A baby box reveal, composer of the year and winemaking revolution

The New York Times has named Kaija Saariaho the composer of the year. The newspaper says the composer “reached new heights of mastery with two of 2021’s most memorable premieres: the opera Innocence and the symphonic Vista. Also another Finn, conductor Susanna Mälkki, gets a mention as Saariaho’s “finest interpreter”. (Photo: Priska Ketterer)

A Finnish baby boom. The country’s rising birth rate has spurred the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Kela, to reveal its 2022 maternity package early. The popular “baby box” contains 43 products for a baby’s first year. This year an extra focus has been placed on responsible material choices. See the box’s contents on Yle. (Photo: Jari Riihimäki / Kela)

Finland and vineyards don’t sound like a natural pairing but, behind the scenes, berry wines are making a renaissance with a new generation of winemakers. David and Paola Cohen talked with Wine Enthusiast about producing award-winning wines in the Nordic country. (Photo: Visit Lahti)

How good are your animal impressions? If they need work, get inspired by a new video from Finnish voice artist Rudi Rok. In the video, Rok perfectly recreates 40 animal sounds ranging from a cat to a gorilla. You can enjoy Rok’s impressive voice skills on Nerdist. (Photo: Facebook / Rudi Rok)

Compartment No. 6 is in the running for a Golden Globe award. TheWrap sat down with the film’s director, Juho Kuosmanen, to talk about his approach to making the film, moving away from the source material and a surprise snowstorm. (Photo: Sami Kuokkanen)

Finland is en route to democratise artificial intelligence (AI). ComputerWeekly writes about the country’s efforts in making AI seen not only as a high-tech tool but as a way to facilitate a plethora of hobbies, occupations and study areas across society. It’s off to a good start: over 75 000 Finns have participated in a free online course on the basics of AI. Also, a new report found‌ that Finnish companies lead the way in the use of AI. (Photo: Fotolia)

The wait is (almost) over, Alan Wake 2 is on the way. Remedy Entertainment has announced a sequel to its popular 2012 title, Alan Wake, is coming in 2023. With the sequel, the game developer moves into the survival horror game genre for the first time. GameWatcher has the story. (Photo: Facebook / Alan Wake)

Three Finnish films have made it onto the Sundance 2022 lineup. Hanna Bergholm’s Hatching, Alli Haapasalo’s Girl Picture and Tania Anderson’s The Mission will all get their world premiere at the Utah-based film festival, which will be held both in-person and online. SlashFilm also picked the horror feature Hatching among the 10 festival films its staff is especially excited to see. (Photo: Andrejs Strokins)

‘Sisu’ is among the best known Finnish words globally. But does its translation as inner grit or strength still apply in the 2020s? In a world first, companies Neste and Ponsse have harnessed AI to answer the question. Find out the answer in the companies’ joint press release. (Photo: Neste)

TechRadar visited Finland to find out whether the country should be called a technology powerhouse. It found a community spirit of competitors collaborating openly, emphasis on work-life balance and a “born global” attitude. (Photo: Susanna Lehto)