individuals can also feel anxious and have a panic attack as a result. Around this time is when you'll be hit with the 'munchies'. This is because the THC finds the olfactory bulb (which impacts your sense of taste and smell) in you brain, and can convince you that you're hungry, even if you're not. Roughly 30-minutes in is when the effects reach its peak, lasting up to five or six hours. You may begin to feel sleepy or confused, as well as getting the giggles. Depending on the strain of THC used, these effects can last longer, resulting in lasting impaired judgement. Although the effects mostly wear off within a few hours, traces of cannabis can still be prevalent in a urine test two or three days later. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, revealed its latest AI product containing quite a few familiar faces, but people are unimpressed. On Wednesday at Meta's Connect conference, Zuckerberg unveiled Meta's new AI assistant at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California. The digital assistant has drawn comparisons to ChatGPT, where the program generates in-depth and detailed answers to text queries. What makes it different from other AI assistants, however, is that the assistants have faces of celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Kendall Jenner, and Mr. Beast. The various celebrities partnered with Meta to introduce its "cast of characters". For example, Billie - portrayed by Kendall Jenner - is described as your "No-BS, ride-or-die companion". Roy Choi, a Korean-American chef, plays Max, a "seasoned sous chef for culinary tips and tricks". Each character has also been given their own profile on Instagram and Facebook. Zuckerberg posted the announcement in a video to his Instagram and Facebook profiles, involving him and his family displaying their poor acting skills, as well as Kendall Jenner, Tom Brady, Charli D'Amelio, Snoop Dogg, and Dwayne Wade as their AI assistant characters. But whilst Zuckerberg seemed impressed with the new product, most viewers did not share the same sentiments. Host of Corporate Gossip podcast Becca Platsky posted her reaction to the announcement video, calling it the "cringiest AI of all time". "There's something this product gets so wrong about the way people interact with influencers," Platsky says. "And one thing is influencer snark. That drives a lot of engagement to real life influencers, but nobody's gonna snark on a robot!" She also said, "I'm also not sure how many people are going to want to give Kendall Jenner more money for doing less work." Comments under Platsky's TikTok overwhelmingly agreed. Some called it "embarrassing" whilst another user said it felt "like an SNL skit." "I feel like they think we care about celebrities more than we actually do," commented another user. The criticism didn't stop there though, with many commenting under Zuckerberg's announcement letting him now their thoughts. One user called it "depressing" and said "adding more AI to talk to on [an] everyday basis, this is just loneliness amplified." Another gave Zuckerberg the advice to "fire everyone in your staff that failed to tell you how monumentally stupid this video is." Adding, "who the hell needs to chat to AI friends that look like celebrities?" Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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.

A natural phenomenon consisting of polka-dot-style formations has been cropping up around the world, and scientists are baffled as to why. The circular-shaped patches of ground have been seen in deserts in Australia and Namibia but now experts believe they are more widespread than originally thought. Known as “fairy circles”, there are now 263 known sites across the globe where they can be found, according to new research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). They have been documented in 15 countries, across three continents, including the Sahel region of Africa, Madagascar, and in Middle-West Asia. And yet, despite the spread of these anomalies, scientists are still none the wiser about how they actually form. A team led by environmental scientist Emilio Guirado, of the University of Alicante in Spain, explained in their paper on the "intriguing" phenomenon: “We conducted a global and systematic assessment of fairy circle-like vegetation patterns and discovered hundreds of [fairy-circle]-like locations on three continents. “Our study provides insights into the ecology and biogeography of these fascinating vegetation patterns and the first atlas of their global distribution.” The mysterious circles appear in desert regions and can be as wide as 12 metres (39 feet) in diameter. They are almost always spaced out and rarely connect or overlap with one another. Several theories have been put forward as to what causes them, including, tiny insects, termites, and plant toxins. But, none have been accompanied by any significant evidence and some have been debunked completely. One significant factor limiting their study is they are often found in places that are difficult to access and are inhospitable. Locating the 263 different sites of “fairy circles” involved analysing high-resolution satellite imagery. Guirado and his team wrote in their paper: “[The sites] include those already identified in Namibia and Western Australia, as well as areas never described before, including the Sahel, Western Sahara, Horn of Africa, Madagascar, Southwest Asia, or Central and Southwest Australia. “By doing so, our study provides a global atlas of areas showing FC-like vegetation patterns and expands the known existence of this vegetation type to new countries and continents.” The team hopes that locating new sites will enable them to find common traits that may point towards their cause. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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.

This article is part of the Bloomberg Green series Timber Town, which looks at the global rise of

Artists across China are boycotting one of the country's biggest social media platforms over complaints about its AI image generation tool.

Netflix will send out its last red envelope on Friday, marking an end to 25 years of mailing DVDs to members.

Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, said on Thursday that it will lay off 16% of its staff, around 830 employees, as it attempts to reverse what CEO Tim Sweeney called "unrealistic" spending.

By Leah Douglas The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday filed a lawsuit against data company Agri Stats,