| AWS |
AWS Big Data Blog |
How smava makes loans transparent and affordable using Amazon Redshift Serverless |
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/big-data/how-smava-makes-loans-transparent-and-affordable-using-amazon-redshift-serverless/
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This is a guest post co written by Alex Naumov Principal Data Architect at smava smava GmbH is one of the leading financial services companies in Germany making personal loans transparent fair and affordable for consumers Based on digital processes smava compares loan offers from more than banks In this way borrowers can choose the |
2023-12-21 16:40:05 |
| AWS |
AWS Big Data Blog |
Accelerate analytics on Amazon OpenSearch Service with AWS Glue through its native connector |
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/big-data/accelerate-analytics-on-amazon-opensearch-service-with-aws-glue-through-its-native-connector/
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As the volume and complexity of analytics workloads continue to grow customers are looking for more efficient and cost effective ways to ingest and analyse data Data is stored from online systems such as the databases CRMs and marketing systems to data stores such as data lakes on Amazon Simple Storage Service Amazon S data warehouses |
2023-12-21 16:36:45 |
| AWS |
AWS Machine Learning Blog |
Overcoming common contact center challenges with generative AI and Amazon SageMaker Canvas |
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/machine-learning/overcoming-common-contact-center-challenges-with-generative-ai-and-amazon-sagemaker-canvas/
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Great customer experience provides a competitive edge and helps create brand differentiation As per the Forrester report The State Of Customer Obsession being customer first can make a sizable impact on an organization s balance sheet as organizations embracing this methodology are surpassing their peers in revenue growth Despite contact centers being under constant pressure to |
2023-12-21 16:29:44 |
| 海外TECH |
AppleInsider - Frontpage News |
Beeper has more ridiculous work-arounds for its iMessage bridge hack |
https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/12/21/beeper-has-more-ridiculous-work-arounds-for-its-imessage-bridge-hack?utm_medium=rss
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Beeper Mini s continued attempts to bring iMessage to Android have taken a peculiar and possibly final turn as the firm recommends getting an old iPhone and jailbreaking it Now Beeper says you need an iPhone in order to get the iPhone s iMessage appThroughout December the Beeper company has been announcing various hacks to get iMessage s blue text bubbles onto Android The hacks then fail Beeper brings out a new one it claims to consider suing Apple for thwarting it and the story seemed to go on and on However the company has taken this idea to a stage that presumably makes sense to a very focused user with time and money to spare but not to anyone else Continue Reading on AppleInsider Discuss on our Forums |
2023-12-21 16:45:22 |
| 海外TECH |
AppleInsider - Frontpage News |
Daily deals Dec. 21: $999 15-inch MacBook Air, $249 iPad, $199 AirPods Pro 2 USB-C, more |
https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/12/21/daily-deals-dec-21-999-15-inch-macbook-air-249-ipad-199-airpods-pro-2-usb-c-more?utm_medium=rss
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Today s top deals include up to off Jetson hoverboards off a Logitech Logi Dock laptop docking station off an Apple MagSafe Duo charger an XGIMI Horizon K movie projector for and more Save up to on a M MacBook AirThe AppleInsider team combs the internet for unbeatable deals at ecommerce stores to create a list of stellar bargains on popular tech products including deals on MacBook Air laptops TVs accessories and other gadgets We share the most valuable deals daily to help you save money Continue Reading on AppleInsider |
2023-12-21 16:42:54 |
| 海外TECH |
Engadget |
Microsoft is nixing its Windows mixed reality platform |
https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-is-nixing-its-windows-mixed-reality-platform-161607566.html?src=rss
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Windows Mixed Reality is heading to a farm upstate Microsoft is shutting down the platform according to an official list of deprecated Windows features This includes the garden variety Windows Mixed Reality software along with the Mixed Reality Portal app and the affiliated Steam VR app The platform isn t gone yet but Microsoft says it ll be removed in a future release of Windows Microsoft first unveiled Windows Mixed Reality back in as its attempt to compete with rivals in the VR space like HTC and Oculus which is now owned by Meta We were fascinated by the tech when it first launched as it offered the ability for in person shared mixed reality The pricey Apple Vision Pro could offer a similar experience when it presumably launches in February Microsoft s platform was ultimately adopted by several VR headsets like the HP Reverb G and others manufactured by companies like Acer Asus and Samsung The Windows Mixed Reality Portal app allowed access to games experiences and plenty of work related productivity apps However it looks like the adoption rate wasn t up to snuff as indicated by today s news Despite the imminent end to the platform it doesn t look to be impacting Microsoft s other mixed reality ecosystem the HoloLens Microsoft added a Windows upgrade and other improvements for the business focused headset earlier this year according to The Verge It also started shipping them out to the Army for combat tests Yes You read that last part right However not everything s rosy in HoloLens land Reports indicate that Microsoft has stopped development on the HoloLens A report in said that the company teamed up with Samsung to make an unannounced mixed reality device but Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw said that Microsoft remains quot committed to HoloLens and future HoloLens development quot Additionally Microsoft has made sweeping cuts throughout its VR division leading to layoffs and the discontinuation of the AltspaceVR app The company is however still developing its proprietary Mesh app that lets co workers meet in a virtual space without a headset This article originally appeared on Engadget at |
2023-12-21 16:16:07 |
| 海外TECH |
Engadget |
The best couch co-op games for PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Xbox |
https://www.engadget.com/best-co-op-games-for-pc-nintendo-switch-ps-4-and-more-141542259.html?src=rss
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Online multiplayer is part and parcel of many video games these days but finding something you can play on the couch with friends and family is tougher If you re looking for some local co op fun allow us to help Below are of the best couch co op games we ve played across the Nintendo Switch PlayStation Xbox Series X S and PC Note that we re focusing on genuine co op experiences not games that have local multiplayer but aren t truly cooperative in practice So no Mario Kart or Jackbox Nevertheless our list encompasses everything from platformers and puzzlers to RPGs and arcade shooters You know the broad strokes of any Super Mario game by now But within the series Super Mario D World stands out for using a largely fixed camera and levels that are more semi D than the totally open spaces in Super Mario Odyssey or Super Mario Galaxy There are still many items to grab and secrets to uncover across the characteristically charming brisk and inventive stages ーbut everything you can find at a given moment is right in front of you which encourages you to look closer and move from foreground to background Co op play can be chaotic but D World owns that You and up to three buddies share lives but are scored on your individual performance with the leader receiving a literal crown at the end of each level This makes for a sort of competitive co op mode one in which a devious teammate could straight up grab you and chuck you off a cliff in an attempt to secure their high score The adventure only has to be as spicy as you and your partners want it to be though if you aren t playing with a group of sickos D World should be an exciting update to a familiar Mario formula We ll also shout out Super Mario Bros Wonder the latest D Mario game That one supports local multiplayer too but its camera is a bit too zoomed in which can make it harder for players of different skill levels to stay on screen at once It s a great platformer and still a decent co op experience but it feels designed for solo play first and foremost Like most Donkey Kong Country games Tropical Freeze nbsp is a D platformer that s both structurally straightforward and aesthetically gorgeous Donkey Kong is not Mario He has a more immediate sense of gravity to him so when he leaps he comes down hard But the platforming is uniquely deliberate as a result and the way the game leads you from one stunning scene to the next even within the same stage is a delight Tropical Freeze can get difficult particularly during some later boss fights but a Funky Mode in the Switch version eases things slightly If you still have a Wii or Wii U meanwhile this game s predecessor Donkey Kong Country Returns is just as great if not better If Donkey Kong is Mario s brutish animal pal Rayman is the eccentric French buddy he visits when he s overseas Rayman Legends is a more out there D platformer than the Nintendo properties above Instead of the pristine environments and perfect geometry of a Mario or Donkey Kong game here everything is a bit more abstract cartoony and crass There are more fart sounds for one The moment to moment movement is a little less precise too but Legends still plays fast and light with stages that are loaded with optional rooms and collectibles that invite your curiosity This is an unpretentious game a fun side scrolling platformer that merely wants to be a fun side scrolling platformer and it becomes more enjoyable and frantic with friends Baldur s Gate is a mammoth CRPG that plays like a digital Dungeons amp Dragons campaign Part of that is because it s set in the Forgotten Realms another is because its tricky turn based combat is based on D amp D th Edition s rules But most of the resemblance lies in its flexible spirit No video game is as malleable as a real DM s imagination but Baldur s Gate asks you to make a ton of decisions even when you don t realize it and the timeline of its world morphs alongside them It becomes more rigid as it rolls along but a driving plot and a compelling cast of characters help keep it moving The near universal praise is no accident Baldur s Gate follows gaming s eternal promise that your choices matter to an extent most narrative based games do not All of this works better as a solo experience but it takes on a different flavor in its co op mode You and a partner can go through the whole story but neither of you have nbsp to follow the other s lead Part of the fun is in the ways your buddy could undermine or alter your quest in unforeseen ways perhaps by killing an important NPC or taking up a quest with contradictory goals But if you want to travel together and work out combat strategies in harmony that s fine too As with Divinity Original Sin another great couch co op RPG from developer Larian Studios the question is this What would happen if your RPG party members behaved like actual people not a collective bound to one path The answer a mess potentially but a thrilling one Just note that a playthrough can last well over hours so you ll want a partner who can commit for the long haul Vampire Survivors is a retro looking shoot em up title with a twist The game shoots for you You select from a handful of characters each with distinct abilities and face hordes of monsters in a set of endless stages As you defeat enemies you gain experience With each level up you choose a new weapon or passive ability adding a layer of strategy and contingency as you figure out fun builds Do it right and you ll mow down screens of baddies within seconds The only goal is to survive until a time limit It s a focused naturally replayable loop and the comically huge amount of cannon fodder you end up blasting by the end of each round borders on a parody of gaming power fantasies But it s that auto firing that makes Vampire Survivors stand out Instead of caring about aiming or dexterity it s about movement and the ability to visualize space within chaos All of this still applies in its co op mode which supports up to four players but there s a new element of communication on top You split weapons and trade off leveling upgrades so you re encouraged to stick together and work out how to turn your team into a collective monster blasting machine This can make the game slower and tougher especially at first but the extra tension adds more excitement to each run Luigi s Mansion nbsp is another ghost hunting adventure starring Mario s scaredy cat brother who this time must stomach his fears and use his Poltergust vacuum to rescue his friends from a haunted hotel Its co op mode isn t available until an hour ish into the story but at that point a second player can become Gooigi a Luigi clone made of green goo with infinite lives It makes sense when you get there Though the game isn t particularly tough this setup gives you more freedom to mess around with puzzle and boss fight solutions without having to start over repeatedly Luigi s Mansion has some frustrating elements more generally ーcontrolling that ghost gobbling vacuum can be annoyingly imprecise and backtracking through previously conquered areas can get tedious ーbut the creative level designs and Pixar esque animation give it a distinct personality compared to other Nintendo games It s a silly and usually satisfying time one that s especially well suited for kids Clubhouse Games nbsp is a compilation of classic tabletop games from Yahtzee and Connect Four to shogi and nine men s morris Not every entry in the collection supports couch co op but most do and almost all are made easy to grasp Apart from being accessible Clubhouse Games stands out for the quality of its curation The included games span cultures time periods and even modes of play some are built on skill or patience others on abstraction or chance When you first boot up the game you re asked to identify your heart s desire and there s a fair bit of detail on each game s origins and history as you go along Taken as a whole this is a game that recognizes play itself as a kind of universal connection But even ignoring all of that Clubhouse Games is a fun chill time ーmuch like busting out a favorite board game BoxBoy BoxGirl nbsp may not look like much but this minimalist puzzler from Kirby makers HAL Laboratory has the kind of simple pleasure and regularly inventive design you d expect from a Nintendo published game In its two player campaign you play as Qbby and Qucy two walking boxes with the ability to grow additional boxes out of their heads Your goal is to get from point A to point B using those boxes to cross gaps and navigate various obstacles along the way The catch is that you can only create a certain amount of boxes at a time so you and your partner often have to think outside the box sorry to find a safe way past You ll start off making basic bridges but the bite sized levels quickly build on themselves with a stream of new ideas Eventually you ll find yourself using boxes as makeshift grappling hooks shovels laser blocking shields and more in ways that quickly make sense Simply beating the game isn t difficult but collecting the tricky to reach crowns tucked away in each stage brings a greater challenge if you want it The D platformer It Takes Two is one of the few full scale narrative driven games that s designed to be exclusively played in co op As such it takes care to avoid the trappings of many co op experiences It rarely asks both players to do the same thing at the same time and thus it rarely makes one person carry all the weight It constantly throws new concepts at you and while some levels can drag its bouncy movement feels good throughout Its saccharine yet oddly dark story isn t as satisfying Few games make divorce seem like a happy ending as much as this one and you ll never want to hear the words Dr Hakim again by the time you re done But if you can ignore the dialogue It Takes Two delights more than it doesn t The first person puzzler Portal launched more than years ago but it s received new life with a Switch rerelease Either way its sharp writing and cleverly layered puzzles more than hold up today Co op play takes the form of an entire separate campaign It s not as big on story as the solo mode but it still does a fantastic job of gradually teaching you how to think spatially It also ensures you and your partner actually communicate There s no way to play on PS or PS nowadays but on PC you can download a range of community maps for a greater challenge too Streets of Rage nbsp faithfully revives the classic series of side scrolling beat em ups from the Sega Genesis which remain fine co op playthroughs themselves You move to the right position yourself efficiently and pulverize waves of bozos with a flurry of punches kicks throws and special moves The hand drawn animation style and bouncy soundtrack are both great and most set pieces convey the rage part of the title effectively This isn t the most ambitious game as it largely aims to hit high notes from years ago but it provides the kind of thrill style and refinement any good beat em up should For a more accessible albeit simpler throwback brawler Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder s Revenge is worth considering as well Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga is a Lego ified romp through the nine mainline Star Wars nbsp films Like most Lego games it s dead simple to play ーcollect the things bop the bad guys ーso just about anyone can pick it up and enjoy The best thing it has going for it is its sense of humor as its abbreviated remakes of each film are loaded with cutesy gags and in jokes One favorite wandering around Cloud City and finding the room where Lando Calrissian keeps his hoard of capes ーand a heroic portrait of himself There s an absurd amount of side quests and collectibles beyond the narrative bits but most of those are repetitive And the game s cor systems while fun aren t meaty enough to make optional content all that interesting Still if you stick to the main stuff you should find Skywalker Saga to be a good natured love letter to some inherently goofy films Stardew Valley has exploded in popularity since arriving back in and it s easy to see why More than just a laid back farming sim a la Harvest Moon it is an escape an engrossing alternate life where you re allowed to putter around your farm mosey through town and take life slow free from the burdens of aggression and competition You and a friend can share a farm and divide up tasks in co op but the game isn t fussy if one of you would rather fish explore the beach or simply sit around your house it s OK to do your thing If you d rather ruthlessly optimize your land for profits that s an option as well Just note that you ll need to build a cabin for your partner if they re joining an existing farm Halo The Master Chief Collection nbsp bundles remastered versions of the first six mainline Halo games which continue to provide tighter control and pacing than most first person shooters that ve been released in the decades since The original Halo s campaign in particular remains essential While some of the later narratives go completely off the rails ーlooking at you Halo ーthe general tone still strikes the right balance between goofiness and badassery The newer Halo Infinite sadly dropped couch co op altogether but there s still good fun to be had driving Warthogs and dual wielding space guns in the classics Just be aware that local multiplayer is only supported on Xbox not PC Untitled Goose Game nbsp is a simple puzzle stealth game that gets a lot of mileage out of its premise You are a goose and your only goal in life is to aggravate the residents of a little English village If the idea of dragging a groundskeeper s rake into a lake pulling a seat out from under an old man right as he goes to sit down and generally honking at everyone in sight sounds funny to you it ll probably give you a good laugh The actual game part doesn t have much variance to it ーyou mostly trial and error your way through a checklist of troll y activities ーbut it s appropriately silly and it ends quickly enough to not run its joke into the ground Chicory A Colorful Tale is an open hearted adventure game set in a world of talking animals where the wielder of a magic paintbrush is tasked with literally filling the land with color You play as a sprightly dog who becomes that wielder What follows is a cozy adventure in the vein of Zelda but with a twist You can use the brush to paint over the environment at any point anywhere you want in various colors and patterns This turns a somewhat familiar game into something of a digital coloring book one that remembers your markings in time as you go along Chicory is exceedingly gentle and never suggests you re doing it wrong so if you want to spend minutes ignoring the story and painting trees purple you can There are tons of accessibility options on top of that In co op player one still controls the pace of progression but player two gets another brush with all the same abilities On top of giving a second set of hands to deal with the game s various puzzles and boss encounters this lets you both create a shared impression on the world like two kids sharing crayons on a children s menu The narrative gets heavier than the cutesy art style suggests exploring themes of self doubt impostor syndrome and other struggles that can come with creative work But it s refreshingly earnest throughout If you re looking for a warm caring but still goofy co op experience Chicory is worth a shot Spiritfarer is a management sim not unlike Animal Crossing but with some light platforming elements Like Chicory it s generally relaxed sincere and low stakes but occasionally devastating in the way it puts a friendly face on adult themes You play as Stella a young woman who becomes tasked with ferrying freshly deceased souls into the afterlife This mostly involves exploring the seas on a big boat doing quests and gathering and crafting resources to make passing on more comfortable for the many characters you get to know Player two joins in as Stella s pet cat Daffodil who can t trigger quests but can help with platforming and management tasks Spiritfarer s sim elements can sometimes feel monotonous and the way it addresses death head on can be sad Yet it stands out for being as much about love and care as sorrow If you and your partner are into management sims and aren t afraid to shed a tear there s beauty to be found here The Overcooked games set you and up to three friends as chefs tasked with preparing various meals on a timer In theory this is as simple as grabbing the right ingredients preparing them properly then sending the finished plate off on time But as the orders keep piling up and parts of the levels start to conspire against you your ability to scramble and communicate under pressure is increasingly put to the test There s a non zero chance your partner will call you an idiot sandwich by the time you re done With its adorable looks Overcooked knows what it s doing but fighting through the anxiety of its most chaotic levels brings a particularly comical sense of accomplishment The All You Can Eat edition includes the original Overcooked the superior sequel Overcooked and all of their DLC It also adds an assist mode that lets you ease up the timers on each order ーwhich yes kind of defeats the point of the game but also might be necessary if you and your friends start screaming at each other over cartoon fish chopping Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime nbsp is a vibrant space shooter in which you and up to three partners must collectively navigate a chunky battleship through levels packed with baddies and other obstacles There are eight panels for controlling the ship s engine shields and various weapons but each player can only man one station at a time so you have no choice but to scramble and communicate to keep your shared body alive for as long as possible The net effect isn t unlike Overcooked then but if you don t mind a little stress Lovers is effective in the way it makes you and your buddies work toward a common goal The run and gun shooter Cuphead is a stunner with a lovely soundtrack and luscious animation that combine to make the whole thing feel like a playable cartoon from the s It s no wonder there s a TV show based on the game Somehow the story about a pair of talking cups who make a deal with the Devil fits the art style like a glove Actually playing Cuphead meanwhile is an exercise in punishment It is brutally difficult with several intense boss fights that demand serious concentration Playing it in co op makes it even tougher as those bosses gain more health and having two characters jump around can make the action more chaotic That said the challenge is not cheap and overcoming each fight brings the expected wave of catharsis If you have a bit of a masochistic streak it s worth a go Try the DLC expansion too Spelunky helped popularize the trend of modern D platformers with roguelike elements ーi e games where you mostly start from scratch upon death Spelunky released about a decade later in essentially polishes the original game s formula Like Cuphead neither of these games is for the faint of heart Traversing their caves while avoiding the many death traps within is like descending into cartoon Hell But again it s a mostly fair and legible challenge if you can stay patient The procedurally generated levels keep exploration from feeling totally rigid and the frankness and pure speed with which death can hit you gives everything a morbid sense of humor Couch co op can feel somewhat unnatural at times ーeveryone has to stick near player one to stay on camera ーbut having a partner or three to revive you is a relief provided you don t accidentally blow each other up first Ikaruga is more than two decades old but it remains a crown jewel among shoot em ups It takes a simple idea ーevery enemy and projectile in the game is either white or black and you must change your ship s color accordingly to survive ーthen makes the most of it across five meticulously crafted stages It s another notoriously difficult one but there s not an ounce of fat on it and its central mechanic forces you and your partner into a near perfect state of concentration If you re craving an arcade style shooter it s still a rush And if you get sick of dying know that recent releases have added more accessibility settings including the option for infinite continues Wizard of Legend nbsp is a top down D dungeon crawler with an emphasis on speed It s another skill based roguelike but letting your arsenal of spells fly and figuring out how to best chain attacks with your partner is a joy Simply moving around is pleasingly kinetic and the pixelated art style is kind on the eyes It s probably not enough to convince the roguelike averse to hop aboard but Wizard of Legend is a good one of those all the same Assault Android Cactus is an intense twin stick shooter You and up to three friends play as little androids charged with surviving hordes of robot baddies on a space freighter The tone is much more campy than gritty thankfully Its tension derives from the fact that each android runs on a continuously depleting battery if emptied it s game over Since you can only replenish that battery by defeating waves of enemies it behooves you to play aggressively and keep moving The nonstop rush of baddies gunfire and power ups Cactus throws at you is exhilarating and it s heightened by quick burst levels that rarely sit still It s not easy but it s far from unfair with most of the challenge derived from chasing high scores Wilmot s Warehouse nbsp is a clever little game about organizing an ever growing warehouse At the start of each level you get a batch of colorful boxes which you must gather and tuck away on a timer Exactly how you organize them is up to you When the timer ends customers will start requesting certain products within the warehouse and the challenge becomes retrieving the corresponding boxes as quickly as possible The game then is coming up with a system that will let your specific brain remember where everything is and adapt to new box types as they roll in There s a frenzy to completing orders and a dark undercurrent to the idea of two warehouse workers being scored as they fulfill this many orders and strive this hard for efficiency The latter is made particularly clear in the game s sudden ending In the abstract though Wilmot s Warehouse makes a soothing game out of our unending desire to create order from chaos Escape Academy is in essence a series of digital escape rooms You work with a partner comb for clues decipher codes and solve puzzles to get out of locked rooms within a time limit Like the real thing it can result in some shouting but it encourages constant teamwork and ultimately provides a sense of empowerment The puzzles themselves are varied but maybe a touch too easy And the overarching narrative that ties the challenges together is just kind of there However if you and a partner have been itching to try a real world escape room Escape Academy should serve as a charming substitute for a couple of afternoons This article originally appeared on Engadget at |
2023-12-21 16:15:17 |
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