Since last year’s disastrous rollout of Google’s AI Overviews, the world at large has been aware of how AI-powered search results can differ wildly from the traditional list of links search engines have generated for decades. Now, new research helps quantify that difference, showing that AI search engines tend to cite less popular websites and ones that wouldn’t even appear in the Top 100 links listed in an “organic” Google search.

In the pre-print paper “Characterizing Web Search in The Age of Generative AI,” researchers from Ruhr University in Bochum and the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems compared traditional link results from Google’s search engine to its AI Overviews and Gemini-2.5-Flash. The researchers also looked at GPT-4o’s web search mode and the separate “GPT-4o with Search Tool,” which resorts to searching the web only when the LLM decides it needs information found outside its own pre-trained data.

The researchers drew test queries from a number of sources, including specific questions submitted to ChatGPT in the WildChat dataset, general political topics listed on AllSides, and products included in the 100 most-searched Amazon products list.

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Microsoft’s next Xbox console will run full Windows and allow users to exit the Xbox interface to access Steam, Epic Games Store, Battle.net, and other PC storefronts, according to Windows Central. The device will launch without a multiplayer paywall. Xbox CEO Phil Spencer told users last week to look at the Xbox Ally handheld for an indication of where Xbox is headed. The company has been using the Ally as a beta test to gather feedback on the experience that will power its next wave of console hardware.

The new Xbox will include the entire Xbox console library spanning original Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S titles. These games will run natively and launch through the Xbox launcher’s library. Users staying within the Xbox ecosystem will encounter an onboarding experience similar to current consoles. Those who choose to access Windows will be able to install PlayStation PC titles like God of War and Spider-Man purchased through Steam or Epic Games.

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Just in time for winter, a bundle including the fourth-generation Google Nest Learning Thermostat and a second-generation Nest temperature sensor is $70 off at Walmart. That brings the price down to $209.55 (originally $279.99). The smart thermostat allows you to customize your home’s heating and cooling schedule with AI, conserving energy and ensuring consistent temperatures throughout your entire home.

Google Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen) with Nest Temperature Sensor (2nd Gen)

$209.55
at Walmart

$279.99
Save $70.44

$209.55
at Walmart

$279.99
Save $70.44

This fourth-generation Nest thermostat offers several updates from its predecessor, including support for Matter, which allows compatibility with a wide range of smart home ecosystems (though it doesn’t support Thread). According to this PCMag review, it’s simple to install, comes with a remote room sensor, and uses AI to learn preferences and create a customized heating and cooling schedule that adjusts as your routine changes—though you can also manually make changes and reject suggested tweaks.

It has a larger display than the previous generation (2.7 inches with a 600×600 pixel resolution, compared to 2.1 inches with a 480×480 pixel resolution) with a thin stainless steel ring that allows you to scroll through menu options and adjust temperature settings or switch between modes like Comfort, Eco, and Sleep. The thermostat works with most 24V heating and cooling systems and includes ambient light, humidity, motion, and temperature sensors. You can control it via the Google Home app or Google Assistant voice commands.

This model also has a new version of Nest’s Farsight technology, which uses a motion sensor to turn on the display when you enter the room and adapts what’s shown based on how far away you are from the thermostat, showing more details as you get closer. Unlike more feature-rich options like the Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium, it can’t detect air quality or double as a home security hub when paired with sensors and cameras. 

Ultimately, this bundle—currently around 25% off—is worth it if you’re seeking a smart thermostat with a large display, a stylish aesthetic, and remote room sensing. If you value design and simplicity over maximum features, it’s a better choice than the Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium.

AT&T committed a big no-no in its latest advertising campaign against T-Mobile, according to the organization that runs the ad industry’s self-regulatory system.

BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division said Friday that AT&T “violated Section 2.1(I) of the National Advertising Division (NAD)/National Advertising Review Board (NARB) Procedures for the US advertising industry’s process of self-regulation by issuing a video advertisement and press release that use the NAD process and its findings for promotional purposes. NAD has demanded that AT&T immediately remove such violative promotional materials and cease all future dissemination.”

The NAD said that AT&T’s action threatens the “integrity and success of the self-regulatory forum,” and “undermines NAD’s mission to promote truth and accuracy of advertising claims and foster consumer trust in the marketplace.”

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The movie industry has been in a tailspin for years, with many people foregoing the theatrical experience in favor of watching films at home. I get it. Going to the movies can be expensive and, let’s face it, dealing with other people can be annoying (it’s been 10 years and I’m still mad about those teenagers who would not stop giggling all the way through my first viewing of The Witch). But there’s nothing quite like going to a theater and getting lost in a great film for a couple of hours. In addition, large-scale formats are growing in popularity and theater chains are trying to accommodate moviegoers.

Cinemark is installing more IMAX screens, including ones that support 70mm film projection. The company is adding such screens to its locations in Woodridge, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago); Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Rochester, New York. It’s also adding four IMAX with Laser systems — a 4K laser offering — to other locations in the US in the coming months. It’s upgrading its other 12 IMAX screens across the Americas with that tech too.

According to Variety, Cinemark plans to have the new IMAX 70mm film screens set up by July 17, 2026. That’s the release date for Christopher Nolan’s next film, The Odyssey, which is the first theatrical release to be shot entirely in IMAX. As it stands, only 30 movie theaters on the planet can screen films in IMAX 70mm, which is Nolan’s preferred format.

IMAX is proving popular with cinemagoers who are looking for a large-format experience that would be impossible at home (at least not without an obscene private screen). Indeed, many IMAX 70mm screenings of The Odyssey sold out a year in advance.

IMAX 70mm isn’t the only format with limited availability that’s drawing audiences to theaters. Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is the first movie in 60 years to be projected in the VistaVision format, but only at a few locations. The film is currently being screened in IMAX 70mm in some cinemas too.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/cinemark-is-adding-more-70mm-imax-screens-ahead-of-christopher-nolans-the-odyssey-194155824.html?src=rss

If you’ve watched enough Mission Impossible (or Inspector Gadget, if your parents wouldn’t let you watch Mission Impossible), you’re familiar with the self-destructing message. Now, Meta’s X competitor, Threads, is making them a core feature.

Called “Ghost posts,” the new type of message launches today, and it lets you post to your timeline without the pressure of leaving a permanent trace. Ghost posts will appear on your timeline while active, but after 24 hours, they’ll automatically be archived.

“Here today and gone tomorrow,” as Threads puts it, the idea is to encourage posters to share “spontaneous thoughts” and “fresh takes.”

It’s not the first time a social media platform has experimented with ephemeral content—Snapchat is probably the most famous example—but it makes sense. People change, and the person I was 10 years ago may not look like who I am today. Even if you don’t have anything cancel-able on your timeline, it can be embarrassing to see old posts. And if you still stand by everything you’ve ever posted, it’s still a good idea to clear your timeline before leaving a platform behind.

That’s why sites like X already have a number of third-party programs that will delete your old posts for you, but Threads is the first platform of its type to offer the feature officially. Here’s how it works:

How to use Ghost Posts on Threads

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Threads’ Ghost posts are already live, so you can try them out right away. The only catch is they don’t yet seem to be available for desktop (at least based on my testing), so you’ll need to use the Threads app to get started, at least for now.

To write a ghost post, open the Threads app and find the “What’s new?” box under your username (it’s usually right up at the top of the page). Hit the icon that looks like a smiley face inside a dotted-line chat bubble to the right of it.

From there, write your post as you normally would. When you send it, it’ll appear in your followers’ feeds in a chat bubble surrounded by dotted-lines, and on your profile in a special Ghost posts subsection.

Aside from being temporary, ghost posts also hide their metrics and replies. Only you will be able to see who’s interacted with your post, and any replies are sent to your messaging inbox, rather than directly below the post. Everyone else will just see smiley faces next to the post’s metrics, indicating that at least one person has interacted with it.

And that’s it. You’ve successfully haunted your friends’ feeds.

What happens to a Ghost Post after 24 hours?

While Ghost Posts are mostly set-it and forget it, you can technically still interact with them after 24 hours. They’ll be archived, which means others won’t be able to see them, but if you ever want to scroll through your old thoughts, it’s easy enough to look at your archived posts. Just go to your profile page, hit the two-lined button in the top right corner, and tap Archive.

Also note that while archived posts no longer show up on Threads, they might continue to be shared on other servers if you’ve turned on sharing to the fediverse in your profile. I’ve reached out to Meta to see how this affects Ghost posts, and will update this post when I hear back (my assumption is that Ghost posts simply won’t be shared to other servers, but I’ll let you know if that’s not the case).

Many modern living rooms are now dominated by a huge television, but researchers say there might be little point in plumping for an ultra-high-definition model. From a report: Scientists at the University of Cambridge and Meta, the company that owns Facebook, have found that for an average-sized living room a 4K or 8K screen offers no noticeable benefit over a similarly sized 2K screen of the sort often used in computer monitors and laptops. In other words, there is no tangible difference when it comes to how sharp an image appears to our eyes.

“At a certain viewing distance, it doesn’t matter how many pixels you add. It’s just, I suppose, wasteful because your eye can’t really detect it,” said Dr Maliha Ashraf, the first author of the study from the University of Cambridge. Ashraf and colleagues, writing in the journal Nature Communications, report how they set about determining the resolution limit of the human eye, noting that while 20/20 vision implies the eye can distinguish 60 pixels per degree (PPD), most people with normal or corrected vision can see better than that. “If you design or judge display resolution based only on 20/20 vision, you’ll underestimate what people can really see,” Ashraf said. “That’s why we directly measured how many pixels people can actually distinguish.”

The team used a 27in, 4K monitor mounted on a mobile cage that enabled it to be moved towards or away from the viewer. At each distance, 18 participants with normal vision, or vision corrected to be normal, were shown two types of image in a random order. One type of image had one-pixel-wide vertical lines in black and white, red and green or yellow and violet, while the other was just a plain grey block. Participants were then asked to indicate which of the two images contained the lines. “When the lines become too fine or the screen resolution too high, the pattern looks no different from a plain grey image,” Ashraf said. “We measured the point where people could just barely tell them apart. That’s what we call the resolution limit.”

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With the milestone just days away, you are likely to hear this week that there has now been a continuous human presence on the International Space Station (ISS) for the past 25 years. But what does that quarter of a century actually encompass?

If only there was a way to see, hear, and experience each of those 9,131 days.

Fortunately, the astronauts and cosmonauts on the space station have devoted some of their work time and a lot of their free time to taking photos, filming videos, and calling down to Earth. Much of that data has been made available to the public, but in separate repositories, with no real way to correlate or connect it with the timeline on which it was all created.

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The LG Gram line has built a reputation for being thin, light, and travel-friendly, and this 2022 14-inch model is currently on sale for just $389.99 on StackSocial. It’s an 11th Gen Intel Core i3 laptop with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB NVMe SSD. On paper, that’s a respectable setup for browsing, multitasking, or office apps, and the 14-inch WUXGA display adds extra vertical space compared to standard 1080p panels. What makes this version different is that it ships without a traditional operating system. It’s designed as a “thin client,” ready to run Cloud OS platforms like IGEL or Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, making it more appealing to business users who rely on virtual desktops than someone looking for a plug-and-play Windows laptop.

The laptop weighs just 2.2 pounds and measures 0.66 inches thick, so tossing it into a backpack for commuting or travel won’t feel like a burden. Additionally, its battery life is rated for up to 12 hours, which means a full day of work can be completed before needing to recharge. As for connectivity, Thunderbolt 4 support opens the door to high-speed connections and external displays, while HDMI, USB-A, and a microSD slot cover most everyday accessories. Rounding it out are the backlit keyboard and fingerprint sensor on the power button, which add a touch of convenience.

That said, there are some important trade-offs to weigh. Because it doesn’t include Windows or macOS, setting it up requires some technical expertise and a clear understanding of the environment you plan to use. The Core i3 processor is suitable for everyday tasks, but it’s not intended for heavy creative work or gaming. And while the unit is brand new in original packaging, it doesn’t come with a product warranty. Still, if you’re in the market for a lightweight, cloud-ready laptop built for business use, the LG Gram 14 delivers solid specs, a sharp 16:10 display, and excellent portability at a reasonable price.

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It’s so-called spooky season, and there’s nothing more frightening than realizing how out of touch you’ve become, so allow me to throw you a lifeline with an explainer on the week’s trending topics with the youths. This week, everyone is talking about their membership in a completely arbitrary online group, planning Halloween costumes that few people over 30 will understand, and trying on “historically accurate” clothing from 2005.

What is “Group 7” on TikTok?

Everyone on TikTok this week is posting about “Group 7.” Here’s what’s up: On October 17, 26-year-old singer Sophia James did a little social experiment to promote her new single, “So Unfair.” She posted seven videos featuring the song to see which would gain the most traction and reach. The seventh went viral, to the tune of over 75 million plays. And then it took on a life of its own, with over 600,000 videos ultimately being posted under the Group 7 tag.

In the original G7 video, James says, “I don’t know what that says about you. But, you’re in Group 7.” People started defining what membership in Group 7 means to them—even though it’s random—and listing the qualities that Group 7 members supposedly possess. According to this video, members of Group 7 are loving, “we laugh, we share, we watch videos all the way through.”

While many TikTokers are taking their membership in Group 7 as a joke, a growing (and sort of sad) part of Group 7 seems convinced that it’s important. That they’ve been chosen. The longing for a sense of belonging is palpable. There’s also the idea that if all the members of the group follow each other, it would mean “never having to get a normal job.”

But it won’t. “Follow-chains” are not new on the internet, and they don’t work. What’s really going to happen is that the algorithm will eventually decide people are sick of their feeds being full of Group 7 videos and curb their spread. In a few weeks, everyone will say, “Remember that weird ‘Group 7’ thing?” This is the inevitable life-cycle of internet memes.

HBO Max adds “six seven” category

Speaking of arbitrary number-based memes, brain-rot slang word of the year “6-7” continues to grow and spread in unexpected ways, including on streaming platform HBO Max, which has added a “Six Seveeeeen” movie category on its service.

The phrase doesn’t mean anything, making a “6-7” film difficult to define, so Max decided to take the easy route by including movies with “six” or “seven” in their titles. Films in the collection include expected entries like The Sixth Sense, Seven, and the sixth and seventh Harry Potter movies (Six Days Seven Nights unfortunately isn’t available on HBO Max, and also, you probably forgot it existed anyway). Low-hanging fruit aside, there are also some inspired choices, like Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai and Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. Like all “how do you do, fellow kids” attempts at co-opting youth slang, HBO’s stunt is annoying and tone-deaf, and maybe a signal that the whole six-seven thing is ending at last, but I do love the idea that some brain-rotted kid out there is going to watch The Seventh Seal and really relate to the soldier’s chess match against Death.

Meme-based costumes to watch for on Halloween

Even before the internet, Halloween was a meme holiday, with costumes of pop culture figures topping the sales charts at Spencer’s Gifts every year. But it’s gotten ridiculous in 2025. Look for every other kid ringing your doorbell this year to be wearing an outfit inspired by a popular online trend and for ghosts and Draculas to be as rare as Loch Ness monster sightings.

Here are some of costumes-based-on-memes that are likely to be popular this Halloween:

Labubu

Dressing up as one of these trendy toys is a no-brainer, although the effort involved in doing it right is considerable. Luckily, there are tons of tutorials online like the one linked above.

Lorax girl

If you’re wondering why so many young women are dressing up as the main character from 2012 movie The Lorax, it’s a whole thing. The costume has grown so popular over the last few years that there’s a legit backlash against it.

KPop Demon Hunters

The flashy outfits from Netflix’s amazingly successful animated movie are a perfect fit for Halloween, but are likely to result in the most “what are you supposed to be” responses from older people.

Chicken Jockey

Like the game that inspired it, The Minecraft Movie remains very popular with young people, so look for representations of the iconic “Chicken Jockey!” scene in costume form on Oct. 31. If you want to do it right, you have to make it yourself, but you can buy a Minecraft Chicken Jockey outfit from Walmart if you want to save time.

Inflatable protest frog

Portland’s Ice protests have given rise to an underground, viral hero: protest frog, so look for imitators rocking the iconic costume on Halloween. It’s a good choice for the lazy in that it makes a statement without any effort. You can just buy an inflatable frog costume on Amazon.

Viral video of the week: “trying on low rise jeans”

Warning: this week’s viral video will probably make you feel ancient. In it, young TikTok user @vintageprincessxoxo tries on “historically accurate low-rise jeans.” She’s clearly surprised by how low low-rise jeans actually are, but as many older folks have pointed out in the comments, the “historically accurate” pair she’s trying on aren’t even all that low. “Darling those are high rise with the double buttons,” a user points out. The comment section is filled with similar cross-generational educational outreach, with millennial mentors cluing the youngster in about whale-tails and the importance of wearing a belt. (“Historically accurate,” though? Ouch.)

Amazon is planning to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs beginning Tuesday, as the company works to pare expenses and compensate for overhiring during the peak demand of the pandemic, Reuters reported Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter. From the report: The figure represents a small percentage of Amazon’s 1.55 million total employees, but nearly 10% of the company’s roughly 350,000 corporate employees. This would represent the largest job cut at Amazon since around 27,000 jobs were eliminated starting in late 2022.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.