There was a time, not so long ago, that I was completely abusing my right to use boxed mixes. I made a crumb cake out of muffin mix, peach dump cake, very convincing black and white cookies, and a super tender boxed cake by adding too much oil and not enough egg. Ive learned a lot from all this screwing around with boxed mixes (for science, of course). With the recent surge in egg prices and the rate of birthday celebrating as consistent as ever, I began to wonder if there was a way for folks to make boxed cakes without using up all of their precious eggs. Then I remembered, of course there isyou can skip them completely.It was when I was trying to manipulate boxed cake mix to make thick, soft black and white cookies that I made this crucial discovery: All boxed cake mix wants to be cake. I used Duncan Hines yellow cake mix and tried everything to change the batter. I took out the oil. I added only egg. I added just a few tablespoons of water. All of my attempts bubbled, spread, and puffed into full-blown cake. I ended up using muffin mix to come up with the right consistency for black and white cookies.If you think about it, this basic understanding (that cake mix will always become cake) is why we know dump cake works. For those unfamiliar with this casually named dessert, you simply dump fruit (canned or otherwise) into a casserole dish and sprinkle dry cake mix over the top. Even the scant liquid from simmering fruit is enough to moisten the dry cake mix and activate it. Boxed cake mixes, like those from Duncan Hines, Pillsbury, or Betty Crocker, are all designed to be nearly foolproof. You just need to add liquideggy or notand it will become cake.Dont get me wrong, in a side-by-side comparison (see one below) youll notice the difference in puff and color, but the flavor is consistently good. Its really hard to screw them up to the point that theyre not delicious. Ive been trying for years and I havent managed to make it taste bad. Changing the ratios, especially the oil, might actually give you a cake texture you prefer (more on that later).Two, one, or zero eggs all result in cakeI wanted to test out how far I could push cake mix so I did a Funfetti test. The batter, prepared with the manufacturers suggestions, takes a cup of water, half a cup of oil, and three eggs. I did a few iterations. One test with only a single egg and double the oil, one test with no eggs and double the oil, and one with the proper amount of oil but zero eggs. Left: no eggs and double oil. Center: no eggs and normal oil. Right: One egg and double oil. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann While the mixture properly prepared according to the packages directions has more of a domed top than the other reduced-egg versions, absolutely all of them became fluffy, soft, delectable cake layers. I think the single egg and double oil cake was my favorite because the single egg was just enough of an emulsifier to support the extra fat. It wasnt weighed down, but it was decadent and moist. Left: cake prepared according to directions. Center: cake with one egg and double oil. Right, Cake with no eggs and directed amount of oil and water. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann But I digress: The real victory here is that the cake with absolutely no egg was fantastic. It didnt dome, which is actually preferable if youre stacking layers for a cake with icing, the texture was fluffy and moist, and the flavor was as Funfetti as could be. There was no need to replace the egg with anything, by the way. No extra water. No banana. Just mix the indicated amounts of water and oil into the dry mix. Pour it into the pans and smooth out the tops. Keep in mind that you can do anything in between too. Add one egg. Maybe you have two leftover egg whites. A stray yolk lurking in your fridge? Toss it in instead of the suggested three whole eggs.Not all boxed mixes are as forgivingWhile boxed cake mix is completely fine without eggs, not all boxed mixes are as forgiving. I tried to skip the egg in boxed Ghirardelli walnut brownie mix andho boy. That was absolutely disgusting. I was surprised, honestly; I figured since there was only a single egg in the recipe, what harm could it do to skip it? Lots. I made six brownie bitesthree with a no-egg mixture, and three with the batter prepared according to the manufacturers directions. You get three guesses which is which. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann Eggs are an emulsifier after all, and it seems like brownie mix truly needs the help of that single egg to integrate the fats and yield a moist and ungreasy final product. Your brownie mix is not the place to skip eggs. Do that with boxed cake mix instead.

Baby Steps is a video game about hiking. This is, of course, a ridiculous concept.Before we get to the games protagonist, an adult toddler in a thin onesie, or its unserious side characters and nonsensical narrative, we have to acknowledge the absurdity at its very core. Leisurely walking around in nature is perhaps the most organic, least technological activity a person can engage in, and the desire to digitize this experience, recreating it for consumption from the butt-shaped cushions of your couch, is silly. Its such a patently Game Developer impulse that, actually, I find it adorable. Much like the rest of Baby Steps.Baby Steps is a walking simulator from a trio of veteran game developers: Dance Central creator Maxi Boch, Ape Out developer Gabe Cuzzillo, and Bennett Foddy of QWOP and Getting Over It fame. Its heading to PC and PlayStation 5 this year, and since its announcement video dropped in June 2023, its been a hotly anticipated curio for fans of annoyingly precise traversal mechanics and offbeat indie shit. Its a larger audience than you might think.I played about 45 minutes of Baby Steps at GDC 2025 while Boch, Cuzzillo and Foddy looked on and intermittently told me how good I was at walking. The game stars Nate, an unemployed adult dude who lives in his parents basement, as he explores an arid mountain landscape one shaky, unsure step at a time. Maneuvering his body in the proper way is the main goal, and its a tricky one. Using a gamepad, you control Nates legs individually, one per trigger, and his limbs are incredibly sensitive to small changes in button depression. Pull a trigger tight to lift and bend one of his knees, and release it bit by bit to swing out his lower leg and place his foot precisely where it needs to be. Press forward with the left stick to give Nate just the right amount of momentum, get your trigger rhythm right, and suddenly, hey, youre walking here.It sounds easier than it is. Thanks to the games incredibly precise mechanics, Nate falls over easily, faceplanting in the dirt and tumbling backward over rocky slopes like a ragdoll, covering his grey onesie in mud and sweat. This same precision also makes Nate shockingly sturdy at times, like when he pulls his whole body onto a ledge with a single step, ending in a perfectly balanced flamingo stance. Theres room in the controls for both mastery and mayhem, and by the time I put down the gamepad, I was walking Nate around with all the grace of a perfectly adequate five-year-old. I was proud of this accomplishment, too, damn it.Devolver DigitalLiterally placing one foot in front of the other requires so much concentration in the games first few minutes that its easy to ignore Nates surroundings, but as walking becomes easier, youre finally able to look around and ask, What the hell am I doing here? The first two chapters of Baby Steps are set on a mountainside dotted with craggy rocks, patches of brown grass, long-abandoned wooden buildings, random carousel horses and dirt pits, and the only indication of where to go is an orange glow emanating from a ridgeline high above Nates spawn point.The few folks Nate meets along the way a charmingly aloof guide and at least one other, much more prepared hiker are incredibly entertaining to interact with, but theyre also pretty unhelpful with existential questions. Nate murmurs and monosyllabizes his way through conversations, and he tends to get cut off by the NPCs eager observations. Like when I was playing, Nate fell and got stuck at the bottom of a muddy hole, and his guide friend showed up and immediately said, This hole used to be dry. Hey, did you pee in the hole? Did you pee in this hole? In response, Nate made anxious noises and generally panicked.The comedy in Baby Steps is sharp and chaotic, with a delirious, improvised edge. Foddy does the voice work for most of the characters, and he tends to just make up their lines at the mic. The result is a messy yet refreshing conversational flow, and every cutscene I encountered made me chuckle.Devolver DigitalMost aspects of Baby Steps made me smile, in fact. At one point I entered a fast-walking groove while wandering along a rocky path on the edge of the canyon, and I realized the birdsong and the thuds of my own steps had morphed into a rhythmic song, encouraging my gait with a steady, organic beat. The games soundscape comes courtesy of Boch, and it intentionally ebbs and flows according to the way you play the game. Combine this responsive, immersive soundtrack with the constant focus you have to keep on Nates movements, and Baby Steps quickly becomes a hypnotic experience. The games details only encourage this feeling the mountain is strangely beautiful, rendered in crisp 3D graphics, and its completely explorable, with no invisible walls in sight. If you can see it, you can attempt to climb it. Nates onesie collects sweat along the small of his back, under his arms, and in all the crannies youd expect, and it also picks up mud when he falls, but the stains wash away when you get in water. On-screen prompts are rare. There are hidden hats to wear and penis graffiti to admire, and Nate can take numerous paths to reach the same point, bouncing pancake butt leading the way.Behind all the absurdity, Baby Steps is an incredibly well-crafted, hyper-detailed relaxation tool. While it is laugh-out-loud funny, its mechanics cut deeper than its oddball trailers suggest, and in practice, it actually left me feeling meditative. Baby Steps is a serious silly game.Baby Steps is being published by Devolver Digital, and its due to hit PS5 and PC via Steam later this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/baby-steps-preview-serious-gameplay-in-a-silly-walking-sim-150008737.html?src=rss

Now that the Amazon Spring Sale is here, we're on the lookout for the best tech deals to grab from it. In typical Amazon fashion, Blink security cameras have been discounted for the shopping event. The Blink Mini 2 is available for $20, which is half off its regular price and the best discount we've seen. You can pick up two of the wired security cameras for $38, which represents a 46 percent discount. We reckon the Blink Mini 2 is the best budget security camera around. You can adjust the webcam-style camera to a variety of angles. It's weather-resistant, so you can place it outside if you have a special power adapter. The camera picks up decent (but not great) images, particularly those captured in the infrared nighttime view. It also has a built-in LED spotlight. Since Blink is an Amazon company, of course the Mini 2 ties into the Alexa ecosystem. You'll just need to have a Blink account before you can actually use it. As you might expect, you'll be able to view images captured by the Mini 2 via the Alexa app on an Echo Show, Fire Tablet or Fire TV but, curiously, not iOS or Android. To see the captures on your phone or tablet, you'll instead need to use the Blink app. You'll get some extra features such as cloud storage and people and pet detection if you sign up for the Blink Subscription ($3 per month for one camera, $10 per month for any number). Elsewhere in the sale, a five-pack of the Blink Outdoor 4 cameras is half off at $200. This is our recommendation for the best security camera for Alexa users. Having five of them should be enough for many folks to keep an eye on everything that's going on around their property. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-blink-mini-2-security-camera-is-still-discounted-to-20-for-the-amazon-spring-sale-171417234.html?src=rss

The week's 7 biggest tech stories from Marvel, Nintendo, Google and more for March 29, 2025.

Looking for Quordle clues? We can help. Plus get the answers to Quordle today and past solutions.

If youve bought the antihistamine medication Benadryl from Amazon in the past few years, youll want to make sure to carefully check its packaging to make sure it is not part of the recall that was posted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) this month.Thats because a select Benadryl product sold on the e-commerce giants website has a fault that could lead to the risk of a child being poisoned. Heres what you need to know.Benadryl Liquid Elixir sold on Amazon.com is being recalledOn March 20, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission posted a recall notice on its website for Benadryl Liquid Elixir imported by Arsell Inc. of Brooklyn, New York. The medication was manufactured in Canada.While the medication itself is safe, the Benadryl Liquid Elixirs packaging is not child-resistant as required by law. This means that the product poses a safety risk to young children. If they open the product and swallow the medicine inside, they could be poisoned.The Benadryl contains diphenhydramine, which must be in child-resistant packaging as required by the Poison Prevention Packaging Act. The packaging of the products is not child-resistant, posing a risk of poisoning if the contents are swallowed by young children, the notice posted on the CPSC website warns.What Benadryl product is being recalled?According to the notice posted on the CPSC website, only one specific Benadryl product is being recalled. The details of that product are:Product name: Benadryl Liquid Elixir, 100 mL bottlesProduct packaging: paper box with a round dark plastic bottle inside.Label code: X003VRIGULIn total, about 2,300 bottles are being recalled. Images of the product packaging can be viewed here.Where was the recalled Benadryl product sold?According to the notice on the CPSC website, the recalled product was sold online at Amazon.com. It was sold between July 2023 and October 2024. The price of the product ranged from $16 to $19.Have any children been harmed by the recalled Benadryl product?Thankfully, no. As of the March 20 posting date, the recall notice says that there have been no reported injuries or incidents so far.What do I do if I have the recalled product?The CPSC notice says the recalled product should be immediately secured and kept out of sight and reach of children. People with the product should contact the importer, Arsell, for a full refund.You will be asked to provide proof of your Amazon purchase and proof that you have disposed of the bottle and its contents.Those with the recalled Benadryl can contact recall@arsellsupport.comto begin the recall process. Full details of the recall can be found on the notice here.

President Donald Trump on Thursday revealed his intention to force changes at the Smithsonian Institution with an executive order that targets funding for programs that advance divisive narratives and improper ideology, the latest step in a broadside against culture he deems too liberal.Trump claimed there has been a concerted and widespread effort over the past decade to rewrite American history by replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth, adding that it casts the founding principles of the United States in a negative light.The order he signed behind closed doors puts Vice President JD Vance, who serves on the Smithsonian Institutions Board of Regents, in charge of overseeing efforts to remove improper ideology from all areas of the institution, including its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.It marks the Republican presidents latest salvo against cultural pillars of society, such as universities and art, that he considers out of step with conservative sensibilities. Trump recently had himself installed as chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the aim of overhauling programming, including the annual Kennedy Center Honors awards show. The administration also recently forced Columbia University to make a series of policy changes by threatening the Ivy League school with the loss of several hundred million dollars in federal funding.The executive order also hints at the return of statues and monuments of Confederate figures, many of which were taken down or replaced around the country after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020 and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, which is detested by Trump and other conservatives.The order also calls for improvements to Independence Hall in Philadelphia by July 4, 2026, in time for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.Trump singled out the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in 2016 near the White House, the Womens History Museum, which is in development, and the American Art Museum for criticism.Museums in our Nations capital should be places where individuals go to learnnot to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history, he said.Linda St. Thomas, the Smithsonian Institutions chief spokesperson, said in an email late Thursday, We have no comment for now.Under Trumps order, Vance will also work with the White House budget office to make sure future funding for the Smithsonian Institution isnt spent on programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with federal law and policy. Trump also wants to ensure that the womens history museum celebrates women and not recognize men as women in any respect.It also requires the interior secretary to reinstate monuments, memorials, statues, and similar properties that have been removed or changed since January 1, 2020, to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.The Smithsonian Institution is the worlds largest museum, education, and research complex. It consists of 21 museums and the National Zoo. Eleven museums are located along the National Mall in Washington.The institution was established by Congress with money from James Smithson, a British scientist who left his estate to the United States to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.Darlene Superville, Associated Press

Flexispot produces a number of value chairs with a variety of designs, and the BS5 is one of their better looking options.

The brand has launched a whole new visual identity.