As a child, the woods I lived by had a pond covered in duckweed, and I would go to it and toss rocks into the water. Each time, the stone made a plopping sound and broke the blanket of thousands of tiny green leaves to reveal darkened water. The effect enthralled me, and now, a new game called Naiad somehow captures that childlike bliss that comes with playing in natures waters.Developed by HiWarp, a one-person team based in Spain, Naiad is a game in which I get to play as a forest nymph named Naiad. As Naiad, I navigate through crystalline waters using my control stick and a top-down view. Naiads body arches and twirls as I swim through crystalline waters and explore connected streams and ponds. The sound of frogs and splashing water plays, and sticks, logs, flowers, and leaves bobble on top of the water and ornament it with pops of color.I can interact with my surroundings in the gentlest of ways. A duckling follows me, and I reunite it with its mom. I play hide-and-seek with a tiny cloud. I sing to plants, and they flower. Sometimes Ill dive under large logs, and other times Ill move one so a duckling can follow me. Ill sing to a bird and itll fly overhead as I guide it to a perch. I collect fish that follow and swim alongside me.Often, when I successfully reunite animals, the game thanks me with an onscreen message for taking the time to stop and help. However, now and then, a certain interaction will fill Naiad with warmth, and change the nymph. For example, at one point, Naiad sings to a mystical deer and the deer drinks from the pool of clean water. Afterwards, Naiads hair becomes adorned with flowers and she gains the power to swim through obstacles a bit faster. In this way, I watch Naiad slowly grow up as she connects to the world around her.Water is life, and Naiad is the story of that adage. The game goes light on overt narration and conjures up its tale by showing me all the worlds that water touches. Sometimes, these story beats nourish me, like when I see a giant deer take a sip of water or a human strum an acoustic guitar by the river. But I also see the impacts of human intervention. As Naiad, I ward off loggers who cut down trees and bring light to waters blackened by an active mine.Naiad was made with a clear sense of reverence towards water, and that makes it special. I see this reverence personified through the little nymph and luxuriate in all that this games waters have to offer. Sometimes this is through the joy of splashing around as a forest nymph; other times, its taking in the lush visuals of a healthy forest and its flowers. In the same way that splashing around in the water is wonderful, so is Naiad.Naiadwas released Dec. 10 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows and Mac PCs, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on PC using a pre-release download code provided by HiWarp. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can findadditional information about Polygons ethics policy here.

Blanching is a great cooking method to add to your toolkit, and it turns out that some veggies are actually better off that way. If youve heard about it but youre not really sure how to do it, youve come to the right place. HWhat is blanching?Blanching is a cooking method done by poaching fruits and vegetables, gently and quickly, in boiling water. The quick part is important. "Blanching" is not the same as "boiling." Usually the dunk is a minute or two and can be as quick as mere seconds. Youre not boiling the ingredient to cook it completely through; blanching is done to just soften or cook the exterior. Thats why its normally a good cooking method for vegetables where you want to tenderize the exterior to take any bitter tannins and woodiness away, like with green beans or asparagus.The second part of blanching is usually an ice water bath. Anything that has freshly been removed from a heat source, whether its the oven or the microwave, retains heat. This interior heat can continue cooking the item for minutes. That might sound like no big deal, but something you want to gently cook for 20 seconds just to brighten it up can end up losing its snappy quality from whats called carry-over cooking. This cooking can be stopped in its tracks with a dunk in ice water.Admission: Im a little lazy; its a small batch of veggies I just run it under cold water. You can be better than me and make an ice bath. It's normal for a lot of ice to melt once all the hot vegetables go in. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann Whats the point of blanching?If blanching doesnt cook food completely, why do it? The main reasons youd even consider blanching, or why you see it in recipes, are because you want to hold onto the integrity of the interior for some reason, or the vegetable is particularly bitter.Lets talk about bitterness first because its very specific. Boiling leaches away some properties of vegetables, including flavor. This is why boiling isnt usually the most recommended method for cooking everything you can lose flavor to the water and, if its not soup, that ends up down the drain. However, unpalatable bitter flavors can be solved with a long blanch. My favorite example, because its disgusting unless its blanched, is broccoli rabe. If you dont think you like broccoli rabe, please read this, and try cooking it again.As far as keeping the interior untouched, blanching makes it possible to take the raw edge off of some vegetables, while still keeping them crunchy or snappy. Its a great way to improve a crudit platter. Another excellent use is taking the skin off of some fruits. You might do this with tomatoes for silky sauce that doesnt have those curled-up skin bits floating around, or for peaches so you can make a delicious peach pie or peach crisp.There are levels to itThe amount of time that you dunk something in slowly boiling water will vary depending on what the food is, and the result you want. If Im blanching green beans, it only takes about one minute for a nicely dressed side dish. Theyll be softened and less bitter, but not in the least bit floppy or mushy.Blanching something very delicate can be tricky business. Sometimes asparagus or snow peas can overcook in a few seconds. For these items, the pour-over blanch is better. Set the veg into a colander and simply pour boiling water over them. This flash of hot water is just enough to cook the outside without wilting the most fragile parts.The basic blanching method1. Set up your blanching stationBlanching is fast, so you want to be ready for the next move. Set a large pot on medium heat with a lid on it and bring the water to a boil. While thats happening, fill a large bowl with cold water and add a cup of ice. Have the veggies prepped (trimmed or cut if needed), an easy timer to use, and a wide slotted spoon to plunge and scoop out the food. A blanching station allows you to move the veggies around easily. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann 2. Blanch awayWhen the water is boiling, remove the lid and add a bit of salta half-teaspoon is fine for a medium pot. Add a handful of the veggies. If the pot is large, you can add more, but you dont want the water to cool down so much that it stops boiling; youll probably be working in batches. Activate your timer for however long you need to. Use the slotted spoon to plunge the veggies so they submerge completely. When the timer is up, scoop 'em out. 3. Ice plungeDrop the veggies straight into the ice bath and use the spoon to submerge them. You might actually see the color of the vegetable really brighten at this moment. Get all of the veggies in the cold water as soon as possible. After 20 seconds or so you can scoop them out onto a wire rack to drip dry. Theyre ready to use.Cruciferous veggies are often tough and hold some bitterness so they do really well with blanching. Try doing this with broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, asparagus, and thin heirloom carrots. I highly recommend this method for peeling tomatoes and peaches too. Cut a shallow x on the bottom of either fruit, blanch for 20 to 30 seconds, and when you take them out of the water bath youll feel the skin slip right off.

Squid Game is coming back for a second seasonwhether it needs one or not. And as with many of its high-profile series, Netflix is readily promoting the next installment ahead of its Dec. 26 release date. It seems the streamer tapped Google for one of those promotions, to run a "hidden" Squid Game on the search engine. And it's actually pretty fun. How to play Google's "hidden" Squid Game"Hidden" is in quotations here because the game really isn't hard to find. In fact, if you have any passing interest in Netflix's hit show, you easily could stumble upon it yourself. All it takes to trigger the game is to search "Squid Game" on Google. When you do, you'll get the usual results for Squid Game, including the cast, season two release date, and an endless array of articles and coverage. But in addition to these standard results, you'll notice a Squid Game glyph appear at the bottom of the screen, containing the show's three iconic shapes: circle, triangle, and square. Click this glyph, and you'll launch a game of "Red Light, Green Light" overlayed on top of your search results. Whether or not you've seen the show, the rules are simple: You control a small group of six players who all need to reach the giant robot doll at the top of the page. When the doll isn't looking, you walk towards it; when the doll turns around, you stop moving. If you move while the doll is looking at you, you "lose." Unlike the show, however, your character will simply walk away with an anxious expression on their face, and won't be brutally shot to death. (At least, not on-screen.)There's a green button that lets your characters advance, and a red button that stops them in their tracks. The doll will "sing" the same, short song, and will turn around as soon as it's done singing, but will sing at different intervals, so it can get difficult to judge. I actually found it easier to mute the doll, and just watch for its movement instead. Credit: Jake Peterson The funny thing is, even when you "win," your characters turn around with the same anxious expression on their face as when they lose. These games, man. They're not for the weak.This is far from the first time Google has rolled out a hidden game or feature in its search engine or web browser. The most famous, of course, is the "Dinosaur Game," which appears in Chrome when you don't have an internet connection. But there are tons of games and experiences baked into Google. (Go ahead and search "do a barrel roll.")

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Karaoke has been performed with the standard microphone and portable speaker for many years, and we've gotten by fine. But Ikarao, a karaoke speaker company, decided to take karaoke to the next level. They're using technology that we've had at our disposal for years, but for some reason was never implemented well into karaoke speakers to make them more practical and fun. Until now. Their latest flagship product, the Shell S1 Karaoke, is their most affordable karaoke speaker, with a touchscreen tablet, two Bluetooth microphones, and a powerful sound for a small portable speaker.Ikarao sent me their speaker to review. After countless hours of karaoke, I can recommend this to anyone looking for a portable karaoke speaker. There isn't much competition in the market for this kind of device, but the Shell S1 is still a solid product that bests its own catalog of speakers. Ikarao Shell S1 Portable Karaoke Machine $349.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $349.99 at Amazon Shell S1 karaoke speaker pros, cons, and specs ProsHas a 10.1-inch touchscreen tabletCompact and portable karaoke machine Powerful 104dB stereo speaker with optional bass boostComes with two wireless microphones with 20-hour rechargeable battery lifeCan connect to a TV with HDMI cableCan play and charge at the same timeThe integrated Karafun app brings the most out of the speaker.Integrated Spotify appConsNo easy way to cast screen to TVNo integrated YouTube appNo way to fully customize EQSpecsBattery Life: Up to nine hours with the screen on and 12 hours with the screen offConnectivity: USB, AUX In/Out, HDMI, Wifi, OTG, and Bluetooth V5.4Inputs: AUX input, microphone input, USB inputApp: NoneDrivers: Equipped with two 15W 3.5-inch woofers and two 10W 1-inch tweeters, covering a frequency range of 50Hz 18kHzPower Output: Peak power of 280 W and a maximum sound level of 104dBWater Resistance: NoneSize: 13.9 in by 6.9 in by 6.7 in (L W H)Weight: 11.7 lbsFirst impressions of the Shell S1 karaoke speaker How the Shell S1 looks completely closed. Credit: Daniel Oropeza My expectations were somewhat low for this review, mainly because I had never heard of Ikarao before. But I was happily surprised. The Shell S1 is a portable, one-stop shop for everything you need for a karaoke session. This makes it easy to pick up and take with you to a friend's house or around the house. But as I'll explain, it's not perfect.I was blown away by how loud this speaker can get104 dB, to be exact. That's loud enough to fill most living rooms. There is also a bass boost button on the front (along with volume control, power, Bluetooth, and a local play button to switch the input source) that really bumps the bass substantially. I was able to blast music on my surround sound system and sing over it with just the microphone on the S1 (this is useful if you have a surround sound system you want to use along with the speaker). Credit: Daniel Oropeza While portable, the speaker is pretty hefty for its size (nearly 12 pounds), which makes senseyou're jamming two microphones, a tablet, and a stereo speaker in one product. Ikarao includes a shoulder strap to make carrying the S1 around easy. The two Bluetooth microphones of the Shell S1. Credit: Daniel Oropeza The two Bluetooth microphones are cleverly hidden inside the speaker when you lift up the screen, and they automatically charge as they're stored (just like earbud charging cases). They have a range of about 32 feet, and the batteries last 20 hours. They also have convenient volume controls, a power button that also lets you change through mic effects (including some fun ones), and a button that controls the media so you can play, pause, or skip to the next song in the queue (the mics essentially double as remotes). I was also surprised by how little feedback I received when blasting the volume and getting close to the speaker. I really had to try hard to get any. Overall, the microphone experience was excellent. The back of the Shell S1. Credit: Daniel Oropeza The back of the speaker has all of the interface inputs and outputs. It has another option for a third wire mic with a 3.5mm input, an AUX input, USB On-The-Go (OTG), a USB port, an HDMI so you can hook up the tablet to a TV, a type-C power inlet for charging, and an AUX out to connect to other speakers.Now, let's get to the fun stuff.Features of the Shell S1 karaoke speaker The main menu of the Shell S1. Credit: Daniel Oropeza The touchscreen for the Shell S1 is an Android tablet, but it lacks the ability to download apps, meaning I'm stuck with what it comes with (unless Ikarao decides to do OTA updates in the future). There is also no way to fully customize the EQ, but to be honest, it sounds great out of the box. How the set up in my living room looks with the HDMI cable. Credit: Daniel Oropeza The Shell S1 has an HDMI output that I was able to connect to my TV quickly and easily. However, I have a surround sound system in my living room that doesn't have an AUX connection, meaning I was stuck playing music only through the Shell S1 speaker. If the Shell S1 had the ability to cast its screen to a smart TV, it would not just make it easier to project into a bigger screen for larger parties, but it would also allow those with surround sound systems to use them for karaoke. Ikarao does give the option to cast to a smart TV using a third-party app that is downloaded in the speaker, but the experience was confusing and I can't imagine anyone at a party (especially after a drink or two) managing to figure it out. A swing and a miss from Ikarao. How the YouTube web page looks on the Shell S1. Credit: Daniel Oropeza Although the first thing you might see when you open the screen is YouTube, don't get too excited. It's not the YouTube app; it's just a direct link through a Firefox browser to YouTube. If you ask me, this is a huge dropped ball by Ikarao. Karaoke is mostly done through YouTube, where you can find virtually every song imaginable in a karaoke version, all for free. The web version of YouTube through Firefox with a 10-inch touchscreen is clumsy and slow, to say the least. (If you're wondering, yes, this means you can use the browser to do everything an Android tablet lets you do.) The Spotify app on the Shell S1. Credit: Daniel Oropeza Instead of focusing their efforts on YouTube, Ikarao decided to include the Spotify app. Which is cool, if you're a smart portable speaker. But this is supposed to be a karaoke speaker, and Spotify is not karaoke-friendly. Sure, you can make it work by singing over lyrics or by chance finding an actual karaoke version of your go-to song, but good luck reading along the lyrics. Credit: Daniel Oropeza You can also play music through local USB drives. Not as exciting as the other options, but very much appreciated if you find yourself somewhere without wifi or just have a obscure taste in music. How the Shell S1 screen looks when you connect your phone with Bluetooth and play music. Credit: Daniel Oropeza Of course, you can also connect your phone directly to the speaker through Bluetooth, but then there's no way to follow along with lyrics, which defeats the point of the karaoke machine. So what good option is left? I saved the best for last.The KaraFun app The KaraFun app menu. Credit: Daniel Oropeza Ikarao partnered up with KaraFun, a well-thought-out karaoke app that starts at $9.99 a month. This could explain why Ikarao decided not to include YouTube in its speaker, and if this is the reason, it's frustrating. Ikarao does offer a six-month subscription to KaraFun with your purchase, but why not also include the YouTube app? Anyone can join the KaraFun session with their phone and add songs to the qeue. Credit: Daniel Oropeza Frustration aside, KaraFun does make full use of the speaker's potential. It's a more seamless experience than using YouTube for karaoke, with a huge catalog of karaoke songs, a queue feature, the ability to join sessions and add songs through any phone just by scanning a QR code on the screen, and a fun feature that lets you take pictures and email them at the end of your session. But if you're not ready to add yet another monthly subscription to your budget, then you'll have to make do with the other options.Bottom line How the Shell S1 looks on my TV console. Credit: Daniel Oropeza The Shell S1 smart karaoke speaker is impressive and one of a kind. It's very close to being the perfect portable karaoke speaker, although it still has the potential to get there if Ikarao decides to add the YouTube app with an update. If that app also lets you cast YouTube to a TV, karaoke bars might run out of business. But for now, the physical HDMI cable will have to do. Unfortunately, the best way to use the Shell S1 to its full potential is with the KaraFun app, which starts at $9.99 per month. But if you don't mind that, the partnership works very well. The speaker is powerful for its size, the bass boost is strong, and the quality of the music does not falter at high volumes. The two Bluetooth microphones are quality, they control the media, have a long battery life, automatically charge when stored, and have very little feedback. The touchscreen tablet looks good and makes it truly an all-in-one karaoke machine. The speaker is very portable and has everything you need to karaoke out of the box. The ability to play and charge means the party never stops as long as there's an outlet close by. For around $300 to $350, this is a top-notch portable karaoke machine.

Hisense has officially unveiled its new HT Saturn audio system just ahead of CES, and it's a doozy. This five-piece surround system includes four identical satellite units and a single 6.5-inch subwoofer. All told, it ships with 13 speakers spread across the five units, each of them wireless.The company says this system has been purpose-built to complement extra-large screens, with Hisense announcing its the perfect companion to its own TVs that are 85-inches or bigger. The HT Saturn is especially feature-rich, as its compatible with both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X technology.HisenseIt also includes a room calibration system, to ensure the best possible audio, and can use the TVs onboard speaker as an additional component. The system features plenty of useful connection options, including HDMI eARC, optical and Bluetooth 5.3. Everything is wall-mountable, which is great because it can be tough to find space for five cube-shaped speakers.The system also features five unique EQ modes that optimize sound for movies, music, games and more. We dont know the cost or when itll come out. The Hisense HT Saturn wireless audio system will officially debut at CES 2025, so well likely get pricing and availability details early next year. If you have an immediate hankering for a new entertainment-based sound system, Sony put out some good stuff this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/hisenses-ht-saturn-speakers-feature-wireless-dolby-atmos-and-room-calibration-192952302.html?src=rss

Hey, gamers! Do you like Rayman? Do you like Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon? Do you wish theyd make a new Rayman or Blood Dragon game? Well, you got your wish (sort of) if youre willing to give your wish a lot of leeway and a bit of money. Journalist Stephen Totilos Game File newsletter reported that Ubisoft secretly released a new Web3 game with NFTs featuring Captain Laserhawk from the Blood Dragon animated series spinoff on Netflix and Rayman (who hasnt appeared in a proper new adventure in years).Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E. looks like a generic top down shooter set in the bright neon futureworld of the Blood Dragon universe. You compete in an arena-style bloodsport where getting the most kills gets you the win. Totilo describes it as the most basic top-down shooter imaginable.Youll need a Niji Warrior NFT to play the game. Totilo reported that Ubisoft offered 10,000 of the special NFTs for free with some Web3 transaction fees earlier this month. The Niji Warrior NFT serves as a kind of ID card, and if you missed your chance to snag one for free, youll have to fork over a minimum of $14.38 (0.0022 in ethereum, according to Coinbase) just to get in the game.Then to add digital insult to injury, Rayman serves as the announcer for these gladiatorial deathmatches of the future. Rayman appears in the game but you dont even get to play as the wily, cartoon-ish game hero. Hes forced to be the Marv Albert of this bloodthirsty cryptocash grab.Theres only one compelling reason to play the game: You wont need to exert much effort to get on the leaderboard. Totilo said he got into the top 10 of the global leaderboard on a leaderboard that showed less than 100 players. I wouldnt call the game a runaway hit just yet.This isnt the first time that Ubisoft has quietly pushed out a Web3-based game to cash in on the NFT craze that petered out of popularity years ago. Ubisoft Quartz released the tactical RPG Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles in October in which players could buy NFTs for as much as $6,300.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/ubisoft-quietly-squeezes-out-another-nft-game-featuring-rayman-blood-dragon-192102438.html?src=rss

After nearly two weeks of announcements, OpenAI capped off its 12 Days of OpenAI livestream series with a preview of its next-generation frontier model. Out of respect for friends at Telefnica (owner of the O2 cellular network), and in the grand tradition of OpenAI being really, truly bad at names, its called o3, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told those watching the announcement on YouTube.The new model isnt ready for public use just yet. Instead, OpenAI is first making o3 available to researchers who want help with safety testing. OpenAI also announced the existence of o3 mini. Altman said the company plans to launch that model around the end of January, with o3 following shortly after that.As you might expect, o3 offers improved performance over its predecessor, but just how much better it is than o1 is the headline feature here. For example, when put through this year's American Invitational Mathematics Examination, o3 achieved an accuracy score of 96.7 percent. By contrast, o1 earned a more modest 83.3 percent rating. What this signifies is that o3 often misses just one question, said Mark Chen, senior vice president of research at OpenAI. In fact, o3 did so well on the usual suite of benchmarks OpenAI puts its models through that the company had to find more challenging tests to test it against.One of those is ARC-AGI, a benchmark that tests an AI algorithm's ability to intuite and learn on the spot. According to the test's creator, the non-profit ARC Prize, an AI system that could successfully beat ARC-AGI would represent "an important milestone toward artificial general intelligence." Since its debut in 2019, no AI model has beaten ARC-AGI. The test consists of input-output questions that most people can figure out intuitively. For instance, in the example below, the correct answer would be to create squares out of four Tetris shapes using dark blue blocks.ARC AGIDeveloping...This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openais-next-generation-o3-model-will-arrive-early-next-year-191707632.html?src=rss

Asus just launched two business monitors with a unique feature I think all display manufacturers should copy.

Google Chrome is testing an on-device AI tool to detect scams in the hope of enhancing online safety while maintaining user privacy.

Bluesky makes an important update to its somewhat basic verification system