The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt has earned its place in the list of most impressive and immersive fantasy RPGs. The Witcher 3's success was based not only on its characters' depth and stellar storytelling, but on the meticulous world building and reactivity that was crafted into it. CD Projekt Red's incredibly detailed and realized experience wowed gamers and critics in 2015, creating a precedent and standard that other games since have been held up to, while naturally setting high expectations for the upcoming fourth entry in the series.

Need For Speed has produced stand-out games for decades now. One aspect that many of them have in common is their vast open-worlds that players can explore. Today, we're taking a look at which of those games does the open-world setting the best.

The following contains major spoilers for BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3, Episode 12, "friEND", available on Hulu and Disney+.

YouTube is packed with How do I and How did they channels. SEO masterminds chase Google glory on basic questions like How to change a tire. Lifestyle gurus explain how to change your life. Documentarians lay out series on how specific products are made. Comedians mix straight-faced how-tos with pointed irony. Entire channels are dedicated to how to pronounce things (or how not to pronounce them). If you want to learn more about practically any form of creative work, someone on YouTube has your back.But the only channel I return to consistently for my Howd they do that? fix is @HowardHoMusic, the channel where composer/playwright/journalist Howard Ho unpacks songs from stage and movie musicals in micro detail, but in terms that music amateurs like me can actually understand.I first ran across Hos channel after Disneys animated movie Encanto put the frustratingly catchy number We Dont Talk About Bruno on nonstop rotation in the constantly running jukebox of my brain. I couldnt figure out why I couldnt get it out of my head, so when YouTube suggested a video explaining the phenomenon, I bit.Hos video not only got me to hear the song differently, it let me see some of the movie differently. He doesnt just explain home keys and relative majors, and how the songs keys and chords fit together: He picks apart elements of Encantos visual and storytelling symbolism to explain why certain colors and visuals are relevant to the characters involved. The insight about the notes used in Brunos name and the concept of blocking the way home in this song blew my mind, but the breakdown of Mirabels skirt embroidery was even more exciting. Its like an Easter eggs you missed video without the condescension.Still, that video doesnt hold a (magical, symbolic, straight-out-of-Encanto) candle to the breakdown of Surface Pressure from the same musical, which just about made my brain explode. This look at how a song about emotional stress uses syllabic stress to make and break rhythms and convey different emotions is fascinating one part structural analysis, two parts composition education.Ho has a degree in musicology and a clear fandom for Lin-Manuel Mirandas work: His series breaking down theory, process, rhymes, and symbols in Hamilton has a longer run time than Hamilton itself. He clearly follows his own fascinations as hes programming the channel he isnt just opportunistically diving into whatevers popular at the moment, hes exploring things he himself finds interesting, whether hes picking apart a particularly involved and clever bit of lyrical play in Into the Woods or spending nearly an hour on how the 2022 Broadway show & Juliet fixes the fundamental problems with jukebox musicals.Hos videos are brisk but not frantic they dont have that rushing to keep the attention of an impatient crowd sense of overcutting that bugs me in other analysis channels, but they dont drag or belabor any given point, either. For me, his shifting focus between lyrical, musical, symbolic, narrative, and rhythmic analysis also means a steady shift between analytical languages I already understand and can take in easily, and ideas that push the limits of my comprehension in exciting ways. If youre anything like me, his videos exploring media that most fans will already feel they know a lot about are informative and insightful enough to pull you toward watching videos about lesser-known projects and maybe, hopefully, to actually check out those projects in turn. (Schmigadoon! is terrific, yall.)But my favorite thing about Howard Hos channel is that he answers questions I wouldnt even have thought to ask about media Ive already watched. Why does a B-flat note kick Sinister Stranges ass in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? How does it connect to Danny Elfman and Beethoven? Why does Solo play the Empires theme from Star Wars in a major key, and how does that theme relate to the happiest type of melody you can write? Next time youre looking for a diversion on YouTube, you know where to answer those questions.

Transnomino is a free Mac app that can automate things that would take ages by hand, and is one you need to know about if you regularly deal with large folders full of files. It has a bit of a learning curve but is extremely powerful, allowing you to rename a folder full of unorganized photos or music files. You just drag any folder or collection of files into the app, and then decide how you'd like to rename or organize your files. You can do things like find and replace terms, add a prefix or suffix, or number your files. You can also change the path for files, reorganizing them into different folders.How to use Transnomino to organize your files will vary based on what you're trying to do. But as an example, I used Transnomino to organize my music files by dragging an album folder with files that weren't numbered: I choose the "Set" option, which allowed me to replace the current file name entirely, then I clicked the three dot button to the right of the Set Text field to add the track, artist, and title of the songs to the file name, adding the spacing and dashes between them myself until they looked right. Credit: Justin Pot Instead of replacing the file names entirely, I could have used the "Prefix" option instead to add the track number to the start of the filename. If I had a bunch of albums in one folder, I could use the Path option to put songs from different tracks to different albums. The point is that you can spend a little bit of time setting up how you want to name your files instead of spending a lot of time manually renaming them.There's also different metadata you can pull in depending on the kinds of files you're working with: If you're working with photos, the EXIF data is available, and there's even support for converting GPS coordinates to street addresses, meaning you could do things like organize photos depending on where they were taken.The specifics will always vary depending on your needs, but the broad patterns is that you can use the metadata inside files to rename them. There's also support for things like wildcards and regular expressions, allowing you to run even more complex renaming schemes. Ultimately, Transnomino is an application you need to know about if you regularly deal with large folders full of files. It can quickly automate organizing them, which can make working with them a lot easier.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.The air fryer is an indispensable part of my cooking arsenal these days. It makes quick work of anything I'd otherwise be oven roastinglike peppers, or salmonand unless you have a huge toaster oven model, you can probably put it away if you need the counter space back. This year for the holidays, I'm leaving the oven available for other things and air frying my pumpkin pie.You can absolutely bake pies in the air fryerA great pumpkin pie is cooked gently (so the mixture doesnt split) and has a well-baked pie crust. Managing this, whether in a conventional oven or in an air fryer, can be easy if you keep a couple things in mind. First, pumpkin pie filling is a custard filling, also sometimes called an egg-rich filling. All this means is that eggs make up an important part of the ingredient list and theyre responsible for binding the other ingredientsbut they need to be cooked gently. According to Americas Test Kitchen, When custards such as crme anglaise are heated, they turn thick and creamy as milk and egg proteins unfurl and bond with each other. However, if they are overheated, too many bonds form and the proteins clump. If youve ever had a gritty or watery pumpkin pie, this might be why. We'll avoid that with a lower fan speed. (More on that later.) Then there's the moisture factor. Aside from the eggs, pumpkin pie includes its namesake pure, sugar, spices, and a liquid like evaporated milk, all of which make for a rather wet mixtureand wet mixtures can easily lead to soggy crusts. To prevent that from happening, pumpkin pie crusts, whether air-fried or not, should get a blind bake before you add the filling.Blind baking is the whole reason you can make this pie in the air fryer at all. Air fryers heat from the top, which is why you can't us them to bake double-crusted pies. Luckily, your pumpkin pie's crust will be cooked through before the filling even joins the party.If youre in the market for an air fryer, read about my top picks from 2024:Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven with GrillInstant Vortex 6-quart Air Fryer OvenNinja Doublestack XL Air FryerHow to air fry a pumpkin pieDespite its reputation for aggressive convection heating, you can both blind bake and gently bake a pie in the air fryer. To tackle both of these things, use a lower temperature, and the bake setting instead of air fry. The difference between those settings is the fan speed. Air frying triggers a much higher fan speed, while the "bake' setting is much slower. You can probably even hear the difference when you change the setting. The pie will still bake quicker than it would in a regular oven, but it shouldn't overcook on the top. I like to crumple the parchment paper before lining the pastry so large folds don't cut into the pastry. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann 1. Blind bake the crustSet up your blind baking as you would normally. With the pie pastry fitted into a pie plate, line the pastry with parchment paper and fill it with pie weights. (I use dry beans, but you could use ceramic beads, sugar, or rice.) Place the crust in an air fryer heated to 350F on the bake setting. This is easy to do in the swinging door model, but not impossible for basket-style air fryers: I have a basket model that just fits a 9-inch aluminum pie plate, so theres no room for my hands. To lower the pie into the basket without burning yourself or dumping your pie in sideways, make a foil strap by tearing off a piece of foil about 16 inches long. It needs to be wide enough to sit under the widest part of the pie and long enough to come up on both sides with enough extra that you can grab the ends. Fold the foil three or four times lengthwise to make a strap about two or three inches thick, like in the picture below. Grab the straps ends, lift and lower the pie into the basket. The strap will stay so you can take the pie out later. Bend the ends down so theyre in the confines of the basket. Use the aluminum foil strap to lift and lower the pie into the basket if needed. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann Bake the crust with the weights in it for about 10 minutes, or until the edges are taking on color. Lift the weights out by gathering the parchment paper edges. The crust should look dry on the bottom. Use a fork and prick the bottom crust five or six times. Close the oven and bake it for another two minutes so the bottom can cook through. It shouldnt, but if the crust puffs at all in the bottom, just use an oven mitt to press it down and flatten it. 2. Reduce the temperature and bake the pieReduce the temperature to 325F and leave it on the bake setting.Fill the blind baked crust with your raw pumpkin pie filling. If youre using the basket model, leave the crust in the basket of the air fryer. Its easier to fill while its already seated. If you have the swinging door variety, take the whole tray out of the oven. Fill the shell while its on the tray, and return the whole thing to the oven. Bake the pie for five minutes at 325F, and then reduce the temperature to 300F and continue to cook the pie for another 10 to 20 minutes. All the while, keep it on that bake function. The pie is done when the edges of the filling are just beginning to take on color, and the center is set with the slightest hint of a jiggle. Cool the pie on a wire rack. Enjoy it warm, room temp, or chill it in the fridge if you prefer it cold.When baking your pumpkin pie, keep in mind that the timing will vary depending on your air fryer. Thats why the last time frame is rather wide. Air fryers models differ in their speed, pie recipes have more this and less that, and consider if your pie is deep-dish or not. Check on your pie after it's finished the initial five minutes at 325F, then change to 300F for 10 minutes. Depending on how set the filling is at this point, you may need to continue baking it for more time.

Not everybody has the same reaction to noticing a new muscle pop up on their body. Some love it: Great, Im getting jacked! Some are discouraged: Oh no, Im getting bulky. But everyone should know that building muscle has its benefits, both beyond looks and in spite of looks. Here are seven ways your newfound muscle is a big plus, both for your health and your fitness goals.Strength and muscle size go togetherThe first big benefit is simply that a growing muscle tells you that you're getting stronger. Being strong makes us more athletic, more functional in everyday life, and may help to prevent injury, as I'll talk about shortly. So if you notice some muscle growth, that tells you you're making progress in strength. And, yes, size and strength are linked. Weve all met people who are stronger than they look, and this has led to a myth that there are different kinds of muscle or strength, as if bodybuilders muscles are full of water or fat instead of contractile tissue. (Im not sure exactly where this myth comes from, but its absolutely not true. Muscle is muscle.)Think of it this way: The bigger the muscle, the harder it can contract. But what you do with that muscle is a matter of skill. Gymnasts are strong, but not every strong person can do a backflip. Boxers are strong, but not every strong person will be able to deliver a knockout punch.If you train to build muscle size, you will end up increasing your strength. And if you train to build strength, chances are you will end up increasing your muscle size. That doesnt mean you have to become huge if you dont want to be; your diet is the main thing that determines whether you look bulky or not.But it's reasonable to expect at least a little bit of muscle gain anytime you're challenging your body to get stronger and fitter.Muscle burns more caloriesMuscles effect on our metabolism is one of the most frequently-cited benefits of gaining muscle mass, and honestly, I think its one of the least important. But lets dive in, because I know youre wondering about it.Yes, the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you burn, even at rest. Muscle is a metabolically expensive tissue, using a lot of your food as fuel, which means that you can eat more food. Besides just being able to enjoy more food, this also improves your nutrition! The more you burn, the better you can eat. You have the calorie "budget" to fit in lots of vitamins, protein, fiber, and other useful nutrients.Every pound of muscle you gain will burn an extra 10 or so calories each dayso if you gain 10 pounds of muscle over the course of a few years strength training, youre burning an extra 100 calories each day. This may not make a huge contribution to your daily calorie burn, but its something. Whats less appreciated is that the more muscle you have, the more likely you are to take on harder workouts, thus burning even more calories.I burn about 500 more calories each day now than I did years ago, when I was sedentary, and I certainly havent gained 50 pounds of muscle. But the more muscle you have, the more work you can do, and that snowballs. Remember, exercise is good for your health, so the more of it your body can handle, the healthier your heart and your metabolism can become.Muscle benefits your health even if you dont lose weightLosing weight is often said to benefit our health, especially for people who have diabetes, other health conditions, and/or a high BMI. Losing weight can be tough, though, and gaining muscle can help those same health outcomes whether you end up losing weight or not.For example, this study found that having more muscle mass is associated with lower mortality rates, lower body fat, and a lower likelihood of having diabetes. People with high BMIs and high muscle mass were, in this study, healthier than people who had similarly high BMIs but low muscle mass.So even if gaining muscle doesnt come with reduced body fat, its still helping you to be healthier. The researchers also speculate that some of the health outcomes we associate with high body fat may actually have more to do with low muscle mass.Muscle keeps us in better shape as we ageIts dangerous to be weak and frail as you age. An extreme loss of muscle mass is called sarcopenia, and its a known factor in all kinds of things you want to avoid. The less muscle mass you have, the greater your risk of falls, fractures, being unable to live independently, and generally poorer health. Older adults with less muscle are more likely to die when they have conditions like kidney disease and heart failure, and they may have a harder time withstanding treatments like chemotherapy.This isnt just an issue for the grey-haired crowd: We lose 3-8% of our muscle every decade starting around age 30, if we dont train to keep it. The rate of loss typically speeds up after age 60but, again, people who strength train tend to hang onto their muscle. If you start strength training when you're older, you might even build more muscle than you had in your youth.Even if you havent hit age 30, think of yourself as putting muscle in the bank that you can use later. Somebody who is strong at age 25 is building the muscle (and the habits that keep them exercising!) that will keep them from being frail at age 75.Strength training improves bone densityBesides sarcopenia, osteoporosis (a loss of bone mineral density) also contributes to the risk of devastating fractures and to a loss of independence, especially as we age. Muscle loss and bone density loss have been referred to as musculoskeletal aging, a phenomenon that is at least partially preventable with strength training.Bone grows stronger when you put stress on it, which is why weight bearing activities are commonly recommended for people at risk of osteoporosis. That doesnt refer specifically to weight training, but rather to activities where youre supporting your own weight. Walking, running, and jumping are weight bearing. (Swimming is not weight bearing).But weight training does also improve bone density. Unless youre great at walking or even jumping on your hands (which, I must note, requires a lot of strength and muscle), a good way to get healthy stress on the bones of your upper body is to do plenty of resistance training. That could include training with barbells, dumbbells, resistance machines, or other tools.Strong muscles may prevent injuryInjury prevention is a big and nebulous topic, so its hard to point at specific evidence that strength training in general reduces injuries in general. But ask any good coach, or any good physical therapist, and theyll tell you that they encourage their players and patients to build strength to prevent injuries and to recover from them when they happen.Strength training gives you stronger muscles, bones, and connective tissue like tendons. In a sports context, stronger athletes seem to be more resistant to injury. And even in everyday lifelets say a person who might slip and fallbeing strong and agile makes it easier to avoid unexpected obstacles. You may also have an easier time catching yourself when you begin to fall.Theres also evidence that exercise, including strength training, is a useful tool in managing back pain, arthritis, and other conditions.Muscle makes you better at running, yoga, and other activitiesMaybe youre cool with exercise, but still a bit skeptical of the benefits of strength training specifically. You just want to run the trails, take a barre class, maybe do some yoga. Well, muscle helps with those things, too.If youre a runner, for example, strength training helps to prevent injuries (including those nagging overuse injuries like shin splints and achy knees). More muscle in your legs also means a better ability to run up the hills of those trails and dodge rocks and tree roots on the way down.Stronger runners tend to be better runners.Or lets say youre more into yoga. More strength and muscle will help you to be able to do more advanced poses, to do the medium-difficulty ones more confidently, and to do the easy ones with true ease. Or to put it another way: nobody ever thinks, in the middle of a yoga class, I wish I had less core strength.You get the idea. Rock climbing is more fun when youve got more upper body muscle. Cycling is more fun when you have powerful legs. Even outside the formal sports world, muscle helps you to carry mulch in your garden, to load your suitcase overhead without endangering your fellow airplane passengers, to help a friend move without spending the next two days on the couch popping Advil. So when you notice your body gaining a little bit of muscle, just think of all the opportunities it opens for younot just how it looks.

Android phones have been the first to feature a bunch of notable standards. They were the first to support 4G, 5G, USB-C (way back in 2015 no less) and in-screen fingerprint sensors. And when it comes to wireless charging, you can trace that lineage all the way back to the Samsung Galaxy S3 from 2012 (though the webOS-poweered Palm Pre and its Touchstone charger is the true OG). Unfortunately, when it came to adding support for the Qi2 wireless charging standard to devices in 2024, it feels like Android phone makers were stuck on outdated patch notes.The Qi2 standard was officially announced in early 2023 during CES. We even gave it an award, as the spec looked to bring 15-watt wireless charging (and possibly more in future revisions), improved safety and critically the introduction of Magnetic Power Profiles that make it a cinch to align and attach compatible charging pads. In essence, Qi2 was set to bring the simplicity and ease of use iPhone owners enjoy with MagSafe products to the Android ecosystem.Not a single phone from any of the top three Android phone makers in the US (Samsung, Google and Motorola) offered support for Qi2 in 2024. Photo by Sam RutherfordEven more surprising is that in a rare move for a company that likes keeping its tech siloed neatly inside the walls of its ecosystem, Apple shared core parts of the MagSafe spec with other members of the Wireless Power Consortium (which is the governing body that oversees the Qi and Qi2 standards) to speed up development and interoperability. So youd think after seeing the convenience and popularity of MagSafe accessories among iPhone users, Android phone makers would have rushed out to add Qi2 to as many devices as possible. But nearly two full years after the spec was finalized, the grand total of Android handsets that support Qi2 stands at one: the HMD Skyline.At this point, you might be saying that product development cycles are multi-year processes that are difficult to change prior to launch. And in most cases, youd probably be right. But let's be honest, its not like Samsung, Google, Lenovo and others didnt see this coming. Like Apple, practically all of the big Android phone makers are also members of the WPC, so they would have known about the development of Qi2 long before it was officially announced. On top of that, the first iPhone with MagSafe was the iPhone 12, which came out four years ago. So even if we assume that the first time Samsung, Google et al were presented with the idea of a magnetic wireless charging system was during Apples keynote in the fall of 2020, youd imagine thats still more than enough time to engineer similar technology for use on todays Galaxy and Pixel handsets.The HMD Skyline was the only Android phone to feature Qi2 this year. Photo by Sam RutherfordFor manufacturers, another concern when adopting a new standard is that there may not be enough accessories and other compatible peripherals on sale to make implementation of new tech worth it. Weve seen this in the past with modular phones like the LG G5 and Moto Z Force line and the funky palm-reading tech on the LG G8. However, because Qi2 and MagSafe gadgets are largely interchangeable, theres already a huge market of options like Ankers MagGo line of power banks, which are some of my current favorite portable battery packs.Another annoyance is that some phones like the Razr Plus and Pixel 9 Pro Fold will even stick magnetically to some Qi2 accessories and may even suck down a tiny bit of juice. Unfortunately, this is more of a coincidence caused by the magnets used to help keep foldables open or closed, rather than an intentional use case. This means that even though these devices may appear to support Qi2 at first glance, accessories dont maintain a firm grip and often slide off even in what appear to be ideal circumstances. Even cases that claim to add support for Qi2 are hit or miss, resulting in a poor experience for Android phone owners hoping to recreate the magic of MagSafe on their own. Its really a shame, because it almost feels like with a few small tweaks Google, Moto and others could unlocked Qi2 support on a wider range of devices without a ton of extra effort or cost.The lack of Qi2 support on Android phones is preventing users from enjoying a huge range of handy charging accessories. Photo by Sam Rutherford/EngadgetUnfortunately, while many Chinese phone makers have avoided Qi2 up until this point, thats sort of to be expected with manufacturers like Oppo often favoring proprietary tech like its 65-watt AirVOOC wireless charging instead of more widely accessible industry standard. And because the Galaxy S24 family came out at the very beginning of 2024, Samsung didnt have quite as much time to add Qi2 to its current flagship lineup as Google, which launched the Pixel 9 series just a few months ago. Regardless, this still doesnt explain the general reluctance of OEMs to adopt what Id argue is one of the most meaningful upgrades in accessibility and general usability you can add to a smartphone today.But the most frustrating thing is that six months ago, our friends at CNET pondered why we had yet to see any Qi2 Android phones. And as were nearing the end of the year, theres still only a single model trying to spark hope that 2025 will be different. So kudos to HMD for doing what Samsung, Google et al. couldnt be bothered to figure out. Now Im just worried that if things dont change next year, one of the most promising standards could end up in the graveyard (at least for Android phones) before ever getting a chance to thrive.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/android-phone-makers-dropped-the-ball-on-qi2-in-2024-191029769.html?src=rss

Google is rumored to be adding Gemini Live to Chrome browser.

How well will Netflix handle Beyonc's halftime show? She has a thought.