What if there was a woman in your yard, sitting pensively in an austere, lacy black mourning veil, just waiting? It wouldnt take very long for you to feel unnerved, whether she did something or not. This is the very basic setup of the (appropriately titled) The Woman in the Yard, the new Blumhouse horror film from Orphan and Carry-On director Jaume Collet-Serra.Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler, from Carry-On and Station Eleven) has cause to be afraid: The woman in black appears after a car crash that killed Ramonas husband and left her seriously injured. As she gazes at the unwanted visitor outside her rural farmhouse, shes got no phone, no car, and no ability to walk her two kids to safety, with the nearest neighbor a few miles away. And on top of it all, the woman will only warn her, Todays the day.And yet Collet-Serra and writer Sam Stefanak (F Is for Family) dont savor the promise of The Woman in the Yardspremise. Instead, they point toward an ending like a pool player calling a pocket. Which makes it all the more disappointing that the movie cant even sink its shot.[Ed. note: This post, as the headline suggests, includes full spoilers for the ending of The Woman in the Yard. It also discusses suicidal ideation and depression in detail.]By the midpoint of the film, Woman in the Yard openly declares what has already seemed more or less obvious: The titular woman is Ramona, or at least a personification of her suicidal ideation, haunting her and encroaching ever closer on all she holds dear. Its not really clear whether there are rules around the entitys powers, just that her appearance in Ramonas yard is in service of getting Ramona to the final showdown, and the question of whether her darkest demons will win out.Its less a specific moment in the movie that points to this so clearly from the jump, and more the general tone. Like so much of modern, simplistic metaphor-driven horror, Woman in the Yard seeds a lot of winks and nudges that the lacy specter might be a walking allegory the way Ramona is checking out of parenting duties, failing to keep basic food around the house for her kids or her dog, letting bills stack up and flowers wither. As with many of these movies, the air of tragedy feels more purely like Mental Health Allegory than like effective character work.Collet-Serra and Stefanak are far too content to simply tell us this despondency is where Ramona is, rather than actually setting it up. After establishing all the ways her teenage son, Taylor (Peyton Jackson), is picking up the slack around the house, Stefanaks script goes out of its way to say that Ramona isnt just suffering a post-traumatic depressive spell: This is an ongoing state stretching back to before her husband died. We see in a flashback that they fought on the night of his death, with her telling him she was unhappy in the country. He counters that she was unhappy in the city too, and asks her what she wants. Driving them home, Ramona ultimately crashes the car when she sees The Woman (Okwui Okpokwasili) in her rearview mirror.The persistent problem with The Woman in the Yard is how close it comes to the narrative neatness all of these metaphors-as-horror films want. Ramonas first flash of The Woman could be read as a startling intrusive thought about death by suicide. Her ensuing despair comes out as bigger flashes of hot and cold rage, ones that put her kids, herself, and even the dog and chickens they own in danger, which is why The Woman kills the chickens and disappears the dog before focusing on Ramona. Every time Ramona gets stressed and irrationally flies off the handle, The Woman moves closer to the house, as if the strain and shame is literally imposing itself on her family.But the filmmakers are so eager to play their big ideas for a big reveal that they muddle the entire sense of threat. The first act, with Ramona and her kids watching The Woman watch them, never feels as claustrophobic as it should. And so a lot of character acts just get introduced out of nowhere. Although Taylor seems resentful of how much he has to step up as a parental figure for Ramona and how she never appreciates it the way he angrily yells that shes on crazy-person pills feels like it comes out of nowhere.But the worst of the uneven plotting comes from the blurry lines between Ramona and The Woman. The problem is, Stefanak and Collet-Serra cant quite make sense of whether The Woman is a monster or a metaphor and for a film like this, the distinction does matter, even when filmmakers want to have fun withholding the reveal. This is a thinly sketched world, one where were told things about characters all of a sudden and asked to simply accept they are true, like Ramonas husband saying she has been miserable in a life we never see and thus cant contextualize. So however The Woman acts has to make sense maybe even more sense than the familys behavior.Instead, it feels like shes whatever the story requires of her to move forward. Shes a looming, nebulous, external threat, until suddenly shes telling Taylor his moms secrets. The Woman can use her shadow to knock things over inside Ramonas house, and once the family figures this out, they start drawing the curtains. But even when they totally block out her powers within the room theyre in, the family still goes and hides in the attic.When The Woman ultimately gains access there, too, the movie somewhat implies that its because night has come, and darkness is just one giant shadow. Thats a narratively neat idea; depression certainly can seem more isolating and all-consuming in the cold dark after the sun has set. But its a rule change without a clear cause in the film, and the abruptness of the shift seems more in service of Stefanak angling toward his harsh ending than it does actually developing The Woman as an entity.The attic sequence begets a mirror world that Ramona is briefly pulled into, and a bit where Ramona is momentarily possessed by the The Woman. Those sudden power shifts make everything around The Woman feel too jarring; shes a menace weighed down by too many gimmicks.It seems Stefanak wants the ambiguity about what The Woman is and what she can do: The fact that The Woman threatens the children while also encouraging Ramona to end her life to protect them is yet another way the story could find some tidiness in the metaphor, a way to explore just how damn annoying depression can be, in spite of the movies flimsy internal logic.But the thing about horror-as-metaphor movies is, theyre supposed to be movies first built on functioning stories, clear characters, and comprehensible horror rules. Woman in the Yard, by contrast, just seems to be following a steady drumbeat of Do you get it?Which is what makes the ending its marching toward so weak instead of bleak. The Woman assures Ramona that her kids will be safe if Ramona dies, showing pictures of the bright futures theyll have so long as she isnt with them. The Woman helps Ramona get a gun in place, speaks of how Ramona has called out for her for so long, and tells her (again) that today is finally the day. Ramona looks at herself in the mirror and sees The Womans ghostly spirit settle into her body. Then we get a brief glimpse of Ramona and her kids returning to a home with the power on and the dog returned, happily pronouncing theyll know how to deal with The Woman should she return.The final pan seems designed to introduce some open-endedness to this tale: Ramonas signature on a painting she did has a backwards capital R, possibly indicating shes actually in the mirror world The Woman brought her to. Is it possible shes actually in the mirror world (and, its implied, dead by suicide)? Or is this just payoff for her daughter struggling to write Rs the right way, nodding to the ways mental health issues might travel through families?Its more likely the latter. (The sign outside their house is legible the correct way, as is the rest of Ramonas signature.) But either way, the ending is a dud. Again, the most frustrating aspect of this movie is how close this feels to worthwhile symbolism. Woman in the Yard looks great, thanks to Collet-Serras direction, and Deadwyler is giving it her all. Theres something to the idea of the shape-shifting trump card that depression always seems to play, the way it both nestles into you and stands like a wraithlike boogeyman cutting you off from the world.But The Woman in the Yards story is too choppy, with the filmmakers so insistent on presenting their elements as linear that their story ironically feels carelessly messy. Collet-Serra can have his fun following a shadowy lurking presence or flitting between realities, but he doesnt mask how disjointed this fun feels. Does it matter whether the end of this movie is a coy sendoff or a dark one? Either way, it feels like it dodges Ramonas actual decision, which happens off screen. The movie piles up pointless obfuscation, until suddenly thats all there is. Theres no power in that story, and as a result, theres barely any tragedy.The Woman in the Yard is now playing in theaters.

Monster Hunter Wilds has been keeping me busy since its drop a few weeks back. Im working on boosting my hunter rank in the high-rank environments, and vacillating quickly on which new armor set Im going to craft next. (Right now Im hunting gnarly Jin Dahaad, but the armor-plated Gravios armor perfect for my hammer build might have stolen my attention.) Theres a lot to do in Wilds, but there is also something missing.Specifically, Id like to be able to dress a pig up in clothes and carry him around like a baby. Im talking about the Monster Hunters Poogie, an chubby, floppy-eared pig that is nearly as recognizable as a series mascot as the fearsome Rathalos. Poogies have a long history appearing in Monster Hunter games; I first met one in the hub world of Monster Hunter World. Theres an important ritual of petting the Poogie, which plays a little song while the hunter showers him with affection. Time your button presses correctly, and Poogie loves it! Because nothing can be easy in Monster Hunter games, you can screw up petting Poogie. If you pet Poogie at the wrong time, hell get mad and run away until you finish another quest.In previous Monster Hunters, a Poogie would wander around one of the main gathering areas, and petting him before departing on each hunt was a way for auspicious players to boost their luck, so as to guarantee getting the rarer monster pieces they needed. (There are some folks who believe this is really buried in Monster Hunters code, but it has never been proven or confirmed.)But Poogie isnt just for luck! Previous iterations let you dress Poogie in different outfits after you gained his trust and love. Who doesnt want a pig dressed in a bee costume?! In Monster Hunter World, I would carry Poogie lovingly in my arms around the hub world, waiting for my controller to vibrate, indicating there was a treasure for him to dig up nearby. (YouTuber TagBackTV has a great video on how it worked.)Monster Hunter Wilds does have a Poogie, but players dont meet him until chapter 3, and hes far off in a village I rarely need to visit unless its for specific quests. While this Poogie is often found with a spherical frog balanced on its back undeniably cute! there arent really the robust level of Poogie interactions found in previous games. And certainly no stripey pajamas or a wooly ram costume. All I can do is pet Poogie, and change his name.With the announcement of the Title 1 update coming to Monster Hunter Wilds next week, Capcom teased a robust gathering hub as a base option as an alternative to the campsites scattered across the Forbidden Lands. Footage from the 12-minute update from Capcom hints at delights and diversions at the hunters new Grand Hub, including games and a larger kitchen. (That is another feature I am excited for, as it could mean the return of the fantastic cooking cat, the Meowscular Chef.) But the new hub wont be complete in my heart if there isnt a pig I can pick up and hold. Please, Capcom, give the people (me) what they want.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.Amazon's Big Spring Sale is almost over, but there are still deals you can take advantage of, including this comprehensive list of tech deals from Lifehacker's associate tech editor Michelle Ehrhardt. If you're looking for a portable speaker, consider this one from Ultimate Ears, the Megaboom 4, currently $129.99 (originally $199.99)that's the lowest price it has reached, according to price-tracking tools. Ultimate Ears Megaboom 4 360-degree sound, is water and dust proof, and has 20-hour battery life. $129.99 at Amazon $199.99 Save $70.00 Get Deal Get Deal $129.99 at Amazon $199.99 Save $70.00 UE is well-known in the portable speaker market for making some of the best outdoor speakers. Its Megaboom series is the brand's flagship speaker, and the fourth reiteration of the speaker was long overdue. The upgrade brings USB-C fast charging, a longer battery life of up to 20 hours, a skip-back media control on its physical buttons, more sub-bass range, and a better sound with more balance.Because of the way UE designs its speakers, you get 360-degree sound, which is ideal for outdoor use (but it sounds great indoors as well). This speaker, and like many in its lineup, floats on water and has a water- and dust-proof IP67 rating. The companion app lets you fully customize the EQ, connect your speaker to other UE speakers to create a stereo sound, set up alarms with your music, and control it remotely with the app.Despite the upgrades, the Megaboom 4 doesn't get as loud as its predecessor, maxing out around 83 dBs, and the audio quality will sound a bit compressed at those levels, but unless you like to blast your music, this won't be much of an issue.If you're looking for a great portable speaker with modern tech, the Megaboom 4 will not disappoint, especially at this price.Shopping for tech? Lifehacker can help you make the right decision. Browse our tech reviews and head-to-head comparisons for everything from laptops and smartwatches to e-bikes and home gyms. Subscribe to our deals newsletter,Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox, or browse our best-of lists directly on Amazon, including:The Best Over-Ear HeadphonesThe Best Wireless EarbudsThe Best Adjustable Dumbbell SetsThe Best Projectors

We may earn a commission from links on this page.One of the biggest considerations when shopping for a new place to live is whether to buy a new-build home or an older home. Surprisingly, only about 25% of home buyers are looking for new-build homes, and more than half of Generation Z-age homebuyers are more than willing to buy a fixer-upper home.The cost of buying a house has a lot to do with that, of course. And that means a lot of folks cant afford to immediately renovate that fixer-upper to their liking and will have to wait until their bank account recovers from the home-buying process. But that doesnt mean you have to live in a shabby house designed by strangersthere are a lot of small, cheap upgrades you can make to your new house immediately that will make it feel fresh, new, and truly yours.PaintingIt almost goes without saying: The most obvious move is to paint. Paint everything, every room, the exterior, the front doora fresh coat of paint inside and out will make the place feel brand new and give you the opportunity to put your stamp on it and make it feel like yours. The average cost to paint the exterior of your home is just $500-$600, and the interior will run you just over $1,000 on average, so theres no reason not to start with a blank slate.Upgrade the cabinetsIf a kitchen or bathroom renovation isnt in the cards, work with what you have. You can do some cheap, simple upgrades that will make even the oldest cabinets look new:Paint or wrap the cabinets. A fresh coat of paint or a layer of high-quality vinyl wrap can turn tired, old, builder-basic cabinets into real showstoppers for very little money. Painting your cabinets yourself can cost less than $300, and vinyl wrapping the cabinets yourself can be done for about $100.Add soft-close hinges to your cabinet doors and pulls. You cant overestimate the luxurious feeling these lend to any kitchen, and you can install them throughout a standard-sized kitchen for a hundred bucks or so. If thats too much money or work, put some cabinet bumpers in to get a similar effect for about $20.New hardware. Changing the pulls on your cabinets will transform their look. If you dont want to splash out for new hardware, you could just paint them. That would take about an hour and would cost just a can of spray paint.Update interiors. If your kitchen cabinets are just empty boxes, you can make them into sleek, efficient storage units with some affordable additions like a pots and pans organizer, shelf pull-outs, Lazy Susans, and storage baskets.Switch out the shower fixturesIf the bathroom you just bought has an open shower with curtain rod, swap out the old-style straight curtain with a curved model. Its a small, inexpensive upgrade that will immediately make your shower feel larger and stop the curtain from wrapping around you like a shawl every time you take a shower.You can change the showerhead in your bathroom(s) in about five minutes, for less than you think: a high-quality showerhead can be had in a variety of finishes for about $50 a pop). Doing so will improve the showering experience, make the shower look newer, and give you an invigorating start to every day. Upgrade your lightingLight has a huge impact on your mood and physical health. While sunlight might be the best, having a bright, well-lit home is a safer and more welcoming space. Swapping in new light fixtures is an easy way to give the place a new look while getting your taste into the picture, but if that adds up to a budget-buster, you can transform the existing features in a variety of easy ways.Additionally, adding motion-triggered lighting under kitchen cabinets, in closets, and along stairs will brighten the place, make it more functional, and make it safer to walk around at night, contributing to a sense of comfort and security in a new space.Speaking of lightone way a house can feel cold and uncomfortable is with harsh, single-intensity light. Adding dimmer switches will cost you about $20 to $30 per switch, and should take less than 10 minutes each. The result is a home where you can set the ambiance for each room depending on your mood, the time of day, or your activities, and that sense of control will definitely help you feel more at home in your new house.Update wall platesOne of the easiest things to do is to replace all the light switch and outlet plates on the walls, especially if theyre the standard cheap plastic kind. Decorative wall plates come in a huge range of colors and styles, so you can really calibrate them to enhance the overall look of the place. This is especially useful if you just painted, as you can choose the color and finish of the plates to complement the fresh wall colors. If you dont want to spend money on new plates, you can paint them pretty easily.Get a smart thermostatIf the house has old, faded thermostats that dont do much aside from trigger the furnace, for less than $400 you can install a smart thermostat that will let you tailor your climate experience while making your HVAC system a lot more efficient. Plus, a new smart thermostat will look nicer than that old hunk of plastic, and give the house a modern touch even if it hasnt been properly remodeled in decades.Upgrade the door hardwareJust like kitchen and bathroom cabinets, the doors in your house can be transformed inexpensively with paint and new hardware. Changing the door handles is the easiest and most obvious way to make your doors a design feature instead of just a necessary convenience, but dont forget the hinges, tooits not difficult to pop a door off, swap the hinges, and pop it back up again. Having your hinges match the handles and lock hardware will make the door look new with a cohesive style.Upgrade the toiletWant to feel like youre living in a swanky hotel? Install a soft-close toilet seat. For about $30-$50, you will never have to hear the sound of a toilet seat slamming onto porcelain ever again. If youve never had a soft-close lid before you might not realize just how much difference this sort of peace and quiet can make.While youre making your toilet experience better, consider adding a bidet. A soft-close toilet seat with a built-in bidet is easy to install but can be a bit pricey. Luckily, there are plenty of seat attachments that will more than get the job done for less than $30. Either way, a bidet will not only make your bathroom feel more luxurious, itll make you feel cleaner (and happier, probably).Floor vent coversYou might not think about the vents in your floor, but you should, because theyre an easy way to bring a modern, clean look to your home even if you cant redo the flooring right away. New decorative vent covers usually cost less than $20 each and install very easily (usually without any tools). If you dont want to bother swapping them out, there are a lot of creative ways to upgrade the ones you have to make the place feel more yours.Refresh carpetsIf your new home has carpeting and its looking a little worn-out, with stains, wrinkles, and loose spots, you can bring them back to something close to new in two steps:Deep clean. You can clean and disinfect your carpets easily and cheaply (and you shouldcarpets are gross, especially when its someone elses grossness trapped in there). You can use a technique known as Dry Steam Cleaning, which combines powdered cleaning agents, high heat, and low moisture to get your carpets super clean. And you can always rent carpet cleaning machines from a variety of places (my local supermarket rents them) for a classic clean.Stretch. One of the easiest and most affordable ways to get it looking new(er) is to have it stretched. While you can DIY carpet stretching, youll definitely get better results hiring someone to do it professionally (at a cost of about $100-$300 depending on the size and state of your carpet). Combined with a thorough cleaning, stretching the carpet will bring it closer to its newly-installed look.Dress the outdoorsIf your new home has an outdoor space that isnt very fancy, you dont have to spend a lot of time and money on landscaping and other projects to make a comfy spot for grilling, outdoor gatherings, or warm-weather napping. Adding some simple solar lights, inexpensive outdoor seating options, and a fire pit can turn even the saddest concrete slab into a chill place for outdoor enjoyment.Dont even have a patio? You can make one for less than $300. And if your outdoor area is an overgrown mess but you dont have the time or budget for a landscaping project, dont forget that cutting everything back is free.

Lenovo has the honor of releasing the first SteamOS handhelds not made by Valve, and it looks like you won't have to wait long to get them. Legion Go S handhelds with SteamOS ship May 25, according to a new Best Buy listing spotted by The Verge, but go for at least $50 more than the original $499.99 price Lenovo promised.The Legion Go S powered by SteamOS now starts at $549.99, which gets you an 8-inch, 120Hz OLED display, comfortable controls, a fingerprint reader / touchpad, 16GB of RAM and the AMD Ryzen Z2 Go chip. If you're willing to pay $749.99, you can get the same package, but with the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme, which originally appeared on the Legion Go, and 32GB of RAM.PC-class gaming, now in your hands. Pre-order the new Lenovo Legion Go S with Steam OS at https://t.co/3jqjW1logY pic.twitter.com/5qb5nyzcTn Lenovo Legion (@LenovoLegion) March 28, 2025 Perhaps more important than the specs, both handhelds come pre-loaded with SteamOS, which means they should be as easy to setup and use as the Steam Deck, and be able to play the vast majority of games thanks to Valve's Proton compatibility software.Lenovo already released its first Windows 11 version of the Legion Go S back in February for $730. We found it expensive and a bit hampered by Windows in our review, but otherwise solid. At the time, a SteamOS version for $500 seemed like a promising alternative. But for $50 extra, some of that shine has come off, particularly when you can get the already excellent Steam Deck OLED for the same price.It'll take a full review to suss out how different SteamOS makes the Legion Go S, whether paired with the Ryzen Z2 Go or the more powerful Ryzen Z1 Extreme. At the very least, it's nice to have more SteamOS devices in the wild.The Legion Go S powered by SteamOS is available to pre-order now for $549.99, and will ship on May 25. The Ryzen Z1 Extreme model ships on the same date for $749.99. Lenovo is also offering a version of the Ryzen Z1 Extreme Legion Go S with Windows 11 for $829.99, too.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/lenovo-legion-go-s-with-steamos-will-land-may-25-for-50-more-than-expected-213820420.html?src=rss

YouTube is testing turning off notifications from channels viewers don't engage with in attempt to tame the number of notifications they receive. The video platform says the test will specifically impact viewers who've chosen to receive "All" notifications from a channel.During the experiment, notifications will still appear in the notification inbox, but "viewers who havent recently engaged with a channel despite having been sent recent push notifications will not receive push notifications," YouTube says. The goal is to get viewers to not disable notifications entirely just because they've received too many.Many YouTube creators specifically ask people to subscribe and enable notifications so they know when a new video has been uploaded. The problem is, when you agree to receive "All" notifications, you'll also get pestered about things that aren't new uploads. There are ways to manage your notifications, but YouTube claims it's common for people to disable them at the app-level once they get annoyed (impacting every channel they're subscribed to), rather than try and tweak things. For a creator who wants to maximize the number of people that watch their videos, not being able to rely on push notifications to grab subscribers' attention is a problem.YouTube deciding that some viewers shouldn't receive notifications from a given channel seems like an extreme solution, though. The company describes this test as "small," but it certainly feels like there could be a more nuanced way to weed out the push notifications people don't need.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/youtube-may-mute-notifications-from-channels-you-dont-watch-202802028.html?src=rss

MindsEye is launching on June 10 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

A bug similar to one recently found in Google Chrome was also spotted in Firefox and subsequently fixed.

In a social media post on Friday, Elon Musk said his startup xAI has acquired his social media company X.

After pricing its IPO below the expected range, CoreWeave's stock didn't do much in its debut on Friday, reflecting concerns about the macro environment.