Helldivers 2 players are on the back foot in the games great galactic war narrative. Two planets have fallen to the Meridia Singularity, with a third about to crumble. The Automatons have created a fiery new Incineration Corps, and weve lost precious ground to their advance. Now, one of Helldivers most beloved worlds is back under threat. Malevelon Creek is under attack, and veterans are rallying to return to the site of one of the most infamous conflicts in the second galactic war.Back in the days of the first battle of Malevelon Creek, players had yet to build scientific facilities or factories on the surface of conquered planets. Instead, people chose which planets they liked or hated based on the climate and environment. Hellmire, for instance, is widely detested due to its tendency to spin up fire tornadoes. Malevelon Creek, on the other hand, has been dubbed (somewhat crassly) Robot Vietnam due to its shadowy jungles.Its important to note that a year ago, the Automatons were much meaner than their current iteration. Not only did Helldivers lack tools like the Portable Hellbomb and the all-terrain vehicle, but the Automatons had lock-on targeting, near limitless vision, and the ability to trap their enemies in constant ragdoll animations. When the Automatons emerged in the Severin sector, there were absolutely brutal battles on the planets of Tibit, Durgen, Maia, the Creek, and the neighboring Draupnir. While bugdivers enjoyed the relatively easy Terminid front, their botdiver counterparts were getting rocked up and down the Severin sector.Despite the brutality of the bots, players decided to run with Arrowheads meta-narrative around the galactic war and doubled down on holding the Creek. This gambit rewarded players with two capes to commemorate their victory, and for a year, Malevelon Creek has remained safe and sound. In fact, in the canon of Helldivers 2, it has the highest concentration of Helldiver corpses outside of Super Earth itself its a literal memorial to all the lives lost in the meat grinder of the previous Major Orders.The Automaton forces have yet to reach the Creek itself, but the Major Order will last for another five days or so, and theres plenty of time for their offensive to escalate. So far, Helldivers have held the line, winning defense missions on worlds like Ppli IX and Ingmar. Some players are drawing up battle plans and ensuring we stay on track for the rest of the Major Order. Others are taking the opportunity to meme with their fellows.The Singularity remains a threat, and Liberty knows what new Terminid mutations are festering within the thick spore cloud known as the Gloom. But its a blast to engage in the role-play of the setting and rally to defend the Creek. Im a much stronger Helldiver than I was a year ago; Ive gone from playing on difficulty level 4 all the way up to 10. I, for one, stand ready to hold the line and keep the dreaded Automaton menace away from the Creek, where they no doubt plan to desecrate our corpses. (This fear might be based in Super Earth propaganda, but the berserkers literally wear human skulls on their armor, so it definitely seems possible.)These Major Orders help define Helldivers 2 and make it feel like an ongoing history, as opposed to just a novel new event in a video game. Well have to wait and see what happens with the Creek, but players are fired up and ready to defend their beloved planet at all costs. The galactic war will never end, only escalate but some things must remain sacred.

Nintendo now has a way to distance itself from toxic social media platforms it cant control with a new daily news app called Nintendo Today. While Nintendo Today in its current state is little more than a thinly populated newsfeed, the apps calendar feature might make the thing worth installing.Four months ago, Nintendo released a Spotify-like app that only plays Nintendo music. Appropriately named Nintendo Music, the app gives the Mario and Zelda maker the means to control how fans listen to its games themes and soundtracks, officially, without having to rely on (or share revenue with) a third party.Nintendo made a similar move with the Nintendo Switch Online app, a messaging and chat platform that serves as an alternative to messaging platforms like Discord which has been integrated by rivals Sony and Microsoft on their consoles. The NSO app includes game-specific services (like Nooklink for Animal Crossing: New Horizons), but the main draw is supposed to be interacting with your online friends and using voice chat during online play. You know, stuff many people would actually prefer to do on Discord.Nintendo Today is Nintendos latest attempt to carve out its own space, where it can send news directly to its fanbase. Like its famous Nintendo Direct presentations, the app seems like a way to bypass media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter), which have become exponentially less pleasant to engage with as time progresses.The company has already used Nintendo Today to break news. On Friday morning, less than 24 hours after announcing the app, the company placed a 25-second video at the top of the feed announcing the 2027 release date for the live-action movie based on The Legend of Zelda. It has also leaked new images of the Switch 2 itself. The newsfeed also includes a few timely morsels, like a countdown to this weeks Nintendo Direct: Switch 2 showcase and a few trailers from the latest Nintendo Direct. The feed is otherwise populated with supplementary fluff, like a brief history of the Fire Emblem series, orchestral performances of video game music, and funny pearls of wisdom from Animal Crossings beloved otter, Pascal.Nintendo Todays attempt at newsbreaking comes with a fault, at least at launch. Despite having opted in to notifications from the app, Nintendo Today didnt actually alert me to Fridays news about The Legend of Zelda movie. I had to (gasp!) actually open the app manually in the morning to check what was new for myself. Hopefully, like the apps brief second-day outage, these are just growing pains.Its Nintendo Todays calendar, though, that will likely keep the app installed on my phone. In addition to delivering adorable daily animations based on Nintendo series like Pikmin, Super Mario, and Animal Crossing, theres surprisingly useful information in here. The calendar keeps track of past and upcoming events, like Nintendo Direct streams and real-world events like the opening of Nintendos San Francisco retail store. It also tracks release dates for games and demos, and in-game events. Thanks to the latter feature, I can now keep tabs on upcoming events for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, ensuring I never miss a Bunny Day or fishing tourney.Nintendo Todays calendar currently keeps track of in-game events for 11 titles, including Splatoon 3, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Tetris 99, and Mario Kart Tour. As someone with a short attention span who relies on various notifications to keep me informed and on task, Im looking forward to seeing how well the app can help me keep track of real-world and virtual events. (Frankly, Im also greatly anticipating things like release dates leaking through the app. Thats bound to happen.)Like other Nintendo-developed smart-device apps, Nintendo Today is a slick but nascent tool that does about half of what Id ideally want it to do. Its doubtful that Nintendo Today will ever achieve the goal of fully replacing any of services like Facebook, Instagram, and X, at least from a news-delivery perspective, but its off to a decent start.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.We all know that renovating and remodeling a house is expensive. An average kitchen renovation costs more than $27,000, and a bathroom will run you more than $25,000 even if your plans are relatively modest. A lot of that cost is labor, which runs anywhere from $20 to $150 per hour depending on the trade involved and the specific contractor. If youre looking to save some money on your home project, doing it yourself is one of the most obvious ways to go.But there are other, less obvious ways you can trim costs on your DIY renovation or remodel. To save money on a house project, its not always about buying cheaper materials or scaling back your design. Sometimes there are indirect actions you can take that lead to lower costs in surprising ways. Here are some unexpected strategies for reducing the overall costs of your next DIY project.Reuse demoThe demolition phase of a renovation project is something just about anyone can take care of themselves, and it saves a little money on labor. Plus, its cathartic to take a hammer to those outdated aspects of your house that youve hated since moving in.But if your goal is to save as much money as possible, hit pause before you swing that hammer and ask yourself if you can re-use any of the materials. Sanding and painting existing cabinetry instead of buying brand-new replacements is an obvious way to re-use materials instead of smashing them up, but think deeper:Tile. If your floor or backsplash tile is in good shape and still fits your new design, removing it carefully and cleaning it up instead of smashing it into pieces is a great use of existing resources.Decking. If youre removing an old composite deck, consider using some of the composite materials as framing for the replacement. This works best with roof decks or ground-level decks where you only need a slight elevation, but it can save you money on fresh timberand the composite materials will last longer.Removable stuff. All the things that can be easily removed instead of smashed up could be repurposed. Doors, cabinet hardware, and light fixtures dont need to be replaced unless theyre crucial to your design (or no longer work properly). If youre not going to re-use your doors, remember that theyre made of high-quality wood that could be cut up and repurposed elsewhereas headboards or furniture, for example, instead of buying new.Walls. Taking a sledgehammer to the walls is fun, but ask yourself if you actually need to replace the walls. Drywall can be repaired and rehabbed, even if the paper has been peeled away or damaged (using a specialty primer like this), and once fresh paint, tile, or wallpaper is applied no one will know its the same wall thats always been there.The Domino Effect. Consider whether you can save money on other projects by salvaging what you have. Old kitchen cabinets could be transferred to a garage or basement instead of buying new storage solutions for those areas, for example.If your dream involves fresh, brand-new everything, go for it. But spending a little time thinking about what you can salvage and re-use can add up to serious savings.Mix-up materialsBuying cheaper materials is one of the first things DIYers think of when trying to cut costsand it works! But theres a price to be paid, sometimes, in terms of the final look and durability of the finishes. One solution is to think about form and function separately. For example, cheap kitchen cabinets are usually not the most attractive, but a cabinet is essentially a wooden box. Cheap cabinets combined with high-end doors, drawer faces, hardware, and counter materials will look luxe but cost a lot less.You can also use different materials in different areas of a room. In the kitchen, for example, you can use different counter materials on the base cabinets and an island, going high-end in one area and mid-range in another. This not only saves you a little money, it adds a spice of variety to the design as well.Dry-fit everythingYouve heard the expression measure twice, cut once. Planning and taking your time are some of the easiest ways to save a little money on any home project. Before you start drilling, nailing, and driving screws into cabinets, for example, make sure they fit the way you expect and that there are no unexpected problems. Dry-fitting everything also lets you ensure your measurements for fill pieces and trim are correct, that all power cords will reach outlets, and that you havent overlooked anything thats going to be costly to fix.This concept applies to your skill set, as well. If youre planning to learn how to do something in real-time while youre actually doing it, be prepared to waste a lot of timeand expensive materials. Practicing things youve never done before will save you money in the long run. When I decided to remodel my bathroom, I bought small squares of drywall and practiced cutting and installing tile a few times before tackling the actual job, and it paid off because Id gotten basic mistakes out of the way before they could turn into tear-out-an-entire-wall-of-fresh-tile mistakes.Seek out dealsThings cost what people are willing to pay for them. If you can find high-end materials at discount prices, theyre still high-end, so before you break out the credit card to buy new, check out some options for lightly-used stuff, likeRecycling centers. Stores like Habitat for Humanitys ReStore chain take donated materials and sell them at steep discounts. You can find everything from flooring to kitchen cabinets at these stores, ranging from used-but-functional to brand new.Floor models. You can often find high-end appliances and furniture at steep discounts because of the relatively light wear-and-tear they suffer. It pays to make some calls or in-person visits to see what might be available. Your best bets for floor models are when new models come out, which is usually September/October for washers, dryers, and dishwashers, January/February for ovens, and May for refrigerators.Also, if you need framing material, you can look for the imperfect lumber at your local lumberyard or big box store. These pieces may not be perfectly straight, but can often be cut down to usable portions that might save you a lot of money.Remnants. Search for remnant stores to find leftover countertops, tile, and other renovation materials. When stone slabs are cut for custom countertops, for example, the remnants are often oddly-shaped or nonstandard size, so you can buy them cheap.Keep in mind, if you bought a full-sized slab that is cut down to fit your design, you can keep the remnants from that slab and use them as well. Often theres enough material left over to use as a small vanity countertop in your bathroom, for example.Keep the layoutOne of the easiest ways to add costs to your kitchen or bathroom renovation is to move the plumbing. It costs nearly $1,100 on average per piping run to relocate your plumbing, and can run much higher if youre making dramatic changes as opposed to shifting something a few feet this way or that. If you plan your design around the existing plumbing and electrical outlet layout, you can save a fair amount of money without losing any functionality.Tool librariesDIY projects often require tools youve never heard of before and may never use again. Renting those tools instead of buying them can save you some moneybut first check if your local library has a tool library. You might be able to use an expensive tool for a few days or weeks at zero cost, and you get to avoid trying to find a place to store something youll probably never need again.Camp inSimply by choosing to live in your house during your renovation youre saving money by not renting an apartment or hotel room. Yes, the dust and disorder can be stressful, but the savings will be significant.If youre renovating your kitchen or only bathroom, however, this can be a challenge. Not having a functioning kitchen probably means a fortune in food delivery bills, and not having a working bathroom is simply no way to live. Setting up a temporary kitchen is relatively easy. With a few small appliances like an air fryer, microwave, toaster oven, hot plate, and mini-fridge, you can do some basic cookery. A dish-washing station outside, in the bathroom, or by a utility sink in the laundry room or basement might not be an ideal experience, but it will get the job done.Its also possible to set up a usable temporary bathroomeven without plumbing. How fancy your bathroom accommodations have to be is entirely up to you, but as you shower in a makeshift stall in the basement, remind yourself how much money youre not spending on a hotel room.

Making a pizzeria-quality pizza at home is completely achievable, but it does take a little bit of know-how to make this happen. You can read my nine tips to get started, but you should know that theres one very special tip on that list. Doing this one thing makes a huge impact on your pizza, requires literally no work on your end, and costs no money. In short: You should be aging your pizza dough. I do it every time I make pizza now and I havent looked back.Homemade pizza makes for a fun, shareable family dinner, but I actually love making personal pizzas for lunch. Ill buy a pound of pizza dough from Trader Joes or Shoprite and cut it into four equal parts. I wrap the quadrants separately and start making personal pizzas for lunchone small dough ball gets used each day, while the others sit in the fridge and wait for their turn. That's four days in a row of personal pizza.As the dough aged, I noticed a change. The first days crust would be more difficult to stretch out, the dough would feel more firm, and the finished pizza crust would be more dense, with tiny, close-set air bubbles. With each subsequent day, the texture of the crust would improve. By day four, the crust would have big, irregular bubbles, stretch easily, and bake with a more pizzeria-like quality. Plus, the crust would be more flavorful. Great bubbling action happening here on my aged dough. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann Why aging your pizza crust gives you better resultsWhether youre making your own homemade crust recipe or you're buying raw dough from the supermarket, pizza dough is a yeast-leavened bread, and yeast breads develop flavor as they ferment. Thats why many sourdough recipes suggest letting the dough cold-ferment in the fridge overnight, and why others suggest 72-hour fermentation periods for pizza dough.This extra time gives the yeast time to eat and release carbon dioxide to make those lovely air pockets. Additionally, the gluten in the dough gets time to relax, so you can actually stretch it without a fight. My favorite thing about pizzeria pizza is when those gigantic air bubbles blossom around the pie. The only way Ive been able to duplicate that at home is after aging my pizza dough in the fridge for three or four days.How to age (ferment) your pizza doughAging your pizza dough is so easy you might have done it by accident a few times already. If you buy your dough frozen from the supermarket, simply pop it into the fridge for at least three days. The first day is to thaw the dough, so its more like Day 0. Add 48 to 72 hours of additional time in the fridge for the dough to ferment. Left: 72-hour aged dough. Right: Un-aged dough. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann You can see the difference in the picture. The dough on the left has been fermenting for three days and the one on the right is just thawedtechnically ready to use but unfermented. There are tons of air bubbles on the aged dough, visible against the plastic. You can also see a difference in the overall elasticity, the aged dough is much looser while the un-aged dough on the right still maintains a tight shape with a smooth, un-bubbled surface.If you make your own pizza dough, mix the recipe as usual. After the dough is completely mixed, shape it into a smooth ball and put it into a plastic bag or in a lightly oiled large bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Put it in the fridge for 48 to 72 hours. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann Once its finished fermenting, scrape the dough out onto a floured surface and stretch the dough like you normally would. Slather it with tomato sauce (or one of these adventurous pizza sauces), top it and bake it until bubbling and crispy. And keep in mind, if you like big bubbles, make sure you dont pop them while you stretch the dough. You shall be rewarded.

Substack is taking one more step towards becoming an all-in-one social media / creator platform by adding a vertical video feed to its app. Technically, the new TikTok-style feed is a redesign of the existing Media tab that the company added to the app in 2024, but either way Substack's intentions are clear: It wants a piece of the short-video pie currently being shared by Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.The feed features scrollable videos from creators you're subscribed to and others that have been algorithmically suggested. Multiple forms of short-form content can be included, like videos posted through Substack Notes, the company's Twitter-esque microblogging feature, clips from longer video posts and eventually previews of podcasts.Adding multimedia features like podcasts and videos has been a boon to creators, according to Substack. The company says that "82% of Substacks top-earning writers are using multimedia, up from just over 50% last April." Supporting short-form videos is an attempt to push things even further.Substack added support for native video in 2022, expanded those features in 2023 and more recently, gave creators the ability to host live video streams in 2024. The company has been pretty upfront that it views Substack as a home for more than just newsletters, and it's been trying to court TikTok creators specifically since at least 2024.Redesigning the Substack app gives subscribers a new way to find creators to follow, and makes the platform a better home for a whole new type of creator. The timing of Substack's change is purposeful. The extra breathing room President Trump gave TikTok by not enforcing the app's ban is supposed to end in April, meaning there could be room for alternative vertical video apps.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/substack-updated-its-app-to-make-it-even-more-like-tiktok-193415204.html?src=rss

The only real way to increase the storage of an Xbox Series X/S is to use a specialized expansion card. Luckily, a really good one is heavily discounted right now. The WD 1TB C40 storage card is down to $110 as part of the Amazon Spring Sale. This is a discount of 30 percent, as the regular price is around $158. This is an officially-licensed product, so itll be a plug-and-play experience. It also delivers roughly the same performance as the internal drive. Its important to note that this allows for both the storage and playing of games. Most external drives can only store, and not play, titles on an Xbox Series X/S. Most modern AAA games require at least 50GB of available space. In other words, this drive will accommodate around 20 of these titles. Indie games tend to be much smaller, so the drive could conceivably house hundreds of smaller releases. The 2TB model is also on sale, for $200 instead of $260. The 512GB version is still at the original $80 asking price. This is a handy drive that gets the job done. The only drawback is the price. Most 1TB external drives are cheaper than $110. It sucks that Microsoft went this weird route with storage, but thats certainly not WDs fault. On the positive side, this is a small and light card that wont add any real weight to the already bulky Xbox consoles.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/wds-1tb-c50-xbox-storage-card-is-30-percent-off-in-the-amazon-spring-sale-184918803.html?src=rss

Despite spending big on marketing tech, many ecommerce businesses still find their websites embarrassing and ineffective.

TikTok could be banned on April 5 what's the plan and why you should care?

As a potential TikTok ban looms in the United States (again), Substack is making (another) play for video creators to join its platform.Back in January, Substack CEO Chris Best wrote on his personal account that the company was going to rescue the smart people from TikTok! It seems hes making good on that promise, as the company announced on Monday that its rolling out a scrollable video feed in its app. Given the timing of this TikTok-like launch, Substack appears eager to capitalize on the potential void left behind if TikTok is actually banned this time around.Substack first launched video in 2022, later introducing an in-app Media Tab in 2024. The latest redesign transforms that tab into a scrollable, TikTok-style feed featuring short-form videos under 10 minutes, with long-form content and podcast previews expected to follow. This update comes just a month after Substacks announcement that creators can now monetize their videos on the platform and publish video posts directly through the Substack app.As of February, 82% of the platforms top-earning writers are using multimedia, up from just over 50% last April. Substack hopes to continue building on this momentum. According to the company, creators whove adopted video and/or audio have seen their revenue grow 2.5 times faster than those who havent. The new scrollable feed is designed to boost visibility and discovery for creators experimenting with new formats, while also helping readers stumble across new voices beyond their inboxes.Substack isnt built around any one mediumits built around creators. Were committed to giving them the tools to share their work, connect with subscribers, and contribute to a thriving network of independent voices, Substack product manager Zach Taylor tells Fast Company. As we expand publishing capabilities across formats, the updated media tab makes it easier to discover standout video content from across the networkwhether its a sharp take, a compelling story, or a powerful clip that sparks connection.Taylor continues: Were excited to keep evolving the Substack app into a dynamic space where creators of all kinds can grow, connect, and build a sustainable business.From TikTok to Substack, the demand for bite-size content shows no signs of slowing down.

Amazon on Monday launched its latest AI model, designed to take over a users web browser and perform simple tasks. The move places the e-commerce giant in more direct competition with artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, which are also developing AI agents.The model, called Nova Act, is currently available as a research preview for developers, meaning its not yet open to the general public. It can complete tasks such as browsing the web and making purchases without supervision. For instance, the company demonstrated Nova Act searching for apartments within biking distance of a specific train station. It can also handle more nuanced instructions like dont accept the insurance upsell.We think of agents as systems that can complete tasks and act in a range of digital and physical environments on behalf of the user, Amazon wrote in a blog post on Monday.These types of agents are still in their early stages, but tech companies are placing big bets that agentic AI represents the next major frontier. OpenAI recently released Operator, a tool that automates web-based tasks, along with Deep Research, which it says can gather information from across the web and summarize it into digestible reports. Anthropic, the creator of Claude, and Google have also introduced AI agents.Nova Act is part of Amazons Nova series, first announced in December 2024, which is capable of generating text and images. The Nova Act SDK is a crucial step forward, toward building reliable agents by enabling developers to break down complex workflows into atomic commands (e.g., search, checkout, answer questions about the screen), the company wrote.