Welcome to Training Diaries, a new Lifehacker series about my journey to the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon. This series will cover all the ups, downs, and hill repeats on my journey to the biggest marathon in the world. Leading up to race day on Sunday, Nov. 5, I’ll go over proper fueling, injuries and setbacks,…
Welcome to Evil Week, our annual dive into all the slightly sketchy hacks we’d usually refrain from recommending. Want to weasel your way into free drinks, play elaborate mind games, or, er, launder some money? We’ve got all the info you need to be successfully unsavory.
Welcome to Training Diaries, a new Lifehacker series about my journey to the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon. This series will cover all the ups, downs, and hill repeats on my journey to the biggest marathon in the world. Leading up to race day on Sunday, Nov. 5, I’ll go over proper fueling, injuries and setbacks,…
There are times when I’ve needed two identical cake pans, and only had one shallow pan to work with, and there have been times when I just needed a deeper pan, for something big, like a Basque cheesecake. Instead of making one cake layer at a time, or sacrificing a deep dish apple crisp for multiple shallow ones, just…
This month on Prime Video brings the second season of the animated adult superhero series Invincible. Based on Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel, the first half of the season will stream on November 3, while the second is expected sometime in 2024.
I’m no good at carving pumpkins, but I’m quite skilled at making delicious things out of them, like mini crustless pumpkin pie and beer-brined pumpkin seeds. Still, I usually end up at least one Jack-o’-lantern, because that’s what people do this time of year (and because I need those tangy, salty pumpkin seeds). I…
I don’t get a thrill from dressing up in Halloween costumes anymore, but I look forward to all of the silly “scary” food that crop up. Peeled grapes become monster eyeballs, ground Oreos transform into graveyard dirt, spaghetti somehow turns into a bowl of worms, and blackened chicken wings are re-branded as “bat…
I have a secret shame, and his name is Bob. Bob’s Red Mill Instant Mashed Potatoes, to be exact. I originally bought them to thicken up soups, but things have spiraled out of control. As a professional food writer, I have no business eating these; as a lazy powerlifter, I cannot stop eating them, usually alongside a…
Dumplings are a perfect food, but there’s always room for some spirited modification, like switching out the wrapper. By substituting the flour wrapper for something more protein-centric, you can make dumplings that are friendly towards the gluten-sensitive, folks minimizing their carb intake, or anyone who needs to…
Cheesecake is great. Cheesecake that sets without you needing to use the oven is, frankly, fantastic. This no-bake cheesecake is built in a slab style, which takes away some of the drama of the tall, circular variety, and replaces it with a welcoming, casual vibe. A wide, square baking dish makes spreading the thick,…
Japanese soufflé pancakes are fluffy, impressively tall, entirely Instagram-able, and they taste great to boot. You don’t have to go to a restaurant to have your own towering breakfast cake. Soufflé pancake batter isn’t all that different from regular pancake batter; it’s the slow cooking time that makes the process…
The Northern Hemisphere is going into soup mode right now, but soup itself has (at least) two modes: brothy, with stuff bopping around in it, and blended, with the ingredients pulverized into creamy oblivion. Both have the power to warm from within, but pureed soups pack tons of flavor into a single spoonful—and you…
No vehicle is completely immune to the risk of a flat tire or a dead battery, which can be inconvenient at best and dangerous at worst. Roadside assistance does the work of locating and dispatching a tow truck or service vehicle for you, which comes in handy at odd hours or in unfamiliar locations. A service call,…
After years of threatening to do so, I have finally joined the Costco community. I did it mostly for the reasonably priced dog food and Diet Coke, but I would be lying if I said the prospect of $5 rotisserie chickens had nothing to do with my decision. I love that chicken, and always have. I get four meals out of that…
Welcome to Training Diaries, a Lifehacker series about my journey to the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon. This series will cover all the ups, downs, and hill repeats on my journey to the biggest marathon in the world. Leading up to race day on Sunday, Nov. 5, I’ll go over proper fueling, injuries and setbacks,…
Google’s new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro sport some impressive new features. Audio Magic Eraser lets you reduce distracting sounds like wind, traffic, and talking in videos; Best Take combines the “best” faces from multiple group shots into one final product; and Magic Editor harnesses the power of AI to do things like…
Before the explosion of streaming services, watching a rousing cricket match could be a sticky wicket in the United States, but these days, it’s easy, mate. Badgers (extreme cricket fans) can watch all 48 matches from cricket’s ICC ODI World Cup from their living rooms, even if they don’t have cable TV, so there’s no…
Attention Beyhive and the Bey-curious: Beyoncé is coming to a theater near you. Not to be outdone by Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour theatrical event, Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé will be showing at theaters across North America on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays for at least a month, beginning on Dec. 1.
Looks can be deceiving, especially when it comes to baked goods. I’m not talking about those cakes that look like suitcases and cheeseburgers or whatever; I’m talking about bagels, pretzels, and other breads that people try to “hack” by making something that looks like a bagel or pretzel, but does not taste or feel…
Prime Video doesn’t have quite as extensive a horror lineup as other streamers this month, but those seeking a thrill can select Make Me Scream, a one-hour scare special pitting celebrity teams against one another in a contest to not scream (October 3), or slasher comedy Totally Killer, featuring time travel and a…
“The single biggest threat of climate change is the collapse of food systems,” says journalist Amanda Little, quoting USDA scientist Jerry Hatfield. “Addressing this challenge as much as any other is going to define our progress in the coming century.” She speaks at TED Salon: Dell Technologies on October 22, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)
In a time that feels unsettled and uncertain, technology and those who create it will play a crucial role in what’s coming next. How do we define that future, as opposed to letting it define us? At a special TED Salon held as part of the Dell Technologies World conference and hosted by TED’s Simone Ross, four speakers shared ideas for building a future where tech and humanity are combined in a more active, deliberate and thoughtful way.
The talks in brief:
Genevieve Bell, ethical AI expert
Big idea: To create a sustainable, efficient and safe future for artificial intelligence systems, we need to ask questions that contextualize the history of technology and create possibilities for the next generation of critical thinkers to build upon it.
How? Making a connection between AI and the built world is a hard story to tell, but that’s exactly what Genevieve Bell and her team at 3A Institute are doing: adding to the rich legacy of AI systems, while establishing a new branch of engineering that can sustainably bring cyber-physical systems and AI to scale going forward. “To build on that legacy and our sense of purpose, I think we need a clear framework for asking questions about the future, questions for which there aren’t ready or easy answers,” Bell says. She shares six nuanced questions that frame her approach: Is the system autonomous? Does the system have agency? How do we think about assurance (is it safe and functioning)? How do we interface with it? What will be the indicators that show it is working well? And finally, what is its intent? With these questions, we can broaden our understanding of the systems we create and how they will function in the years to come.
Amanda Little, food journalist
Big idea: To build a robust, resilient and diverse food future in the face of complex challenges, we need a “third way” forward — blending the best of traditional agriculture with cutting-edge new technologies.
How? COVID-19 has simultaneously paralyzed already vulnerable global food systems and ushered in food shortages — despite a surplus of technological advances. How will we continue to feed a growing population? Amanda Little has an idea: “Our challenge is to borrow from the wisdom of the ages and from our most advanced science to [a] third way: one that allows us to improve and scale our harvest while restoring, rather than degrading the underlying land of life.” Amid increasingly complex disruptions like climate change, this “third way” provides a roadmap to food security that marries old agricultural production with new, innovative farming practices — like using robots to deploy fertilizer on crop fields with sniper-like precision, eating lab-grown meats and building aeroponic farms. By nixing antiquated supply chains and producing food in a scalable, sustainable and adaptable way, Little shows just how bright our food future might be. Watch the full talk.
“Investing in data quality and accuracy is essential to making AI possible — not only for the few and privileged but for everyone in society,” says data scientist Mainak Mazumdar. He speaks at TED Salon: Dell Technologies on October 22, 2020. (Photo courtesy of TED)
Mainak Mazumdar, data scientist
Big idea: When the pursuit of using AI to make fair and equitable decisions fails, blame the data — not the algorithms.
Why? The future economy won’t be built by factories and people, but by computers and algorithms — for better or for worse. To make AI possible for humanity and society, we need an urgent reset in three major areas: data infrastructure, data quality and data literacy. Together, they hold the key to ethical decision-making in the age of AI. Mazumdar lists how less-than-quality data in examples such as the 2020 US Census and marketing research could lead to poor results in trying to reach and help specific demographics. Right now, AI is only reinforcing and accelerating our bias at speed and scale, with societal implications in its wake. But it doesn’t need to be that way. Instead of racing to build new algorithms, our mission should be to build a better data infrastructure that makes ethical AI possible.
Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, multimedia musician
Big idea: Modern computing is founded on patterns, so could you translate the patterns of code and data into music? If so, what would the internet sound like?
How? Cultural achievements throughout human history, like music and architecture, are based on pattern recognition, math and the need to organize information — and the internet is no different. Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky gives a tour of how the internet came to be, from the conception of software by Ada Lovelace in the early 1800s to the development of early computers catalyzed by World War II and the birth of the internet beginning in 1969. Today, millions of devices are plugged into the internet, sending data zooming around the world. By transforming the internet’s router connections and data sets into sounds, beats and tempos, Miller introduces “Quantopia,” a portrait of the internet in sound. A special auditory and visual experience, this internet soundscape reveals the patterns that connect us all.
Amanda Little speaks at TED@Dell, October 22, 2020. Photo courtesy of TED.