Instagram has rolled out an update for Reels that will let users go through more of them more quickly. As TechCrunch has reported, the app now allows users to play Reels at 2x the speed by long-pressing on the right or the left edge of the screen. They’d simply have to release it if they’d like to resume watching at normal speed. Some users have had access to the feature for a while now, while others used to have it until Instagram removed it from their accounts, likely because the app was only testing it out. Now, an Instagram rep has told CNET that it’s rolling out to everyone. We previously didn’t have the feature and can confirm that we’ve gained access to it within the past few hours.
The representative said that the option has been highly requested by the app’s users. Being able to fast-forward Reels has become somewhat of a necessity for a lot of people today, seeing as Instagram’s short-form videos are no longer limited to 15 seconds in length like they used to be. Reels can now be as long as three minutes, and there are signs indicating that the app could allow uploads as long as 10 minutes. We wouldn’t be surprised if Instagram started allowing Reels that long in the future. Instagram and TikTok have had history of adopting new features previously unveiled by the other, and TikTok allows videos recorded within its app to be 10 minutes long. In fact, TikTok has had the option to watch videos at twice the speed for a while now, which is even more necessary for the app, since its users can upload videos up to an hour in length.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/instagram-will-let-you-watch-reels-at-twice-the-speed-120047663.html?src=rss
There’s always something fun to ride on Zwift! See our picks for this weekend below, including big races and long group rides.
*Note: UK clocks change this weekend, so times below may shift by an hour. Check the Companion app for times.
Zwift Games Makeup Stages
Last Chance Competitive Fields Kit Unlock
The last events of Zwift Games 2025 happen this weekend, so this is your last chance to finish that unfinished stage… or improve your time on a stage you’ve already raced. Stages rotate throughout the weekend. Hup hup!
LEQP hosts perhaps the longest-running badge hunter series on Zwift, and this weekend’s ride is on Zwift Games 2024 Epic (81.7km, 878m). If you’ve never earned this route badge (1594 XP bonus!), or just a solid long ride with friends, join the fun!
The ECRO World Tour 2025 is now underway, hosted by the innovative Jonathan Morin (of Chasing Tour fame in past years). This weekend is the Chasing Wevelgem race! You’ll need to create an account on the ECRO website to access the race.
We’ve featured this event many times in the past, as it’s always well-attended and well-led at pace that helps everyone stay together. Experienced leaders and sweepers do their best to keep the groups together so everyone can work together to knock out a long ride!
This week’s ride offers two options: D cat is held at a 1.7-2.2 W/kg pace and C cat is held at 2.3-2.7 W/kg. Both groups are riding 9 laps London’s Greater London Flat for a total length of 110.7km and 524 meters of climbing.
The final stage of the Big Spin series is underway, themed “The New Millenium” and held on Watopia’s Waistband (27.7km, 101m). The big question is: have you won the BMX bike yet?
We choose each weekend’s Notable Events based on a variety of factors including:
Is the event unique/innovative in some way?
Are celebrities (pro riders, etc) attending/leading?
Are signup counts already high, meaning the event is extra-popular?
Does the ride include desirable unlocks or prizes?
Does the event appeal to ladies on Zwift? (We like to support this under-represented group!)
Is it for a good cause?
Is it just plain crazy (extra long races, world record attempts, etc)?
Is it a long-running, popular weekly event with a dedicated leader who deserves a shout out?
In the end, we want to call attention to events that are extra-special and therefore extra-appealing to Zwifters. If you think your event qualifies, comment below with a link/details and we may just include it in an upcoming post!
openSUSE’s Zypper package manager introduces optional parallel downloads and backend enhancements with up to 50% time savings in benchmarked scenarios.
The US will append a 25 percent tariff on top of any existing tariffs on all cars produced outside its borders. Additional fees will be imposed on imported components too like engines, transmissions, powertrains and electrical components. There’s a number of carve outs for US-based companies, as well as those sourcing gear from Mexico and Canada. But the move has been taken under the guise of “protecting” America’s car industry from imports.
Of course, hefty tariffs are no guarantee consumers will flock to buy American if other brands are pricier. We’ve been here before: The ’70s oil shock meant bulky and inefficient American cars were suddenly money pits. That made light and efficient Japanese cars far more attractive to buyers who didn’t want to go broke at the gas pump. And that was despite a tariff regime that, as PBS reported in 2017, was equivalent to a 60 percent levy. Before 1980, Chrysler, GM and Ford were kings — now they muscle with Toyota, Honda and Hyundai for a slice of the pie.
Given the new administration’s work to undermine the EV transition, it’s likely we’ll see a big pivot back to gas-powered vehicles. Especially as the one EV company likely to benefit from such a move has potentially diminished its reputation in the eyes of some buyers. The end result, however, may likely erode any sort of advantage the US auto industry has, allowing China the chance to race ahead in the rest of the world.
Engadget’s Jeff Dunn has put the new 2025 base-model iPad through its paces, and it comes with no surprises. The new slate gets a faster chip, A16, and 2GB more ram than its immediate predecessor. Naturally, compared to the pricier iPads, its performance isn’t going to pull up too many trees, but you’re not using a base model iPad for intensive work. Plus, it’s not going to get any Apple Intelligence features, which I’ll take any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Canon has announced two new compact mirrorless cameras for the vlogging crowd, the R50V Mirrorless and PowerShot V1 Compact. Both are attempts to muscle in on Sony’s turf in the videography space, boasting 4K video (1080p as a webcam), fancy autofocus tricks and a fully articulating display (at the expense of an electronic viewfinder). Engadget’s Steve Dent will review them in due course, but it’s hard to wonder if the vlogging space really needs yet more entrants, especially right now.
Block, Jack Dorsey’s payments company which owns Square and Cash App, has laid off 931 workers. The outfit denies the move is to cut costs, saying it’s to improve efficiency and flatten the organization by eliminating managers. As much as I’m sad for those folks who have lost their jobs, I’m staggered that 931 workers is only around eight percent of its workforce.
When the tedious bores moaned Twitter was overstaffed, I knew they were talking out of their backsides. After all, a global social network needs bodies to keep the site running, engage with advertisers and moderate such a sprawling platform. And while most financial institutions need plenty of qualified folks to comply with financial laws — not that Block has a stellar record in that area — 10,000 people to run Square and Cash App seems like a lot.
I’m sure Gamestop buyers would love to bank with Robinhood.
This fall, Robinhood will offer banking services to users with a Gold subscription, with all the usual perks banks throw at customers. That includes checking and savings accounts, money transfers to more than 100 countries and same-day cash deliveries to your door. You can even get your own wealth-management service, for all of the vast riches you’ve got left over once you’ve paid your rent, your car loan and bought six eggs from your local corner store.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-will-the-us-imported-car-tariffs-work-112509770.html?src=rss
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Amazon’s Big Spring Sale (spanning seven days from March 25 to March 31) gives shoppers the chance to grab great deals on everything from tech to home goods. It’s Amazon’s second-ever spring sale, and while it may not be as flashy as Prime Day, it’s still packed with discounts that are hard to ignore. Prime members get the best deals, so if you want in but don’t want to commit, Amazon’s 30-day free trial of Prime does the trick—just remember to cancel after the sale.
One of the better deals in the mix is the EufyCam S3 Pro (2-Cam Kit with HomeBase 3), now going for $439.99, marked down from $549.99—it’s lowest price ever, according to price-trackers. It’s still pricey, no doubt, but it’s one of the few security cameras that manages to deliver actual 4K resolution without locking you into a subscription plan.
The cameras come equipped with Eufy’s MaxColor Vision technology, which uses AI-powered image enhancement and an impressive f/1.0 aperture to deliver vivid nighttime footage that’s almost daylight-clear. Plus, the added benefit of the SolarPlus 2.0 panel means you can go nearly an entire year without charging the camera, provided it gets an hour of direct sunlight daily. All of this is backed by the included HomeBase 3 (with 16GB of built-in local storage, expandable up to 16TB if you ever need it), which acts not only as a storage hub but also as a siren-equipped central control for Eufy’s security lineup, ensuring local video storage without recurring cloud fees.
That said, while the IP67-ratedEufyCam S3 Pro offers a robust feature set—two-way audio that allows you to communicate through the camera, customizable motion detection zones that can be adjusted to avoid false alerts, and AI-powered system that can distinguish between people, pets, and vehicles, ensuring you only get the notifications that matter—it’s important to note that integrating it with Apple’s HomeKit can be a bit of a headache, with resolution dropping to 1080p and necessitating an iCloud subscription for video storage (which kind of undercuts the whole no-subscription appeal), according to this ZDNet review.
In the growing canon of AI security, the indirect prompt injection has emerged as the most powerful means for attackers to hack large language models such as OpenAI’s GPT-3 and GPT-4 or Microsoft’s Copilot. By exploiting a model’s inability to distinguish between, on the one hand, developer-defined prompts and, on the other, text in external content LLMs interact with, indirect prompt injections are remarkably effective at invoking harmful or otherwise unintended actions. Examples include divulging end users’ confidential contacts or emails and delivering falsified answers that have the potential to corrupt the integrity of important calculations.
Despite the power of prompt injections, attackers face a fundamental challenge in using them: The inner workings of so-called closed-weights models such as GPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini are closely held secrets. Developers of such proprietary platforms tightly restrict access to the underlying code and training data that make them work and, in the process, make them black boxes to external users. As a result, devising working prompt injections requires labor- and time-intensive trial and error through redundant manual effort.
Algorithmically generated hacks
For the first time, academic researchers have devised a means to create computer-generated prompt injections against Gemini that have much higher success rates than manually crafted ones. The new method abuses fine-tuning, a feature offered by some closed-weights models for training them to work on large amounts of private or specialized data, such as a law firm’s legal case files, patient files or research managed by a medical facility, or architectural blueprints. Google makes its fine-tuning for Gemini’s API available free of charge.
Welcome to Edition 7.37 of the Rocket Report! It’s been interesting to watch how quickly European officials have embraced ensuring they have a space launch capability independent of other countries. A few years ago, European government satellites regularly launched on Russian Soyuz rockets, and more recently on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets from the United States. Russia is now non grata in European government circles, and the Trump administration is widening the trans-Atlantic rift. European leaders have cited the Trump administration and its close association with Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, as prime reasons to support sovereign access to space, a capability currently offered only by Arianespace. If European nations can reform how they treat their commercial space companies, there’s enough ambition, know-how, and money in Europe to foster a competitive launch industry.
As always, we welcome reader submissions. If you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.
Isar Aerospace aims for weekend launch. A German startup named Isar Aerospace is will try to launch its first rocket Saturday, aiming to become the first in a wave of new European launch companies to reach orbit, Ars reports. The Spectrum rocket consists of two stages, stands about 92 feet (28 meters) tall, and can haul payloads up to 1 metric ton (2,200 pounds) into low-Earth orbit. Based in Munich, Isar was founded by three university graduate students in 2018. Isar scrubbed a launch attempt Monday due to unfavorable winds at the launch site in Norway.
Since last year Canonical had been investigating using -O3 compiler optimizations for their Ubuntu package builds in the name of delivering better performance for Ubuntu Linux. A few weeks back though they decided they would not use -O3 optimizations for all packages. They have now provided more engineering insight into their reasoning and the results of their investigation into -O3 compiler optimizations for more packages…
ILM and Lucasfilm announced it’s developing another immersive Star Wars game called Star Wars: Beyond Victory – A Mixed Reality Playset.
Coming exclusively to Meta Quest 3 and 3S, Star Wars: Beyond Victory – A Mixed Reality Playset is slated to take place around the same timeframe as the Han Solo prequel Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).
While information is still thin on the ground, it seems there may be a good slice of podracing to look forward to. ILM says players will be able to meet podracer “Volo Bolus as they join forces with the legendary podracer pilot Sebulba in this heart-pumping and engine-thrumping mixed reality experience.”
Considering it’s called a ‘Playset’, it’s also likely we’ll get a smattering of mixed reality mini-games, although ILM hasn’t confirmed anything beyond the quote above.
That said, ILM usually does a controlled, slow-drip of information for all of its XR games, meticulously revealing characters and specific bits of the game leading up to launch, which for now still doesn’t have a specific release date or trailer.
We’re sure to learn more soon though, as Meta says attendees at ‘Star Wars Celebration 2025’ in Tokyo, Japan (April 18-20) will get a first hands-on with the game. Over a dozen demo stations will be available there, where Meta will additionally show off demo versions of the studio’s previous VR games, Vader Immortal and Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge.
But why mixed reality? Jose Perez III, Director of Star Wars: Beyond Victory, says “mixed reality has opened several fascinating doors from an immersion standpoint and allows us to literally bring a galaxy far, far away right into the comfort of players’ homes in a way that’s unlike anything we’ve done before.”
It also can’t hurt that Meta is likely bankrolling the mixed reality game, as it did with ILM’s Star Wars VR over the years.
The Register: Following our report last week on IBM’s ongoing layoffs, current and former employees got in touch to confirm what many suspected: The US cuts run deeper than reported, and the jobs are heading to India. IBM’s own careers site numbers back that up. On January 7, 2024, Big Blue listed just 173 open positions in India. On November 23, 2024, there were 2,946 jobs available in the nation. At the time of writing, the IT titan listed 3,866 roles in India.
American jobs listed for these three periods are 192, 376, and 333, respectively, though at least among those being laid off, there’s doubt those roles will be filled with job seekers in the States. A current IBMer who won’t be there much longer said that after being told to teach recently hired workers in India “everything I know,” the reward was a resource action, or RA — Big Blue’s euphemism for a layoff. After receiving an RA notification, employees typically have a set period of time to apply for open roles elsewhere in the mega-corporation. But just because there are open positions listed in the US doesn’t mean IBM is making much of an effort to fill them, we are told.
Ubuntu 25.04 beta is set to be released today and thus this week I[he]#039[/he]ve begun testing out the latest Ubuntu 25.04 builds on different systems for seeing how this six-month Ubuntu Linux update is looking compared to the prior Ubuntu 24.10 release. In this first Ubuntu 25.04 beta benchmarking article is a look at the performance using an AMD Ryzen 9000 series desktop and Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics.
The internet is for everyone, but not everyone experiences it the same way. For many of us, harsh brightness, hard-to-read text or a webpage that doesn’t work with a screen reader can turn simple tasks into frustrating obstacles. While we’ve built accessibility features directly into Firefox, we also support extensions that let you customize your […]
Two cycling industry veterans with more than 35 years of experience have launched a new bike brand called Avona.
Billed as a “performance first” brand, Avona is debuting new road, gravel and mountain bikes, all three of which are claimed to “rival the best” in their category.
The mountain bike is claimed to be “the lightest full-suspension frame on the market”.
Let’s take a closer look at the people behind Avona, its three new bikes and how the brand plans to outshine the competition.
Always one step ahead
Avona says its new Silva MTB features “the lightest full-suspension frame on the market”. Avona
Avona is a joint project between two Germans – Jonas Müller, formerly of Arc8, BMC, Santa Cruz and DT Swiss, and Max Koch of MK Bicycles.
Having created countless bikes and components for other brands, Müller is now going it alone with the help of Koch.
Given we already have the likes of Canyon, Cube and Rose, you might find yourself asking whether the world needs another German brand promising efficient carbon bikes at reasonable prices.
The gravel bike is optimised for racing. Avona
Fortunately, though, Avona has more than a few tricks up its sleeve to help it stand out from the crowd.
Compared to the three brands just mentioned, for example, Müller says Avona will have the advantage of being a small company that can react to emerging trends more quickly and easily – helping it stay ahead of the pack.
Holistic performance
Avona says it makes use of multiple technologies to optimise its bikes. Avona
A key part of Avona’s “holistic approach to performance” centres around the brand’s components, for example.
Avona’s three bikes are, as you’d imagine, said to be competitive with the best available in each category, in terms of aerodynamics, stiffness, weight, ride quality and so on.
This is thanks to the brand’s use of advanced development tools such as CFD modelling, wind tunnel testing and virtual prototyping.
Avona says there are plenty of untapped gains it can exploit to outdo the competition. Avona
However, there are “greater gains” in getting the bike fit and component selection right than in frame development alone, says Müller, and that’s where Avona intends to make the difference.
Avona bikes are assembled to order in Germany, says Müller, which means riders can make critical choices surrounding crank length, handlebar width and stem length, and customise the spec to get their preferred tyres, wheels and suspension (where applicable).
The brand is even going as far as to spec CeramicSpeed waxed chains on every bike.
“Drivetrain efficiency is overlooked by most bike brands,” Müller says, and the performance benefits of a waxed chain are “worth more than an expensive groupset”.
Every Avona bike will come with a waxed chain as standard. Avona
According to the brand, the potential gains from this approach are significant.
It claims, for example, that its gravel bike – the Callis – requires 44 fewer watts to ride at 35kph compared to an unnamed benchmark competitor.
Müller notes, though, that only four of those watts are saved via frame optimisations, with the remaining savings coming through smart spec choices – such as the Hutchinson Caracal Race gravel tyres, integrated cockpit and aero wheels.
You could, of course, make such upgrades to stock bikes from other brands, but you’d obviously need to go out of your way (and spend extra money) to do so, because most brands don’t offer such detailed customisation options at the point of purchase.
Avona bikes range and spec details
Avona Silva mountain bike
Avona’s Silva mountain bike fuses XC weight with enduro geometry.
As already noted, Avona says its Silva carbon mountain bike is “the lightest full suspension frame on the market”, with a complete frameset weighing only 1,764 (painted size M frame including rear shock, chainstay protection and chain guide).
According to the brand, the Silva marries the weight of a cross-country bike with the descending prowess of an enduro bike.
This is because, Avona says, descents are “where the bike makes a difference”.
The Silva is claimed to have a super-light frame. Avona
The Silva platform is designed around 105 to 115mm of travel at the rear and 120 to 130mm up-front, with a slack, 65-degree head tube angle.
Available in two sizes (M and L), Avona says a complete size-M bike weighs 10.17kg with a SRAM GX Eagle AXS Transmission groupset and Newmen Phase 30 light wheels.
A Faserwerk Baslerstab integrated handlebar is included on all builds.
Prices start from €3,499 for the frameset, Faserwerk Baslerstab integrated handlebar and Fox Float SL Factory rear shock, and rise to €11,999 for a complete build with a SRAM Eagle XX SL groupset and a RockShox SID Flight Attendant fork.
Avona Callis gravel bike
Avona’s Callis gravel bike, complete with a limited-edition @savethepostalservice paintjob. Avona
The Callis is Avona’s gravel race bike, with an aerodynamically optimised carbon frameset and clearance for 50mm-wide tyres.
Avona claims a clear-coat painted frame weight of 950 to 1,020g, depending on frame size and including a front derailleur hanger, while the matching fork is said to weigh 463g uncut.
Beyond aerodynamic considerations, the rear end of the bike is said to be optimised for comfort – which the brand says “significantly reduces the power required to roll over rough surfaces”.
The rear end of the Callis balances comfort and aerodynamics.
The slender Faserwerk Wuthocker Aero seatpost, for example, is claimed to have the compliance of a 27.2mm round seatpost, while still offering an efficiency benefit. Likewise, the sloping top tube enables more seatpost to be exposed, for a greater amount of flex.
There are also small, but important details, such as a sealed upper-headset bearing cover to improve bearing life and an integrated down tube storage port.
The down tube features an integrated storage compartment. Avona
In terms of geometry, there are four sizes (S to XL) and Avona says it opted to keep the “agility and responsiveness of a road bike”, rather than straying “too deep into MTB territory”.
Prices start at €3,499 for the frameset, integrated cockpit and seatpost, and rise to €9,999 for a complete build with SRAM Red XPLR AXS and DT Swiss wheels.
A complete Avona Callis with Shimano GRX Di2 R825 and carbon gravel wheels is claimed to weigh 8.26kg in a size L.
Avona Velum road bike
The Velum road bike is an all-rounder with big tyre clearances. Avona
Avona’s Velum road bike takes a similar all-rounder racer approach as the Callis, with a balance of aerodynamic optimisations and comfort-enhancing features.
While the Velum is still in development (Avona says it’s set to launch in the autumn), it claims a 730g weight for an unpainted size-54cm frame, alongside clearance for 35mm-wide tyres.
The Velum is set to launch later this year.
Like the Callis, the Velum will feature an integrated cockpit and slim aero seatpost, with extensive build customisation options.
Pricing will be confirmed when the Velum is eventually available, but Avona says it expects it to be “comparable” to the Callis.
Linux sound subsystem maintainer Takashi Iwai of SUSE has submitted all the feature updates slated for Linux 6.15. There is a lot of new audio hardware support and other enhancements that are now merged for this next kernel release…
Anthropic researchers have developed a breakthrough “cross-layer transcoder” (CLT) that functions like an fMRI for large language models, mapping how they process information internally. Testing on Claude 3.5 Haiku, researchers discovered the model performs longer-range planning for specific tasks — such as selecting rhyming words before constructing poem sentences — and processes multilingual concepts in a shared neural space before converting outputs to specific languages.
The team also confirmed that LLMs can fabricate reasoning chains, either to please users with incorrect hints or to justify answers they derived instantly. The CLT identifies interpretable feature sets rather than individual neurons, allowing researchers to trace entire reasoning processes through network layers.
Zwift Games Makeup Stages
Last Chance 
LEQP Provence Badge Hunter Series
