The latest trend in AI chatbots is memory. It’s not good enough for these models to provide you the same quick and detailed answers as everyone else; rather, each should be personalized to you based on your past conversations. Now, it’s Grok’s turn to remember.

xAI, the company behind Grok, announced the chatbot’s new memory feature in a post on X on Wednesday. The company says Grok now remembers your conversations, so your future queries will receive personalized responses. In the post, Grok uses an example of a user asking the chatbot to “plan me a workout for today.” The assumption is Grok pulls from past conversations with the user to develop a custom workout that fits their needs, including their “interest in dynamic, high-energy activities and fitness trends like jump rope and weightlifting.”

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

Grok is not the first to roll out this type of feature. ChatGPT has had a memory option for over a year now. For most of that time, the feature would simply remember facts about you from your past conversations, but last week, OpenAI updated the feature to allow ChatGPT to access all past chats—effectively turning your conversation history into one big memory bank. It’s not exactly clear how Grok’s memory feature compares to ChatGPT’s at this time: While it seems like Grok can access past conversations, rather than save specific facts, it’s not evident whether the bot will crawl all past conversations each time you make a query, like ChatGPT does now. To Google’s credit, Gemini also has a memory feature it introduced earlier this year.

This memory feature is also rolling out first in beta to Grok users on the web and mobile apps, but not the Grok function on X. xAI, the company behind Grok, says that X support is on the way.

How to manage Grok’s memory

You can access this new memory option from Grok’s settings on desktop or the mobile app. Head to Data Controls, then enable or disable the toggle next to “Personalize with Memories.”

If you like the idea of Grok accessing past conversations most of the time, but know you’d like some conversations to stay private, you don’t need to keep returning to this settings page. Keep the feature on, but tap the ghost icon in the top right corner of a chat to turn on Private Chat. These conversations will self-destruct after you exist, so Grok won’t remember them.

The TV adaptation of the video game Twisted Metal is coming back for a second season on July 31. Just like the first season, this won’t be a weekly release. All of the episodes will be available on Peacock on that date.

The first season was surprisingly decent, and occasionally hilarious. One thing we didn’t see in that batch of episodes, however, was the titular tournament. The show is rectifying that, as the second season looks to revolve entirely around the Twisted Metal demolition derby.

Co-leads Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz are both returning. Will Arnett will also once again voice the killer clown Sweet Tooth. Anthony Carrigan, from the HBO show Barry, is on deck as the iconic derby host Calypso. The show’s creators include folks from Cobra Kai and the Deadpool film franchise.

Like I said up top, the first season was surprisingly fun. It’s a fast-paced action-comedy set in a post-apocalyptic version of the US. It’s more goofy than grimdark, so think Fallout and not The Last of Us.

Twisted Metal joins other modern TV adaptations of video games, like Knuckles, The Last of Us, Arcane and Castlevania: Nocturne. Video game adaptations have also been ruling the box office these past few years, with A Minecraft Movie and The Super Mario Bros. Movie both breaking records.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/twisted-metal-season-two-crashes-onto-peacock-on-july-31-182717907.html?src=rss

Synology, maker of network-attached storage (NAS) devices, will seemingly remove advanced features from its Plus devices that are not using hard drives provided by, or certified by, Synology itself, starting with its 2025 lineup.

A report on the German site HardwareLuxx (translated by Google) and a press release on Synology’s German-language website appear to confirm Synology’s strategy. The company, which sees “significant benefits” to its “proprietary hard drive solution” (also per Google’s translation), will be “expanding [its] integrated ecosystem to the Plus series.” For those Plus series models released in 2025, only Synology’s own hard drives, and third-party drives certified by Synology, will offer “the full range of functions and support.” Synology’s release states that it can provide the “highest levels of security and performance, while also offering significantly more efficient support.”

Ars has contacted Synology’s US offices for comment and will update this post with any response.

Read full article

Comments

The long-awaited second season of weekly Playdate game drops commences on May 29. During a showcase on Thursday, Panic revealed that players will get two fresh games on their console every seven days for six weeks. It’s also promising a surprise of some kind. Unlike the first season of games that’s included with every Playdate, you’ll need to pay extra for this one. Playdate Season Two will run you $39. You can pre-order now through the Playdate Catalog.

Part of the allure of Playdate’s seasons is that the games are a bit of a mystery, so you never quite know what you’re going to get in your weekly drops. To that end, Panic didn’t go super in depth into all 12 during the showcase, instead opting to shine a spotlight on four of them. One of the games will be of particular interest to FTL: Faster Than Light and Into The Breach fans.

Subset Games, the studio behind those hits, has made a brand new game for the Playdate. It’s an arcade action game called Fulcrum Defender. You’ll use the crank to aim and shoot at waves of enemies as you try to survive. Subset co-founder Jay Ma says the enemies will progressively become more complex and you’ll need to have good aim and choose upgrades wisely to keep your run going.

Antonio “Fáyer” Uribe, one of the folks behind last year’s well-received Arco (which Panic published), teamed up with Flinthook designer Dom2D to make Dig! Dig! Dino!. This is a relaxing puzzle game in which you’ll be digging for dinosaur bones and treasure. Sell the booty and you can unlock upgrades to help you dig deeper for more bones and artifacts.

The maker of Playdate titles Life’s Too Short and Time From Earth is back with another game that will be part of Season Two. It’s a remake of the classic point-and-click adventure Shadowgate for the diminutive console. Pixel Ghost says it took the best parts of the previous versions to make Shadowgate PD, which includes new music, art and features.

The fourth game that was featured in the showcase is Taria & Como, a puzzle platformer that’s based around swinging instead of jumping (that reminds me a little of the wonderful Grapple Dogs). You’ll take on the role of Taria, a girl with a prosthetic leg who sets out to find her sister, Como. JuVee Productions, Viola Davis’ production company, collaborated with Popseed Studio on this project.

“A few years ago, my friend’s son was diagnosed with Tourette’s, and I began to think about what sort of stories he’d grow up with. As a disabled person, I’ve seen the same tropes recycled — pity case, inspiration, disability as a superpower, magical cures,” Taria & Como creator Kip Henderson said in a statement. “Disability is complex, and we’re more than the inspirational fodder for able-bodied people. Taria & Como is the story I wish I had growing up.”

In addition to the Playdate Season Two details, Panic revealed a new cover for the console to go alongside the purple, blue and pizza ones. This one is yellow to match the hardware and it costs $34. The price of the console itself recently jumped up to $229, but you might be able to snag an official refurbished model for the system’s original price of $179.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playdate-season-two-includes-an-action-arcade-game-from-into-the-breach-studio-subset-181438605.html?src=rss

On Wednesday, news broke that researchers had found the most compelling evidence yet of a “biosignature”—a chemical present at levels that are only consistent with life—on a distant exoplanet. It didn’t take much time for some less-than-reliable news sources to go from there to talk of a planet that “could be ‘teeming with life'” and the obvious follow-up, “Scientists reveal what aliens could REALLY look like on exoplanet K2-18b.”

Even in the best of circumstances, however, talk of a biosignature is an invitation to scientists to think of alternative chemistries that could explain the chemistry without needing biological activity. And these are not the best of circumstances, as astronomers are pointing to earlier papers that give a range of reasons to be skeptical of the new results; in fact, an astronomer named Chris Glein emailed me to alert me of potential issues the day before the news broke.

To help you understand the controversy, we’re going to look at the data that is being presented as evidence of a biosignature and then go through all the reasons that confirming a biosignature is so difficult.

Read full article

Comments

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

The Google TV Streamer 4K is Google’s latest iteration on the smart TV stick. No longer is it hiding behind your TV, but now takes center stage with a hub on your TV stand. Right now, you can get the Google TV Streamer 4K for $79 (originally $99.99), its first discount since its release last summer, according to price tracking tools.

Google TV Streamer 4K

Connectivity: Wi-Fi or Ethernet, Connector: HDMI, Special Feature: Google TV and Voice Search Remote

$79.00
at Amazon

$99.99
Save $20.99

$79.00
at Amazon

$99.99
Save $20.99

Google first had the Chromecast, an HDMI device that let you cast your phone to your TV. Then it released the Chromecast with Google TV in 2022, which incorporated the Google OS into the Chromecast. Now, Google seems to want to go a new route after discontinuing the Chromecast altogether—this new device is powered by Gemini (Google’s AI), has more storage, and better performance for twice the price.

The Google TV Streamer 4K comes with 32GB of storage space, 4GB of memory, and the ability to run HDR streams at up to 4K@60 FPS. It also has support for Dolby Vision and Atmos, and it has ports for things like Ethernet.

The Google OS is identical to older models, but performance is much better, according to CNET’s review. While you already get more storage than previous models, you can expand it with the USB-C port.

There are several meteor showers we can count on seeing every year as Earth passes through the debris trails of known comets and asteroids orbiting the sun, and two of them are about to be in full swing. The Lyrids, which come from comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, will be visible from April 17 to 26, most prominently in the skies over the Northern Hemisphere. And just a couple days later, the bright streaks of the Eta Aquarids — stemming from the famous Halley’s Comet — will make their first appearance around April 20 before peaking in early May. In both cases, you won’t need any equipment to enjoy the show.

How to see the Lyrids

While the Lyrid meteor shower isn’t the most fruitful astronomical event of the year, we can still expect to see an average of 15 meteors per hour during its peak on the night of April 21 going into April 22, if the conditions are right. In the days before and after that, they’ll come at a rate of about five per hour. The Lyrids’ radiant, or the point from which they appear to emerge, will be in the northeast near the constellation Lyra and well above the horizon by around midnight. You’ll want to set up in a spot with a wide view of the sky and as little light pollution as possible, and look up toward the east.

“The best time to watch is late evening on April 21 until the moon rises a few hours before dawn on April 22,” EarthSky recommends. “Then, after the moon rises, place yourself in the moon’s shadow.” You’ll have the best shot at seeing the Lyrids if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere (and if the weather is clear), but viewers south of the equator may be able to catch some too.

Every so often, the Lyrid meteor shower produces an unusual abundance of meteors in events known as outbursts, but when they’ll occur is unpredictable. In 1982, viewers in Florida spotted as many as 75 meteors per hour, according to NASA. While that’s by no means the norm, it’s not out of the question that you might catch an outburst one of these days. More likely than that, though, is the chance of seeing a fireball, or an exceptionally bright meteor that NASA says is occasionally a feature of the Lyrids.

The relatively short meteor shower will come and go in a little over a week, but the Eta Aquarids right after will offer a whole month of potential “shooting star” sightings. 

How to see the Eta Aquarids

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower (also spelled Aquariid) is one of two annual meteor showers originating from comet 1P/Halley, or Halley’s Comet. “This comet is in a retrograde orbit around the sun,” EarthSky explains. “That means it runs around the sun in the opposite direction from Earth and all the other planets. As a result, we pass near its path twice,” giving us the Eta Aquarids on the outbound leg of the trip and the Orionids in late October during the inbound.

The Eta Aquarids are more plentiful than the Lyrids, and you can start looking out for them around April 20, according to NASA. The shower will be active until May 21, but the best time to spot meteors will be overnight from May 5 into May 6, when it peaks, in the pre-dawn hours. During that time, as many as 50 meteors per hour could be visible, versus about 10 per hour in the non-peak windows. The Eta Aquarids’ radiant is in the constellation Aquarius.

These meteors are best seen from the Southern Hemisphere, where they’ll pop up at a higher rate, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to see any if you’re in the north. Observers in the Northern Hemisphere may just see fewer, and they’re more likely to see those dubbed ‘Earthgrazers,’ or “long meteors that appear to skim the surface of the Earth at the horizon,” NASA notes. The Eta Aquarids in general move fast, at about 40.7 miles per second, according to the space agency, and they’ll often leave incandescent “trains” lingering in the sky after they’ve zipped by.

While the debris from Halley’s Comet graces our skies twice a year, the comet itself (which I can’t think about without also remembering that episode of Hey Arnold!) only swings past Earth about every 76 years, which last happened in 1986. It’ll make its next appearance in 2061.

After the Eta Aquarids wrap up, we’ll still have a few more meteor showers to look forward to through the summer, so there will be plenty of chances to view some shooting stars if you missed out this time around or just want to catch as many as possible. That includes the Arietids in early June, the Delta Aquarids starting in mid-July and perhaps the best known meteor shower, the Perseids, in mid-August.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/the-first-meteor-shower-of-spring-peaks-soon-and-another-is-close-on-its-heels-174458501.html?src=rss

Chris Krebs, the former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) director who was fired by President Trump in 2020 and targeted in a Trump order last week, said he left his job at a security company in order to focus on fighting back against the Trump administration.

Trump fired Krebs in November 2020 when the then-CISA chief disputed Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was rigged against him. Krebs was until this week the chief intelligence and public policy officer for security vendor SentinelOne. Krebs and SentinelOne were both targeted by Trump in an April 9 presidential memorandum titled, “Addressing Risks from Chris Krebs and Government Censorship.”

The Trump order called Krebs “a significant bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his Government authority” and whose “misconduct involved the censorship of disfavored speech implicating the 2020 election and COVID-19 pandemic.”

Read full article

Comments

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

As Lifehacker’s resident marathon runner and senior finance writer, there is one perfect point where my worlds intersect: buying sneakers. When it comes to investing in—and maybe even splurging on—running gear, nothing affects your running experience more than your shoes. Finding the perfect running shoes is about much more than style or brand preference. Proper footwear can be the difference between achieving your running goals and suffering through preventable injuries.

Why proper shoe fit matters

Many runners unknowingly wear the wrong shoes for years. According to Jessica Lyons-Quirk, director of footwear merchandising at Road Runner Sports, “Not only do most people not know what true foot size they are, they also might not know if they are a neutral or stability runner, so they are setting themselves up for years of injury and being uncomfortable.”

If your gear is fitting improperly, “you’re probably feeling prone to pain and injury,” Lyons-Quirk says. “You might have pain in your feet, but also pain in your knees or hips when you walk or run.”

This mismatch between foot needs and shoe type can significantly impact your running experience and long-term foot health. “The biggest thing about injuries and foot health is that you need to be in the right shoe for your foot. Every foot is different—you’re going to constantly be injury-prone if you aren’t in the right shoe, which means you’re never going to hit your training goals if you’re constantly resting off an injury,” Lyons-Quirk says.

Understanding your running style

Before selecting shoes, it’s important to understand your running mechanics. Broadly speaking, there are two main categories of runners:

• Neutral runners have a natural foot motion forward with even weight distribution when pushing off. Your feet effectively absorb impact and don’t roll excessively inward or outward.

• Stability runners overpronate, meaning the arch collapses during landing and the foot rolls too far inward. This can create alignment issues while you run.

For both types of runners, you’ll see shoes directly advertised for your specific style. Neutral runners have a more natural foot motion forward and effectively absorb the impact of the ground, while evenly distributing weight on the toe-off. Lyons-Quirk says you’ll want to look for the HOKA Clifton or Saucony Ride.

To find the best stability shoes, look out for extra guidance and support to control the excessive movement. Lyons-Quirk recommends the Brooks Adrenaline or the ASICS GEL-Kayano.

Brooks Women’s Adrenaline GTS 23 Supportive Running Shoe

at Amazon

at Amazon

Saucony Men’s Ride 18 Sneaker

$139.95
at Amazon

$139.95
at Amazon

Signs your running shoes do fit

Before blaming all your running woes on your shoes (which will lead to wasting time and money on finding the right pair), here are some of the positive signs that your shoes are in fact the right fit:

1. Thumb’s width of space: A common tip is there should be roughly a thumb’s width of space between your longest toe and the front of the shoe.

2. No pinching or rubbing: The shoes shouldn’t feel tight across the widest part of your foot.

3. Secure heel: Your heel should feel snug but not tight, with minimal slippage when walking.

4. Room for toe splay: Your toes should be able to spread naturally when your foot lands.

5. Comfortable arch support: The arch support should contact your arch without feeling intrusive.

Red flags of a poor fit

Watch for these warning signs that your shoes aren’t right for you:

• Blisters, hot spots, or calluses developing after runs

• Numbness or tingling in the toes

• Pain in your feet, ankles, knees, or hips during or after running

• Black toenails from toes hitting the front of the shoe

• Feeling unstable during your runs

When to get fitted

The best approach is to visit a specialty running store to get in-person guidance. Running stores often have a treadmill in-store so you can try your shoes at a jogging pace without leaving the building. You’ll want to lean on the stores and companies with a good return policy so that you can road-test your new shoes. 

Here are some times you when you should consider getting professionally fitted:

• When you’re new to running

• After significant weight changes

• If you’re experiencing unexplained pain

• Every 1-2 years, as feet can change over time

• When returning from injury

Tips for sneaker shopping

This might sound unconventional, but my hot tip is to shop for sneakers later in the day. Just like how I never buy jeans before I’ve eaten breakfast, I find my feet naturally swell throughout the day, and I want to make sure my sneakers can handle all my feet fluctuations.

Another hack: Bring your old shoes to the store. The wear pattern provides valuable information about your running style for the seller helping you. Similarly, wear your running socks when you try on a new pair, since the thickness of your socks affects fit.

And most importantly, make sure you can take your shoes on a test run before committing to anything. Many specialty shops allow you to jog around the store or even take a short run outside.

Finding the right running shoes is a personalized process that directly impacts your performance and injury risk. As Lyons-Quirk emphasizes, each foot is different, and matching your specific needs to the right shoe is the number one key to running at your best.

You might now be out of luck if you’ve been relying on Apple’s AI tools to help you craft a Facebook post or generate a custom emoji to slap on an Instagram Story. As first reported by Sorcererhat Tech (by way of 9to5Mac), Apple Intelligence features are not currently functional on Meta’s iOS apps, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or Threads. Engadget has confirmed that Apple Intelligence isn’t working in the apps at the time of writing.

As things stand, along with writing tools (which include the likes of text generation and proofreading), Apple Intelligence features such as Genmoji aren’t working in Meta’s apps. While people were previously able to include keyboard stickers and Memoji in Instagram Stories, that’s no longer the case.

Developers can opt out of using Apple Intelligence in their iOS apps and Meta may have done just that. Perhaps it’s looking to nudge folks to use its own Meta AI tools in Facebook et al. Engadget has contacted Meta and Apple for comment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-intelligence-is-busted-on-metas-ios-apps-165620772.html?src=rss

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has reportedly set a goal for the company to reach 500 million Gemini users before the end of 2025. Rolling out new models may help the company get there, but you know what else helps? Giving away premium features for free. Google has announced today that it’s giving all US college students free access to Gemini Advanced, and not just for a month or two—the offer is good for a full year of service.

With Gemini Advanced, you get access to the more capable Pro models, as well as unlimited use of the Deep Research tool based on it. Subscribers also get a smattering of other AI tools, like the Veo 2 video generator, NotebookLM, and Gemini Live. The offer is for the Google One AI Premium plan, so it includes more than premium AI models, like Gemini features in Google Drive and 2TB of Drive storage.

Google has a new landing page for the deal, allowing eligible students to sign up for their free Google One AI Premium plan. The offer is valid from now until June 30. Anyone who takes Google up on it will enjoy the free plan through spring 2026. The company hasn’t specified an end date, but we would wager it will be June of next year. Google’s intention is to give students an entire school year of Gemini Advanced from now through finals next year. At the end of the term, you can bet Google will try to convert students to paying subscribers.

Read full article

Comments

Canonical today released Ubuntu 25.04 “Plucky Puffin,” bringing significant upgrades to the non-LTS distribution including Linux kernel 6.14, GNOME 48 with triple buffering, and expanded hardware support.

For the first time, Ubuntu ships an official generic ARM64 desktop ISO targeting virtual machines and Snapdragon-based devices, with initial enablement for the Snapdragon X Elite platform. The release also adds full support for Intel Core Ultra Xe2 integrated graphics and “Battlemage” discrete GPUs, delivering improved ray tracing performance and hardware-accelerated video encoding.

Networking improvements include wpa-psk-sha256 Wi-Fi support and enhanced DNS resolution detection. The installer now better handles BitLocker-protected Windows partitions for dual-boot scenarios. Other notable changes include JPEG XL support by default, NVIDIA Dynamic Boost enabled on supported laptops, Papers replacing Evince as the default document viewer, and APT 3.0 becoming the standard package manager. Ubuntu 25.04 will receive nine months of support until January 2026.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Every home needs upkeep and maintenance. Sometimes it can feel like you get one problem fixed, only to face another one. That can lead to tunnel vision, focusing on the present because you feel like there’s no time to worry about the future.

But the future is coming, and if you don’t want to inordinately trouble your future self, there are several small steps you can take to make Future You a little happier.

Record your paint

Painting is an easy way to upgrade your house. Choosing the right color and sheen can be a project in itself, but once you get there you’ll have a space you feel comfortable in.

Right as you start your paint project, snap photos of the can’s mixing formula on the label, then drop those photos in a folder for your home projects. That label contains everything you’ll need to know in order to replicate the paint at a later date, saving your future self a lot of grief. Alternatively, you can peel the label off (or ask for a second one when you buy the paint), and stick it in a notebook.

Hang onto spare materials

Re-tiling the shower? Re-siding the house? Laying down some vinyl plank flooring? Whenever you finish a project, always try to have some leftover materials—and hang onto them. If you need to tear up a portion of your work years later, having spares on hand for the patch work will make the job a lot easier. Tiles and flooring are discontinued all the time, and even if that particular style is still being manufactured in the future there are often color and grain inconsistencies between batches, so a box of tile bought five years after the initial project may not match perfectly.

Ask contractors

We hire skilled professionals to do home maintenance and renovation tasks we can’t handle ourselves. But that doesn’t mean you should nip off to the pub while the work gets done. Paying attention and asking a few questions will make your future a lot less stressful:

• Materials used. Get a breakdown of the specific materials used. Knowing exactly what kind of paint, tile, or flooring was used will make it easier to replace or repair it in the future—and as noted above, ask to keep the leftover material. After all, you paid for it.

• Installation. You aren’t a contractor and don’t aspire to do complex plumbing or electrical work—but knowing how things were installed will be incredibly helpful to your future self. Contractors are deep wells of information, and they can clue you in on hacks, tricks, and best practices that can help you keep systems and finishes looking good and working correctly.

Record dates

Keeping a house in shape can be a whirlwind of constant effort, and that makes it easy to forget when, exactly, things were done. But knowing how long ago something was installed, repaired, or replaced will serve your future self very well. Everything in your house has a lifespan and a recommended maintenance schedule, so knowing when your boiler or HVAC was installed, how old your roof is, or the last time your basement flooded will be valuable information.

While you’re at it, mark down the date when you change the batteries in your smoke alarms, thermostats, alarm systems, and anything else that your comfort and safety rely on. Then do the same when you change out the filters on your HVAC system, furnace, or water supply (and don’t forget to check your fire extinguisher).

Label fasteners

Homeowners have been dealing with growing supplies of loose screws, bolts, and Allen wrenches for most of the modern home-owning age. To keep from someday desperately sifting through incorrect screws and wrenches, label them today. Every time you put together furniture or install shelving, put any leftover fasteners into some kind of storage and label it clearly. When the time comes to disassemble or fix it, you’ll have everything you need.

Save product manuals

Just about everything you buy for your home will come with some sort of product manual (and these days you can download most of them pretty easily). You might be tempted to think you don’t need a product manual for simple appliances—you know how to operate a toaster, for example—but you should keep your product manuals, physically or digitally. These manuals will provide the basic information you’ll need to repair, replace, or troubleshoot your stuff, including a breakdown of the specific sizes of fasteners, wall anchors, and other parts you might need to replace someday. Plus, manuals contain a lot of other useful information, like weight limits or other tolerances. If you want to turn a bookshelf you assembled into storage for your dumbbells, for example, it will be great to be able to just look up the unit’s capacity.

Keep visual records

Take photos of things like air filters or unique light bulbs and leave them on your phone. Do this for any unique item that needs replacing from time to time. Now, the next time you need a fresh supply, you’ll be able to look up exactly what’s needed.

Map out circuits

You won’t know frustration until you need to cut the power to an area of your house (like the air conditioning) and you can’t figure out which circuit it’s on. You wind up flipping breakers until you find the one, and then you have a solid 20 minutes of resetting clocks and preferences ahead of you.

Instead, spend a half hour mapping your breaker panel, labeling each one neatly. Next time you have reason to cut the power to an appliance or a room, you’ll be able to do so with no drama or stress.

Purchase extra keys

As a man who has been forced to break into his own house far too often, I can say that having some extra keys stashed in safe places around your neighborhood (or a few trusted folks with security codes if you have smart locks) will be deeply appreciated by your future self.

Identify contractors in advance

The worst time to look for a plumber, electrician, exterminator, or roofer is when you’re in the midst of an emergency. Start asking friends and neighbors for recommendations now, and start a master file of contact info and who recommended them (including the specific work they did, if you can). When you discover a newly formed lake in your basement one morning, you’ll be able to calmly make a call instead of trying to cram three months of research into three minutes.

The verdict is in, and Google has been found to illegally hold online ad tech monopolies.

For over a decade, “Google has willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts to acquire and maintain monopoly power in the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets for open-web display advertising,” tying its publisher ad server and ad exchange together “to establish and protect its monopoly power in these two markets,” the ruling said.

At trial, the DOJ argued that Google’s ad business expanded to choke out competitors and benefit only Google. They argued that Google “rigged” ad auctions, allegedly controlling “multiple parts” of services used to place ads all over the Internet, unfairly advantaging itself in various markets.

Read full article

Comments

Fraud rings using fake “bot” students have infiltrated America’s community colleges, stealing over $11 million from California’s system alone in 2024. The nationwide scheme, which began in 2021, targets open-admission institutions where scammers enroll fictitious students in online courses to collect financial aid disbursements.

“We didn’t used to have to decide if our students were human,” said Eric Maag, who has taught at Southwestern College for 21 years. Faculty now spend hours vetting suspicious enrollees and analyzing AI-generated assignments. At Southwestern in Chula Vista, professor Elizabeth Smith discovered 89 of her 104 enrolled students were fraudulent. The California Community College system estimates 25% of all applicants statewide are bots. Community college administrators describe fighting an evolving technological battle against increasingly sophisticated fraud tactics. The fraud crisis has particularly impacted asynchronous online courses, crowding real students out of classes and fundamentally altering faculty roles.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More details about Mario Kart World, the big first-party Nintendo Switch 2 launch title, were shown during a dedicated Direct on Thursday. The 17-minute presentation showcased some of the game’s courses, such as the canal-based Salty Salty Speedway and spooky Boo Cinema, and revealed that some classic, reimagined courses will be dotted around the game’s open world.

Beyond regular races and the new Knockout Tour elimination mode, there are a bunch of other ways to play Mario Kart World. Team-based races will see you compete in squads of between six and 12, and you can test yourself in time trials. The classic Balloon Battle mode is here, and in Coin Runners, you’ll compete to collect the most coins.

Nintendo

New tricks include a charge jump and a wall-riding option that was highlighted in the reveal trailer. A nifty Rewind feature in particular caught my eye. If you miss a jump or want another crack at making it to an elevated shortcut, you can hit a button that will send your kart backward a bit. You’ll probably want to use this sparingly, as the Rewind function only affects your own kart. Your opponents can easily overtake you in the process, so there’s a risk-reward balance to consider here. The Forza Horizon series has a similar rewind feature, so it’s interesting to see Nintendo adopt that.

Some of the fresh items look pretty nifty. You’ll be able to embrace your inner Hammer Bro by peppering the track with an arc of hammers to either hit an opponent or block their progress. With the Ice Flower, you can freeze enemies, while deploying the Coin Shell, oddly enough, leaves a trail of coins that you can collect. It’s nice to see the feather, which debuted all the way back in the original Super Mario Kart, make a return.

The open-world aspect of the game looks pretty interesting. You can explore it with your friends (you’re all going to be using GameChat, right?) and find some secrets. Hitting one of the hundreds of P Switches that are dotted across the world starts a minigame, such as collecting a number of blue coins in a certain period of time. In Free Roam, you’ll also be able to make use of the photo mode.

Nintendo

Elsewhere in the first completely new mainline Mario Kart game since 2014, there are several assist options. The Smart Steering feature can help you avoid accidentally veering off a track, and there’s a tilt control function for steering.

On top of all of that, you can pick up food from drive-thrus. While I suspected that we might be taking a trip to The Snack Zone, the Dash Food that you pick up unlocks outfits that are inspired by your meal. Munch on some sushi, for instance, and you’ll find yourself wearing a Japanese-influenced getup.

Mario Kart World is slated to arrive on June 5, the same day as the Nintendo Switch 2. There’s still no official update on when Switch 2 pre-orders will go live in the US and Canada after Nintendo delayed them. However, rumors suggest that you may be able to lock in a pre-order in either country in the coming days.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/mario-kart-world-for-switch-2-borrows-forzas-rewind-feature-160818661.html?src=rss

Good news, Android users: You no longer need to pay in order to use Gemini Live’s camera and screen share features.

Google announced the update in a post on X on Wednesday. The company cited the “great feedback” they received from users’ experiences with Gemini Live camera and screen share, and revealed plans to roll out the features to all Android users over the coming weeks. You might even see the options right now.

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

Gemini Live has come a long way

Gemini Live is the conversation mode for Google’s AI assistant. Originally, it supported audio-only experiences: You could have a back-and-forth conversation with the chatbot, as if on a phone call with Gemini. However, back in March, Google announced “Gemini Live with Video,” which added two key features to the conversation mode: First, you can give Gemini access to your camera and ask it questions about your surroundings. For example, you could point your camera at a sign in another language, and ask Gemini to translate. On the flip side, you can also share your phone’s screen with Gemini, and ask it questions about what you’re up to.

Google originally rolled these new Gemini Live features to the Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S25, and while we knew support for more smartphones were on the way, the company had slated these options as exclusive to Gemini Advanced. If you wanted to share your camera or screen with Gemini Live, you needed to plan to spend $20 a month for the privilege.

Following Wednesday’s announcement, however, that’s no longer the case. As long as your Android phone can run the latest version of the Gemini app, you’ll be able to try out these features free of charge. Google must have made the calculation that the expanded user base was worth more than the monthly $20 from a much smaller pool of willing subscribers—likely because of the magnitude of AI training data those extra users will generate for the company. It’s a departure from other companies that offer similar features, like OpenAI: You need to pay for ChatGPT Plus to access “advanced voice” mode’s camera and screen share features.

Lifehacker’s David Nield tried out Gemini’s camera and screen share features earlier this month when it was exclusive to the Galaxy S25 and Pixel 9. He found that it worked well—to a point, anyway. The bot made mistakes, but most were understandable, like falsely identifying a Fitbit Charge 6 as a Fitbit Charge 5. It could translate social media posts and identify who won a soccer match on website showing the score, but when asked when the game was played, mistook the recent match for one that was played nearly two years prior.

These features were available as of Wednesday, April 16, but Google says they will be rolling out over the coming weeks. If you don’t see the options yet on the latest version of the Gemini app, just hang tight.

Instagram is adding yet another way to liven up your Reels recommendations. The app is rolling out “Blend,” a feature that allows you to create a custom feed within a DM that combines your recommendations with a friend’s.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because Blend has been in the works for some time. It was first spotted in the app more than a year ago, but was only an internal prototype at the time. Now, Meta is finally making it official, describing it as an “invite-only Reels feed for you and your friend(s).”

Anyone can invite a friend or a group of friends to join a Blend from within a direct message or group chat on Instagram. Once someone accepts the invitation, Instagram generates a custom feed of Reels made up of video recommendations tailored to each person. As you scroll, you can view who each suggested clip is for, giving a window into what types of Reels Instagram’s algorithm serves your friends.

The feature is the latest way Meta has been allowing instagram users to gain more insight into their friends’ Reels-watching habits. The company also recently introduced a dedicated tab that shows videos liked by your Instagram friends. Whether that sounds like an intriguing way to find new niches of content, or potentially massively embarrassing is another matter. (It’s also yet another reminder that your Instagram likes were never actually private.) But, if you’re Reels suggestions have been feeling a little stale, or you’re just curious about how some of your friends experience the app, it could be an entertaining way to spice up your recommendations.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/instagram-now-lets-you-combine-your-reels-recommendations-with-friends-160023003.html?src=rss