Connexion
You can get Amazon’s Choice radio, the Eton Elite Executive, on sale for $149.99 right now (reg. $250). Radio is a dying art form, but some people still love them—and they’re great to have in an emergency, like a blackout or severe thunderstorm, so you can still hear weather and news updates even if your local network is down. It can receive any type of radio wavelengths like AM and FM with RDS, LW, and shortwave, even VHF aircraft band and Single Sideband (SSB). It has both automatic and manual digital tuning options, as well as options for AC adapter use or battery power. The Eton Elite also comes with a leather carry cover that doesn't block access to the Micro USB charging port or the 35mm audio jack. You can also use four AA batteries as an alternative power source. The Eton Elite Executive radio is a little pricey, but if you want to spend the extra change to get a high-quality radio that’ll actually last more than a few years, this is a great option.
You can get the Eton Elite Executive radio on sale for $149.99 right now (reg. $250), though prices can change at any time.
I write a lot about decluttering and organizing, especially when it comes to closets, and that’s because I am in a constant state of overhauling my own closets. Tiered, cascading hangers that can accommodate multiple items of clothing are a go-to solution for small closets, but there are a few different kinds that do different things. Before you buy the first set you see, let me help you figure out what kind will suit your needs best.
There are a few different kinds of cascading hangers you can get. Currently, I have two: A hanging metal chain variety and a more rigid plastic kind.
In the past, I've mostly used the plastic kind, but the first major downsides of those is that they can break with too much weight on them, or the weight can slowly pull down on the part that hangs around the rod, warping it and ultimately rendering it useless. I have gone through a lot of these plastic ones for those reasons, which is why I ordered the metal ones a few months ago.
The metal ones come with their own challenges, however. While they're a lot sturdier, can hold more weight, and don't warp, the fluid movement of the chain is extremely annoying when you're trying to move it around on the rod. I keep a shelving unit behind my hanging clothes (which is a closet-organizing tip all its own), so I have to move the hanging parts to access the folded items on the shelf all the time. Grabbing the chain hanger from the top and dragging it along the rod almost always causes two or three hangers to fall out of their slots on the chain, which doesn't happen with the more rigid plastic version.
If your clothing is light or you need to move the hangers often, opt for something rigid, like these:
An eight pack of plastic space-saving hangers from Gillraj. ($8.99)
100 standalone hooks that attach to regular hangers, so you can make the chain of clothing as long as you want. ($9.99)
If your clothing is on the heavier side, consider metal versions for maximum holding power:
A six pack of hanging chains. ($6.99)
If you want the best of both worlds—a cascading hanger that is rigid, unwarpable, and strong—split the difference with this slotted metal hanger:
Beyond that, you can also use over-the-door racks to hold heavier items, like coats, blazers, and dresses. They're relatively inexpensive and make it much easier to see all of your items when you open the door. If you pretend hard enough, it's almost like having a walk-in closet.
Amazon owns both Blink and Ring, and while there are major differences between them, you can simply think of Ring as the higher-end product. If you're convinced a Ring product is for you, Amazon is currently discounting many of its cameras, doorbells, and floodlight cameras by up to 44%. Here are the best deals I've found, all of which are either at a record-low prices or matching the lowest price they've been, after checking price-checking tools.
The Ring Stick Up Cam Pro came out in 2023 and is an indoor and outdoor hybrid with two-way audio, 1080p HDR video resolution, and color night vision. One of its special features is the Bird's Eye View, which lets you pick zones that you want to keep your eyes on and leave out the ones you don't. It also shows you where the subject has been with an aerial view. It's on sale for $139.99 (originally $179.99).
If you want to take advantage of a bundle with a Ring doorbell and a camera, you have a choice between the Ring Stick Up Cam or Ring Indoor Cam along with the doorbell. The bundle with the Ring Stick Up Cam is great if you want to have the flexibility to use the Stick Up Cam indoors or outdoors. You can get the bundle for $99.99 (originally $179.99). If you know you'll only be using the camera indoors, go with the Ring Indoor Cam bundle for $79.99 (originally $139.99) to save more.
If you already have a video doorbell and are looking for eyes inside and a floodlight camera, your best bet is the Ring Spotlight Cam and Ring Indoor Cam bundle for $139.99 (originally $229.98). The Ring Spotlight Cam Plus comes with a rechargeable battery, shoots in 1080 HD video, has two LED Lights, has color night vision, and can emit a security siren. It usually goes for $169.99 but is discounted to $129.99 at the time of this writing.
If you're interested in a similar bundle with a Ring Doorbell Camera, consider this bundle for $319.99 (originally $489.97). It comes with the Ring Doorbell Plus (battery version), the Ring Floodlight Cam Pro (wired), and the Ring Indoor Cam, saving you $169.98 when you bundle them together.
Keep in mind that if you want to record your videos, review footage for up to 180 days, and share videos and photos, you'll need a Ring Protect Plan subscription in addition to the purchase of the equipment. Those plans start at $3.99 per month.
If you use Discord, beware: Your activity—in both public messages and voice channels—might have been scraped and sold online for as little as $5.
404Media initially broke the story, reporting that an online service called Spy Pet was scraping over 10,000 servers throughout Discord. The massive amount of data accumulated from this activity is being used for multiple purposes: Spy Pet is selling it for as cheap as $5 via cryptocurrency (including Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Monero) for anyone who wants it, but especially for those in law enforcement as well as organizations looking to train AI systems.
According to the report, Spy Pet essentially turns Discord's fragmented platform, where users can post on thousands of servers of their choosing, into an easy way to target one user's activity. Anyone who pays can decide to see what you posted where in one convenient location. In short, it's not good.
404Media tested out Spy Pet, and found it works as advertised. While the outlet cannot confirm Spy Pet's claims of having the data of over 14,000 servers, 600 million users, and 3 billion messages, it was able to successfully purchase data from the service. Apparently, you can look up a specific user for about 10 cents. (I guess that's all we're worth.)
Spy Pet has data from a variety of different servers, from gaming communities like Minecraft, Among Us, and Runescape-themed services, to servers concerning cryptocurrency. That said, 404Media reports that many of the tens of thousands of servers listed here don't have any data at all, and don't appear likely to be scraped.
This is obviously a massive breach of user privacy, but it's a complicated story. For one, Spy Pet doesn't actually scrape direct messages: Your private messages between other Discord users are safe, it's just the messages you've posted in the servers themselves.
Here's where things get tricky: These messages aren't necessarily private. Anyone who joins the server will be able to see everything you post, and could pull that data themselves. Theoretically, if someone was a part of every Discord server you were active in, they could perform their own Spy Pet scraping of sorts. It would be weird of them, but they could do it.
What Spy Pet is doing, of course, goes beyond that: They're scraping so much data and making it possible to check out all your activity for a dime of crypto. Plus, they're selling it to sources you never consented to. Law enforcement probably doesn't care about your Discord activity, but you didn't expect the cops to scrutinize your Minecraft memes. The same goes for AI companies: I wouldn't want my Discord data being used to train AI models, even if these companies are running out of internet to train their systems on.
Unfortunately, there's not much to do about the data that's already been scraped: Spy Pet doesn't appear to have any interest in removing your data from its servers if it's there.
However, going forward, keep an eye out for any bots that want to join your Discord channels. That's how Spy Pet appears to have scraped all this data in the first place. It's not always easy, as this Reddit thread explains: Some bots don't advertise themselves as such, but will appear as new accounts with no identifying information or profile picture, and will silently stay in the channel to scrape data. Better safe than sorry: Boot fishy lurkers.
If you're in control of the server, consider taking some privacy actions, like setting the server as private, or changing the verification settings for the server. These changes won't guarantee privacy, but they'll help keep bots away from your channels.
While it might not feel as public as something like Twitter, assume everything you post on Discord will be seen by anyone and everyone. That's really a good rule of thumb for anything that isn't end-to-end encrypted, but also, anything you post or send online at all. Even in the most secure of situations, nothing on the internet is foolproof, and someone, somewhere, may see what you said. If you join a Discord server, keep that in mind before you start typing away.
Raycast, which is free for individual users, is my favorite Spotlight replacement. This is an application you can launch with a simple keyboard shortcut to see a simple text box. Type a few characters to do just about anything. There's plenty of functionality built in—you can launch any application just by beginning to type its name and hitting "Enter," for example, or you can type a URL and hit "Enter" to open it in your default browser. You can also search for files or toggle various system settings.
That functionality alone would make Raycast worth installing. The truly great thing about Raycast, however, is the plugins. Now, Raycast is far from the first launcher app to offer plugins, but the application is unique for offering a built-in store that allows you to add these plugins in just a few keystrokes. Just type "Store," hit "Enter," and you can browse the collection. Failing that, you can browse the Raycast store online.
There are a lot of really useful tools here, and which ones are best is going to vary depending on your workflow. Here are the most useful sorts of plugins I've found.
I brew beer and mostly store my recipes in OneNote. I'm also a big Obsidian user—my personal journal and work life both live there. Raycast makes it easy to search these and other note-taking applications. There are extensions for Apple Notes, OneNote, Obsidian, and even Bear. All of these allow you to search your notes right in Raycast and preview them right there. If you want to open the note, no problem: Just hit enter. It is so great being able to quickly find and pull up such information.
Modern password managers integrate well in the browser but it can be annoying to pull up passwords when you're not browsing. The Raycast extensions for Bitwarden, 1Password, Dashlane, and KeePassXC all make it easy to copy any password in a couple of keystrokes. Just open the plugin, type the password you're looking for, and hit enter.
You can take this even further and quickly grab two-factor authentication codes. There's an extension for Authy, which notably still works even though that application no longer offers a desktop app. There's also an extension that can grab 2FA codes from iMessage, meaning you won't have to open up your messages just to copy and paste a code. Both work really well.
I usually know which album I want to listen to next. The Raycast extension for Spotify allows me to quickly type the name of an album and play it. It also works for playlists, artists, and songs. I love being able to quickly start any music without having to fuss around in the Spotify user interface. There's a similar extension for Apple Music, if that's your go-to player.
Wikipedia is an excellent starting point for researching basically anything. The Wikipedia extension for Raycast allows you to search for a page and even read it, all without moving your hands from the keyboard. You can also open the article in your default browser by hitting enter.
Ejecting a drive on the Mac means opening the Finder and clicking the eject button in the left-hand sidebar. It's annoyingly slow. The extension Single Disk Eject shows you all currently connected external drives and allows you to disconnect by hitting Enter. It's great.
There are no end to the number of Mac applications that do nothing but keep your Mac awake. The extension Coffee offers this without the need to install an application. You can trigger it from Raycast or you can enable a menu bar icon if you prefer.
I could go on for a long time. Here's a few more quick highlights:
System monitor lets you quickly look over CPU, memory, and disk use.
MyIP shows you your current IP address.
Speedtest lets you quickly test your internet connection speed.
Shell allows you to run any Terminal command without actually opening the Terminal.
This is just a start: There are so many more tools. I recommend checking out the store to get a better idea of what you can do.
TikTok is full of people “discovering” spy mirrors in their hotel rooms and Airbnbs. Or, more often, they use a normal hotel mirror to demonstrate a trick that supposedly reveals such mirrors. (Phew—this one’s fine! We’re safe!) Unfortunately, these videos rely on a misunderstanding of how mirrors work. Read on and I’ll tell you why these tricks are bullshit, and an easy way of actually telling whether a mirror is two-way. (It doesn’t involve your fingernail.)
The TikToks all say they will show you a way to find out whether you’re being watched. The idea is that either there could be camera hidden behind the mirror, or the mirror might be the kind you see in interrogation rooms on TV, where the “mirror” is actually a window between two rooms. People on the other side can see right in.
These mirrors do exist. They are perhaps most properly known as “one-way mirrors” (since the mirror only works if you’re standing on one side of it) but you’ll also hear them called “two-way mirrors” (since they can act as either a mirror or a window). I’m going to call them “spy mirrors” to avoid confusion.
Now, do spy mirrors exist in hotels? I mean, I kind of doubt that Holiday Inn goes to the trouble and expense of installing a specialized form of glass in all their bathroom mirrors, when they can’t even keep the pancake machine working. But you never know. So let’s dive in to the problems with the TikToks—and then I’ll tell you how these mirrors really work, so you can spot them easily.
My favorite example of the genre is this one, a lengthy step-by-step involving Scotch tape, three colors of dry-erase marker, and one person patiently instructing another on how “a girl” can figure out whether they are “safe” when traveling. The video is three fricking minutes long, and it doesn’t demonstrate anything that putting your fingernail against the mirror wouldn’t do in seconds.
According to TikTok, the telltale sign of a spy mirror is that you cannot see a gap between your finger and its reflection. You may hear the rhyming rule: “If there’s no space, leave this place”—the “space” being that gap between your real finger and your mirror finger.
So why not just use your finger? Good news: people simply putting their fingers against mirrors are all over TikTok, as well. Someone puts their finger up to a hotel mirror, then declares it to be either a spy mirror, or a normal mirror. (Sometimes the camera angle lets us see the gap, too; many videos make it hard to see if the person has done the test correctly.)
It’s true that you’ll see a gap between your fingernail and its reflection in most “real” mirrors.
The most common style of mirror you’ll see in home and hotel bathrooms is made of glass. It has a thin layer of reflective material (“silvering”) that is usually applied to the back surface of the glass. This way, when you put your fingernail against the glass, you’re not directly touching the reflective part. This is called a “back silvered” or “second surface” mirror. So, yes: normally you’ll be able to see a gap.
According to the TikToks, if you don’t see a gap, then the mirror is watching you. That’s not true.
The gap just tells you that the mirror is back-silvered. Real mirrors can be back-silvered or front-silvered and still be legit, normal mirrors. What you’re looking for, if you’ve got your eye out for spy mirrors, is something that is half-silvered. That refers to the type of coating, not just where it’s applied.
The silvering on (half-silvered) spy mirrors is applied to the front, so a front-silvered mirror could be a spy mirror. But it could also be a front-silvered regular mirror. (These aren’t very common, but they exist.)
A mirror that appears to show no gap could also be a back-silvered mirror whose pane of glass is very thin. I tested some mirrors around my house, and saw a large gap on one bathroom mirror, a smaller gap on another, and a very thin, difficult-to-see gap on a pocket-sized makeup mirror. The makeup mirror just has thinner glass than the others.
If you’ve never seen a one-way mirror in person, you might think it’s some super-secret spy technology that’s impossible to spot. In reality, if you own a pair of mirrored sunglasses, you can do your own tests.
Mirrored sunglasses and spy mirrors work the same way. Three things make up the effect:
Light from the front can pass to the back.
Light from the back can pass to the front.
Bright light from the front reflects off the half-silvering, showing you your own reflection instead of whatever is behind the glass.
The whole effect depends on lighting. If the room behind the glass is dark, and the room in front of the glass is bright, then people in the bright room will only see their own reflection. But if the people in the dark room were to turn on their lights, or if the people in the bright room were to turn theirs off, the effect would be lost. It’s like a more dramatic version of how your home’s windows appear at night. You can’t see outdoors because the reflections from indoor lights are brighter than whatever is shining in from outside. The half-silvering just enhances this effect.
Forget the fingernail test. All you really need is to manipulate the lighting, and you can do that in a matter of seconds with your phone’s flashlight. All you need to do is:
Turn off the lights in the room, or cup your hands around your eyes as you peer in. (Same as you would do if you were trying to peek into a car window on a sunny day.)
Put a flashlight right up to the mirror, and shine it through.
If the mirror is fake, you’ll be able to see the inside of the room on the other side of the mirror (or whatever is behind there).
That’s all there is to it. This trick works because you’re shining light into the area behind the glass, and allowing it to bounce back through the glass at you. (You don’t want to shine the flashlight on the exact spot you’re looking through, but if you hold it next to your face instead of right in front of your face, that will do the trick.)
I don’t have a police interrogation room handy, but I do have a pair of mirrored sunglasses, so I took the above photos of them with normal lighting (left) and in the dark with a flashlight (right). With the flashlight trick, you can literally see right through them.
By the way, you’ll also want to check what’s behind the supposed spy mirror, if you think you’ve found one. A mirror on a wall that is shared with an “employees only” room? Yeah, I’d be suspicious. (In that case, the flashlight trick would let you see the peeping Tom’s face, so you’d get a quick confirmation. Somebody please put that on TikTok instead of yet another “look at my fingernail” video.)
But I’ve seen at least one TikTok where the supposed spy mirror looks like a shower door. Mirrored shower doors are a cute design gimmick: the idea is for the person taking the shower to be able to see out, without others being able to see in. (Here’s a public bathroom that uses the same trick.) Half-silvered mirrors are also what enable smart mirrors like this one to exist: when the screen behind the mirror lights up, you see what’s on the screen. Otherwise, you just see your reflection. And finally, polished metal can be reflective and would not show a gap. That’s not a spy mirror either.
I love writing, but with so much to distract us these days, gathering enough focus to start writing can be a job all its own. That’s where distraction-free writing tools have come into play, including the recently released Freewrite Alpha from Astrohaus.
Building off the work the company has done with its previous Freewrite devices, like the clamshell Freewrite Traveler, the Freewrite Alpha promises an ultra-portable design that makes it easy to pick up and start writing. The real kicker here is the super small display, which is designed to only show two to three lines of text at a time.
This is a device for writing first drafts, including all the dirty mistakes that come with them. It’s designed to cut you off from your inner editor, allowing you to focus on telling your story as easily as possible. There are no social media apps to distract you, and there’s no way to browse the internet and get lost in hours of research in the process (although you can still back up your drafts to the cloud). All you can do is write, and that’s a good thing. But is the Alpha really the best tool for the job? I’ve got mixed thoughts.
At a glance, the Freewrite Alpha is a simple, low-profile mechanical keyboard with a small FSTN LCD display above it (like what you'd see on an alarm clock) and a single button to the side. On paper, the form factor is a dream come true for writers like me, who constantly struggle with wanting to ensure they’ve got the best grammar and spelling possible. I like the idea of only displaying a few lines of text at a time, and the fact that I can’t get lost browsing the internet or social media is a nice bonus.
I also love that I can simply pull out the Alpha and power it on to start writing. There's no need to open up a word processor or navigate to Google Docs. I love sending drafts directly to my email for safekeeping, as well as the fact that it automatically connects to the cloud when the internet is on and saves my drafts there. There’s also an option to sync it to your computer via a USB-C cable, and I don’t think I’ve ever had to charge the device after receiving it several weeks ago. These are all features that work seamlessly in the background or with just a few keypresses, and that’s really nice. It's exactly what you would want from a device like this.
In practice, though, the Freewrite Alpha is far from the writing escape I hoped it would be. I’ve spent a good few weeks treating it as my primary writing tool for my personal projects, carrying it everywhere I go along with my usual MacBook Air. While I love how portable it is, there are a few things about the Freewrite Alpha that turn me away, and most of it comes down to the physical components of the device.
Before we get into the nitty gritty here, remember the Freewrite Alpha isn’t supposed to be a replacement for your laptop, or even your iPad or smartphone. These sorts of digital typewriters are still a developing category, so there isn’t really much you can properly compare them to. They were designed to do just one thing: let you write without distractions. As such, I’m very hesitant to make any kind of comparison with other devices, at least as far as features go.
Still, I do think it is important to compare the physical components of the Freewrite Alpha with those from other devices, as there are a few things I believe the Alpha falls short on. It's not a laptop, but it's hard not to want to judge it against the premium feeling of Apple's MacBook Air lineup, which remains extremely light but still feels like a solid piece of tech.
One of the biggest issues I have with the Freewrite Alpha is the build quality. Despite costing over $300, the Alpha is made completely of plastic. I don’t particularly have an issue with plastic in devices, aside from the obvious durability concerns. And I get why Astrohaus used plastic here, since the company wanted to make the Alpha as lightweight as possible. They’ve accomplished that, but it comes at a horrible price for the user.
That’s because the Freewrite Alpha is absolutely atrocious to hold or type on. It feels cheap, and while the included Kailh Choc V2 low-profile key switches feel great on their own, the fact that the entire device is just plastic makes it obnoxiously loud to type on. For writers like me, that's a bit distracting in its own way. There’s just nothing about this device that makes it feel premium, and if I spent $349 ($369 on Amazon) on a device that only does one thing, I would want it to do a little bit more. Sure, the Alpha is light enough for you to carry anywhere, but if you drop it on concrete while making your way into the office, is it going to survive the drop?
I get where Astrohaus is coming from here, but this feels like the designers cut the corners a little too sharply. Even putting some padding into the device to make it sound less cheap would have been a nice touch. As it stands now, I’ve used $20 keyboards that are more satisfying to type on, and less obnoxious, too, as they don’t make me feel like I’m boring a hole through my desktop with every keypress.
That isn't a slight against the switches used here, mind. The two-millimeter travel distance for keys isn't bad, and it feels good to type on most of the time. I never felt like I was missing keystrokes or repeating letters because of the travel distance, which is something you can run into with cheaper mechanical keyboards. That said, it's hard to properly enjoy these switches because of how springy the entire contraption feels and sounds when you're typing on it.
Another issue with the Alpha is the lack of any backlight on the display. Look, I love the display and how it limits how much of my manuscript I can see. This is a great feature, and one I’d love to see emulated in the software I use daily. But as it stands, you can only really use the Alpha and see what you’re typing if you’re already in a fairly bright area. This is definitely an area the Alpha could have benefited from an e-ink display, or at least a backlit LCD display. Astrohaus' other digital typewriters have e-ink screens, and while it's understandable that the company might have wanted to cut that feature for its most budget-friendly offering, the substitute here is just not a suitable replacement.
And while the device handles most of its tasks really well, there's still the matter of having to remember its various keybinds. Despite having room for some additional buttons along the top of the device, Astrohaus continues to utilize combinations of key presses to trigger various tasks, like starting a new document, archiving a document, etc. The company does provide handy online documentation to help with that, but it was a bit of a bother having to figure out the different keybinds and then remember them so that I could do everything I needed.
Despite my issues, I don’t hate the Alpha. In fact, it’s probably one of the more useful pieces of tech that I’ve tried in recent years. Sure, it doesn’t have the premium feel that I’d want from an expensive unitasker, but that’s something I can overlook. It does what it says, and it does it well enough. And while typing on this thing isn’t my favorite pastime ever, some folks will prefer the harder typing sounds that the Alpha brings to their writing area.
The Freewrite Alpha isn’t for every writer. But if you’re easily distracted, or if you don’t have a laptop or something else that you can easily carry around with you, then the Alpha can be a great tool to help increase your productivity and writing output. Sure, there are a few things that Astrohaus could do better, and hopefully, the company will improve upon the device in future iterations. As a distraction-free writer, though, the Alpha excels at putting you in the zone, so long as your own typing sounds aren't more likely to distract you than social media.
I very much enjoyed being able to just pull this thing out and get right to work, especially since it saved me from having to stare at my laptop for even longer throughout my day. I already do that enough, so having a dedicated writing tool is a great way to separate my personal projects and passions from the writing that I do to pay the bills. Being able to pull my document up on the computer when I had finished with it was also really nice, and it made moving from the rough draft to the finished copy of a short story I was writing much easier than I expected it to be. The content you create on the Alpha syncs up exceptionally well with the Postbox features that Astrohaus offers to all Freewrite device owners, though I can't help but wish there was a bit more connectivity between the two when actively working on a manuscript or short story. Pulling up a draft on the website removes it from the Alpha's onboard memory, so it really is just a first draft device.
For me, I wouldn’t say writing on the Freewrite Alpha has improved my writing capabilities or output exponentially. But it definitely made it easier to get lost in the words I was spewing out into my manuscript without overthinking them. I can already write a good few thousand words pretty quickly when I get into the right mindset, and the Alpha did make getting in the zone a little bit easier. As a distraction-free writer, the Alpha feels like a good step in the right direction, and despite still being on the expensive end, it is cheaper than the rest of the Freewrite line. Now, Astrohaus just needs to follow through and improve upon this initial idea with a design that makes a better compromise between budget and feel.
Not every decluttering hack works for every person, but there's a decluttering hack out there for everyone. If you're looking to really clear out or revolutionize a room or space in your home, the Peter Walsh method might be the one for you. It's a little intense, but also sure to help you get your space in order.
Peter Walsh is one of those organizational gurus, and he has offered up a lot of organizing tips and tricks ain his books, which include Let It Go: Downsizing Your Way to a Richer, Happier Life and Enough Already!: Clearing Mental Clutter to Become the Best You. A decade ago, the "Enough Already” concept even served as the basis for a show on OWN in Walsh sought to help families across the country realize how destructive their clutter was—and deal with it.
In order to do do that, he used a five-step system that aims to reframe your thinking around not only your clutter, but the space it's currently cluttering up—which is why the first step involves emptying the entire space and creating a vision for what it could be without all the clutter. Research has shown there’s a significant link between clutter and your sense of wellbeing, and that relationship goes both ways: Think of what a downer it is to be in a disorganized room filled with junk, and how being in that negative headspace doesn’t exactly put you in the frame of mind to clean. That's why creating (or recreating) a strong, positive vision of what the space could be (with a little effort) is the crucial first step in Walsh's method.
Here are the five steps to follow to carry out this aggressive process:
Empty out the space. No, really: Clear everything out. If you’re decluttering your kitchen, put everything in bins and stick those bins in the dining room. If a room is too big and contains too much stuff, work in smaller chunks. Instead of pulling everything out of your bedroom at once, for instance, you can work these steps for your closet, then your open space, your desk, etc., one at a time. But be sure you select and define a space, then start by clearing it completely.
Create a vision for the space, and set an intention for it. Your vision and intention for the kitchen could be to have enough room to cook more often, but still have adequate storage space for the tools you’ll need. Your vision for your closet could be to see all of your clothes and accessories more easily so you can get dressed more efficiently. Ask yourself what you want from the space, and envision yourself living it.
Sort everything you removed into two categories: You need a “vision” pile and an “out-the-door” pile. If something aligns with that vision and intention you set, it can stay. If it doesn’t, throw it away or donate it. The point of setting that intention in Step 2 is to give you something concrete to work toward, so use that as a guide.
Get rid of what you don't need: Go through the “out-the-door” pile and designate any items you want to donate, then put the rest in the trash or recycling. Don’t hold onto them or store them anywhere else; Walsh makes it clear that procrastinating on getting rid of stuff will only lead to more clutter. Put your donation bin in your trunk or by your door, and the put the trash bag outside. It can’t stick around.
Reimagine what you want to keep: Move everything from the “vision” pile back into the room, arranging it in a way that will serve your goals for the space. This could involve finding a workable storage solution, like cabinet organizers or over-the-door racks. A crucial component of real organizing and decluttering is making sure everything you do keep has its own place.
Walsh's approach is obviously a little more intense than others, because it involves clearing a whole space and reimagining how you might use it—but keeping that idealized vision at the center of what you’re doing will not only help you declutter, but to keep the space decluttered once you're using it the way you really want to.
Every tech company is getting in on AI. (Even Apple, soon enough.) Opera, the web browser, has an AI chatbot it calls Aria, that at first doesn't seem much different than any other chatbot you may run across in 2024. However, Opera has added some clever features here that actually make the bot a bit more useful than I expected.
Unlike Google or Microsoft, Opera doesn't have its own AI technology. Instead, Opera's chatbot, Aria, is powered by both OpenAI and Google. In that way, none of the responses themselves are that revolutionary, and are pretty much what you'd expect, whether using ChatGPT or Gemini.
Aria lives in the sidebar of Opera, as a funky "A" icon. To use Aria, you need to have an Opera account, so if you haven't set one up yet, Opera will walk you through it. That said, it takes a few tries for the browser to recognize you've connected your account.
Once up and running, Aria presents a typical chatbot interface: I'm presented with three different starting point options if I can't think of anything to ask it. These change every time you refresh the bot, but on my first run through, I was greeted by: "How do I make a great resume?" "Can you suggest fun activities to do indoors on a rainy day?" "What are the most satisfying activities for my free time?"
If you don't find any of the prompts helpful (I usually don't), you can move onto the actual chat box. If you've used ChatGPT or Gemini, the initial experience is the same: Type of what you want to ask, hit send, and wait for a response. Opera takes a moment longer than some other chatbots, but comes back with typical answers.
What's cool, however, is that this AI chatbot has two features I haven't seen with other chatbots: As highlighted by MakeUseOf, if you highlight a selection of text in the response, you'll see some extended options. There's a highlight tool which is fine if you want to keep that text selection in mind the in the future, but more pertinently, you'll find Reuse and Rephrase.
Reuse will drop the text selection just above the text field as a mini tab. If you ask Aria another question, it incorporates your reused selection in your query. You can "reuse" up to five text snippets from a previous query, too, so you have your chance to stack items you found useful. If you're asking Aria about a famous figure, like George Washington, you can pull facts from the response with Reuse and ask Aria to generate a quiz from those data points. If you're looking for dinner suggestions, you can pull elements from one response and ask for a recipe based on that.
On the flip side, there's Rephrase. Now, other chatbots have a rephrase option, which rewrites an entire response if it doesn't seem right. But with Rephrase, you can ask Aria to try again on specific selections of text in the response, rather than the entire response itself. Opera even includes a fun animation as it rewrites the section, changing each letter into any number of alphanumeric characters until landing on the new statement. If the chatbot gets a whole response totally wrong, it'd make sense to have it redo the whole thing. But Rephrase seems like it'd be useful for those times where the response itself is solid, but a line or a paragraph just didn't hit the mark.
Where I've seen this feature struggle most is with punctuation: if you are only changing a sentence at a time, just watch out for Aria accidentally wiping out a period or an exclamation point.
Like other chatbots, Opera also has a refinement tool for Aria to adjust the bot's responses to your liking. This one's pretty good though: First up, you have your choice between style as a blog post, email, essay, presentation, social post, speech, or article. After choosing one, enter what you actually want the chatbot to do, then choose a tone: formal, informal, neutral, academic, business, funny, or sarcastic. (Spoiler alert: Aria is not funny.)
Here's where you can really get into the weeds: Under the "My Style" section, you can train Aria to write in your particular style. Aria first asks you to write a formal complaint to the establishment of your choice in five to 10 sentences, a product review for something you bought recently in four to eight sentences, and a casual text to a friend about weekend plans. Finally, choose whether you want Aria's response to be short, medium, or long. Phew.
If you like a response here, you can save it, and treat it like a normal conversation with Aria—Reuse and Rephrase options included.
If you haven't found AI chatbots all that useful thus far, Aria might not be the groundbreaking new tool you've been looking for. But if you're already using AI on a daily basis, these tools seem useful. I particularly like the reuse option: It seems like an efficient way to break down the most useful parts of a previous response and generate a new one that actually delivers an answer you can run with.
If you're already a fan of the Opera browser, having Aria in the sidebar is an unobtrusive way to add AI to your routine.
Although the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 are advertised as active noise-canceling (ANC) headphones, their bass-rumbling feature is the main attraction. For a limited time, Amazon is currently selling these comfortable over-ear headphones for $139.88 (originally $229.99), their lowest price yet, according to price-tracking tools.
If you're all about that bass, you're going to be into these headphones. I love watching music live, and while using the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2, I feel like I'm at a concert. The thumping bass is powerful, in a good way. You also get full control of it with an easy-to-use wheel that scrolls up or down to increase or reduce the bass. The "crusher" feature is a bass enhancer, but it sounds more calibrated than just shooting up the bass on your EQ settings.
The ANC feature is decent but pales in comparison to what the best over-ear ANC headphones can offer. It also has an aware mode that you can use to hear your surroundings, and like the ANC, it's decent. Besides the bass, these headphones shine in their stylish design and comfort, as well as a well-designed app with customizable controls, EQ options, and features for voice assistance. The battery life is also impressive, with up to 60 hours of juice depending on the volume and features you have on. The addition of the stereo 3.5mm jack is always appreciated.
I've enjoyed using these headphones and pretending I am attending a live show. They're a fun pair of headphones and very good value at $139.88. But again, they're not for everyone. If you are a stickler for a perfect balanced sound, these aren't for you.
It’s rare, but occasionally I’ll drop by a restaurant and come across a peanut butter burger. Peanut butter. On a meat burger. I may be behind the herd, but this sounds like a trick to me. It’s possible that I'm slightly scarred from that awful peanut butter omelet I made once (in my defense, I was 10 years old), but I usually chalk this burger up as the odd restaurant’s playful menu item—pointed at, but never to be ordered. That’s not fair of me though, is it? As they say in the world of earnest food exploration, don’t knock it ‘til ya try it. So I did.
Admittedly, as I rolled into the supermarket to pick up ingredients, I had a negative mindset. I was thinking of ingredients that could make the burger better, assuming from the jump that it would need help. I wasn’t totally wrong, but a tad circumspect I guess.
Peanut butter has a powerful flavor. If it has its druthers, it will command the stage and the entire roof of your mouth. I wanted a few co-stars for balance, so I chose bacon and an aged Dubliner cheese from Kerry Gold. I usually love a burger that's been run through the garden, but this didn’t seem like the right time, so I held off on the usual vegetables.
I expected the burger to be extremely nutty and dull, lacking the normally juicy and umami-packed experience I love when devouring a burger. I was wrong.
I’m surprised I didn’t think of it at first, but peanuts and peanut sauces aren’t new companions to meats and savory dishes. Think of Thai chicken or pork satay with peanuts, or kare-kare, a stew from the Philippines featuring a thick peanut sauce and beef or oxtail.
Peanut butter, especially the unsweetened kind, has an earthy, roasted flavor, and a subtle sweetness. It plays well with fats and spices. Peanut butter sits in a special category with cocoa and cinnamon—flavors initially considered sweet, but they actually have a natural bitterness or tannic quality that can complement a range of dishes. If spicy peanut sauce makes sense on your fried chicken wings, I have to say, it certainly has a place on your burger.
Make a good burger. This might seem obvious, but tell that to the restaurants that made me unseasoned burgers, dry burgers, low-quality, and under-cooked burgers. It’s tempting to try and pile on the condiments in an effort to save the burger, but if the central ingredient is off then it’s over. Peanut butter isn’t going to save a bad burger. Furthermore, peanut butter is sticky and can leave your mouth feeling dry. It needs moisture to help wash it down, and the fat from a thick, juicy burger does exactly that. Season it well, and cook it with love.
Use salty companions. I usually aim for balance when working with powerful ingredients, and the same is true with peanut butter. Peanut butter has a natural sweetness and slight bitter quality I mentioned earlier, and that tastes great with plenty of salt and a hint of acid. To reach these marks I used crispy, old-school bacon (not that low-sodium stuff, or uncured lies), and aged cheddar, which has a faint bite to it. I also tried tomato and pickles on my burger—for science—and while they both work, pickles are better.
Don’t be afraid. I tried one burger with Crazy Richard’s crunchy, unsalted, unsweetened peanut butter. I also tried a burger with Jif and all its sugar-boosted, hydrogenated glory. I’m shocked to say it, but they were both great. Jif is thicker, of course, but the flavor combination, even with the sweetness, never went south. As long as your burger is juicy, the layer of peanut butter won’t be too dry or sticky either.
Should peanut butter go on burgers? Yes. I believe this well-loved condiment is more versatile than I gave it credit for. So go ahead, mix it into your cookie batters, stir it into an umami dipping sauce, and slather it on your meat burgers. When you’re ready for your next food adventure, peanut-butter-topped burgers don’t disappoint.
Sous ses reflets argentés, notre Lune impressionne de bien des façons, mais elle est loin de rivaliser avec celles des géantes gazeuses de notre système solaire. Ces lunes sont des mondes à part entière. Certaines, comme Europe ou Encelade, possèdent des océans liquides spectaculaires et potentiellement habitables. Puis il y a Io, l'une des lunes de Jupiter.
Derrière ces deux lettres se cache l'objet le plus volcanique du système solaire à notre connaissance : un orbe aux nuances de rouille où les villes cèdent leur place aux mers de lave, où les nuages de fumée forment dans le ciel des ombrelles infernales. Depuis quand Io est-elle aussi éruptive ? Difficile à dire, car la surface de la lune se renouvelle tous les millions d'années sous l'effet de son volcanisme, ce qui explique également le peu d'informations dont disposent les scientifiques sur son histoire.
Tous les mondes sont dynamiques et ceux dont le cœur géologique bat encore changent parfois de manière radicale. Dans sa version primitive, la Terre ne ressemblait en rien à sa forme actuelle. Qu'en est-il d'Io ? La lune a-t-elle toujours été aussi infernale ?
Pour répondre à ces questions, les astronomes ont étudié l'atmosphère de la lune afin de déterminer la durée nécessaire à ces innombrables éruptions pour modifier sa composition chimique depuis un point de départ estimé. Selon leurs résultats publiés dans la revue Science, Io semble être agitée par ces éruptions depuis des milliards d'années, peut-être même 4,5 milliards d'années, l'âge de notre système solaire. En d'autres termes, Io présente une hyperactivité volcanique depuis que le Soleil brille.
« Nous voyons Io comme elle a toujours été ! » déclare Jani Radebaugh, astrogéologue à l'université Brigham Young, non impliqué dans la nouvelle étude. Io est donc une sorte de machine à voyager dans le temps dont l'inépuisable moteur thermique alimenté par la force de marée peut nous en apprendre plus sur les mondes d'ici et d'ailleurs.
« Ce processus anime l'ensemble du système solaire, mais également les exoplanètes », indique Katherine de Kleer, planétologue au sein du California Institute of Technology et auteure principale de l'étude. « Nous étudions Io pour mieux comprendre ce processus universel. »
Du point de vue humain, le système solaire peut paraître peu enclin au changement, ce qui est loin d'être le cas à l'échelle des temps astronomiques. Par exemple, ces dernières années, les scientifiques ont découvert que les anneaux emblématiques de Saturne ne constituent pas un équipement permanent, mais plutôt une décoration récente : ils sont apparus il y a quelques centaines de millions d'années et disparaîtront dans un laps de temps similaire.
Ainsi, Io n'a peut-être pas toujours été le théâtre volcanique qu'elle est aujourd'hui. Pour le savoir, nous devons comprendre comment fonctionne son volcanisme et pourquoi il se montre aussi spectaculaire.
En 1979, deux événements scientifiques majeurs ont jeté les fondations : la sonde Voyager 1 de la NASA a survolé le système jovien en photographiant de titanesques nuages de matière volcanique s'élevant de la surface d'Io et une équipe indépendante de scientifiques a calculé que la lune possédait une source de chaleur puissante, mais inhabituelle.
Cette prédiction mathématique provient de l'étrange trajectoire d'Europe et de Ganymède, deux lunes voisines d'Io. Pour chaque révolution de Ganymède autour de Jupiter, Europe en réalise deux et Io quatre. Connu sous le nom de résonnance, ce rythme particulier altère l'orbite d'Io en lui donnant une forme plus elliptique que circulaire.
Lorsque Io se rapproche de Jupiter sur cette orbite oblongue, elle subit une attraction gravitationnelle plus forte ; lorsqu'elle s'éloigne, l'attraction gravitationnelle de Jupiter s'affaiblit. Cela provoque des marées semblables à celles infligées par la Lune aux océans terrestres, sauf que dans ce cas, les marées sont si puissantes que la surface d'Io s'élève et s'affaisse d'une centaine de mètres, soit la hauteur d'un petit gratte-ciel.
Tout ce mouvement entraîne énormément de friction, ce qui génère une formidable chaleur. Dans les entrailles d'Io, cette chaleur se traduit par la fusion d'un volume de roche considérable, allant peut-être jusqu'à créer un océan de magma. Cela alimente certaines éruptions particulièrement violentes en surface qui déversent des torrents de lave plus longs que la plupart des fleuves terrestres, expulsent des colonnes vertigineuses de confettis de lave riches en soufre et créent des chaudrons de roche liquide qui ouvrent autant de portails vers les profondeurs de la lune jovienne.
« C'est fabuleux », jubile Katherine de Kleer. « Ces volcans nous offrent une fenêtre sur l'intérieur de la lune, ce qui est plutôt rare. »
La nature extrême du volcanisme d'Io ne s'arrête pas à ces éruptions. En dehors des éjectas soufrés, la lune recrache des gaz composés de sodium et de chlorure de potassium. Sur Terre, nous utilisons ces éléments pour assaisonner nos plats. « C'est du sel de table qui jaillit de ces volcans », indique de Kleer.
La plupart des matières éjectées peuvent également être propulsées dans l'espace à travers la fine atmosphère d'Io. Ces matières se mêlent ensuite à la lumière du soleil et subissent une excitation électrique avant de retomber dans le ciel magnétisé de Jupiter et d'exploser sous la forme de puissantes aurores, la version jovienne des aurores boréales ou australes observées sur Terre.
Le coupable de cette sorcellerie planétaire n'est autre que la source de chaleur qui anime Io, connue sous le nom de réchauffement par effet de marée. Les scientifiques cherchaient à savoir si ce phénomène existait toujours à l'intérieur de la lune. Cependant, en raison de l'intense activité volcanique, les coulées de lave n'ont de cesse de recouvrir la surface de la lune, dissimulant au passage toute trace de processus géologique.
« Il est impossible d'obtenir des informations sur un événement survenu il y a un million d'années simplement en observant la surface d'Io », explique Katherine de Kleer. C'est pourquoi la scientifique a opté pour une approche différente avec son équipe en s'intéressant plutôt à l'atmosphère de la lune.
Chaque seconde, Io perd jusqu'à trois tonnes de matière dans l'espace à travers le dégazage volcanique et l'érosion atmosphérique. « Cette perte de masse pourrait être comparée à celle d'une comète », illustre Apurva Oza, astrophysicien spécialiste des exoplanètes pour le Jet Propulsion Laboratory de la NASA, non impliqué dans la nouvelle étude.
Les éléments qui composent ces gaz se déclinent en différentes versions, appelées isotopes, certaines étant plus lourdes que d'autres. Les isotopes légers ont tendance à évoluer dans les couches supérieures de l'atmosphère et peuvent donc s'échapper plus facilement dans l'espace. Quant aux isotopes lourds, ils restent plus proches de la surface et sont donc recyclés par l'activité volcanique. Par conséquent, les éruptions qui agitent Io de nos jours doivent être proportionnellement enrichies en isotopes lourds. Si l'équipe parvenait à mesurer le rapport entre les isotopes lourds et légers présents dans l'atmosphère, ils pourraient alors calculer la durée nécessaire à la lune pour atteindre cet état à partir d'un réservoir initial de matière souterraine éruptible.
C'est exactement l'expérience entreprise par Katherine de Kleer et son équipe de scientifiques qui ont fait appel à l'Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) du Chili pour analyser les gaz présents dans l'atmosphère d'Io, principalement composée de soufre. Afin d'estimer le réservoir initial d'isotopes lourds et légers, l'équipe s'est tournée, entre autres, vers des témoins de la composition chimique du système solaire primitif : les météorites.
Ils ont ainsi établi que le rapport isotopique actuel du soufre dans l'atmosphère ionienne suggère que la lune aurait perdu 94 à 99 % de son réservoir de soufre initial. En croisant ces données avec les modèles existants de l'évolution de Jupiter et de ses lunes intérieures, les chercheurs sont arrivés à la conclusion suivante : Io est en éruption depuis des milliards d'années, peut-être même 4,5 milliards d'années.
« Les dynamiques orbitales des satellites planétaires sont parfois très chaotiques », indique James Tuttle Keane, planétologue au sein du Jet Propulsion Laboratory de la NASA, non impliqué dans l'étude. Les lunes peuvent quitter une orbite stable et y revenir, entrer en collision avec d'autres objets ou même être entièrement éjectées du système solaire.
En ce qui concerne Io, Ganymède et Europe, il semblerait que la chorégraphie à laquelle participent ces trois-là n'ait connu aucune fausse note depuis des milliards d'années. « Au cours de son histoire, Io n'a donc pas vraiment changé », résume Keane.
À elle seule, cette immuabilité fait figure d'exception dans l'univers, mais elle a également des implications pour la voisine d'Io, Europe. Sous sa coquille de glace, cette autre lune jovienne dissimule un océan qui, selon nos connaissances actuelles, serait maintenu à l'état liquide grâce au réchauffement par effet de marée. Si Io est volcanique depuis des milliards d'années, alors l'océan d'Europe pourrait être tout aussi primitif.
« À long terme, cela peut avoir des implications pour l'habitabilité d'Europe », indique de Kleer. Si cet océan abrite la vie, ce qui reste une hypothèse, alors cette vie doit son existence à la même force gravitationnelle qui, non loin de là, plonge Io dans un véritable enfer volcanique.
Cet article a initialement paru sur le site nationalgeographic.com en langue anglaise.
Every home comes with maintenance, repairs, and surprising challenges, which is why most of us already have the obvious essentials on hand—fire extinguishers, flashlights, basic tools, and the like. But there are a several items you might not think of as a “home essential” that are going to prove very useful to you one day. Here are the unexpected home essentials you’re going to be glad to have on hand.
The first time a contractor needs to park on your street, or your in-laws are visiting and they like to park right in front of your house or you have a broken sidewalk that could lead to a messy personal injury lawsuit, you’re going to want traffic cones. Having a few of these babies out in your shed or down in your basement will make your life a lot easier if you need to block off areas or warn pedestrians or drivers—or just save your parking spot when you run to the store for.
It sounds fancy, but an endoscope tool is just a small camera at the end of a flexible wire. Having one means you’ll be able to see inside small, closed-off spaces without tearing holes in your walls or floors, you’ll be able to discover the reason your kitchen sink won’t drain properly, where that screw wound up when you dropped it, and what is making that disturbing scratching noise in your bedroom wall. There are a lot of affordable ones that work with your phone as a screen, and you’ll be glad you have it.
Blackouts are going to happen, and pilot lights are going to go out. Rather than relying on wooden matches you forget to restock (and that can go bad over time if stored improperly) or a traditional fueled lighter that you can forget to refuel, a rechargeable lighter needs no fuel and has a flexible neck enabling you to get it into tight spots.
You might feel like spiders and insects belong outside, but they do manage to find their way in. Instead of smashing them or trying to catch-and-release with a glass or a paper plate, the Critter Catcher will help you scoop them up and deposit them back outside (without ever having to get too close).
Once you own them, you will use zip ties constantly. You’ll use them to tie stuff together, to tie stuff down, to make temporary repairs, and a dozen other ways. The simplicity, relative durability, and cheapness of zip ties makes them something everyone should have on hand in their home.
Whether it’s a couch, a washing machine, or any other large, heavy, bulky object or appliance, you need a mover’s dolly. Hang it in the garage and forget about it, and then when you need to transport your old fridge to the curb you can glide it out there with ease, or when you decide the living room needs to be totally re-arranged to encourage positive energy flows, you won’t break your back trying to move every piece of furniture by lifting it.
If you’ve ever used that blue gunk to put a poster up on the wall of your dorm room or rental, you know the fundamental nature of Museum Putty. But this stuff is incredibly useful, because you can use it to ensure that nothing ever slips off a shelf. Anything you want to display can be secured in place, and no amount of roughhousing children, clumsy guests, or earthquakes will knock it off. You can also use it to stabilize the shelves themselves if they wobble or rattle on their supports. It won’t damage surfaces and comes right off when you need it to.
We've got so many devices to charge, and all those cords and dongles need somewhere to go—installing USB outlets throughout your home will make your life easier. You won’t have to hunt around for the right adapter, you won’t have things plugged into your laptop all the time, and you’ll be able to plug in immediately if your phone or tablet (or anything else USB-powered) gets a low-battery warning. And they are easy to install even if you have no experience with electricity.
If you've ever dropped (and subsequently lost) a tiny screw or nail into a narrow opening, you need a magnetic pick-up tool like this one. Never lose a screw, bolt, or other tiny metal object again—even if it goes down your bathroom drain.
Peacock has come in from behind with a strong bench of original shows (the greatest of these was/is Poker Face)—but also a solid assortment of original or exclusive movies, some brand new, and some that dropped during quarantine times that you might have missed, being otherwise occupied. There’s some prestige stuff here, but also some slightly more disreputable fare, including a drama from some people you may have liked in Real Housewives, and a bunch of clever Blumhouse horror. There’s a little bit here for everyone.
Ethan Coen goes solo as director (co-writing with Tricia Cooke) on this gloriously unhinged tribute to '70s exploitation romance movies. Marian and Jamie are a couple of friends who, setting off on a road trip to Tallahassee, Florida, discover that they've taken the wrong car. They learn this when they discover a briefcase full of sex toys and a human head. Of such things are great lesbian adventures born.
Paul Giamatti stars alongside Oscar winner Da'Vine Joy Randolph in this Alexander Payne-directed movie about a curmudgeonly teacher at a New England prep school who winds up getting stuck babysitting a bunch of students stuck on campus over a Christmas break. Randolph plays Mary Lamb, a cafeteria worker who recently lost a son; the two bond over shared loss and changing times.
Written by Diablo Cody and directed by Zelda Williams, Lisa Frankenstein didn't do much business at the box office, which is a shame. It's the unique and funny story of a misunderstood '80s goth girl (Kathryn Newton) who accidentally reanimates the corpse of a young man who died in 1837 (Cole Sprouse). Blending tones and genres with a 1980s neon-lit visual style, it's a fun—and surprisingly charming—horror-comedy.
Tony Shalhoub is back as America's favorite obsessive-compulsive detective, Adrian Monk, picking up the role 14 years after the end of the series. Impressively, he doesn't have appeared to miss a beat in a movie that, very sensibly, addresses the impact of Covid on the life of the fastidious and phobic Monk as he becomes embroiled in a case involving his stepdaughter's dead fiancé.
An unlikely rom-com in space stars Anthony Mackie and Zoë Chao as a couple of astronauts who've been adrift for three years on a ship without navigation. Everybody back home thinks they're dead, so, for them, they're literally the last two people around. Kristian Mercado's movie finds them poles apart, on opposite ends of almost every conversation, but with a need to communicate that draws them closer together. It's charmingly old-fashioned in its willingness to rely on dialogue to carry us forward.
This Blumhouse slasher dropped on Peacock at the height of the Covid pandemic which was, well, a lot. Now that enough time has passed that we can pretend it never happened/isn't still happening, it's a bit easier to swallow this wonderfully nasty cabin-in-the-woods slasher. Scream's Kevin Williamson wrote the tale of murder in quarantine.
You might have heard of the latest Christopher Nolan joint, the explosive story of Manhattan Project director and ambivalent father of the atom bomb: J. Robert Oppenheimer. The movie took home seven Academy Awards, including for Best Picture. Its box office success offers hope for a post-superhero future.
Billy Eichner (who also co-wrote the movie) stars alongside Luke McFarlane in this cute, funny, and charmingly old-school rom-com that blends genre tropes with a refreshingly pro-queer context. Bros turned off a lot of straight moviegoers at the box office, but it makes for fun home viewing.
Another unique Blumhouse slasher, this one set at an LGBTQ conversion camp. Scary enough, even before the bodies start to drop. The talented cast includes Carrie Preston, Anna Chlumsky, and Kevin Bacon. Not everything lands perfectly, but everyone’s having fun with the spin on a classic premise.
That gorgeous rental property that you’re looking at might not be all it’s cracked up to be—particularly when the architect was an occult-obsessed polygamist who keeps making his presence known decades after the house was built. A Covid-stressed doctor and her husband head off for a rest at the very cool house, only to get caught up in a bunch of deeply weird shit. It doesn’t all hang together, but it’s effective enough at moments to make for a spooky time at the rental office.
This effective Peacock original documentary serves as a still-needed reminder that the Rosa Parks of our collective imagination is largely a work of fiction. Far from the little old lady too tired to give up her seat, Parks, at the time of the Montgomery bus boycott, was a young-ish activist who’d been planning and strategizing around civil rights for years. Her resolve and radical politics shine through here.
Another Blumhouse horror, another creepy house—and more Kevin Bacon. There might be an emerging flavor to Peacock’s horror offerings and, honestly, I’m not mad about it. Here, Bacon is joined by Amanda Seyfried as his too-young actress wife, of whom he’s perpetually jealous—a situation complicated and exacerbated by their Welsh vacation house. The property itself seems to be loaded with malicious intent, mirroring the marital troubles of our unhappy couple.
Though it hits plenty of stock biopic notes, this sports drama offers an inspiring origin story for LeBron James, starring Mookie Cook as a young LeBron who, along with his friends, formed the #1 high school basketball team in the country. It’s based on the book of the same name co-written by Buzz Bissinger, best known for Friday Night Lights.
Awkward name aside (presumably there are a lot of movies named The Pass?), this one’s an entertainingly soapy drama from the titular Real Housewives of Atlanta power couple. Drew Sidora and Rob Riley star as a couple that give each other one night off from fidelity, with predictably steamy results. Nothing wrong with a movie that gives exactly what it promises.
Writer/director Alex Heller also stars here, alongside J. Smith-Cameron and Steve Buscemi, as a young college dropout coping with bipolar disorder who returns home to her challenging family. Heller’s great, the dialogue is clever, and the movie gets high marks for its more-authentic-than-usual portrayal of life with bipolar disorder.
Jordan Peele’s latest managed a thoroughly unnerving atmosphere even as it blends comedy and scares in an alien invasion horror film that’s also a little bit of a western. Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer star in another unclassifiable and original triumph.
Solid reviews met abysmal box office returns when this docudrama was released way back in 2020, but it’s worth a look. With some of the style of great journalism-themed dramas of days past, She Said looks at the investigation that ultimately exposed Harvey Weinstein’s history of abuse and assault, as led by New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) and Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan).
A London cleaning lady (circa 1957) becomes enamored with a client’s Dior dress, and heads off to Paris to get one of her own when she comes into a bit of extra money. In the process, she falls into the world of haute couture and high culture. Lesley Manville is an absolute delight as the lead in this adaptation of Paul Gallico’s 1958 novel.
Cassie (Carey Mulligan) seemed like she had everything going for her before she dropped out of medical school and started spending her nights hanging out at bars, seemingly easy prey for skeezy guys. Except that there’s more to Cassie than meets the eye, and those dudes at the bar have no idea what’s coming. Writer/director Emerald Fennell (who followed this up with the similarly tough-to-classify Saltburn) blends comedy with revenge thriller themes and wraps it all in an ultra-stylish candy-colored package.
Based on a memoir from Quawntay “Bosco” Adams (here played by Aubrey Joseph), who was sentenced in 2004 to 35 years in a maximum security prison for the heinous and unforgivable crime of—well, the movie keeps that under wraps for quite a while. Suffice it to say that it’s not hard to root for him as he plans an ingenious and fairly spectacular escape with the help of a prison pen pal played by Nikki Blonsky.
Ridley Scott hasn’t had a ton of luck with his big historical epics, but this very slightly smaller film about the Gucci dynasty had more success at the box office, and generally positive reviews. Lady Gaga and Adam Driver star in the glitzy, moderately campy crime drama about the battle for control of the fashion brand.
Writer/director Bryce McGuire expands his 2014 short to feature length with somewhat mixed results, but the horror-fantasy kicks off with a fun premise: this one's about a haunted swimming pool—keeping, I suppose, in line with the "spooky property" theme of other Peacock horrors. It doesn't all float, but Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon are effective leads, and there's some legitimately scary stuff going on.
Old school survival drama (based on true events) about a family living in the backwoods confronted by a horrific fire. Peter Facinelli and Fiona Dourif star.
A broad approach to the history (and present) of the American Civil Rights movement can be useful, but it's often more illuminating to zoom in. This smart doc uses interviews and archival footage to tell the story of the title county in the 1960s, a time when the area was rough 80% Black in population, but with zero non-white voters.
Feels a little late in the day, perhaps, for a movie parodying boy bands, but this third Trolls movie is otherwise well on par with the series: It's joke-heavy, family-friendly, and just generally silly fun. Justin Timberlake heads up one of those all-star voice casts that includes Anna Kendrick, Keenan Thompson, Ron Funches, and RuPaul. There's also a sing-along version for brave parents.
You can get this 5-in-1 MagSafe-compatible charging station on sale for $49.97 right now (reg. $79) through April 21. It has three wireless charging areas: One charging stand is for iPhones (12 to 15 series) or other Qi-enabled phones, the lower area is for AirPods, and the last one is for Apple Watches. The wired part of the charging station is a USB-A port. It also has a nightlight feature that allows you to choose between three dimmable brightness levels.
You can get this 5-in-1 MagSafe-compatible charging station on sale for $49.97 right now (reg. $79) through April 21 at 11:59 p.m. PT, though prices can change at any time.
TED’s Helen Walters hosts Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Session 10 of TED2024 plumbs the depths of human emotions, celebrating the beauty of community art, the everyday bravery of family life, the power of sound and more.
The event: Talks from Session 10 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, hosted by TED’s Helen Walters
When and where: Thursday, April 18, 2024, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Speakers: Jaime Rojo, Lily Yeh, Mark Grimmer, Kelly Corrigan, Felipe Sánchez Luna, Kylan Gibbs, Lear deBessonet
Broadway legend Brian Stokes Mitchell performs at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
Performance: Joined onstage by a marching band, broadway legend Brian Stokes Mitchell belts “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” accompanied by pianist Todd Almond — and participation from TED-attendees-turned-singers throughout the TED Theater.
The talks in brief:
Jaime Rojo speaks at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Photographer Jaime Rojo shares his experience photographing the migration of monarch butterflies across North America each year, diving into the latest research behind how these mesmerizing insects make their multi-thousand-mile journey.
Lily Yeh speaks at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
From Rwanda to North Philadelphia to the Chinese countryside, barefoot artist Lily Yeh uses the world’s streets and walls as her canvas, collaborating with local communities to weave beauty and healing through the vibrant tapestry of their collective stories and talents.
Mark Grimmer speaks at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
We are living in the age of immersive experiences, says Mark Grimmer, cofounder of 59 Productions. Redefining narrative possibilities, he shares several multidisciplinary projects, including a multi-sensory exhibit of David Bowie that re-animated his kaleidoscopic career through a whirlwind of objects, costumes and videos — and showed what happens when diverse ideas collide.
Kelly Corrigan speaks at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
Kelly Corrigan ponders the “Olympic achievements” of everyday bravery: the mundane triumphs each of us racks up simply navigating life’s tribulations, big and small. While bravery may consist of simply hanging around and listening (regardless of whether times are tough or boring), its reward is a “maximum dosage” of total human emotion.
Felipe Sanchez Luna speaks at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
In an astounding sonic experience, Felipe Sánchez Luna takes the audience on a journey of music and code, mixing notes and rhythms with ones and zeroes. His composition combines real recordings with data, AI-driven music and human creativity to tap into the transformative power of sound to evoke a deeper, emotional understanding of our world.
Kylan Gibbs speaks at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED)
Video games are increasingly immersive, but they can still make you feel like you’re in a “closed” system, taken from one scripted point to another based on the buttons you press. Inworld cofounder Kylan Gibbs is helping expand this world with “AI agents” — characters powered by AI that have depth, realism and “brains.” He explains how these agents generate new game outcomes unique to each player’s decisions, augmenting our ability to tell stories.
Lear deBessonet speaks at Session 10 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Church pageants, football games and Mardi Gras aren’t just spectacles — they’re universal human experiences. Theater director Lear deBessonet‘s productions ignite the communal, healing thrill of collective expression by drawing their huge casts (often involving scores of performers) from a cross-section of their host communities.
The MEI Screaming Eagles Marching Band makes it out of the theater and into the Vancouver Convention Centre’s “Loop” after Session 10 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
TED2024, held April 15-19, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada, is a week of talks, discovery sessions, excursions, dinners, performances and more celebrating “The Brave and the Brilliant.” Special thanks to our strategic partners PwC, Adobe, Schneider Electric and Northwestern Mutual.
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Head of TED Chris Anderson speaks at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
In Session 9 of TED2024, great minds working on world-shifting innovations shared their work, from a biologist who raised mice with two dads to a computer scientist with a more democratic crowdfunding model. Whether at home or on the global stage, these big ideas have the potential to shape what’s possible.
The event: Talks from Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson
When and where: Thursday, April 18, 2024, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Speakers: Katsuhiko Hayashi, Carole K. Hooven, Chris Duffy, Anima Anandkumar, Kevin Owocki, Gibran Huzaifah
Elle Cordova performs at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Performance: Writer, musician and comedian Elle Cordova personified the most beloved fonts, including Futura, Times New Roman, Garamond and more. The funny and smart typographical adventure included a nod to TED’s preferred Helvetica, as well as an audition from Comic Sans to represent the org with a new motto: “thinky thoughts are good.”
The talks in brief:
Katsuhiko Hayashi speaks at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Biologist Katsuhiko Hayashi dives into the science behind how his team used breakthrough assisted reproductive technology to raise healthy young from the skin cells of two male mice. The accomplishment has implications for endangered species — and the shape of all future families.
Carole K. Hooven speaks at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Exploring the intersection of science, parenthood and societal norms, behavioral endocrinologist Carole K. Hooven delves into the evolutionary biology and cultural influence behind the differences between sexes — starting with how and why kids play.
Chris Duffy speaks at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Before he was a comedian and host of the TED podcast How to Be a Better Human, Chris Duffy taught elementary school. He shares what he learned from his fifth graders about nurturing your grown-up sense of humor, proposing that there are perks in seeing the world as a kid does: full of hilarious, amazing and extremely weird things.
Anima Anandkumar speaks at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Perhaps generative AI can write a competent song lyric, but by itself, it lacks the physical knowledge to build a better airplane. To model physical processes, says AI professor Anima Anandkumar, these systems must grasp the finest details of the real world, from molecular bonds to ocean currents. She shares recent AI projects that demonstrate this ability — forecasting weather, designing medical devices and more.
Kevin Owocki speaks at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Gitcoin founder Kevin Owocki introduces quadratic funding, a new kind of crowdfunding model. Unlike Kickstarter or Patreon, quadratic funding uses a mathematical formula to match contributions based on the number of contributors rather than the amount given. The more people who care about a project, the more funding it will get.
Gibran Huzaifah speaks at Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
When Gibran Huzaifah started an aquaculture farm in Indonesia, he was quickly confronted by the lack of technology in the industry. Farmers had insufficient data insights into murky ponds and spent huge sums on manual feeding. So he launched a start-up to automate feeding, eliminate resource waste and solve supply disadvantages for small farmers.
TED attendees during Session 9 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)
TED2024, held April 15-19, 2024, in Vancouver, BC, Canada, is a week of talks, discovery sessions, excursions, dinners, performances and more celebrating “The Brave and the Brilliant.” Special thanks to our strategic partners PwC, Adobe, Schneider Electric and Northwestern Mutual.
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Trying to keep on top of securing all your various digital accounts can seem daunting, but sometimes the simplest checks are the most effective. Case in point: Seeing how many different devices you're logged into at the moment.
This is useful for two reasons. First of all, it might flag up a device that has accessed your account without your permission or knowledge—perhaps an unwelcome and uninvited guest, someone who has got hold of your login credentials.
Second, it can show you where your accounts might still be active on older hardware that you're no longer using—maybe gadgets you've sold or given away. These devices might not be currently compromised, but they could be if you're still logged in on them.
You can easily do do this for your Google account, and it's also possible to do it for your Apple account—the ones you're probably logged into on your main desktop or laptop computer. It's worth checking—you might have more active logins than you realize.
The easiest place to manage the devices logged in to your Apple ID is from a Mac or an iPhone. From a Mac, open the Apple menu then System Settings, then click your name at the top of the sidebar. You'll see a list of all of the devices you're currently logged in to, and you can click on any of them to get more details.
These devices might include your phone and laptop, but also your Apple Watch, HomePod smart speakers, and streaming devices that you've signed into Apple TV Plus. The information you can get on each device will vary, but might include a serial number and the software version the device is running, which can help you work out what's what.
To disconnect a device from your Apple ID, click Remove from Account. Remember that you can always sign in again on these devices, so you're not cutting them off for good—but if someone is using your device without your permission, then they'll suddenly find their access has been cut off.
You can find the same list of devices and options in other places as well. On an iPhone, for example, open up the iOS Settings screen, then tap your name at the top. In a web browser, you can head to your Apple ID account page, then click Devices. Devices can be unlinked from any of these locations too.
On the same screens—on macOS, iOS, and the web—you'll also notice a Sign-In & Security page. Once you've disconnected any suspicious devices from your Apple account, head to this page to make sure it's difficult for anyone to sign in as you again. You can manage changing your password, turning on two-factor authentication, and adjusting your account recovery settings from here.
Like them or hate them, YouTube Shorts are here to stay. If they wish they weren't constantly popping up on your feed, you can do a few things to weaken their pull on your already declining attention span. YouTube's own option lets you temporarily hide them, but you need third-party extensions to banish them forever.
The quickest way to remove YouTube Shorts from view on Chrome is to click the X (Not interested) button on the top-right of the Shorts row. But there are two things to note:
This is a temporary solution, as YouTube will resume recommending Shorts after 30 days.
The Not interested button only works for Chrome on desktop and not on the mobile apps for iOS and Android.
Even if you remove it from the homepage, Shorts make an appearance on the sidebar when you are watching a particular video. While you can tell YouTube that you are "Not Interested" in a specific Short, you cannot remove the suggestions from view.
You cannot remove all shorts in the apps for iOS and Android. But you can train the algorithm to stop showing you certain Shorts by selecting the three vertical dots on each short and choosing Not interested in the menu. Tapping on Report and Send feedback are options if you find certain Shorts in bad taste. I've had limited success with the mobile options, honestly—it's like pushing back against a firehose.
While Chrome might give you a tiny bit of control, other browsers don't. Chrome or not, if you really want to remove YouTube Shorts, look at these browser extensions and add-ons.
ShortsBlocker (Chrome and Firefox): This extension improves your YouTube experience by hiding Shorts from your view entirely. This includes the homepage, subscriptions, search results, the navigation column on the left, and the video recommendations column on the right.
Unhook (Chrome, Firefox, and Edge): This extension gives you more control about what you want to hide on the YouTube homepage. The setting includes the option to hide YouTube Shorts along with other distractions like related videos, comments, homepage recommendations, trending tab, etc.
YouTube Shorts Blocker (Chrome): This extension removes Shorts from view from the necessary pages. But it also gives you a custom block list to selectively block content from channels you don't want on your feed. You can choose to automatically convert Shorts videos into a regular format if you want to watch specific Shorts from some channels.
BlockYT for Safari: This Safari extension makes YouTube distraction-free by blocking Shorts, comments, and recommendations. It also works on the Safari browser on iPhones and iPads.
Like all extensions, these, too, come from third-party developers. Use them with caution and stay aware of bugs and bug fixes.
Most LinkedIn users are probably familiar with the site's longtime offerings, including job postings, the newsfeed, and congratulating people you met once at a conference on their work anniversary. But unless you spend a lot of time on the professional networking site, you may not be aware of some of its more recent additions, like the "I'm interested" button that some companies have on their profile.
In short, the "I'm interested" feature allows users to privately express interest in working for a particular company without applying for a specific role. Think of it as the digital equivalent of sending your resume to a company with a note asking their hiring team to keep it on file and consider you for future job openings as they arise.
The "I'm interested" button is located on either the "About" or "Life" tabs of a company's profile, or on the "About the company" section of individual job listings. If you can't find it, the company either doesn't have active LinkedIn Career Page and Recruiter contracts, or they've disabled the feature.
Once you've found and clicked the button, you become part of the company's "Talent Interest Pipeline"—meaning that the next time their recruiters need to fill a role, they have the option of searching for qualified candidates who have already indicated that they want to work for the organization. The recruiters can view your profile and share it with other members of the hiring team, but that's it. When you express interest in a company, it's not visible on your public profile, LinkedIn's newsfeed, or to any other companies or recruiters.
If your situation changes, you can withdraw your interest in a company at any time by returning to the location of their "I'm interested" button and clicking "undo;" otherwise, you'll remain part of their Talent Interest Pipeline for one year.
By giving users more control over who can see that they're looking for new opportunities, the "I'm interested" feature is a lower-stakes alternative to adding the "Open to Work" badge to their public profile, or even limiting its visibility to recruiters. But according to Matthew Warzel, the president of MJW Careers, how and when you use it matters.
LinkedIn markets the tool to recruiters as a way to easily identify candidates who are not only interested in working for their company, but also possess the same values. So, before clicking or expressing interest in anything, Warzel—who has more than 15 years of experience in recruitment, outplacement, and career coaching—recommends looking into a company to make sure that its values align with yours, and that it's a good match for your career goals and skills.
This also matters because LinkedIn users are limited to expressing interest in up to 50 companies. "It's crucial to reserve this feature for organizations that are top priorities," Warzel says. "Job seekers should focus on companies where they genuinely see themselves thriving and progressing in their careers."
Here are some other tips for using the feature, courtesy of Warzel:
DO click the "I'm interested" button proactively before formally applying for a position at a company. "It allows job seekers to stand out from the competition and potentially get noticed by recruiters earlier in the hiring process," he says.
DON'T wait for a job opening to signal interest in a company. "You might be a good fit for a future, unadvertised role the company might be creating," Warzel says. "By expressing interest, you're in the pool for potential consideration."
DO take the time to ensure that your profile is up-to-date and aligns with a company's values and needs.
DO use the feature to improve your overall experience. "LinkedIn's algorithm takes into account the companies you've expressed interest in when suggesting connections and job opportunities," he says. Signaling interest in unrelated or less desirable companies could also skew these recommendations.
DON'T go overboard. According to Warzel, excessive use of the "I'm interested" feature—especially without tailored follow-up actions or research—may convey a sense of desperation to recruiters or hiring managers.
DO click "I'm Interested" after connecting with someone at the company. "It strengthens your connection, shows you're serious about exploring opportunities, and allows for a more targeted approach when reaching out to recruiters at a company directly," Warzel says.
DO prioritize companies strategically. "In highly competitive industries or job markets, job seekers may opt to save their 'I'm interested' slots for companies where they have a higher chance of standing out or securing an interview," he says.
Ultimately, if you're not putting the necessary time and effort into your job search, clicking "I'm interested" 50 times won't magically make offers materialize. But when you're attempting to stand out in a sea of qualified candidates and get your resume in front of the right person, you might as well take advantage of the tools at your disposal. "Remember: The button is just one piece of the puzzle," Warzel says. "Following the company, engaging with their content, and directly reaching out to recruiters all work together to create a more comprehensive impression."
Les pèlerinages ne sont plus réservés qu’aux moines. Ces chemins épiques qui se faufilent dans des villages médiévaux et des paysages ruraux attirent de nouveaux adeptes.
Des sentiers bien connus ont récemment enregistré une fréquentation record, tandis que de nouveaux itinéraires ont été lancés aux États-Unis, en Irlande, au Bhoutan et au Sri Lanka. En 2023, près d’un demi-million de personnes ont parcouru le chemin de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle en Espagne, l’un des pèlerinages les plus célèbres. Pourtant, les données du Centre international d’accueil au pèlerin ont révélé que seuls 40 % des personnes empruntant ces sentiers marchaient pour des raisons purement religieuses.
Alors que les cours de marche se multiplient dans les salles de sport, ainsi que sur les plateformes de streaming, et que les #softhiking et #hotgirlwalk embrasent TikTok, il n’est pas surprenant que ces longues promenades dans la nature aient attiré l’attention. La plateforme de courses à pied Spacebib a lancé une collection de tee-shirts qui évacuent l’humidité, nommée World Pilgrimage Trails, sur le thème des chemins de pèlerinage du monde entier. La plateforme The Conqueror, quant à elle, a lancé un défi virtuel autour du chemin de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle permettant de suivre sa progression sur sa montre connectée. L’attrait pour le pèlerinage s’est tellement développé que le Global Wellness Summit, sommet mondial du marché du bien-être, l’a désigné comme l’une des tendances en la matière pour 2024.
Si les pèlerinages sont de plus en plus populaires parmi les adeptes de fitness, ils restent une pratique intemporelle à la croisée de l’activité physique, de la spiritualité et de l’épanouissement personnel.
Un pèlerinage est un voyage que l’on effectue à pied, à cheval ou à vélo vers un lieu sacré. Présents dans de nombreuses religions, ces longs périples permettent de prouver sa dévotion.
Il existe des centaines de chemins de pèlerinage à travers le monde. Les pèlerins modernes peuvent encore emprunter les plus anciens, comme celui de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle, remontant au 9e siècle, et son pendant, le Kumano Kodo, au Japon, datant du 10e siècle, qui sont tous deux inscrits au patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO. Une multitude de nouveaux chemins de pèlerinage ont toutefois été ouverts afin que cette nouvelle vague de marcheurs puisse mettre à l’épreuve corps, esprit et âme.
En 2022, le Bhoutan a restauré le Trans Bhutan, un sentier du 16e siècle franchissant douze cols de montagne, autrefois emprunté par les bouddhistes pour traverser le pays et visiter ses sites les plus sacrés. Le Sri Lanka a inauguré le sentier Pekoe en 2023, un tronçon d’un peu moins de 300 kilomètres reliant les villes de Kandy et Nuwara Eliya. Il longe un ancien temple de pierre, des grottes et des chutes d’eau. En 2024, l’Irlande et le pays de Galles achèveront le Wexford-Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way, un chemin de près de 138 kilomètres qui commence à Wexford, en Irlande, et se termine à Saint David’s, au pays de Galles. Il y est question de promenades au sommet des falaises, de plans d’eau sacrés et de criques isolées fréquentées par des phoques. Enfin, en Californie, il est possible de tenter le nouveau Camino de Sonoma, une randonnée approchant les 120 kilomètres au départ de la mission de Sonoma jusqu’à la chapelle orthodoxe russe de Fort Ross.
Selon Marc Massad, coach personnel basé au Royaume-Uni, enfiler ses chaussures de marche est bon pour le corps et l’esprit : cela contribue non seulement au bien-être physique, mais encourage également la résilience.
« La marche stimule la santé cardiovasculaire, favorise la perte de poids, améliore l’équilibre et la coordination, et accroît l’endurance musculaire avec un minimum d’effort articulaire », explique-t-il. « La marche a aussi de profonds effets bénéfiques sur la santé mentale. C’est un moyen naturel de soulager le stress en libérant des endorphines qui peuvent réduire les symptômes de la dépression et de l’anxiété. »
Nicole Hu, vingt-sept ans, de Chicago, a parcouru les 120 kilomètres du chemin de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle en juillet 2023, depuis la frontière portugaise jusqu’à la célèbre ville en Espagne. « Je voulais marcher, être dans la nature et avoir du temps pour moi, pour réfléchir », confie-t-elle.
Nicole, qui a déjà passé des vacances à faire de la plongée sous-marine en Égypte et de la randonnée au Pérou, a apprécié les règles claires de ce défi qui trouve son origine au Moyen Âge. Chaque pèlerin doit parcourir au moins 100 kilomètres, collecter des tampons chaque jour et terminer son voyage au Centre international d’accueil au pèlerin.
Si elle n’a pas trouvé le terrain particulièrement éreintant, marcher jusqu’à 24 kilomètres par jour sous une chaleur atteignant 38 degrés Celsius s’est avéré être un véritable défi. « C’était exténuant mais très gratifiant », livre-t-elle. « C’est dur pour le corps mais c’est une très bonne expérience. Je crois que je le referais mais sur une plus longue durée, simplement parce que je pense que l’on en retire davantage. »
Paul Christie, PDG de Walk Japan, qui organise des randonnées pédestres hors des sentiers battus au Japon, explique qu’il a constaté une augmentation du nombre de touristes qui s’inscrivaient à des pèlerinages guidés. « Notre expérience suggère que l’intérêt pour les pèlerinages est issu d’une évolution naturelle de la demande croissante pour la marche en général, et ce, à travers un large éventail d’âges et de nationalités », explique-t-il.
Guy Hayward, cofondateur de British Pilgrimage Trust, organisation caritative qui vise à promouvoir le pèlerinage, peu importe les croyances, explique toutefois que tout le monde n’accepte pas cette vision plus laïque de la pratique. « Il y a évidemment des personnes ferventes qui pensent qu’il n’y a qu’une seule façon de faire un pèlerinage et qu’elle se doit d’être hautement pieuse », déclare-t-il. « Mais j’espère qu’ils se rendront compte que les pèlerinages peuvent devenir une sorte d’opportunité sous-jacente permettant aux gens de découvrir des aspects plus profonds d’eux-mêmes. »
La marathonienne Kimberly Davies, trente-cinq ans, de Toronto, a décidé de parcourir les 770 kilomètres du Camino francés, de Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port à la ville de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle, en Espagne, en passant par les Pyrénées françaises.
« Vous vivez véritablement l’instant présent », affirme-t-elle. « C’est un havre de paix. Pas d’obligations, pas de planification, pas de recherche d’hôtels ou de restaurants, et j’ai adoré être à l’extérieur pendant six semaines, ce qui, je pense, est très sain ».
Si certaines personnes découvrent les pèlerinages, Rick Walsh, soixante-trois ans, originaire de San Francisco, a en revanche souvent parcouru les sentiers du Japon. Il a récemment suivi le circuit Shikoku Wayfarer, proposé par Walk Japan, d’une durée de six jours, qui fait partie du pèlerinage des quatre-vingt-huit temples de la nation insulaire. En traversant la campagne montagneuse jusqu’à la côte de l’océan Pacifique, il affirme que le pouvoir du pèlerinage ne lui a pas échappé. « Vous pouvez faire de l’exercice n’importe où mais c’est très spécial de le faire dans un endroit aussi unique que le Japon, tout en participant à un voyage culturel organisé. »
Cet article a initialement paru sur le site nationalgeographic.com en langue anglaise.
Gardening is proven to be beneficial for your physical and mental health. There’s sunshine, and exercise, and all the fresh fruits and vegetables. Still, gardening can be a lot—and smart devices can take some of the burden off your garden responsibilities, keeping you free for the stuff you really enjoy. These devices don’t just free up time—they can often give you valuable data, which means you can treat your garden more appropriately, based on its needs. This year there are lots of new entries into the market that can make the great outdoors a little smarter.
At a basic level, composting is just piling up your organic scraps; if the ratio of nitrogen and carbon are about the same and there’s enough heat, you get compost. This is sometimes aided by worms. Still the market of composting devices is huge, and I think most people still just pile organic materials in and cross their fingers. A device like Monty, which has just been released in the states, can help make it less confusing. Monty looks like a smart probe; you stick it into the top of your compost pile and then pair it with the Monty app. I found Monty really only works when the compost pile is exposed and not in a compost container. Once the Bluetooth pairs, Monty will give you insight into the status of your compost and how to correct anything that’s going wrong.
You can, of course, get the weather report from your local newspaper or weather.com and you might get lucky and have an official weather station relatively near you. But if you live a bit aways from the airport, where those stations are usually located, the weather will not be hyper accurate. Most people don’t know (I certainly didn’t) that there exist a vast network of private weather stations. You can access this network if you get a device that relies on weather data, like a smart sprinkler system. I found a station a block away, and that kind of hyperlocal information about when the rain started and how much wind there was really fine-tuned my irrigation system. I was excited to try it out for myself, so this year I added a Tempest. Installation took less than a minute, and I mounted it to the top of a fence. I get alerts when it starts to rain and what the wind looks like, a really accurate heat index, air quality reading and more. An added side benefit was that if you sync it to Wunderground, which is easy to do, you get Wunderground access, ad free.
Soil sensors are a tricky thing. The environment (wet, dirty) makes it hard to keep the sensor accurate over time. Even smart sprinkler systems have generally required underground wire to the sensors, which means digging. There are a few brands that make wireless sensors, which means you can get hydration levels from the different garden areas across your yard, and adjust your irrigation appropriately.
Wireless soil sensors to try:
Moen Smart Wireless Soil Sensor, $69.99
Much like a robot vacuum surfs the ground looking for detritus, there are robots that traverse your garden looking for weeds—namely, the Tertill. As tickled as I am by smart tech, my main issue with Tertill is that it requires a lot of space between plants, which I don’t have. Still, if you maintain a pristine garden with some roominess, having a robot handle weeding sounds fantastic. Farmbot takes it a step further and automates absolutely everything. A robot on a track continually runs over the top of the garden, analyzing what’s growing using “Farmduino,” a modified Arduino running on open source language. It measures soil moisture, nutrients, even soil height, as well as the health of your plants and weeds. It can be attached to almost any raised bed, and requires no programming knowledge. I haven’t tried it, and after seeing it a few times on social media, I was highly skeptical. However, in digging into the documentation, I think it could provide accessibility as well as help people learn about gardening. While unrealistic for a home user at scale because of cost, the idea is great.
While grass lawns are terrible for the planet, your soil, local beneficial insects and the water table, people still have them. Robot lawnmowers are an exploding vertical, and having tested a few of them in the last few months, I’ve been surprised by how effective they really are. They’re expensive, but if you assume you mow as much as you vacuum, the pricing starts to make sense.
Robot lawnmowers to consider:
Mammotion Luba 2, starting at $2899
Segway Navimow, starting at $999.00
The Amazon Fire Max 11 tablet offers the biggest screen in the Fire Tablet lineup—and right now, the Fire Max 11 bundle, which comes with the official keyboard, stylus, and cover, is on sale for $279.99 (originally $404.97). That price marks the lowest this bundle has sold for, after checking price-tracking tools.
The bundle includes the Amazon Stylus Pen for Fire Max 11, which costs $34.99, and the Amazon Fire Max 11 Keyboard Case, which usually runs for $89.99. The bundle adds a $125 value for $50 more than the list price of the Fire Max 11, or $80 more than its current discounted price of $199.99 (originally $229.99).
This 13th-generation Fire tablet was released last summer with an "excellent" review from PCMag for the quality of its screen, upgrades in design, good performance, and access to the Amazon ecosystem. The tablet is a 2,000 by 1,200-pixel resolution tablet with up to 14 hours of playtime, 4 GB of RAM, an 8 MP front and rear camera, and 128 GB of storage. This is also the version without any lock-screen ads.
One of the biggest complaints regarding Amazon tablets is the restriction on apps. Because they are Amazon products, the default app store is the Amazon app store, but there are workarounds.
Sur le chemin qui sépare notre domicile de notre travail, certains d'entre nous dorment, tandis que d'autres consultent frénétiquement leur portable. Mais dans les tramways de la ville japonaise de Matsuyama, les passagers ont une autre option : écrire un haïku.
Matsuyama est la capitale autoproclamée de cette forme de poésie courte, vieille de plusieurs siècles, traditionnellement mais pas exclusivement composée de trois vers de cinq, sept et cinq syllabes. Montez dans les tramways de la ville et vous trouverez les boîtes à haïkus rectangulaires. Les passagers sont encouragés à rédiger un haïku sur une feuille de papier prévue à cet effet. Il suffit ensuite de la glisser dans la boîte pour le concours d'haïkus organisé par la ville. Si l'expérience vous a plu, vous pouvez, dans la soirée, vous arrêter dans l'un des bars à haïku de Matsuyama, pour rédiger un poème tout en sirotant une boisson.
Ce que nous appelons aujourd'hui haïku était à l'origine une strophe d'ouverture de poèmes plus longs. Du moins, jusqu'à ce que des poètes du 17e siècle tels que Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) popularisent leur existence propre en tant que poèmes courts, appelés alors hokku, ou comme accompagnement à la prose, un style connu sous le nom de haibun. Dans le cas de Basho, il intégrait souvent des haïkus dans ses carnets de voyage.
Plusieurs siècles plus tard, les haïkus sont étudiés dans les écoles japonaises, célébrés lors de compétitions nationales et promus à la télévision dans des émissions hebdomadaires.
Ce passe-temps traditionnel japonais a gagné en popularité dans le monde entier, et l'on trouve aujourd'hui des associations de haïku, en Europe (notamment en France, où existe l'Association francophone du Haïku) en Afrique et en Amérique du Nord. Il existe même une Journée internationale du haïku, célébrée le 17 avril, organisée par la Haïku Foundation, une organisation internationale.
Voici comment suivre la piste du haïku dans le pays qui l'a vu naître.
Comme l'écrit Julie Bloss Kelsey dans la rubrique New to Haiku de la Haiku Foundation, le haïku moderne s'est développé au-delà des limites traditionnelles.
« En Japonais, un haïku s'écrit en dix-sept on, ou unités de sons. Les On ne se traduisent pas directement en syllabes dans les autres langues, notamment en anglais. Certains érudits spécialistes du haïku avancent que cette fausse idée a conduit les haïkus anglais à être trop verbeux », explique-t-elle. « C'est pourquoi on voit souvent des haïku modernes avec moins de dix-sept syllabes. Les Haïku peuvent être écrits avec un, deux, trois ou quatre vers, voire plus. Bien que les haïkus de trois vers en anglais soient les plus courants, les haïkus composés d'un vers, aussi appelés monoku, deviennent de plus en plus populaires. »
Ce n'est pas la seule évolution depuis l'époque de Basho. Même si les haïkus contiennent habituellement des mots se rapportant aux saisons, ou kigo en japonais, ils ne doivent pas forcément parler des fleurs de cerisiers éphémères ou bien des feuilles d'automne. Les émotions humaines, les instants de vie, ou un chihuahua bien-aimé font de tout aussi bons sujets. De la même façon, un haïku peut canaliser de la mélancolie, de l'humour, et tous les sentiments que l'on souhaitera y mettre.
Lorsque l'on voyage au Japon, il n'est pas rare de trouver des haïkus sous diverses formes. Plusieurs sites se vantent d'une connexion avec l'un des « quatre grands » poètes du monde des haïkus : Yosa Buson (1716-1784), Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828), Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) et, le plus célèbre de tous, Basho.
Basho a parcouru la région de Tohoku, au nord de l'île principale du Japon, au cours d'un périple de cinq mois documenté dans le récit de voyage classique rédigé en haïku Oku no Hosomichi (La Sente étroite du Bout-du-Monde). On peut y suivre ses pas jusqu'au temple de Yamadera, situé à flanc de montagne, où le paisible sentier boisé inspira à Basho l'un de ses poèmes les plus célèbres :
immobilité
le chant des cigales
pénètre dans la roche
À Tohoku, il est également possible de visiter la ville de Hiraizumi, inspiration du poème morose de Basho, « herbes d'été / tout ce qui reste / des rêves des guerriers. » À Hiraizumi, on trouve cependant bien plus que des champs verts, notamment le temple Chusonji, classé au patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO, et sa salle dorée de Konjikido.
Dans l'est de Tokyo, dans une ancienne région rurale dont Basho était originaire, on trouve aujourd'hui le musée Basho au sein d'une zone d'expansion urbaine des vingt-trois quartiers. Il existe au Japon d'autres musées Basho : l'un se trouve sur son lieu de naissance, à Iga Ueno, dans la préfecture de Mie ; et les autres dans plusieurs villes sur son itinéraire d'Oku no Hosomichi.
Et puis, il y a Matsuyama, la capitale d'haïku du Japon. Située sur la plus petite des quatre îles principales du pays, Matsuyama est la ville natale de Masaoka Shiki, qui, avant de mourir de tuberculose à trente-quatre ans en 1902, a inventé le terme haïku (qui signifie « jeu de mots ») et insufflé un nouveau souffle à cet art en encourageant une plus grande diversité de sujets et l'utilisation d'un langage non traditionnel. Il a même écrit le premier haiku sur le baseball :
herbes d'été
des joueurs de baseball
au loin
Vous ne pouvez pas passer un jour à Matsuyama sans voir la connexion avec les haïkus. Comme dans les tramways, vous trouverez des boîtes à haïkus dans le château de Matsuyama, perché sur une colline et au Dogo Onsen Honkan, l'un des plus vieux établissements thermaux du Japon, au cas où un haïku vous vienne à l'esprit pendant la baignade. La municipalité de Matsuyama a également fait installer des boîtes à haïkus dans des villes jumelles à l'étranger, notamment à Bruxelles, en Belgique, à Fribourg, en Allemagne et à Taipei, à Taïwan.
Cet article a initialement paru sur le site nationalgeographic.com en langue anglaise.
Une nouvelle étoile est en route pour venir peupler le ciel nocturne de l’hémisphère nord. Elle pourrait apparaître d’ici quelques jours, mais cela pourrait aussi bien prendre quelques mois ; les astronomes n’ont à ce sujet pas beaucoup de certitudes, bien qu’ils attendent le retour de sa lueur depuis quatre-vingts ans. Mais lorsqu’elle paraîtra enfin, elle brillera si intensément que l’on pourra la voir à l’œil nu une semaine durant.
Et ensuite, aussi abruptement qu’elle aura fait irruption dans le panorama céleste, elle s’en ira.
Derrière cette manifestation clinquante se cache T Coronae Borealis (ou T CrB), phénomène rare connu sous le nom de nova récurrente. Comme le suggère son nom, T CrB se situe dans une constellation en forme de fer à cheval nommée Corona Borealis (la Couronne Boréale), distante de 3 000 années-lumière environ.
À l’inverse des novas classiques qui sont créées lorsqu’une étoile explose à la fin de sa vie, les novas récurrentes, comme leur nom le suggère, percent dans le ciel bien plus fréquemment, mais elles sont également causées par des processus stellaires différents de ceux à l’origine des vraies novas. La dernière éruption de T Coronae Borealis s’est produite en 1946. Seules dix de ces novas sont répertoriées dans la Voie lactée.
La lumière de T Coronae Borealis n’est pas le produit de l’explosion d’un unique corps céleste mais plutôt d’une danse céleste entre deux étoiles orbitant l’une autour de l’autre. La plus grande des deux, une géante rouge dont la masse équivaut peu ou prou celle de notre système solaire tout entier, perd de sa matière, notamment de l’hydrogène et de l’hélium. Cet éjecta tombe en partie sur la naine blanche voisine qui, bien qu’elle fasse à peu près la taille de la Terre, contient près de 40 % de matière de plus que le Soleil, ce qui en fait un astre extraordinairement dense.
Alors que la naine blanche absorbe les rebuts de sa compagne de route, sa température ne cesse d’augmenter, et elle devient donc plus dense. Enfin, tous les quatre-vingts ans environ, elle atteint un point de bascule critique où des réactions de fusion nucléaire en série la font entrer en éruption.
« Nous la suivons dans le monde entier et elle a fait des choses amusantes », indique Sumner Starrfield, professeur de l’Université d’État d’Arizona qui a beaucoup étudié ce système solaire au cours de sa carrière. « Sa luminosité a augmenté pendant quelques années et aujourd’hui elle a diminué un peu. Il semble qu’elle fasse à peu près la même chose que juste avant d’exploser en 1946, raison pour laquelle nous faisons tout à coup preuve de beaucoup d’intérêt. »
On ne sait pas exactement quand l’éruption se produira. Selon la NASA, cela pourrait survenir à n’importe quel moment d’ici au mois de septembre. Mais Sumner Starrfield fait observer que ce n’est qu’une bonne estimation, et qu’il faudra peut-être attendre plusieurs années avant que nous ne puissions observer l’explosion dans le ciel. Toutefois, lorsqu’elle se produira, les astronomes amateurs n’auront pas le temps de cligner des yeux tant le phénomène est fugace.
« Le paroxysme sera atteint très rapidement », explique Bradley Schaefer, professeur émérite à l’Université d’État de Louisiane et l’un des plus grands spécialistes de T Coronae Borealis. « C’est bref, la luminosité maximale ne durera que quelques heures et elle commencera à faiblir vite. [Le phénomène] ne sera plus visible à l’œil nu après une semaine à peine. »
« Si vous êtes juste Monsieur ou Madame Tout-le-monde qui sort observer le ciel pour la voir, armé de rien d’autre que de vos simples yeux, vous n’avez qu’une ou deux nuits pour le faire », prévient-t-il.
Quand elle entrera effectivement en éruption, elle sera surveillée de près. L’équipe de Sumner Starrfield a réservé des créneaux sur le télescope spatial James-Webb (JWST) afin d’observer l’éruption et de déterminer exactement quelle quantité de masse est éjectée dans l’espace au cours du processus.
Mais certaines des observations les plus importantes de ce phénomène rare seront le fait d’un réseau d’astronomes amateurs qui utiliseront le télescope de leur jardin. Des membres de l’Association américaine des observateurs d’étoiles variables (AAVSO) et le site The Astronomer’s Telegram scrutent T CrB depuis un moment déjà. Au cours des années qui viennent de s’écouler, on a téléversé sur une plateforme centralisée un nouveau point de données toutes les dix minutes en moyenne, ce qui génère un flux constant de mises à jour sur la luminosité du système. Il ne fait aucun doute que l’un de ces amateurs s’arrogera le titre de premier à avoir aperçu l’éruption qui vient.
« La raison pour laquelle beaucoup de personnes l’observent est que les gens aiment ce qui fait boom », commente Brian Kloppenberg, directeur exécutif de l’AAVSO. Beaucoup d’astronomes amateurs ont une envie forte d’être la personne qui découvre quelque chose ou qui aperçoit une première manifestation. »
Mais Bradley Schaefer a son propre plan en place pour le moment où il recevra la nouvelle ; et il est bien déterminé à ne pas manquer l’événement. Non sans ironie, Leslie Peltier, l’astronome qui avait prédit l’éruption de 1946 avait manqué ce phénomène grandiose à cause d’un rhume inopportun. Au moment de l’éruption, T CrB devrait briller aussi intensément que l’Étoile polaire, point le plus brillant de la Petite Ourse.
« À n’en pas douter, je vais me ruer dehors dès qu’il fera nuit et que le ciel sera dégagé, car je souhaite que mes observations contribuent à la courbe de lumière, se réjouit d’ores et déjà Bradley Schaefer. Quand vous entendrez dire que T CrB se lève, vous n’aurez pas besoin de télescope, tout ce que vous avez à faire, c’est de sortir par une nuit claire et sans nuages et de lever les yeux au ciel. »
Cet article a initialement paru sur le site nationalgeographic.com en langue anglaise.
For one incredible week each year, a cavernous wing of the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada transforms into the TED Theater: a custom-made, hand-built, 1,200-seat theater that plays host to world-changing ideas meant to spark conversation, deepen understanding and drive meaningful change. Below, just a sampling of the incredible photography from this year’s event, TED2024. And check out our live coverage of the conference and watch TED Talks from TED2024.
TED2024 Photo Team: Leandro Badalotti, Tracy Gitnick, Ryan Lash, Erin Lubin, Jason Redmond, Callie Giovanna Shields, Gilberto Tadday, Jasmina Tomic and Elizabeth Zeeuw
Building the theater at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant. April 15-19, 2024, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Behind the scenes of the theater at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant. April 15-19, 2024, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Behind the scenes of the theater at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant. April 15-19, 2024, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
The TED Theater at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant. April 15-19, 2024, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Session 8 at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant. April 15-19, 2024, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Jason Redmond / TED
The audience before Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Session 1 kicks off at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Session 1 kicks off at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant. April 15-19, 2024, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Jason Redmond / TED
Backstage at Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant. April 15-19, 2024, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Jason Redmond / TED
Backstage at Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant. April 15-19, 2024, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Jason Redmond / TED
TED attendees enter the TED Theater before Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
TED attendees gather before Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
TED attendees gather before Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
TED’s Chris Anderson, Monique Ruff-Bell, and Helen Walters unveil TED’s new tagline — “Ideas change everything.” — to open Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Elle Cordova performs at Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Elle Cordova performs at Session 1 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Monday, April 15, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
TED attendees watch Session 2 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
TED attendees watch Session 2 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Session 3 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Session 3 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Session 3 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
TED attendees during Session 3 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
TED attendees watch Session 4 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Zeynep Ton speaks at Session 3 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Jason Redmond / TED
Behind the scenes during Session 4 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED
TED attendees watch Session 2 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
The TED Theater during Session 3 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
The TED Theater during Session 3 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
The TED Theater during Session 3 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
TED attendees watch Session 3 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
Behind the scenes during Session 3 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED
TED attendees watch Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Jason Redmond / TED
Live ASL interpretation in the TED Theater during Session 4 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Jason Redmond / TED
TED attendees watch Session 6 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED
Behind the scenes during Session 6 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED
Behind the scenes during Session 5 BTS at TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Behind the scenes during Session 7 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Behind the scenes during Session 7 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Behind the scenes during Session 7 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Behind the scenes during Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Behind the scenes during Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Behind the scenes during Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
Head of TED Chris Anderson hosts Session 5 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
The TED Theater during Session 8 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
The TED Theater during Session 8 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
The TED Theater during Session 8 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
The TED Theater during Session 8 of TED2024: The Brave and the Brilliant, on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED
TED2024_20240415_1RL1855-medium
Generative AI is an exciting, powerful, controversial new technology, and if Mark Zuckerberg is anything to go by, it’s not going away anytime soon. If you use any of Meta’s mobile apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or WhatsApp, you’ve probably already noticed the new Meta AI integration freshly embedded into them as of late. It’s all part of a new rollout for Meta AI’s latest large language model, Llama 3. But while Llama 3 is more powerful than prior versions, these new buttons and prompts make it harder than ever to ignore.
Let’s say you’re not yet convinced on AI and you want to keep doing your searches and scrolling the old-fashioned way. Can you turn the new Meta AI integration off, and how do you go about doing it?
First, know thine enemy. Meta’s AI Assistant has actually been around since September 2023, but the most recent update puts it directly in the search boxes and sometimes even feeds of apps, including Facebook and Instagram. The integration is a little different from app to app, but in general, clicking on the search box (or sometimes chat button) in a Meta app will now show an iridescent rainbow circle with a prompt next to it saying, “Ask Meta AI anything.”
If you take Meta up on the offer, you’ll be able to have Meta AI answer writing or image generation prompts, which are classic AI assistant features. The app will even give you a few suggestions, and with Llama 3, it can also now generate gifs and return real-time search results from either Google or Bing.
The problem with these functions is that they’re mixed in with non-AI features, so it can be a little confusing to tell them apart. Here’s how to disable Meta AI, or if you can’t, at least how to ignore it.
The Facebook app has one of the most prominent Meta AI integrations. Opening the app and clicking on the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner will still take you to the search bar, but will now show the Meta AI logo, example prompts for what to ask Meta AI, and a brief command to “Ask Meta AI anything.”
Don’t panic. Your regular search function hasn’t gone away. Search for a friend’s name, or a specific event, or even “New York Yankees fans,” and you’ll get the same results you always have. The difference is that, mixed in with those results, you’ll also now get AI-powered suggested searches, indicated by the Meta AI logo to their left (non-AI suggestions will instead have a magnifying glass next to them). Clicking on a response with the Meta AI logo will take you from your search into a chat window with Meta AI, where you can interact with it like any chatbot, or go back to your search by pressing the “X” button in the top left corner. Pressing enter without clicking on any of the suggested searches will also continue the search as usual.
Similarly, scrolling through your feed might also prompt you to use Meta AI, either through a generic card interspersed between posts, or through a small footer at the bottom of some posts offering to use AI to tell you more about that post’s subject.
Because the AI is so integrated into the typical flow of using the app, it makes sense that some users might not want to get interrupted with it.
Unfortunately, there’s not an easy way to turn it off for now. Facebook’s support page offers no such solutions, and asking Meta AI how to disable it gives conflicting answers, none of which worked in our testing.
That doesn’t mean there’s no hope, though. Mercifully, all Meta AI integration is currently marked with the Meta AI logo, so if you’re not seeing it, you know that your content is coming from a real person (or at least a more old-fashioned kind of bot). Additionally, when you’re in a chat with Meta AI, you can long press an answer to rate it, remove it, pin it, or copy it. Group owners can also stop Meta AI from latching itself onto their posts by going to their group, tapping on the three dots in the top right, tapping “Add features,” scrolling to Meta AI, and clicking “remove” in the settings tab next to “Help members get info.”
Instagram’s Meta AI integration is more tame than Facebook’s, as it will only show up when you click on the search bar, and functions in much the same way as on its sister app. Its search suggestions will be mixed in with more traditional ones and marked with its iridescent Meta AI logo, while non-AI search suggestions will instead have a magnifying glass next to them. Clicking on a Meta AI suggestion will open a chat—actually the same chat log from Facebook or any other Meta app—where you will be able to rate or remove its answers.
Sadly, there’s also no way to strictly disable Meta AI here, which can be doubly frustrating, since I’m probably more likely to search for “how to peel an onion” or “how to cut an avocado” here than on Facebook proper. Just pay attention to the icon next to your suggested searches, and you should be able to avoid the AI for now.
Messenger and WhatsApp have the lightest Meta AI integration—here, the chatbot is essentially just treated as another person in your contacts. Clicking on your conversation with it will open the chatbot, which again will remember any questions you might have asked it in any other Meta-owned apps.
Aside from that, the only other integration is a small icon in either the lower center or upper right hand corner of your screen, depending on your app. Clicking on the icon will also open your conversation with Meta AI, which is important if you delete your chat.
That’s right, there’s actually a way to “remove” Meta AI from these apps. Just delete your conversation with it like any other, and it’ll disappear from your contacts list. The small icon will remain elsewhere in the app's UI, presumably to give you a way to start up a new conversation if you accidentally delete yours, but aside from that, the AI presence here is entirely unobtrusive.
The first over-the-counter (OTC) birth control pill was approved last year. It's called Opill, and over the past month or so, it has finally started showing up on pharmacy shelves. Finally I can answer those questions everyone was asking when it was first approved: How much does it actually cost? And will insurance cover it?
The price for Opill you’ll see on almost every website is $19.99 per pack. (This is sometimes described as a “monthly” pack, but there are only 28 pills per pack; as is common with birth control. You’ll go through about 13 packs per year.)
Some sellers have single packs available for slightly less. Right now, Amazon and Walmart are both charging $18.97, saving you about a dollar.
You can save a few bucks by buying two or three packs at a time. The sticker price for a three-“month” pack of Opill is $49.99, or $16.66 per pack.
If you don’t have insurance, you live in the U.S., and your household income is below 200% of the federal poverty line, you’re eligible for Opill maker Perrigo’s cost assistance program, which will provide the medication at "reduced or no cost." To find out more and to sign up, visit the cost assistance program page here.
Maybe! In general, the Affordable Care Act requires insurance plans to cover birth control pills as a form of preventive care. The law doesn’t specifically require them to cover this brand of pills, or to cover OTC pills, so they aren’t automatically included.
That said, if your insurance uses CVS Caremark for its pharmacy benefits, you’ll be happy to know that CVS has included Opill on its list of zero-cost contraceptives. Contact your insurance provider for specifics on your coverage.
Several states have also passed laws requiring over-the-counter birth control to be covered by insurance, although the details vary by state. The Kaiser Family Foundation has a rundown of state laws here. California, Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Washington all have state laws that theoretically could apply to Opill. Again, check with your insurance company to find out what coverage is available for you.
Most people shopping for a rowing machine will fit into one of two categories: those who are already committed to the rowing lifestyle, and those who just want a good workout. I fall into the latter. I was recently provided with one of Merach's magnetic rowing machines to test out, and I found that it's been a great home workout option that's quiet, portable, and affordable while I work to rehab my ACL—but it may not be for everyone.
This rowing machine comes in three variations: the QS1 Magnetic, the Q1SW Magnetic Silent, and the Q1S Pro Electromagnetic. I tested the middle-of-the-pack Q1SW Magnetic silent. It's advertised to make less than 20 decibels of noise, but judging from a decibel sound scale, it's closer to 40 decibels. That said, I can work out in full swing while still being able to hear the TV and without bothering my fiancée as she works from home. It was also very easy to install, taking me about 30 minutes.
As I mentioned earlier, one of the main things I was looking for in a home rowing machine was portability. I wanted something that was practical to use, move around, and stow. The Q1SW does that well. It has wheels at the front that makes moving it around very easy, it is light enough to maneuver with one arm, and it fits neatly against a wall with minimum effort (you just need to tuck the screen down).
The Q1SW rowing machine feels very stable, and I never worried about tipping to the sides, even when going all out. That said, it may not be a comfortable experience for tall rowers.
Merach advertises this machine as suitable for users up to 6 feet 5 inches tall, but I can't imagine it being a comfortable experience. I'm 5 feet 7 inches tall, and I found that the handlebars sit very low to the ground and don't come out far enough at the start of the drive. This made it feel like I was cramped up in a small row boat. It also made it harder to get any tension in my arms at the beginning of my stroke unless I leaned back far enough—which, as any rower will tell you, is not good form. This is a relatively minor issue that likely won't bother anyone like me who is just trying to get a workout in, but it might drive a rower mad.
The Q1SW has 16 levels of resistance that you manually adjust with a rotating lever, but for me, even the highest resistance still feels pretty weak. However, as senior health editor Beth Skwarecki noted in her post about common rowing mistakes, you don't want a lot of resistance when you row since the point is to mimic the resistance of water. If you're a rower, that's probably important to you. If you're someone trying to just get your heart pumping and get a leg workout and back workout, don't expect to get the same resistance you would find in a rowing machine at your local gym.
The display screen really shows where Merach was making cuts. It's underwhelming and feels cheap. There is also no backlight, so I couldn't see it when the room lights were dimmed. However, Merach does make up for this somewhat with its Bluetooth compatibility and free companion app. I could very easily connect the rower with my phone and get a lot more information on my workouts with the app. I typically propped my phone up in front of the machine's screen and got a much better idea of what I was doing.
The app also logs data and shows a lot more information once the workout is complete, like calories burned, average frequency, average resistance, max power, etc. The app also has "ultra burning," "target practice," "timed practice," and "free training" preloaded workouts.
Merach's Q1SW row machine is a good choice among a sea of budget rowing machines on Amazon, especially with its surprisingly solid companion app experience. The machine feels durable, and it is very practical for those looking for a quiet and practical workout at home. If you're a rower, though, you might not be content with the design that almost encourages poor form. And if you're taller than 6 feet, the rowing machine might feel too cramped for you.
While the listing price is $329.99, you can easily find this rowing machine well below $300, which is a pretty solid price for something like this. At the time of this writing, there's a $90 on-page coupon on Amazon, bringing the price down to $239.99.
Using a Microsoft account with Windows 11 is the best way to access all of its features, including Microsoft Copilot, OneDrive, and more. But some people just don’t want to use a Microsoft Account and have all of their data connected to the cloud, and that’s fine. If you’re one of those people, or if you just plan to give the PC you’re setting up to a friend, you can follow a few simple steps to use a local account instead.
You used to be able to use a command in Window’s Command Prompt, but Microsoft seems to have patched that trick out in recent updates. As such, the easiest method to bypass the Microsoft Account requirement is to follow these steps:
Set up Windows 11 like you normally would. However, when you get to the Unlock your Microsoft Experience section, choose Sign In and then enter in a fake email. This can be anything, but try to go for something that isn’t likely to be a real email, as you don’t want to trigger any account safety features on anyone’s actual Microsoft Account.
Choose Next and then enter in a fake password before selecting Sign In. Give it a few moments, and then the setup should send you to a screen that says Oops, something went wrong. Clicking Next here will take you to a new screen that asks Who’s going to use this device? Input your preferred name, and then click Next. Now enter in a password and let Microsoft continue setting up Windows 11.
The important thing to remember here is that Microsoft could patch this method at any point. It’s possible you could one day have to turn your local account into an online account. If that happens, you can easily do that from Settings > “Your profile name” > Your Info > Sign in with an online account and then follow the steps that appear on the screen.
One of the key reasons that Microsoft tries to get you to sign up for an online account is because of all the various features it offers. Now, I’m not going to go on a tirade about how these features tie into privacy standards, because like any online account, these features are intended to collect some data for you to help Microsoft in some way—whether that’s ads, training up Copilot, or just improving the features overall.
That being said, here’s a list of some really key Windows 11 features that you’ll miss out on if you don’t sign up for an online account:
Copilot access
OneDrive syncing
The Microsoft Store (tons of apps you can download)
Restoring Windows from backups saved to OneDrive
Personalization syncing
Whether these features matter to you or not is completely up to you. But, if you want to get the most out of Windows 11 and all the things Microsoft is adding to it, you’ll probably want to sign up for an online account instead.
It’s hard to imagine a time when hotels didn’t have smart TVs. Not all that long ago, some even made their TVs a selling point, plastering “free HBO” all over their roadside signs. These days, guests are more likely to stick to their phones, sacrificing their room’s beautiful 48-inch flatscreen on the altar of TikTok and YouTube. But with just a little extra work, you can get the best of both worlds, as cast whatever is on your phone to your hotel room's smart TV.
There’s official and unofficial options to send what's on your iPhone to a TV. Let’s start with the most legit.
Beginning today, iPhones can now use AirPlay to stream content from their phone directly to a TV at select hotels. The feature is launching at “more than 60” IHG Hotels & Resorts locations across the US, Canada, and Mexico, so give it a try the next time you’re staying at a Holiday Inn or Candlewood Suites.
The process is pretty painless: Upon turning your TV on, you should notice a QR code on the welcome screen. Simply scan it with a compatible Apple device to both connect to wifi and authorize AirPlay to that screen.
And that’s it—because the QR code is unique to your hotel room, you shouldn’t find yourself accidentally streaming to other guests' sets, or vice-versa. Apple says more locations will be added “in the coming months,” which makes sense–the limited rollout probably has something to do with the special LG TVs required for the setup.
But what if you’re not staying at an IHG property? This is where the hacks come in.
There’s plenty of dongles, like Roku and Fire TV sticks, that work with AirPlay right out of the box. The problem is getting a hotel TV to accept them.
Hotel TVs tend to be a bit strict about which devices they’ll let you plug in. That’s thanks to special control boxes that lock them down. Luckily, if you can physically get to your TV’s hookups, you can (carefully) remove these boxes. Lifehacker has covered it before, but the gist is to look for an ethernet cable (or possibly an HDMI cable), gently remove it, and restart the TV before hooking up your accessories. Depending on your hotel, you might also want to disconnect the control box from power if you’re able.
Once your device is plugged in, try swapping the TV input to your dongle and seeing if it works. If it does, simply connect it to wifi (you might need to open a browser page to do it, depending on your hotel) and you’re good to go. If using the hotel's wifi isn’t an option, don’t worry—AirPlay can work without it, and you can always fall back on a mobile hotspot.
(Just be sure to hook your TV’s control box up again before checking out!)
Streaming an Android phone, like a Pixel 8 Pro or Galaxy S24 Ultra, to a hotel TV is much like streaming an iPhone, but with a few extra quirks, some of which can work in your favor. For instance, hotel chains like Wyndham and Hyatt already have Chromecasts built into their TVs, letting you cast from your phone, or at least log into your streaming services, depending on how locked down they are. If you’re lucky enough to have a Chromecast officially set up from the start, just follow your hotel’s instructions and you should be good to go.
For everyone else, you’re probably going to want to bring your own dongle, like a Fire TV Stick or Chromecast. While it’s possible to stream content from an Android phone to a TV without a dongle, it’s probably not going to be easy in a hotel environment, since these workarounds usually require accessing specific smart TV apps or functions that you can’t depend on your hotel to have or allow you to access.
For the most seamless experience, I recommend a Chromecast, as certain other dongles can only mirror your screen, rather than cast content across devices. With casting, you’ll ensure you get the best resolution, and generally have a more intuitive experience. (Note, though, that Chromecasts do require wifi when they boot.)
Once you’re in your hotel room with your dongle, you’ll want to connect it to your TV following the same steps outlined in the iPhone section above: gently remove the hotel control box’s connection to the TV, restart the TV, plug your Chromecast in, and swap to the proper input to test that everything worked.
If it did, try to connect your dongle to wifi (again, you may need to open a browser page). If the hotel’s wifi isn’t working, you can either use a mobile hotspot to try casting, or you can screen mirror without using wifi at all, depending on your dongle (the Fire TV Stick is a good choice if this is a concern).
If Instagram stole TikTok's schtick when rolling out Reels, it seems TikTok is keen to repay the favor. The company is working on a new app, TikTok Notes, that seems remarkably like Meta's popular photo sharing platform.
The company originally teased this idea earlier this month through notifications sent to users, with the title "Your photo posts will be show on TikTok Notes." The alert explains how TikTok Notes is a new app for photo posts, so future public TikTok photo posts will be displayed on the company's new dedicated app. It provided an option for users to opt out of TikTok Notes if they preferred to keep their photo posts to TikTok itself.
Wednesday, the company posted on X (formerly Twitter) officially announcing TikTok Notes as an app for sharing both photos and text. TikTok is initially testing TikTok Notes in just Australia and Canada for now, so those of us outside of those countries can't try it out yet, but the post does give us some insight into how the app will work.
Tweet may have been deleted
Based on the four screenshots provided, TikTok Notes will have a For You page, just like TikTok, but perhaps more in-line with Instagram's Explore page. This For You page shows multiple photo posts at once from users across the platform, but if you prefer, it seems you can hit the "Following" tab to check out posts from just the people you specifically follow.
The posts themselves are, as you might expect, a cross between a TikTok and an Instagram post. You can upload multiple photos at once and attach a caption. Along the bottom, you'll find the comments, as well as a space to leave your own thoughts. From here, there are the usual like, save, and comment buttons, with how many likes, saves, and comments users have left.
Will this catch on? I honestly don't know. TikTok is massively popular, of course, but Instagram has very little competition in the photo sharing space. While TikTok has a dedicated legion of fans, I don't know if they'd feel compelled to make the switch to a new app, especially if they also have an established presence on Instagram for their photo-sharing needs.
What I'm mostly curious about, however, is if they launch an app in the U.S. Right now, the test is extremely limited, but once it starts rolling the app out to more countries, will it bother with one that's actively trying to ban its products in the first place? The U.S. is Meta's home turf, though, so it might be worth it to TikTok (and ByteDance) to pick a fight, however short-lived it may be.
I recently upgraded my "unsupported" PC to Windows 11 and was immediately bombarded with banner alerts, ads, and current affairs news that I'd rather not be force fed by my operating system. Windows 11 doesn't exactly offer a pleasant experience out of the box, but you can adjust a few settings to fix most of its issues.
You may be tempted to use a third-party tool to disable all of Microsoft's invasive tracking with one click. While this may sound like the easier method that following this guide, I don't recommend it—it's difficult to know what kinds of changes such tools are making under the hood, and if anything goes wrong, it'll be hard to troubleshoot the problem, as these apps generally tweak dozens of settings in one go.
If you hate the Windows 11 Start menu, you can replace it entirely. However, if you're willing to put up with it, you can at least remove ads from the Start menu. To do this, go to Windows 11's Settings menu. Then navigate to Personalization > Start and disable the following options:
Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more
Show recently added apps
Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer
These options will give you more control over the Start menu and prevent random files and apps from appearing there. Next, remove the ads masquerading as pinned apps. To do this, open the Start menu and right-click the app icon for apps you'll never use, such as LinkedIn or Instagram, and select Uninstall or Unpin from Start.
It's unfortunate that Microsoft doesn't want you to enjoy a clean, beautiful lock screen. Yes, the company has used the space to show you ads too. You can fix this by going to Settings > Personalization > Lock screen. Click the drop-down menu next to Personalize your lock screen and select Picture or Slideshow. A new option will appear below the photo selector, labeled Get fun facts, tips, tricks, and more on your lock screen. Disable this to stop promotional content from showing up there.
Microsoft loves to nag you about signing up for OneDrive. To stop these ads too, go to Settings > System > Notifications and turn off alerts from OneDrive. Next, open File Explorer and click the three dots icon in the toolbar. Select Options, followed by the View tab. Now scroll down and disable Show sync provider notifications.
Speaking of spammy alerts, you should also take a moment to disable unwanted notifications. Go to Settings > System > Notifications and disable notifications for every app that spams you. Some apps don't appear in this list; in such cases, you'll have to open that app and disable alerts from its notification settings.
By default, Microsoft collects your data to show you ads. Put a stop to this by going to Settings > Privacy & security > General and disabling everything on the page.
Windows 11 tracks your device usage as another way to serve you ads. Go to Settings > Personalization > Device Usage and disable each setting on this page to stop them.
If you don't want to use Microsoft's Copilot AI or see the news widgets in the taskbar, then you can hide them. Go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar and turn off the following options:
Copilot
Task view
Widgets
This will give you a cleaner taskbar with just the Start button and the apps you've pinned. If you prefer to have weather on the taskbar, you can enable Task view from the settings mentioned above. Its icon will appear in the bottom-left corner of the screen. Click it and hide widgets manually until only the weather widget (and any others you actually want) remain.
Finally, you can stop Microsoft from collecting diagnostics data for ads. To do so, go to Settings > Privacy & security > Diagnostics and feedback and disable Tailored experiences. For good measure, you should also disable Send optional diagnostics data.
When you're cleaning your home, you fall into one of two categories: Someone who's cleaning up after people and someone who's cleaning up after people and pets. There is little reasoning to be done with a dog or cat, and accidents happen more than we'd like—so it's helpful to have the best products and tools on hand to combat them when they do.
These are the best products for battling fur, odors, and stains:
First, you need a vacuum that's equipped to deal with pet hair—and not all of them are. Pet-loving TikTokkers recommend the Bissell CleanView Swivel ($106.44) for its ability to suck up long hairs without getting clogged like a stick vacuum, and the Hoover Powerdash Pet ($109.99) is popular on pet care sites.
For smaller areas, rugs, and upholstery, try a pet hair rake. These are also wildly popular on TikTok and there are a ton of very similar ones on Amazon, like this well-rated two-pack for $8.99.
Arm & Hammer Pet Fresh odor eliminator ($18.29 for a pack of three) comes recommended by the pet experts at Rover, who say it truly does mask bad odors in your carpet. Just sprinkle it on before you vacuum.
Before you mask smells, of course, you do have to get that pee out of the carpet. Try the Resolve Ultra Pet Odor and Stain Remover spray ($9.46), which is formulated for this exact task. When dealing with bodily fluids, animal or otherwise, it's best to get a real cleaner than try any homemade hacks.
Because the best defense is a good offense:
To stay on top of hair and shedding, don't just stop at periodically brushing your pet and bringing them to the groomer. Take matters into your own hands with tech designed to groom and dry your dog. Try the Airrobo dog hair vacuum ($89.99), which has brushing attachments you can use while you literally suck the loose fur off your pet, or the Shelandy Groomer Partner dryer ($75.00) that is safe to use on your animal after a bath.
Get the right brush. According to Rover, a slicker brush ($9.99) works well for maintenance of any kind of fur, while a Furminator ($35.25) is especially good for dogs with double coats. You can also try a shedding glove ($6.99) if your pet is afraid of the brushes or you simply want to get in some extra petting and scratching time.
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