In context: QR codes were originally designed to efficiently track the types and quantities of automobile parts. Today, thanks to smartphones and mobile apps, their use has expanded far beyond that. If you really know your trade, you could even try packing a functional program into a single QR code – and maybe run Doom on it, because why not? A resourceful developer named Kuber Mehta has taken the "Can it run Doom?" meme to new heights with a wild new project that pushes the boundaries of extremely limited execution environments. While the Backdooms project doesn't technically run the original Doom engine inside a QR code, Mehta says he was directly inspired by id Software's legendary shooter – as well as the viral "Backrooms" creepypasta – to develop his concept. Backdooms is a compressed, self-extracting program encoded entirely within a single QR code. When scanned, it launches an infinitely generated HTML environment resembling Doom-style corridors, which players can navigate and interact with. The game runs entirely in modern web browsers and doesn't require an internet connection – the entire game is stored in the URL itself. Mehta, a computer science and artificial intelligence student in New Delhi, spent a week exploring how to maximize QR code storage and compression. He ultimately chose a Doom-like interactive experience to demonstrate his progress, but the same technique could, in theory, be used to encode lightweight web apps within QR codes, unlocking new possibilities for ultra-portable software delivery. The developer chronicled his journey on the MindDump blog, where he explained the absurd premise – running code within a 3KB QR code – alongside the origin of the idea and the detailed process behind creating Backdooms. Notably, Mehta had to rely on a technique called minification – or in this case, extremely aggressive minification – to squeeze a functional HTML program into such a tiny space. This compressed code generates graphics, Doom-like corridors, enemies to shoot at, and even music. A breakthrough came when Mehta received a helpful hint from a chatbot, which suggested using DecompressionStream – a little-known Web API available in all modern browsers. Thanks to this component, the Backdooms code can be dynamically decompressed and executed directly in the browser. The game can be played on desktops, smartphones, and potentially other devices via a link or by scanning the QR code available on the project's GitHub page. // Related Stories Though only loosely related to Doom, Backdooms keeps the "Can it run Doom?" tradition alive. Developers continue to push the boundaries of where the open-source FPS engine can run. Recent feats include running Doom on a Collector's Edition game box, inside TypeScript's type system, within a Microsoft Word document, and even directly on a GPU.

Table of Contents Table of Contents Constant evolution An always-on future As soon as someone learns what I do for a living, I know what’s coming next: “OK, so which are the best wireless earbuds?” You’d think that’s an easy one to answer. After all, I’ve tested every model on Digital Trends’ list of the best wireless earbuds. And yet, even though we provide guidance on the best overall wireless earbuds for most people, the honest answer is always, “it depends.” It depends on your budget. It depends on whether you find some earbud styles uncomfortable. It depends on whether you plan to use them mostly for workouts, or for travel — or a mix of activities. And increasingly, it depends on what you need your wireless earbuds to do. Listening to music? That’s just the tip of the earbuds’ iceberg. Recommended Videos In the nine years since Apple popularized the wireless earbuds category when it rolled out the iconic first-gen AirPods, the discussion around these devices has morphed. Related At first, our top concerns were sound quality and battery life. Then noise cancellation became a hot topic. After that, attention turned to voice assistants, then features like spatial audio and hi-res audio. All the while, we took note of whether a product supported wireless charging, multipoint connections, and how rugged it was, based on its IP rating. Want earbuds that can survive immersion in 10 feet of water for up to 30 minutes? You can have that. In 2024, health and fitness started to take center stage as we saw the first products with heart-rate tracking debut, followed by Apple’s announcement that the AirPods Pro 2 would soon meet the FDA’s criteria for over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids for those with mild to moderate hearing loss. In 2025, Her is no longer science fiction. Wireless earbuds’ design has been evolving, too. In addition to the two classic variants (semi-open and fully sealed), the new open-ear earbuds category gives people a totally transparent way to hear the world around them while enjoying their tunes. Open-ears come in both earhook and ear clip shapes, for a variety of wearing styles. Charging cases are being given the “smart” treatment with built-in touch screens, and some cases can act as wireless transmitters when you want to plug in to wired audio sources, like airplane seatback entertainment systems. The JBL Tour Pro 3 does both. Finally, though its adoption is going slower than we had expected, Bluetooth Auracast — with its publicly available broadcasts — is making its way into new wireless earbuds models. On a parallel track, products like the Ozlo Sleepbuds promise a better night’s sleep. They may not be wireless earbuds in the traditional sense, but it won’t be long before this category merges with more traditional products. In the prescient 2013 film, Her, a man becomes deeply involved with a feminine-presenting AI. It’s only when he begins to talk to Her via his earbuds that the AI becomes more real to him than his living friends and family. In 2025, this is no longer science fiction. Wireless earbuds are entering the AI space with real-time translation, and if you have the right earbuds and smartphone combo, you can talk to a large language model (LLM) AI like Google Gemini. Some products, like Ikko’s ActiveBuds, give you on-the-go access to AI, no smartphone required. In the not-so-distant future, we’ll see wireless earbuds that have built-in electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors — sensors that can detect brain activity. Neurable has already done this with audiophile wireless headphones, and it says that its mental focus-enhancing technology is coming to in-ear products soon. When EEG, heart rate, hearing aid, and sleep aid features are combined with an always-on voice connection to a leading-edge LLM AI, wireless earbuds will become far more indispensable than they are today. And answering the question, “which are the best wireless earbuds?” will become even harder. Editors’ Recommendations

Table of Contents Table of Contents About Time (2013) Dallas Buyers Club (2013) Meet the Parents (2000) Spider-Man 2 (2004) Whiplash (2014) April belongs to Tom Hardy. The English actor is one of the stars on Guy Ritchie’s MobLand, a popular Paramount+ series. Later this month, Hardy will tackle crime and corruption in Havoc, a new action thriller from acclaimed director Gareth Evans. Havoc is already generating positive buzz and should be on Netflix’s most popular list. While Havoc will remain on Netflix for a long time, these five movies are leaving the service at the end of the month. Our picks include an emotional romance, a landmark superhero adventure, and a terrific psychological drama. Recommended Videos We also have guides to the best new movies to stream, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+. Related Universal About Time is not the best movie about love, but it’s a beautiful depiction of sincerity and sentimentality. After a night of partying, Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) learns from his father that the men in their family can travel through time. The Lakes can relive moments they have experienced before. Tim’s father discourages his son from using the powers to give him money or fame. Instead, Tim uses his gift for love. Enter Mary (Rachel McAdams), the woman that wins Tim’s heart, though it takes him a few tries to make things perfect. That’s the tough lesson Tim learns with time travel. What’s meant to be will be. Some things need to fall apart so that better things can fall together. Stream About Time on Netflix. Focus Features Let’s go back to 2013. Matthew McConaughey is in the middle of his “McConaissance.” The proud Texan avoided the rom-coms in favor of more serious and dramatic roles. After positive turns in Mud and Magic Mike, McConaughey starred in Dallas Buyers Club, the movie that completed his transformation to a critically acclaimed actor. In 1985, electrician Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) is diagnosed with AIDS and given 30 days to live. The only drug approved by the FDA only worsens his condition. Desperate for help, Ron secures alternative drugs and supplements in Mexico and brings them across the border. His health improves, and he starts selling these drugs to other AIDS patients. Thanks to his physical transformation and profound performance, McConaughey won the Oscar for Best Actor. Stream Dallas Buyers Club on Netflix. Universal Pictures Last month, Universal announced the development of Meet the Parents 4, with Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro returning to star. With this news, you might as well revisit the movie that kicked off the franchise, Meet the Parents. Meeting your significant other’s parents in a relationship is scary, but it’s a nightmare for Greg Focker (Stiller). Greg and his girlfriend, Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo), head to Long Island to meet her parents: Jack (De Niro) and Dina (Blythe Danner) Burns. Greg plans to ask Jack for permission to marry Pam. Greg quickly learns that Jack is overprotective of his daughter and will do anything to keep her safe, even if that means ruining her relationship. It’s only a game, Focker. Stream Meet the Parents on Netflix. Sony Pictures Spider-Man 2 finds itself on many “best of” lists — best sequels, best superhero movies, best Spider-Man movies, best Sam Raimi movies, etc. It’s a defining moment in superhero lore, as Spider-Man 2 proved what a sequel should be — bigger, better, and bolder. Two years after Norman Osborn’s death, Peter grapples with balancing life as a civilian and Spider-Man. After a nuclear fusion experiment goes haywire, Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) becomes Dr. Octopus with four mechanical tentacles. The stress of saving the city causes Peter’s powers to fade as he gives up on being Spider-Man. Peter’s other problems include that Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) is engaged to another man and Harry (James Franco) hates Spider-Man. Uncle Ben really meant it when he said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Stream Spider-Man 2 on Netflix. Sony Pictures Classics What does it cost to be great? Damien Chazelle crafts one of the best movies about obsession in Whiplash. Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) wants to do one thing: become a great jazz drummer. While attending New York City’s top music conservatory, Andrew is recruited to play in the Studio Band by its lead instructor, Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons). Once Andrew joins the band, he enters hell, as Fletcher transforms into a mentally and physically abusive teacher. However, Andrew is undeterred from his dreams as he becomes obsessed with proving his teacher wrong and showing his skills to the world. Whiplash is a sports movie set in the world of jazz, and Chazelle’s psychological drama remains one of the better depictions of the pursuit of greatness. Stream Whiplash on Netflix. Editors’ Recommendations

Booz Allen Hamilton, Guidehouse and others are negotiating with the General Services Administration as part of broad review of government contractors.

The artist’s second album features deftly structured songs set against atmospheric soundscapes.

The latest episode of ‘Now Hear This’ focuses on the great composer, who fled the 1917 revolution in his own country and reinvented himself as a concert pianist in the U.S.

hold my beer Drunk man walks into climate change, burns the bottoms of his feet off Climate change is a danger to health in a wide variety of ways. Beth Mole – Apr 22, 2025 6:25 pm | 10 landscape with mountains in sunset. Asphalt detail in foreground. Credit: Getty | dosmass landscape with mountains in sunset. Asphalt detail in foreground. Credit: Getty | dosmass Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Climate tipping points pose grave risks to human health—and, unsurprisingly, approaching them while tipsy only makes the fallout more blistering, according to a case study in the New England Journal of Medicine. In this week's issue, NEJM spotlights the effects of the climate crisis on clinical health with a series of case studies. One is the searing story of an inebriated gentleman who regrettably took a one-minute walk while barefoot during the unprecedented 2021 Northwest heat dome. The man walked across asphalt during the extreme weather, in which air temperatures reached as high as 42° C (108° F). That's about 21° C (38° F) above historical averages for the area. Asphalt can absorb 95 percent of solar radiation and easily reach 40° F to 60° F above air temperatures on hot days. It's unclear how hot the asphalt was when the man walked across it, but it was clearly hot enough to melt some flesh. The 56-year-old man arrived at a burn center with red oozing burns on the soles of both his feet and the heel of his left foot. The heel of his right foot was blistered, but not oozing (graphic image here). The toes on his right foot were also burned to various degrees. He was in severe pain. The burns were classified as second-degree, meaning they affected both the outer and middle layers of skin. The most severe level of burn is third-degree, which affects deep layers of skin, sometimes called full-thickness burns. In the burn unit, doctors gave the man a pain reliever, cleaned the burns, treated them with a topical antibiotic, and gave them an antimicrobial foam dressing. At a follow-up appointment, the wounds appeared to be healing without complications. While the man recovered from the injury, the author of the case study—Jeremy Hess, an expert in emergency medicine and global environmental health at the University of Washington—warned that the risk of such injuries will only grow as climate change continues. "Extreme heat events increase the risk of contact burns from hot surfaces in the environment," he wrote. "Young children, older adults, unhoused persons, and persons with substance use disorder are at elevated risk for these types of burns." Last year, The New York Times reported that burn centers in the southwest have already begun seeing larger numbers of burns from contact with sidewalks and asphalt during heat waves. In some cases, the burns can turn fatal if people lose consciousness on hot surfaces—for instance, from overdoses, heat stroke, intoxication, or other health conditions. "Your body just literally sits there and cooks," Clifford Sheckter, surgeon and a burn prevention researcher at Stanford University, told the Times last year. "When somebody finally finds you, you’re already in multisystem organ failure." Beth Mole Senior Health Reporter Beth Mole Senior Health Reporter Beth is Ars Technica’s Senior Health Reporter. Beth has a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended the Science Communication program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specializes in covering infectious diseases, public health, and microbes. 10 Comments

AI-first browsing ChatGPT head tells court OpenAI is interested in buying Chrome OpenAI would love to own Chrome, and it's not alone. Ryan Whitwam – Apr 22, 2025 5:55 pm | 38 Credit: Getty Images | Vincent Feuray Credit: Getty Images | Vincent Feuray Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more The remedy phase of Google's antitrust trial is underway, with the government angling to realign Google's business after the company was ruled a search monopolist. The Department of Justice is seeking a plethora of penalties, but perhaps none as severe as forcing Google to sell Chrome. But who would buy it? An OpenAI executive says his employer would be interested. Among the DOJ's witnesses on the second day of the trial was Nick Turley, head of product for ChatGPT at OpenAI. He wasn't there to talk about Chrome exclusively—the government's proposed remedies also include forcing Google to share its search index with competitors. OpenAI is in bed with Microsoft, but Bing's search data wasn't cutting it, Turley suggested (without naming Microsoft). "We believe having multiple partners, and in particular Google's API, would enable us to provide a better product to users," OpenAI told Google in an email revealed at trial. However, Google turned OpenAI down because it believed the deal would harm its lead in search. The companies have no ongoing partnership today, but Turley noted that forcing Google to license its search data would restore competition. And then there's Chrome. While Judge Amit Mehta has expressed some skepticism about the DOJ's proposal to divest Chrome, the government claims the browser is core to Google's anticompetitive conduct. Further, the DOJ team believes that selling Chrome would level the online playing field, but it has not been clear who would buy the browser. According to Turley, OpenAI would throw its proverbial hat in the ring if Google had to sell. When asked if OpenAI would want Chrome, he was unequivocal. "Yes, we would, as would many other parties," Turley said. OpenAI has reportedly considered building its own Chromium-based browser to compete with Chrome. Several months ago, the company hired former Google developers Ben Goodger and Darin Fisher, both of whom worked to bring Chrome to market. It's not hard to see why OpenAI might want a browser, particularly Chrome with its 4 billion users and 67 percent market share. Chrome would instantly give OpenAI a massive install base of users who have been incentivized to use Google services. If OpenAI were running the show, you can bet ChatGPT would be integrated throughout the experience—Turley said as much, predicting an "AI-first" experience. The user data flowing to the owner of Chrome could also be invaluable in training agentic AI models that can operate browsers on the user's behalf. Interestingly, there's so much discussion about who should buy Chrome, but relatively little about spinning off Chrome into an independent company. Google has contended that Chrome can't survive on its own. However, the existence of Google's multibillion-dollar search placement deals, which the DOJ wants to end, suggests otherwise. Regardless, if Google has to sell, and OpenAI has the cash, we might get the proposed "AI-first" browsing experience. Ryan Whitwam Senior Technology Reporter Ryan Whitwam Senior Technology Reporter Ryan Whitwam is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering the ways Google, AI, and mobile technology continue to change the world. Over his 20-year career, he's written for Android Police, ExtremeTech, Wirecutter, NY Times, and more. He has reviewed more phones than most people will ever own. You can follow him on Bluesky, where you will see photos of his dozens of mechanical keyboards. 38 Comments

The odd effects of special relativity can be harnessed to build quantum computersYuichiro Chino/Getty Images Special relativity could be harnessed to build a novel quantum computer, and creating it this way could let us use machine learning to deepen our understanding of the quantum realm. Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity describes how moving at close to the speed of light would affect travellers’ experience of space and time. These insights don’t merely give us thought experiments; they are crucial for technologies such as…

StarStarter is a game that gives points when players avoid angry faces and focus on smiley onesArcade Therapeutics People with social anxiety may find relief in a smartphone game that helps shift their attention away from intimidating or negative cues towards positive ones. Researchers found that playing it several times a week significantly reduced social anxiety scores compared with using a sham version. Brief, game-based therapies like this can fill major gaps in public access to mental health treatments, says Tracy Dennis-Tiwary at The City University of New York.