Monthly Archives: September 2025

F1 in Azerbaijan: This sport is my red flag

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Almost a decade old now, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is part of the modern breed of Formula 1 street circuits. Set on the shores of the Caspian Sea, the anti-clockwise layout manages to combine some of F1’s highest top speeds with a rather fiddly section through the old city, all of it lined with walls and barriers to punish mistakes. It’s a low-downforce track, with mostly slow corners, similar to Montreal and Monza.

Despite the questionable record of the hosting country—something all too many F1 races can also offer, including now the three held here in the US—I have a soft spot for watching Baku, with its interesting mix of old and new architecture, and it usually puts on a good race. I particularly love the helicopter and drone shots that follow the action with a God’s eye view, giving you a glimpse behind the building facades and into this city by the sea.

Friday’s practice sessions gave the Ferrari-supporting Tifosi something to look forward to, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc topping the times for FP2. Hamilton, who has looked at sea this year after his switch to Ferrari, was made the bubbliest we’ve seen him all season when being interviewed on Friday, and his teammate Leclerc has four pole positions to his name at Baku, further stoking the hope.

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JPMorgan Says $100K ‘Prices Out H-1B’ as Indian IT Giants May Accelerate Offshoring With Remote Delivery Already Proven at Scale

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The US will charge companies $100,000 for each new H-1B visa starting February 2026 under Project Firewall. According to a new analysis, the fee exceeds average H-1B salaries at firms like TCS where engineers earn $105,000 annually. Previous visa costs ranged from $2,000 to $33,000. Indians hold an estimated 70% of H-1B visas. The fee eliminates five to six years of profit per engineer. Typical engineers deployed to American client sites generate $150,000 to $200,000 in annual billings at 10% operating margins, producing $15,000 to $20,000 in yearly profit. J.P. Morgan states the move “prices out the utility of H-1B as a source of labor supply.” But it might not be bad for the IT giants.

Major Indian IT firms derive only 0.2% to 2.2% of their workforce from H-1B approvals after years of reducing visa dependence, according to India Dispatch. New approvals alone account for under 0.4% of headcount. Morgan Stanley estimates companies could offset 60% of the financial impact through increased offshoring and selective price increases. The net damage to operating profit would stay contained at around 50 basis points or a 3% to 4% hit to earnings spread across the renewal cycle. Companies plan to accelerate geographic arbitrage by routing more work to India, Canada, and Latin America. Firms can maintain their existing visa holder base while letting normal turnover occur over three to six years.


Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Temple Cycles has launched its most affordable gravel bike yet – for less than £1,500

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Bristol-based Temple Cycles has launched the new Adventure Disc 3 gravel bike, adding a more affordable option to its steel Adventure Disc range for less than £1,500.

The new model’s £1,488 introductory price tag is significantly cheaper than the other two Adventure Disc bikes in the range.

According to Temple Cycles, the AD 3 is “ideal for first-time gravel riders, daily commuters looking to escape the city on weekends or seasoned cyclists after a rugged, no-fuss companion”.

The Adventure Disc 3 has the same powder-coated Reynolds 725 steel frame and fork as the AD1 and AD2, but Temple has achieved a lower price by speccing more budget-friendly components.

There are plenty of mounting points for luggage and a third set of bottle bosses under the down tube.

“It’s built to the same standards of quality and craftsmanship as the rest of our range, but with smart spec choices that bring the price down. We wanted to offer something for riders who value the Temple aesthetic and feel, but don’t necessarily need all the bells and whistles of our top-tier builds,” says Temple Cycles’ founder Matt Mears.

Sora 9-speed gearing

Shimano Sora provides reliable shifting at a lower price.

The AD 3 is equipped with a Shimano Sora 9-speed groupset, rather than the AD 1’s 1×12-speed Shimano GRX and the AD 2’s 2×12-speed Shimano 105, both of which are fitted with Hunt 4 Season Disc wheels. 

The AD 3 has an 11-34t Shimano HG400 cassette paired to a Temple-branded 46/29t crankset, so despite Sora being designed primarily for road riding, there’s plenty of low gearing for trickier terrain.

Since there’s no in-series disc brake option for Sora, the bike is fitted with TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes.

A 46/29t Temple crankset ensures there’s plenty of low gearing for off-road use.

Other features of the AD 3 include a sealed headset and bottom bracket, and Shimano RS470 hubs laced to WTB ST i25 tubeless-ready rims with double-butted stainless steel spokes and brass nipples for durability and corrosion resistance.

Temple fits WTB Vulpine 40mm tyres, with tan sidewalls to enhance the AD 3’s urbane looks, and its own finishing kit.

It’s a build kit that prioritises durability, serviceability and real-world adventure-readiness, according to Temple. 

Temple’s TIG-welded Reynolds 725 steel frame has nice finishing details.

There are three muted colours on offer – Granite Grey, Lichen Green and Slate blue, and five frame sizes from 47cm to 60cm.  

“The Adventure Disc 3 provides everything you need for adventure riding at a wallet-friendly price,” concludes Temple’s head of product, Tom Bugler.

If you want a higher spec, there’s currently 20% off the list price of both the AD 1 and AD 2.

You can read Gary Walker’s ongoing long-term review of the Temple Adventure Disc 2, to see how it has coped with a range of off-road riding, all-day adventures and the rigours of winter commuting.

Temple Adventure Disc 3 full specs and pricing

  • Frame: TIG-welded Reynolds 725 steel
  • Fork: Investment cast steel with lugged fork crown
  • Groupset: Shimano Sora, Temple crankset
  • Gearing: 46/34t, 11-34t
  • Wheels: WTB ST i25 TCS on Shimano RS470 hubs
  • Tyres: WTB Vulpine Tubeless Ready 700x40mm
  • Brakes: TRP Spyre mechanical disc
  • Handlebars: Temple AL-6061 Flared
  • Stem: Temple alloy
  • Saddle: Temple Bristol saddle, black
  • Seatpost: Temple Alloy 27.2mm
  • Claimed weight: 11.8kg (size M)
  • Price: £1,488

Deals Up To 57% Off Phones, Fire Sticks And Headsets Will Make You Go Woot!

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Deals Up To 57% Off Phones, Fire Sticks And Headsets Will Make You Go Woot!
Amazon’s dedicated deals site is hosting a ‘Best of Woot!’ sale with deep discounts over MSRP on a bunch of items, including a decent selection of electronics. A lot of the items are over half off. Consider it an appetizer for Amazon’s upcoming Prime Big Deal Days event, which starts on Tuesday, October 7 at 12:01 a.m. PDT and runs through

NASA Discovers Monster Black Hole So Big It Defies Theoretical Limits

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NASA Discovers Monster Black Hole So Big It Defies Theoretical Limits
We’re on a black hole coverage roll this month, so here’s another one: a supermassive black hole 12.8 billion lights years from us has been discovered feasting at a rate that scientists describe as “a bit shocking,” or more precisely, about 2.4 times faster than the theoretical limit.

Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, a

What climate targets? Top fossil fuel producing nations keep boosting output

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The last two years have witnessed the hottest one in history, some of the worst wildfire seasons across Canada, Europe and South America and deadly flooding and heat waves throughout the globe. Over that same period, the world’s largest fossil fuel producers have expanded their planned output for the future, setting humanity on an even more dangerous path into a warmer climate.

Governments now expect to produce more than twice as much coal, oil and gas in 2030 as would be consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to a report released Monday. That level is slightly higher than what it was in 2023, the last time the biennial Production Gap report was published.

The increase is driven by a slower projected phaseout of coal and higher outlook for gas production by some of the top producers, including China and the United States.

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The Roku Streaming Stick Plus drops to only $29

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The Roku Streaming Stick Plus is on sale for just $29. That’s a discount of 27 percent and the lowest we’ve ever seen it.

Roku has held the top spot in the TV OS market for years thanks to its user-friendly interface, an affordable range of streaming devices and its own lineup of TVs. We picked the Streaming Stick Plus as the best streaming device for free and live content, thanks in large part to The Roku Channel app that accompanies it. The Roku Channel features over 500 free TV channels with live news, sports coverage and a rotating lineup of TV shows and movies.

In our hands-on review of the Roku Streaming Stick Plus, we thought it was perfect for travel thanks to its small size and the fact that it can be powered by your TV’s USB port, nixing the need for a wall adapter. Menu navigation and opening or closing apps won’t happen at quite the same speeds as more expensive streamers, but it’s quick enough for what is ultimately a pretty low-cost option. The Wi-Fi range on this one is also weaker than Roku’s pricier devices, but unless you are placing it exceedingly far from your router, it shouldn’t be an issue.

The Roku Streaming Stick Plus supports both HD and 4K TVs, as well as HDR10+ content. It doesn’t support Dolby Vision, however; for that you’ll need to upgrade to Roku’s Streaming Stick 4K or Roku Ultra. It comes with Roku’s rechargeable voice remote with push-to-talk voice controls. Roku’s remote can also turn on your TV and adjust the volume while you’re watching.

If you’ve been thinking about getting a Roku device, or you already love the platform and want a compact and convenient way to take it with you when you travel, then this sale provides a great opportunity.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-roku-streaming-stick-plus-drops-to-only-29-134656660.html?src=rss

The Roku Streaming Stick Plus drops to only $29

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The Roku Streaming Stick Plus is on sale for just $29. That’s a discount of 27 percent and the lowest we’ve ever seen it.

Roku has held the top spot in the TV OS market for years thanks to its user-friendly interface, an affordable range of streaming devices and its own lineup of TVs. We picked the Streaming Stick Plus as the best streaming device for free and live content, thanks in large part to The Roku Channel app that accompanies it. The Roku Channel features over 500 free TV channels with live news, sports coverage and a rotating lineup of TV shows and movies.

In our hands-on review of the Roku Streaming Stick Plus, we thought it was perfect for travel thanks to its small size and the fact that it can be powered by your TV’s USB port, nixing the need for a wall adapter. Menu navigation and opening or closing apps won’t happen at quite the same speeds as more expensive streamers, but it’s quick enough for what is ultimately a pretty low-cost option. The Wi-Fi range on this one is also weaker than Roku’s pricier devices, but unless you are placing it exceedingly far from your router, it shouldn’t be an issue.

The Roku Streaming Stick Plus supports both HD and 4K TVs, as well as HDR10+ content. It doesn’t support Dolby Vision, however; for that you’ll need to upgrade to Roku’s Streaming Stick 4K or Roku Ultra. It comes with Roku’s rechargeable voice remote with push-to-talk voice controls. Roku’s remote can also turn on your TV and adjust the volume while you’re watching.

If you’ve been thinking about getting a Roku device, or you already love the platform and want a compact and convenient way to take it with you when you travel, then this sale provides a great opportunity.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-roku-streaming-stick-plus-drops-to-only-29-134656660.html?src=rss

A history of the Internet, part 3: The rise of the user

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Larry Page and Sergey Brin met each other at a graduate student orientation at Stanford in 1996. Both were studying for their PhDs in computer science, and both were interested in analyzing large sets of data. Because the web was growing so rapidly, they decided to start a project to improve the way people found information on the Internet.

They weren’t the first to try this. Hand-curated sites like Yahoo had already given way to more algorithmic search engines like AltaVista and Excite, which both started in 1995. These sites attempted to find relevant webpages by analyzing the words on every page.

Page and Brin’s technique was different. Their “BackRub” software created a map of all the links that pages had to each other. Pages on a given subject that had many incoming links from other sites were given a higher ranking for that keyword. Higher-ranked pages could then contribute a larger score to any pages they linked to. In a sense, this was a like a crowdsourcing of search: When people put “This is a good place to read about alligators” on a popular site and added a link to a page about alligators, it did a better job of determining that page’s relevance than simply counting the number of times the word appeared on a page.

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Future Meta Glasses Will Deliver Always-On “Contextual AI”

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Michael Abrash described how future Meta glasses will have always-on “contextual AI”, and Mark Zuckerberg thinks this will arrive in less than 5 years.

Meta Connect 2025 took place last week, and you can read about all the near-term product announcements here. Most years though, including this year, Meta’s Reality Labs Chief Scientist Michael Abrash gives a talk about the further off future of AR & VR, including making predictions.

Abrash’s most famous (or perhaps infamous) predictions were made in 2016, at Oculus Connect 3, when he laid out the exact resolution and field of view he believed VR would reach by 2021, and said that he thought this would come with variable focus.

4K Headsets, ‘Perfect’ Eye-Tracking, and ‘Augmented VR’: Oculus’ Abrash Predicts VR in 2021
Oculus Chief Scientist Michael Abrash predicts dramatic improvements to field of view and resolution for VR headsets over the next five years among many other areas. Save the image above, because come 2021 we can check in and see if Abrash painted an accurate picture for the improvements we can
UploadVRJamie Feltham

This year, Michael Abrash gave half of the talk, joined by Richard Newcombe, VP of Reality Labs Research, for the rest.

During his half of the talk, Abrash began by reflecting on these predictions. While high-end consumer headsets reached 4K last year, undistorted wide field of view remains in the realm of $10,000 enterprise headsets and research prototypes.

“The nine years that have passed since then provide fresh confirmation of Hofstadter’s law”, Abrash joked.

Hofstadter’s Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s law.

For this year’s predictions, Abrash did not speak of display system specifications, nor hardware details at all. Instead, he described where he sees the AI assistant on smart glasses going.

This year, Michael Abrash gave half of the talk, joined by Richard Newcombe, VP of Reality Labs Research, for the rest.

Today, the Meta AI on smart glasses is reactive, and mostly transient. You issue it commands, such as to play a song or set a timer, or ask it questions. If that question seems related to what you see, such as “what is this?”, it will use the camera to capture an image, and analyze that to respond.

In the US & Canada there’s also a Live AI feature, which lets you have an ongoing conversation with Meta AI without having to keep saying “Hey Meta”, and the AI gets a continuous stream of what you’re seeing. But this is still limited by the context window of the underlying large language model, and will drain the battery of the first generation Ray-Ban Meta within around 30 minutes, or around an hour for the new generation.

According to Abrash, AI-capable smart glasses will eventually evolve to where the AI is always running in the background. Further, the glasses will continuously create a dynamic 3D map of your environment, and your movements and actions within it, including the objects you interact with. It will store a log of these actions and interactions, and use it to provide “contextual AI”, he says.

For example, you could ask “how many calories have I consumed today?”, or “where did I leave my keys?”. And without needing to have logged anything in advance, the AI will be able to answer – as long as you were wearing the glasses at the time.

0:00

/1:58

Michael Abrash on how future glasses will deliver always-on contextual AI.

This will require significant improvements in the power efficiency of the chips and algorithms used for realtime 3D environment meshing, body tracking, and semantic object recognition. It will probably even need custom sensors and chips, both of which Meta Reality Labs Research is working on. For practicality, it might also need the glasses to have their own cellular connection, rather than relying on your phone.

But it shouldn’t require any fundamental breakthrough. The current rate of advancement of these technologies is already set to make the future Abrash describes possible.

In an interview with Rowan Cheung, Mark Zuckerberg also talked about the idea of always-on contextual AI. But while Abrash did not give a timeline, Zuckerberg did.

0:00

/0:38

Mark Zuckerberg: glasses will have always-on AI in less than 5 years.

“I’m not sure how long it’s gonna take to get to that. I don’t think this is like five years. I think it’s gonna be quicker”, Zuckerberg remarked.

Of course, a comprehensive log of your actions and interactions throughout your daily life could also be immensely useful for Meta’s core business model, targeted advertising.

Zuckerberg noted that such a feature would be optional, and for those who enable it, the upside could be essentially getting a high-IQ personal assistant with full context of your life, ready to assist reactively and proactively at all times. But it would also come with significant privacy concerns, both for the wearer and for people nearby. What else will Meta do with the data? And would this kind of always-on sensing of you and the world keep the LED on the front of the glasses illuminated? And

Meta will need to build strong trust before significant numbers of people would ever trust it with this level of data collection.

Future Meta Glasses Will Deliver Always-On “Contextual AI”

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Michael Abrash described how future Meta glasses will have always-on “contextual AI”, and Mark Zuckerberg thinks this will arrive in less than 5 years.

Meta Connect 2025 took place last week, and you can read about all the near-term product announcements here. Most years though, including this year, Meta’s Reality Labs Chief Scientist Michael Abrash gives a talk about the further off future of AR & VR, including making predictions.

Abrash’s most famous (or perhaps infamous) predictions were made in 2016, at Oculus Connect 3, when he laid out the exact resolution and field of view he believed VR would reach by 2021, and said that he thought this would come with variable focus.

4K Headsets, ‘Perfect’ Eye-Tracking, and ‘Augmented VR’: Oculus’ Abrash Predicts VR in 2021
Oculus Chief Scientist Michael Abrash predicts dramatic improvements to field of view and resolution for VR headsets over the next five years among many other areas. Save the image above, because come 2021 we can check in and see if Abrash painted an accurate picture for the improvements we can
UploadVRJamie Feltham

This year, Michael Abrash gave half of the talk, joined by Richard Newcombe, VP of Reality Labs Research, for the rest.

During his half of the talk, Abrash began by reflecting on these predictions. While high-end consumer headsets reached 4K last year, undistorted wide field of view remains in the realm of $10,000 enterprise headsets and research prototypes.

“The nine years that have passed since then provide fresh confirmation of Hofstadter’s law”, Abrash joked.

Hofstadter’s Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s law.

For this year’s predictions, Abrash did not speak of display system specifications, nor hardware details at all. Instead, he described where he sees the AI assistant on smart glasses going.

This year, Michael Abrash gave half of the talk, joined by Richard Newcombe, VP of Reality Labs Research, for the rest.

Today, the Meta AI on smart glasses is reactive, and mostly transient. You issue it commands, such as to play a song or set a timer, or ask it questions. If that question seems related to what you see, such as “what is this?”, it will use the camera to capture an image, and analyze that to respond.

In the US & Canada there’s also a Live AI feature, which lets you have an ongoing conversation with Meta AI without having to keep saying “Hey Meta”, and the AI gets a continuous stream of what you’re seeing. But this is still limited by the context window of the underlying large language model, and will drain the battery of the first generation Ray-Ban Meta within around 30 minutes, or around an hour for the new generation.

According to Abrash, AI-capable smart glasses will eventually evolve to where the AI is always running in the background. Further, the glasses will continuously create a dynamic 3D map of your environment, and your movements and actions within it, including the objects you interact with. It will store a log of these actions and interactions, and use it to provide “contextual AI”, he says.

For example, you could ask “how many calories have I consumed today?”, or “where did I leave my keys?”. And without needing to have logged anything in advance, the AI will be able to answer – as long as you were wearing the glasses at the time.

0:00

/1:58

Michael Abrash on how future glasses will deliver always-on contextual AI.

This will require significant improvements in the power efficiency of the chips and algorithms used for realtime 3D environment meshing, body tracking, and semantic object recognition. It will probably even need custom sensors and chips, both of which Meta Reality Labs Research is working on. For practicality, it might also need the glasses to have their own cellular connection, rather than relying on your phone.

But it shouldn’t require any fundamental breakthrough. The current rate of advancement of these technologies is already set to make the future Abrash describes possible.

In an interview with Rowan Cheung, Mark Zuckerberg also talked about the idea of always-on contextual AI. But while Abrash did not give a timeline, Zuckerberg did.

0:00

/0:38

Mark Zuckerberg: glasses will have always-on AI in less than 5 years.

“I’m not sure how long it’s gonna take to get to that. I don’t think this is like five years. I think it’s gonna be quicker”, Zuckerberg remarked.

Of course, a comprehensive log of your actions and interactions throughout your daily life could also be immensely useful for Meta’s core business model, targeted advertising.

Zuckerberg noted that such a feature would be optional, and for those who enable it, the upside could be essentially getting a high-IQ personal assistant with full context of your life, ready to assist reactively and proactively at all times. But it would also come with significant privacy concerns, both for the wearer and for people nearby. What else will Meta do with the data? And would this kind of always-on sensing of you and the world keep the LED on the front of the glasses illuminated? And

Meta will need to build strong trust before significant numbers of people would ever trust it with this level of data collection.

How to rebase to Fedora Silverblue 43 Beta

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Silverblue is an operating system for your desktop built on Fedora Linux. It’s excellent for daily use, development, and container-based workflows. It offers numerous advantages such as being able to roll back in case of any problems. This article provides the steps to rebase to the newly released Fedora Linux 43 Beta, and how to revert if anything unforeseen […]

New SRAM XC drivetrain spotted on Nino Schurter’s retiring race bike

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SRAM appears to be working on a new cross-country drivetrain, with Nino Schurter’s custom Scott Spark at the UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Lenzerheide sporting a Blackbox derailleur and blacked-out crankset.

It appears the new derailleur is using SRAM’s GX AXS Transmission architecture, with the battery sitting protected in the UDH mount rather than hanging off the rear on XX SL AXS.

This weekend marked the end of Schurter’s illustrious career, with the Swiss rider choosing to retire at his home venue.

With a career spanning back to 2007, when he turned professional, Schurter has been a dominant force in cross-country mountain biking, winning 36 World Cup races and taking the overall title nine times.

If this were football, it would be like Leonel Messi hanging up his boots, with many regarding Schurter as the GOAT (greatest of all time) in the sport.

In support of one of mountain biking’s greatest athletes, Swiss fans were out in full force to cheer Schurter on one last time.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t quite pull off the fairytale ending, finishing in 24th place, but he still crossed the line to a shower of champagne.

New SRAM XC drivetrain

Nino Schurter's Scott Spark with SRAM Blackbox derailleur
The new tech could be being tested in a GX AXS mule body. Nick Clark / Our Media

Blackbox is SRAM and RockShox’s prototype testing platform, similar to Fox’s RAD development programme.

Under closer inspection, the derailleur appears to share its architecture with the current GX AXS Transmission, with the battery sitting inside the UDH mount rather than hanging out of the rear as seen on the X0, XX and XX SL Transmissions.

The only difference we can see is that the derailleur on Schurter’s bike uses a different cage from that on GX, although it’s hard to tell if this is carbon fibre due to the paintjob.

Nino Schurter's Scott Spark at Lenzerheide 2025 with custom crank arms
The crankset is understated, but looks to be from SRAM’s RED XPLR AXS drivetrain. Nick Clark / Our Media

Elsewhere, the crankset looks very similar to the power-meter equipped version of SRAM’s gravel-specific RED XPLR AXS drivetrain.

Whether these are final designs is hard to tell, with SRAM possibly using current equipment as testing mules for new technology.

Either way, it looks as though SRAM has something in the oven.

Nino Schurter's Scott Spark at Lenzerheide 2025
Schurter’s bike blends the white and red of the Swiss flag. Nick Clark / Our Media

For his last race, Scott honoured Schurter with a custom bike that shares some of the Swiss rider’s story.

Nino Schurter's Scott Spark at Lenzerheide 2025 with custom SRAM Motive brakes
Schurter last won the world champs in 2022. Nick Clark / Our Media

There are nods to Schurter’s career throughout the bike, with rainbow stripes and flakes of gold representing his various world championship successes and 2016 Olympic Gold medal.

His SRAM Motive Ultimate brakes combine both, with the levers painted white with stripes and the caliper featuring the red and gold design.

Nino Schurter's Scott Spark at Lenzerheide 2025 with custom SRAM Motive brakes
The rear caliper almost disappears into the rest of the paintjob. Nick Clark / Our Media

SRAM’s Motive brakes were released earlier this year and replaced the Level and Guide line-up, with improved braking power and a shift to mineral oil as braking fluid.

Some have complained that the brakes are heavier than the previous Level options, but this doesn’t seem to be holding riders back.

Nino Schurter's Scott Spark at Lenzerheide 2025 with stamped chain
The gold chain is a nod to Schurter’s gold medal at the 2016 Olympics. Nick Clark / Our Media

Running through the new derailleur is a custom gold chain that has been stamped with the words ‘Nino’ and ‘Goat’.

Nino Schurter's Scott Spark at Lenzerheide 2025 with RockShox SID Ultimate FlightAttendant fork
RockShox SID Ultimate Flight Attendant has 120mm of travel. Nick Clark / Our Media

Elsewhere on the bike, Schurter is using RockShox suspension in the form of the SID Ultimate fork and SID Luxe rear shock.

Both components are Flight Attendant models, meaning the bike should be able to sense automatically when Schurter needs open suspension for descents, firm suspension for better pedalling and locked-out for smooth sections of the track.

Nino Schurter's Scott Spark at Lenzerheide 2025 with custom SRAM cranks and prototype derailleur
Schurter also had custom crank arms on his chainring. Nick Clark / Our Media

The Scott Spark cleverly hides the rear suspension inside the frame, keeping it safely away from water and dust ingress.

Nino Schurter's Scott Spark at Lenzerheide 2025 with RockShox Reverb AXS
Schurter uses a Syncros Tofino saddle atop his Reverb dropper. Nick Clark / Our Media

Schurter also uses a Reverb AXS B1 dropper post from RockShox, which is lighter than the previous generation.

Nino Schurter's Scott Spark at Lenzerheide 2025 with DT Swiss hubs
Syncros uses DT Swiss internals or hubs on the majority of its Silverton line-up. Nick Clark / Our Media

The bike rolls on Syncros Silverton carbon rims with DT Swiss 180 hubs booted in Maxxis Aspen ST rubber – well suited to the dry, fast-rolling course.

Nino Schurter HT Components World Champs pedals.
To add even more gold to the bike, HT Components has gilded the mechanism on Schurter’s pedals. Nick Clark / Our Media

Carrying on the celebrations, Schurter’s custom HT Component pedals commemorate his last world championships win in 2022.

GTA 5 Actor Who Played Trevor Reveals Why He Feels ‘Nothing Inside’ For GTA 6

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GTA 5 Actor Who Played Trevor Reveals Why He Feels 'Nothing Inside' For GTA 6
Rockstar Games is under the impression that Grand Theft Auto VI will become the “largest game launch in history,” as evidenced by a recent job listing (the developer removed the comment after it gained media coverage). Judging by the number of views its two trailers on YouTube have generated, it’s probably right. But do you know who could

The Out-of-Touch Adults’ Guide to Kid Culture: Who Is D4vd?

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This week’s tour of the world of young people careens around like an out-of-control bullet train. Everyone’s talking about a pop star with a body in his trunk, a dental trend powered by TikTok, astrology-based beauty tutorials, and a football stat hound’s ultimate rabbit hole. It’s a lot to take in.

Who is D4vd and why was there a body in his trunk?

Everyone under a certain age is talking about the singer D4vd, and it’s not because he has a new album out. On September 8, Los Angeles police discovered a body in the trunk of an abandoned Tesla registered to David Anthony Burke, the birth name of the 20-year-old musician. The body was later identified as the remains of Celeste Rivas, who was reported missing from her home in Riverside on April 5, 2024, when she was just 13 years old.

The online speculation is that D4vd was in a relationship with Rivas, but that has yet to be confirmed. The singer has reportedly been cooperating with authorities, no cause of death has been determined, and no charges have yet been filed.

If you’re wondering who D4vd is, you’re not alone: The singer’s rise to fame is a quintessentially Generation Z story. His career began with online fame gained through posting Fortnite videos online, but YouTube removed his content for using copyrighted music. At the suggestion of his mom, D4vd began recording original songs using free iPhone tools, which he posted to SoundCloud. The end result was a recording contract, an album, and a couple of songs with over 1.5 billion plays on Spotify.

D4vd’s biggest hit, “Romantic Homicide” mixes the pop music of the 1970s with 1990s-style lo-fi production, and it’s actually good. But D4vd’s lyrics are chilling given later developments. “I killed you and I didn’t even regret it,” he sings on the track, “I can’t believe I said it, but it’s true.”

But just because you write a song about killing your lover doesn’t mean you’re guilty of it. In any case, the story is dark, tragic, and developing, and D4vd is innocent until proven guilty.

Hot Generation Z trend: veneers

Yeah, it’s a mood shift to go from murder to teeth, but such is the nature of life in 2025. Anyway, the newest dental trend among younger people is veneers. Whether it’s speculation that Gen Z super-celebrity Mr.Beast is rocking a set of artificial choppers, the 250,000 videos posted to TikTok’s #veneers tag, or the below deep-dive on the topic from venerable YouTuber Papa Meat, false fronts are very of-the-moment.

Maybe the fascination comes from the straight, white teeth of influencers. Maybe it’s hyper-awareness of teeth caused by taking too many selfies. Or maybe it’s because veneers are sort of funny. Choose your own explanation.

Hot Generation Z trend: astrological makeup

I’m fascinated with makeup trends and pop occultism, so I’m glad makeup influencers are bringing my two interests together on TikTok. The new hotness among makeup influencers is the “rising sign” beauty trend, where the makeup you wear is determined by your astrological sign.

In astrology, your “rising sign” supposedly represents how other people see you. So if your rising sign is Scorpio, you might go with a look that’s “intense, dark, and dramatic.” If Gemini is rising, you want to go “playful and vibrant.”

I don’t understand how the position of the stars at the time you were born could possibly inform the makeup choices you make next Thursday, but if combining mysticism with style choices makes it a little easier for people to slog through another day, I’m in favor.

First AI-animated feature film in production

We all knew it was going to happen eventually, and now it has: OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced today that it’s producing the first feature film animated solely through artificial intelligence. Critterz, a feature-length version of the AI-made short film above, has a $30 million budget, and production will be finished in nine months, an impossibly short time-frame for a traditionally animated or CGI film. Critterz’s animation may be AI, but its script and voice acting are being done the old-fashioned way—by professional Hollywood actors and writers who will gladly let OpenAI pay them a lot of money for making funny voices.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Open AI hopes to premiere Critterz at the Cannes Film Festival, presumably in 2027. Whether anyone wants to see an AI-animated movie remains to be seen. It sounds like a terrible idea to me, but I’m not the target demographic. Anyway, you can check out the first teaser/promo video here.

Viral video of the week: Scorigami returns

Leave it to Gen Z to come up with a new way to enjoy football. “Scorigami” is a term coined by writer/YouTuber John Bois that describes an NFL final score that has never happened before in the league’s history. YouTube channel Secret Base is in the middle of a four-part examination of the phenomenon that starts with the first ever NFL football game played in 1922 and continues to the present, seen through the lens of “this is the only time any two pro teams have ended a game with this score.”

The series is equal parts sports, history, comedy, and statistics, with fascinating digressions and side trips to explore things like how the NFL owes its entire existence to a random guy’s truck breaking down in Texas at the turn of the century and how it’s possible—extremely unlikely, but still possible—to score a single point in a football game. In other words, it’s the kind of documentary that would be rejected by ESPN for being too math-y and rejected by PBS for being too sporty, but is able to find a home and hundreds of thousands of viewers because YouTube exists.

The Out-of-Touch Adults’ Guide to Kid Culture: Who Is D4vd?

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This week’s tour of the world of young people careens around like an out-of-control bullet train. Everyone’s talking about a pop star with a body in his trunk, a dental trend powered by TikTok, astrology-based beauty tutorials, and a football stat hound’s ultimate rabbit hole. It’s a lot to take in.

Who is D4vd and why was there a body in his trunk?

Everyone under a certain age is talking about the singer D4vd, and it’s not because he has a new album out. On September 8, Los Angeles police discovered a body in the trunk of an abandoned Tesla registered to David Anthony Burke, the birth name of the 20-year-old musician. The body was later identified as the remains of Celeste Rivas, who was reported missing from her home in Riverside on April 5, 2024, when she was just 13 years old.

The online speculation is that D4vd was in a relationship with Rivas, but that has yet to be confirmed. The singer has reportedly been cooperating with authorities, no cause of death has been determined, and no charges have yet been filed.

If you’re wondering who D4vd is, you’re not alone: The singer’s rise to fame is a quintessentially Generation Z story. His career began with online fame gained through posting Fortnite videos online, but YouTube removed his content for using copyrighted music. At the suggestion of his mom, D4vd began recording original songs using free iPhone tools, which he posted to SoundCloud. The end result was a recording contract, an album, and a couple of songs with over 1.5 billion plays on Spotify.

D4vd’s biggest hit, “Romantic Homicide” mixes the pop music of the 1970s with 1990s-style lo-fi production, and it’s actually good. But D4vd’s lyrics are chilling given later developments. “I killed you and I didn’t even regret it,” he sings on the track, “I can’t believe I said it, but it’s true.”

But just because you write a song about killing your lover doesn’t mean you’re guilty of it. In any case, the story is dark, tragic, and developing, and D4vd is innocent until proven guilty.

Hot Generation Z trend: veneers

Yeah, it’s a mood shift to go from murder to teeth, but such is the nature of life in 2025. Anyway, the newest dental trend among younger people is veneers. Whether it’s speculation that Gen Z super-celebrity Mr.Beast is rocking a set of artificial choppers, the 250,000 videos posted to TikTok’s #veneers tag, or the below deep-dive on the topic from venerable YouTuber Papa Meat, false fronts are very of-the-moment.

Maybe the fascination comes from the straight, white teeth of influencers. Maybe it’s hyper-awareness of teeth caused by taking too many selfies. Or maybe it’s because veneers are sort of funny. Choose your own explanation.

Hot Generation Z trend: astrological makeup

I’m fascinated with makeup trends and pop occultism, so I’m glad makeup influencers are bringing my two interests together on TikTok. The new hotness among makeup influencers is the “rising sign” beauty trend, where the makeup you wear is determined by your astrological sign.

In astrology, your “rising sign” supposedly represents how other people see you. So if your rising sign is Scorpio, you might go with a look that’s “intense, dark, and dramatic.” If Gemini is rising, you want to go “playful and vibrant.”

I don’t understand how the position of the stars at the time you were born could possibly inform the makeup choices you make next Thursday, but if combining mysticism with style choices makes it a little easier for people to slog through another day, I’m in favor.

First AI-animated feature film in production

We all knew it was going to happen eventually, and now it has: OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced today that it’s producing the first feature film animated solely through artificial intelligence. Critterz, a feature-length version of the AI-made short film above, has a $30 million budget, and production will be finished in nine months, an impossibly short time-frame for a traditionally animated or CGI film. Critterz’s animation may be AI, but its script and voice acting are being done the old-fashioned way—by professional Hollywood actors and writers who will gladly let OpenAI pay them a lot of money for making funny voices.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Open AI hopes to premiere Critterz at the Cannes Film Festival, presumably in 2027. Whether anyone wants to see an AI-animated movie remains to be seen. It sounds like a terrible idea to me, but I’m not the target demographic. Anyway, you can check out the first teaser/promo video here.

Viral video of the week: Scorigami returns

Leave it to Gen Z to come up with a new way to enjoy football. “Scorigami” is a term coined by writer/YouTuber John Bois that describes an NFL final score that has never happened before in the league’s history. YouTube channel Secret Base is in the middle of a four-part examination of the phenomenon that starts with the first ever NFL football game played in 1922 and continues to the present, seen through the lens of “this is the only time any two pro teams have ended a game with this score.”

The series is equal parts sports, history, comedy, and statistics, with fascinating digressions and side trips to explore things like how the NFL owes its entire existence to a random guy’s truck breaking down in Texas at the turn of the century and how it’s possible—extremely unlikely, but still possible—to score a single point in a football game. In other words, it’s the kind of documentary that would be rejected by ESPN for being too math-y and rejected by PBS for being too sporty, but is able to find a home and hundreds of thousands of viewers because YouTube exists.

A Major Trading Firm Has Open-Sourced The Latest Linux File-System: TernFS

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XTX Markets as one of the largest algorithmic trading firms that handles $250 billion in daily traded volume and relies on around 650+ petabytes of storage for its price forecasts and other algorithmic trading data has open-sourced its Linux file-system. XTX developed TernFS for distributed storage after they outgrew their original NFS usage and other file-system alternatives…

Zwift Fondo Series 2025/26 Announced

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Zwift’s big fondo events are a popular tradition where thousands of riders push themselves to finish long weekend rides. And while the ZFondo Series took a year off last year, it’s back for the 2025/26 indoor season, with the first event happening this weekend!

Here are all the details for this year’s ZFondo Series…

Routes and Schedule

The last weekend of each month is designated as a Fondo Weekend, and each month features a different route.

Events are scheduled every three hours on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on Fondo Weekends.

September 26-28, 2025

  • Route: Bambino Fondo
  • Length: 52.6km (32.7 miles)
  • Elevation: 581m (1906’)

October 24-26, 2025

  • Route: Medio Fondo
  • Length: 73.4km (45.6 miles)
  • Elevation: 1010m (3314’)

November 28-30, 2025

  • Route: Gran Fondo
  • Length: 97.8km (60.8 miles)
  • Elevation: 1196m (3924’)

December 2025 – March 2026 details to be announced…

How Categorization Works

You must choose a category when you sign up, but the category you choose is entirely up to you, and all categories start together and are visible to each other.

The idea is that you’ll choose a category at the approximate pace you plan to ride, making it easy to see and group up with other riders targeting a similar pace.

Available categories:

  • A: 4.2 W/kg
  • B: 3.2 W/kg
  • C: 2.6 W/kg
  • D: 1.8 W/kg
  • E: 1.5 W/kg

1000 XP Bonus + Kit Unlocks

Past fondos have typically featured jersey unlocks, but some of the designs weren’t always a hit. (Does anyone wear the salmon/chocolate 2023 kit?)

So Zwift is switching things up this year by giving a 1000 XP bonus the first time you complete each month’s fondo event.

Read All About Zwift XP, Levels, and Unlocks for Cyclists >

Of course, a fondo wouldn’t be a fondo without a kit unlock. But instead of releasing another set of fondo kits, Zwift is awarding different legacy Zwift Fondo kits each month:

September (ZFondo Medio 2023)

October (ZFondo February 2022)

November (ZFondo November 2020)

Is this a race?

Officially, no. But hundreds (possibly thousands) of riders will turn out for each of these popular “fun race” events, and the front of each event will certainly be filled with strong riders going all out.

With so many riders participating, everyone should be able to find a group that suits their desired pace. You do you!

Questions or Comments?

Post below!