Walmart and Amazon are exploring the possibility of issuing their own stablecoins in the United States, WSJ reported Friday, potentially shifting billions of dollars in transaction volume away from traditional banks and card networks. The retail giants, along with Expedia Group and several airlines, have recently discussed launching corporate stablecoins that would allow them to circumvent the existing payments infrastructure dominated by Visa and Mastercard.
The companies’ final decisions hinge on passage of the Genius Act, legislation currently moving through Congress that would establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins. These digital currencies maintain a one-to-one exchange ratio with dollars and are backed by cash or Treasury reserves, offering merchants the potential for faster payment settlement and significantly reduced processing fees compared to traditional card transactions that can take days to clear.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
In-person spin classes are the best kind of spin classes, in my opinion, but I know my perspective is very biased because I teach them multiple times per week. When I’m not teaching, I’m taking classes on my Peloton because that’s a brand I trust to provide me with credentialed, experienced instructors and thoughtful, effective workout routines. I am, however, a woman of the people, so I recognize there is a demand for free options that are still well structured and helpful.
If you’re on a budget, traveling somewhere, or just in need of a quick hit of motivation to hop on a stationary bike, you can approximate the Peloton or in-person class experience on YouTube. Some of the channels and instructors are better than others and there are a few pros and cons. Based on what I know about what makes a good spin class, both in the studio and online, here’s what I recommend.
The virtual cycling instructor I give my biggest stamp of approval to is Kaleigh Cohen, who guides her 359,000 followers through not only spinning, but strength workouts, too. (Like Peloton’s app, she offers up a variety, but unlike Peloton’s app, it doesn’t cost you $44 per month to access.)
I like her because she gives straightforward safety and resistance cues and doesn’t chit-chat much. She even offers live classes, which is great for maintaining some accountability and sticking to a schedule. Finally, she actually has real songs—like with lyrics and fun beats—which you won’t find everywhere. Licensing songs is pricey, which is a big reason you have to fork over that $44 to Peloton every month, so a lot of these free channels are serving up straight elevator music. At least Cohen is giving you something fun to ride to, even if you haven’t heard it before.
She also has all the certifications you’d want from an instructor at a real-life gym. Her website actually has a guide that goes over positions, resistance, RPM, and more. She’s as good as it gets, which is why I consider her the best. She offers a variety of workout types, guided stretching (important!), and more, making her well-rounded and genuinely helpful.
GCN is closing in on 3.5 million followers, so the brand is clearly doing something right. Much of GCN’s content is about actual outdoor cycling, but it also has some indoor classes, and those are extremely thorough, led by professionals who truly know what they’re talking about.
What I like about the Global Cycling Network is how expansive the content really is. I am not an outdoor rider by any means and have no plans to be, but a lot of my in-person students are, so I try to keep familiar with all of it and produce classes that can be helpful to them. GCN is a great bridge between indoor and outdoor cycling that can help you become familiar with all kinds of bikes, terms, and processes, so whether you’re staying in or actually plan to go out and hit the literal road, you can acquire knowledge from experts that will make you better.
I cannot understand why or how Joe Alvarado only has about 10,000 subscribers, but I do know you should join them. His channel offers two things I think are pretty important for a quality ride: First, he provides dedicated videos that explain key concepts, like how heart rate should play into your cycling workout. Second, he has real music.
However he’s licensing these, we should all be grateful. But his channel is also great because he’s encouraging and the videos are well produced. On the screen, you can see where your resistance should be set and there are even countdown timers to let you know how long you have left on a certain activity, like riding at a moderate effort. He also has actual certifications in teaching group fitness and cycling. I know I sound like a broken record, but that’s really so important.
I like Kristina Girod‘s classes because a lot of them are actually filmed POV-style while she’s teaching in a studio. When you’re taking an in-person class, it’s really helpful to see what other people are doing, especially if you’re a beginner, and you get that benefit here. She uses remixes of popular songs, too, which is always engaging and probably a big reason she has 168,000 subscribers.
Two things to keep in mind about Girod’s videos: At times, it can be hard to hear exactly what she’s saying, which I think is just an audio issue that crops up.
Girod also incorporates a lot of different movements. If you’ve ever been to a Soulcycle class and been asked to do pushups on the handlebars or jump in and out of your seat, you might be familiar with this approach, but it’s definitely not done everywhere. From using weights to incorporating some pretty complex moves with your hands on different parts of the handlebars, these classes are challenging. There’s a lot of debate in the cycling instructor world about doing all this stuff and I won’t bore you with it, but I will say I incorporate weights and some choreography into my own classes and am a proponent of it. If you’re used to a more old-school style, you’ll either find Girod’s techniques intriguing or confusing—or maybe both.
Finally, I like what I’ve seen from Spin Obsession‘s Jessi, who teaches outdoors and has high production quality. Again, you see timers on the screen, as well as visual instructions about what you’re supposed to be doing, but she also has a variety of videos available. In some, it’s only music and cues with no chit-chat, while in others she provides more verbal instruction.
The classes come in different lengths and styles, so whether you’re looking for a tabata ride or a hardcore 45-minute grind, you can find something. The channel doesn’t update often and has few followers, but the content that’s there is great.
There are loads of other channels offering spin classes on YouTube. I didn’t include them because I don’t love them—the video quality sucks on a lot of them, some that seem really promising are in languages I don’t speak, and others just didn’t meet my standards for a good class—but everyone is different and you may find something you’re into by poking around in the “suggested videos” accompanying the ones I linked above. The real benefit of looking into these free classes is that you have so much variety available to you, which isn’t always true when you’re taking a class in-person.
If you’re a beginner, these free classes are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they can give you a taste of what to expect if you sign up for an in-studio class near you. I’ll be the first to admit the vocab and moves can be hard to grasp if you’re a first-timer (though you should absolutely go early to your first few classes and tell your instructor you’re a beginner, I beg you). On the other hand, the benefit of going in-person is that you get more detailed, specific instruction and there is someone else there to help you or stop you if you’re doing something wrong. If you want to try following along with a class on YouTube, please select one with a knowledgeable, clear instructor and/or on-screen cues and graphics. Watch some videos on topics like bike setup, positions, and resistance before you start. Cohen has a great one and Girod has a very thorough video available to explain all the different kinds of choreography you might be exposed to.
Eric Migicovsky, the creator of Pebble who’s reviving the e-paper smartwatch with a new company called Core Devices, shared that the first new smartwatches are coming next month. The Core 2 Duo watch is on track to ship to pre-order customers in July and the pricier Core Time 2 is still on track to launch this year.
The $149 Core 2 Duo is “near mass production” according to Migicovsky, and should land in the hands of all pre-order customers during July or August. If you pre-ordered, you’ll be able to confirm your order and shipping details later in June. Migicovsky says he’s also aiming to have “working engineering samples” of the $225 Core Time 2 “within the next month.”
Both the Core 2 Duo and Core Time 2 carry over the basic functionality of Migicovsky’s original Pebble smartwatch, using either black and white or color e-paper displays, with health tracking, access to notifications and the ability to use the back catalog of classic Pebble watch faces and apps. The major difference between the two watches is that the Core Time 2 has a slightly larger screen, a metal frame and a built-in heart rate monitor.
Core Devices is also opening up a beta program to test early watch hardware and its new Android and iOS companion app for syncing notifications and watch faces. You can sign-up to join the beta test via a Google Form and interestingly, Migicovsky writes that the new app will also be compatible with older Pebble hardware like the Pebble Time Steel and Round or the Pebble 2.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/the-spiritual-sequel-to-the-pebble-smartwatch-is-on-track-to-ship-in-july-182014025.html?src=rss
Google is rolling out a test that puts its AI-powered Audio Overviews on the first page of search results on mobile. From a report: The experiment, which you can enable in Labs, will let you generate an AI podcast-style discussion for certain queries. If you search for something like, “How do noise cancellation headphones work?”, Google will display a button beneath the “People also ask” module that says, “Generate Audio Overview.” Once you click the button, it will take up to 40 seconds to generate an Audio Overview, according to Google. The completed Audio Overview will appear in a small player embedded within your search results, where you can play, pause, mute, and adjust the playback speed of the clip.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly pitching a merger condition that would forbid advertising agencies from boycotting platforms based on political content, in a move that could benefit Elon Musk’s X social network and President Trump’s own Truth Social platform.
As the FTC reviews a proposed merger between Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group, two large ad agencies, The New York Times reported yesterday that a “proposed consent decree would prevent the merged company from boycotting platforms because of their political content by refusing to place their clients’ advertisements on them, according to two people briefed on the matter.”
This is one of several moves the FTC has reportedly made to discourage ad boycotts that have riled conservatives. The FTC currently has only Republican commissioners because President Trump fired both Democrats, who allege in a lawsuit that the firings were illegal. Trump also declared sweeping executive power over the FTC and other agencies that were created to operate independently from the White House.
Name: Deb Hodson
Hometown: Alamo, CA
How did you get into cycling? About 25 years I met my partner who raced track. She taught me how to ride track and not kill myself! I learned how to paceline and do leadouts for her as she was a pure sprinter. We also did a lot of road cycling when we were not close to a track. I fell in love with the track bike. Felt like I was one with the bike!
How many years have you been racing on Zwift? I started Zwifting right before the pandemic because my partner was injured. Instead of riding outside alone, I felt safer riding indoors. To be honest, I was running more at the time, and used cycling as my rest days. It’s quite the opposite now.
Are you part of a Virtual team? OTR (On the Rivet racing)
What do you love most about racing? I started racing about 2 years ago because my friend signed up and I wanted to ride with her. We joined OTR as a Cat D. I swore I was not going to get addicted to racing, but that soon changed and I love pushing myself. I soon found myself in women’s Cat C. Racing has given me way more confidence in myself. I am now trying to sprint even though climbing for me is much easier. Having a team like OTR has challenged me to be a better cyclist and a better teammate. The other cyclists believing in me encourages me to push myself when I don’t think I can. The support from the team has allowed me to become a faster, smarter racer. It’s truly all about teamwork and an encouraging environment to go like crazy on the bike!
What is your favourite style of race (e.g. points, scratch, iTT, TTT, Chase, duathlon)? Ladder racing is absolutely my favorite. Bringing different levels of riders to race against another team is like putting together a puzzle. Deciding strategy before and during the race is rewarding. A fantastic way to meet other women cyclists too! Truly a team effort to win a race!
What is your favourite Zwift women’s race series? ZRL women’s division is my main race I have participated in. Being team captain for the women’s team has been such a gift. Watching the teammates support and cheer each other on is so uplifting! Meeting cyclists from other teams while we compete with each other at the back of the pack is so rewarding. I have met the nicest riders racing with me!
What is your most memorable racing experience, inside or outside or BOTH? My most memorable racing experience is when I raced with my friend, and a few of us dropped back and helped and cheered them up the mountains and across the finish. There is nothing better than helping a friend race.
What is your favourite food to eat post-race? My favorite food is peanut butter. I quit sugar years ago, so peanut butter is a treat!! Ok, I will admit to eating chips occasionally… I cherish those chips!
What advice would you give to a woman entering her first Zwift race? If you are entering your first race, warm up first, go hard out of the pen, and celebrate the finish! Jump up and down! We race for fun!
Where can people follow your racing adventures? I post my races on Strava and my races and banjo videos on YouTube. I do have a YouTube channel under my name.
Don’t throw all your popcorn at the screen, but A Minecraft Movie begins streaming exclusively on HBO Max (which used to be Max, which used to be HBO Max) on June 20. The big studio adaptation of the best-selling video game of all time was something of a surprise hit for those unfamiliar with the game’s mammoth audience.
Movie adaptations of video games can be really hit or miss. The Super Mario Bros. Movie set the box office record for the highest-grossing video game movie of all time and was a fun, if safe, movie. On the other end of that spectrum is Borderlands, which was a massive letdown and a box-office failure. With that spotty track record, we were pleasantly surprised when A Minecraft Movie turned out to be…pretty good, actually.
The movie stars Jack Black as Steve, the original player character from the video game, who ends up transported into the voxel world of Minecraft, while Jason Momoa stars as an egomaniacal former gaming superstar. The movie will also debut on the HBO linear cable channel on Saturday, June 21, at 8PM ET.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a-minecraft-movie-is-coming-exclusively-to-hbo-max-on-june-20-175859982.html?src=rss
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Cooking a great steak is an art, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be a challenge. It’s a no-brainer to trust a chef with steak when you go out to a restaurant, but even the unsure cook can make good steak casually at home. Personally, I’ve taken casual steaks to new levels in my trusty Instant Vortex air fryer. It took some troubleshooting, but I finally zeroed in on a simple method to air fry steak that saves me time, mess, and makes a near masterpiece every time.
Cooking steak on the grill, in a pan, or in a cast iron skillet are pretty popular and common techniques. Though fast, all of these methods, even reverse searing, still require a lot of attention—and some days I am just plain tired of paying attention. Air frying steak gives you freedom to leave the room and, my favorite part, there’s way less smoke. This is primarily why the Instant Vortex is my go-to air fryer for daily cooking (read my review here) but these other top picks will do the trick as well.
In addition to being easy to clean, the air fryer cooks steak quickly and can keep the center juicy due to convection heating. Convection ovens, like air fryers, are both powerful and use ambient heat—the steak isn’t right up against the coil, but the fan forces hot winds around the basket. While you absolutely can overcook something in a matter of minutes, you certainly won’t overcook your steak if you use this trick.
The key to cooking any steak is to manage its doneness in the center. Since an air fryer can take any piece of meat from undercooked to dry in a matter of minutes, the key is slowing down the cooking a bit in the center so you have time to catch it. If you’ve checked out my steak bites recipe, you know that these little morsels stay juicy because I freeze them first.
When you’re air frying your steak, bring the temperature down first—especially if it’s a small cut of meat. The smaller or the thinner the piece of steak, the colder it should be. If you have a flat flank steak, freeze it first and add it to the air fryer frozen—seasoned, but frozen. If you have a New York strip steak that’s 5 inches long and 1.5 inches thick, then fridge-cold or borderline frozen (about 15 minutes in the freezer) is great. The steak will warm up and begin browning on the outside while the center is still coming up to temperature. You’re buying yourself time, and keeping the center juicy.
I like to season my steak when it’s still thawed and then pop it in the freezer for 15 minutes, or up to an hour if I want it solid. Spritz or drizzle a thin layer of cooking oil on the steak. If you didn’t season it beforehand, you can do it now.
Pop your steak in a 400°F air fryer set to the “air fry” setting. The time will vary depending on the size and cut of your steak. Steak bites may take as little as three minutes, and a thick steak might take 20 minutes. For larger steaks, try to aim for flipping it somewhere around the middle of the cooking time.
Always test the interior temperature with a meat thermometer to assess doneness according to how you like your steak. (Here’s the one I use.) For reference, a medium steak should be 130°F to 135°F when it comes off the heat, as the temperature will continue to rise a bit while it rests. Let it rest for 5 to 15 minutes before digging in. Today, I am making a steak sandwich, so I like a medium to medium-well steak for this purpose.
There are definitely some downsides to the air-fried steak compared to the other popular preparations. You won’t get the same gnarly sear like on a pan or a grill grate, and there’s no good way to collect fond (the crispy, tasty bits that stick to a frying pan) and make a pan sauce. But I do appreciate how the edges of any exterior fat become crispy with cracklin-like qualities. You’ll have to ask yourself what your priorities are. If it’s speed, low smoke, and a quick and easy clean-up, then I suggest you try tossing a steak in the air fryer for sure.
Additionally, if you really miss a crusty brown exterior but you don’t have grill, you can still do a quick sear in a frying pan to give you that extra color and flavor. This is my air fryer reverse searing method and it works like a charm—I dare say, better than the original reverse searing method. When I’m finished cooking, the Instant Vortex’s non-stick basket is easy to wash clean. No need to whip out the Barkeeper’s Friend or scrub down a cast iron skillet.
The United States is mounting an ambitious effort to reclaim nuclear energy leadership after falling dangerously behind China, which now has 31 reactors under construction and plans 40 more within a decade. America produces less nuclear power than it did a decade ago and abandoned uranium mining and enrichment capabilities, leaving Russia controlling roughly half the world’s enriched uranium market.
This strategic vulnerability has triggered an unprecedented response: venture capitalists invested $2.5 billion in US next-generation nuclear technology since 2021, compared to near-zero in previous years, while the Trump administration issued executive orders to accelerate reactor deployment. The urgency stems from AI’s city-sized power requirements and recognition that America cannot afford to lose what Interior Secretary Doug Burgum calls “the power race” with China.
Companies like Standard Nuclear in Oak Ridge, Tennessee are good examples of this push, developing advanced reactor fuel despite employees working months without pay.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
There’s another leak on the International Space Station, and NASA has already delayed one crew launch to the orbiting laboratory as a result.
Beyond that the space agency is not offering much information about the unfolding situation in orbit. However, multiple sources have confirmed to Ars that the leak is a serious concern for the space agency as it deals with hardware that is approaching three decades in orbit.
To understand the current situation, it is important to review past leaks on the station, which has an aluminum structure. The station has had a slow but increasing leak since 2019. The air leaks are located in the transfer tunnel of the space station’s Russian Zvezda service module, one of the oldest elements of the complex, the first elements of which were launched in 1998. The transfer tunnel, known by the Russian acronym PrK, connects the Zvezda module with a docking port where Soyuz crew and Progress resupply spacecraft attach to the station.
DENVER—Ads shown while you’re streaming shows or movies are disruptive enough. But there’s something uniquely eerie about what you see when a connected TV (CTV) platform fails to sell ad inventory. You may get a black screen accompanied by ethereal music or a confusing thumping beat, alongside a graphic that says something like, “We’ll be right back.”
Not only are streamers being forced to endure more ad time than ever, but that time doesn’t even always benefit streaming platforms or advertisers. For the past six months, AdGood has been working to turn that blank, wasted ad space into messaging for good by helping nonprofits buy ad space for cheap.
During the StreamTV Show in Denver this week, Ars spoke with Kris Johns, CEO and founder of AdGood, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that sells unused, CTV ad space to other nonprofits. AdGood sells unfilled, sometimes donated, ad space at discounted rates, which it says can be as low as about $5 to $6 CPMs (cost per mille, or the amount an advertiser pays for every 1,000 impressions an ad earns). Johns said that CTV CPMs can vary depending on the scenario, with costs ranging from $12 to $15 and higher. Some CTV ad firms peg the average CTV CPM at $35 to $65.
Google’s AI Overviews do not save me time. For one, I work for a tech blog and am therefore professionally curious as to whether or not the generated answers are correct, so I spend a few ticks figuring that out. (Answer: Sometimes, but not always!)
Then things get existential as I contemplate how long a self-cannibalizing system can sustain itself — if the AI gives answers pulled from websites that survive on visits from readers, what happens when no one visits those sites because AI cribbed the answer? Will I still get to write for websites if websites die from traffic starvation? It’s a lot to think about when all I want is TSA’s latest lithium-ion battery regulations.
Curiously (and unhelpfully) the first result when you Google “How to turn off AI Overviews in Chrome” doesn’t actually answer the question. The entry, from Google Support, discusses turning the feature off back when AI Overviews were experimental and handled through Google Labs. Navigate a little further down that page and you’ll see:
Note: Turning off “AI Overviews and more” in Search Labs will not disable all AI Overviews in Search. AI Overviews are part of Google Search like other features, such as knowledge panels, and can’t be turned off.
Thankfully, I work with intelligent people and one of them supplied me with a simple method of ensuring each search performed in a Chrome browser bypasses the AI Overview and uses results from the Web tab only. Here’s how you too can avoid wasted time (and energy) so you can search like it’s 2024.
Click the three dots in the upper right corner of your Chrome browser
Go to Settings > Search engine > Manage search engines and search
Under Site search, click the Add button
Enter Name: Google/Web
Enter Shortcut: https://www.google.com/
Enter URL: {google:baseURL}search?udm=14&q=%s
Click Add
Then, (hat tip to Tom’s Hardware for helping me figure this bit out) set the search type to default by clicking the three dots next to the shortcut you just created and clicking Make default.
Now, go Google “the best laptop power banks” and click on the Engadget entry (usually one to four results down) and spend a few moments looking at the ads (and the picture of my desk) before you move on so I can still have a job in 2026.
In that same Tom’s Hardware article, Avram Piltch links to the extension he built, which is a super easy way to hide the AI Overviews from sight. It’ll still generate the response, you just won’t see it. I prefer the Web method above, to avoid any unnecessary machine processing on my behalf, but the extension is easier and keeps you on the familiar “All” search results tab with knowledge panels, video results and the like.
To turn off the AI Overview for Chrome on your phone, I’ll direct you to the fine folks at tenbluelinks. Just open the link in your phone’s browser and follow the steps for Android or iOS.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/how-to-turn-off-googles-ai-overviews-in-web-searches-170009873.html?src=rss
Up until now, Steam
Google is rolling out new Gemini AI features for Workspace users that make it easier to find information in PDFs and form responses. From a report: The Gemini-powered file summarization capabilities in Google Drive have now expanded to PDFs and Google Forms, allowing key details and insights to be condensed into a more convenient format that saves users from manually digging through the files.
Gemini will proactively create summary cards when users open a PDF in their drive and present clickable actions based on its contents, such as “draft a sample proposal” or “list interview questions based on this resume.” Users can select any of these options to make Gemini perform the desired task in the Drive side panel. The feature is available in more than 20 languages and started rolling out to Google Workspace users on June 12th, though it may take a couple of weeks to appear.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Apps used to be the measure of a mobile platform’s worth, with Apple and Google dueling over who could list the most items in their respective stores. Today, the numbers don’t matter as much—there are enough apps, and Google’s attempt to replace parts of the web with apps is going away. Instant Apps, a feature that debuted in 2017, will reportedly be scrapped in December 2025. In its place, you’ll just have to use the Internet.
Developer Leon Omelan spotted this news buried in the latest Canary release of Android Studio (confirmed by Android Authority). The development client includes a warning that Instant Apps is headed for the Google graveyard. Here’s the full notice, which is the only official confirmation from Google at this time.
Google’s latest Android Studio build announces the end of Instant Apps.
Credit:
Android Authority
Instant Apps wasn’t a bad idea—it was just too late. Early in the mobile era, browsers and websites were sluggish on phones, making apps a much better option. Installing them for every site that offered them could be a pain, though. Google’s Instant Apps tried to smooth over the experience by delivering an app live without installation. When developers implemented the feature, clicking a link to their websites could instead open the Android app in a similar amount of time as loading a webpage. Google later expanded the feature to games.
In an economy where more than a third of Americans are struggling to pay their utility bills, knowing what your future utility bills will be before you commit to buying a home is a crucial part of your decision making process—or it certainly should be.
Here are a few methods to estimate what your future bills will be for electricity, gas, and other utilities before you move in, so you don’t wind up getting a nasty surprise in the mail.
The first step is to figure out what the previous occupants of the home have been paying each month. Here’s how to go about it:
Figure out the local rates. Knowing what the local utilities charge for electricity, natural gas, water, sewage, and other utilities is key. Most utility companies post their rates on their websites, so that’s a good place to start. If you can’t find rate information that way, you can use a website like Utility Rates to get an idea of electric and gas rates in that zip code. Online calculators like this one can give you a decent prediction of future utility costs once you have rate information to plug in.
Collect the billing history. Your next step is to ask for the home’s billing history going back 12 months. Your real estate agent should be able to help you with this, but you can also ask the current owners directly. Seeing a year’s worth of bills will let you figure out an average monthly cost, adjusted (if necessary) for the number of occupants.
Look at average costs in the area. If you aren’t able to get ahold of the billing history, you can make a much rougher estimate by looking at average costs in the area. There are websites to help you figure this out. For example, EnergyBot will calculate your potential utility bill based on zip code and average usage for the home’s size, or you can use this calculator from the Energy Solutions Center to figure your gas bill based on factors like the home’s size and how many dryer loads you run in a week. These calculators will only give you rough estimates, and your results may be higher or lower than actual costs, so tracking down actual bills is always going to be best.
Beyond just the monthly numbers, the key to estimating your own potential utility costs will require you to collect some extra information about the house and its occupants, including:
Occupants. You need to how many people were living in the house for the period you’re looking at, so you can weigh that against your own potential usage. Sky-high utility bills are alarming if it’s just two people living there, but less so if a family of eight is crowded in there.
Usage. You will need to know a little bit about how the previous occupants—whether they all lived there full time, whether they worked from home (which increased energy usage), or had hobbies that consumed extra energy, and whether they had a pool (which increases both their water and electricity bills).
Problems. Ask if the house has had any recent plumbing or electrical problems. Leaks and faulty wiring can lead to spikes in usage, which could mean the cost history of the house will be less useful for predicting future bills.
Once you have a solid idea of what utility costs have been, you can make some adjustments based on your own lifestyle—number of people living there, whether you work from home, hobbies, etc.—to hopefully arrive at a number close to what your actual utility costs will be.
