At the Ricardo residence in the ’50s sitcom I Love Lucy, over-the-top housewife Lucy and Ricky, her excitable husband, were always getting into some sort of entertaining hijinks. But life at home for the married actors who portrayed them, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, was much different. “They were very busy,” the late stars’s daughter, Lucie Arnaz, explained in a 2011 interview. “From probably the age of birth up through seven, they weren’t home a lot [aside from] very late at night and weekends.”When Ball wasn’t at work alongside her husband on the hit television comedy, “she was very businesslike about running her house,” their daughter said. The couple, who eloped in November 1940 after a whirlwind romance, bought an abode about 10 miles north of Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley, where they stayed for 15 years. Their domestic lives as Lucy and Ricky—broadcast into dwellings nationwide for six seasons—made them stars, but their actual home lives were still captured by the occasional photoshoot. Read on for a roundup of images of the TV-famous duo in their element as they raised a family in the 1950s.Photo: Bettmann/Getty Images1/21Desilu ranchShortly after Ball and Arnaz eloped, they purchased their beloved five-acre ranch in Chatsworth, California, a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley area. The couple paid around $16,000 in 1941 for the home, designed by architect Paul R. Williams, and named it Desilu, a portmanteau of their names and later the title of their production company. Ball and Arnaz made the property their own by adding a slew of amenities, including a swimming pool, which Arnaz filled with floating gardenias for a surprise party for Ball’s 30th birthday in 1941.Photo: George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images2/21Animal companionsBall and Arnaz weren’t the only two who lived at Desilu ranch. The Devonshire Street abode also hosted a bunch of the couple’s animal friends. The two adopted a handful of dogs, cats, chickens, and a cow known as the Duchess of Devonshire. According to Madelyn Pugh Davis, I Love Lucy writer and Ball’s personal friend, “[Ball would] fall in love with the chickens and wouldn’t kill them. She had the oldest chickens in the Valley.”Photo: FPG/Getty Image3/21Lucy’s design styleBall decorated Desilu in a style she once described as “early Victorian” meets “bastard American.” The single-story home featured whitewood siding and a long driveway that led to the main house, which was surrounded by eucalyptus and peppertrees. This 1945 photograph showcases Ball’s affinity for floral prints, which cover the walls.Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images4/21Lucy and Desi’s growing familyBall and Arnaz’s two children grew up at the San Fernando Valley area property. Here, Ball and Arnaz celebrate the first birthday of their daughter, Lucie Arnaz, whom they welcomed on July 17, 1951. Ball was expecting—and showing—when she and Arnaz shot the pilot episode of I Love Lucy, but the show made no mention of the pregnancy.Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images5/21Arts and craftsWhile Ball was known for putting in endless hours at work, she embraced the opportunity to savor her time off. A woman of many hobbies, the comedian loved painting in her spare time. She was no stranger to setting up an easel and canvas by the pool at home, where she could draw inspiration from the natural beauty of picturesque Southern California.Photo: Graphic House/Archive Photos/Getty Images6/21America’s sweetheartsAfter I Love Lucy premiered in October 1951, Ball and Arnaz soon became America’s favorite couple, both onscreen and off—and, according to Arnaz, it was all thanks to his wife. “There’s nobody else that can do what Lucy does with her face, with her walk,” he said, according to Warren G. Harris, author of the biography Lucy & Desi: The Legendary Love Story of Television’s Most Famous Couple. However, the two had their disagreements: Their estate had a small guesthouse that was said to have been used by Arnaz whenever they argued. In 1944, Ball filed for divorce. After it was granted, the two quickly reconciled, making the divorce null and void by California law.Photo: CBS via Getty Images7/21Working from homeGiven the San Fernando Valley ranch was not too far from Hollywood, it offered a prime location for I Love Lucy’s promotional photo needs, like this November 1951 shoot in the couple’s living room. Their mantel, beneath a collection of plates hanging on the wall, made a warm backdrop for a series of images ahead of the holidays; it was sparsely adorned for one shot, then set for a New Year’s–themed photo, and reset for some yuletide-themed press, festooned with various ornaments and matching stockings for Christmas.Photo: Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images8/21The heart of the homeBall loved to be in the kitchen, as seen in this 1952 photograph. “She fashioned herself as a homemaker of sorts [and] really enjoyed when she could get in the kitchen and make chicken and dumplings,” daughter Lucie said in 2011. “She worried a lot about her household and how the kids were being taken care of and whether the garage was being cleaned out and the homework was being done.”Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images9/21Hollywood famous hostessEntertaining celebrity friends at dinner parties was one of Ball’s favorite activities, according to Sarah Royal, author of A.K.A. Lucy: The Dynamic and Determined Life of Lucille Ball. Arnaz would cook for their guests, and after meals, friends would gather for coffee that was passed over through a serving hatch, a common midcentury feature between a kitchen and a dining room, through which dishes could seamlessly go in and out of the kitchen.Photo: Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images10/21Kicking backThe couple sure made working from home look fun as they kicked back in their living room while checking scripts for a forthcoming TV shoot in this 1952 snapshot. From a set of rattan chairs clad in a floral print to the Asian-inspired silk seat in which Arnaz reclines here, the couple found a way to infuse their home with furniture that functioned for both work and play.Photo: CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images11/21Desi’s Cuban design influencesIn this 1953 photograph, Ball was expecting the couple’s second child. Arnaz, meanwhile, was always striving to make their family’s house feel like home. Inspired by his Cuban roots, he had a few small buildings erected on the property—including a game room, a poolhouse, and a barbecue pit—to mirror the sprawling ranch-style aesthetic he was familiar with growing up in Santiago de Cuba. Lemon and orange trees, which Arnaz planted, surrounded the home’s exterior.Photo: KM Archive/Getty Images12/21A new additionLucie’s younger brother, Desiderio Alberto “Desi Jr.” Arnaz IV, was born in 1953. The little one was ready for prime time before he could even walk. In fact, Desi Jr. appeared with his famous mother on the first national issue of TV Guide on April 3, 1953, under the headline “Lucy’s $50,000,000 baby.” In 2019, Lucie told Good Morning America that she and her younger brother savor the sweet memories of time at home with their mom. “Home and being together is a fond and favorite memory—if she made me a grilled cheese sandwich and we sat in the living room and we talked, that is a great moment in my memory,” Lucie said.Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images13/21Star-studded pool partiesBall and Arnaz enjoyed hosting and were known for having their Hollywood pals over. The Los Angeles Times reports that they’d throw parties for famous friends such as Clark Gable and William Holden, and Arnaz would serve his signature spaghetti sauce.Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images14/21Fun and gamesArnaz’s idea to have a game room constructed on their property meant nights often involved lively games of cards for the couple. The duo could frequently be found cutting a deck at home, whether in their game room or at their kitchen table. Here, the couple plays cards while seated on their rattan furniture. Art imitates life, or vice versa: One episode of I Love Lucy famously showed Lucy playing poker with Arnaz’s friends.Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images15/21The Roxbury Drive home’s I Love Lucy cameoBall and Arnaz purchased a Beverly Hills home in 1955 for $85,000. The couple reportedly spent six months renovating the dwelling, located at 1000 North Roxbury Drive. The exterior was used in an episode of I Love Lucy when Lucy and Ethel get off a bus to see actor Richard Widmark’s house.Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images16/21Leaving the Desilu ranchOne year after purchasing their Beverly Hills home (which offered the couple privacy, as its backyard was walled in), they sold the Desilu ranch to onetime child actress Jane Withers. Ball remained very fond of the ranch; according to the late actor’s publicist, the pair would sometimes drive by the property for a passing glimpse.Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images17/21Dropping inIn fact, at least on one reported occasion after Withers purchased the property, Ball allegedly waltzed right in. One day, the sitcom actress happened to be in the area and decided to pop by for a visit—though it turned out Withers wasn’t home to host her. Realizing she still had the keys to her former abode, Ball unlocked the door, entered, and was eventually caught in the living room when Withers returned. It’s been said that Ball wasn’t a fan of the redecorating.Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images18/21A musical homeMusic and dancing were a big part of Arnaz and Ball’s lives, both in their onscreen roles as entertainers as well as in their time relaxing at home, as seen in this 1955 photo. When they first met, Arnaz asked Ball if she knew how to rumba and, according to Harris’s Lucy & Desi biography, added: “I can teach you quickly, but only on condition that you go out with me tonight.”Photo: Gene Lester/Getty Images19/21Family timeIn this 1957 shot, Ball plays with her son in the backyard of their home. “Because she was a working mom in the ’50s, there probably was a lot of guilt involved in not being home with the kids because you’re supposed to be,” said daughter Lucie. “She played a very funny person in her show—very crazy, outrageous person—and all my friends used to think that my mother was really like that. But at home, of course, she wasn’t like that at all. She was very responsible.”Photo: Gene Lester/Getty Images20/21Lucy in the gardenIn her time at home in California, Ball fostered a lifelong love of gardening. Her Beverly Hills home, with its walled-in backyard, added an extra layer of privacy for her to dig into her hobby. The plot was lined with lush landscaping, potted plants, and mature trees. The pastime carried over to the small screen in one episode of I Love Lucy, which showed the sitcom star facing off against the other members of the local club to take home the honor of best garden. Ball later made an onscreen appearance in one of the country’s most famous gardens in the 1974 musical Mame, where she danced by the fountain at the botanical gardens at The Huntington in San Marino, California.Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images21/21Lucy after DesiBall, pictured here in 1960—the same year she and Arnaz divorced—would have the Beverly Hills estate for the rest of her life. A year after the split, Ball married comedian Gary Morton. The two purchased a New York City apartment in the fall of 1983. It was the first place the two furnished together, Ball told AD in May 1984, adding she’s been so “comfortable” in her properties on the West Coast and wouldn’t allow Morton to “change anything about them.”

The Last Braindance? Cyberpunk 2077's sequel includes a new city that "feels more like Chicago gone wrong", and I'm now wondering how the USA's collapse might have affected Michael Jordan's legacy Look, all I'm saying is that the declaration of martial law might have made that last three-peat a bit tougher to pull off. Image credit: VG247/CD Projekt News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on May 21, 2025 Cyberpunk 2077's sequel will let us take a detour from the returning Night City to visit a new location which feels a bit "like Chicago gone wrong". Naturally, this news has me questioning how Cyberpunk's timeline might have affected the most prominent basketball dynasty of the 1990s. The tiny nugget of info we got about this second city comes from Mike Pondsmith, creator of the Cyberpunk TTRPG series that CD Projekt's futuristic RPGs are based on. It's the first bit of concrete info about the game - beyond just where it's at in the production process - we've gotten for a while. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Speaking to Tvgry during this year's Digital Dragons Conference, Pondsmith touched on his current relationship with CD Projekt's Cyberpunk devs. He's "not as involved directly with the sequel as he was with the first Cyberpunk, but he does still pop by the studio to look at scripts and offer his views on stuff like new cyberware made for Project Orion. For instance, he revealed that when he was there recently, he "spent a lot of time talking to one of the environment guys, and he was explaining how the new place in Orion - because there's another city we visit, I'm not telling you any more than that, but there's another city we visit." "Night City's still there," Pondsmith continued, telling us more, "I remember looking at it and going 'yeah, I understand the feel that you're going for in this, and this really does work - it doesn't feel like Blade Runner, it feels more like Chicago gone wrong'. I said 'yeah, you know, I can see this working.'" Watch on YouTube This chatter starts at around the three hour and 45 minute mark of the video embedded above, if you want to check it out for yourself. I don't know if you'll do the same, but the mention of a Cyberpunk city that might be a bit like Chicago got me wondering what the existing Cyberpunk lore says about the actual Windy City. According to the series' Fandom Wiki (which does note that it needs more citations), Chi-town was "left in a state of absolute devastation" by the collapse of the United States that occurs between 1996 and 2008 in the Cyberpunk timeline, and was subsequently ravaged by a "catastrophic bio-plague" created by the federal government itself. By 2077, the city's "implied to have undergone some level of reconstruction" by rumours of it being connected to Night City via the transcontinental maglev rail network that Cyberpunk 2077's database describes as "currently inoperational", but subject to revitalisation efforts by Night Corp. Cool. But here's the thing. If Chicago started to fall apart in 1996 - the year that martial law was declared across the USA in Cyberpunk lore - do Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls win the 1996, 1997, and 1998 NBA championships to cement themselves as arguably the greatest basketball dynasty of all-time? That's assuming Jordan and the Bulls even exist in the Cyberpunk universe, but I think it's worth exploring anyway. The situation is this as far as I can tell - the aforementioned martial law runs from 1996 to 1999, so Jordan and co have that to contend with, in addition to a 1998 midwest drought and the collapse doing so much damage that "an estimated 90%" of Chicago is abandoned by the end of it in 2008. It's MJ though. I'm still banking on him to beat the Jazz in the finals, even if he's got to dribble past bio-plagues and hostile cybernetically-augmented soldiers to do it. Do you think his airness still ends up with six rings on his weird cyber-fingers? Also, how do you feel about visiting this second city in Cyberpunk 2? Let us know below!

A duck stands in a fedora and a trench coat, delivering a noir-style monologue about how his recent divorce has fueled his bread addiction. If this image doesn't tickle you, then you'd better give Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping a miss. If it does, oh boy, do we have the recommendation for you. Much like developer Happy Broccoli's predecessor, The Secret Salami, Ghost of Glamping sees you thrown into the petty crime-ridden world of Eugene "The Duck Detective" McQuacklin, a grizzled PI who serves as both the game's protagonist and narrator. Reluctantly accompanying his reptilian roommate on a holiday to a nearby haunted glamping site (yes, really), McQuacklin is once again left to face Lady Crime, as a seemingly minor mystery surrounding some stolen camping chairs soon spirals into something much bigger. This time around, there's a blackmailed influencer, stolen state secrets, a kidnapping, and a run-in with the supernatural to contend with, all of which can only be solved by interviewing suspects, hunting for clues, and then plugging the right bits of information into the 'Deducktions' page of McQuacklin's trusty journal. It's a simple gameplay loop, and while some of the 'fill in the blank' investigations turn to a bit of trial and error as you fill the prompt sentence with a list of accumulated nouns to finally find the right answer, Ghost of Glamping manages to walk the fine line between predictability and surprise. We saw some plot twists coming from a mile off, but we appreciated how other threads were gradually pulled over the ~two-hour runtime. There's a hint system standing by, in case the evidence has really stumped you, and the game can be flipped between 'Story' and 'Sleuth' modes at any time (the former flags your incorrect Deducktions to nudge you in the right direction), but anyone familiar with the likes of Ace Attorney or Professor Layton shouldn't have too much trouble cracking the case. And that's okay! Ghost of Glamping isn't the kind of mystery that'll get under your skin and refuse to let you go until you unmask its villain. In fact, its plot is almost secondary to its presentation. McQuacklin's melodramatic monologues (all fully voice-acted, we should add), the adorable Paper Mario-style cutout sprites, the toe-tapping jazz soundtrack, and the laugh-out-loud loading screens that boast such 'facts' as "Most ducks live in houses because they are filthy rich" all add up to a bitesized mystery that oozes charm. Come on, there's even a dedicated quack button! You'll easily polish it off in an evening, and you'll feel all the better for it. Happy Broccoli has once again pulled together a simple yet satisfying mystery that brings plenty of smiles and a handful of surprises. Now, if you'll excuse us, we've got to don our fedoras and go deliver a brooding speech in the rain.

Sen. Ron Wyden sent a letter to fellow Senators on Wednesday, revealing that three major U.S. cellphone carriers did not have provisions to notify lawmakers about government surveillance requests, despite a contractual requirement to do so.  In the letter, Wyden, a Democrat and longstanding member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that an investigation by his staff found that AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon were not notifying Senators of legal requests — including from the White House — to surveil their phones. The companies “have indicated that they are all now providing such notice,” according to the letter. Politico was first to report Wyden’s letter. Wyden’s letter comes in the wake of a report last year by the Inspector General, which revealed that the Trump administration in 2017 and 2018 secretly obtained logs of calls and text messages of 43 congressional staffers and two serving House lawmakers, imposing gag orders on the phone companies that received the requests. The secret surveillance requests were first revealed in 2021 to have targeted Adam Schiff, who was at the time the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “Executive branch surveillance poses a significant threat to the Senate’s independence and the foundational principle of separation of powers,” wrote Wyden in his letter. “If law enforcement officials, whether at the federal, state, or even local level, can secretly obtain Senators’ location data or call histories, our ability to perform our constitutional duties is severely threatened.”  AT&T spokesperson Alex Byers told TechCrunch in a statement that, “we are complying with our obligations to the Senate Sergeant at Arms,” and that the phone company has “received no legal demands regarding Senate offices under the current contract, which began last June.” When asked whether AT&T received legal demands before the new contract, Byers did not respond. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW Wyden said in the letter that one unnamed carrier “confirmed that it turned over Senate data to law enforcement without notifying the Senate.” When reached by TechCrunch, Wyden’s spokesperson Keith Chu said the reason was that, “we don’t want to discourage companies from responding to Sen. Wyden’s questions.”  Verizon and T-Mobile did not respond to a request for comment.  The letter also mentioned carriers Google Fi, US Mobile, and cellular startup Cape, which all have policies to notify “all customers about government demands whenever they are allowed to do so.” US Mobile and Cape adopted the policy after outreach from Wyden’s office. Chu told TechCrunch that the Senate “doesn’t have contracts with the smaller carriers.” Ahmed Khattak, a spokesperson for US Mobile, confirmed to TechCrunch that the company “did not have a formal customer notification policy regarding surveillance requests prior to Senator Wyden’s inquiry.”  “Our current policy is to notify customers of subpoenas or legal demands for information whenever we are legally permitted to do so and when the request is not subject to a court order, statutory gag provision, or other legal restriction on disclosure,” said Khattak. “To the best of our knowledge, US Mobile has not received any surveillance requests targeting the phones of Senators or their staff.” Google and Cape did not respond to a request for comment.  As Wyden’s letter notes, after Congress enacted protections in 2020 for Senate data held by third party companies, the Senate Sergeant at Arms updated its contracts to require phone carriers to send notifications of surveillance requests.  Wyden said that his staff discovered that “these crucial notifications were not happening.” None of these protections apply to phones that are not officially issued to the Senate, such as campaign or personal phones of Senators and their staffers. In the letter, Wyden encouraged his Senate colleagues to switch to carriers that now provide notifications.

Isabel Lane is this year’s William “Bill” Menking Travel Award winner. Lane is a graduate student at Pratt Institute in the Urban and Community Planning program, a department in the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment. Lane will travel to Quebec, Canada, where she’ll engage with farmers, planners, and policymakers to explore Montreal’s urban agricultural production. Lane will examine the extensive, province-wide food system that supports the region, which is 50 percent self-sustaining, Pratt said in a statement. The goal is to export this knowledge back to New York State, and potentially replicate this strategy in local urban and rural communities, bolstering low-cost, healthy produce access. “As a young person, one of Bill Menking’s many roles included organizing for farmworker unions; later, as an architect, he was not simply concerned with the final form, but with the labor conditions in its construction,” Lane said. Lane continued: “Tributes to Bill Menking portray him as a teacher who challenged his students to engage with big, cross-disciplinary questions and never distract from their work’s social implications. This is reflective of Pratt’s School of Architecture’s purpose—to prepare its students to meet moments “of consequence” with firm principles and technical proficiency towards progressive ideals. In this moment of excitement and traction for urban agriculture at scale, I hope that my travels allow me to share with the Pratt community a critical analysis of the opportunities and risks of planning for urban agriculture through the frameworks of social, racial, and environmental justice.” Before entering Pratt, Lane worked on a homestead farm in Maine. She continues this work today as an intern at the Urban Farm on Randall’s Island. All of these lived experiences inform her current research project at the intersection of food equity, resiliency, labor, and social justice. The selection committee that awarded Lane was led by Pratt professor Meredith TenHoor, assistant professor Yuliya Dzyuban, and assistant professor Mark Heller. The travel award was inaugurated in 2023 to honor The Architect’s Newspaper cofounder Bill Menking, who spent three decades teaching at Pratt in addition to organizing in the Architecture Lobby, steering the Storefront for Art and Architecture, researching radical Italian design, and a long list of many other feats. There is also a reading room indebted to Menking at Pratt. The 2024 recipient of William “Bill” Menking Travel Award was Quinn Gregory. He traveled to Amsterdam to research how messengers, planners, academics, and architects have impacted progressive street designs in big cities. Menking passed in 2020, the travel award helps honor his legacy.

Marks and Spencer (M&S) leadership believes that it may take at least another month to fully recover following a ransomware attack that it now looks likely will cost it at least £300m. It has also emerged that the incident may have begun through the systems of a third-party supplier of IT services, where tech support staff had their credentials stolen via social engineering, according to CEO Stuart Machin. The admission that the attack began via social engineering lends credence to the theory that the Scattered Spider hacking collective is indeed behind the attack. The gang has previously used similar techniques against other targets. According to Reuters, the initial target of the cyber attack may have been Tata Consulting Services (TCS), which runs the M&S IT helpdesk. Pushed by reporters on this on results day, Machin declined to state if this was accurate, and Computer Weekly understands TCS has also made no comment. Nor did Machin reveal whether or not M&S has paid off its attackers, stating advice from incident responders. He did, however, say that M&S has heavily invested in cyber tooling in the past 24 months which may have helped it spot and respond to the attack quicker. He also said M&S had not “left the door open” to its hackers. “Over the Easter bank holiday it became clear that we were facing a highly sophisticated and targeted attack,” said Machin in a prerecorded video accompanying the retailer’s latest results. “We called in several cyber experts and assembled the best support team including technology partners and notified the authorities immediately. “As a result we were able to take control of the situation very quickly and take the right actions to protect the business, our customers, our suppliers, and keep our shops empty and trading. This meant proactively taking down some of our systems which resulted in short-term disruption – but we think that was the right thing to do.” Jason Gerrard, senior director of systems engineering at cyber resilience company, Commvault, said M&S’ experience was a useful reminder to others that the ability to recover fast must be built into cyber resilience plans. “Behind the scenes, teams are scrambling to rebuild systems, trace breach origins, and restore customer data with forensic precision – all while execs are juggling regulators, insurers, auditors and shareholders,” said Gerrard. “The longer it takes to return to ‘normal’, the more that ‘normal’ drifts further away,  both in business operations and public perception. While recovery takes 24 days on average, some organisations don’t achieve business-as-usual for over 200 days. “This headline-grabbing downtime should be a warning to others that preparation for such a scenario is vital. Having a tried and tested recovery plan in place and identifying your Minimum Viable Company (MVC) ahead of time can help to reduce some of the damage that can very quickly spiral out of control,” said Gerrard. “Understanding your MVC – the essential systems needed to stay operational – is central to achieving cyber resilience and maintaining continuous business, even amidst a cyber attack. “The true power of the MVC model is not simply about responding to threats – it builds future-ready organisations that can adapt, recover, and lead.” Timeline: UK retail cyber attacks 22 April 2025: A cyber attack at M&S has caused significant disruption to customers, leaving them unable to make contactless payments or use click-and-collect services. 24 April: M&S is still unable to provide contactless payment or click-and-collect services amid a cyber attack that it says has forced it to move a number of processes offline to safeguard its customers, staff and business. 25 April: M&S shuts down online sales as it works to contain and mitigate a severe cyber attack on its systems. 29 April: The infamous Scattered Spider hacking collective may have been behind the ongoing cyber attack on M&S that has crippled systems at the retailer and left its ecommerce operation in disarray. 30 April: A developing cyber incident at Co-op has forced the retailer to pull the plug on some of its IT systems as it works to contain the attack. 1 May: Co-op tells staff to stop using their VPNs and be wary that their communications channels may be being monitored, as a cyber attack on the organisation continues to develop. 1 May: Harrods confirms it is the latest UK retailer to experience a cyber attack, shutting off a number of systems in an attempt to lessen the impact. 2 May: The National Cyber Security Centre confirms it is providing assistance to M&S, Co-op and Harrods as concerns grow among UK retailers. 7 May: No end is yet in sight for UK retailers subjected to apparent ransomware attacks. 13 May: M&S is instructing all of its customers to change their account passwords after a significant amount of data was stolen in a DragonForce ransomware attack. 14 May: Google’s threat intel analysts are aware of a number of in-progress cyber attacks against US retailers linked to the same Scattered Spider gang that supposedly attacked M&S and Co-op in the UK. 20 May: Cold chain services provider Peter Green Chilled, which supplies the likes of Aldi, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, has been forced to halt operations after succumbing to a ransomware attack. Meanwhile, M&S says it has now moved into full recovery mode and is trying to get back on its feet. Machin said: “Customers should be able to shop in our stores as normal. Our food business is delivering stock to stores in the normal way and all customers should find much better availability and should find what they need. Stock is flowing well. “But of course, in fashion, home and beauty, online orders are still paused but our plan is to reopen online in the coming weeks. It is a complex operation so it is going to take us some time to bring up our online systems.” Looking ahead, Machin said M&S would use the cyber attack as a net positive, bringing up a previously-announced digital transformation plan and condensing a two-year plan into just six months. “This has been a challenging time,” said Machin. “[but] our business is in good shape with strong performance, strong foundations, and a solid financial footing. This has bolstered our resilience meaning we can recover at pace and regain momentum. “We will draw a line under this and move on to business as usual,” he said. Besides thanking M&S staff and suppliers for their hard work and support, and customers “who have given us so much help and encouragement”, Machin also gave thanks to his peers in the business world. “So many chief executives have called me over the past few weeks who have all gone through similar events,” said Machin. “They told me firstly this will be one of the most challenging situations you face as a CEO. Secondly they told me we need to watch out for burn-out ... in the first few weeks. And thirdly they said to me it will take longer [to recover] than you would like and you would hope for, and it could be a distraction in the short-term. “We’re only four and a half weeks into this incident. It feels like four and a half months if I’m honest,” he added.

Right now when you buy directly from Samsung, you can save $95 on the popular T5 Evo portable SSD.

The Jack Black and Jason Momoa blockbuster “A Minecraft Movie” is set to debut on streaming on Max in June.

Editor's take: Back in the DOS days, real PC users wrote their textual tomes in the official MS-DOS Editor – I certainly did. These days, developers offer a confusing array of text editors, so Microsoft built its own to simplify command-line editing. Although it's slightly different than the OG version, I find it refreshing! Microsoft is reviving the classic MS-DOS Edit utility with a new open-source text editor built for Windows 11. Microsoft developers designed it to provide a native command-line interface (CLI) option. While 32-bit versions of Windows included the legacy 16-bit MS-DOS version, 64-bit editions lacked any built-in CLI tool. Edit is a compact, modeless editor with a text-based user interface. Its minimal footprint of less than 250kB makes it easy for Microsoft to include in Windows 11 ISO images. Although still in early development, Edit offers several modern features to create a more comfortable editing experience, including mouse support, key binding, simultaneous multiple file editing, find-and-replace (with match case and regular expression options), and word wrap – something MS-DOS users could only dream of back in the 90s. The open-source version of Edit is already available on GitHub. The project's official page states its primary goal is to offer an accessible text editor that even users unfamiliar with the command line can use easily. That said, when compared side-by-side, Edit's interface feels nothing like the original MS-DOS Editor. We checked. Also see: A Compilation of Command Prompt Tips, Tricks & Cool Things You Can Do Microsoft plans to roll out the new CLI text editor to unpaid Windows Insider beta testers soon. Microsoft expects the tool to mature enough to launch alongside a stable Windows 11 build. The new editor could appeal to PC users tired of relentless AI fluff, Copilot ads, and unwanted features flooding their systems. Microsoft continues to use every trick in the book to make Windows an AI-first-user-last experience – to the point that even the "classic" Notepad can't survive without some unwanted AI gimmick that nobody requested. Image credit: Windows Latest // Related Stories

If you’re looking for true wireless earbuds deals and headphone deals, you won’t want to miss the discounts that are available from Groovz. The dynamic and innovative audio brand provides premium sound quality and excellent value at affordable prices, and now’s an excellent time to try out its devices because of the savings that are up for grabs. The Groovz True Wireless Earbuds are on sale for $50 instead of $80, while the Groovz Open-Ear True Wireless Headphones are on sale for $100 instead of $130. However, by using the code GROOVZ40 at checkout, you’ll get an additional 40% discount. The Groovz True Wireless Earbuds will be yours for just $30 for total savings of $50, and the Groovz Open-Ear True Wireless Headphones for only $60 for total savings of $70. Whether you’re planning to buy the Groovz True Wireless Earbuds or the Groovz Open-Ear True Wireless Headphones (or perhaps even multiples of each one), we highly recommend hurrying with your purchase. The prices of the devices may change at any moment, and the coupon code will only work for a limited time. If you want to secure these huge discounts, you’re going to have to proceed with your transaction as soon as possible. Groovz True Wireless Earbuds — $30 $80 63% off with code Groovz The Groovz True Wireless Earbuds offer a secure and comfortable fit, which make them perfect for listening to your favorite tracks while you’re working out, and they’ve got an IPX4 rating for water resistance to withstand sudden rainfall and sweaty exercises. You’ll instantly enjoy crystal-clear audio after a quick pairing process with your smartphone, and they have capacitive touch controls for volume adjustments, changing tracks, and accepting calls. The Groovz True Wireless Earbuds can last up to four hours on a single charge, with an additional 22 hours from its charging case that features a battery life display, and you have several choices for colors and prints. Groovz Open-Ear True Wireless Headphones — $60 $130 54% off with code Groovz The Groovz Open-Ear True Wireless Headphones are built for people with an active lifestyle. They feature flexible ear hooks to keep them in place, an IPX5 rating for water resistance, and an open-ear design that keeps you aware of your surroundings while you’re enjoying your playlists. They can also last up to four hours on a single charge, plus an additional 22 hours from their charging case with a battery life display. The Groovz Open-Ear True Wireless Headphones also come in several colors and with limited prints, so they can match your style.