Chris Kerr, News EditorDecember 20, 20242 Min ReadLogo via HotheadCanadian game studio Hothead Games has closed its doors.Hothead president and CEO, Ian Wilkinson, broke the news on Linkedin and said the company "had a good run" but has now filed for bankruptcy. It's unclear how many people the studio employed at the time of its closure.The Vancouver-based studio was established in 2006 by former Radical Entertainment staffers Steve Bocska, James Ceraldi and Joel DeYoung. Initially, Hothead focused on developing and publishing digital console and PC titles, but eventually pivoted to focus on creating free-to-play mobile games (with mixed results)."We threw all kinds of small, inexpensive games at the wall to see what stuck. Surprise surprise, surprise nothing stuck," wrote Wilkinson, looking back on that period."So, we went back to our roots and created sports games under the Big Win brand and shooting games under the Rivals at War (RAW) brand and eventually the Kill Shot brand.These series of games were very successfulwe finally discovered lightning in a bottle.Those were the most successful years for Hothead."Over the past year, Hothead had been working on a playable prototype for a triple-A project. Wilkinson said the studio hoped to secure contracts with different publishers so it could develop mobile, PC, and console versions of the game, but explained that process took longer than expected."Unfortunately, it took far longer than we expected to secure contracts for these versions of the game," he said. "They were both ready to close two weeks ago and then the mobile publisher pulled out due to a change in strategy. Two weeks later the console publisher also pulled out.At that point our only remaining option was bankruptcy."Looking back on Hothead's legacy, Wilkinson said it wasn't the games that made the studio-but rather its people. "Hothead was chock full of incredibly, smart, talented, loyal, hardworking but mostly just really nice people.People that had your back at work and outside of work.Many of us made lifelong friends at Hothead," he continued."We grew up together, we laughed, we cried, we celebrated, we grieved, we found partners, we started families. I had the privilege of working with so many wonderful people at Hothead over the years."Hopefully, this wont be the last time you hear from us. We still believe we are destined to work together again and continue to do great things.But even if that doesnt happen, I am a better person for working at Hothead and I consider myself blessed to have spent 16 years shoulder to shoulder with my fellow Hotheads."About the AuthorChris KerrNews Editor, GameDeveloper.comGame Developer news editor Chris Kerr is an award-winning journalist and reporter with over a decade of experience in the game industry. His byline has appeared in notable print and digital publications including Edge, Stuff, Wireframe, International Business Times, andPocketGamer.biz. Throughout his career, Chris has covered major industry events including GDC, PAX Australia, Gamescom, Paris Games Week, and Develop Brighton. He has featured on the judging panel at The Develop Star Awards on multiple occasions and appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live to discuss breaking news.See more from Chris KerrDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

The smart home in 2024 was a year for regrouping. After the initial excitement surrounding the new interoperability standard Matter which is trying to make the smart home simpler and easier to use by allowing connected devices to work with any platform momentum has stalled. As companies adjust to the reality that Matter is going to take time to, well, matter, 2024 became a year of consolidation, with more focus on software (especially around generative AI) than hardware. However, one category bucked this trend: smart door locks.Smart locks have seen more innovation in 2024 than almost any other category in the smart homeThe past 12 months have been a stellar period for smart front door hardware, and 2025 looks set to be even better. Smart locks have seen more innovation in 2024 than almost any other category in the smart home. Lockly launched the first facial recognition lock, Philips introduced the first palm print lock, and ADT partnered with Google Nest and Yale to create a system that unlocks your door and disarms your security system using facial recognition.In a year marked by few innovations in smart home hardware, there was a surge of new smart locks from all the major players. Kwikset launched its first Matter smart lock, Yale entered the retrofit lock market, Level followed through on its promise to upgrade its locks to support Matter, and TP-Link added a door lock with a built-in camera. RelatedAqara also launched three new locks, while Eufy and U-tec expanded their lineups with Matter support. Schlage was the only major player that was relatively quiet, but my guess is well hear something from them at CES. Additionally, weve seen prices start to come down in the space with connected locks from trusted brands like The Home Depot starting as low as $99.All of this made the smart lock one of the most active categories in the smart home in 2024. A key reason for this is that while many aspects of setting up a smart home can be confusing, smart door locks are straightforward. Theyre relatively simple to install, come in various price points, and are easy to use. You also dont need a smart home platform or smart home hub to use one, although they can offer additional benefits. If you want to control access to your home from your phone, from anywhere in the world, a smart lock is the answer. And in 2025, smart locks are poised to become even better.Aliro is a new protocol that will allow smartphones, smart watches, and other wearables to become keys for your locks. Image: CSAYour phone is your keyNext year will see the launch of Aliro. This new cross-platform protocol is being developed by Apple, Google, Samsung, and major lock manufacturers to provide a standard way to use smartphones, smartwatches, and any compatible personal device as digital keys for your door.Aliro builds on the success of Apples Home Key, a very handy feature that lets you unlock your door by tapping your Apple Watch or iPhone to it. Home Key uses NFC tech to enable the transaction and works similarly to Apple Pay. Like Apple Pay, however, Home Key is limited to Apple devices and a select few smart locks. With Aliro, the technology will expand to more locks as well as phones and devices from Samsung, Google, and others.Aliro will bring a simpler, more accurate hands-free unlocking experience to smart locks with ultra widebandMore excitingly, Aliro will bring a simpler, more accurate hands-free unlocking experience to smart locks with ultra wideband (UWB). An emerging technology for precise positioning, UWB will allow a lock to unlock automatically as you approach the door, no tapping required. Both the lock and the phone or watch will need to have a UWB chip, and Apple has already announced it will support auto-unlocking on iPhones and Apple Watches, as has Samsung for its Galaxy phones and watches.However, as the Aliro spec isnt set to launch until 2025, there are no smart locks compatible with UWB unlocking yet. I expect to see a wave of new smart locks announced with Aliro support shortly after the spec arrives. U-tec has alreadyannounced a lock with UWB,Kwikset has hintedit will support the standard, and as Allegion, the company that owns Schlage, is helping develop Aliro, its likely well see support there, too.Kwiksets latest lock is its first to support Matter-over-Thread, allowing for cross-platform interoperability and extended battery life. Image: KwiksetPower and interoperability will improveTwo long-standing issues with smart locks have been short battery life and interoperability with different smart home platforms. By the end of 2025, I predict that most smart locks will be compatible with any smart home platform and offer at least a year of battery life. This is a significant improvement over the current three to six months, which can be frustrating, and limited support for Apple Home.By the end of 2025, most smart locks will be compatible with any smart home platform and offer at least a year of battery lifeThe solution to these issues lies in Matter-over-Thread, the smart home standard and its connectivity protocol designed for battery-powered IoT devices like smart locks. Matter will enable your smart lock to work with any smart home platform you choose, while Thread will help it consume less power than Wi-Fi-based locks. Ive tested several Thread smart locks, including the Aqara U300 and the Yale Assure SL, and the battery life has been impressive.While Matter has had a slow start in smart locks (in part due to some problems with platform support), were starting to see more Matter-over-Thread locks arrive. Within the next year, Id expect it to become the norm, especially as locks adopt Aliro, which will likely require more power. Smart locks can and will support both Matter and Aliro. If youre considering adding smart features to your front door, 2025 is shaping up to be an excellent year to do so.

Happy holidays! Tis the season for trimming trees, hanging lights, baking cookies... and spending two weeks at home trying to figure out why you cant get the lights to automatically come on at night, and which of those stupid bulbs is causing all the rest to not work. Truly the most wonderful time of the year.Every year on The Vergecast, we like to get into the holiday spirit by getting deep into the weeds on one of the most important specs, protocols, or systems that we all encounter every day. This year, for our annual Holiday Spec-tacular, were taking on everyones favorite kinda-sorta functional smart home protocol: Matter.Matter is supposed to be the thing that makes the smart home work, that allows everything from your lights to your fridge to your vacuum cleaner to seamlessly connect. In reality, it is, well, not that. But it might be on its way! We begin the show with Nilay, David, and The Verges Jennifer Pattison Tuohy talking about the state of Matter, and where the smart home has made strides and made mistakes this year. We also talk about Thread. A lot. More than we expected.After that, the trio competes in a game to see who understands the complicated, overlapping jargon of the Matter universe best. (Its a tight race, but the right person wins in the end.) And finally, Paulus Schoutsen, the creator of Home Assistant and president of the Open Home Foundation, joins the show to talk about what its like to work with Matter and whether were ever going to get the smart home of our dreams.This is our last episode of the year well be back with a live episode at CES, and if youre going to be in Vegas we hope youll come join us! In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday, and may all your smart lights always be the right color. If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started:See you in 2025!

A bipartisan group of senators is calling out the auto industry for its hypocritical, profit-driven opposition to national right-to-repair legislation, while also selling customer data to insurance companies and other third-party interests. In a letter sent to the CEOs of the top automakers, the trio of legislators Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Josh Hawley (R-MO) urge them to better protect customer privacy, while also dropping their opposition to state and national right-to-repair efforts. Right-to-repair laws support consumer choice and prevent automakers from using restrictive repair laws to their financial advantage, the senators write. It is clear that the motivation behind automotive companies avoidance of complying with right-to-repair laws is not due to a concern for consumer security or privacy, but instead a hypocritical, profit-driven reaction.Right-to-repair laws support consumer choice and prevent automakers from using restrictive repair laws to their financial advantage.For years, the right-to-repair movement has largely focused on consumer electronics, like phones and laptops. But lately, the idea that you should get to decide how and where to repair your own products has grown to include cars, especially as more vehicles on the road have essentially become giant computers on wheels. Along with that, automakers have taken to collecting vast amounts of data on their millions of customers, including driving habits, that they then turn around and sell to third-party data brokers. Earlier this year, The New York Times published an investigation into General Motors practice of providing microdetails about its customers driving habits, including acceleration, braking, and trip length, to insurance companies without their consent. Several states have passed right-to-repair laws in recent years, aiming to protect consumers from high prices and unscrupulous practices. In 2020, Massachusetts voters approved a ballot measure to give car owners and independent repair shops greater access to vehicle repair data. But automakers sued to block the law, and four years later, the law remains dormant. The auto industry claims to support right to repair.And some facts bear this out. For decades, small, independent auto body and repair shops flourished thanks to the idea that car maintenance is universal that anyone with a socket wrench and some grease can repair or modify their own vehicle. But as cars have become more connected, a lot of that work now relies on data and access to the digital information needed to diagnose and repair vehicles. And right-to-repair advocates, along with independent repair shops, are worried that major automakers are trying to kill their businesses by funneling all the work to their franchised dealerships, which typically cost more than the smaller garages. In the letter, Warren, Merkley, and Hawley demand that automakers drop their fierce opposition to these right-to-repair laws, calling it hypocritical and monopolistic. As the gatekeepers of vehicle parts, equipment, and data, automobile manufacturers have the power to place restrictions on the necessary tools and information for repairs, particularly as cars increasingly incorporate electronic components. This often leaves car owners with no other option than to have their vehicles serviced by official dealerships, entrenching auto manufacturers dominance and eliminating competition from independent repair shops.Automakers have raised cybersecurity concerns, including the specter of some bad actor remote hacking your car while driving it, as an excuse for fighting right-to-repair laws. But these concerns are based on speculative future risks rather than facts, the senators note. They cite a Federal Trade Commission study that found no empirical evidence backing up the auto industrys claims that independent shops would be more or less likely to compromise customer data than authorized ones. Its more likely that auto companies want to limit access to vehicle data for profit-driven reasons, the senators say. And that despite loudly proclaiming to care about cybersecurity, few companies actually comply with basic security standards when collecting, sharing, or selling consumer data. While carmakers have been fighting tooth and nail against right-to-repair laws that would require them to share vehicle data with consumers and independent repairers, they have simultaneously been sharing large amounts of sensitive consumer data with insurance companies and other third parties for profit often without clear consumer consent. In fact, some car companies use the threat of increased insurance costs to push consumers to opt into safe driving features, and then use those features to collect and sell the user data.The senators conclude by urging the auto CEOs to abandon their hypocritical opposition to right-to-repair laws, while also pressing them to answer a list of questions about their data-gathering practices. Were pushing these automakers to stop ripping Americans off, Warren said in a statement to The Verge. Americans deserve the right to repair their cars wherever they choose, and independent repair shops deserve a chance to compete with these giants.

Ubisoft has revealed a game-changing feature coming to the Feudal Japan-set Assassin's Creed Shadows: protagonist Naoe can Naruto run.Creative director Jonathon Dumont told Entertainment Weekly of the flamboyant means of traversal, in which someone leans over so their face is just a few feet from the ground, throws their arms straight back, and sprints at top speed."Naoes the fastest Assassin we ever made," Dumont said. "She runs super fast, she has a lot of gadgets to keep her stealth so that she doesn't have to fight often. We wanted to satisfy that for players that come in for that ninja-Assassin game."He then teased the Naruto run. "We do have a run on top of buildings that has a little bit of a wink-wink to it," Dumont said.The Naruto run, obviously, comes from beloved anime and manga series Naruto, which is set in a ficticious world full of ninja. The distinct style of sprinting is fairly iconic imagery from the series and has been honored and laughed at in equal measure over the years.Players can virtually Naruto run for themselves when Assassin's Creed Shadows arrives on February 14, a few months after its original November release date.A lot rests on the shoulders of Assassin's Creed Shadows as not only is it the long-awaited Feudal Japan-set entry and the first full Assassin's Creed since 2020, but a struggling Ubisoft needs it to perform well following recent flops.It's not enjoyed a particularly positive promotional period so far, however, with the development team having to apologize on separate occasions for inaccuracies in Assassin's Creed Shadows' depictions of Japan and using a historical recreation group's flag without permission.Yet another controversy came as collectible figure maker PureArts removed an Assassin's Creed Shadows statue from sale over its "insensitive" design.Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

While the debut Superman trailer clearly reveals a number of supporting characters, it also includes a hidden DC superhero that fans almost certainly missed.The Engineer, played by Mara Gabriela de Fara, can be seen walking across the top of the LuthorCorp building in a real blink-and-youll-miss-it moment. Its hard to make the character out, but zoom in a little and youll see the Engineer in fuzzy detail.The Engineer can be seen walking across the top of the archway. Image credit: Warner Bros.Writer-director James Gunn responded to one fan who spotted the Engineer in the trailer to confirm the find, writing on Threads: Haha you are correct!!The Engineer / Angela Spica is an electronics prodigy and member of superhero team The Authority, who will eventually get their own DCU movie. It will supposedly weave in several characters from DC's Wildstorm imprint, with Gunn himself working on an outline. The Engineer is arguably the most powerful member of the group as she can self-duplicate, is a technopath, has a genius-level intellect and radio-induced telepathy. Check out IGN's article, Who Are the Authority: The WildStorm DCU Characters Explained, for more.It will be interesting to see what The Engineer is capable of in Superman and how she interacts with the other characters. Whats she doing running about the top of the LuthorCorp building? And what relationship, if any, does she have with Lex Luthor himself?Superman hits theatres on July 11, 2025, and is the first film in the DCU's Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. IGN has an explainer on all the DC Heroes and Villains in the new trailer, comments from James Gunn on Krypto actually being a pretty terrible dog in the movie, thoughts on how Superman is about hope, and more.Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Steam Replay is here and has revealed some interesting insight into the Steam communitys playtime in 2024.Perhaps the most interesting stat revealed by Steam Replay is that just 15% of playtime spent by all Steam users this year was in games released in 2024.That means the vast majority of Steam users are happy playing games released in 2023 or earlier, despite the likes of Palworld, Black Myth: Wukong, Helldivers 2, and the all-conquering Banana all launching in 2024. More recently, Path of Exile 2 and Marvel Rivals released on Steam and saw huge concurrent player numbers.Digging into the details, Steam Replay reveals 47% of playtime spent by all Steam users was in releases from the last one to seven years (recent favorites, as Steam calls them), and a sizable 37% in classic games (releases from eight or more years ago). Im still addicted to Civilization 6, which came out in October 2016, so that checks out.IGN's Twenty Questions - Guess the game!IGN's Twenty Questions - Guess the game!To start:...try asking a question that can be answered with a "Yes" or "No".000/250Its easy to think that the data suggests gamers arent buying new games, but thats clearly not the case. Palworld set sales records, as did Helldivers 2 and Black Myth: Wukong. And as PC Gamer noted, the 15% figure is up significantly on the 9% of playtime spent by all Steam users in 2023 on games released that year (2023 included Hogwarts Legacy and Baldurs Gate 3). For extra context, the figure in 2022 was 17%, so the data is very up and down.But clearly, many Steam players are happy sticking with older games, and Steams most-played list reinforces that. The top-three most-played games on Steam by concurrent players right now are Counter-Strike 2, PUBG, and Dota 2 all old games. Other older games in the top 10 include Naraka: Bladepoint, GTA 5, Rust, and Apex Legends.In April, data revealed that games that were at least six years old accounted for more than 60% of playtime in 2023 across PC and console. The top game across all major platforms was Fortnite. As has been expressed by many a video game analyst and CEO, publishers are finding it increasingly hard to wrestle gamers away from the games they already play and have spent money in, building up their library of virtual skins over the course of years.Meanwhile, Steam Replay reveals the median number of games played by Steam users this year was just four, and the median unlocked achievements was 13. So dont feel too bad if youve only played a handful of PC games this year. Youre in good company!Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

This article contains spoilers for Sonic the Hedgehog 3.Ow! The edge! Sonic the Hedgehog 3 brings another fan-favorite character to the big screen series, a character that may be baffling to those not steeped in Sonic love. In addition to dealing with two Robotniks, regular nemesis Ivo and now grandfather Gerald (both played by Jim Carrey), Sonic must match wits with Shadow the Hedgehog (voiced by Keanu Reeves).Shadow might look like Sonic, but he has a very different attitude. Sullen and harsh, Shadow focuses only on his mission of revenge. Over the course of the movie, we get glimpses of Shadows backstory, which helps us understand Sonics grumpy new pal. But as dark as the story onscreen gets, the video games went much farther.Before he got his own gun-toting, swear-word-saying solo game in 2005, Shadow teleported into the franchise with Sonic Adventure 2 in 2001. That game follows Ivo Robotniks plan to revive Project Shadow, a plan his grandfather Gerald devised 50 years earlier. Working on the cosmic Space Colony ARK, Gerald strived to create the ultimate life form. After two failed attempts, Gerald succeeded with the creation of Shadow the Hedgehog.Geralds one reprieve from his work came in the form of his granddaughter Maria, an innocent who stayed aboard the ARK with him. Gerald brought the young Maria to the ARK in search of a cure for her terminal disease, and she became close friends with Shadow. Despite his bond with Maria, Shadow was still made as a tool of Robotnik, which drew the attention of the Guardian Units of Nations (GUN).Befitting its name, GUN raided the ARK with weapons hot, an attack that led to the death of young Maria. Burning with anger, Gerald gave false memories to Shadow to refocus his mission on a single goal: destroying the Earth.All of that happens more or less faithfully in the movie Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Sure, there are some slight differences, with Carrey playing a more whacky Gerald Robotnik, GUN being less initially violent, and actor Alyla Browne (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) being a bit older than the Maria of the games. But the basic idea is the same. Shadow loved Maria and her death drove him to seek vengeance. After being freed from 50 years of captivity, Shadow will stop at nothing to satisfy that desire.But in the movie, Marias death is more roundabout. As she runs from the GUN soldiers alongside Gerald and Shadow, Maria stands too close to electronic equipment. When a GUN soldier fires toward them, he hits the equipment, causing it to explode. Maria dies in the fireball that ensues. Its horrifying to be sure, especially for a kids movie. Yet the original Sega Dreamcast video game was darker still.Sonic Adventure 2 indeed gets more direct. In a flashback sequence, we watch as Maria makes her escape with GUN in pursuit. She begs Shadow to turn against her grandfathers programming, but looks up just as a gun goes off and the screen goes white. So, sure, we can interpret the moment in different ways, but Sonic fans mostly agree that GUN directly shoots point blank Maria in the game. It should be noted back then, Sega and Sonics brand was to be slightly more edgy (or teen-appealing) than the House of Mario at Nintendo.Its not hard to see why Sonic the Hedgehog 3 made its change though more than 20 years after the fact. While the Blue Blur certainly has fans who have stuck through the characters through some very weird decisions, from inappropriate references to real-world genocide to the infamous fan art of Sonic pregnant with Tails child (no, Im not linking to that), these Paramount Pictures movies are exceedingly kid-friendly. It wouldnt do to have children see someone like them get shot in between scenes of Carrey playing drums on his big belly.Instead director Jeff Fowler and the films many writers handle the tone like a hedgehog running through a track and collecting all the rings. Between Reeves natural gravitas and the actual death onscreen, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 plays homage to the source material, but still leaves plenty of space for the bright colored action that new, younger fans expect.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is now playing in theaters nationwide.

Frank FrancesOur lives may have been changed in recent years (Seamless, Covid, and a whole host of other societal shifts), but one thing is for sure: entertaining is back, andin some casesmore elaborate than ever. While some have the luxury of a standalone dining room, many of us small space-dwellers are stuck with nooks and crannies to feast in. Before you throw your hosting dreams out with last night's takeout, hear us out: you do not need a dedicated room for dining. Dining rooms of today can be a corner, a bookmark, or a cubicle of surprisingly small sizes. It all depends on how you use the space. Don't believe us? See below for 20 designer-approved small dining room ideas to help you make the most out of even the smallest footprint. 1No dining room? No problem! William AbramowiczIf you are one of the many with no dedicated room in which to dine, the most sensible thing is to make the room where you cook double as a dining room. In this old Connecticut house, former model Anne Bannert placed a small pine trestle table at one end of the kitchen. A pair of chairs from the 1930s and a bench under the window allow for a party of four while a pine hutch nearby can be used for easily accessible table settings. 2Pattern PlayFrank FrancesTreat your tiny dining room with all over pattern. In this Vermont house, designer Sheila Bridges did what she does bestputting colors and patterns together like they were always meant to be. The effect unifies the room (or corner of a room) where you will dine and invites guests to sink into the moment. Bridges covered these walls in wallpaper by Morris & Co. and the Roman shade and nearby curtains are done in a Castel Maison fabric. To finish the look she covered the vintage dining chair seats in a complementary Schumacher ikat.Advertisement - Continue Reading Below3Find Space AnywhereAnnie SchlechterRebecca Gardner knows how to throw a good party...and she won't let her teeny New York City apartment stop her. In fact, she can pack up to 40 guests in, thanks to some clever spatial tricks, including unfolding a table for eight in her bedroom. 4Forego a SideboardKelly MarshallMost traditional dining rooms have not just a table and chairs, but a sideboard as well. If your dining room is as narrow as the one in this New Jersey house, move the settings storage and serving station to the kitchen and reserve the dining room for dining. This dining table is by Castlery and the chandelier is from Currey & Co.Advertisement - Continue Reading Below5Corner It UpEric PiaseckiIf your dining area doubles as another room, utilize the corner of said room (usually an under-programmed space!) as your dining area. In this Aspen escape a cushioned banquette provides ample seating around the Harvey Probber table. Two 1950s Hans Wegner chairs allow for easy access seating. 6Bay Window BanquetteAdrian GautSome dining rooms sit comfortably within the curves of a bay window. If your apartment or house is blessed with this kind of architectural detail, don't waste it. Instead of placing a plant or floating reading chair in the nook, outfit it with a built in, wraparound bench and place a bistro-sized table in front of it. In this New York City kitchen, designer Nanette Brown chose one unifying color: pink. The Roman shades make sense for the space and are made with Pindler fabric. Mood lighting is provided by way of two vintage Swedish sconces by Aneta.Advertisement - Continue Reading Below7Try Your EntrySimon UptonIf you have no room to spare for dining, consider using using your entry. Since it is the first room guests see, it will need to be adaptable: cover the table with a sumptuous fabric of some sort so that it reads more like a luxurious entry console, just centered rather than abutting a wall. In this Spanish apartment Lorenzo Castillo placed an 18th-century rug on the table and added a Regency-style bench in front of it for added flair. Pull the chairs away to the corners of the room or into another room and decorate the table when not in use. 8Rethink the IslandWilliam WaldronIf you have no dining room and are blessed with a large kitchen, you can kill two birds with one stone. Replace your kitchen island with a dining table instead. It can double as a preparation surface when needed (ever peeled potatoes sitting down?) and a dining table when it's time eat. In this Upstate New York house the owner chose an antique American dining table and chairs and stool from Calvin Klein Home.Advertisement - Continue Reading Below9Treat Your Space Like a GalleryWilliam WaldronIn this Manhattan apartment, artist and jeweler Federico de Vera treated his kitchen and dining area as carefully as the rest of his art-filled home. If your space is small, that is even more of a reason for everything to be finely chosen and fully functional. A steel-top table by Gregor Jenkin serves as a bridge between the steel-toned cabinetry and countertops by Armani Casa and the antique chairs surrounding the table. One is a 19th-century Louis XVstyle chair that's upholstered in a Richard Saja embroidered toile de Jouy and another is in the style of Gerrit Rietveld. Scattered wood and gilt frames on the nearby wall complete the cultured mood. 10What's Your Order?If you are using one side of a larger room as your dining area why not treat it with a glamorous touch? Base the design on your favorite booth in your favorite upscale restaurant. In this Miami apartment the walls were covered in Sebastian Herkner tiles from Kaufmann Keramik. A Studiotwentyseven table provides space for a least six guests with extra seating by way of two Cassina chairs. Peter Zumthor-designed pendants from Viabizzuno hang over the table.Advertisement - Continue Reading Below11Define With ColorPatrick BillerIf your dining room exists without doors, define the space with color. A bold choice in color paradoxically makes small rooms feel more powerful, and often, more spacious. In this Victorian Toronto row house the dining rooms walls are painted in Farrow & Ball's Rectory Red with the company's Preference Red used on the trim. Furniture should be just as grand as the colors used on the walls. Here a Biedermeier-style table surrounded by 18th-century Italian chairs painted green and covered in a Pierre Frey fabric ups the ante. A juicy glass Venetian chandelier overhead is the final word in glamour. 12Windows Do WondersAdrian GautIf you have no dedicated dining room in your home, find a quiet corner with ample natural light and make it your dining nook. In this Ashe Leandro designed Texas house a custom bench upholstered in a rich red Dedar fabric defines the space. A table from B&B Italia allows for enough room for a meal of six (at night or in the light!).Advertisement - Continue Reading Below13Keep It Simple-ishRoger DaviesMonochrome does well in many instances, including in small rooms. In this chic, straightforward Kentucky farmhouse black and white was all that was needed to create a gracious space. The dining rooms Restoration Hardware table was painted black to match the 1940s dining chairs. Above a rock-crystal chandelier hangs with tiny black shades that match the candelabra lamps from Mumbai in the background. A 19th-century Swedish console and plant stands, also black, drive the theme home.14Library LivingWilliam AbramowiczIn the great mansions of 19th-century industrial titans there were rooms to retire to after dinner. These "smoking rooms" were often overstuffed with bookcases, armchairs, and objet d'art, and sometimes a tiny table for post-dinner snacks. Why not expand on this idea and marry your library to your dining room? In this San Francisco loft, Steven Volpe placed a dining table of his and Roth Martin's design in front of an aluminum bookshelf by Martin Szekely. A 1950's light fixture hangs above it and wood dining chairs are as useful for reading as for dining around it.Advertisement - Continue Reading Below15Art It UpDouglas FriedmanYour dining area doesn't have to be big to take big art. The bolder the better. In this dining nook in a historic Manhattan apartment, a photograph of Jackie Kennedy by Harry Benson hangs above the custom banquette. Chairs by Laura Gonzalez in Le Manach fabric complement the colors in the photograph, while a dining table by Pluhowski Furniture roots the space.16Try A SectionalGREY CRAWFORDWhen space is tight, consider bringing the living room into the dining room. In this rustic lodge the owner used a sectional to shape out his dining area. The curved mini-sectional is by Ballard Designs and is paired with an antique table that plays into the home's welcoming, traditional character. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below17Matchy Matchy!Kelly MarshallIf your dining area is in your kitchen and there is not enough space to distinguish preparation areas from dining areas, lean into the constraint and make your dining furniture match your kitchen. In this Rayman Boozer-designed Harlem home, the custom cabinetry is painted in Benjamin Moores Cats Eye green that matches the green stripes on the seats of the vintage Thomas Harlev dining chairs. Wallpaper that mimics hanging plates by Matthew Williamson for Osborne & Little picks up the greens in both. 18Dining Room or Pool House?William Jess LairdIf you're blessed with a swimming pool perhaps make it part of your dining room? Or at least make use of the view. In this Key West home, the dining area overlooks the luscious backyardswimming pool and allmaking for a calming, playful experience inside as well as out. Interior design firm General Assembly used a light blue green paint for the walls (above the millwork) and playful, vintage Joe Colombo chairs around the circular dining table. A Pelle chandelier mimics bubbles and if you are lucky enough to dine under it you would notice painted palm fronds on each glass surface. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below19Cloud ControlRoger DaviesIf you are one of those straight-to-the-point types, perhaps pick one simple, straightforward decorating scheme: white. In this Nantucket home (the ideal place for a pared-back dining room) architect Rebecca Ascher chose white paint for her walls along with a white dining table by Catherine Memmi and white Eero Saarinen chairs from Knoll.20Go RetroEric PetschekIf your pad comes complete with the wood panelling of the 1970s, don't rip them out, make them work! In the dining room of this New York City apartment, designer Bachman Brown let the wood walls lead. A restaurant-style banquette in a similar timber provides a comfortable seat to eat from, while the chrome dining chairs across from them are straight out of the 1970s. The Carlo Nason pendant light and bookcase on the opposite wall remain on trend, and jolts of bright blue on the baseboards and doorways keeps the room as relevant as it is retro.

I didnt waste any time when AirTags first came out, immediately buying eight of them: for five bags, keys, a videography rig, and a bicycle. But Ive also repurposed some of them during trips for some AirTag sharingwith friends, and iOS 18.2 makes this option even better.Ive confessed before to being something of a bagaholic, so the first thing I did was to slip an AirTag into each of my main bags, where they live almost permanently This means that no matter which of my main bags I take out with me, it will be protected.For less-frequently used bags, I just borrow one to temporarily protect whichever bag Im using that day.But Ive also lent one or two of these AirTags to my partner or friends when travelling together, so that I can track their bags as well as my own. In addition to the obvious value if a bag does go missing, I also really like the reassurance I get from boarding the plane, checking the Find My app and confirming that all our hold baggage made it safely on board.But the AirTag sharing feature introduced in iOS 18.2 makes this type of social use even better. I can simply share the link for the tags used in my companions bags with them, so that they too can track them. It does, though, mean that they have no ability to track items until they are marked as lost (and you cant cheat and do that when they arent, as the option isnt available when they are with you).This can be done with the original sharing feature, but that requires them to have an Apple account and an Apple device. Share Item Location in contrast works with any device, and without the need for an Apple ID.Ill also share with them the AirTags in my own bags as that way we get some additional redundancy. In the worst case of someone snatching both my phone and my cabin bag containing my other Apple devices my travel buddy will be able to instantly track my possessions on their own phone.Share Item Location is a significant enhancement to AirTags when traveling with family or friends, ensuring that everyone in the party has oversight over all the bags.Check out our simple how-to guide for instructions, and enjoy even greater peace of mind on your next trip.Photo by4zyxxnonUnsplashAdd 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