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Technology

Artificial Intelligence Act: MEPs adopt landmark law

GenAI news: In a groundbreaking move, the European Union has passed the world’s first comprehensive law regulating Artificial Intelligence (AI). Endorsed by a vast majority in the European Parliament, this legislation aims to safeguard human rights while fostering responsible AI innovation.

The new law categorizes AI systems based on their potential risks and impact. This ensures stricter regulations for high-risk systems used in critical sectors like infrastructure, law enforcement, and education. Developers of such systems will be required to:

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Digital Wellbeing Experiments with Google

Everyone has a different relationship with their phones, but we all have something in common: There are always those moments when it feels that phones distract from life rather than improve it — when having dinner with friends and everyone checks their incoming notifications, for example. With their Digital Wellbeing Experiments, Google now showcases ideas and tools that help people find a better balance with technology and inspire designers and developers to consider digital wellbeing in everything they design and build. There are experiments that let you switch off from technology as a group, for example, stay focused by getting the right apps at the right times, or take the most important things with you on a printed “paper phone”. The code for the experiments is open-source, and if you have an idea for a digital wellbeing experiment, the Hack Pack will help you bring it to life.

Read more: https://experiments.withgoogle.com/collection/digitalwellbeing

Final Fantasy VII re-release now available on PC!

Box art of FF7About time! Earlier today, PEGI’s website lists a release date of August 14 2012, which is….yes, today!

Available from the Square Enix store, the RPG classic returns to PC, now with brand new online features.

On top of that, the remake re-release offers the following features:

  • Achievements – Whether you´re a seasoned FINAL FANTASY VII veteran or exploring this RPG classic for the very first time, show off your in-game accomplishments and put your gaming skills to the test with 36 brand new achievements to unlock. Share your profile with friends online to find out who is the ultimate FINAL FANTASY fan.
  • Cloud Saves (no, not “Cloud” Saves) – If you´re away from home or simply using a different computer to play, enjoy FINAL FANTASY VII wherever you are. With cloud save support in FINAL FANTASY VII you can continue your game progress right where you left off (Requires Internet Connection).
  • Character Booster – Find yourself stuck on a difficult section or lacking the funds to buy that vital Phoenix Down? With the Character Booster you can increase your HP, MP and Gil levels to their maximum, all with the simple click of a button, leaving you to enjoy your adventure.
  • Optimized for PC – FINAL FANTASY VII has been updated to support the latest hardware and Windows Operating Systems.

The game will set you back £7.99 and is available on the Square Enix store here.

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I use cookies…

As you may have seen when you arrived here today, there is a little (annoying) notification on top of the screen informing you that I use cookies on this website.

Aside from PHPSession cookies, I use Google Analytics for research and use journeys and AddThis for sharing my content I also use WordPress Jetpack which creates a cookie to track users in a similar fashion as Google Analytics I believe. More information about cookies can be found here.

Show me Wales – iPhone / iPad app released!

Show me Wales app iconWe have just launched the Show me Wales iPhone / iPad app!

Show Me Wales is a comprehensive tourist guide to Wales including full details of hundreds of attractions, activities, places to eat, towns & villages and places to stay. With plenty of ideas about great places to visit whatever your interests, this app will be an invaluable guide to Wales. The data is fully cached on the phone so you don’t need a signal to use it.

The app allows you to plan a trip to Wales or to find nearby entries when in Wales. The search functionality allows you to:

  • Choose an area
  • Search near a town
  • Search near your current location
  • Drop a pin
  • Filter the data to highlight specific interests

Each entry describes the attraction with pictures, opening times and full contact details, and if you’re looking for accommodation it even allows you to book!

If that is not enough, you can also add places to your favourites, email places of interest to your friends, and a quick link shows directions from your current location by car or on foot.

Screenshot:

ipad and ipone screenshot

 

Download the app (its free!)

 

Axure RP 6 released!

The popular wireframing tool has just been updated to v6!

Aside from a number of fixes, the most notable features of this version are:

  • Sketch Effects – Sketch Effects enable you to give your wireframes a more sketchy, grayscale look and feel to allow the audience to focus on the information architecture, interactions, and functions of the prototype more than the “finished” look
  • New Wireframing Tools – wireframes are now faster to build and easier to maintain by adding Global and Page Guides, a Location and Size tooltip, Format Painter, ability to Copy and Paste. Annotations, and a new Custom Style engine where custom styles can be applied to rollovers.
  • Improved Text Editing – Axure RP was upgraded to use WPF in the Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0.  The new text engine allows information architects to add text editing at zoomed levels, line spacing, and Open Type Fonts. There is also some text padding in shape widgets.
  • Page Styles – you can finally center pages, apply background colours and background images without having to do it manually!
  • Richer Prototypes – Axure RP6 now has animations for moving and fading, Math and String functions, Drag and Drop interactions, and new Dynamic Panel Events to respond to moving, changes in visibility, and changes in state.
  • More Specification Control – You are now able to organize the content, optionally include headers, filter widget tables by annotation values, generate a master usage report, generate all of the widget text, configure column widths for two column layout, and configure the screenshot size. And you can also format the page notes and annotate master instances.
  • AxShare integration – You can now manage an account of up to 10 active prototypes. It supports RP files (up to 10 MB) created in version 6 or earlier and all generated prototypes will have the version 6 skin. You now also have access to a new Discuss tab next to the sitemap in the prototype (which you can disable), as well as a page for viewing the discussion topics in your AxShare account.

Axure RP 6 is available for both PC and MAC here.

Good times! 🙂

 

Back from the ENTER 2011 conference!

Wow, those were a couple of amazing days at the ENTER 2011 conference in Innsbruck, Austria! Fantastic keynotes from the guys from Lastminute.com, TripAdvisor, VisitWales, Visit Norway, Visit Britain, and more. And not to forget some really amazing industry case studies (including mine 😉 ) and some fantastic and inspiring PhD research papers, I was really impressed!

If you’re interested, here are some photos I took from the conference:

Overall, a worthwhile trip, and I’ll definetly come to the ENTER 2012 in Sweden!

On the way to the ENTER 2011

Just at Gatwick, chilling and having a tea. Flight is in about an hour.

Presentation on mobile technology for destinations is pretty much ready to go, just need to practice it at some stage during the flight.

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