OpenAI plans to add Alphabet’s Google cloud service to meet its growing needs for computing capacity, Reuters reported Tuesday, marking a surprising collaboration between two prominent competitors in the AI race. From the report: The deal, which has been under discussion for a few months, was finalized in May, one of the sources added. It underscores how massive computing demands to train and deploy AI models are reshaping the competitive dynamics in AI, and marks OpenAI’s latest move to diversify its compute sources beyond its major supporter Microsoft, including its high-profile Stargate data center project.
It is a win for Google’s cloud unit, which will supply additional computing capacity to OpenAI’s existing infrastructure for training and running its AI models, sources said, who requested anonymity to discuss private matters. The move also comes as OpenAI’s ChatGPT poses the biggest threat to Google’s dominant search business in years, with Google executives recently saying that the AI race may not be winner-take-all.
Basque brand Oquo has given its new generation of wheels a complete redesign, introducing lightweight proprietary hubs and new carbon rim profiles.
The second-generation wheelsets come in three specification levels. The LTD wheels are built with the new Q10 hubsets and Sapim CX-Ray spokes. The Team and Pro-level wheelsets continue with Zipp’s ZR1 hubsets.
The wheels were produced at Oquo’s new state-of-the-art R&D and manufacturing facility in Bizkaia (Biscay) in Spain’s Basque region.
Oquo has had success since launching in 2022, claiming podiums at the Tour de France and in the Mountain Bike World Cup downhill.
The brand was initially an exclusive partner to fellow Spanish manufacturer Orbea and part of the same Basque-based co-operative. It has since shifted to become an independent brand.
The new Oquo manufacturing facility can build up to 1,500 wheelsets per day. Oquo
Oquo says the new R&D and manufacturing facility gives it the capability of assembling up to 1,500 wheelsets per day and has provided skilled jobs for more than 100 staff.
For the new generation of wheels, Oquo has redesigned the rim profiles, created a new lightweight hubset and expanded the range to include an all-new aerodynamic, race-oriented all-road/gravel option. We first spotted the new wheelset at this year’s Unbound.
Not a clincher, not hookless
The new Oquo wheels have already been raced at Unbound. Oquo
Oquo has continued to use the same rim and mini-hook designs it pioneered on the original wheel range.
The mini hook, unlike hookless rims, preserves compatibility with clincher tyres, while still enabling you to use tubeless tyres.
The second-generation Oquo wheels were tested and proven in the wind tunnel. Oquo
The mini-hook design is rated to 6.5-7 BAR / 95psi for the road, higher than hookless rims, which come with a 5 BAR / 72.5psi maximum.
The tyre interface may have been carried over, but the rim shapes and profiles are new. Development of the new rim shape has been ongoing over the last three years, involving riders from the Orbea and Oquo-sponsored Lotto team.
Testing on the road, alongside wind-tunnel proving, has been key to the new models, according to Oquo.
New lighter and simpler hubs
The Q10 rear hub can be disassembled for maintenance without tools. Oquo
Oquo originally partnered with Zipp, using Zipp’s ZR1 hubsets throughout its wheel range. For the range-topping second-generation LTD models, it has designed a new hub, the Q10.
The new hub has a shell CNC machined from 7075 T6 aluminium billets. It’s a material Oquo claims has superior durability to steel, while being lighter and stiffer too.
The new ratchet freehub, called Shark Ratchet, combines 45-tooth engagement with a full ceramic coating treatment to keep friction low and provide a fast 8-degree engagement angle.
The hubs use custom stainless-steel bearings, and races with low-friction seals and a proprietary water-resistant grease. Oquo claims they will perform even at temperatures as low as -50°C.
The hubs have a claimed weight of only 175g for the rear and 104g for the front. In comparison, DT Swiss’ lightest road option, the DT Swiss 180, comes in at 192g for the rear and 93g for the front. That makes Oquo’s Q10 one of the lightest Center Lock road disc hubsets available.
Tool-less maintenance
The new hubs’ assembly is a threadless interface, which means disassembly, inspection and maintenance require no special tools.
As a result of this design, Oquo has paid particular attention to making the seals as robust as possible. It claims the sealing is both ultra-efficient and tough, stopping the ingress of water and dust, which can cause premature wear.
Even switching freehubs between Shimano and SRAM is toolless and requires only the changing of a single part.
The range
The RP35 LTD is Oquo’s climbing wheelset. Oquo
The LTD range consists of four models: the lightweight climbing, 35mm-deep RP35LTD; the 50mm-deep, gravel-optimised RA50LTD; the 57mm-deep RA57LTD; and the time-trial specific RA80LTD, which, as the name suggests, is 80mm deep.
The RP35LTD has a 35mm-deep carbon rim with a 21mm internal width, optimised for 28-30mm tyres, with a claimed weight of 1,244g.
The RA50LTD has a 50mm-deep carbon mini-hook rim with a 23mm internal width and a claimed weight of 1,460g. Oquo says this rim profile was developed with input from riders at Orbea-sponsored Lotto. The aim was to design a rim for the roughest road surfaces, including gravel racing.
The new RP50 LTD is a rough surface/gravel racing wheelset. Oquo
The RA57LTD is Oquo’s most aerodynamic road racing wheelset, a direct competitor to Zipp’s 404 and the ENVE SES 4.5. With 57mm-deep, 23mm-wide internal dimensions, the new RA57TDs have a claimed 1,460g weight.
Oquo says the rim shape offers the best compromise between lightweight, aerodynamic stability and speed. This is designed to make it the ideal wheelset for mixed courses.
The RA57 LTD is Oquo’s answer to Zipp’s 404 and ENVE’s 4.5 SES. Oquo
The RA80LTD is Oquo’s time trial and triathlon option. It’s 80mm deep and the 23mm internal-width rims are paired with the Q10 hubset. This results in a 1,626g complete weight, a respectable figure for a wheel of this depth.
Oquo’s RA80 LTD wheels are designed for time trial and triathlon bikes. Oquo
All the Oquo LTD wheelsets will retail for £2,110 / $2,499 / €2,399 and ship with tubeless valves, tapes, sealant and wheel bags. The wheels are available with Shimano HG, Microspline, SRAM XDR and Campagnolo freehubs.
The four new LTD wheelsets are set to see a further upgrade soon, with Oquo confirming it has been busy working on a carbon spoke upgrade. The new spoke design is set to debut at this year’s Tour de France, with wheelsets with the suffix CS (Carbon spoke) becoming available later in the year.
Custom looks
Oquo offers multiple custom graphic finishes on the new wheelsets. Oquo
Oquo has taken cues from Orbea’s MyO programme to bring customisation to the new wheels. It tells us it could only achieve this by bringing assembly and manufacturing completely in-house. That also means a choice of graphic decal styles and colours across all models.
Once again, Samsung is teasing an upcoming foldable with yet another animated silhouette image, providing a second glimpse of a new Galaxy device that is “thin, light, and built to last.” More than that, Samsung claims its next foldable—presumed to be called the Galaxy Z Fold Ultra—has been “meticulously crafted” be its “thinnest, lightest,
A critical measure of the ocean’s health suggests that the world’s marine systems are in greater peril than scientists had previously realized and that parts of the ocean have already reached dangerous tipping points.
A study, published Monday in the journal Global Change Biology, found that ocean acidification—the process in which the world’s oceans absorb excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, becoming more acidic—crossed a “planetary boundary” five years ago.
“A lot of people think it’s not so bad,” said Nina Bednaršek, one of the study’s authors and a senior researcher at Oregon State University. “But what we’re showing is that all of the changes that were projected, and even more so, are already happening—in all corners of the world, from the most pristine to the little corner you care about. We have not changed just one bay, we have changed the whole ocean on a global level.”
Managing user environments is an essential part of Linux system administration. One powerful way to personalize or restrict user sessions is by changing the default login shell. In this article, we’ll walk through two ways to do that using the usermod and chsh commands. If you’re unfamiliar with directory management, check out our guide on creating and removing directories before diving into more advanced user management.
Working with directories is a fundamental part of navigating and organizing your Linux system. Whether you’re setting up project structures or managing application files, knowing how to create and remove directories efficiently is an essential skill. In this guide, we’ll explore the different ways you can create, manage, and remove directories from the command line.
If you’re just getting started with ViM and want to level up your workflow, you might also enjoy our guide on splitting the screen in ViM. Combined with efficient file and directory manipulation, this can dramatically improve your productivity.
Opening files or directories directly from the terminal can significantly improve your workflow and efficiency. While command-line operations are typically associated with advanced tasks, there are tools that allow you to seamlessly integrate GUI actions, like opening a file or directory, right from your terminal window. One of the simplest yet most effective tools for this purpose is xdg-open. For users who enjoy automating confirmations or dealing with output streams, the Linux yes command is another great utility worth exploring. If you’re looking to enhance your system with a new kernel version, check out our guide on installing kernel 6.15 on Ubuntu.
If you’re building a more flexible terminal experience, learning how to use these tools together, and making them easier to invoke with aliases, is a powerful trick. Also, make sure to understand how your shell works by reading more about your Linux shell environment. Using tools like grep efficiently in process monitoring can also boost productivity—explore our grep trick for ps command for more insight.
Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg has been recruiting experts to join a team he’s assembling to achieve AI superintelligence, according to Bloomberg and The New York Times. Zuckerberg has reportedly been discussing potential recruits with other senior leaders from the company in a WhatsApp group chat dubbed “Recruiting Party.” He reportedly has a personal list of recruits, which include AI researchers, infrastructure engineers and other entrepreneurs. Zuckerberg has invited them to lunch and dinner at his homes in California to get them to join his team over the past month.
At the moment, the immediate goal of AI companies is to achieve true artificial general intelligence (AGI), wherein a machine has human-level intelligence and can achieve any task a human can do. Superintelligence is a step beyond that. An AI system with superintelligence is supposed to have intellectual powers far beyond any human’s.
The Times says Zuckerberg has already tapped Alexandr Wang, the founder of AI startup Scale AI, to join the new team. Meta is planning to invest billions of dollars into Wang’s company, which provides other AI companies with data to train their models. The deal will also bring Scale’s other employees onboard Meta, though it’s unclear if any of them are joining the new team, as well.
Meta has also offered dozens of AI experts from other companies, including Google and Open AI, compensation packages worth seven to nine figures to join the team. Some, according to The Times, have already agreed. In his pitch to potential recruits, Zuckerberg apparently said that his company’s advertising business can finance its own AI development even if it costs tens of billions of dollars, unlike rivals who have to raise funds first.
Zuckerberg, Bloomberg said, decided to oversee recruitment himself due to frustration over the quality of and the public’s response to Meta’s Llama 4 large language model. Llama 4 wasn’t well-received, and critics argued that Meta overpromised but underdelivered. The company also had to delay the release of its “Behemoth” Llama 4 model, which the company vowed will outperform “GPT-4.5, Claude Sonnet 3.7, and Gemini 2.0 Pro on several STEM benchmarks.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-is-reportedly-forming-an-ai-superintelligence-team-133030015.html?src=rss
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The 64GB version of the Amazon Kindle Scribe is currently $349.99, down from its usual $449.99, hitting its lowest price yet according to price trackers.
PCMag gave it a “Good” rating, particularly appreciating the bright display and improved handwriting experience. Physically, the Scribe looks a little fresher this year, with a white-framed 10.2-inch E Ink screen and a sturdy aluminum body. It feels premium, but the slippery back makes a case almost necessary. Amazon now includes the Premium Pen by default, which comes with a handy shortcut button and eraser ready to work out of the box.
When it comes to performance, the Scribe manages books and menus smoothly, but page turns and browsing reportedly feel a bit slower compared to the more affordable Kindle Paperwhite. Also, while the screen remains black and white with a sharp 300 ppi resolution, it’s starting to feel a bit behind competitors that offer color E Ink. Still, it holds its own for reading, with an adjustable warm/cool front light and enough screen real estate to annotate documents or scribble notes comfortably. For battery life, Amazon claims up to 12 weeks with light reading and around three weeks if you’re a frequent writer. It charges via USB-C, though you’ll need to bring your own charging brick.
On the note-taking front, things get more complicated. Amazon has improved its system by letting you write directly on ebook pages through something called Active Canvas, but the experience can still feel a little clunky. Notes don’t anchor exactly where you’d expect, and drawing arrows or circling text isn’t an option. Amazon’s AI tools for cleaning up handwriting and summarizing notes seem promising on paper, but in practice, they fall short—processing takes a while, and the results end up isolated on separate pages, notes this PCMag review. On the plus side, there are 18 notebook templates to pick from, and the writing experience itself is excellent, thanks to the textured glass that mimics writing on paper. For more options, check out this roundup of the best E Ink tablets of 2025 for reading and note-taking by CNET.
Robotaxis are coming to the UK next year thanks to a partnership between Uber and Wayve, a British company focused on AI for autonomous vehicles. A pilot program is set to take place in Spring 2026 and follows last year’s passage of the Automated Vehicles Act, which set the stage for self-driving cars to be deployed across the country.
“This is a defining moment for UK autonomy,” said Alex Kendall, CEO and co-founder of Wayve, in a statement. “Our Embodied AI learns to drive anywhere, in any vehicle, and this trial brings us closer to bringing safe and intelligent driving to everyday rides across the UK and beyond.”
According to Heidi Alexander, the UK’s secretary of state for transport, the agreement will add £42 billion ($56.7 billion) for the economy and create 38,000 jobs. Alexander doesn’t state how exactly the latter will occur as a result of driverless taxis.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/the-uk-will-get-its-first-robotaxis-next-year-131731015.html?src=rss
Okay, here’s the situation, your parents went away on a week’s vacation and…wait, my brain went elsewhere for a moment and it’s not even throwback Thursday! The actual situation (which as nothing to do with DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince) is that you managed to snag a Switch 2 console (contributing to it setting a launch day sales record),
It’s been two years since Roku first introduced its in-house TVs to the market and the streaming-device-turned-TV-maker isn’t slowing down. For 2025, Roku refreshed its entire TV lineup and added more features to its midrange Roku Plus models that were previously reserved for its higher-end TVs.
The latest Roku Plus Series TV gets Smart Picture Max, a feature that automatically adjusts your TV’s picture settings on a scene-by-scene basis and was exclusive to the company’s Pro Series TVs. To make the Plus Series an even better deal, Roku added mini-LED backlighting for better picture quality, a remote finder button on the back of the TV and an integrated cable management system, which are all features also pulled from Roku’s Pro models. To round out the Plus Series, Roku added a built-in subwoofer and a new processor for faster navigation throughout the interface.
To ensure the Pro Series TVs still feel pro, Roku upgraded them with the next generation of its Smart Picture Max. The latest software improves motion clarity, corrects compression artifacts, and automatically selects the best picture mode based on what you’re watching. Roku is also claiming a 75 percent increase in dynamic contrast thanks to its re-engineered mini-LED backlighting for its most expensive models. Roku is introducing hands-free voice controls without a remote with the Pro Series TVs, but they also come with the updated and rechargeable Roku Voice Remote Pro that has backlit buttons and customizable shortcuts. The most affordable models, Roku’s Select Series, are mostly getting software upgrades that are available across the lineup, but now have size options going up to 85 inches. However, all of Roku’s refreshed TVs can support its Bluetooth Headphone Mode and Dolby Audio.
Roku’s expanded Select Series offerings are available in sizes ranging between 24 and 85 inches, starting at $130, while the Plus and Pro Series still only have the 55-, 65- and 75-inch options. The upgraded Roku TVs are out now at retail partners including Best Buy, Walmart, Target and Amazon.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/roku-adds-more-premium-features-to-its-own-line-of-midrange-tvs-130013368.html?src=rss
Longtime Slashdot reader theodp writes: The old Code.org curriculum page for middle and high school students has been changed to include a new Python Lab in the tech-backed nonprofit’s K-12 offerings. Elsewhere on the site, a Computer Science and AI Foundations curriculum is described that includes units on ‘Foundations of AI Programming [in Python]’ and ‘Insights from Data and AI [aka Data Science].’ A more-detailed AI Foundations Syllabus 25-26 document promises a second semester of material is coming soon: “This semester offers an innovative approach to teaching programming by integrating learning with and about artificial intelligence (AI). Using Python as the primary language, students build foundational programming skills while leveraging AI tools to enhance computational thinking and problem-solving. The curriculum also introduces students to the basics of creating AI-powered programs, exploring machine learning, and applying data science principles.”
Newly-posted videos on Code.org’s YouTube channel appear to be intended to support the new Python-based CS & AI course. “Python is extremely versatile,” explains a Walmart data scientist to open the video for Data Science: Using Python. “So, first of all, Python is one of the very few languages that can handle numbers very, very well.” A researcher at the Univ. of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) adds, “Python is the gold standard and what people expect data scientists to know […] Key to us being able to handle really big data sets is our use of Python and cluster computing.” Adding to the Python love, an IHME data analyst explains, “Python is a great choice for large databases because there’s a lot of support for Python libraries.”
Code.org is currently recruiting teachers to attend its CS and AI Foundations Professional Learning program this summer, which is being taught by Code.org’s national network of university and nonprofit regional partners (teachers who signup have a chance to win $250 in DonorsChoose credits for their classrooms). A flyer for a five-day Michigan Professional Development program to prepare teachers for a pilot of the Code.org CS & A course touts the new curriculum as “an alternative to the AP [Computer Science] pathway” (teachers are offered scholarships covering registration, lodging, meals, and workshop materials).
Interestingly, Code.org’s embrace of Python and Data Science comes as the nonprofit changes its mission to ‘make CS and AI a core part of K-12 education’ and launches a new national campaign with tech leaders to make CS and AI a graduation requirement. Prior to AI changing the education conversation, Code.org in 2021 boasted that it had lined up a consortium of tech giants, politicians, and educators to push its new $15 million Amazon-bankrolled Java AP CS A curriculum into K-12 classrooms. Just three years later, however, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy was boasting to investors that Amazon had turned to AI to automatically do Java coding that he claimed would have otherwise taken human coders 4,500 developer-years to complete.
On Tuesday, IBM released its plans for building a system that should push quantum computing into entirely new territory: a system that can both perform useful calculations while catching and fixing errors and be utterly impossible to model using classical computing methods. The hardware, which will be called Starling, is expected to be able to perform 100 million operations without error on a collection of 200 logical qubits. And the company expects to have it available for use in 2029.
Perhaps just as significant, IBM is also committing to a detailed description of the intermediate steps to Starling. These include a number of processors that will be configured to host a collection of error-corrected qubits, essentially forming a functional compute unit. This marks a major transition for the company, as it involves moving away from talking about collections of individual hardware qubits and focusing instead on units of functional computational hardware. If all goes well, it should be possible to build Starling by chaining a sufficient number of these compute units together.
“We’re updating [our roadmap] now with a series of deliverables that are very precise,” IBM VP Jay Gambetta told Ars, “because we feel that we’ve now answered basically all the science questions associated with error correction and it’s becoming more of a path towards an engineering problem.”
Apple is bundling its News+ subscriptions with a new game that users will be able to access when they get iOS 26. MacRumors has reported that Apple is calling it the “Emoji Game,” because, well, it’s all about using emoji to fill blanked-out letters in incomplete words and phrases. For the word “Disappear,” for instance, you can use the “pear” emoji to complete it if the puzzle only shows its first five letters. For the phrase “rubbing elbows,” you can use the “pink bows” emoji if the blank spaces correspond to “bows.” The same emoji could have several meanings, as well: “Pear” can also be used to correspond to “fruit” in the word “fruitful,” as an example.
It’s a neat little game that people can play to pass the time, but it can only be accessed by those paying $13 a month for Apple News+. The subscription will give you access to magazines and newspapers, audio stories and regional publications, along with daily puzzles like the Emoji Game. It’s pretty pricey, though like Apple’s other services, users can share their subscription with up to six family members.
At the moment, only developers who already have iOS 26 beta will be able to play the Emoji Game. Apple’s new mobile OS, which the company announced at WWDC, will be released to the public this fall. It will be compatible with all iPhones announced in 2019 or later, which means iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max owners won’t be able to install it anymore. In addition to adopting a new naming convention that’s based on the year it’s released, the upcoming version of iOS has undergone a major visual overhaul, with translucent user interfaces inspired by the look of visionOS.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-news-subscribers-are-getting-an-emoji-game-with-ios-26-123056186.html?src=rss
In June of 2025, Marc Maron announced he’ll be ending his beloved interview podcast WTF With Marc Maron after 16 years and 1,600 episodes. The show became a staple for Maron’s ability to get notable figures from then-sitting President Barack Obama to the late Robin Williams to open up and share intimate details of their lives, and will be much missed.
While there is only one WTF, long-time listeners needn’t be at a total loss for intimate celebrity chats Here are 12 suggestions for other podcasts that can help fill the void.
The Blindboy Podcast
Credit: The Blindboy Podcast
If you’re craving interviews that feel like they’re happening in the dark, dozy corner of a pub at 2 a.m., The Blindboy Podcast delivers. He disarms guests with his surreal humor and gentle curiosity, then leads them into raw, vulnerable conversations that unfold like therapy sessions. It’s weird, it’s wise, it’s deeply human. Not all episodes are interviews, but all episodes do have moments that feel academic, philosophical, and full of heart. Blindboy gets to the hearts of his guests in a way that nobody else can—and it’s clear he’s only interviewing people he really wants to talk to.
Kelly Corrigan Wonders
Credit: Kelly Corrigan Wonders
Queuing up an episode of Kelly Corrigan Wonders is like dialing up your smartest, funniest, most probing friend. In each episode, Kelly blends curiosity, vulnerability, and that rare honesty that makes you feel like you’re eavesdropping. It’s part therapy, part storytelling, and all heart. Kelly has a gift for asking questions that go beyond the surface—interviews often feel more like soul-level check-ins than media soundbites. Kelly doesn’t shy away from hard topics (loss, abortion, aging parents) but is still able to make you feel seen, soothed, and just a bit better about being human.
Death, Sex & Money
Credit: Death, Sex & Money
Anna Sale startedDeath, Sex & Money in 2017 after realizing other interview shows often avoided the hardest yet most interesting questions about human nature. So she started a show about just that—episodes go to places no other show will go when it comes to death (Anna talks to a man whose father has voluntarily stopped eating and drinking, ending his life), sex (why a woman left her polyamorous marriage), and money (this writer’s favorite episode, an interview with someone who steals). Anna is gentle and direct, encouraging her guests to talk openly about the stuff we were told not to bring up at the dinner table.
How to Fail
Credit: How to Fail
Asking someone what has gone wrong in their life is maybe the fastest (and most uncomfortable) path to intimacy. On every episode of How To Fail, journalist Elizabeth Day asks her guest to take us through three failures they’ve experienced, reframing them as events that helped them be better people or live better lives (eventually, at least). Elizabeth creates a magical chemistry with all of her guests, including the likes of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mo Gawdat, and Brene Brown. The focus isn’t hacks or tips, but unpacking the mistakes and regrets that these people have been able to overcome, and how.
I Feel That Way Too
Credit: I Feel That Way Too
Award-winning author Michelle MiJung Kim’s mission is to make people feel seen—her podcast I Feel That Way Too is all about the big, messy questions we usually don’t ask aloud, like, “Why are so many Asian women with white men?” and “Am I really supposed to sleep with one person forever?” Think We Can Do Hard Things or Death, Sex & Money, but through the lens of a queer Korean American woman who leads with radical vulnerability.
Good Hang With Amy Poehler
Credit: Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Good Hang is silly and fun and gets into fewer deep moments than WTF, but Amy Poehler’s candidness and honesty with her guests makes this podcast feel especially intimate and quite unlike most other celebrity interview podcasts. It feels like the late-night heart-to-heart you didn’t know you needed. There are sneakily vulnerable moments—you show up for the laughs and stay for the unexpected emotional truths. If you’re into podcasts that feel like a friend gently (or not-so-gently) pulling back the curtain, this one’s for you.
Blocks
Credit: Blocks
If you’re craving interviews that go beyond the usual celeb promo chatter, Neal Brennan’s Blocks is a must-listen. It’s not just funny—it’s uncomfortably honest. Brennan asks guests to share the emotional “blocks” that mess with their lives (think: shame, ego, addiction), and what unfolds feels more like therapy than a talk show.
Therapy for Black Girls
Credit: Therapy for Black Girls
On Therapy for Black Girls, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, covers mental health, personal development, and exploring the small changes we can make to become the best possible version of ourselves, with the experience of women of color at the forefront. Whether the topic is work, friendship, money, or understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder, Dr. Joy is there to explain these experiences through a Black lens.
Where Should We Begin?
Credit: Where Should We Begin With Esther Perel
On Where Should We Begin?, renowned psychotherapist Esther Perel lets you be a fly on the wall inside her office to eavesdrop on a real couple’s counseling session. You’ll hear everything about their relationship—every raw and intimate detail. Esther’s advice is both philosophical and reflective, dynamic and engaging, and direct but gentle. She’s solution-oriented, focused on helping these couples, who come to her for help with infidelity, desire, and divorce.
On Being
Credit: On Being
If you’re craving interviews that feel like a warm cup of tea to calm your existential dread, On Being is your go-to. Krista Tippett doesn’t just ask questions—she invites people to bring their entire souls to conversations filled with un-google-able questions about faith, grief, joy, and the meaning of life.
Talk Easy
Credit: Talk Easy
On Talk Easy, Sam Fragoso has thoughtful, long-form conversations that don’t feel like interviews, but deep dives into the minds of his guests artists, activists, and politicians. (Sam goes from sitting with the first Gen Z Congressman to discuss his fight for gun reform to getting a tea with Amelia Dimoldenberg of Chicken Shop Date.) Each conversation has a narrative arc. Sam is curious and empathetic, he does his research, and he’s interested in not just simple answers, but the full story.
From Now On
Credit: From Now On
From Now Onis hosted by Lisa Phillips, a former model and current talent scout who has navigated the complexities of the entertainment industry. Lisa is also, importantly, a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein. This podcast dives headfirst into stories of abuse and recovery. An empathetic survivor herself, Lisa is the perfect host. Although it doesn’t look like a true crime or investigative podcast on the surface, it has had a real-world impact: Because of it, several women who have been assaulted by the same man in the same way have come forward, and credited the show for giving them the courage.
There’s a psychology to selling a house. From pricing strategies designed to inspire bidding wars to careful staging that helps you see yourself already living there, real estate agents know that selling a house is as much about selling a lifestyle as a piece of property.
That process starts long before you actually show up to look at a house—way back when the real estate agent writes up the property listing. We all know that listing descriptions are marketing copy, but even if you read them with a skeptical eye, you might not spot some of the misleading words and phrases peppered in there because they seem so innocuous. Most of these hidden red flags aren’t exactly lies—they’re just efforts to obscure the truth with softer vocabulary. Here’s what to look for.
The red flags
Real estate pros use language artfully. The “red flag” words don’t always jump out at you, but you can look for any phrases that seem out of place or overly poetic. Here are some of the most common terms real estate professionals use to make a bad listing look worth your time.
Cozy. Probably the most over-used word in real estate listings, “cozy” is weaponized to conjure up images of comfort and familiarity. But any real estate pro will tell you that “cozy” really means just one thing: small. Sometimes the placement of the word can give you some hints—for example, if it’s a “cozy garden,” the house itself might be spacious enough.
TLC/Handyman’s special. These terms both evoke easy, low-effort transformations—a lick of paint, maybe some new carpeting. But in real estate listings, they usually mean you’re buying a project—and probably an expensive one. No one’s going to list a house saying “needs $200,000 in renovations,” after all.
Convenient location. Look for what it’s supposedly conveniently located near. Easy access to main roads could mean there’s an on-ramp right nearby. Local bars and restaurants? In that case, “convenient” translates to “noisy.” What you’re really looking for is “walking distance.” Things are only convenient when they don’t adversely affect your life when you’re not using them.
Unique. This word implies that you’re getting something special, unlike all the cookie-cutter condos that otherwise litter the market. And maybe you are, but it’s often used to describe homes that are difficult to sell due to design elements that most people don’t like. Barbara Corcoran told CNBC that “unique” was “the worst word in all real estate copy,” which means “nobody wants it.”
Quiet. This might seem perfectly reasonable—people do often want peace and quiet in their homes. But seeing this word in a listing should prompt some questions about why the agent felt the need to underscore that aspect of the property. Often this is included because the property is in a noisy area, so stressing that it has good windows and you can’t hear all that traffic or crowd noise when you’re trying to sleep can head off concerns. If “quiet” is also one of the first things mentioned, that might imply that it’s the sole selling point of the place.
Charming. This classic is almost not even a code word anymore—most people understand that it usually means “old.” In the absence of the words “renovated” or at least “updated” (see below), this probably means it’s a time capsule that will require some work.
Vibrant. This word paints a picture of a cool, hip neighborhood filled with people from all over. What it usually means, though, is “loud.”
Original condition. Context matters here. If specific architectural or design elements are in original condition, that could be a wonderful detail. If the whole place is in original condition, that could just mean that literally everything from the wallpaper to the plumbing is 75 years old and in desperate need of replacement.
Green belt. This one is tricky, as it’s factual, but crucial information is often omitted when it appears in a listing. A green belt is desirable because it’s a patch of nature that can’t be developed, so if the lot backs up to a green belt, you’ll potentially have a gorgeous, unspoiled view and possibly access to some wilderness without the threat of someone developing the land into an eyesore. But greenbelts aren’t always nature preserves—they often obscure power lines or other infrastructure, so finding out the purpose of the green belt is essential.
Updated. This word works hard to make a run-down place feel fresher. If a house is renovated, the listing will say renovated, and probably go into detail about the quality of the work and materials. “Updated,” on the other hand, usually means that some things have been replaced—new carpeting, new appliances, one of the three bathrooms. But these updates often come at different times, usually have no coordinating design, and can leave a house feeling patch-worked and not cohesive.
Generous (size). There aren’t any standards when it comes to describing the size of things in a house, and the word “generous” is so open to interpretation as to be useless. It feels big, though—if you get a “generous” portion of something, it’s big, right?—so it’s often deployed when the rooms or other aspects of the property are actually average size to embiggen the place and make it seem grander.
Motivated. This word hooks into our greed and desire for a deal: If the buyer’s motivated, you can lowball on the offer and demand concessions! But it’s worth asking yourself (or, better, the listing agent) why they’re motivated. Has the house been on the market for months, but they can’t sell it because of defects (that you will have to fix)?
Well-maintained. This innocuous phrase sounds great—no one wants a house that isn’twell-maintained. Except that well-maintained is kind of the baseline for a property. Stressing this usually means that the house hasn’t been renovated, remodeled, or significantly improved in a long time. Sure, everything works, but you’re probably going to spend money in the near future to bring it out of the last century.
Spotting one or more of these hidden red flags in a property listing doesn’t necessarily mean the place isn’t worth looking at—but it does mean you should be prepared to dig into the reality behind the marketing copy.
WWDC 2025 felt like a course-correction. Last year’s tech event season left me cold — all the AI-powered tools supposedly for consumers that Microsoft, Google and finally Apple were peddling felt like a lot of hype without much real benefit. And that was before Apple fumbled the development of its more advanced Siri, showing off pre-recorded demos that weren’t close to ready. Google I/O last month was more of the same, with seemingly infinite versions of Gemini and not a lot of things I felt like I would use day-to-day. And if you go back to 2023, the highlight of WWDC was the Vision Pro — most definitely not a product for most people.
But yesterday, Apple offered up a number of features that’ll actually likely be noticed and used by more people, whether we’re talking about the redesigned iPad multitasking system or a ton of new customization options for the iPhone. And when Apple Intelligence was mentioned, it felt less like fixes to problems no one has and more like smart tools that could actually make your life easier.
Live Translation is probably the best example of that. Apple Intelligence will be able to do things like automatically translate your messages, show live-translated captions in FaceTime calls and provide spoken translations on telephone calls. For anyone dealing with multi-lingual conversations, this could be extremely useful, something you couldn’t always say about many of the Apple Intelligence features from 2024.
Visual Intelligence is another Apple Intelligence standout. It’s quite similar to Google Lens, in that you pointed your phone’s camera at something and it would recognize what it was looking at and give you information about what was on your screen. This year, Apple’s building that right into the screenshot tool and using the information it recognizes in a variety of intriguing ways. (It’s worth mentioning that Google has offered features like these for a while now, though.) For example, you could screenshot an image of an event poster and Visual Intelligence can create a calendar event with its details. You can also take a screenshot of something and then ask ChatGPT about it. The example Apple gave was a screenshot of a picture of a mandolin; the user then asked ChatGPT to give some examples of rock songs that use the instrument.
And even the more frivolous Apple Intelligence features at least sounded more fun this year. The first real use of Apple Intelligence on the Apple Watch is Workout Buddy, a coach that can inspire you throughout a workout. Instead of just letting you know you’re halfway through a run, the Workout Buddy can see your whole workout history and offer more detailed insights — like giving you kudos on finishing your fastest 10K, for example. That said, none of this runs on the Apple Watch itself. You’ll need an iPhone with Apple Intelligence “nearby” to use it.
Beyond Apple Intelligence are a variety of features that I hope will meaningfully improve using Apple’s hardware. The new Liquid Glass design across all of the company’s products looks nice, but I’m more excited about the work that Apple is doing to minimize spam on the iPhone. Being able to screen for messages from unknown contacts should go a long way towards making the Messages app better — text spam is out of control (I got two spam messages while Apple was talking about spam messages), and anything to crack down on that now before it becomes as bad as phone spam is crucial. Apple is also adding some call screening features similar to something Android has had for more than five years now.
For me, though, the iPad updates Apple announced yesterday are probably the most exciting things I’ve seen. I’ve long been interested in trying to use one as my main device and I’ve gotten to the point where I can do almost anything I need or want to do on Apple’s tablet. But I also can’t deny that the software has almost always felt a step behind the power and cutting-edge technology the company puts in the iPad Pro lineup.
Apple answered that with what it called its biggest update to iPad multitasking ever, something that actually doesn’t feel like hyperbole. Apps still open in full screen, but you can resize them and layer them in whatever fashion you like. Stage Manager attempted this, but the new layout seems even more flexible than that. And, perhaps more importantly, it should remember sizing and arrangement better than before. There’s also a menu bar for easier access to power features, and the Files app lets you drop any folder you want in your dock for quick access. I’m not naive enough to think this will satisfy everyone who finds iPadOS to be lacking in some way, but it does feel like Apple has listened to a lot of the complaints power users have had with the iPad over the years.
Despite the theme of unification — in the platform names, with the new UI design and shared features, the event did feel a little like a rapid-fire feature drop that wasn’t always fully connected. Given that Apple broadly covered six platforms as well as Apple Intelligence in 90 minutes, it’s not surprising that things felt quick and also a bit scattered. But amidst the slightly chaotic bursts of news, there were plenty of things that caught my attention, and I’m sure there will be more as I dig further into what Apple is planning (there are always features that aren’t touched on in the keynote, after all). It feels like a bit of a throwback, and it made me enjoy this WWDC a good bit more than the last.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/wwdc-2025-was-a-return-to-smaller-scale-features-that-are-actually-useful-120027296.html?src=rss
