In a secret pre-holiday update to Cyberpunk 2077, developer CD Projekt Red added a little tabletop-shaped gift. A spokesperson from Cyberpunk publisher R. Talsorian Games told Polygon that any person who owns Cyberpunk 2077 and can access their Bonus Content folder can now find Cyberpunk RED: Easy Mode in there, of course for free.Without mention, Cyberpunk 2077s update 2.2 quietly offered up the quick start guide to the tabletop role-playing game. Easy Mode has abridged rules and an introductory mission to onboard new players quickly to using dice pools instead of controllers and keyboards. Players will be able to act as one of five pre-generated characters in the quick start: the charismatic Rockerboy, the lethal Solo, the inventive Tech, the lifesaving Medtech, and the hard-hitting Media. Though the guide includes a brief dive into the history and landscape of Night City, fans of the video game should feel intimately familiar with the prequel world of Cyberpunk RED.Though the preview was released at Gen Con in 2019, the full version of Cyberpunk RED originally released alongside Cyberpunk 2077 in 2020. The tabletop game is latest edition of the original Cyberpunk 2020 RPG (which was released in 1989). The franchise explores the gritty sci-fi fiction of an end-stage capitalist technofuture where, according to the games description, corporations control the world from their skyscraper fortresses. Perhaps a little on the nose. Set in 2045, Cyberpunk RED takes place midway between the events of Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk 2077.Polygon has confirmed the gift is available to PC users. To check for your copy of the PDF on PC, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\music\Cyberpunk 2077 Bonus Content. Polygon has not been able to verify how to get the PDF on Xbox or PlayStation, though the spokesperson said it should have been confirmed for those platforms as well.If you catch the bug and want more Cyberpunk TTRPGs, the bonus content available on Steam also includes the original Cyberpunk 2020 core rulebook. The full Cyberpunk Red core rulebook is available at R Talsorian Games for $60.

World of Warcraft is renowned for its expansive set of locations, from barren deserts to lush forests, but some of the most interesting zones are densely inhabited, like Suramar or Tiragarde Sound. The first major patch for The War Within expansion adds another such area with Undermine, the goblin capital and a massive urban center thats not quite like anything else seen on Azeroth.On Thursday, Blizzard released a video of Undermine detailing what to expect from the goblin capital. The goblins have been underserved by World of Warcraft; since their introduction all the way back in 2010s Cataclysm, theyve mostly served as goofy comic relief for the Horde. The goblin starting zone in Cataclysm is similarly advanced, with cars, highways, and even a personal assistant for the player but it was destroyed by the emergence of Deathwing.Some of the goblin collectives in Patch 1.1 (which is cleverly titled Undermined) have been enemies in past patches. Luckily, theyre interested in working with the heroes of Azeroth, and they wont hold past transgressions against you so if youre the kind of player who slaughtered guards in Booty Bay and racked up a terrible reputation with the Blackwater cartel, Baron Revilgaz wont be hostile towards you.Undermined includes a car, which you can upgrade by collaborating with the goblin cartels. Blizzard is introducing the D.R.I.V.E. (Dynamic Revolutionary Improvements to Vehicular Experiences) mechanic alongside these goblin cars; theyre much faster than a ground mount and even a little bit faster than a flying mount in the air. For anyone who wishes World of Warcraft had more drifting, this is the patch for you.Undermined will also include new Delves (one of which has an alarming amount of Void constructs hidden away), a new Arena, and a new dungeon called Operation Floodgate. Raiders can look forward to the Liberation of Undermine, an eight-boss raid. Here, players finally get to beat up Gallywix, the ultra-capitalist goblin who betrayed his people during the Cataclysm yet somehow managed to fail upward to leading the faction. Gallywix is, true to form, inside a giant mech that has been build to look like his face.Blizzard hasnt announced a release date for Undermined quite yet, but it looks like an interesting spin on The War Withins zones so far. The goblin antics will tie back into the greater plot with Xalatath, so there will be some interesting mysteries in store.

There are 33 different characters in Marvel Rivals, but not every hero (or villain) is equal. In the competitive shooters season 0, which is called Dooms Rise and is significantly shorter than a regular season, every character is viable but there are some who are obviously more powerful than the rest.Below, weve compiled a breakdown of the current Marvel Rivals meta by noting the nine best characters (three from each role: duelist, vanguard, and strategist) who are performing very well in season 0. And while the meta will of course continue to shift, with new heroes rising to the top, all of these are great characters you can take into any match once youve mastered them in order to increase your chances of winning.In this Marvel Rivals guide, well walk you through the best characters in Marvel Rivals, tell you what makes each of them so powerful, and how you should (ideally) build your team with them. Weve also listed out all currently available heroes in a table below.The best characters in Marvel Rivals season 0 metaThe best characters in Marvel Rivals right now (in alphabetical order) are:Cloak & Dagger (Strategist)Doctor Strange (Vanguard)Iron Fist (Duelist)Jeff the Land Shark (Strategist)Mantis (Strategist)Moon Knight (Duelist)Thor (Vanguard)Venom (Vanguard)Winter Soldier (Duelist)After testing out each hero in the game, weve put together the above list of best heroes based on the power of each characters kit (their active and passive abilities), their consistency, their ease of use, and their ability to carry a team. There are some other incredible heroes in Marvel Rivals that will likely make it onto this list in the future, but they are currently only really dominating at higher levels, and are therefore higher skill floor heroes that are difficult to recommend unless youre an incredible shot (such as Hawkeye and Hela).As far as how these characters fit into a team, lets take a quick look at the current composition meta in season 0.The best team comp seems to be that solid 2-2-2 two of each class which gives you a nice balance of everything. This allows you to have a beefy main tank like Doctor Strange and an off-tank like Thor, a powerful throughput healer like Jeff the Land Shark paired with a healer that also increases damage like Mantis, and a group damage dealer like Moon Knight paired with an assassin like Iron Fist. The 2-2-2 seems to be the most consistent composition because it offers the broadest coverage in terms of what a team generally needs. And before we get the meta settles with a season 1 balance patch, you need to be prepared for anything. This comp will do it for you.The one alternative team composition that weve seen do well is the 1-3-2 comp, with just one tank, three damage-dealers, and two healers. This forces you to dedicate a healer almost entirely to your one tank to keep them alive, but gives you the flexibility of a bonus damage dealer to deal with a problem player on the other team, like a sneaky Scarlet Witch or a sniping Hawkeye. This team composition does rely heavily on the duelists to capitalize on opportunities quickly, and will likely fall off at higher ranks when teams are coordinated enough to just burn the one tank down as quickly as possible, giving them a lot of room to navigate objectives.Below, weve broken down what makes each of the nine best heroes in the game so good. Cloak & Dagger (Strategist)Cloak & Dagger are two very simple heroes in one, making them more complex to play than either Jeff or Mantis. However, Cloak & Daggers abilities when woven together can create a very powerful storm of healing and damage, which can be difficult to overcome for most enemies. What makes Cloak & Dagger a stellar support, however, isnt even their ultimate ability, but Cloaks Dark Teleportation ability, which makes allies briefly invisible and untargetable. This single ability can negate ultimates like Jeffs Its Jeff! or even Scarlet Witchs Reality Erasure. Even better, it requires nothing from Cloaks allies other than to be close to him, so its a potentially game-saving ability that you can pull off without any voice chat or coordination.Doctor Strange (Vanguard)Doctor Strange is a tank who seems weak on an initial look, but is actually extremely powerful in the right hands. Where Thor and Venom allow you to drag your team to victory by killing squishier characters, Doctor Strange is able to lead the team where he wants them to go with his powerful shield and massive stun ultimate.But the real power of Doctor Strange especially when youre playing with friends over voice is the Pentagram of Farallah portal. This thing allows your entire team to move to another area of the map in seconds, allowing for a powerful flank. You can even shoot powerful attacks like Iron Mans ultimate through the portal and onto an unsuspecting team below.Doctor Strange is a very high-skill tank, but if you know how to play him, you can lead your team to victory without much effort.Iron Fist (Duelist)Iron Fist is a damage-dealing machine, specifically very good at diving into the backlines of enemy teams and wiping squishy duelists and strategists off the map. This is usually due to his Yat Jee Chung Kuen enhanced melee attacks, which deal extremely high damage in a short amount of time.His triple jump, kick, and wall-run abilities also make him very difficult to escape for most characters, and impossible to catch for most vanguards.Jeff the Land Shark (Strategist)In season 0, Jeff the Land Shark is the best character in Marvel Rivals, largely due to his ease of play. His Joyful Splash healing waters have unlimited range and can heal multiple characters at once if theyre stacked up, making Jeff one of the most efficient healers out there. His Aqua Burst primary attack also does very high damage for a strategist, making him difficult to take on solo if you cant get the drop on him.But the reason most people hate playing against Jeff and what makes a Jeff with good map knowledge so dangerous is his Its Jeff! ultimate, which sees the shark swallow everyone in a small area. Jeff can then safely spit out his allies before carrying everyone from the enemy team off a cliff. This is a potentially game-winning ultimate that is very difficult for you and your teammates to counter or escape.Mantis (Strategist)Mantis is a potent healer in Marvel Rivals, capable of enabling both herself and her allies to deal high amounts of damage. Her kit is relatively straightforward, as she uses healing orbs to either heal allies or significantly boost ally damage. But those two abilities paired with her powerful stun give you incredible tools to work through almost any situation.On top of her raw healing throughout and damage capabilities, Mantis ult essentially makes your allies invulnerable with how powerful its healing is, and the bonus health it brings can help counter many other powerful ultimate abilities if timed correctly.Moon Knight (Duelist)Moon Knights sheer ability to deal damage in a large group of heroes makes him extremely potent in the current meta. A well-thrown Ankh paired with an accurate Moon Blade and some Crescent Darts can eliminate entire teams of low-health characters in seconds. Moon Knight users who are able to hide their Ankhs in unpredictable or difficult-to-reach spots can create a kill box that is very difficult to avoid for strategists, and can make incoming damage unpredictable.Moon Knights Hand of Khonshu ult also charges very quickly, does a ton of damage, and can be difficult to escape for slow-moving characters.Thor (Vanguard)Thor is an absolute powerhouse of a tank, capable of soloing squishy targets in seconds while using his Awakening Rune ability. But Thor is a lot more than just his awakened state, and all of his abilities can generate team wins very regularly if you know what youre doing.All of his tools make him significantly more complex than a tank like Venom, so not every Thor on your team means a free win. But a Thor on a rampage is capable of diving into a team, eliminating strategists, and diving back to their allies without even getting close to going down.Venom (Vanguard)Venom gets the award for simple but powerful. Just by being in the fray, hes a massive threat, and learning the timing on his Symbiotic Resilience ability which gives him a massive bonus health shield based on his missing health takes very little practice to master.Beyond just being easy to get online, Venom has a decently high skill ceiling with his swing and ground pound, and hes capable of acting as both frontline tank and surprise backline assassin depending on what you need in the moment.Winter Soldier (Duelist)Winter Solider has a lot of things going for him, which makes him both difficult to master, and extremely powerful. His primary attack deals so much damage that it can kill several low-health strategists and DPS in two shots. His hook ability also makes him great for surprise eliminating characters like Adam Warlock or Mantis. But what really makes Winter Soldier scary is his Kraken Impact ultimate, which not only enables a powerful execute that can make all heroes easier to take down, but resets on each kill. An effective Winter Soldier can chain ultimate after ultimate until the entire team is eliminated, allowing you to clean up the objective and win the match.All characters list in Marvel RivalsBelow is the full roster of 33 Marvel Rivals heroes as of season 0.CharacterRoleDescriptionAdam WarlockStrategist A healer who specializes in reviving himself and allies with his powerful ultimate.Black PantherDuelistA diving duelist able to assassinate squishy characters with ranged spear attacks and melee claws.Black WidowDuelistA sniper character whos able to scope in and deal with squishy characters in the backline.Bruce Banner (Hulk)VanguardA transforming tank whos able to leverage massive health bars and multiple lives to stay in the battle.Captain AmericaVanguardA dueling tank whos able to go toe-to-toe with some duelists and strategists, making him an effective assassin who can also defend his allies.Cloak & DaggerStrategist A duel support whos able to swap between a damage-dealing character and a pure healer mid-battle.Doctor StrangeVanguardA shield-first tank, whos able to protect allies and carry them around the map quickly via portals.GrootVanguardA wall-focused tank, able to build massive barriers that protect himself and his allies.HawkeyeDuelistA sniper with the capability to one-shot squishy heroes with well-placed arrows.HelaDuelistA long-range precision character whose able to quickly destroy foes with knives to the head and explosives from the air.Iron FistDuelistA diving assassin whose able to quickly push his way behind tanks and eliminate duelists and strategists in seconds.Iron ManDuelistAn aerial damage dealer able to rain down explosive shots and powerful lasers on unsuspecting enemies.Jeff the Land SharkStrategist A healer whose able to give allies health and movement speed boosts while swallowing enemies whole.LokiStrategist A trickster healer whos able to dish out decent damage while being very difficult to track down.Luna SnowStrategist A popstar healer whos able to freeze enemies, and both heal and damage boost allies with her powerful ultimate.MagikDuelistA melee duelist who uses portals to slide in and out of the enemy backline and assassinate squishy characters.MagnetoVanguardA powerful tank that uses shields to block damage, which he can then redirect at his enemies.MantisStrategist A support that is able to heal allies as well as boost their damage for long periods of time.Moon KnightDuelistA damage dealer that specializes in area of effect attacks, and is able to ricochet boomerangs between enemies.NamorDuelistA pet-focused duelist whose able to throw out octopuses to do his bidding and take down powerful enemies from afar.Peni ParkerVanguardA defensive tank whos able to lock down an area with mines and healing webs.PsylockeDuelistA swift duelist whose able to use her ranged attacks to deal damage from afar, while also dashing into the backline.Rocket RaccoonStrategist A gadget-focused support who can deal decent damage and has the power to resurrect allies.Scarlet WitchDuelistAn up-close duelist whose able to drain the life from enemies before disintegrating them with her one-shot ultimate.Spider-ManDuelistA mobile duelist whos able to weave in and out of the enemy team, getting quick kills before retreating to safety.Squirrel GirlDuelistAn area-damage focused duelist, whos able to launch explosive nuts into the enemy team and rack up big damage.Star-LordDuelistA mobile duelist whos able to fly around the battlefield dealing consistent damage with his duel pistols.StormDuelistA damage dealer who brings some support-like bonuses to her team and is able to fly around the battlefield at will.The PunisherDuelistA more traditional shooter character whos able to use his powerful arsenal of weapons to take enemies down.ThorVanguardA high-damage tank whos able to weave his abilities together to quickly kill enemies while keeping himself alive.VenomVanguardA highly mobile tank whos able to dive into the enemy backline and live to get back to his team.Winter SoldierDuelistA high-damage character whos able to use his ultimate multiple times in a row to secure kill after kill.WolverineDuelistA tank-busting duelist whos able to survive for long periods of time and shred the health of bigger targets.For moreMarvel Rivalsguides, heres a list of all knowncodes, allTeam-Up abilities, allmaps and modes, and a look at the gamesroadmap.

In an ode to his practice, noted Dutch designer Marcel Wanders modestly declares: Sometimes, when I think of design and interiors, and I trash the ignorant, the unthoughtful, the lazy and the tired use of white walls and under-inspired minimalism, I hallucinate and dream of a world, a design, a philosophy that truly builds on love, that builds on creativity, that builds on fantasy, and when I fail to explain my plan and try to express the urgency of my vision, I will proclaim vigorously that every square centimeter deserves our love, that every square centimeter deserves our thought, that every square centimeter should be kissed and deserves our attention, that large and little, pink and yellow, empty and full are sisters, that cannot live without each others love, that divine is in the creation of new unseen, unexperienced, remarkable and inspiring relationships.This thinking is perhaps best evidence in his recently outfitted brand-new Kimpton BEM hotel in Budapest, Hungarys historically-entrenched capital. The 127-room boutique hotel occupies the decidedly grand and emphatically Neoclassical Radetsky Barracks building in the quieter Buda side of the city; on a perch overlooking the mighty Danube River that traverses the metropolis.The Amsterdam-based polymath perhaps most famous for establishing eclectic furniture brand Moooi and driving the influential early 2000s Dutch Design scene imbued the stately address with a scheme thats equal parts fantastical and site-responsive, both in terms of cultural and environmental cues.References and symbols from Hungarian folklore abound in explicit representations and abstracted articulations throughout, especially in the hotels three idiosyncratically staged hospitality venues: the main lobby, AGOS restaurant, and Bar Huso. To say Wanderss intervention was comprehensive would be an understatement. For this project the talent delved deep into research and pulled out elements he deemed the most compelling.The revered maverick and his team introduced a grid-pattern coffered wall motif throughout these slightly vaulted, double height-spaces. Beveled corners and concave reliefs serve as a slightly neotenic and playful backdrop. Everything else is far more maximalist and expressive, especially when it comes to decorative patterning and coloring, Decipherable and somewhat skewed depictions of mythological creatures and native flora such as poppies and tulips are found throughout and to vibrant effect.As with any of Wanders endeavors over the past 30 years, experiential storytelling and the human touch are essential components. These considerations are manifested in everything from custom furnishings to high-quality finishes and the unlikely application of certain materials. Regardless, he still aims for a level of efficiency; ensuring his outfits can easily be refurbished and dont produce too much waste.While Essential collection guest rooms are covered in almost trompe-loeil carpet to wall murals of magnified flowers and adjoining bathrooms are fully clad in tone-matched glazed green tile, the Premium Danube Room carries a similar scheme but in water blue; the enlarged representation of crashing waves. Though Dutch Design can sometimes be thought of as kitschy or gimmicky, those qualities are always backed by some degree of ironic irreverence or innovative conceptual ideation.Bar Huso takes on a similar all-encompassing under-the-sea or in this case, under-the-river aesthetic with dramatic fern-topped illuminated columns and port-hole-like compositions of creatures with exaggerated features. Huso Huso is the beluga sturgeon that reappears in numerous fables and legends. An oversized golden stag statue no, not the somewhat controversial Moooi Horse Lamp takes pride within a stained-glass atrium. The AGOS restaurant is watched over by a mural of the ever-resilient Turul bird and is bisected by larger collage-like and totemic columns.What: Kimpton BEM BudapestWhere: Budapest, HungaryHow much: Guest rooms starting from $197Design draw: A Neoclassical building on the quieter Buda side of Budapest entirely transformed into a swanky 127-room hotel by the bad boy of Dutch design Marcel Wanders, who translated local folklore and flora in maximalist details.Book it: Kimpton BEW BudapestGo virtually on vacation withmore design destinations right here.Photography provided by Kimpton BEM Budapest.

Tiptoe and the Yves Klein Archives are back with an encore performance with a new collection Tiptoe x Klein Blue featuring the vibrant, ultramarine blue that has become an iconic hue in fashion, art, and design. After a stellar debut in 2023, the two brands have come together once again to reimagine some of Tiptoes most beloved designs in the unmistakable International Klein Blue (IKB), a color as legendary as the artist himself.This limited-edition collection includes the PLI shelf, DUKE bench, BRACKETS wall hooks, LOU stool, SSD chair, round coffee table, and Tiptoes signature table legs in 75cm and 43cm heights. Each piece pays homage to Yves Kleins IKB, which he described as the most perfect expression of blue and became the basis for his exploration of the immaterial and the infinite. Many of his monochromatic works are characterized by this intense color.The collection goes beyond just making furniture in a new hue. Getting the color perfectly right is of the utmost importance in a collaboration like this. Tiptoe worked closely with the Yves Klein Archives, whose mission is to protect and promote the artists work, to ensure every shade of blue matched the artists original intent. Two distinct formulas had to be made for wood and steel to ensure seamless continuity across materials.Every piece in the collection is stamped or silk-screened by French artisans and made using sustainable, durable materials sourced and crafted in Europe. As a B Corp-certified pioneer in eco-design, Tiptoe continues to prove that furniture can be equal parts artful, functional, and environmentally responsible.The Tiptoe x Yves Klein Archives collaboration celebrates the timeless allure of this historic shade of ultramarine, while offering a vibrant pop of color for your home.To learn more about the Tiptoe x Klein Blue collection, visit tipetoe.fr.

Can sound define space? If brooks can babble and the wind can whistle, whos to say walls cant talk? Curious co-hosts Faraz Shah and Ella Hazard pose this question in the fifth episode of their podcast Sense of Space where the duo explores the subtleties of architectures aural experience. Presented by Turf and the SURROUND Podcast Network, this conversation takes listeners on an oral journey to find the parallels between music and design.Shah and Hazard approach the subject with a deep reverence for music and wholistic design that regards architecture as an artistic practice. The two present the work of multi-hyphenate creative Bryan Black, also known as Black Asteroid, as a case study, whose from-scratch sounds are responses to visual stimuli that often inspires the production. Buildings, cities, and even skylines have a way of eliciting soundtracks or lyrical musings reflected in songs, which eventually inspire designers when scene building with tangible materials.The co-hosts celebrate connections within the shared heritage between architects, designers, and musicians pointing out a common thread through the visual media, music, or even fashion. No matter the genre, the goal is often to craft some kind of experience for someone else. Shah also draws connections between the devices that make music memorable in the same way interiors are made interesting.You use pattern in space, often with repetition to set expectations. And I think electronic music is the same way. But then you have to find ways to create these moments of surprise and delight, Shah says. You interrupt that pattern, you break it. And I think thats the thing thats so interesting about all of this its the same principles, different mediums.Hazard continues by building on the previous idea introducing the concept of tempo or pace, citing apps that match musical stylings to the speed of physical movement. How might segments of circulation through a building sound, and in what ways could a tune tempt listeners to explore new architectural territory?These points represent just a sliver of sound bites tackling the craft, creation, and spatial experiences cataloged in episode five leaving listeners a little more attuned to their surroundings are you ready to listen?Co-hosts Ella Hazard and Faraz ShahBlack Asteroid \\\ Photo: Matthew ReevesTo tune into Sense of Space, visit SURROUND at surroundpodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts.Interior Renderings by Blaque

From impostor syndrome to cognitive overloadmastering the invisible forces that prevent projectsuccessSourceProgrammerHumor subredditRemember this sensation: in your mind, a new brilliant project idea sparks, youre burning with excitement and 200% engaged into work, until another project/framework/technology beckons. And I totally get itits always greener on the other side. Notebooks are filled with half-finished concepts, Github repos multiply with ambitious beginnings that wont ever reach their final stage. What starts as passionate creativity often transforms into a stockpile of unfinished potential, an accumulation of partially constructed projects. Sounds familiar, doesnt it? Well, its not just you. In fact, its quitecommon.Our relationship with incomplete work is far more nuanced than simple procrastination. Its a complex relationship of creativity, neurological reward systems, and the profound psychology of potential. When we understand how it works, we can transform seemingly scattered efforts into a powerful attribute of self-improvement.Look at this from a different angle: those arent graveyards of failed projects, but the living laboratories. Each unfinished activity represents a moment of intellectual curiosity frozen in time. Curious? Great! Lets dive into the complex psychological and neurological mechanisms driving technological exploration.Short track:Jump right to this chapterStrategies for Meaningful Project Development.The Neurological Roots of Project IncompletionTo try and reveal the roots of the new-projects-problem, well explore some ideas, backed up by psychological and neuroscientific works.Dopamine-Driven Novelty Seeking: The Neural Reward CircuitryOur brain is evolutionarily wired to seek novelty as a survival mechanism. Dr. Andrew Huberman explains in his neuroscience study that this novelty-seeking behavior stems from our brains dopamine reward system, which creates a powerful neurochemical response to new experiences.Dopamine is a neurotransmitter. It is involved in many brain functions and well-known for its role in movement, motivation, and addiction.Each new technological discovery triggers a dopamine release, creating a neurochemical reward that far exceeds the more mundane satisfaction of completing existing work. Our neural circuits are designed to anticipate and seek out potential rewards, constantly pushing us towards new and exciting possibilities.Dopamine reward pathway in a simple form. Sourceknowingneurons.comNaturally chasing neural circuits satisfaction, we tendto:alternate projects/technologies/frameworks/etc, driven by the brains reward prediction mechanismpursue bleeding-edge and freshly emerging libraries and languagesstart greenfield projects instead of maintaining existingreposimmediately hop on to the new technique after a workshop/conference/articleThis naturally applies beyond the hobby or side projects. Remember when half-way through refactoring of some legacy codebase you discover a new tech that supposedly speeds up your work and potentially grants your project 50% performance kick?Dr. David Eagleman and his bestseller book Incognito: The Secret Lives of TheBrainIn his book, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Dr. David Eagleman describes a neural plasticity effect of activation of our brains novelty circuits. From developers perspective the new technology seems then more exciting and potentially more valuable than the current mundanework.Complexity Overwhelm and Cognitive LoadWhile novelty seeking tends to propagate positive experiences, their amount can become a challenge. Especially when work is paralleled and/or task-switching engaged. Our brain has limited working memory capacity, a concept extensively explored quite a while ago by John Sweller in his Cognitive Load Theory. Relatively recent famous work by Dr. Daniel KahnemanThinking, Fast and Slowfurther elaborates on how our cognitive resources become depleted when faced with complex problem-solving tasks.Dr. Daniel Kahneman and his bestseller Thinking Fast andSlowFor developers, this can be simply demonstrated as a progressive mental exhaustion. The brains working memory acts like a small workspace that becomes quickly overwhelmed by intricate technical challenges. As project complexity increases, cognitive load creates a psychological defense mechanism of avoidance and task-switching. And, unfortunately, weve often beenthere:initial excitement is replaced with cognitive exhaustionsome complex architectural decisions become paralyzingtechnical debt creates increasing mentalfrictionproject scope tends to become overestimatedThe prefrontal cortex, responsible for executive function, becomes progressively taxed. Stress and complexity directly impact our brains ability to maintain focus and execute complex tasks. While some of these statements look obvious, there are probably even more deeply rooted brain mechanisms worth exploring. Well touch them in the nextsection.Fear-Based Project Avoidance and Psychological BarriersFear is a primal emotion that shapes our most intimate professional decisions. Applied to our realm, fear transforms from a basic survival mechanism into a psychological barrier that can paralyze even the most talented developers. Here are just a couple of the most common patterns that we can experience.Perfectionism ParalysisDr. Pauline Rose Clances groundbreaking research on the Impostor Phenomenon provides insight into this challenge. The fear of imperfect implementation stems from a deep-seated psychological mechanism where developers:doubt their technical capabilitiesengage in constant reevaluation or refactoring without meaningful progresscompare potential output to an idealized mentalmodelImpostor SyndromeGoing further with the impostor syndrome, Mike Cannon-Brookes, in his influential TED Talk, describes it as a universal experience among high-achieving professionals. Often met between writers, artists, various creators, and of course developers this resultsin:persistent doubt about technical abilitiesfear of external judgment and following blockerspreventing project completion to avoid potential criticismMike Cannon-Brookes on the TED Talk Imposter SyndromeTechnology Obsolescence AnxietyDr. Cal Newports work on deep work and technological anxiety suggests that this fear is rooted in our rapidly changing technological landscape. Cobol, Perl and to the very recent time React.js developers are probably on the safe side in this regard. Nevertheless, jokes (?) aside, some of you can remember:constant worry about implementation becomingoutdatedperpetual desire to incorporate latest best practicesendless loop of one more optimizationThe Incompleteness AddictionThe quagmire of perpetual technological improvements goes arm-in-arm with another concept, hinted on previously. Unfinished projects represent infinite potential. Completion on the other hand means confronting actual versus imagined capabilities, which can be psychologically threatening.James Clear and his book Atomic Habits. Sourcepenguinrandomhouse.comJames Clear touches that aspect of human behaviour in the popular book Atomic Habits. He explores how our brains are wired to find comfort in potential rather than finality. This mechanism protects the developers self-image by maintaining the project in a state of perpetual promise, avoiding the potential disappointment of real-world constraints and limitations.If you find yourself in the place of endless proof-of-concept development or exploring theories over practical implementations or initializing multiple project versions without finalization you definitely know whats this is about. These neurological and psychological mechanisms arent weaknesses but sophisticated cognitive strategies.And you know what else? You are not alone struggling with fear of accomplishment, collecting numerous incomplete projects or hopping styles, genres and technologies. You are, in fact, in a legendary company.Great Minds and Unfinished SymphoniesConsider Leonardo da Vinci, whose notebooks were living documents of boundless intellectual exploration. He is known primarily as painter; but as a draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect he recorded 13000 pages of studies. Needless to say, majority of those works was unfinished. His approach reveals a critical insight: transformative developers are not those who persistently complete every project, but those who remain curious and adaptable.Franz Kafka was the writer and an existential experimenter. Kafka didnt write storieshe conducted psychological experiments. His fragmented manuscripts werent incompletethey were deliberate explorations of human uncertainty. The Dante and one of the greatest writers of the 20th century finished none of his full-length novels and burned around 90 percent of his work, leaving his dear friend Max Brod thousands of drafts after hisdeathIf you arent familiar with Sir Alfred Hitchcockthe film director and the technological innovator, you would certainly recognize his movie by the iconicscene.Shower killer scene from the movie Psycho (1960) by Alfred HitchcockFor Hitchcock, each film was an experimental ground. He didnt just create movies; he continuously reimagined the language and shape of modern cinema as we know it. And this next quote is particularly curious, Im sure it resonates in some ofyou:Once the screenplay is finished, Id just as soon not make the film at all. All the fun is over. <> When you finish the script, the film is perfect. But in shooting it you lose perhaps 40 per cent of your original conception.For Frida Kahlo, the personal technologist, art was a constant negotiation between personal narrative and technical exploration. She is famous for autobiographical paintings, where each painting was a technological and emotional experiment. Kahlos work has been celebrated internationally as emblematic of Mexican national and Indigenous traditions and by feminists for what is seen as its uncompromising depiction of the female experience andform.Some self-portraits of Frida Kahlo in a chronological orderIn every creative domain, in every country there are famous figures, known for their works and, incidentally, working methodology. We only met a fracture of a percent of them in this article and I invite you to study more for the unbelievable insights.While dopamine-driven novelty seeking and cognitive challenges are not obstacles, but intricate neural mechanisms that have driven human innovation, what if they really pose a problem of self-rumination cycles and blocking you from progression to the next level? Well now explore several critical strategies that can help you to channel your creative energy into meaningful outcomes.Strategies for Meaningful Project DevelopmentProgressive RenderingInspired by artistic techniques and incorporated in JPEG technology, progressive rendering is a methodological approach to project development that prioritizes incremental progress over perfection from the getgo.1. Draw the circles. 2. Draw the rest of theowlConsider the two practical phasessketch and layering.In the sketch phase you create the most viable version of the project, focusing on the core functionality and basic structure. You simply dont need anything else beyond fundamental architecture and primary usability. If its a UI library, forget rounding and line height alignmentfocus on API, build process and delivery. If its a landing page, dont mind the parallax effect and concentrate your efforts on the scalable accessible mobile-first layout.In the layering phase you progressively (layer by layer, iteration by iteration) add complexity and refinement, implementing features in order of priority and impact. At the end of each iteration you need to validate it against the final project vision to understand the scope of the next layer. This stage is crucial, as taking a larger scope into the next iteration (adding several features or underestimated chunk of work) can result in unexpected blockers following by scattered effort, losing focus, momentum, flow and satisfaction from the previously completed steps.The benefits of this technique are tremendous:it reduces cognitive overloadit provides early validation of the coreconceptit creates tangible progress that motivates toward further developmentit allows for flexible adaptation as project understanding hardensI foresee the silent questiondid you just reinvent Scrum?! interrobang, interrobang. Well, fair enough, its one of the key aspects. However, in practice working by Scrum doesnt always mean actually understanding it. Let alone personal projects management when you are working alone constantly changing hats of angel ventures, stakeholders, product owners, scrum masters AND developers. But if you master or at least exercise that, your personal workflow improvements will be mirrored and rewarded as you grow professionally.Intentional PruningContinuing with the efficient practices for project management, intentional pruning is a disciplined approach that involves deliberately limiting project scope to ensure meaningful completion. In simpletermsCut down everything enticing and shiny in favor of functional and achievable!In order to apply this practice, stick to the following:evaluate features based on the core objectivesprioritize functionalities with the highest uservalueruthlessly eliminate nice-to-have-sThe latter is probably the hardest, at least from a personal experienceHowever, once you push through this once or twice (practice makes perfect!), youll see immense benefit. Not only you will be able to finish current projects, but your planning and architecture skills will be honed again and again, creating a great working habit. Eventually, feature elimination will be recognized as strategic optimization, notfailure.Sometimes you need to let go to see the wood for thetrees.Graceful ProjectClosureLike not every story ends happily ever after, not every project is meant to reach full completion, and acknowledging this is a mark of personal and professional maturity. This is essentially letting go on a BIGGERscale.To employ this practice you should most probably find yourself in a place of supporting multiple projects in parallel and finding hard time to either complete them or switch to the newones.Tempered by the feature-culling experience you should be prepared to take the nextsteps:be honest with yourself, and conduct an objective project assessmentidentify and extract the learning opportunities from unfinished workdocument findings and salvage resources for the future applicationsIn order to drop the guilt and transform disappointment intro strategic insight, you will need to separate personal worth from project outcomes and view unfinished work as learning experience. Each proper project closure will be identified as another instrument in a toolbox of a professional, who values exploration and iteration.In ConclusionHaving multiple unfinished projects is way more nuanced than simple procrastination. It often seems as a professional shortcoming and understandably is self-joked upon. But as weve explored together this is both personal challenge and a fundamental aspect of human creative cognition.Source - ProgrammerHumor subredditThis sometimes poses a real issue for developers and creative minds, leading to professional stagnation, reduced productivity and personal frustration. However, by understanding the underlying psychological and neurological mechanisms, we can transform this pattern from a potential limitation into a strategic instrument of self development.Engage careful analysis, self-awareness and several targeted techniques, and it will help you to channel your creative impulses more effectively, balancing with meaningful execution. The goal is not about a perfect completion, but meaningful progress. Stay curious and systematic and you willsucceed!Thank you for reading! If you find article useful please support by share and (yes, you can do multiple). This significantly helps with the inspiration for new articles.Stay tuned formore!Beyond procrastination: the cognitive reasons behind unfinished projects was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Why (and how) to craft product experiences that feel inevitablePhoto by Dev Asangbam onUnsplashEver use a product where everything just clicked? Where functionality felt so intuitive it was almost invisible? Where every interaction felt natural, as if the product were reading yourmind?Its a magical feeling, isnt it? Like the product was designed specifically for you, anticipating your every need. No hunting through menus, no awkward workarounds, no puzzling over how to accomplish whatever it is that youre trying to accomplisheverything justflows.Now think about the last time you had to learn a new tool. Recall that overwhelming feeling of staring at the endless navigation, the seemingly infinite buttons on every page, the dashboard that seems like its trying to tell you an answer, if only you knew how to speak its language.The difference between these experiences isnt about having more or fewer capabilities. Its about how naturally those capabilities fit into the way youwork.Thats the power of experience-driven design, and it hinges on a simple but profoundconcept:Features shouldnt feel like features.This isnt just wordplay. This is a fundamental shift in how you should think about building productsone that separates truly great products from the endless parade of feature-rich but painful-to-use tools that dominate mostmarkets.Think about it this way: When you build features, youre asking users to learn your product. When you craft experiences, youre adapting your product to how users already work. The best products dont feel like collections of features to be learnedthey feel like natural extensions of each users workflow. By shifting from feature-centric to experience-driven design, you stop adding complexity to your product and start removing friction from your userslives.Features thatarentWe often think of features as distinct, self-contained units of functionality. Theyre the bullet points on a product roadmap, the items in a changelog, the callouts in a monthly newsletter.And they are indeed all thosethings.Experiences can also be all those things, of course. But what makes them different is the way we think aboutthem.When you just list out the things youre building (in those aforementioned roadmaps, changelogs, and newsletters), its easy for it all to become a jumbled mess disconnected from the most important part of the product-building equation: theuser.But when you start from the perspective of the user, its not about the lists of things youre doing anymore. It becomes not just about the problems being solved, but how the pain points are being addressed and the feeling of how it all comes together into a cohesiveproduct.A feature is something usersuse.An experience is something users seamlessly engage with as they accomplish theirgoals.Both solve the problem. But one does it on the usersterms.An exampleLet me illustrate by way of example. (Im sure youve seen the below competing concepts in various tools youve usedyou tell me which isbetter.)Imagine youre writing a comment in your task management tool, and you want to add an image for context. You drag from your desktop into the description area, and its addedin-line.Lets go to the other end of spectrum. You try to drag & drop, but you get a little you cant drop that here icon. You realize theres an upload media button, which you click, and a select-your-file modal pops open. You navigate through your computers file hierarchy, double click, and your image is loaded as an attachment to the task, available at the bottom of the description with no context whatsoever as to what it relates to or why itsthere.Both of these are features, of coursea product manager prioritized solving a pain point, a designer conceptualized the idea, an engineer built the functionality into thetool.And both solve the need (to add images to atask).But one is a feature that very much feels like afeature.Whereas the other? The other is a feature you barely feel because its an experience. It just feels right like a natural extension of the context youre already in exactly what youd expect to happen if you performed thataction.That difference is features vs. experiences in a nutshell.Feature factoriesbadGo pull up your product roadmap. I imagine it has a pretty specific list of things you plan on building, something likethis:Calendar integrationCustom databasefieldsAlerts systemExport toolDashboardDark modeEtc.Each item is a feature that someone asked for, or that a competitor already has, or that seemed like a good idea during that one meeting where everyone was hopped up on caffeine and enthusiasm.The problem isnt that these are bad ideasIm sure theyre great! The problem is that youre thinking about them as features to be shipped rather than experiences to becrafted.Go back to that listdoes any of that really tell you whatsneeded?What does the calendar integration need todo?Do you need a custom fields features, or do you just need to add a few common fields that were left out of the initialscope?What are those alerts going to alert about? Will users actually see them in your tool, or should they end up in Slack (or wherever else your usersare)?Do people need to export their data, or just get it into their BItool?What questions are going to be answered by the dashboard? Is a dashboard the right place to answer those questions?Are your users the highly technical kind that expect dark mode in all their tools, or is it just that your CEO wants dark mode because they heard its all therage?Youre creating a product that feels like it was assembled from a box of random parts rather than designed as a cohesivewhole.And as such, you keep ending upwithFeature bloat: Every piece of functionality that a single person ever wanted (and yet somehow, paradoxically, nobody can do what they need todo)Inconsistency: Each feature feels different than the last, because each one was built to function in a way perfectly ideal for itself on its own, without consideration for how it fits into the biggerpictureDecreased usability & horrible UX: A cluttered interface with too many options, and nobody can find the functionality theyneedIf you think about features in terms of raw functionalityjust adding more buttons, pages, capabilitiesyou end up with a feature factory. This is where products become bloated, complex, unusablemesses.Experience-driven designgoodThe best features are the ones which users dont even realize theyre using as they use them. Theyre the ones that feel so natural, so obvious, that users would be surprised to learn they werent alwaysthere.Think about your smartphones keyboard. Remember when it didnt have swipe-to-text or speech-to-text? When it didnt autosuggest the perfect emoji? When it didnt automatically correct your typos? Ducking right youdo!Those arent feature anymoretheyre just how keyboards work.Emoji keyboardfeature. Emoji autosuggestexperience.Old school autocorrect (replace specific sets of characters with specific other sets of characters)feature. Current autocorrect (just do it)experience.Individually press every single individual letter like a plebeianfeature. Swipe- or speech-to-textexperience.Technically possiblefeature.Just worksexperience.Thats what you need to aim for. Not features that users have to seek out and learn to use, but experiences that just work the way users expect them towork.Some more examples foryou:Documents that save automatically, instead of requiring a save button (remember when youd lose your 20-page essay if you forgot to hit ctrl-s? Pepperidge Farm remembers)Search results that update as you type, instead of requiring you to hit enter (minimize thoseclicks)Copying on your phone and pasting on your laptop (i.e., universal clipboard), instead of texting yourself or sending yourself anemailForms that remember what you entered even if you accidentally navigate away, instead of losing your work and having to start over (or just give up and neversubmit)Code editors that format your code as you type, instead of wasting time debating the entire engineering team on the virtues of tabs vs.spacesDashboards that adjust their time range to automatically include today, instead of having to press in the last month every single damn time you open the dashboardAgile task management tooling that reminds you about upcoming holidays during Sprint Planning, instead of starting the sprint and realizing immediately after that youre destined to fail to hit your goals(sigh)Notice the pattern? None of these feel like features because theyre not adding new things for users to dotheyre removing friction from things users are alreadydoing.If you think about features in terms of experiences, you focus on providing value in the most natural and intuitive way possible. You find the best way to help users help themselves, as opposed to just adding yet another button amidst a sea ofbuttons.How to make features disappearOkay, so features bad / experiences good. How do you turn a feature factory into an experience studio?1. Understand the story behind theneedStop asking what features do our customers want?thats like asking what tools to buy before you know what youre building.Instead, digdeeper:What is the user actually trying to accomplish? Not just the immediate task, but the broadergoal.Why is this particular need so important to the user? This goes beyond the what do they say they want and into the but seriously, why do they actually wantit.What is it about the user that makes them them? What is their role? How does that impact what they need or what they know or how theythink?How does this need fit into the users broader workflow? What are they trying to do right before and after this particular task? This can easily influence the understanding of the why and the solution that becomes thehow.[If youre astute, you may have noticed really this all comes down to understanding the jobstory.]The best product experiences come from understanding the complete context of user needs, not just the specificrequest.2. Look for frictionpointsThis is your treasure mapX marks the bad-user-experience-that-could-be-better. While users might not be great at telling you whats wrong, their behavior leaves clues everywhere. Your job is to be a product detective, hunting down these moments of frustration before users have to complain aboutthem.Flow disruptions: Every time a user has to stop what theyre doing and think about a next step that needs taking (especially seemingly unnecessary ones), youve found a friction point. Why should they have to remember to save? Why should they need to manuallysync?Cognitive overhead: What are users forced to remember or track? Those task ids they keep copying and pasting everywhere? The three difference places they need to update every time something changes?Repetitive actions: If users are doing the same thing over, and over, and over againthats a red flag. These are ripe opportunities for behavior that could at least be simplified, if not fully automated.I wish it just moments: These are pure gold. This is users telling you exactly where your product is falling short, where potentially even a slight tweak or tiny improvement could turn the unnatural into magic. (Though, be sure to pay attention to not just what theyre wishing for, but also why they wish forit.)Every point of friction is an opportunity to transform a clunky feature into an invisible experience.3. Remove before youaddThis may be counterintuitive for most product teams, but its absolutely crucial. Before you add anything, think:Can we eliminate (or hide) a feature without causing any heartache? Are there features which are used by effectively 0% of your user base (or low enough that youre not worried about it)? Other features will automatically be easier to discover/locate and use simply by getting rid of features that are in theway.Can we automate what users are doing manually? Look for patterns in behavior that could theoretically be handled by the system, automatically. If users always the same three actions in sequence, maybe that should be one automated flowwhether requiring one button press somewhere, orevenCan we make this happen in the background? Features that require user intervention feel like features. Things that just happen feel likemagic.Can we combine multiple features into one seamless experience? Instead of having a whole feature for each related item, can we create one intuitive flow that handles everything? (In its simplest form, this can come down to solutions like putting like functionality into a single overflowmenu.)The most elegant solutions often involve removing complexity rather than adding features.4. Make it feelnaturalThis is where we get more into art than science. You want your product to feel it couldnt possibly work any otherway.Think in terms of magic: If you had a magic wand, how would a given feature work? That idea you have in your head is probably closer to what users actually want than whatever specific feature they may be requesting. And then, the toughest part: how can you close the gap between magic andreality?Maintain context: Features that pull users out of their flow feel like features. Can the-thing-theyre-trying-to-do happen right where they alreadyare?Embrace progressive disclosure: Not everything needs to be visible all the time. Yes, creating a single page with a button for every possible user need means that every possible user need is only a single click awaybut that doesnt sound like a good experience, now doesit?Design as if documentation doesnt exist: Users shouldnt need a manual to figure out how to use your product. The right action should feel obvious at the righttime.Natural experiences feel like they were designed specifically for each users uniqueneeds.5. Test the invisibilityHeres how to know if youve succeeded, or if you still have more work to do (but note you always have more work todo):Watch new users: If they have to ask how to do something, it probably still feels too much like afeature.Listen for silence: The best features often generate the least feedback because they justwork.Track feature discovery: How are users finding particular functionality? Through documentation (bad), or through exploration (good)?Look for natural adoption: Are existing users organically discovering and using the feature without prompting? (I.e., get rid of those look over here, new feature alert banners and callouts andmodals.)Monitor feature mentions: In user interviews, do they talk about a capability as a feature, or just as part of how they work? This comes down to the specific wording they useand then I check our progress on the home screen is indicative of an experience, whereas and then I open up the dashboard, change the time range to include today, and click on the revenue metric icon sounds like afeature.The truest sign of success is when users cant imagine how they worked without a feature, yet also cant remember specifically when they started usingit.Break freeYour product doesnt need more features. It needs more moments where users, instead of asking how do I do that?, say of course it works that way (or ideally, never say anything atall).The next time youre running through your roadmap of features, try this exercise: Take each item, and ask how can we make the need for this disappear? Not by ignoring it, of course, but by so seamlessly integrating it into the user experience that nobody even notices itsthere.This is going to require a mindset shift, but youll be able to get there if youtry.Dig into why your users need certain functionality in the first place (its often not what theyre explicitly askingfor)Figure out where theyre struggling or frustrated (even if they dont tell you with theirwords)Get out of their way by removing stuff they dont need (you dont have to solve every problem for everyuser)Make everything that remains feel natural (akamagic)Prove to yourself that the changes are working (and then go back to step1)All this might mean shipping slower. It might mean saying no more often. It might mean completely rethinking parts of yourproduct.But the payoff? A product that users love without knowing why. Tools that feel like they were built just for them. Experiences so natural that users cant imagine any other solution.Because the best features arent features at alltheyre just the way things shouldwork.Speaking of seamless experiences (and the opposite) Are you tired of fighting with Jiras UI? I get it. Thats why were building Momentumits Jira on the backend, but with a UX that actually helps you do agile. No migration necessary. Curious? Join the waitlist.Features shouldnt feel like features was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

No one wants it to be aliens more than me. Even if theyre planning to force us to work in outer space diamond mines, Id still welcome alien overlords. But it's never aliens. The drones everyone is seeing are not aliens. They arent foreign invaders, or part of a secret government project, or anything else cool either. No one can say with 100% certainty, but Id bet my collection of solid gold backscratchers that the recent wave of reports of unidentified flying objects is because people are very bad at identifying objects.Heres a brief recap if youve been under a rock: in mid-November, dozens of people across 10 counties in New Jersey reported seeing drones (or something) in the nighttime sky. According to authorities in New Jersey, drones were seen in the sky above critical infrastructure like water reservoirs, electric transmission lines, rail stations, police departments and military installations. After the initial media coverage, more reported sightings came in. People posted pictures and videos or lights and blobs in the sky. Congressmen called for transparency and vigilance. The Department of Defense reassured no one by saying that they dont know what the objects are, but they arent from a foreign source and they arent dangerous. Credulous online types shared theories, blurry photographic evidence, and their feelings about the alien visitation/foreign invasion/secret project/mass psyop to distract us from the real threat: vampires. And thats where we are now: sifting through a growing trove of over 5,000 citizen reports of UFOs or UAPS, theorizing, and waiting for an official explanation or a visitation from the mothership.I could see how someone might think drone-mania seems like the beginning of an alien invasionthis Pentagon briefing would fit in perfectly in act one of a Michael Bay movie, for instancebut we dont really know what an alien or high tech enemy invasion of the U.S. would look like because it hasnt happened before. We do know what mass hysteria (or Mass Sociogenic Technophobia) looks like, and it turns out it looks exactly like this.And it's not just me who thinks so; the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, FAA, and Department of Defense are also like, "there's nothing here." A few of the many, many things in the sky that people may be mistaking for UFOs or mystery dronesAs reports of drone sightings over New Jersey and the rest of the country have spread, presumably more people are looking up into the sky, and it turns out there are a ton of things up there that can be difficult to immediately identify. Like:Airplanes and helicoptersMany reported drone sightings are along the known paths of manned airplanes or helicopters and are almost definitely planes or helicopters. As drone expert Dr. Will Austin explains, After analyzing numerous videos shared by concerned citizens, Im inclined to believe that many of the reported large drones were actually manned aircraft mistakenly identified as drones. A giveaway of a plane or helicopter are the red and green lights. The FAA requires those on aircrafts flying at night, so be highly suspicious of drone photos in those colors. If you can find out the time and location of a sighting, you can check whether its a commercial aircraft too.Moving objects in the sky can appear stationary, depending on your movement relative to them, so it would be easy to mistake a moving airplane as a hovering drone. Check out this video to see what I mean: Venus, Jupiter, and other celestial bodiesPeople mistake mundane celestial bodies for UFOs all the time. For instance, Larry Hogan, the governor of Maryland seems to think the constellation Orion is dozens of large drones. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. Mundane American dronesYou gotta figure that anyone with a drone on the East coast is trying to get a better look at whatever is supposed to be up there at night, and each new drone could potentially be mistaken for something mysterious. Along with hobby drones, there are commercial and governments drones used for everything from firefighting to photography. Unlike airplanes, you cant check the flightpaths for these.Lens flares, bokeh, and other camera artifactsCheck out this trippy alien orb filmed by ABC news: View this post on Instagram Its actually a zoomed in, out-of-focus point of light. Probably a star. Like these: Balloons, plastic bags, etc. As a frequent lurker on Reddits r/UFO, Im amazed at the number of people who cant tell a mylar balloon from a flying saucer. Really anything can look like a UFO, from a weird cloud to a kite to a bug that gets close to the camera lens.Intentional hoaxesAnyone interested in hoaxing people must be having a field day. Its not terribly difficult to do, even when were not in the middle of a UFO craze, see? Satellites and space junkThe International space station, Elon Musks StarLink satellites, and thousands of other things we shot into space are orbiting Earth. A lot of them are visible from Earth and could make you think foreign drone! Or UFO!Secret aircraftNow were getting into the more fun area of UFOs sighting: experimental aircraft. The U.S. government has a history of flying airplanes no one knows about, and many people catching sight of the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk and Northrop Grumman B-2 mistook them for UFOs before they were announced. A stealth plane even crashed in Bakersfield resulting in a scene straight out of E.T. So its possible people are seeing secret drones, but it seems unlikely: testing an unknown drone in a heavily populated area seems like a bad way to keep it secret, especially if there are lights on it. But its possible....Something unknown, like an object that's flyingKnown flying objects likely account for almost all sightings reported, and if they had enough time and energy, I'm confident someone could figure out what each one actually was. But that doesnt accounts for all UFOs and/or UAPs. There are a handful of examples of UFO sightings where multiple credible witnesses report seeing something mysterious in the sky, often backed up with hard evidence. For instance, the USS Nimitz Tic Tac was seen by multiple experienced military pilots whose accounts were backed up with footage from infrared cameras and RADAR.While these cases cant be dismissed as nothing, they cant be confirmed as something either. Right now, these kinds of sightings are in the we dont know what that is file. They may be explained in the future, but for now, theyre annoying mysteries. There havent been any sightings in the recent wave that come close to the level of evidence needed to think there might be something real there, at least none I'm aware of.That time aliens broke everyones windshieldsIf you want a prediction for how this all ends, the Seattle windshield pitting epidemic provides a possible outcome. This incident began in April 1954, when a handful of residents of Bellingham, WA, reported mysterious dings, chips, and pitting in their car windows that they said had been fine the previous day.Newspapers reported on the mystery. The police at first suspected that a local gang of juvenile delinquents (I assume dressed in leather jackets and wielding switchblades) were committing vandalism, but that theory was ruled out when reports came in from all over the Pacific Northwest. Some people said theyd watched bubbles forming in the glass in real time, and it was said that car lots were hit particularly hard.No one had any idea what was behind the phenomenon, but theories ranged from sand fleas burrowing in the glass to fallout from offshore H-Bomb tests to damage caused by radio waves. Before long, police were deluged with thousands of reports of windshield damage from as far away as Vancouver and Ontario. Seattle mayorAllan Pomeroyasked for help from the governor and from President Eisenhower, the police examined over 14,000 windshields. But Seattle's police crime laboratory cracked the case. They issued a report a few weeks into the panic and concluded the culprit was literally nothing. Pits in windshields are a normal byproduct of driving, and the newspaper stories caused people to look at their windshieldsinstead of through their windshieldsfor the first time. Wouldn't you know it, there were pits there. It was a classic case of mass delusion, which is what I strongly suspect is happening in New Jersey, but instead of mistaken a pitted windshield for radiation damage, people are mistaking airplanes for mystery drones.Just as the theories about windshield pitting were caused by uneasiness over the then new hydrogen bomb, I suspect our current mass delusion has its roots in an uneasiness about all the new things in the skythere are over a million drones registered with the FAA, for instance. Back in the 1950s, people seemed to have either accepted the scientific and logical explanation, or at least stopped talking about it, and the windshield pitting epidemic faded into history.Id like to think something like that will happen with the drones, but these are different times, when expertise and science are not as respected, and people seem eager to find their own explanations. I'd bet a solid gold back-scratcher we'll be talking about fake UFOs and mystery drones for a long time.

ChatGPT has changed quite a bit since its late 2022 debut. What started as a web app chatbot has exploded into an AI you can have a real conversation with. The bot can even see now. But even though you have your choice between that original web app or the app on your phone or computer, ChatGPT is now ready to chat via a more old-school method: by phone call.OpenAI announced the ChatGPT phone line on Thursday, Dec. 19. (To be clear, it's not April 1.) The numberwhich is literally 1-800-CHATGPT (1-800-242-8478), is entirely free to call, although OpenAI warns carrier fees may apply. If you prefer to text, you can message the number on WhatsApp. (Regular SMS is not supported.) You don't need a ChatGPT account in order to talk to the bot: Just call or message the number, and you'll get a response . While this experience is free, there are some limits. OpenAI says you can only talk to ChatGPT on the phone for 15 minutes a month, with a daily limit on messages to WhatsApp. The company doesn't says what that limit actually is, but that it may change based on demand. In addition, some ChatGPT staples, such as ChatGPT search, image recognition, custom instructions, and memory, are not available with this experience. The knowledge cutoff when using ChatGPT with this number is Oct. 2023, so don't expect ChatGPT to know anything that happened after that.You should know that OpenAI will retain your phone calls and messages with 1-800-CHATGPT, and will associate those chats with the phone number you use to call or message the bot.What's it like calling ChatGPT?To be honest, it's pretty similar to chatting through advanced voice mode, just with the low-quality audio you've come to expect from a traditional phone call.That is, until I had a relatively creepy interaction with the bot. After chatting for a couple minutes, I thought I'd see if ChatGPT would hang up if I asked it to. At first, it said something along the lines of being here to help, but didn't actually hang up the call. So I asked again. No answer. I asked a second time. No answer. I said, "Hello?" No answer. Cue panic.So, I hung up myself and called back. After an initial greeting, I asked my question again. ChatGPT immediately said "Sure, thanks for chatting!" And hung up. Go figure. The next time I called back, I thought to test its knowledge limits with, "Who's the president?" I didn't get an answer. ChatGPT instead say "Goodbye! Take care!" Then proceeded to leave the call in dead air again. While unnerving, I think the problem is that ChatGPT has trouble understanding certain questions when asked over the phone this way. Some questions it answers with no problems, while others it seems to get wrong. I asked "Who's the president?" on another call, and the bot thought I was asking about user privacy. But when I say "Who's the President of the United States?" it got it. Calling ChatGPT definitely puts up some roadblocks that aren't there with the dedicated app, but, otherwise, it's the usual ChatGPT experience. If you love that, great. If you don't, you probably won't use this. The perk here, I suppose, is you can call ChatGPT without an account. But, barring some rare cases, I don't see that being a big plus for most people.