Players score accidental multi-eliminations with random shots and more wins.

By TREVOR HOGGImages courtesy of Laura Pedro.Laura Pedro, Visual Effects SupervisorEven though Society of the Snow thrust Laura Pedro into the international spotlight and garnered a nomination at the VES Awards as well as trophies from the European Film Awards and Goya Awards, she has been amassing an impressive portfolio that includes A Monster Calls, Way Down (aka The Vault) and Superlpez. Born and raised in Montgat, Spain, Pedro currently resides in Barcelona where she is a visual effects supervisor for El Ranchito.I did not come from an artistic family, but I always liked photography. When I was little, my father gave me his camera, and I began trying to tell stories with it; that is when I figured out this is maybe something for me. When I was 16, our English teacher proposed to us to make a project for the government that would give us money to learn English outside of Spain. My classmates and I decided to make a movie about the robbery of The Scream by Edvard Munch. We won the money to travel to Toronto and stayed there for a month to learn English and finish the movie. The intervening years have strengthened her self-confidence. The difference from then to now is I finally found my own voice.Photography teaches the fundamentals of making an image. I know a lot of things about visual effects, but in the end, its all about light, Pedro notes. If you dont know anything about light, its impossible to tell things with images. Its incredible how photography connects with everything. Originally, the plan was to study photography, not visual effects, at ESCAC (Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya), which is the alma mater of filmmaker J.A. Bayona. I had an accident during the first year of school; I lost all of the exams and couldnt specializein photography. Because of that, I decided to go for my second selection, which was visual effects. The schooling was beneficial as it provided an overall understanding of the filmmaking process. When I was studying, every week we did a short film, and I was either producing or doing camera or directing. That caused me to work with different teams and learn various things for five years. When I finished school, it was easy for me to start as a visual effects supervisor and compositor, and know what the director wants and help them with visual effects.Robert Zemeckis has left a lasting cinematic impression. There are a lot of movies that I cant get out of my mind, like Death Becomes Her and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In my career, I normally do invisible effects, but when I have the opportunity to do comedies with visual effects, its fun for me to be part of that. Of course, you know that its fake, but they tried to do it in the most realistic way. Innovation can come from unlikely sources. InDeath Becomes Her, they developed how to do skin in CGI, then the same technology was used for Jurassic Park. For me, its interesting and cool that you are developing a technology not doing Titanic, but a comedy. Its awesome to have the chance to create new technology. This has never happened in Spain because the industry is small, but we have the opportunity in the films we make to take the technology from the big productions and try to use it in our smaller ones, and teach the producers in Spain that they can trust these new technologies and ways of working with visual effects.Pedro on a set for The Vault (aka Way Down), which is part of the supporting chamber located under the Bank of Spain.(Photo: Jorge Fuembuena)Its important to have role models. Now that we have the schools, maybe in 10 years I will work with more supervisors who are women. Its not about gender. Its more about the age you start doing visual effects or become avisual effects supervisor because Im 34 and other supervisors I know are 40 or 50. We are not of the same age and have different ways of thinking.Laura Pedro, Visual Effects SupervisorOver the past decade, a better understanding of visual effects has taken root in the Spanish film industry where digital artists are brought into pre-production to properly plan for complex shots rather than being seen simply as post-production fixers. Visual effects are in all of the productions, so its easy to work continually, Pedro states. There are more visual effects companies that do television commercials trying to upgrade to narrative fiction. Television and streaming have become a driving force in Spain. Here, the film productions are small, so television and streaming productions allow us to continue working through the year. Maybe you do a film and at the same time two TV shows.Filmic visual effects have made their way to the small screen. The difference when you do a project like Game of Thrones or Ripley is that theres a lot of work in pre-production trying to find the perfect design with the cinematographer and production designer in the most cinematic way, Pedro remarks. Other projects work faster. One has to be willing to adapt. In the end, every project, director and producer is different. Its like a new adventure. When I begin working with a new client, I need to have a lot of patience, try to understand and be faster because I only have three months. Normally, I work with visual reference found on the Internet or pictures or videos taken with my camera. I have this capacity to find what is exactly in the mind of the filmmaker with the reference that I have imagined and later start working with our team doing the concept.Pedro in the Andes in Chile while shooting the scenes where Nando and Canessa attempt to find help in Society of the Snow. (Photo: Quim Vives)For Society of the Snow, the art department built two fuselages and the previs department at El Ranchito helped director J.A. Bayona design each shot of the crash. (Photo: Quim Vives)Pedro participated as Visual Effects Supervisor in the Spanish interpretation of the superhero genre, which resulted in Superlpez (2018).In 2013, Pedro made her debut as a visual effects supervisor for Barcelona nit destiu (Barcelona Summer Night) by director Dani de la Orden, and she would reunite with him a decade later for Casa en flames (A House on Fire), which is currently the most viewed movie in Catalonia. A major career turning point occurred when the emerging talent was recruited by a prominent Spanish visual effects company. I was doing a short film for a Spanish singer named David Bisbal, and El Ranchito called me to begin working with them on A Monster Calls, Pedro recalls. Flix Bergs [Founder and President, El Ranchito] is my mentor, and I learned from him its better to start with the real world and plates, and after that begin working with CGI because that mixture works better for the human eye. Also, he gave me the power to say, No when Im on set.Pedro and Special Effects Supervisor Pau Costa with their Goya Award for Best Special Effects for Society of the Snow in 2024. (Photo: Papo Waisman)Visual Effects Supervisor Flix Bergs, Special Effects Supervisor Pau Costa and Pedro celebrate Society of the Snow winning the Goya Award for Best Special Effects in 2024. (Photo: Ana Beln Fernandez)Visual Effects Supervisor Flix Bergs and Pedro on the set of A Monster Calls (2016), which was their first project together. (Photo: Quim Vives)Pedro after winning her first Goya Award in 2019 for Superlpez. which was shared with Special Effects Supervisor Llus Rivera.Personal highlights include a childrens fantasy tale, a comic book adaptation and the recreation of a historical event. Its not common in Spain to do a movie about a superhero like Superlpez, Pedro observes. We had to build a robot that was 10 to 12 meters tall. Before Superlpez I worked on A Monster Calls where we needed to build a monster that was also 12 or 13 meters tall, so I knew how to film a movie about this difference of dimensions and create something really big. Society of the Snow is a movie that has entirely invisible visual effects. We achieved that by traveling to the Valley of Tears, doing all of the environments with real photography, managing all of this material and developing the tools to work with five vendors at the same time while maintaining consistency. It was a lot of work.Nowadays, the protg has become a mentor. Its important to have role models, Pedro states. Now that we have the schools, maybe in 10 years I will work with more supervisors who are women. Its not about gender. Its more about the age you start doing visual effects or become a visual effects supervisor because Im 34 and other supervisors I know are 40 or 50. We are not of the same age and have different ways of thinking. Patience is a key trait. The most important thing is to be yourself and talk about things. I continue to learn by reading books and watching films. I try to remain connected with the technology and new tools, but its completely impossible to know everything. Real-time and machine learning have introduced new ways of working. There is a good and bad way of using technology. We need to be calmer because we rely on each other in the end to do the things that we love, which in turn creates an emotional response from the audience.

The gods are dying. More specifically, theyre being killed. The world is on the other side of the cataclysmic Great Divine War, losing its magic as it waits for a prophesied savior. But thats not this story. This is the story before that. The story of Ever and Rake, two Godkillers lost in their own grief as they try to find answers in a world that offers none until they find each other.This is the story of Godkiller: Balance. First premiering in August 2024, Godkiller: Balance is a prestige drama actual play podcast that explores how we cope with grief, often to our own detriment. The limited series features a pantheon of guest performers to play the gods themselves, including Brennan Lee Mulligan, Matt Mercer, Arabia Iyengar, Anjali Bhimani, Luis Carazo, and Christian Navarro. While these big names bring some of the most emotionally resonant performances of their actual play career to the table, the heart of the series lies with its three core cast members: Gina Susanna as Ever, Jannes Wessels as Rake, and Em Carlson as everyone else.Over the course of 20 episodes, audiences listen to the parallel journeys of the tender-hearted, obsessively driven Ever and the cynically numb Rake. Ever, searching for a cure to the disease that took her father-figure, and Rake, obediently following the violent whims of his divine mother, find mirror images of themselves in one another as they discover that chasing redemption can either save us or destroy us.A cast member of BlackwaterDNDs main campaign, Wessels portrayal of Rakes tortured submission evokes Theon Greyjoys Reek from Game of Thrones. Susanna, an up-and-coming performer in the actual play space, offers a nuanced range of hope and despair in her performance as Ever, cycling from tender, gentle love to bottomless despair with a level of craftsmanship that allows her to hold her own alongside titans of the actual play medium.Facilitating the series is BlackwaterDND cast member Carlson, who wields faer experience as a mental health professional as both a shield and a sword, creating space for some of the most emotionally powerful role-playing Ive encountered as an actual play critic. Carlsons editing and sound design, though subtle, supports the cast by balancing gameplay with performance while leaving room for the heartbreaking silences in between.This series is not for everyone, though. Godkiller, a holypunk dark fantasy game designed by Connie Chang of Transplaner renown, is not a high-paced, action-packed comedy vehicle. The series takes its time developing these arcs, reveling in the weight of the world it has built though you will be rewarded if you slow down enough to hold that weight with it. It doesnt shy away from navigating the reality of its chosen theme, weaving emotional abuse, substance use, and derealization into its narrative web (with corresponding content warnings before each episode).Though Balance is technically a prequel to BlackwaterDNDs previous series Godkiller: Oblivion, the series doesnt require any previous knowledge of the world though viewers of BlackwaterDNDs main campaign will find easter eggs from the shared universe. As of this writing, 10 of the 20 installment limited series have premiered, meaning there is plenty of time to catch up as the series moves into its second act.Episodes of Godkiller: Balance premiere biweekly on BlackwaterDND, or wherever podcasts are found.

I dont want to speak too soon, but its entirely possible were on the cusp of a new golden age of holiday themed horror movies. In just the last couple of years, weve had the Christmas-set Terrifier 3; Y2K, which focuses on a very specific New Year; and Eli Roths surprisingly fun, and unsurprisingly gory, Thanksgiving and thats not even mentioning all the Halloween-set horror films, which seem too easy to count. The latest inclusion is (hopefully) Heart Eyes, a new Valentines Day slasher, that got a new trailer on Tuesday.Heart Eyes is all about a serial killer who wears a mask with LED hearts for eyes, and murders couples every Valentines Day. The trailer is light on story details, but it seems likely that this is a movie where the premise speaks for itself: A couple (Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding) are going to be chased by the titular killer, and a whole lot of people are going to get killed, and thats probably all we really need to know.Adding to the hope that this movie could be better than just a holiday gimmick is the exciting creative team behind it. Heart Eyes is written and produced by Christopher Landon, the writer and director of the Happy Death Day movies, and directed by Josh Ruben who previously directed Werewolves Within, and is a frequent guest star on Dropout series like Make Some Noise. Heart Eyes is set to arrive in theaters on Feb. 7.

Earlier this week, RPG news forum EN World announced their annual community-decided list of the Top 10 most anticipated tabletop roleplaying games. While a number of these selections overlap with Polygons own list, overall it seems to predict that 2025 will be a year of building on the foundations of a consumer base that wants a familiar TTRPG experience from someone other than Wizards of the Coast. The games on this list largely break down into three categories: new editions, IP adaptations, and fantasy heartbreakers.At the top of ENs list sits Son of Oaks Legend In The Mist as the most anticipated game of 2025. A more story-focused approach to the fantasy RPG genre, Legend in the Mist uses a version of the tag-based system created for Son of Oaks City In The Mist game. Having crowdfunded over $855,000 in March 2024, Legend in the Mist purports to provide a D&D-like experience that prioritizes player agency and character development; rather than use a series of stats and ability scores, players use a shifting series of story tags that reflect their narrative priorities to add modifiers to a 2d6 rolling system.In a year where D&D is attempting to push its own updated edition amidst a series of shifting priorities like a push for more IP integration into video games, pinball machines, and online gambling products alongside the growing shift away from the brand since the OGL crisis of 2021, audiences seem to be looking to get their fantasy fix in other places. However, if this list is to be believed, they mostly want to go to somewhere they already trust. This includes the new edition of story-focused fantasy game 13th Age (which has been highly anticipated for at least three years, according to the list) and another repeat appearance from Dolmenwood by Necrotic Gnome, the publisher behind the highly acclaimed Old-School Essentials system.Game designer and YouTuber Matt Colvilles Draw Steel and actual play sensation Critical Roles Daggerheart both made the list, leveraging their prominence in the tabletop space that once came from playing D&D. Games based on beloved intellectual properties also made their way onto the list, with Terry Pratchetts Discworld and Brandon Sandersons Cosmere sitting towards the top both of which crowdfunded millions of dollars for RPGs based on best-selling fantasy books with expansive worlds.Veering somewhat away from fantasy and into other genres, three sci-fi games made it onto the list, though each have something else backing up their anticipated status. In the 10th spot was the second edition of Starfinder by Paizo, the science fiction sibling of Pathfinder, arguably the most popular D&D competitor. The final two on the list are both new editions of sci-fi games by Swedish publisher Free League: their original system Coriolis: The Great Dark, and an updated edition of the Alien RPG, based on the iconic film of the same name.While this is only one segment of the tabletop audience, there seems to be room for other games to grow in the shadow of The Worlds Most Popular Tabletop Roleplaying Game.

This week, young adults are calling each other "treatler," vowing to show up at the beach with a full bush in a bikini, and playing an online game that has been heavily censored by China. Read on to unpack all this, plus learn why goats like to jump in fire. Who (or what) is "Treatler?""Treatler" and "Treatlerite" are online insults that combine "treat" and "Hitler." They refer to the entitlement of some users of services like Doordash or Uber Eats, specifically people who seem to regard luxury delivery services as a human right, and don't consider the hardships of the people who do the work that makes "private taxis for burritos" possible. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. The term "treatlerite" was coined by X user @posting_forever, and is becoming online shorthand for the type of person who files an angry report when the Instacart driver buys the wrong brand of ice cream. The argument gets deeper when you consider that many disabled people say they rely on these services. But is this a good argument? Some say, "nope." This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. There's nothing new about having a pizza delivered, but the widespread use of services like DoorDash and Grubhub has created a new class of gig workers, but we don't usually think about the corresponding "upper class" of people wealthy enough to pay someone else to go grocery shopping for them. It's interesting how the new upper class has exactly the same problem with this as their old-school counterparts. Weighing "I'm paying a lot for this, so I expect good service" with "the people I pay to do my menial tasks are worthy of respect too" has never been easy, and thanks to capitalism, young people are trying to make it make sense without having been born into a wealthy family. Why is everyone talking about "full bush in a bikini?"TikTok user sujindah signaled the possible future of seaside grooming habits this week by posting a video of her repeating the phrase "full bush in a bikini:" The video has been played over 13 million times in the past three days, and commenters are vowing to go "full werewolf feral" this summer. Sujindah credits an Etsy review of a bikini, "where the girl had a full bush," for "radicalizing" her on the topic. "That's how it should be!" she says.I'm sure many of you reading this are old enough to remember when every bikini contained a full bush, so there's nothing new under the sun, but it's encouraging when young women look at societal beauty expectations and say, "I'm not gonna do it, and you can't make me." What's up with Jerkmate Ranked?While young women are vowing to not clear the brush before their trip to Kauai, young men are making jokes about jerking it, specifically, "Jerkmate ranked," or "competitive gooning." Gooning, as defined by me in my guide to Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang, refers to extended masturbation without orgasm. Jerkmate is an adult website that puts users in public chatrooms while they watch live streams, so the joke of "Jerkmate ranked" is that there is a competitive element to gooning. Meme-makers are posting sarcastic brags about their rank on Jerkmate, or imagining the rules of competitive gooning. Jerkmate doesn't really offer ranked "matches," but I wouldn't be surprised if they were working on it at this moment. Everyone is playing Marvel Rivals, but no one can mention Winnie the Pooh.Marvel Rivals is the current must-play online game. Launched just over a month ago, the team-based PVP shooter set in the Marvel universe is the best-selling game on Steam (it's free to download, so I guess that's more like "most downloaded") and the third most-played game on the streaming service. It lets gamers play as a Marvel character. The roster includes both well known heroes like Iron Man and Hulk, but also obscure Marvel creations like Squirrel Girl and Peni Parker.Marvel Rivals is causing international controversy and highlighting China's growing control over discourse in gaming and pop culture in general. Marvel Rivals was developed by China's NetEase Games, and the game censors politically touchy language related to China in its chat. Captain America cannot type "Free Hong Kong" in a Marvel Rivals chat window, and Groot cannot respond with "Remember the Tiananmen Square Massacre!" Players can't reference Winnie the Pooh (because of memes pointing out the characters resemblance to Chinese leader Xi Jinping) nor can they type "Taiwan is a country." But you can type "911 was an inside job." Viral videos of the week:A goat jumps in a fire and Disney gingerbread horrorThis week features two viral videos, because they're short. The first was posted by Instagram user xiaoling5350, and it features seemingly suicidal goats jumping into a fireplace in someones's living room. Even after being pulled out of the flames, the goats return to the inferno, as if intent on ending their life. View this post on Instagram Along with jokes about self-cooking curry, many viewers of this video (including myself) wonder why a goat would jump into a fire repeatedly. Goats and fire have a deep relationship. Goats are famously happy to eat anything, so they can be used to prevent wildfires by setting them free to gobble up underbrush. But they seem to love flames: there are tons of videos of goats playing around with fire and reports of the animals creepily staring into campfires. The accepted explanation on the internet is that goats burn themselves to kill parasites in their fur or throat, but I'm not buying it. How often would wild goats have been close enough to fire to have developed this behavior, and wouldn't being drawn to fire ultimately kill more goats than it helped? So I'd like to propose a second explanation: Goats are really stupid and don't know no better.The second viral video poses no questions about animal behavior; it's just funny. TheMainStreetDuo are Disney fanatics who posted a hilariously simple video of an interaction during a Disneyland parade. While giant gingerbread men are walking by, half of the Main Street Duo takes a huge bite of a gingerbread man cookie, leading to horror. Not much too it, but it's funny enough to have been viewed over a hundred million times.

From market conditions, to location, to your individual finances, the path to buying a home can look wildly different from person to person. (For a little snapshot of what that range can look like, consider a few of the first-time homebuyers I've interviewed). According to October 2024 data from ICE Mortgage Technology, the average time to buy a house, from contract to closing, was 44 days. Of course, that timeline doesn't factor in pre-purchases phases like setting your budget, figuring out where you want to live, and shopping for a place you actually want to buy. For instance, right now my mom is currently moving housesright down the road, but still, a move is a move. I've followed along with her every step of the way, and her timeline has been an (anecdotally) far more typical four-to-six months from start to finish. With the understanding that the process can vary significantly depending on your circumstances, here's an easy-to-read timeline detailing how long most people can expect at each stage of the home-buying journey.Stage 1: Pre-purchase preparation (1-2 months)When you're thinking about buying a home, there's a lot that goes into the timeline before you even consider house-hunting. Let's break it down.Getting pre-approved (3-7 days)A pre-approval letter is key to make your offer more attractive to sellers. It can also streamline the buying process, since being pre-approved can speed up the final loan approval once you've found a home you want to buy. Plus, the pre-approval process is prime time to uncover any problems with your credit or finances early on, giving you time to address them.The pre-approval process involves:Gathering financial documents (pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements)Submitting a mortgage applicationHaving your credit checkedReceiving a pre-approval letter detailing how much you can borrowSetting your budget and criteria (1-2 weeks)One of the biggest challenges to home buying is figuring out exactly how much house you can reasonably afford. It's crucial not to skip this step and to simply go with the number a bank gives you, as you probably don't want to end up "house poor," paying so much for your mortgage that you have little left over for other expenses and savings. The "25% rule of thumb" as a helpful, if conservative, guideline; under this calculation, you will aim to spend no more than 25% of your net monthly income on your mortgage and property taxes. During this stage, you'll:Determine your comfortable monthly paymentResearch target neighborhoodsCreate a list of must-haves and nice-to-havesInterview and select a real estate agentStage 2: House hunting (1-3 months)This stage varies the most in duration, depending on market conditions and your specific requirements. During this phase, you'll:View multiple properties (often 10+ homes)Attend open housesResearch comparable salesRefine your criteria based on what you seeOnce again, the current market conditions can significantly impacts this timeline. In a seller's market, you might need to move quickly and make multiple offers before one is accepted.Stage 3: Making an offer and negotiations (3-7 days)Once you find "the one," things start to move quickly, as you:Submit your offer with pre-approval letterNegotiate terms with the sellerReach an agreement on price and conditionsSign the purchase agreementSubmit earnest money depositStage 4: Under contract period (30-45 days)This is the most detail-oriented phase of the process, but a lot of the work will likely be handled by your attorney and your lender while you sign a lot of paperwork and email them for updates every few days. This stage involves:Getting a home inspection (Week 1)Schedule and complete inspection (2-4 hours)Review inspection report (1-2 days)Negotiate repairs or credits (2-5 days)Make sure you save your home inspection report and turn it into a DIY to-do list after purchasing.Bank appraisal (Weeks 1-2)Lender orders appraisalAppraiser visits propertyReview and address any valuation issuesMortgage processing (Weeks 1-4)Submit additional documentation to lenderUnderwriting reviewAddress any conditions or questionsReceive final loan approvalTitle work (Weeks 2-3)Title search conductedTitle insurance arrangedProperty survey (if required)Review of any deed restrictions or easementsStage 5: Closing preparation (1 week)The final stretch includes:Final walk-through of the propertyReview of closing disclosureArrangement of funds for closingScheduling closing time and locationStage 6: Closing day (2-3 hours)Congrats! You're finally at the finish line. The big day involves:Final document review and signing (a lot of signing)Fund transferKey handoverRecording of new deedTips for staying on schedule when buying a houseThere's no shortage of circumstances that can lengthen the home-buying process. The appraisal could come in low, forcing you to renegotiate your offer, for example. Or the inspection could reveal issues with the property that requires extensive negotiations with the seller over who will pay for the repairs. You might also struggle to get your mortgage approved or face other bank delays.With so much of the housing market outside your control, keep the process moving by staying on top of what you can control. Respond as soon as possible to all requests for documentation or signatures, and make sure you have your funds readily available when it's time to close. And of course, even though we all should know certain terms, theres no shame in a quick refresher of all the terms you need to know when buying a home so you can be more responsive and better informed when your attorney gives you the latest update.Remember that while this timeline represents a typical home-buying process, every situation is unique. Working with experienced professionals and staying organized can help keep your purchase on track and minimize delays.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.No matter how handy or non-handy you are, theres a good chance you have a power drill somewhere in your home (honestly, it should be part of any basic tool chest). Theyre useful for a wide range of DIY projects, from screwing together furniture to more involved projects.If youve only used the standard bits that come with your basic power drill, youre missing out on a lot of usefulnessyour power drill can actually work like several tools in one. Some of these uses are obvious, like screwdriver bits or a paint mixing attachment, but there are some truly unexpected drill attachments out there that can make even the cheapest electric drill an incredibly versatile and useful tool.Paint sprayerPaint sprayers can make paint jobs much faster and much easier to tackle, resulting in a nice, smooth finish without the tedious process of recharging paint brushes and rollers continuously. But if you dont need one often, or only have to deal with small paint projects, having a paint spraying attachment gives you the ability to do pro-level painting whenever you need to. You can see the paint sprayer in action in this video, where it does a pretty solid job without the commitment of a dedicated sprayer.Roller dryerPainting is one of the cheapest and easiest upgrades you can make to any room in your home, but cleanup can be a pain. Thats especially true for paint rollers, which become frustratingly saturated with paint. A paint roller cleaner attachment for your drill makes cleanup incredibly fast and easy. You can see the process in this videoyou spin the roller in a bucket to force as much paint out as possible, then you spin it in a bucket of water. The end result? A perfectly clean roller ready for the next job.Log splitterIf youve got a wood-burning fireplace or stove at home, you already know that splitting logs can be a literal pain in your back. A wood-splitting drill attachment like this one makes it much, much easier once you get the hang of it (you can see one in action here).Vent cleanerThere are a lot of hard ways to clean your dryer vent (and a lot of very wrong ways), but it needs to be part of the basic maintenance you do on a regular basis if you want your dryer to keep functioning at peak efficiency (and last as long as possible). If you have a power drill, just buy a vent cleaning kit like this one and you can have sparkling, clean vents in no time.Metal cutterCutting sheet metal with a pair of manual shears or snips can be a slow and even painful process (those edges are sharp), and cutting straight lines is a real challenge. A metal-cutting attachment like this one makes the job a lot easier. How much easier? Just watch a similar attachment slice through some sheet metal like butter in this video.Reciprocating sawBuying new power tools for one-time use is a waste of money, and even having a tool like a reciprocating saw on hand for the occasional need means youve got something taking up space and requiring maintenance with very little payoff. Believe it or not, you can buy an attachment that turns your drill into a very effective reciprocating saw, perfect for when you need to quickly saw through something in the middle of a project but dont need to own a saw full-time.AugerLike to garden? Need to sink some fence posts? An auger attachment for your drill and your job just got a lot easier. Your drill can power surprisingly enormous augers, actually, though if youre going to be doing heavy-duty fence post drilling youll probably be better off with a dedicated auger instead. But for gardening and the occasional post-sinking, a drill attachment is an economical and effective choice.PumpThe worst time to realize that you really need a pump is when you really need a pump. Luckily, this attachment turns any power drill into a transfer pump capable of draining or transferring liquids through a standard garden hose. Whether you need to pump fuel out of a tank or get rid of some standing water, this little attachment can save you the trouble and cost of having a utility pump on hand.

Longstanding solar generator company Jackery is leveling up the US roof game with the introduction of XBC curved solar shingles. Debuting at CES 2025, Jackerys curved solar roof tiles come in terracotta or obsidian, designed to match some of the most common house styles in the country. While solar shingles definitely already exist in the US, these are the first with a wavy aesthetic. It sounds like HOA presidents everywhere just lost one more excuse for preventing your rooftop solar installation.JackeryThe new tiles deliver a cell conversion efficiency of more than 25 percent, and theyre built to withstand extreme weather conditions, including hail, high wind and temperatures between -40 degrees F and 185 degrees F. Theyre designed in line with traditional roofing installation practices, featuring a modular setup that allows for flexible, piecemeal maintenance. Jackery provides a 30-year warranty on the tiles, too.The Jackery Solar Roof system integrates with the companys existing in-home solar solutions, including the HomePower Inverter, Battery, Hub and Hub Plus, and the Solar Generator 5000 Plus and Smart Transfer Switch Kit.Theres no word on specific pricing or availability for the new tiles just yet, even though Jackery was highlighting them in a big way at CES 2025. Jackery, founded in Silicon Valley in 2012, is one of the leading names in portable generators and whole-home solar kits, a market that's becoming more accessible by the year.EngadgetAlso at this year's show, Jackery showed off its first Solar Generator RV Kit, the new 3000v2 backup generator, and its full-coverage HomePower Energy System.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/jackerys-curved-solar-roof-tiles-are-so-normie-even-your-hoa-might-like-them-000009034.html?src=rss

You probably didnt have X CEO Linda Yaccarino praising Meta and Mark Zuckerberg on your CES 2025 bingo card, yet here we are. Speaking during a keynote address in Las Vegas, Yaccarino described Metas decision to end its longtime fact checking program and implement community notes as exciting and validating.Yaccarino and and X owner Elon Musk have both championed the crowd-sourced fact-checking feature that Meta now plans to emulate on its own services. I think its really exciting when you think about community notes being good for the world and it couldnt be more validating than to see that Mark and Meta realize that, Yaccarino said. Mark, Meta, welcome to the party.Meta and Zuckerberg may find themselves in dubious company at the party, however. While X often touts the number of users who contribute to Community Notes, some researchers have pointed out flaws in the feature. A report last year from misinformation researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) noted that many misleading posts, including prominent posts from Musk himself, can rack up billions of views without receiving a correction.Its not surprising at all that Yaccarino would praise Zuckerberg's move to cut ties with the media institutions that have been its longtime partners for fact-checking content on Facebook and Instagram. Like her boss Musk, shes made no secret of her disdain for legacy media, and she spent a significant portion of her time onstage railing against legacy news that is designed to make you think a certain way.Zuckerbergs move to loosen its content moderation standards is the latest sign of just how far the Facebook founder is willing to go to realign himself with the political right as Donald Trump prepares to take office. He also added a prominent Trump backer, UFC CEO Dana White, to Metas board and elevated the companys most prominent Republican executive to run global affairs.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/linda-yaccarino-on-meta-ending-fact-checking-welcome-to-the-party-231304753.html?src=rss