Could floating solar panels on a reservoir help the Colorado River?

GILA RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION, Ariz.—About 33 miles south of Phoenix, Interstate 10 bisects a line of solar panels traversing the desert like an iridescent snake. The solar farm’s shape follows the path of a canal, with panels serving as awnings to shade the gently flowing water from the unforgiving heat and wind of the Sonoran Desert.

The panels began generating power last November for the Akimel O’otham and Pee Posh tribes—known together as the Gila River Indian Community, or GRIC—on their reservation in south-central Arizona, and they are the first of their kind in the US. The community is studying the effects of these panels on the water in the canal, hopeful that they will protect a precious resource from the desert’s unflinching sun and wind.

In September, GRIC is planning to break ground on another experimental effort to conserve water while generating electricity: floating solar. Between its canal canopies and the new project that would float photovoltaic panels on a reservoir it is building, GRIC hopes to one day power all of its canal and irrigation operations with solar electricity, transforming itself into one of the most innovative and closely watched water users in the West in the process.

Read full article

Comments

This aloSIM Mobile Data Plan Is 50% Off Right Now

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Anyone who’s traveled internationally knows the deal: either you cough up $10–$20 a day for roaming or go hunting for café wifi like it’s oxygen. Neither option is ideal. That’s where aloSIM makes a convincing case. Right now, you can get $50 in eSIM credit for $24.97—basically half off. If your phone supports eSIM (most modern ones do), this lets you download a local data plan before you even leave the airport. No SIM card swapping, no surprise fees, just straight-up mobile internet that doesn’t drain your bank account.

Here’s how it works. You pick a plan—some start as low as $4.50 for seven days—download the eSIM onto your phone, and activate it when you land. It connects you to a local 4G or 5G network in over 200 countries, so your phone behaves like a local one, minus the local contract. The credit itself is good for a year after you redeem it, and the eSIM doesn’t expire, so you can keep it on your device for future trips. You even get a temporary phone number during your data plan’s active window, which is useful if you’re making bookings, messaging hosts, or just want to avoid giving out your personal number.

That said, there are a few caveats to note. This deal’s for new aloSIM users only, and it won’t stack with other offers. Also, once you activate a data plan, it runs on a timer, so if you buy a seven-day plan and barely use it, it still expires in seven days. If you’re planning to travel (or just don’t want to pay your carrier’s roaming fees again), this is an easy fix to have in your back pocket. No contracts, no stress, and no awkward moments spent begging hotel wifi to load your Google Maps.

iPhone 17 To Employ Metalens Tech To Optimize Face ID And Dynamic Island

iPhone 17 To Employ Metalens Tech To Optimize Face ID And Dynamic Island
Fresh buzz around the next iteration of Apple’s flagship smartphone, the iPhone 17, suggests a small but significant shift in Apple’s popular Dynamic Island feature. Initially believed to be relegated to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, it’s now said that all four iPhone 17 models are now tipped to feature the “metalens” upgrade, meaning a smaller Dynamic

These Soundbar Deals On Sonos And More Are Thumping For Father’s Day

These Soundbar Deals On Sonos And More Are Thumping For Father's Day
This year for Father’s Day, may we suggest shaking things up a bit? Skip the tie or the dress shirt (button-up or polo), and ditch the customized coffee mug—he already knows he’s the ‘World’s Best Dad’. Instead, consider making a splash with a soundbar so he can ditch your TV’s built-in speakers for fuller audio that hits harder. Yes, it’s

How Stack Overflow’s Reputation System Led To Its Own Downfall

A new analysis argues that Stack Overflow’s decline began years before AI tools delivered the “final blow” to the once-dominant programming forum. The site’s monthly questions dropped from a peak of 200,000 to a steep collapse that began in earnest after ChatGPT’s 2023 launch, but usage had been declining since 2014, according to data cited in the InfoWorld analysis.

The platform’s remarkable reputation system initially elevated it above competitors by allowing users to earn points and badges for helpful contributions, but that same system eventually became its downfall, the piece argues. As Stack Overflow evolved into a self-governing platform where high-reputation users gained moderation powers, the community transformed from a welcoming space for developer interaction into what the author compares to a “Stanford Prison Experiment” where moderators systematically culled interactions they deemed irrelevant.


Read more of this story at Slashdot.

ASUS Unveils TUF Gaming Series Five Monitors Focused On Speed, Color And Control

ASUS Unveils TUF Gaming Series Five Monitors Focused On Speed, Color And Control
Gamers typically focus on the GPU as the primary component in a gaming PC setup, and rightfully so. A very close second has to be the monitor, since the GPU is a pricey paper weight without one. ASUS, a brand known for both GPUs (including ones wrapped in gold!) and a plethora of PC components, is introducing its TUF Gaming Series Five lineup

All the Gardening Tasks You Should Do in June

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

If you need a reminder that summer has finally landed, berries are here to remind you. Home gardens are spotted with tiny colored jewels of strawberries, currants, and oso berries. Cherries, raspberries and blueberries are beginning to blush with color as they ripen, just as the peonies and irises fade. Peas are popping off of tall vines, nasturtiums have begun to sprawl across garden beds, and spring-planted spinach and chard are sky high. This is your first chance to enjoy the spoils of your summer garden.

cherries, blueberries and raspberries
Cherries, blueberries, and raspberries about to ripen.
Credit: Amanda Blum

Pruning and trellising

Within two weeks of your lilacs finishing blooming, you should consider pruning them back. This is when plants will determine blooms for the next season, and in some lucky cases, you can spur a second, fall bloom. You want to take as much as ⅓ of the plant’s stems, so you encourage new growth each year. This is the case for all your early summer blooming shrubs and trees, like azalea, forsythia, Japanese kerria, weigela, deutzia, mock orange, St. John’s wort, viburnums, and red or yellow dogwoods.

Lilac bushes
Lilac after blooming
Credit: Amanda Blum

The pruning should extend to your tomatoes, now established in the ground. You’ll want to prune for suckers, depending on what kind of trellis system you have set up. If you’re allowing indeterminate tomatoes to only have one strong “leader” or stem, prune aggressively, but you’ll need tall trellises. Also be sure to cut away any diseased parts of the plant, but remember you only want to touch your tomatoes after the morning dew has dried, and with clean shears. Spray with Lysol or other disinfectant in between plants, so you are not spreading any disease. 

tomato plants growing in trellises
Tomato plants growing in trellises.
Credit: Amanda Blum

Once your strawberries are done fruiting, mow them back and mulch them, so they won’t continue to spend their energy growing runners, but will focus on root growth for next year.

Fruit-thinning

fruit drop from plums, and a thinned plum ripening on the branch
Fruit drop is when a tree drops fruit it cannot support (left). The remaining fruit, on the right, ripen.
Credit: Amanda Blum

Your pears, apples, stone fruit—like peaches, plums, cherries and nectarines—and even fig trees will have set fruit by now, and also gone through fruit drop, a normal phenomenon where the trees drop what they can’t handle. With the fruit still on the tree, you must decide on quantity or quality. Thinning the fruit on each branch will allow the tree to create larger, tastier fruit. You can also shroud the fruit at this point, covering the fruit with gauze bags, to protect it from invasive bugs or animals. The same is true of grapes. Your vines should be well flushed out at this point, which means you can harvest grape leaves to use fresh or preserve for use later, and then shroud all your growing grape bunches. This will make them much easier to harvest, and also protect them from birds, raccoons, and rats.

Grapes shrouded in gauze bags
Small grape clusters shrouded in gauze bags.
Credit: Amanda Blum

Fertilizing

It’s important to not simply water your vegetables in raised beds, but also feed them. In addition to plant -pecific fertilizer (tomato fertilizer, blueberry and azalea fertilizer, etc.), you should consider a weekly treatment of compost tea. If you don’t have a vermicomposter to make your own compost tea with, purchase compost tea bags and make some. Apply the tea with a sprayer folicularly (over the whole plant). Your tomatoes can also benefit from a treatment of Cal-Mag or Rot Stop, which will provide the plant more calcium to help prevent tomato blossom rot on forthcoming fruit. With most asparagus done harvesting by June, apply a nitrogen-heavy fertilizer for next year. 

Your lawn should get a low-nitrogen-based fertilizer in June. Your roses should get a phosphorus-based fertilizer treatment after their first bloom, which should be about now. All your trees and shrubs should get a summer fertilizer before July 4. Your garden center can help you find the right fertilizers, since not all plants should get the same one—and fertilizer is heavy, so you’d do well to buy it locally instead of have it shipped to you.

Preventing and eradicating pests

Cabbage moths
Cabbage moths.
Credit: Amanda Blum

Garden pests are absolute terrorists this time of year. Just this morning I noticed many bean seedlings peeking through the soil had been thwarted by slugs. Sprays won’t be the only solution at this point—you’ll need to manually remove the pests from your plants as well. Aphids may be sprayed off with water, but without a treatment like soapy water or a nearby trap plant like nasturtiums, they’ll be back. If you don’t have nasturtiums nearby, plant them now—the aphids will be more attracted to the nasturtiums and will choose them instead. You just leave the aphid-infested nasturtiums in place. Treatments like Sluggo can help reduce the slug population, but manual extraction is still necessary. Leave shallow lids of beer or yeasty bread starter around as a trap, and collect the slugs that run to it each day.

Each plant in your garden has a number of pests that are trying to feed off of it; a daily walk around your garden will help you notice what might be attacking your plants. Get a butterfly net, and use it to capture and kill the white cabbage moths flitting about the garden.

Dealing with sick plants

diseased leaves on a cherry tree
Diseased leaves on a cherry tree.
Credit: Amanda Blum

Gardens are highly susceptible to virus and fungus; one of the best ways to prevent them is to water at the root of plants, rather than overhead, which splashes onto the ground, causing water to spray back up onto plants. As you see blight or mosaic virus in your garden, you must cut it out quickly, dispose of those plants in the trash (not compost), and be sure you wash your hands and tools before moving onto the next plant. If you see powdery mildew on your plants, you can treat it with a diluted vinegar spray. Now is when you might catch sign of infections like leaf curl on your stone fruit trees, which can be treated if caught quite early with copper foliar sprays. Fungicides can go a long way to helping prevent problems like black spot on roses. You want to be very judicious when using fungicides and copper sprays: These are mostly preventative treatments, not reactive. If you’re questioning what you see in your garden, take a picture and head to the garden center. 

What to plant

The summer vegetables should all be in the ground by the end of June. Your tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and tomatillos need to be planted in early June, and if the weather hasn’t met planting conditions yet, you need to consider putting mitigations like Agribon in place and planting anyway. The Agribon tenting will create the warm conditions you need, and you can remove it when temperatures get warm enough on their own. 

Beans, cucumbers, corn, edamame, eggplants, melons, okra, summer squash, and sweet potatoes should get planted this month. If it’s early enough, they can still be direct seeded, but by mid-June, you should plant starts instead.  

sweet peas
Sweet peas.
Credit: Amanda Blum

You can still plant almost all your summer annual flowers, including zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, salvia, and celosia from seed or as starts. Planting them in waves ensures multiple successions of flowers later in the season. Remember when planting these flowers to check seed labels for heights, so you can vary them. 

Now that your spring flowers are wilting, deadhead them appropriately. Your tulips need to have just the heads cut off, but no lower—remember they need leaves to mulch in place to return next year. Iris stems may be cut to the ground, but in a chevron, to ensure good growth next year. If you commit to religious harvesting of your sweet peas, you can make them last well into the summer. Each day, cut fresh blooms at the base of the stem, and you’ll notice that the stems get shorter and shorter. Once the sweet peas go to seed and produce pods, it’s time to pull the flowers out of the ground and plant something else. Deadheading your snapdragons will encourage the plants to branch, creating more blooms, but as soon as the snaps go to seed (the flowers will look like skulls), they should be cut to the ground, in hopes they might return the next year.

Through June, the best course of action is to take a walk through the garden once a day, even if it’s a quick one. Each morning, I wander the garden, grabbing weeds as I find them. Harvest what you can, take note of action items like pests or pruning, and be sure to take pictures and write in your garden journal. It’s the reason you planted the garden: to enjoy it.

F1 in Spain: Now that was a lapse in judgment

Formula 1 held its annual Spanish Grand Prix this past weekend at the Catalunya circuit near Barcelona. It’s a good place to test a modern F1 car, as you need great aerodynamics to be fast around here, especially now that the awkward chicanes are gone. You also need good mechanical grip. Races used to be processional here, but the re-profiled turn 10 and the flat-out nature of the last turn have changed all that.

This was to be the weekend of new front wings, the result of a “technical directive” meant to stop excessive flexing as part of the sport’s ongoing antipathy toward creatively movable aerodynamics outside a tightly described domain. The competitive order would be reset, some hoped, as their rivals would be forced to give up unfair advantages. In fact, the new wings turned out to be a nothingburger. McLaren’s advantage remains, and that was clear on a circuit that tests every aspect of a racing car.

But there’s only one story that anyone really cares about after Spain, and it’s the one about Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. For much of the race, Verstappen held onto third place, behind the too-fast McLarens. This required using one more set of tires than they did, and for his last stint, all that was left for the Red Bull driver was a set of the too-hard compound, giving him little in the way of grip.

Read full article

Comments

The Apple Watch Series 10 is back on sale for $100 off

Summer is almost here for those of us in the northern hemisphere, which means that you might be getting more active outdoors. One way to keep track of all your workouts en plein air is with the Apple Watch Series 10. The smartwatch is back on sale for $299, which is $100 off the regular price. It also matches a record low. 

There are a few variants on sale for this price at Amazon, but they all have a 42mm case and are GPS models with no LTE connectivity. If you’d rather have the larger 46mm case, several Apple Watch Series 10 configurations with that are also $100 off at $329. 

Not only is the Apple Watch Series 10 a darn good fitness (and wellness) tracker, it’s our pick for the best smartwatch overall. Android wielders need not apply, unfortunately, since you need a paired iPhone to set up and use any Apple Watch. If you’re not looking for one for yourself, the Apple Watch Series 10 would also make for a great Father’s Day gift.

We gave this smartwatch a score of 90 in our review. It’s a fairly iterative update, so if you already have an Apple Watch Series 8 or 9 already, it might not be worth upgrading. At least in the US, the blood oxygen feature that was available in previous versions isn’t present in the Apple Watch Series 10 following a patent dispute. Some of the Apple Watch Series 10’s major features are found in other models too — the sleep apnea detection function is also available on the Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. 

However, if you’re looking for your first Apple Watch or upgrading from a Series 7 or earlier, the Series 10 is probably the best way to go. It has a larger screen than its predecessors, so it’ll be easier to see notifications and such. The thinner frame looks rather fetching too. 

Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-apple-watch-series-10-is-back-on-sale-for-100-off-142236780.html?src=rss

Zuckerberg, Musk And Altman Say Smartphones Are Coming To An End

Zuckerberg, Musk And Altman Say Smartphones Are Coming To An End
Could a seismic shift within the tech world be underway, with some of the industry’s most influential figures proclaiming the imminent demise of the smartphone? Visionaries like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Sam Altman are spearheading a charge towards a post-smartphone future, one defined by immersive wearables, neural interfaces, and ambient

Going To an Office and Pretending To Work: A Business That’s Booming in China

A new business model has emerged across China’s major cities, El Pais reports, where companies charge unemployed individuals to rent desk space and pretend to work, responding to social pressure around joblessness amid rising youth unemployment rates. These services charge between 30 and 50 yuan ($4-7) daily for desks, Wi-Fi, coffee, and lunch in spaces designed to mimic traditional work environments.

Some operations assign fictitious tasks and organize supervisory rounds to enhance the illusion, while premium services allow clients to roleplay as managers or stage workplace conflicts for additional fees. The trend has gained significant traction on Xiaohongshu, China’s equivalent to Instagram, where advertisements for “pretend-to-work companies” accumulate millions of views. Youth unemployment reached 16.5% among 16-to-24-year-olds in March 2025, according to National Bureau of Statistics data, while overall urban unemployment stood at 5.3% in the first quarter.


Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The PlayStation 5 Pro Is at Its Lowest Price Ever Right Now

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

The PlayStation 5 Pro just dropped to $649 from its original $699.99 on Amazon, and for anyone who’s been waiting on a price dip, this is the lowest it’s been so far (according to price trackers).

Sony didn’t reinvent the wheel with the Pro. The look is familiar, but inside it gets real upgrades: a more powerful GPU, faster memory, and a bigger 2TB SSD to hold more games without constant shuffling. Add in Wi-Fi 7 support, and you’re looking at better downloads and future-proofed networking—assuming your home wifi can keep up.

That said, that extra power mainly benefits games that have been optimized to take advantage of it, including Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarok, and Horizon Forbidden West. The good news is, even if a game isn’t optimized for the Pro, it’ll still play smoothly. And everything else that makes the PS5 great—fast loading, the clever DualSense controller, the huge game catalog—comes standard. PCMag gave the Pro an “Excellent” rating in their review, mostly for the power boost it brings over the regular PS5.

If you still buy physical games, there’s one thing to know—the PS5 Pro doesn’t come with a built-in disc drive. If you want to play your existing discs, you’ll need to spend another $79 on Sony’s external drive. For anyone already all-digital, this won’t be an issue. Overall, the Pro 5 is not a next-gen console (it’s more like a mid-cycle upgrade), but it’s designed for players who care about frame rates, visual upgrades, and faster loading times. And if you’re looking for extra power now instead of waiting around for a PlayStation 6, and you’re fine with downloading your games (or willing to add the drive later), this price drop makes the PS5 Pro a much easier choice.

Snapdragon X2 Elite Specs Leak Suggests A Big Upgrade With More Cores

Snapdragon X2 Elite Specs Leak Suggests A Big Upgrade With More Cores
Don’t expect Qualcomm to pump the brakes as it accelerates further into laptop and desktop form factors with its Snapdragon X silicon. Just the opposite, Qualcomm has stated time and again that it plans on expanding its Windows on Snapdragon initiative, and so it’s likely no coincidence that a reputable leaker has posted details about an upcoming

Apple’s M3 iPad Air drops to a record-low price

A couple months have passed since Apple released the iPad Air (M3) and our position remains the same: It’s the best iPad on the market for just about everyone. Now, it’s also a much more accessible option. 

A new Amazon sale sees Apple’s 11-inch iPad Air with an M3 chip drop to $499 from $599. The 17 percent discount is available on the 128GB model with Wi-Fi capabilities and no AppleCare+. We gave the new iPad Air (M3) an 89 in our review, thanks, in part, to that M3 chip. Its single- and multi-core scores came in 16 percent higher compared to its predecessor when tested with Geekbench.

The iPad Air M3 also has a much better screen and multitasking abilities this time around. Plus, it’s compatible with a much improved Magic Keyboard. The add-on is akin to the one you’d get with Apple’s iPad Pro M4 while also dropping by $30 from the previous model. But, it will still cost you $269 for the 11-inch model and $319 for the 13-inch one. 

Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-m3-ipad-air-drops-to-a-record-low-price-133932775.html?src=rss

This Dyson Cordless Vacuum Is Now $170 Off

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

The Dyson V12 Detect Cordless Vacuum Cleaner shows homethat power doesn’t have to come at the cost of portability—and right now, it’s $170 off at Walmart. Compared to bulkier cordless vacuums (and the rest of the Dyson line), the 5.2-pound V12 is great for small spaces, making it easy to lift, store, and maneuver. It’s effective on hard flooring, but just as efficient on carpeting or pet bedding. Despite its compact size, it doesn’t skimp on performance, which is automatically adjusted based on the volume and size of debris it detects. 

One of its features is the built-in green laser light on the head, which illuminates hidden dust particles or reveals whether you’ve missed a spot.  This feature is optional and can be turned off at any time. Unlike other Dyson models, it features an on/off button rather than the usual trigger that requires pressure to be applied at all times. The slim shape also features a low profile, making it easier to vacuum beneath beds or couches.

Reviewers also note that the battery life is impressive (especially on the Auto setting rather than Boost), but may require an additional charge for larger homes. Additionally, a smaller vacuum means a smaller bin, which you may have to empty more frequently—a potential frustration if you have a larger space.

If you have wrist issues, back trouble, or just don’t want to lug around a heavier vacuum around your house, the Dyson V12 Detect Cordless Vacuum Cleaner might fit the bill. It still isn’t cheap, but at $170 off, it’s easier to justify the splurge for a vacuum that delivers on both power and convenience.

Nintendo Switch 2 Display Warning Issued: Avoid Doing This At All Costs

Nintendo Switch 2 Display Warning Issued: Avoid Doing This At All Costs
We’re having flashbacks of Samsung’s original Galaxy Fold released back in 2019. Why is that? The manual for Nintendo’s soon-to-be-released Switch 2 console explicitly warns against peeling off protected film that comes pre-applied to the handheld. It’s not clear if you could damage the handheld if attempting to remove the flim, but either

The Out-of-Touch Adults’ Guide to Kid Culture: What Is Fambushing?

If you’re a grown-ass person confused by the un-grown-ass among us, I hope this week’s trip down the rabbit hole of Gen Z and Gen Alpha culture brings you a step closer to enlightenment. Allow me to tell you why man-on-man phone calls are so popular and hilarious right now, the meaning of the word “fambush,” and why you’re seeing so many disturbing videos of Will Smith eating spaghetti.

Calling your friend and saying “goodnight” is a wholesome, hilarious prank somehow

A couple weeks ago, TikToker Miranda Faye posted this video of her boyfriend calling his friends to say “goodnight.” (I love the guy who answers, “What’s up, bitch boy?” immediately. So dude.)

Overall, it’s a poignant video that really says something about how men relate to one another. It’s also hilarious, and exactly the kind of thing that kicks off a trend. It didn’t take long for dudes all over to start calling their friends for no reason other than to say “good night” and/or “sweet dreams,” resulting in videos like this one:

I love the guy who responds, “The fuck are you talking about?” and how all of his friends seem ready to call the police; this is how unusual it is for men to call each other at bedtime to say “good night.”

Here’s my absolute favorite example:

The dude trying to keep from laughing, paired with his friends’ reactions, is gold. If you want to enjoy an endless stream of these videos, waste some time on the #goodnight hashtag.

A lot of commenters on TikTok connect this to the “male loneliness epidemic” or view friends calling friends as something men should do. But I think that’s looking into it too deeply. For the most part, the friends in these videos immediately ask the callers “are you ok?” with real concern—I’m not seeing a lot of male loneliness here. And there’s something great about the trait of not talking to your friends about personal things unless it’s really important. The real male loneliness sufferers are the many guys out there who don’t have any pals they can gently prank on video.

What is fambushing?

Since I’m covering wholesome trends this week, let’s talk about fambushing. The word combines “family” and “ambush” and refers to young people checking where their parents are on location-sharing apps so they can get some free food—you see mom at Chipotle, you’re gonna ask for a burrito. Starbucks too:

According to a rep from family-location-sharing app Life360, teenagers who use the app are more likely to check what their parents are doing than parents are to check their kids’ locations. This seems wholesome and encouraging at first, but if I project back to my own youth (long before cell phones) I’d probably be using to check where my parents were so I wouldn’t get caught doing whatever I was doing.

Forgotten Cher and Future collaboration disgusts nation

Sometimes Gens Z and A dig up a delightful piece of popular culture from the past to highlight how awesome it is. That is not the case with Cher and Future’s cover of Sly’s “Everyday People.” Nine years ago, these two very different artists collaborated with producer Zatoven on a Gap-sponsored ad featuring hilariously awkward chemistry, a total lack of effort from all involved, with an entirely cynical vibe. It’s so terrible that it quickly becomes fascinating. The more times you watch it, the more cringe details you notice, and before long you’ve fallen into a rabbit hole of awful from which you cannot escape.

Anyway, the video made no ripple when it was produced and quietly slept on YouTube for nearly a decade. But a few weeks ago, the kids noticed. And they started tearing it apart.

“I love the way future sings in lower case and she’s just yelling in his face,” posted TikToker Maliha Zahid. “Why does future sound dehydrated 😭” asks @jae._m1ll1y. “He looks like he’s listening to granny tell a story,” posted @vvs.lizvrd. Ouch.

The song so captured the imaginations of young people that they started re-enacting it in videos like this:

and this:

Even the Zaytoven’s son started clowning on it:

What does it mean? Nothing, really, but it reminds me of a show business saying: “Behind every bad movie there’s a good mortgage.”

The “Outfits I wore in high school” trend will make you feel even more ancient

There comes a time in people’s lives, usually around when they turn 30, when they stop noticing changes in fashion. Concerns like “I have to work all the time” and “is this mole cancer?” take over that brain-space. So for everyone who’s ever been advised by a clerk at the Gap (Cher and Future’s favorite store!) to “try a looser fit,” the “Outfits I Wore in High School” trend on TikTok will make you feel as old as the Cryptkeeper. Or even as old as Cher.

In these videos, twentysomethings reveal their younger, more misguided selves by showing pics of outfits that I (and probably you) find indistinguishable from what anyone is wearing today. It’s partly a symptom of the nostalgia cycle collapsing in on itself—kids are getting misty-eyed over the “good old days” of 2017—and partly the first blush of generational panic: “Wait… am I getting older too?”

It’s all very cute until you realize the joke is on you. Your fashion mistakes aren’t nostalgic, they’re prehistoric—not even worthy of parody. You’ve aged out of relevance. It’s comforting in a way.

Viral video of the week: Will smith eating spaghetti, revisited

Back in 2023, Reddit user u/chaindrop created an AI video made with Stable Diffusion featuring Will Smith eating spaghetti. It went viral for being a grotesque, surreal nightmare that frightened everyone who saw it. A year later, Will Smith himself posted an actual video of Will Smith eating spaghetti. A few weeks ago, Google released Veo 3, an AI video generation tool that creates realistic clips, complete with dialogue and sound. So of course it was used to make a video of Will Smith eating pasta. Check out how far AI has come:


This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

It’s not perfect visually—it still has traces of the unnatural sheen and rubberiness of AI videos—but it’s getting there. The audio, though, needs work. I’ve heard of pasta al dente, but AI Will Smith’s spaghetti is crunchy.

It sounds absurd that “Will Smith Eating Spaghetti” is the baseline test for AI video generation, but it’s actually a worthy challenge for artificial intelligence: humans eating and pasta are both hard things to “generalize” in an AI way. I also can’t deny that’s it’s technically amazing, but I’m not looking forward to the “we can’t tell real from fake” future that will probably be here in about six weeks.

Export Your Microsoft Authenticator Passwords Before They Get Deleted

If you use Microsoft Authenticator as your password manager, you need to find an alternative in the next few weeks. Microsoft is ending password storage and autofill in its Authenticator app, and users have until July to export saved data before it becomes unavailable. This comes amidst Microsoft’s transition to a “passwordless by default” approach to its own accounts.

Microsoft Authenticator is a mobile app that supports secure sign-on via various multi-factor authentication methods like time-based one-time passwords and biometrics, though users could also set it up as a password manager.

What’s happening to Microsoft Authenticator

As Bleeping Computer reports, Authenticator’s autofill feature is being deprecated, and Microsoft is now notifying users of the impending deadlines to transition either to Microsoft Edge or another password storage option. Starting in June, users will be unable to save passwords in Authenticator. Microsoft will shut down autofill in July, and saved passwords and stored payment information will no longer be accessible in the app in August.

Authenticator will continue to support passkeys.

According to a Microsoft support page detailing the change, saved passwords are synced to your Microsoft account and can be autofilled with Microsoft Edge, so users who have Edge enabled as their autofill provider on mobile will have easy access to their data.

To do this, you’ll have to download the Microsoft Edge browser on your device and then select it as the default autofill option (Settings > General > Autofill & Passwords > Autofill from > Edge on iOS or Settings > Autofill > Preferred Service > Change > Edge on Android). You can access passwords when you’re signed into Edge by tapping the three vertical lines to open Settings > Passwords.

How to export your passwords from Authenticator

If you don’t want to continue with Edge, you can export your data and transition it to a secure third-party password manager, such as Bitwarden or 1Password. Open Authenticator and go to Settings > Export Passwords (under the Autofill section) and select Export. Choose a folder and hit Save. This creates a CSV for upload into a different password management tool. Note that your data is no longer encrypted in this format, and you should delete the export file as soon as you’ve uploaded it elsewhere.

You can also copy and paste addresses by tapping and holding, but you cannot copy or export saved payment information—that will have to be recreated manually for security reasons.

Microsoft’s dates for each step of deprecation are vague, so your best bet is to export your passwords as soon as possible, and definitely by July 1.

Rethinking Fairness in Cycling Esports: A Closer Look at Categorization

In May 2025, the FemmeCycle Collab (FCC) partnered with Zwift to launch a four-week women’s race series that grouped participants by age. There were five age brackets, with racers under 30 placed in one group and those over 60 in another. While this categorization was welcomed by some, many others remained skeptical. Interestingly, a portion of the feedback questioned the fairness of using age as a basis for categorization. These women referenced the previous Zwift model, which categorized racers using performance metrics like zFTP (~40 min power max) and zMAP (4-6 min power output), as a fairer system.

This feedback, particularly the reactions to this Zwift Insider article, got my wheels turning. Why do we, as women racers, consider a model based on medium- and long-term watts-per-kilogram (w/kg) output “fair”? And does this perception align with how athletes are categorized in outdoor cycling or other sports?

Let’s examine how categorization works in professional cycling, amateur events, and other sports to gain a better understanding of what might be applicable in the esports context.

“Real” Outdoor Professional Bike Racing

In professional cycling, which is often (perhaps unfairly) compared to community-level esports racing, categorization is rarely rigid. Instead, there are varied points systems that reward different elements: overall finishing position, stage wins, sprint points, mountain points, and even subjective recognitions like “most combative rider” or “best young rider.”

Although racers in mountain bike, gravel, or road events aren’t explicitly categorized in novel ways, these formats are largely self-selecting. Riders choose races that suit their strengths, whether that’s climbing, sprinting, or endurance.

Outdoor Amateur Cycling

At the amateur level, race formats and categorization vary globally. In the USA, criterium races dominate, while in the UK, time trials are more common. Again, there’s a self-selecting dynamic: riders choose the races that align with their abilities and preferences.

Some events include special categories, such as the “Clydesdale” class in mountain races for heavier riders, which reflects an effort to tailor competition based on rider phenotype.  However, most outdoor amateur racing disciplines employ a categorization system that starts everyone at the bottom, with progression based on both experience and performance. This has practical justifications (e.g., bike handling skills at high speeds).

Other Sports

As a former rower in high school and college, I saw firsthand how diverse categorization can be. Rowing classifications vary by boat type (single, double, quad, or eight), rowing style (sweep or scull), weight class (lightweight or heavyweight), and even team composition (men’s, women’s, or mixed). Events are further divided by age group and skill level.

Track and field provides another strong model for categorization by athlete type. You have sprinters, distance runners, hurdlers – all with distinct strengths and race types. Athletes specialize early and select events that match their capabilities. In contrast, community-level esports cycling allows anyone to enter any race, regardless of phenotype. This can lead to mismatches and a feeling of disconnection between racer and race.

Why shouldn’t esports racing be just as versatile? We already have points races and climbing races. Why not a climbing event organized by weight class? Or a mixed-ability team time trial where the team’s result is based on the finish time of the lowest-ranked member?

So, What Makes a Race Feel “Good” or “Fair”?

A healthy pen size is important—it keeps things competitive and engaging. But beyond that, what truly matters is the sense that every racer belongs and that their unique strengths contribute to the dynamic of the race. If everyone has a superpower, why not create races using categorization systems that allow athletes to showcase theirs? 

There are multiple platforms launching in 2025 which will allow race organizers to showcase the performance in race fields, including ECRO and Lead Out.  These services could make community-level racing more exciting on every platform for both racers and spectators.  Now is the time to explore what racers want, so the right tools can be built.

Share Your Thoughts

I’d love to hear from others in the community – what kinds of racer categorizations feel fair to you? What formats have made you feel seen and valued as a racer?

Let’s keep the conversation going and explore how we can build more inclusive, creative, and exciting race experiences together.