Out of 186 countries, only Guyana produces enough food to self-sufficiently feed all its citizens without foreign imports, according to new research. From a report: The study, published in Nature Food, investigated how well each country could feed their populations in seven food groups: fruits, vegetables, dairy, fish, meat, plant-based protein and starchy staples.

Worldwide, the study found that 65% of countries were overproducing meat and dairy, compared to their own population’s dietary needs. It also found that Guyana, located in South America, was the only country that could boast total self-sufficiency, while China and Vietnam were close behind, being able to produce enough food in six out of seven food groups. Just one in seven of the tested countries were judged self-sufficient in five or more categories.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Because it was only a matter of time, this is a video edit by Youtuber hyperspacefool of Michael Scott from ‘The Office’ joining the ‘Severance’ work group. He seems like he fits right in. Well, in a square peg in a round hole kind of way. Which is the best kind of way, just to be clear. My parents were always worried about me when I kept trying to fit that square in that circle, but with enough hammering, I did it — I broke that toy and ate all the pieces. Now who’s concerned?!

Marketers promote AI-assisted developer tools as workhorses that are essential for today’s software engineer. Developer platform GitLab, for instance, claims its Duo chatbot can “instantly generate a to-do list” that eliminates the burden of “wading through weeks of commits.” What these companies don’t say is that these tools are, by temperament if not default, easily tricked by malicious actors into performing hostile actions against their users.

Researchers from security firm Legit on Thursday demonstrated an attack that induced Duo into inserting malicious code into a script it had been instructed to write. The attack could also leak private code and confidential issue data, such as zero-day vulnerability details. All that’s required is for the user to instruct the chatbot to interact with a merge request or similar content from an outside source.

AI assistants’ double-edged blade

The mechanism for triggering the attacks is, of course, prompt injections. Among the most common forms of chatbot exploits, prompt injections are embedded into content a chatbot is asked to work with, such as an email to be answered, a calendar to consult, or a webpage to summarize. Large language model-based assistants are so eager to follow instructions that they’ll take orders from just about anywhere, including sources that can be controlled by malicious actors.

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.

As the weather warms up, it’s a great time to get out for a run or a bike ride—but if you need some music to keep you motivated, it’s crucial to have headphones that won’t entirely shut out the outside world. A good bop is a wonderful thing; not being able to hear traffic and nearby cyclists is not.

Earphones like the Anker Soundcore C40i, on sale for $89.99 (originally $119.99), are a good option because they clip onto the ear and don’t entirely fill the ear canal.

Anker Soundcore C40i Open Earbuds

$89.99
at Amazon

$119.99
Save $30.00

$89.99
at Amazon

$119.99
Save $30.00

Unlike higher-priced models with touch controls, these earbuds feature only button controls. This is ideal for individuals who prefer a more tactile and precise approach and want to avoid the accidental inputs that touch controls can cause. Additionally, the Soundcore app allows users to personalize button functions and EQ settings, although going ad-free is only available with a paid subscription.

Despite these features, battery life and sound quality receive mixed reviews on Amazon. One reviewer describes the sound output as “tinny” and notes the lack of rich, bass-driven sound. While you won’t get the same quality as Bose headphones, if you’re in the market for budget-friendly wireless earbuds with an open style that cost less than $100, the Anker Soundcore C40i open earbuds might be a good option.

As Google moves the last remaining Nest devices into the Home app, it’s also looking at ways to make this smart home hub easier to use. Naturally, Google is doing that by ramping up Gemini integration. The company has announced new automation capabilities with generative AI, as well as better support for third-party devices via the Home API. Google AI will also plug into a new Android widget that can keep you updated on what the smart parts of your home are up to.

The Google Home app is where you interact with all of Google’s smart home gadgets, like cameras, thermostats, and smoke detectors—some of which have been discontinued, but that’s another story. It also accommodates smart home devices from other companies, which can make managing a mixed setup feasible if not exactly intuitive. A dash of AI might actually help here.

Google began testing Gemini integrations in Home last year, and now it’s opening that up to third-party devices via the Home API. Google has worked with a few partners on API integrations before general availability. The previously announced First Alert smoke/carbon monoxide detector and Yale smart lock that are replacing Google’s Nest devices are among the first, along with Cync lighting, Motorola Tags, and iRobot vacuums.

Read full article

Comments

Several romance novelists have accidentally left AI writing prompts embedded in their published books, exposing their use of chatbots, 404Media reports. Readers discovered passages like “Here’s an enhanced version of your passage, making Elena more relatable” in K.C. Crowne’s “Dark Obsession,” for instance, and similar AI-generated instructions in works by Lena McDonald and Rania Faris.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

NASA’s Apollo missions brought back moon rock samples for scientists to study. We’ve learned a great deal over the ensuing decades, but one enduring mystery remains. Many of those lunar samples show signs of exposure to strong magnetic fields comparable to Earth’s, yet the Moon doesn’t have such a field today. So, how did the moon rocks get their magnetism?

There have been many attempts to explain this anomaly. The latest comes from MIT scientists, who argue in a new paper published in the journal Science Advances that a large asteroid impact briefly boosted the Moon’s early weak magnetic field—and that this spike is what is recorded in some lunar samples.

Evidence gleaned from orbiting spacecraft observations, as well as results announced earlier this year from China’s Chang’e 5 and Chang’e 6 missions, is largely consistent with the existence of at least a weak magnetic field on the early Moon. But where did this field come from? These usually form in planetary bodies as a result of a dynamo, in which molten metals in the core start to convect thanks to slowly dissipating heat. The problem is that the early Moon’s small core had a mantle that wasn’t much cooler than its core, so there would not have been significant convection to produce a sufficiently strong dynamo.

Read full article

Comments

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Having your car stolen is a traumatic experience—and a depressingly common one. Although car thefts nationwide are trending downward, there were still more than 850,000 vehicles stolen in 2024. If you’ve ever woken up to find your car missing from its spot (and I have!) you know it’s not fun.

But thieves don’t always target the entire car. It’s often easier and less risky to steal a specific part from your car or truck. Many of these parts are relatively easy to access, remove, and sell, and the profit margin can be very lucrative for a busy and organized criminal. If your car is ever parked out in the open (especially overnight), it could be targeted for a surprisingly long list of specific parts. The good news is that you can protect every bit of your vehicle with a little foresight and a few security gadgets.

Catalytic converters

Ever since catalytic converters entered widespread use in the 1970s, thieves have targeted them. They’re a perfect storm for thieves: Accessible, relatively easy to remove, and valuable due to the mix of precious metals inside them (including palladium, platinum, and rhodium). Thieves know they can get between $250 and $800 for a catalytic converter, depending on the vehicle it was taken from. That’s why about 64,000 catalytic converter were stolen in 2022 alone.

How to stop thieves: The best thing you can do is to install an anti-theft device like a Catstrap. This is a band of strip steel that is adhered to the length of your exhaust system, making it almost impossible for thieves to cut through the pipes to steal the converter. You can also consider etching identifying information on the converter to make it difficult to sell on the black market. The downside of this approach is that thieves may not notice the etching until after they’ve removed the converter.

Wheels

Your car’s wheels and tires are prime targets for theft. Tires can be stripped off your car in a very short period of time, and they can be sold very easily, especially since tires—especially high-end tires—can run as much as $1,000 each.

How to stop thieves: Your best bet is to install model-appropriate locking lugnuts like these. These will make it very difficult for thieves to use standard tools to remove your wheels. With a lot of effort and some specialized tools, they can be defeated, but chances are your thief will just move on to a different car with wheels that are easier to steal.

Batteries

A standard car battery in a gas-powered vehicle isn’t worth much—typically less than 20 cents per pound. But batteries are also incredibly easy to steal, so thieves will sometimes make a sweep of an area to steal as many batteries as possible in order to make the payout worth their time. The batteries in a hybrid vehicle can be worth more, and the batteries in an electric vehicle can be very, very valuable—but also a lot harder to steal.

How to stop thieves: Adding a battery lock bracket is easy, cheap, and pretty effective. Since battery thieves don’t make much per battery, any additional barrier will probably deter them pretty effectively.

Tailgates

Yes, believe it or not, thieves are after your truck’s entire tailgate. This is especially true if you own a Toyota Tacoma, because the tailgates on that model are incredibly easy to detach—they’re literally engineered to be removed easily. But any truck tailgate is a target because they’re all relatively easy to remove, and these days your tailgate contains a bunch of high-tech gear (cameras, sensors, etc.) that can be stripped out for resale.

How to stop thieves: You can install a tailgate lock for your make and model (like this one for suffering Tacoma owners).

Airbags

It’s estimated that about 50,000 airbags are stolen annually in the U.S. They’re valuable, fetching up to $200 on the black market, which makes them attractive to thieves. Thieves usually target dealerships or other places where cars are left unattended in accessible lots, but cars parked on the street are also hit.

How to stop thieves: The best ways to stop airbag theft is to lock your car when you park it and park it inside a secured area, like a garage. If that’s not possible, using a steering wheel lock using the “club” design can be effective, as it physically makes it difficult to access the driver’s-side airbag. This won’t stop thieves from grabbing the passenger-side airbag, of course, but cutting their profit in half might inspire them to move on.

License plates

Thieves steal license plates because it’s an easy way to cloak a vehicle. Sometimes they’re put on stolen vehicles, sometimes they’re used to evade tolls—but the fact that they’re generally easy to steal and very difficult to track makes them popular targets. In fact, the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) notes that license plate theft has been rising rapidly—by 45% between 2019 and 2022 alone.

How to stop thieves: Swapping out the rusty, standard screws holding your plates on for some tamper-proof screws will do the job. These screws require a special fastener to attach or detach, and the kits come with screw covers to make it even more difficult to access.

Side mirrors

You might think your side mirrors are just mirrors, and who would bother stealing those? Ah, but modern-day side mirrors have a lot of technology inside them, especially on luxury vehicles, including blind spot sensors, defrosting systems, and cameras. Believe it or not, some mirrors can command upwards of $2,000 each!

How to stop thieves: If your side mirrors are motorized, turning them in when you park can make it more difficult for thieves to access them. You can also look for anti-theft mirror guards (like this one) for your make and model, which add a layer of security to the mirror to deter thieves.

Third row seats

If you have a truck or SUV with a removable third-row seat, you should know that it’s increasingly popular to steal them. The reason third-row seats are targeted is the universal reason anything gets stolen: These seats cost thousands of dollars to replace.

How to stop thieves: The best way to prevent theft of your truck’s third-row seat is to secure it with a bike lock. The specific lock that will work depends on how your third-row seat attaches and detaches, but all you need to do is secure it in place. It removes some of the convenience, but it’s a lot better than having your kids roll around in the cab while you drive.

Badges

People have been stealing car badges and hood ornaments for decades, often just to collect them or as petty acts of vandalism. But these days those emblems can actually contain a lot of expensive technology. Modern Volkswagens, for example, often tuck cruise control sensors into the hood emblem. That makes those badges a lot more valuable than you might think, and thieves are definitely aware of their added value.

How to stop thieves: It’s very difficult to stop someone from removing an emblem, badge, or ornament from your car. If you can access the back where it’s attached, you can try using wire or zipties to secure it more firmly—but if you can access it, so can thieves. Your best defense is to park the vehicle in a secure area whenever possible.

This is a video of Youtuber Marc3DP printing and playing with a selection of the exotic 3D printable fidget toys available for download on the internut (that’s how I pronounce it now at dinner parties). Some of those look pretty fun. Knowing me, they all look like they’ll eventually take a one-way trip to a junk drawer though.

If you’re interested in printing any of these yourself, there are links to them all on Marc’s Youtube page HERE.

When I first heard Samsung was bringing back the Edge name as a new super-thin member of the S25 family, all I could think was: Why? Honestly, I thought phone makers had gotten over their hunger for thinness nearly a decade ago. The quest to shave millimeters off devices resulted in worse battery life, extra heat and more limited features. So what gives?

On a certain level, just like fashion, older trends can over time become fresh and stylish again. Additionally, after phones made the transition to 5G — which required extra power, more complex modems and larger antennas — modern components have started shrinking again, essentially paving the way for the return of slimmer handsets. But then it hit me. While thinness may be the most striking thing about the Galaxy S25 Edge, that’s not enough to justify the creation of a whole new device. Instead, I believe this phone is a part of a larger mission by Samsung to make the middle child of its flagship mobile lineup a more appealing member of the family. And when viewed in that light, I actually think it’s largely a success.

Design

Now don’t get me wrong, despite my gripes about how thinner phones are less practical, the S25 Edge is beautifully designed. At just 5.8mm thick (0.23 inches), it feels impossibly sleek. What might be even more impressive is that Samsung hasn’t sacrificed durability to get here either. Just like the S25 Ultra, the Edge features a titanium frame, an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance and an even stronger Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 panel covering its display. The one difference is that the Edge’s screen has a glossy finish instead of matte like on the Ultra because — and I kid you not — Samsung says an anti-reflective coating would have increased its thickness. Kudos to sticking to a strict design philosophy, because in terms of sheer feel and aesthetics, S25 Edge is undeniably enchanting.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

However, while the S25 Edge shares some characteristics with the Ultra, like its frame and main camera, at least when it comes to its overall size, it’s really more of a refreshed take on the S25+. It has the same 6.7-inch OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate that’s just as vibrant and wonderfully colorful as before. Although it does weigh a bit less at 163 grams or 5.75 ounces versus the S25+ (190g or 6.7 oz).

Performance

Like the rest of the S25 family, the Edge is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip with 12GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage. Despite the compact dimensions, Samsung still found room to squeeze a vapor chamber inside to prevent throttling and overheating. So even when pushed, the back of the phone rarely got more than lukewarm while delivering strong performance as I was gaming, multitasking or doing pretty much anything else you can think of.

Cameras

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

The other major departure from the S25+’s basic template is that the Edge features the 200MP main sensor from the Ultra, along with a 12MP ultra-wide cam. But there’s no dedicated zoom. Now at first, I was a bit upset because I think any phone this expensive should have a telephoto lens. That said, the massive amount of pixels the Edge’s primary sensor can capture means you have quite a bit of freedom to crop in without degrading image quality. You just need to remember to tell the camera to shoot in full 200MP mode instead of the standard 12MP setting. One other small change is that Edge features a slightly wider-angle 12MP selfie cam than the S25+ and Ultra, which allows you to fit more people in group shots, but that’s really the main difference.

In general use, the S25 Edge takes great pics. Colors are rich and details are crisp, though you still get Samsung’s slightly oversaturated hues and warmer tones. The same goes for low-light shots. For this review, instead of comparing it to a Pixel or iPhone, I pitted the Edge against the Motorola Razr Ultra. I feel like both are attempting to woo people who want a sleek and stylish device, but they are doing it in very different ways.

What immediately jumped out is that foldable phones (at least the Razr) still lag behind more traditional glass bricks, even ones as thin as the Edge. In nearly every shot, Samsung’s handset produced brighter, sharper and better-exposed images than Motorola’s. So if you’re the kind of person who wants a compact phone without needing to sacrifice image quality, the S25 Edge is a stronger pick.

Battery life

The biggest trade-off when making a phone this skinny is having less room for its battery. As such, the S25 Edge has the smallest power pack in the family at 3,900 mAh, which is 100mAh less than what’s in a base S25. This led to a time of just 25 hours and 59 minutes on our local video rundown test. That’s not terrible, but it is three and a half hours less than what we got from the S25 Ultra (29:27) and two hours worse than a standard S25. For those who care a lot about longevity, you have been warned.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Thankfully, the S25 Edge still has support for wireless charging at an acceptable 15 watts, though its wired speeds are just average at 25 watts. However, as the phone is merely “Qi2 ready,” anyone who wants to use compatible magnetic wireless accessories will need to buy a case or an adhesive mount with a built-in magnet, because there isn’t one inside the phone itself.

Wrap-up

The S25 Edge is a divisive phone. I still don’t fully grasp the desire to make modern phones thinner than they already are. Particularly if you’re like most folks and you throw the thing in a case as soon as you get it (even when accounting for Samsung’s new super slim option). Shaving off an extra 1.5mm over the standard S25 doesn’t really make a tangible difference in how you use it, unless you consider the phone’s reduced battery life a good thing.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

But as an alternative to the humdrum S25+, suddenly things get a lot more interesting. Samsung’s previous middle child costs significantly more than a base S25, but it doesn’t have the fancy features like a super high-res main camera or a titanium frame like you get on the S25 Ultra. Really, the S25+’s most attractive feature is a nicely-sized 6.7-inch screen.

Now here’s where the Galaxy S25 Edge comes in. It has all of those things alongside a super thin and wonderfully crafted chassis for the same $1,100 starting price as the S25+. Yes, Samsung sacrificed some battery capacity and the phone’s dedicated zoom to get here, but those aren’t straight-up dealbreakers. That’s because with the Edge, the new in-between member of Samsung’s flagship mobile family is more than just skinny — it has a stylish identity that can stand on its own.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-s25-edge-review-more-than-just-super-thin-180042172.html?src=rss

Rice plants can inherit tolerance to cold without changes to their genomes, according to a decade-long study carried out by researchers in China. From a report: The work, published in Cell this week, strengthens the evidence for a form of evolution in which environmental pressures induce heritable changes that do not alter an organism’s DNA. The study conducted experiments that demonstrate, for the first time, the mechanism for these changes — ‘epigenetic’ tweaks to chemical markers on the plant’s DNA that don’t actually tinker with the sequences themselves.

“What they’re showing is extremely convincing; I would say that it’s a landmark in the field,” says Leandro Quadrana, a plant geneticist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris-Saclay. Michael Skinner, who studies epigenetic inheritance at Washington State University in Pullman, says the study adds to the growing body of evidence challenging the prevailing view of evolution that the only way that adaptations emerge is through gradual natural selection of randomly arising DNA mutations. This study shows that the environment isn’t just a passive actor in evolution, but a selective force inducing a targeted change.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Garmin has launched a new feature in its Connect app (the companion app you use when you sync your watch to your phone). It’s called Garmin Trails, and it purports to help you find hiking trails near you. With a Connect+ subscription, you can even sync courses for those trails to your map-enabled watch.

It sounds pretty great. Unfortunately, its selection of trails is pretty disappointing at launch—it doesn’t even suggest I try out my own favorite trails.

How to access Garmin Trails

You don’t need a Connect+ subscription to search for trails, filter for features, and look at the routes and reviews of trail—all of that comes free with the regular Connect app, whether on your phone or through the Connect Web interface. If you have a Garmin device, you already have a login for these services. 

To find it Garmin Trails from within Connect, tap the More menu in the app, find and tap Training and Planning, and then scroll to Garmin Trails. You’ll be given a map of suggested trails. Zoom the map and tap on the little hiker icons to see each individual trail, or search by name in the search bar above. Unfortunately, the search results aren’t sorted in any logical way, such as by distance. If I search for the name of a trail near me in Pennsylvania, I see results from Maine and Maryland before the Pennsylvania ones.

There’s also a filter icon, which you can use to limit your results by distance from your current location, the amount of ascent in the trail, as well as rating, difficulty, trail type, and features. 

The features you can filter for include: 

• Dog friendly

• No dogs

• Waterfalls

• Lakes

• Rivers

• Oceans

• Mountaineering

• Steep sections

• Forest

• Flowers

• Kid friendly

• Permit required

• Water sources

• Reaches peaks

• Rough road

Only the U.S. and a few European countries are supported right now

At launch, trails are only available in the U.S. and in four European countries: Austria, Germany, Lichtenstein, and Switzerland. “New trails in different regions will be added periodically,” says a Garmin support page.

Garmin’s original announcement didn’t mention this restriction, so much of the chatter I’m seeing about this online involves disappointment from users outside this handful of countries. This writer in the U.K., for example, calls the feature “NoTrails” (referencing competitor AllTrails, get it?) 

In the U.S., I’m definitely seeing some trails, but not enough to make the feature particularly useful. 

I’m just not seeing a lot of trails

I like to run and hike on trails, and I live near a county park that is absolutely riddled with hikeable, runnable, and mountain bike-able trails. There’s a local trail running group that meets six times a week, seemingly always at a different spot (I’m sure they repeat their favorites, but there is plenty of variety on offer). So what does Garmin Trails have in its database for my area?

Here’s Garmin on the left, and the county trails website on the right: 

Garmin, left; Allegheny County website, right.
Credit: Beth Skwarecki/Garmin/Allegheny County

Kudos to Garmin for knowing about the Rachel Carson trail, that long one that appears as a black line. It’s 46 miles long and quite well-known in the area. Garmin has it listed as a series of short segments. They are correctly labeled as “hard” difficulty. 

But the entire North Park area has two trails? I’m not even sure how a person would find out about the Orange and Green trails without learning about all the others in the park. Where is the Red trail, with its red-and-blue branch with all the switchbacks? Where is the flat half-mile trail by the nature center that I always took my kids on when they were little? Where is the White trail that circles the baseball fields?

As for those Orange and Green trails, both are labeled with their correct distance, but they’re also both marked as “easy,” which they are definitely not. I did a trail run last week that included the whole Orange trail and part of the Green. It was about five miles and had 800 feet of elevation gain. That’s not an easy trail at all. 

I asked a Garmin rep where the trail data comes from, and was told Garmin used, “a variety of sources and our in-house cartography team.” As far as I can tell, they aren’t copied from AllTrails or any other source, or at least not directly. (Might be better if they were; AllTrails has the Green trail more reasonably labeled as moderate rather than easy.)

Browsing through other areas I’m familiar with, it seems that the most iconic trails in any spot are in the database, so this tool isn’t useless, just incomplete (hopefully temporarily). A few of the gorge trails I remember most fondly from Ithaca, NY are in there. Yellowstone National Park has plenty of labeled trails. 

I asked fellow Lifehacker writer Daniel Oropeza to look for trails in areas he was familiar with, and he compared the Three Sisters Waterfall area in Garmin and AllTrails. Garmin has one trail to the waterfall, while there are actually four; the wider area has 19 trails in the Garmin database, but 143 in AllTrails. 

Garmin, left; AllTrails, right.
Credit: Beth Skwarecki/Garmin, Daniel Oropeza/AllTrails

It’s free to browse trails, but you must pay to send them to your watch

Garmin Trails seems to be a pot-sweetener for the new Connect+ subscription tier. The Trails feature itself is free, but only subscribers to Connect+ (or Maps+, another Garmin offering) can send trail courses from this database to their devices. Compatible devices include anything that supports courses, like most recent Fenix, Forerunner, and Instinct watches (and Edge cycling computers). A watch that supports maps, like the new Forerunner 970, would be a natural pairing with this new feature.

Trails also seems to be a slightly different version of the Courses feature that Garmin has had for a while. (You can find Courses at this link, if you have a Garmin login). Courses can be private or user-created; there’s currently no way for users to create a trail. That means there can be multiple versions of the same trail, and courses that don’t correspond to a specific trail—somebody who ran part of the Orange and part of the Green, let’s say, because that happened to be convenient for them on the day they created that course. 

If more trails get added to Garmin Trails, it could eventually be a useful feature. The trail ratings, comments, and filters are handy to have. But AllTrails already has those features, and you can load AllTrails routes to your Garmin watch if you subscribe to AllTrails Plus, which is $35.99/year—cheaper than Garmin Connect+, which will cost you $6.99/month or $69.99/year.

On Tuesday, Google launched Veo 3, a new AI video synthesis model that can do something no major AI video generator has been able to do before: create a synchronized audio track. While from 2022 to 2024, we saw early steps in AI video generation, each video was silent and usually very short in duration. Now you can hear voices, dialog, and sound effects in eight-second high-definition video clips.

Shortly after the new launch, people began asking the most obvious benchmarking question: How good is Veo 3 at faking Oscar-winning actor Will Smith at eating spaghetti?

First, a brief recap. The spaghetti benchmark in AI video traces its origins back to March 2023, when we first covered an early example of horrific AI-generated video using an open source video synthesis model called ModelScope. The spaghetti example later became well-known enough that Smith parodied it almost a year later in February 2024.

Read full article

Comments