Before I played an early version of Crescent County, I didnt know that an in-game version of a motorized, magical broomstick could feel right. But here I am, drawing wide arcs through the gently swaying grass of the Isle of Morah, identifying the perfect hillock to glide off from, and intuitively following paths of flowers to shortcuts across its open world. Youd think thered no right way to depict something as bizarre as this, but as I feel a leyline-powered boost ignite the rumble of my controller, I start to think, well, maybe.The debut game from Electric Saint a two-person development team made up of Anna Hollinrake (Fall Guys) and Pavle Mihajlovi (Erica) Crescent County is part-open world exploration, part-dating game, part-gig economy delivery challenge, part-racer, part-life sim, and all-centered around that motorbroom experience. Its ambitious, and with so many moving parts, you might expect it to have come together in pieces but the real origin point was straightforward.One of the earliest pieces of art that inspired Crescent County. Credit: Anna HollinrakeHollinrake has been painting images of what she dubs witch-tech for years, building a following as people fall in love with the bright, curious worlds she creates in static form. Choosing to leave the world of AAA development behind, and contacting Mihajlovi to create the tech, there was only one setting they wanted to bring to life together.The number one piece of feedback I get when Im at conventions selling art based on this world, or on social media when I post images of it, is that people wish that they could live in the paintings I create, she tells me. Im an art generalist for games and have worked along the whole art pipeline, but my specialty is infusing moreish worldbuilding into my work, from concepts to full 3D environments, that give a sense of place, with little story hints throughout. I really want to give people the opportunity to step into a lovingly crafted, painterly space that feels both joyful and a little melancholy and that, critically, they feel at home within.It means that Crescent County wasnt built out of disparate mechanical ideas that the developers wanted to jam into one playspace every choice has been made because it fits the theme. Even in the early form of the game I play, that comes across. As main character Lu, your motorbroom is key to everything you do you arrive on the island and take part in a race, then become the islands delivery courier. That job allows you to meet characters you can get to know (and romance), afford furniture for your apartment, and to customize your broom and go further, faster. In Crescent Countys world, motorbrooms arent a vehicle, theyre a culture.Motorbroom racing is an underground sport, practised by a small group of the coolest people you know, says Hollinrake. Its very inspired by roller derby and the roller skating community (Im an avid quad skater myself!), and we wanted to capture that punk, do-it-yourself attitude within motorbroom subculture.In terms of racing though, its more about friends challenging each other in playful ways (like seeing who can get up the mountain first), than it is about big formal races with sponsors and crowds, adds Mihajlovi. If you win, you can expect to learn some secrets about the island, or maybe get a hot tip on how to get a particular broom part, but you can also choose to lay back and spend some more quality time with a racer you have a crush on.That idea, that every activity can affect another, seems key to Crescent County. Youre building a life for Lu on the island a race can lead to romance, a delivery job could net you new decorations, and even the house creation element (so often a side activity) can have effects on the wider game.Were really interested in how we can take classic, cozy house decoration and make it push our story forward rather than being purely for aesthetics, explains Hollinrake. In that classic scouring-Facebook-Marketplace way, you can do jobs around the island for people wholl pay you back with a couch they have in the shed and arent using. Inspired by our own experiences living in crappy house shares in our early twenties, we know how big of a difference each single piece of furniture can have on your social life or sense of place you cant have a dinner party without a dinner table, and getting your new friends around it lets you chat late into the night and deepen those relationships. Even if the spaghetti bolognese you made was terrible.It leads to what promises a very satisfying loop the more you play, and the more you engage, the more opportunities await you. Again, building Crescent County as a living world rather than a sandbox, is the key. The games organized into days and nights that pass based on what you choose to do (you can deliver by day, and race by night), rather than through a linear cycle, which gives you an incentive to choose the interesting thing rather than the efficient thing.Each day brings a host of new opportunities to earn some cash, make your flat less sad, and learn more island drama, says Mihajlovi. Youll get to pick who you want to help that day whether its because you want to know a particular bit of gossip, you want to get a specific broom upgrade, or because your friend Rava has promised you shell give you her unwanted and admittedly ugly couch if you help round up her wayward sheep. You can either plan out your route carefully, or take it a bit more casually and ride around and see what you get up to. At the end of the day you can take your weird couch home, pick where to place it, and invite your friends over for a movie night who point out you dont actually own a TV.All of this would be moot if the brooms themselves didnt feel quite so good, and the Isle of Morah wasnt quite so fascinating a location. That connection to Hollinrakes art means that this world is a deeply interesting place unfamiliar silhouettes clutter the horizon, and the sheer fun meant that I spent as much time simply going places than doing, well, Lus job. The final piece in the puzzle, then, is in creating a motorbroom that suits you.Broom customization is both about building a motorbroom that looks amazing and feels just like you, but its also in how you decide how youre going to navigate the island, says Mihajlovi. Whether you want to speed down the straights, cut across a field, or glide over a canyon, different broom setups will open different paths and playstyles. You can also put Sigil Stickers on your broom that give you weird and wonderful powers, like an offensive sideways phase shift that you can use to bump your rivals off the track, or a more forgiving 10 second rewind that lets you retake a corner if you didnt get it quite right.The way the team is winding together mechanical and narrative benefits to the player isnt just fascinating its unusual. Its the kind of thing that might have been hard to pitch at their previous studios, meaning self-publishing with ID@Xbox has been a boon:Were huge fans of the ID@Xbox program and before that Xbox Live Arcade, says Mihajlovi. It birthed or enabled so many of the games that we love, and in a lot of ways the whole indie wave that got us into the games industry in the first place. I actually remember the first Summer of Arcade, and how exciting and validating it was as a teenager to see indie games on a console, so its incredible to now be a part of the program.With a two-person team, the game still has a way to go until release and theyre not set on a release date just yet but the early version I play makes abundantly clear how wild, weird, and ambitious Electric Saint is getting. Just like its motorbrooms, Crescent County might be unfamiliar, but its feeling just right already.Crescent County is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. You can wishlist the game now.Crescent CountyElectric SaintGet it nowDiscover this beautiful open world racing on the back of your very own motorbroom. In Crescent County you play as Lu, as you move to the island under tense pretences, eager to start afresh. Its a game about finding home in a brand-new witch-tech universe.During the day youre a motorbroom courier; delivering packages, herding sheep, and setting off fireworks. You find yourself building a life through helping the locals; getting to know their struggles, and their island home. Plan your day every morning by picking your jobs, and then zoom around the island getting things done! The better your broom is the more you can do, and the more of the gossip you uncover.After youve made some change, head down to Bos workshop to upgrade your motobroom and make it your own! Replace parts to improve your brooms handling, top speed, or gliding ability, and pop some Sigil Stickers on it to enable special powers such as Phase Shifting and Time Rewind.At night, use your customised motorbroom to defeat your new friends in improvised races around the island. Discover shortcuts on ancient ley lines, and sprint through abandoned power stations in rebellious, secret races to win new broom parts.Start in your cousins empty bedsit and collect furniture from the locals to scrap together a cosy new life for yourself on the island. The better your home is, the more activities you can do with your new friends. Cant have a dinner party with a table, or a date without a couch!

Joanna Gaines has a new class on MasterClass on Designing a Home That Tells Your Story, and I got a sneak preview of it before it went live on Nov. 26just in time for MasterClass Black Friday and holiday sales. Heres what you should know about it.MasterClass Designing a Home That Tells Your StoryNow 50% Off$120 $60 at MasterClassFirst, a little of my own context for watching the class: While I spend a lot of time writing about beautiful interiors for Country Living, I am not an interior designer, so I often feel unsure about decisions I make to decorate my own home. What size should a rug be for this room? How should I arrange this shelf? What color should I choose?Often for dcor guidance, I start with images of living rooms, bedrooms, dining spaces, and more I find online. But in this MasterClass, Gaines, founder of Magnolia, gave me confidence to start a different place in my design decisions: with my own story. Related StoryYour home isnt just where you live. Its a reflection of who you are and your story, Gaines says at the opening of the class. And thats her framework for the rest of what she shares over the next hour and 25 minutes (which goes by real fast!), as she gets more into the nuts and bolts of renovating and design decisions.Id forgotten that Gaines herself isnt formally trained in design either, but as we all know, she certainly knows how to do it well. In the class she walks you step by step through her design process and how to apply it to your own home. Its equal parts visual feast of images of her own projects that make you think, Yes, I want a room that looks like that! and practical instruction with tips (including budgetary ones!) to help you achieve your version of just the right room. In fact, after each section of the class, Gaines gives you bulleted home work points after to help you take your coaching home with you.One of the key ways Gaines makes design feel more doable is how she encourages you to develop a vision for a room that first starts with its functionality for your family (amen to that!)a point she emphasizes with stories of spaces in her own and how they practically work for their family of seven (and in the end, it looks real pretty too)and then how she encourages you to return to your design vision time and time again as you select each element of a room.As I watched the class, I was not only taking notes for this review but also thinking through my own living room, jotting down the words that best encapsulated my vision for it and thinking about ways those words can help guide me to find the right lamps, art, and other pieces I have gotten stuck picking out for most of this year. Maybe I could frame some of my classical music-loving husbands vinyl album covers? I thought as she talked us through finding objects to display that mean something to youaccents that are the soul to the room.Even though a lot of the class is centered on inspiring you to do your own dcor work, I appreciate that I also got a good dose of good ole before and after stories. Throughout its length, Gaines describes how her design process played out for several projects of different styles, including her own home and how it has evolved in its dcor over the years. In a way, these stories are all what we already know and love of Gaines and her style and her process, but this time they come with a framework that especially encourages you to try it for yourselfwith a Joanna Gaines level of confidence that you are the best designer for the space you spend time in and that, in the end, it should look like no one elses room but your own. To fully embrace all of those ideas and many more, I definitely recommend you watch the MasterClass for yourself. Annual memberships start at $120, but sign up now to take advantage of their Black Friday discounts of up to 50% off.Related StoriesMadoline Markham KoonceAssistant Managing EditorMadoline Markham Koonce is the assistant managing editor at Country Living and VERANDA, where she covers home dcor, shopping, travel, news, and culture. She began her career at Southern Living and previously worked in community journalismincluding serving as the editor of three community magazines she helped launch. She has an undergraduate degree in history from Rhodes College (and loves to tap her love of history in her writing) as well as a masters degree in magazine journalism from the University of Missouri. When shes not on deadline, you can find her baking or lost in a good book.

Every item on this page was hand-picked by a House Beautiful editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.Owen Han has always been drawn to food. Having learned to cook from his Nonna during summers spent in Italy, the kitchen is the content creators number one comfort zone. But after sharing a small apartment with a fellow food creator, Han knew it was time to find a permanent set-upa solo set-up. Han was admittedly a bit nervous about living alone, but his desire for an entire workspace to himself eventually won out. The only requirement Han had for the apartment was no galley kitchen. I swear that every house in LA has a galley kitchen, he says, laughing. But I film overhead and I need space for box lights which makes the traditional hallway layout impossible to work in. After weeks of searching with no luck, Han received the fateful invitation to see the apartment. (He took the call while at a gas station, refueling after yet another unsuccessful viewing.) I saw the kitchen and I knew, he says. That enthusiasm proved fruitful when the landlord said that he was the most memorable applicant.Aaron WojackHans extensive hot sauce and condiment collection are one of few things kept behind closed doors.Aaron WojackStacked, Hans debut cookbook, is packed full of sandwich recipes inspired by his love of culinary experimentation.See it HereAaron WojackCheeky nods to Hans love of food can be found all over the apartment, like this cereal bowl candle.Aaron WojackHan keeps family memorabilia close by, including a show poster to honor his father, the late concert pianist Derek Han.I know its not very neat, but something is inspiring about having all your ingredients on display.The industrial range, while not originally on Han's wishlist, was a welcome surprise and sealed his interest in the space. There was no explanation for the commercial-grade appliances, but Han saw this as a fateful opportunity to further his culinary skills and test his recipes on appliances he would have never had access to prior to moving.Han has lived in his California studio for almost a year (he celebrated the publication of his first cookbook, Stacked: The Art of the Perfect Sandwich, here), and he still doesnt believe in a separation between work and play. And in his cooking, the two are often intertwined. His filming setup stays up 24/7, even the bulky box lights and his overhead tripod. Im filming every day, he explains. I want to be able to go when inspiration strikes rather than wait to put everything back up again. Luckily, mealtimes are content gold, and entertaining more commonly takes place elsewhere. Aaron WojackHans filming set-up stays up 24/7 to allow him to film when the inspiration strikes him. Mealtimes are content gold.Across the apartment, the living room is also set up to allow him to work comfortably. Han often sits on the sectional sofa to edit his videos, plan his content, and write emails. Because I work at all hours of the day, I wanted the rest of my apartment to have a very zen energy, says Han.Inspired by surf culture and his family heritage, Hans design style leans very casual. Of course, there are nods to his Italian upbringing, cookbooks from his grandmother, a poster of his father, pianist Derek Han, and countless other pieces of memorabilia scattered throughout the open shelving.Known for his inventive twists on sandwiches, Hans cooking process is one of improvisation, letting his tastebuds take control.The very first item Han brought into the space, before a bed frame, and even before a sofa, was a large, counter-height kitchen island. I needed a space to film, he says. A surface to continue making videos has always been the priority, everything else can come later. For a while, the island was the only furniture Han had, and it remains his command center for filming, cooking, and recipe ideation even after more comfortable seating entered his space. In the kitchen, there arent any cheesy quotes or large-scale pieces of artwork. Instead, Han showcases his chefs knives and a stack of wooden cutting boards. Everything is within reach for Han to strike while the inspirational iron is hot. It may be chaos to some, but the tools are part of what gets Han excited about working in the kitchen. I know its not very neat, but something is inspiring about having all your ingredients on display, Han says of the controversial kitchen storage method.Aaron WojackPersonalized Nutella jars from a recent brand collaboration.Aaron WojackOne of the many vintage cookbooks from Hans grandmother.The first box I unpacked was all my pots and pans, Han says. Theres a pot rack hanging from the ceiling and it brings me so much joy to see all my tools out in the open. In fact, Hans housewarming present to himself was a green Le Cruset Dutch oven, something he had always wanted, but never had the space for before. His work is his greatest pride and joy, and it rings true throughout the apartment. Aaron WojackBecause of the welcome chaos in his highly trafficked kitchen, the rest of Hans living space was designed to be as zen as possible.Grooming: Jaime MaloneyFollow House Beautiful on Instagram and TikTok.

Vertical Aerospace has been thrown a crucial lifeline, staving off potential bankruptcy at the cash-strapped air taxi startup.The UK-based company which makes electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft secured the fresh funds from its largest creditor, American debt investor Mudrick Capital.The agreement, announced Monday, includes a $50mn cash injection and a substantial debt-to-equity swap. Mudrick will invest $25mn upfront and guarantee another $25mn in future funding, offset by contributions from third-party investors.Mudrick will also convert half of its $130mn in outstanding loans into equity at $2.75 per share, taking its ownership stake in Vertical to just over 70%. This move reduces Verticals debt burden while extending the repayment date for the remaining $65mn to December 2028.The of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!Verticals founder Stephen Fitzpatrick whose stake will shrink from 70% to around 20% is stepping back from an operational role. He will remain on the board as a non-executive director. Despite the shift in control, Vertical will continue to operate from its headquarters in Bristol.The additional equity and stronger balance sheet will enable us to fund the next phase of our development programme and deliver on our mission to bring this amazing electric aircraft to the skies, said Fitzpatrick.The rescue deal comes at a crucial moment for Vertical, which has been burning through cash in a bid to get its VX4 aircraft tested, certified, and airborne by 2028.In September, Bloomberg reported that without additional funding, Vertical would risk running out of cash by March 2025. Stuart Simpson, the startups chief executive, said that Mudricks fresh backing will now extend its cash runway to the end of 2025.eVTOL startups have drawn huge investments in recent years, driven by the promise of revolutionising urban transportation with quiet, eco-friendly flights. Optimism and a fair bit of hype fueled early funding, but many underestimated the challenges of development, certification, and scaling production.As costs rose and timelines slipped, investor confidencesteadily waned, leaving many startups grounded. One of Verticals main competitors, German startup Lilium, filed for bankruptcy this month after failing to secure new funds.Vertical, which went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021, has lost 95% of its market value since the listing. While the bailout gives the company a lifeline for now, its future is far from certain. Story by Sin Geschwindt Sin is a climate and energy reporter at TNW. From nuclear fusion to escooters, he covers the length and breadth of Europe's clean tech ecos (show all) Sin is a climate and energy reporter at TNW. From nuclear fusion to escooters, he covers the length and breadth of Europe's clean tech ecosystem. He's happiest sourcing a scoop, investigating the impact of emerging technologies, and even putting them to the test. Sin has five years journalism experience and holds a dual degree in media and environmental science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Get the TNW newsletterGet the most important tech news in your inbox each week.Also tagged with

Zurich-based startup Poncho has officially launched its weather insurance platform and bagged some fresh funding to boot.Founded in 2023, the company aims to transform how the travel and hospitality industries handle unpredictable weather.Ponchos tech integrates with booking systems, allowing customers to opt for weather protection at checkout. If bad weather, such as heavy rain or wind, occurs during their scheduled event or trip, a refund is processed automatically. You dont need to file a claim.Maybe torrential rains turn your Alpine ski trip to slush or maybe youve splurged on a Mediterranean yacht adventure only to have rough seas keep you stuck at the dock sipping overpriced cocktails.Either way, it sucks. But with Poncho, at least your budget stays intact when Mother Nature doesnt play nice. Poncho uses real-time weather data and algorithms to predict conditions at specific locations and times. In this way, it can calculate a fair insurance price based on an accurate estimate of whether a certain event or activity will get cancelled or not, it said.Watch Back NowAfter months of hard work, we are thrilled to announce that Ponchos weather insurance solution is finally available! Our product allows travel and leisure businesses to seamlessly offer weather protection to their customers at the time of booking, said Omar Jerrari, founder and CEO of Poncho.Today, the startup announced it has raised 589,000 in seed funding. WeBuild Ventures, a finance-focused VC fund from Switzerland, led the round.Poncho, with a lean team of just three, will use the cash injection to refine its platform, scale operations across Europe, and build partnerships with insurers. It also plans to develop additional features, such as weather-triggered promotions.The startups initial focus is on the travel sector, where weather unpredictability often discourages bookings, but its vision extends to other industries, such as outdoor dining and events.The company says it has already signed up five leisure and travel businesses in its home stomping grounds of Switzerland. Story by Sin Geschwindt Sin is a climate and energy reporter at TNW. From nuclear fusion to escooters, he covers the length and breadth of Europe's clean tech ecos (show all) Sin is a climate and energy reporter at TNW. From nuclear fusion to escooters, he covers the length and breadth of Europe's clean tech ecosystem. He's happiest sourcing a scoop, investigating the impact of emerging technologies, and even putting them to the test. Sin has five years journalism experience and holds a dual degree in media and environmental science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Get the TNW newsletterGet the most important tech news in your inbox each week.Also tagged with

As we reported last month, OpenAI has finally launched SearchGPT, which is essentially a search engine developed by OpenAI that uses artificial intelligence to find and combine the best results from the web. And with the latest ChatGPT update for iOS, its now easier to use SearchGPT.ChatGPT app adds SearchGPT extension to Apple ShortcutsThe latest version of the app for iPhone and iPad adds a new Apple Shortcuts integration, which lets users create shortcuts to open SearchGPT. With this shortcut, you can open a new conversation in the ChatGPT app with SearchGPT enabled. Its worth noting that shortcuts can be added to the Home Screen or even triggered by Siri.While ChatGPT has always sort of been used as a search engine by some, OpenAI has made specific upgrades that provide the sort of features weve all come to expect from search providers like Google and Bing. Heres how OpenAI explains it:ChatGPT can now search the web in a much better way than before. You can get fast, timely answers with links to relevant web sources, which you would have previously needed to go to a search engine for. This blends the benefits of a natural language interface with the value of up-to-date sports scores, news, stock quotes, and more.ChatGPT will choose to search the web based on what you ask, or you can manually choose to search by clicking the web search icon.OpenAI has partnered with news and data providers so it can provide real-time information, and package it in new dedicated designs for specific content types.With iOS 18.2, which will be released to iPhone and iPad users in December, Apple is adding ChatGPT integration to Siri. The update will let users interact with the OpenAI chatbot directly from the Siri interface, and the same applies to Writing Tools. Paid ChatGPT users can also benefit from the extra features by logging into their account in the iOS Settings app.As for the new shortcut, its available with the latest version of the ChatGPT app that you can download from the App Store. Its worth noting that SearchGPT is currently exclusive to ChatGPT Plus and Team subscribers.Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Dreame Technology is a leading brand for smart cleaning solutions, both in the form of robot vacuums and typical vacuum cleaners. For their Black Friday sale, its offering large discounts on a number of its smart cleaning products, making it a better time than ever to pick up a new vacuum for your household.Until December 2nd, you can score great savings on Dreames vacuums and can save an additional 5% off using our exclusive promo code for our readers, DM9to55off.Robot VacuumsL10s UltraThe L10s Ultra is one of Dreames more affordable robot vacuums, featuring automatic mop cleaning and drying, automatic dust collection, and a robust vacuum with up to 5300 Pa of suction. It packs a lot of functionality at this lower starting price, and can even shine your floor with its built in mop up to 2152 square feet. Plus, you only need to empty the base every 60 days, making it something you only need to think about a single digit number of times every year.Normally, the L10s Ultra is sold for $899.99, but during Dreames Black Friday sale, you can pick it up for just $399.99 on Amazon. Plus, you can save an additional 5% until December 2nd, using code DM9to55off.L10s Pro UltraThe L10s Pro Ultra takes things up a notch, featuring effortless edge recognition and smart mapping features to avoid obstacles in your home. It also features an even stronger vacuum, with up to 7000 Pa of suction. Itll grab all of the small crumbs and debris from small crevices. It also automatically cleans the mop with up to 136 degrees of hot water, and can dry itself too.For Black Friday, you can pick up the L10s Pro Ultra for $549.99 on Amazon, down from its $999.99 starting price. You can also save an additional 5% using our code, DM9to55off.L20 UltraDreames L20 Ultra includes a number of quality of life features, including a larger 4.5L water tank, allowing it to operate on its own for longer. It also has a bigger battery for longer runtime, and can automatically remove the mop and clean it on its own, making it even easier for you.With their Black Friday sale, L20 Ultra is available for $599.99 on Amazon, $800 off from its original starting price. And as always, you can save an additional 5% with code DM9to55off.X40 UltraX40 Ultra is Dreames highest end robot vacuum, offering the best of the best. It has 12000 Pa of suction, eliminating even the smallest bits of dust from your carpets. X40 Ultra also has an extendable side brush, allowing it to tackle wall corners and furniture legs. You also only need to recycle the bin every 75 days.Dreame thoroughly researched all of the pain points that consumers were having, and addressed all of them with this model truly offering their best. For Black Friday, you can pick up an X40 Ultra for $999.99 on Amazon, down from the $1899.99 starting price. You can knock off an additional 5% with code DM9to55off.Wet & dry vacuumsH12 ProDreames H12 Pro is a cordless vacuum, reducing one key point of hassle. It features an enhanced dual edged cleaning brush, making it easier to clean hard to reach places. H12 Pro also features a long run time, with up to 35 minutes of cleaning on one charge, and the 900mL water tank allows you up to 2150 square feet of cleaning before needing a refill.H12 Pro is available for $269.99 on Amazon during Black Friday sales, down $180 from original pricing. Plus, you can save an additional 5% with code DM9to55off.H14H14 packs up to 18000 Pa of suction, making it suitable for any sort of mess, both wet and dry. It also sustains that level of suction while flat, which not all vacuums can do. It also features a self cleaning mode, allowing users to clean their dirty brush roller in just 5 minutes. The main highlight of the H14 is definitely its ability to lie flat at 180 degrees, allowing for cleaning in hard to reach areas.You can pick up Dreametechs H14 for $299.99 on Amazon during Black Friday, $200 off the original starting price. Plus, save 5% with code DM9to55off for a limited time.Once again, make sure you use code DM9to55off to secure an additional 5% off, through December 2nd!Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Image by Getty / FuturismDevicesElon Musk's brain-computer interface (BCI) company is entering its next phase of experiments: seeing if patients can move a robotic arm using their minds.In a statement posted on X-formerly Twitter also owned by Musk the company announced that its new "feasibility trial" will investigate whether people can use its coin-sized brain chips to control a robot with their minds."This is an important first step," the Neuralink post reads, "towards restoring not only digital freedom, but also physical freedom."Along with the teaser about the new capabilities, the company posted a link to its trial patient registry, suggesting that Neuralink is still looking for its ideal candidate.Beyond the news that Neuralink would begin testing what Musk has in the past referred to as the "Luke Skywalker solution," a lot remains unclear about the trial. It does appear, per the fine print on its patient registry page, that Canadians will be able to apply alongside their American counterparts to get a chip implanted into their brains and test out mind control on a robotic arm.While this is an unprecedented step for Musk's company, it's not the first time such an endeavor has been undertaken.Way back in 2015, Caltech researchers implanted what they called a "neural prosthetic device" into the brain of a paraplegic man named Erik Sorto that allowed him to control a robotic arm using his thoughts. In doing so, the man was able to give a handshake, play "rock, paper, scissors," and even sip a beer.Much like Neuralink's first patient, Noland Arbaugh, Sorto described the sense of elation he felt when he was able to use the robotic arms to move after becoming paralyzed during a gang shootout when he was just 21."I wanted to drink my beer by myself and not asking anyone for help or anything like that," the published author said during a local newspaper interview in 2017. "It was an out-of-body experience. I wanted to jump out of my chair, hug everyone, carry them around if I could carry them around and high five everybody.""It was so much joy," Sorto continued. "My body was full of joy."Though Musk often attracts attention for his cringeworthy antics and increasingly dangerous politicking, Neuralink is one silver lining among his portfolio as long as you don't think too hard about all those monkeys from the company's early experiments, that is.More on Neuralink: First Neuralink Patient Using It to Learn New LanguagesShare This Article

The troubled chatbot company Character.AI appears to be mass-removing "Harry Potter"-themed AI characters from its platform and users are in an uproar.The Reddit forum r/characterAI has been flooded since yesterday with posts from users claiming that chatbots based on the "Harry Potter" franchise had suddenly been deactivated at scale. When we took a look for ourselves, we found that droves of AI personas from the franchise ranging from Harry Potter himself to Hermione Granger, Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy and others indeed appear to have been culled."REST IN PEACE LOVE OF MY LIFE, I WILL MISS YOU," wrote one X user who goes by the handle @severusluv. "Fuck you [Character.AI], you took away the only good thing in my life."They included a screenshot of a "Severus Snape" chatbot that, before its deletion, boasted 47.3 millionuser chats."Today we are all Draco's widows," said another X user, lamenting the demise of Draco Malfoy-themed Character.AI bots."You didn't fix anything, you made it worse," another fan wrote in a Reddit post titled "Dear CharacterAI." Arguing that users will likely now leave the platform, they added: "Have fun slowly burning down."Some grievance was directed in part at Warner Bros. Discovery, the massive media conglomerate that owns the film rights to the "Harry Potter" franchise, with users suggesting that the bots may have been nuked over an intellectual property dispute between the media giant and Character.AI."BRB, crying in the shower" said one Redditor in a post titled "Warner Sucks."Not all "Harry Potter"-based chatbots were doomed in the crackdown, but that spottiness seems to be the result of patchy enforcement. While the majority of chatbots named "Severus Snape" seem to have been deleted, for example, bots like "Husband Snape" and "Dad Snape" remain live.In a similar vein, characters titled "Ron Weasley" mostly seem to be fine, but the majority of "Ronald Weasley" bots have been scrubbed.Other notable franchise characters appear to have escaped the culling entirely. Chatbots modeled after the beloved house elf character Dobby of "free elf" fame appear to be hanging on, as do "Tom Riddle" bots.In addition to its vast cinematic and theme park empire, the "Harry Potter" franchise spawned one of the world's largest and most lucrative fandoms, the term used to describe devoted fan bases that gather around specific pieces of media. And Character.AI is a deeply fandom-driven platform, with characters like "Husband Snape" being a perfect example of a user taking to Character.AI to artificially pen immersive, conversational fan fiction about or, in a sense, with their favorite fictional characters.Character.AI issued no public explanation for the removal of all the bots. But considering its fandom-heavy userbase and the popularity of Potterverse bots in particular, it's hard to imagine any incentive for Character.AI to remove Potterverse-themed chatbots from its platform other than outside pressure.Warner Bros. Discovery also owns several other fandom-heavy franchises including the HBO smash hit "Game of Thrones." That's a significant detail, as Character.AI was sued in October by the family of a 14-year-old in Florida who died by suicide after developing an intense emotional obsession with a Character.AI chatbot based on the "Game of Thrones" character Daenerys Targaryen, which engaged in romantic and sexual dialogue with the boy and, according to the family, at times encouraged him to take his life. (The lawsuit is ongoing, and also names Google, asignificant backer of Character.AI, as a defendant.)Like Potterverse characters, "Game of Thrones"-based chatbots are extremely popular on Character.AI and to that end, many "Game of Thrones" characters appear to have been abruptly removed from the platform as well.We reached out to both Character.AI and Warner Bros. Discovery to inquire about the character removals, but have yet to hear back from either.The pending lawsuit is just one of several piling controversies for Character.AI. The platform also came under fire in September for hosting a chatbot based on a murdered teenager, which was quickly deleted after public outcry, while Futurism has found concerning content on its service including suicide-themed chatbots, pedophile chatbots that groom users, and pro-anorexia chatbots that encourage disordered eating habits.Share This Article

Two critical security flaws impacting the Spam protection, Anti-Spam, and FireWall plugin WordPress could allow an unauthenticated attacker to install and enable malicious plugins on susceptible sites and potentially achieve remote code execution.The vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2024-10542 and CVE-2024-10781, carry a CVSS score of 9.8 out of a maximum of 10.0. They were addressed in versions 6.44 and 6.45 released this month.Installed on over 200,000 WordPress sites, CleanTalk's Spam protection, Anti-Spam, FireWall plugin is advertised as a "universal anti-spam plugin" that blocks spam comments, registrations, surveys, and more.According to Wordfence, both vulnerabilities concern an authorization bypass issue that could allow a malicious actor to install and activate arbitrary plugins. This could then pave the way for remote code execution if the activated plugin is vulnerable of its own.The plugin is "vulnerable to unauthorized Arbitrary Plugin Installation due to a missing empty value check on the 'api_key' value in the 'perform' function in all versions up to, and including, 6.44," security researcher Istvn Mrton said, referring to CVE-2024-10781.On the other hand, CVE-2024-10542 stems from an authorization bypass via reverse DNS spoofing on the checkWithoutToken() function.Regardless of the bypass method, successful exploitation of the two shortcomings could allow an attacker to install, activate, deactivate, or even uninstall plugins.Users of the plugin are advised to ensure that their sites are updated to the latest patched version to safeguard against potential threats.The development comes as Sucuri has warned of multiple campaigns that are leveraging compromised WordPress sites to inject malicious code responsible for redirecting site visitors to other sites via bogus ads, skimming login credentials, as well as drop malware that captures admin passwords, redirects to VexTrio Viper scam sites, and execute arbitrary PHP code on the server.Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.