Frequent social-media use leads people to make quick, instinctive decisions, which is what will get them in trouble.

We have to go back, Kate Eight years later, new but familiar-looking PebbleOS watches appear Shipping in July and December, with far more battery life and newer chips. Kevin Purdy Mar 18, 2025 12:04 pm | 14 Credit: rePebble Credit: rePebble Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreCertain watches can stay just as they are and people will keep buying them. The Casio F-91W, the most-sold watch in the world, keeps the time on a readable display and offers a single daily alarm slot (unless you board-swap it). The Timex Weekender may last as long as mechanical watches exist.What about the Pebble? Is there still room on people's wrists for the most exciting Kickstarter-backed tech of 20122016?Eric Migicovsky, founder of the firm that was perhaps a bit too early to the smartwatch market, has made good on his pledge to find out and has made new Pebble watches available for preorder. The Core 2 Duo, "almost exactly a Pebble 2" with modernized chips, 30 days battery life, and a black-and-white e-paper screen, is $150 at preorder and is scheduled to ship in July. The Core Time 2, Migicovsky's "dream watch," is bigger, color, and metal, and goes for $225 right now. Its release is slated for December. The Core 2 Duo ("short for 'do-over'") is a modern-times Pebble 2 with a black-and-white 1.26-inch e-paper screen, polycarbonate frame, and better buttons. rePebble The Core 2 Duo ("short for 'do-over'") is a modern-times Pebble 2 with a black-and-white 1.26-inch e-paper screen, polycarbonate frame, and better buttons. rePebble The Core Time 2 is the reimagined but faithful Pebble Time 2, with a 1.5-inch 64-color display, mic and speaker, HR sensor, and metal (aluminum) frame and buttons. The Core Time 2 is the reimagined but faithful Pebble Time 2, with a 1.5-inch 64-color display, mic and speaker, HR sensor, and metal (aluminum) frame and buttons.The Core 2 Duo ("short for 'do-over'") is a modern-times Pebble 2 with a black-and-white 1.26-inch e-paper screen, polycarbonate frame, and better buttons. rePebble The Core Time 2 is the reimagined but faithful Pebble Time 2, with a 1.5-inch 64-color display, mic and speaker, HR sensor, and metal (aluminum) frame and buttons.Both watches are sold through the rePebble storein quantities limited by display availability. Migicovsky writes that there are more people signed up for news about the Pebble relaunch than watches available.Both watches run PebbleOS, which Migicovsky and others pushed Google to make open source late last year. Therefore "most of the existing 10,000+ PebbleOS watchfaces and apps will immediately work on these new watches," Migicovsky writes on his blog, with the long-running Rebble store making them easier to get to.Both watches get something like 30-day battery life, largely due to the advances in low-power Bluetooth tech over the last eight years. New to the watches are a speaker (though not one that might necessarily make wrist calls easy) and a linear resonance actuator for stronger vibrations. The Core Time 2 has a touchscreen, the first on a Pebble watch, so its apps can scroll and watchfaces can have interactive complications, but hackers may come up with other uses. Both watches charge with the same magnetic pins as the original models.Migicovsky is wise to note that industrial testing on the Core 2 Duo shows a 30 percent improvement in longevity compared to the original Pebble 2. Mushy, decimated buttons have been the bane of those keeping their Pebbles alive over the long term. The Pebble Time 2 eschews silicone for metal buttons.The blog post ends with a "You shouldn't get one if" section to set expectations. It's a "labour of love" project, so delays and incomplete features can happen. The Pebble is not a GPS sports tracking watch, nor any kind of Apple Watch: "There is NO way for a 3rd party smartwatch to compete with Apple Watch," Migicovsky writes; the reimagined Pebbles will not be able to reply to iOS notifications, among other restrictions.Interested pre-buyers should read the blog post for all the little notes and catches. The Core Time 2, for example, will show original PebbleOS apps and watchfaces with a small border around them, as it cannot scale the original 144-by-168-pixel screens to its 200-by-228 display. Developers can update their apps, however, and a new companion app from rePebble is coming for iOS and Android. There is an optional JTAG connector available for those who want to mess around with the hardware.Kevin PurdySenior Technology ReporterKevin PurdySenior Technology Reporter Kevin is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering open-source software, PC gaming, home automation, repairability, e-bikes, and tech history. He has previously worked at Lifehacker, Wirecutter, iFixit, and Carbon Switch. 14 Comments

"Computer, enhance" Farewell Photoshop? Googles new AI lets you edit images by asking New AI allows no-skill photo editing, including adding objects and removing watermarks. Benj Edwards Mar 18, 2025 7:15 am | 6 A collection of images either generated or modified by Gemini 2.0 Flash (Image Generation) Experimental. Credit: Google / Ars Technica A collection of images either generated or modified by Gemini 2.0 Flash (Image Generation) Experimental. Credit: Google / Ars Technica Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThere's a new Google AI model in town, and it can generate or edit images as easily as it can create textas part of its chatbot conversation. The results aren't perfect, but it's quite possible everyone in the near future will be able to manipulate images this way.Last Wednesday, Google expanded access to Gemini 2.0 Flash's native image generation capabilities, making the experimental feature available to anyone using Google AI Studio. Previously limited to testers since December, the multimodal technology integrates both native text and image processing capabilities into one AI model.The new model, titled "Gemini 2.0 Flash (Image Generation) Experimental," flew somewhat under the radar last week, but it has been garnering more attention over the past few days due to its ability to remove watermarks from images, albeit with artifacts and a reduction in image quality.That's not the only trick. Gemini 2.0 Flash can add objects, remove objects, modify scenery, change lighting, attempt to change image angles, zoom in or out, and perform other transformationsall to varying levels of success depending on the subject matter, style, and image in question.To pull it off, Google trained Gemini 2.0 on a large dataset of images (converted into tokens) and text. The model's "knowledge" about images occupies the same neural network space as its knowledge about world concepts from text sources, so it can directly output image tokens that get converted back into images and fed to the user. Adding a water-skiing barbarian to a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Credit: Google / Benj Edwards Incorporating image generation into an AI chat isn't itself newOpenAI integrated its image generator DALL-E 3 into ChatGPT last September, and other tech companies like xAI followed suit. But until now, every one of those AI chat assistants called on a separate diffusion-based AI model (which uses a different synthesis principle than LLMs) to generate images, which were then returned to the user within the chat interface. In this case, Gemini 2.0 Flash is both the large language model (LLM) and AI image generator rolled into one system.Interestingly, OpenAI's GPT-4o is capable of native image output as well (and OpenAI President Greg Brock teased the feature at one point on X last year), but that company has yet to release true multimodal image output capability. One reason why is possibly because true multimodal image output is very computationally expensive, since each image either inputted or generated is composed of tokens that become part of the context that runs through the image model again and again with each successive prompt. And given the compute needs and size of the training data required to create a truly visually comprehensive multimodal model, the output quality of the images isn't necessarily as good as diffusion models just yet. Creating another angle of a person with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Credit: Google / Benj Edwards Another reason OpenAI has held back may be "safety"-related: In a similar way to how multimodal models trained on audio can absorb a short clip of a sample person's voice and then imitate it flawlessly (this is how ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode works, with a clip of a voice actor it is authorized to imitate), multimodal image output models are capable of faking media reality in a relatively effortless and convincing way, given proper training data and compute behind it. With a good enough multimodal model, potentially life-wrecking deepfakes and photo manipulations could become even more trivial to produce than they are now.Putting it to the testSo, what exactly can Gemini 2.0 Flash do? Notably, its support for conversational image editing allows users to iteratively refine images through natural language dialogue across multiple successive prompts. You can talk to it and tell it what you want to add, remove, or change. It's imperfect, but it's the beginning of a new type of native image editing capability in the tech world.We gave Gemini Flash 2.0 a battery of informal AI image-editing tests, and you'll see the results below. For example, we removed a rabbit from an image in a grassy yard. We also removed a chicken from a messy garage. Gemini fills in the background with its best guess. No need for a clone brushwatch out, Photoshop! Removing a rabbit from a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Removing a rabbit from a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Removing a chicken from a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Removing a chicken from a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Removing a rabbit from a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Removing a chicken from a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards We also tried adding synthesized objects to images. Being always wary of the collapse of media reality called the "cultural singularity," we added a UFO to a photo the author took from an airplane window. Then we tried adding a Sasquatch and a ghost. The results were unrealistic, but this model was also trained on a limited image dataset (more on that below). Adding a UFO to a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Adding a UFO to a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Adding a sasquatch to a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Adding a sasquatch to a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Adding a ghost to a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Adding a ghost to a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Adding a sasquatch to a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Adding a ghost to a photograph with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards We then added a video game character to a photo of an Atari 800 screen (Wizard of Wor), resulting in perhaps the most realistic image synthesis result in the set. You might not see it here, but Gemini added realistic CRT scanlines that matched the monitor's characteristics pretty well. Adding a monster to an Atari video game with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Credit: Google / Benj Edwards Gemini can also warp an image in novel ways, like "zooming out" of an image into a fictional setting or giving an EGA-palette character a body, then sticking him into an adventure game. "Zooming out" on an image with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards "Zooming out" on an image with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Giving the author a much-needed body with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Giving the author a much-needed body with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Inserting the embodied author into a simulated adventure game with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Inserting the embodied author into a simulated adventure game with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Giving the author a much-needed body with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards Inserting the embodied author into a simulated adventure game with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Google / Benj Edwards And yes, you can remove watermarks. We tried removing a watermark from a Getty Images image, and it worked, although the resulting image is nowhere near the resolution or detail quality of the original. Ultimately, if your brain can picture what an image is like without a watermark, so can an AI model. It fills in the watermark space with the most plausible result based on its training data. Removing a watermark with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Credit: Nomadsoul1 via Getty Images And finally, we know you've likely missed seeing barbarians beside TV sets (as per tradition), so we gave that a shot. Originally, Gemini didn't add a CRT TV set to the barbarian image, so we asked for one. Adding a TV set to a barbarian image with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Credit: Google / Benj Edwards Then we set the TV on fire. Setting the TV set on fire with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Credit: Google / Benj Edwards All in all, it doesn't produce images of pristine quality or detail, but we literally did no editing work on these images other than typing requests. Adobe Photoshop currently lets users manipulate images using AI synthesis based on written prompts with "Generative Fill," but it's not quite as natural as this. We could see Adobe adding a more conversational AI image editing flow such as this one in the future.Multimodal output opens up new possibilitiesHaving true multimodal output opens up interesting new possibilities in chatbots. For example, Gemini 2.0 Flash can play interactive graphical games or generate stories with consistent illustrations, maintaining character and setting continuity throughout multiple images. It's far from perfect, but character consistency is a new capability in AI assistants. We tried it out and it was pretty wildespecially when it generated a view a photo we provided from another angle. Creating a multi-image story with Gemini 2.0 Flash, part 1. Google / Benj Edwards Creating a multi-image story with Gemini 2.0 Flash, part 1. Google / Benj Edwards Creating a multi-image story with Gemini 2.0 Flash, part 2. Notice the alternative angle of the original photo. Google / Benj Edwards Creating a multi-image story with Gemini 2.0 Flash, part 2. Notice the alternative angle of the original photo. Google / Benj Edwards Creating a multi-image story with Gemini 2.0 Flash, part 3. Google / Benj Edwards Creating a multi-image story with Gemini 2.0 Flash, part 3. Google / Benj Edwards Creating a multi-image story with Gemini 2.0 Flash, part 2. Notice the alternative angle of the original photo. Google / Benj Edwards Creating a multi-image story with Gemini 2.0 Flash, part 3. Google / Benj Edwards Text rendering represents another potential strength of the model. Google claims that internal benchmarks show Gemini 2.0 Flash performs better than "leading competitive models" when generating images containing text, making it potentially suitable for creating content with integrated text. From our experience, the results weren't that exciting, but they were legible. An example of in-image text rendering generated with Gemini 2.0 Flash. Credit: Google / Ars Technica Despite Gemini 2.0 Flash's shortcomings so far, the emergence of true multimodal image output feels like a notable moment in AI history because of what it suggests if the technology continues to improve. If you imagine a future, say 10 years from now, where a sufficiently complex AI model could generate any type of media in real timetext, images, audio, video, 3D graphics, 3D-printed physical objects, and interactive experiencesyou basically have a holodeck, but without the matter replication.Coming back to reality, it's still "early days" for multimodal image output, and Google recognizes that. Recall that Flash 2.0 is intended to be a smaller AI model that is faster and cheaper to run, so it hasn't absorbed the entire breadth of the Internet. All that information takes a lot of space in terms of parameter count, and more parameters means more compute. Instead, Google trained Gemini 2.0 Flash by feeding it a curated dataset that also likely included targeted synthetic data. As a result, the model does not "know" everything visual about the world, and Google itself says the training data is "broad and general, not absolute or complete."That's just a fancy way of saying that the image output quality isn't perfectyet. But there is plenty of room for improvement in the future to incorporate more visual "knowledge" as training techniques advance and compute drops in cost. If the process becomes anything like we've seen with diffusion-based AI image generators like Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and Flux, multimodal image output quality may improve rapidly over a short period of time. Get ready for a completely fluid media reality.Benj EdwardsSenior AI ReporterBenj EdwardsSenior AI Reporter Benj Edwards is Ars Technica's Senior AI Reporter and founder of the site's dedicated AI beat in 2022. He's also a tech historian with almost two decades of experience. In his free time, he writes and records music, collects vintage computers, and enjoys nature. He lives in Raleigh, NC. 6 Comments

SpaceNASAs Perseverance rover recorded unusual sounds as a Martian dust devil passed directly over the robotic vehicle in 2021, and we now know they came from electrical activity in the storm 18 March 2025 Dust storms on Mars are electricMARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/AlamyElectrified whirlwinds on Mars can produce lightning-like discharges, which could pose a threat to the rovers trundling around on the Red Planets surface.Severe weather on Mars can sometimes create dust devils, whirlwinds of Martian soil that spin for a few minutes before vanishing. Dust devils form on Earth too, and they can become electrified when the larger dust particles they carry which tend to be positively charged fall to the ground, while smaller and negatively charged particles are lofted upwards. If this electric field becomes large

2025-03-18T16:30:21Z Read in app Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams walk out toward the launchpad ahead of their launch in June. NASA/Joel Kowsky This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Remember those two NASA astronauts who got stuck on the International Space Station for nine months?They're coming back to Earth on Tuesday afternoon aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship.Watch Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore fall back to Earth and splash down in the ocean.A SpaceX spaceship falling back to Earth Tuesday afternoon will be carrying precious cargo: two astronauts who have been stuck in space for nine months.Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were the first astronauts to fly aboard Boeing's Starliner spaceship, which carried them to the International Space Station in June. Their mission was originally set to be about eight days, since it was just a demonstration to show the spaceship could fly humans.That didn't work out. The Starliner's engines glitched as it approached the ISS. After weeks of review, NASA decided to send Starliner back to Earth empty and wait to bring Wilmore and Williams back on a SpaceX vehicle.Now, finally, the wait is over and they're returning home.Watch the astronauts return live on Tuesday afternoonWilliams and Wilmore boarded the SpaceX Crew Dragon early Tuesday morning alongside their two new crewmates: NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.With the help of other astronauts on the ISS, they closed the spaceship's hatch, then sat suited up and buckled in as the Crew Dragon slowly backed away from the station. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts aboard, including Williams and Wilmore, departs the International Space Station moments after undocking. NASA They've been cruising in orbit all day, preparing for a fiery plummet back to Earth, which is set to begin at 4:45 p.m. ET, with the spaceship expected to splash down off the coast of Florida at about 5:57 p.m. ET.Watch it in NASA's livestream, below.Williams and Wilmore have both said that they enjoy being in space and were prepared for the possibility that their deployment would be extended, but they also said that they miss their families and friends."Every day is interesting because we're up in space and it's a lot of fun," Williams said in a press conference from the ISS two weeks before their return."The hardest part is having the folks on the ground have to not know exactly when we're coming back,"SpaceX has already successfully flown nine astronaut crews to space and back aboard its Crew Dragon spaceship, as well as five private crewed missions.

Forever 21 is now navigating its second bankruptcy in five years.The brand was known for limited-run collections that turned the typical apparel cycle on its head.It also laid the groundwork for brands like Temu and Shein, which won over much of its business.Forever 21, the once iconic fast fashion mainstay of shopping malls, is now navigating its second bankruptcy in five years, as rising costs and new competition have led to several years of financial losses.For decades, the brand was a popular choice for budget-minded shoppers, offering limited-run collections that turned the typical apparel cycle on its head.Forever 21 was once one of the fastest-growing fashion retailers in the world, laying the groundwork for brands like Temu and Shein, which the company later cited as threats to its existence.Here's a look back at the rise and fall of Forever 21.The company was founded in 1984 by married couple Jin Sook and Do Won "Don" Chang in Los Angeles.Forever 21 founders Jin Sook Chang and Don Chang. Forever 21 The couple arrived three years earlier from South Korea with basically no money, no degrees, and nearly no English.Jin Sook worked as a hairdresser while Don worked as a janitor, pumped gas, and served coffee.Don said he noticed that the nicest cars were driven by people in the garment business.Don Chang with Michael Bloomberg at a store opening in 2010. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images Originally called Fashion 21, the Changs' first location in 1984 was a 900-square-foot clothing store they opened with $11,000 in savings.The store made $700,000 in sales in its first year.Soon the Changs were opening a new location every six months.Forever 21 took off quickly in the '80s. AP/Mary Altaffer They also rebranded as Forever 21, saying that he store was "for anyone who wants to be trendy, fresh and young in spirit."The company pioneered the concept of "fast fashion" to stay on-trend.Forever 21 specialized in combining on-trend with low-cost. Forever 21 Jin Sook eventually approved more than 400 designs a day, some of which got the company into trouble with other brands.By 2015, Forever 21 had 480 US stores and $4.4 billion in global sales.Forever 21 has aspirations of aggressively expanding overseas. Shuji Kajiyama/Associated Press The Changs became one of America's wealthiest couples, with a combined net worth reaching an estimated $5.9 billion in March 2015.A goal of 600 worldwide stores and $8 billion in sales by 2017 proved too lofty.Apparel at a Zara store. Business Insider/Jessica Tyler As the company focused on growth, some of its styles became more predictable, while competitors like H&M and Zara gained market share. An executive later said that opening stores in 47 countries in less than six years introduced a lot of "complexity" to the business.Competition from e-commerce brands also started to eat away at sales.Fashion Nova brimmed with influencer-ready styles. Screenshot of Fashion Nova's Instagram page. Brands like Fashion Nova began churning out styles, not to mention the rising influence of Amazon.Some designs and partnerships didn't exactly help the brand stay relevant with young shoppers, either.As Forever 21 got bigger, some customers felt it became more predictable and generic. Timothy Hiatt/Getty Images Some social media users have mocked some of its recent designs over the last 6 years, including some from Cheetos, Top Ramen, and the United States Postal Service, as driving Forever 21's financial troubles.Burdened by $500 million in debt, the company filed for bankruptcy for the first time in 2019.A Forever 21 store closing during an earlier round of bankruptcy. John Keeble/Getty Images "Filing for bankruptcy protection is a deliberate and decisive step to put us on a successful track for the future," the company said at the time.In 2020 just before the pandemic Forever 21 reached a deal.Shoppers ascend and descend escalators at the King of Prussia Mall, owned by Simon Property Group. Mark Makela/Reuters A strategic partnership between Authentic Brands Group and two shopping center owners, Simon and Brookfield, was intended to revitalize the mall-rat-favorite brand.Brookfield later sold its stake.The pandemic brought a litany of new headaches namely inflation and supply chain challenges.Containers stacked up at the Port of Los Angeles. Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images Although the company enjoyed a period of success following the bankruptcy sale, it later said things have deteriorated since 2021.New competitors, like Shein and Temu, also turbocharged the fast fashion game.Shein keeps costs low by shipping directly to US customers from overseas. Rodrigo Arangua/AFP via Getty Images Under a trade rule known as the "de minimis" exemption, e-commerce retailers can ship packages worth less than $800 to the US from overseas without paying a tariff, passing some of the savings along in the form of lower prices.In March, Forever 21 once again filed for bankruptcy.Forever 21 said in February that it would close around 200 stores. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images The company blamed the "de minimis" rule for partly undercutting its ability to compete on price with "non-US online retailers."The financial hole has gotten steep, with more than $550 million in losses over the past four years, per the company's filings.Clothing is displayed on mannequins at a Forever 21 store that is preparing to close in San Francisco. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images The company now plans to close several underperforming stores as it looks for a buyer to keep the brand alive, albeit likely at a fraction of its peak scale and cultural influence.Forever 21's future is far from certain, but one possibility is that it could live on as an e-commerce brand.Former housewares giant Bed Bath & Beyond exists now only online. SOPA Images/Getty Images "This would make Forever 21 a shadow of its former self, but a sale is possible as e-commerce and brand groups may show some interest," GlobalData retail analyst Neil Saunders said in a note.Other former titans of 20th Century retail, like Bed Bath & Beyond, have previously shed their prior physical presence for an online-only brand that capitalizes on the loyalty and recognition of the original.

Forget the Switch 2, we're more keen on this collector-focused Nintendo LEGO set for Mario Kart which is tipped for a May release here's all we know about the set so farTech14:53, 18 Mar 2025Ready to build your Pokemon?Just days after a new Mario Kart Lego set leaked, it appears LEGO and Nintendo aren't done working together just yet.As the latter prepares to reveal its new Switch 2 hardware in just over a fortnight, the two have teamed up again to deliver Pokemon LEGO sets. The Pokemon Company, which manages the licensing of the franchise, revealed today that we can expect LEGO sets based on Pikachu and co soon.Article continues belowWe've not got a lot to go on so far, with just a short snippet featuring a very blocky Pikachu tail, but it seemingly spells the end of The Pokemon Company's relationship with Mega Bloks which had previously held the rights to buildable versions of the iconic creatures.Content cannot be displayed without consent"Get ready to electrify your imagination in 2026," the above post on X (formerly Twitter) says, while the official LEGO Group account responded "Our hype is building! Can't wait to see what this partnership evolves into!"We'll have to wait until 2026 for the first sets, but you can expect us to be at the front of the queue for a Charizard build if there is one."We are thrilled to be working with a brand that has such a deep and passionate fanbase as Pokmon, partnering to give our joint audiences what they have been asking us for," Julia Goldin, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at LEGO Group said via press release."We strongly believe that through the endless possibilities of LEGO play and the exciting adventures the world of Pokmon brings, this partnership will create a range of new possibilities for Trainers and builders alike.The LEGO Group and Pokmon have strong shared values of imagination, creativity and fun, making this the perfect partnership to deliver unique, meaningful and engaging ways for Trainers to experience the Pokmon brand," Gaku Susai, Chief Product and Experience Officer at The Pokemon Company International added."Working with the best-in-class team at the LEGO Group and seeing their dedication and passion for the project has culminated in an innovative and groundbreaking collaboration that will surprise and delight fans."Article continues below"We cannot wait to see both LEGO fans and the Pokmon communitys reactions in 2026.Late last year, The Pokemon Company announced a partnership with Aardman Animation to work on a "special project" due to arrive in 2027.For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.

By Matthew Gault Published March 18, 2025 | Comments (1) | A group of "outraged" people protested in front of the Fort Lauderdale Tesla Showroom against the recent actions of President Donald Trump administration, in which Elon Musk now plays a key role including mass layoffs, the removal of federal programs and funding for medical research, on Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images Teslas are getting more expensive to insure thanks to the manufacturers sliding fortunes and reports of vandalism against the cars. There are few markets as pure, heartless, and single-minded as auto insurance. Its a machine run on actuarial tables and its calculations are telling insurers that theyll probably have to pay out a damage claim if they cover a Tesla EV. Tech billionaire and shadow president Elon Musks personal brand and fortune are linked to the cars. They are a visible reminder to people everyday that Musk is tearing through the federal government and destroying things with no oversight or regard for the human cost of the damage he inflicts. Its pissed people off and theyre taking it out on Tesla. Protestors are standing outside Tesla lots and waving anti-Musk signs. Celebrities and influencers are going viral with videos announcing the sell-off of their Musk-branded EV. People are throwing molotov cocktails at Teslas, spray painting them with swastikas, stealing their tires, and setting them on fire. During a Mardis Gras parade earlier this month, revelers repeatedly pelted a Cybertruck with beads, bottles, and other debris for three hours as it weaved its way through the parade route. As the news, and insurance claims, pile up, insurers are driving up rates. Model X or S Plaid drivers pay much higher average rates. Comparatively, average BMW i4 insurance costs are closer to that of a Model 3, at $3,792 per year for full coverage, Shannon Martin, a Bankrate insurance analyst, told Newsweek. Tesla Model 3, Model Y, and Model X are the most expensive EV to insure as of February 2025. The cost to insure a Tesla Model 3 went up 30 percent last year. This is 25 percent higher in cost than the comparable Mercedes Benz A-Class, Martin said. Its possible those numbers will continue to climb.This has happened before. In 2023, Kia and Hyundai cheaped out when they manufactured some of their cars. As a result, some of their cars became easy to steal using a USB charging cable. It fueled a social media trend where people would steal the cars, joyride them, and post a video about it on TikTok. Insurance rates for the vehicles skyrocketed and owners filed class action lawsuits against the manufacturer. Someone has also launched a website called DOGEQUEST that allegedly shows the location of Tesla superchargers, dealerships, and Tesla owners. The website shows a map of the United States and users navigate it with a cursor shaped like a Molotov cocktail. Clicking individual cars gives you personal information about alleged Tesla owners. Some of the info included their name, addresses, phone numbers, emails, and employment information.404 Media first reported on DOGEQUEST and was able to verify that some, but not all, of the information on it is accurate. The veracity of much of the data is unclear. 404 Media has verified that at least some of the people listed on the site do appear to be Tesla owners or supporters of the company or Musk, but it is not clear if every person listed is, 404 Media said in its report. The addresses of several Tesla dealerships checked by 404 Media were correct. 404 Media found some plots on the map dont correspond correctly to their real-world locations. The website bills itself as a place that connects like-minded Tesla owners with one another, facilitating a vibrant community through shared contact information. Is DOGEQUEST a protest platform? It asks itself. If youre on the hunt for a Tesla to unleash your artistic flair with a spray can, just step outsideno map needed! At DOGEQUEST, we believe in empowering creative expressions of protest that you can execute from the comfort of your own home. DOGEQUEST neither endorses nor condemns any actions. The site also claims that it will remove peoples personal information from the site if they send in a specific kind of request. Just provide us with proof that youve sold your Teslawe only accept scanned documents in JPG and PNG formats.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By AJ Dellinger Published March 17, 2025 By Thomas Maxwell Published March 17, 2025 By Matthew Gault Published March 17, 2025 Kate Yoder, Grist Published March 17, 2025 By Lucas Ropek Published March 17, 2025 By Matt Novak Published March 14, 2025

Magic: The Gathering loves dragons. It loves them as major players in its lore, it loves them on lavish card art, it occasionally loves them in dungeons, when dallying about with its fellow Wizards of the Coast property. But as the venerable trading card game enters its next original expansionon the precipice on its next, controversial step into the games crossover-laden futureit wants to bring you back not just to the familiar realm of Tarkir, but to the basics. Which, in this case, involves looking the hell out of some dragons. Tarkir: Dragonstorm marks the conclusion ofMagics latest storylinethe middle chapter of an ongoing trilogy of narratives that have encompassed the games original card sets since August 2024sBloomburrow, all the way to an as-yet-untitled set due to release late next year. Returning to the plane of Tarkir, first visited in the 2014 block beginning with Khans of Tarkir, its set amid chaos on the plane as its ravaged by the aftermath of a series rebellions against the five Dragon Lords that ruled over Tarkir, creating a dangerous wild new kind of dragon in the process. Dragonstorm will see the planeswalkers Elspeth and Narset team up to investigate the threat of dragons that have been cropping up across the last couple of expansion narrativesbattling Sarkhan as he attempts to solidify dragonkinds grip over both Tarkir and the planes beyond it. Suffice to say,dragons are a huge element ofDragonstorm, not just narratively and in the makeup of the cards to be found in the set, but artistically and mechanically as well. Beyond the legions of dragons that will be found inDragonstorm, the creatures are dotted throughout variant cards in the set, from special draconic frames to a series of collector-booster-exclusive lands that focus on dragon eyes, to another set of lands that feature the classic land types of Magics various colors of mana, dominated by the shadowy presence of a dragon flying overhead. Tarkir: Dragonstorm Card Previews Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast But within the actual mechanical systems ofDragonstorm, that means there are alot of dragon cards, and a lot ofbig dragon creatures to play around in decks with. This coalesces into two major new mechanics being introduced forDragonstorm. The first, Behold, adds a new piece of mechanical language to Magics ever-growing lexicon. This isnt so much a mechanic, but its something we wanted to do a lot of times across the set. We kind of wanted to get some better language for the cards, to make them more readable, Adam Prosak, a senior game designer on the Magic team, told press at a recent event revealing a swath of new cards from Dragonstorm. I refer to the behold mechanic as a point to a dragon, or promise us you put a bunch of dragons in your deck.Present on a lot of the cards in the set (naturally, given the prevalence of dragons on Tarkir), to behold a dragon allows a player to either point to a dragon card they have in either their hand or played on the battlefield, and use its presence to activate an ability on another card. We chose that word very specifically, Prosak joked, hoping that players will majestically point toward the myriad dragons at play while announcing their play. But not only will dragons be used as leverage to activate other cards abilities, multiple of the larger dragon cards in the set will carry another mechanic to help players soften the blow of dumping a lot of high-cost creatures into a thematically appropriate deck: Omen. This Omen ability is just something that lets you put a whole bunch of dragons in your deck without messing up the gameplay of having a bunch of really expensive big creatures in your deck, Prosak explained. What are you going to do for the rest of the game?Omen will be an ability on certain dragon cards that essentially lets them be useful to draw other cards, and then be saved back into your deck for later once youve ramped up your mana resources: an instant ability that lets you draw an amount of cards, and then discard the card that used Omen, shuffling it back into your library. These are basically two cards in one, except for when you cast the instant, youre hoping to draw your dragon later, Prosak continued. And if you catch a dragon, well, youve cast a huge dragon. So thats very exciting. Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander Deck Previews Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast But whileDragonstorm is going to be a set about dragons in myriad forms, its also a Tarkir set, which means another element at play throughout the set is the major clans first introduced inKhans of Tarkir. When we returned to Tarkir, we wanted to make sure this set encompassed everything that players expected and loved from the original Tarkir block, Athena Froehlich, the product designer on Dragon Storm, said. So you can expect the best of both worlds, that is, clans and dragons. The five clans of TarkirAbzan, Mardu, Jeskai, Sultai, and Temurwill all return in Dragonstorm, and not only will each of the clans have an allied spirit dragon that connects them all to the rebellions against the Dragon Lords, as well as new characters reflecting how each of them have developed since players last visited the plane, they will also each have a unique mechanic that defines their archetype in the set. Abzan introduces Endures, which grants creatures either bonus power and toughness, or creates new spirit tokens, while the Jeskai introduce Flurry, bonuses introduced if a player casts a second spell in their turn.The Mardu have Mobilize, which lets cards create additional temporary 1/1 warriors, playing into other cards that rely on having extra creatures, while Sultai adds Renew, used from the graveyard to exile a creature entirely in exchange for granting bonus counters (including keyword counters like Lifelink or Deathtouch) to your cards in play. Lastly, the Temur have Harmonize, a variant of Flashback that lets players cast sorceries and instants from the graveyard for a higher costone that can be reduced by tapping creatures in play, leveraging the Temurs connection to high-power creatures alongside their spells. All these will play a role in the not traditional four, butfive Commander decks that will release inDragonstorm, each built around a particular Tarkir clan, and synergize around two potential commanders: one of the clan leaders, or one of their matching spirit dragons, synthesizing the wider sets theme around both the major factions that define Tarkir and the massive beasts that might end up dooming them all.Tarkir: Dragonstorm,Magics 104th major expansion, hits shelves from April 11. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Roxborough House / gh3*Save this picture!Toronto, CanadaArchitects: gh3*AreaArea of this architecture projectArea:2690 ftYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2022 PhotographsPhotographs:Raymond ChowManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Vande Moortle Lead Architects: Pat Hanson, Joel DiGiacomo More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. Situated in South Rosedale, one of Toronto's dedicated heritage conservation districts, Roxborough House dates originally from the 1920's. Subject to stringent preservation restrictions, the renovation of this Edwardian style home posed the challenge of balancing deference for heritage character with the client's desire for modernization through a minimalist aesthetic.Save this picture!Save this picture!Hand-molded brick is used to clad all new exterior elements - a two-story addition and a garage, both to the rear of the house - in keeping with the original masonry facades of the neighborhood. Both structures, similar in massing and height, bookend a newly created courtyard garden, lending it immediate intimacy and privacy. Using reclaimed joists from the existing house to construct the garage establishes a further synergy between both structures. The garage doubles as a studio and congregating space when needed by the client.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The rear addition expands the kitchen and living area on the ground floor and reorganizes the principal bedroom suite above. A new family entrance from the courtyard garden is sheltered by a vaulted structure. This includes a strategically placed skylight and window to visually connect between inside and out.Save this picture!Save this picture!The design brief called for maintaining the original number of bedrooms and living spaces while enhancing spatial flow. This was achieved by the subtle expansion of hallways and central stairs, the incorporation of strategic voids in the staircase, and the use of full-height, flush doors. The result is an evolution of gh3's conceptual response to similar design challenges - interiors of material continuity, attuned proportions, and calibrated light weave through and connect a portfolio of sensitively restored, imaginatively reconfigured heritage properties.Save this picture!Save this picture!The ground floor is re-organized by a continuous hall that hugs its western wall from front to rear. This wall contains original leaded windows of differing datums and heights set into shaped, sculptural niches. Amongst these are windows that were originally part of the existing staircase, now released from their previous context as an abstract composition. Daylight emitted through these various openings syncopates the space throughout the day.Save this picture!An emphasis on simple and essential prevails and connects this project conceptually to gh3's portfolio of residential renovation works - the elemental soapstone kitchen island, the arched ante-room pantry, the deep vaulted hallway leading to the principal bedroom - all elemental forms and geometries that unify between space, program and use.Save this picture!Overall, this project reflects a reverence for Toronto's historic residential architecture. The interpretation of historic elements, including the freeing of some from their original intended use, amplifies essential qualities of space while maintaining a strong connection between the house, garage, and garden. Roxborough House synthesizes gh3's enduring preoccupation with the abstraction and distillation of program and space, both inside and out, consistent with the studio's integrated practice of architecture and landscape.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officegh3*OfficePublished on March 18, 2025Cite: "Roxborough House / gh3*" 18 Mar 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1027946/roxborough-house-gh3-star&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream