While soup season should should be winding down, frost is still threatening parts of the U.S. Just when I should be cracking my knuckles to make burger patties, the wind chill has me hauling out the Dutch oven to make soup. Again. If your palate is tired of the same old soup recipes, I understand—lots of salt and umami can get boring. That's why you need my trick for bringing fresh interest to tired flavors (while also prepping your palate for spring): Simply brighten them with a dose of acidity. American-style soups tend to be heavily focused on the savory, salty end of the flavor spectrum—stews, chilis, chicken noodle variations, gumbos, chowders, and creamy soups. We’re all sleeping on the an entire category: sour soups. Consider these iconic dishes: Thai tom yum, Chinese suan la tang (also called hot and sour soup), German sauerkrautsuppe, Italian giambotta, and Greek avgolemono soup. And you can brighten up any soup using a few ingredients you probably have on hand.How to make sour soups at homeAdding a sour element to your soup doesn’t mean replacing the broth with a bottle of vinegar. Rather, it’s about adding balance and complementing the salty, sweet, or savory components. There are a few ways to bring acidity into your soups. The dishes I mentioned above use lime juice, vinegar, fermentation, crushed tomatoes, and lemon juice to develop their signature tart flavors. All of those things are easily accessible at your local supermarket, if not in your kitchen already.If you’re new to sour soups, try incorporating one of those elements above to start experimenting with the flavor. You could certainly use a specific recipe for a particular sour soup (I've included one below), but if you're not, just start with a brothy soup that you already like, cut a wedge of lemon, and squeeze it into the soup. If you don’t have a lemon available, try a teaspoon of vinegar. Taste the soup, and take it from there. If you overdo the juice or vinegar on your first try, don't throw the dish out—you can add a little more salt and then eat the soup alongside some cooked rice to mellow out the sting.A few fresh flavor combinations to tryPersonally, I think lemon juice goes particularly well with most any soup that uses chicken broth or a creamy neutral broth. A couple spoonfuls of crushed tomatoes work well added to any soup that has beef, pork, or sausage. Adding sauerkraut or kimchi can be a nice touch for soups with lots of potatoes or beans. A couple years ago, my fiancé and I became obsessed with avgolemono soup. I'm not sure what spurred this (neither of us is Greek), but it has become our go-to recipe whenever our typical lineup of soups grows mundane. (If you really want your tastebuds to buzz, double the amount of lemon juice.)  Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann Avgolemono Soup RecipeIngredients:1 tablespoon olive oil¼ cup finely sliced carrot½ cup finely chopped celery3 scallions finely sliced2 tablespoons finely diced yellow onion2 cloves garlic, minced¼ teaspoon salt3 ½ cups chicken or vegetable broth1 bay leaf½ cup jasmine rice (or orzo if you like)1 cup cooked and shredded chickenJuice of one lemon (about a ¼ cup)1 eggParsley (optional for a garnish)1. In a medium pot, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat to warm it up. Add the carrots, celery, scallion, onion, garlic, and salt. Stir often to coat the veggies in the oil. 2. Once the veggies begin to sweat and become translucent, after about two or three minutes, add the broth, and bay leaf. Bump up the heat to medium and bring the broth up to a boil. 3. Stir in the rice (or orzo) and lower the heat back down to a simmer. Let the carbs simmer and cook for about eight to 15 minutes, depending on if you’re using orzo or rice. 4. Stir in the shredded chicken.5. Crack the egg into a medium-sized bowl. Add the lemon juice and whisk them together thoroughly. Using a ladle, temper the eggs by whisking the hot chicken broth into the egg mixture. Drizzle two or three ladle-fuls of broth into the egg mixture as you rapidly whisk. You’ll see the egg mixture become an opaque yellow color. This is great.6. Take the pot of soup off the hot burner and stir the tempered lemon-egg mixture into the pot of soup. The broth will become creamy and light. Serve topped with torn parsley if desired. 

Samsung has finally detailed the prices of the new TVs it announced at CES 2025. The company is selling updated version of The Frame TV, multiple ranges of OLED TVs with faster processors and The Frame Pro, a high-end version of its popular TV / digital picture frame. The major upgrade The Frame Pro offers over the original The Frame is a 4K Neo QLED display and the Wireless One Connect Box. Samsung's Neo QLED displays use MiniLEDs to offer improved brightness and local dimming. To better sell the illusion that The Frame Pro is a picture frame, the Wireless One Connect Box lets you hide the cables you'd normally plug into your TV in a cabinet, and wirelessly transmit their inputs directly to your display. For those upgrades, plus the included NQ4 AI Gen3 Processor, The Frame Pro is $2,199 for a 65-inch model, $3,199 for a 75-inch model and $4,299 for the 85-inch model. Samsung says an 83-inch model will be available at a later date. Samsung The changes to The Frame are more modest. The TV now sports a refresh rate of up to 144Hz and also comes with the NQ4 AI Gen3 processor. The chip powers video upscaling on top of AI-powered features like "Click to Search," the ability to look up an actor's bio while watching something, and "Live Translate," the ability to generate real-time captions of whatever you're watching in another language. If you want The Frame, you'll pay $899 for the 43-inch model, $1,099 for the 50-inch model, $1,299 for the 55-inch model and $1,799 for the 65-inch model. The updates to Samsung's more traditional OLED TVs vary depending on the series and size you purchase, but all of the new TVs support Samsung's AI-powered features. The S95F comes with the NQ4 AI Gen3, a new glare-free display, Samsung's "brightest-ever OLED screen" and the Motion Xcelerator 165Hz feature for smooth gameplay during demanding video games. The S90F gets the same chip and Motion Xcelerator 144Hz (for a slightly lower refresh rate) and the S85F uses the NQ4 AI Gen2 processor and Motion Xcelerator 120Hz. The S95F starts at $2,299, with sizes that range from 55 inches to 75 inches. The S90F starts at $1,299 for the 42-inch model and can go up to 83 inches. The S85F, meanwhile, starts at $1,499 for the 55-inch model and also goes up to 83 inches. All of Samsung's new TVs are available to order today, and the company is guaranteeing seven years of software updates to the TVs' One UI Tizen operating system when you purchase. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsung-is-not-selling-the-frame-pro-for-cheap-185607096.html?src=rss

Fast speeds, low costs and plenty of extra perks, NBN 1000 plans are becoming increasingly more attractive.

The fintech sector rallied Wednesday following the Trump administration's announcement of a 90-day pause on planned tariffs. 

Includes the bluescreen shoot, stunts, mocap and Red Hulk reference. The post Some fun bts in this ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ blooper reel appeared first on befores & afters.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón is known for his commitment to storytelling grounded in reality—even when the visuals are far from ordinary. In Directing the Invisible Art, Cuarón reflects on his collaborations with Framestore on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men, and Gravity, where visual effects are not just seen—they’re felt.For Cuarón, VFX must serve the story with complete invisibility. Whether guiding animators like actors to shape the Hippogriff’s soulful movements or syncing performance with animation in Gravity, his process is a creative “ping pong of ideas.” From the emotionally charged birth scene in Children of Men to the immersive space sequences in Gravity, Cuarón champions VFX that disappear into the narrative—leaving only the story behind. The post Alfonso Cuarón – Directing the Invisible Art by Framestore appeared first on Vfxexpress.

Return-to-office mandates have been unpopular among all kinds of employees, whether they work for the private sector or federal government. Despite vocal discontent, companies have generally pressed on with these policies—often tasking human resources and people teams with implementing and enforcing them. It turns out many of the HR leaders who seemingly promote these policies have their misgivings, according to a report from people management platform Leapsome. In a survey of about 1,000 leaders—who oversee HR teams in the U.S. and a handful of European countries—more than half said they were pressured by their company’s CEO to enforce RTO policies that required workers to be in the office for a set number of days. Those pressures were even greater among American companies, with 63% of HR leaders in the U.S. reporting that their CEOs had pushed them to embrace return-to-office mandates. And yet, an overwhelming majority of those leaders (81%) believe strict RTO policies are ineffective. In fact, 42% of them say flexibility is the most important element of enabling collaboration. That’s contrary to what many CEOs have preached as they brought employees back into the office. Most of the HR leaders surveyed also claim that allowing people to work where they want improves overall productivity. Employee resistance to RTO If anything, RTO policies can actually damage trust among workers, according to the report, and make it more difficult for employers to recruit new employees successfully—something HR leaders already seem to be experiencing. Sixty percent of them say that employees are resisting RTO mandates. Across private companies and federal agencies, stringent policies that mandate five days a week in the office have led employees to quit or look for new jobs. The Pew Research Center has found that nearly half of remote workers would leave their jobs if they could no longer work from home. Hundreds of Amazon workers who were surveyed in late 2024 said they were looking for other opportunities or planned to quit this year, in anticipation of the company’s new policy taking effect. And over the past two months, about 75,000 federal workers have accepted deferred resignation offers, partly driven by Trump eliminating remote work arrangements for all employees. Challenges of RTO implementation As some legal experts have pointed out, these RTO policies can also lead companies to inadvertently discriminate against certain employees, especially if mandates are enforced inconsistently; top performers who are considered more valuable may get more leeway when it comes to office attendance. The push to get employees back in the office also has an outsize impact on the people who benefited most from flexible working arrangements, from disabled workers to caregivers. It seems many HR leaders are acutely aware of this issue, not to mention what the ripple effects might be on workplace culture. More than half of the leaders surveyed said RTO mandates are “detrimental” for disabled workers and that those policies were at odds with company efforts to promote inclusion. The impact of the DEI backlash As conservative politicians and right-wing activists threaten diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the workforce, about a third of HR leaders are also concerned about broader changes that could undermine DEI work, including budget cuts. The HR leaders who were surveyed argue that when workers see their employers cutting back on DEI programs, it can compromise performance and satisfaction and drive employees out of the company. (In a recent report from the research insights firm Gravity Research, many companies expressed concerns over how their employees would react to DEI cuts and that they felt pressured to make internal statements reaffirming their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.) Corporate leaders may have their reasons for reevaluating their DEI efforts and embracing RTO mandates—but there can be real costs to making those changes.

For thousands of years, the Pearl River in southern China has been home to the Tanka people – an ancient community whose history stretches back 7,000 years. Known for their unique lifestyle, the Tanka have traditionally lived on small boats, floating on the river’s vast waters and tributaries like tiny eggshells. This unique way of life has earned them the name “Tanka,” and they are considered the ancestors of the Cantonese people. Nestled in the serene inner lake of Zitang Art Town along the Pearl River in Guangzhou is a holiday cottage that pays tribute to this rich cultural heritage. The architectural design is inspired by the Tanka people’s boat-dwelling lifestyle, designed to revive the memory of Guangdong’s Tanka culture. This innovative structure employs subtle design techniques, transforming the concept of a “roll of paper” into a functional residential space. The cottage serves as a harmonious blend of tradition and modernity, capturing the essence of the Tanka heritage while providing a comfortable and contemporary living environment. This architectural wonder draws from the past, providing a unique look into the legacy of the Tanka people and their special connection to the Pearl River. Designer: Shunde Polytechnic The holiday house is nestled in the lake’s woods and features an oval shape that casts a beautiful reflection on the water, creating a natural artistic effect. The building comprises three parts – a courtyard, guest room, and terrace. The entrance is paved with green bricks and surrounded by lush bamboo, forming a poetic inner courtyard. At the courtyard’s center, a stone mill and water tank are thoughtfully arranged, with water flowing from the mill gently cascading onto the water lilies below. This harmonious design seamlessly blends with its natural surroundings, offering a tranquil retreat that echoes the serenity of its environment. The cottage’s elliptical design showcases impressive structural aesthetics and spatial tension, crafted with an oval-shaped reinforced concrete shell that provides support. This innovative structure is further enhanced by a thermal insulation layer, created by climbing plants that adorn the top, blending nature with architecture seamlessly. The building’s facade is elegantly decorated with pineapple gritting. Inside, the layout is ingeniously designed, offering comprehensive living facilities that ensure a warm and comfortable atmosphere, transforming the traditional “Tanka” boat living scene into a modern experience. The circular interior space is cleverly designed to maximize natural light, featuring a skylight on the roof that allows residents to observe the dynamic changes in the external environment. This connection to nature is heightened by the expansive terrace, resembling a bow on the lake. This outdoor space invites residents to engage in a dialogue with the surrounding natural beauty, fostering a sense of openness and tranquility. The post This Egg-Shaped Holiday Cottage Is A Modern Tribute To The Tanka People On Guangzhou’s Pearl River first appeared on Yanko Design.

AI is out of control… again.

The Government Accountability Office’s audit examines DOGE’s handling of data at a number of federal agencies, according to sources and records reviewed by WIRED.