Realmlords

The Apothecary Diaries wasnt just my favorite anime of 2024, but my favorite show altogether. Based on the light novel series of the same name, The Apothecary Diaries is a perfect blend of medical procedural and period drama, sprinkled with a delicious slow-burn romance between one of my favorite tropes of grumpy girl and flirty guy. Its so damn good, and every episode immediately made me want to queue up the next one.Fortunately, the second season kicks off this week. Unfortunately, because the episodes drop weekly, I cant binge them all at once. But if you havent seen this anime yet, you have the perfect opportunity to catch up on all of season 1 and have a nice backlog of season 2 to dig into. I envy you![Ed. note: This essay contains some setup spoilers for The Apothecary Diaries.]The Apothecary Diaries takes place in a fictional country thats basically patterned after Tang dynasty China and follows Maomao, the adopted daughter of an apothecary, who studies medicine herself. She works in the red-light district, often helping courtesans and other brothel workers. After being kidnapped, shes sold into indentured servitude, working in the Imperial Palaces rear palace, where the emperors concubines live. Initially, she keeps her head down, but when a medical mystery arises, Maomao cant help but poke her nose into solving it. She catches the attention of Jinshi, the eunuch who runs the rear palaces administration, who ends up promoting her to a lady-in-waiting and taste tester to one of the emperors favored concubines.For the most part, the show takes on a new mystery every episode, usually focused on some sort of medical malady or mysterious death. Since its a period piece, those medical puzzles often have compelling twists that modern viewers might not expect (for instance, Maomao uses cocoa beans to brew a powerful aphrodisiac, which definitely would work on people who havent tried chocolate before). The mysteries themselves are intriguing, and Maomaos particular approach morbid fascination combined with tenacious curiosity makes them even more fun. Shes all too eager to experiment with poisons and examine sick patients and dead bodies.Slowly, the medical mysteries build up to political intrigue. Through Maomao, we learn more about the drama going on in the emperors palace, from the rivalries between concubines to military geniuses with secret motives. That intrigue extends past the palace and into Maomaos previous life, especially after she learns about her fathers secret connection to court life. Its the sort of plot that comes to a shocking head in the first seasons finale, but looking back its evident that it was all seeded in from the beginning. All of those seemingly disjointed medical puzzles weave into greater mysteries and political plots at hand.But what really makes The Apothecary Diaries so dang wonderful is Maomao herself. Shed rather not get caught up in court politics, thank you very much. But nothing gets her going like a good medical mystery and a chance to test out new medicine and poisons. She swoons over the prospect of getting her hands on rare healing ingredients, but bristles when the concubines try to dress her up. Shes also incredibly intelligent, and when she isnt gushing over poisons and remedies, shes coolly analyzing her surroundings and calculating her next move.Maomao is a gem of a character, and because shes so distinct, her relationships with the other characters shine even more. She talks candidly with the concubines about their lives (and even gives a sex talk to two of the newer ones). She understands the order of the Imperial Palace means that she needs to keep her head down and be respectful of her superiors, but at the same time, shes not afraid of them when it comes to voicing or defending her findings.But the juiciest relationship is the one she has with Jinshi, whos just as cunning as she is. He maintains a flirtatious and carefree demeanor, but in reality, he carefully schemes behind the scenes to advance his own position and balance some secret duties. Hes also completely smitten with Maomao, even though she thinks hes silly. But every time she glares at him, he melts a little. They have wonderful banter, both of them hiding bigger secrets from each other.The first season ended with some of those big secrets coming to light, setting up some rich ground to dig into for the next season. The Apothecary Diaries is the type of show where each episode answers a bunch of questions, then immediately asks a dozen more which is what makes it the type of show that had me eagerly clicking next episode the moment the end credits rolled. And theres no better time to watch it than now, with a whole season to dive into and more coming out week by week. I cant wait for more medical mysteries, more political intrigue, and more Maomao.The Apothecary Diaries is available to stream on Crunchyroll. The first episode of season 2 is out now, with new episodes premiering on Fridays.

A new Donnie Yen movie is always a must-see event for action fans. After wowing audiences in 2023 with his role as Caine in John Wick: Chapter 4 and his wuxia epic Sakra (which he directed and starred in), as well as his memorable semi-recent turns in Rogue One and the Ip Man series, the Hong Kong legend is back with The Prosecutor, once again as both star and director.Yen will be the first to tell you that this movie is a departure from his usual subject matter The Prosecutor is primarily a courtroom drama, although the star and director of course added his signature eye for action and skill at screen fighting to the mix. Loosely based on a true story, the movie follows a former police officer who trades in his badge to start a new career as a prosecutor. But the justice-driven lawyer quickly winds up at odds with his new boss and co-workers when he believes the person they are prosecuting is innocent.While it may not fully deliver on the thorny conflicts set up by its intriguing premise, The Prosecutor is nevertheless a highly competent and engaging genre exercise, mixing grounded, high-octane action sequences with the standard court-drama genre. Polygon spoke with Yen on Zoom about how the project came together, how he was convinced to take it on, and how new technology affords new opportunities for old-school ways of filming action.This interview has been edited for concision and clarity.Polygon: What interested you about The Prosecutor?Donnie Yen: I was not interested at all. In the beginning, when the company presented it to me, I said, I have no idea how to do this movie. I do action movies. Thats my world. Why do you want me to do this? And they just thought two things. One, they really felt how I live as a person they know me, its my friends would make me perfect for that role.Secondly, these are companies Ive worked with several times in the past, like on the Ip Man series. And they said, Oh, we were prepping for the other movies, Ip Man 5 as well as Flash Point 2. Were going to produce these films, and the audience wants to see these films. But youve never done a film like [The Prosecutor]. Lets give it a try.So it took two months for me to be convinced. I said, I really have to think of an angle to do this movie. We watch tons of them, these kinds of sophisticated courtroom scenes. Im going to do a film combining the two elements. First, of course, is my core audience. They want to see Donnie Yen action. How do you combine them?Two, I dont want to create a world where people get caught in the realism of the case itself, then all of a sudden you have people flying around and kicking. I wanted to use the case as more of a driving force of the motion. So when a persons in the action, the audience can feel the emotion behind it. Ultimately, what I want to say is, the film is about driving the audience to synchronize their emotion with how I want them to react, so they get excited and emotionally attached to the story, rather than the subject itself. We had to put the action scenes in diligently we couldnt just throw in a bunch of action scenes. The audience needs to believe the characters need to go to those action moments, so they were very carefully planted.Something that stuck out to me about this film and Sakra is how you combine old-school martial arts film techniques with new technology drones, POV action sequences, and more. What is your philosophy on combining the two, and what excites you about it?I just call it the technique of telling a story through stylized camera work. In the old-school martial arts movies, we didnt have those kinds of choices. We had one camera, a still camera, and you just go about doing your fighting. Back in those days, there were no computers. I used to cut my film with the old-school film slicers. And now, of course, we are dealing with modern technologies AI, phones, and everything.I do not like to depend on technology unless its really necessary. There was a scene in the middle, in a nightclub with drone shots, and it was all real, not even one bit of CGI to enhance. I prepped the directions, choreographed the movements. We spent a whole day shooting that and half of the night going over it with the stuntman. And then the second half of the night is having the drone cameraperson test the shot. And I got the shot. Thats what I wanted, to go back to basics. So what Im trying to say is, when it comes to filmmaking, I still believe in old-school real emotion, whether its an [intellectual] expression of emotion or a physical expression of emotion. They have to be real to be convincing, so the audience can be engaged with your storytelling.Youre using the new technology thats available to you, but youre still focused on wanting it in-camera, because you want it to feel real.Absolutely. You have to. Shots come to me during the script process. Ill be going over a script with my writers or actors, and shots are already being formed in my head. Its kind of like a musician. Maybe because I play piano or something. Some sort of musical rhythm that I have in my head brings these images out.The Prosecutor is now playing in theaters.

Do you like your Instagram algorithm, but hate that it's missing political posts from accounts you don't follow? You're in luck: Starting this week in the U.S. (and next week for the rest of the world) Meta is going to start adding political content to your recommendations on Instagram and Threads by default. If you're thinking, "Hey, didn't Instagram have the exact opposite approach to this situation last year?" you'd be right. In February of 2024, the company announced it would explicitly not suggest political content from accounts you didn't follow. Unless you actively sought out this content, you could browse the app in peace, left to check out whatever interests you have outside politics.However, it is no longer February 2024. January 2025 is a much different place for Instagram, Meta, and the U.S. As Mark Zuckerberg drastically changes policies surrounding what you can say on Meta's platforms, Instagram (and, by extension, Threads) are making changes as well. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, took to Threads to announce the changes, stating that while he still doesn't believe Meta should be showing political content to people from accounts they don't follow, "a lot of people have been very clear that they want this content." View on ThreadsIndeed, it seems my Instagram settings have already flipped over, while my Threads settings have yet to. (But I have no doubt they will.) Without intervention, you'll likely start seeing more political content that may anger, upset, worry, or frustrate you. Luckily, there is something you can do about it.Removing political content from your Instagram and Threads feedsLet's start with Instagram: Open your profile, then tap the hamburger menu in the top right. Scroll down to the "What you see" section, then choose "Suggested content." Here, tap "Political content," and you'll find three options: Standard, the default, which shows "some" suggested political content; See more, which shows you more political content, if that's your jam; and See less, which is the option you want. Despite the option having "less" in the name, Instagram says it will not share political content with you when it recognizes it, so it should be enough to remove most of the content you'd come into contact with. If it's not, however, back out of this page, then tap the toggle next to Snooze suggested posts in feed. This will remove this type of content from your feed for the next 30 days. It's not perfect, but at least you have a month of peace. Credit: Jake Peterson These options should be present in much the same way on Threads, but reaching them is a bit different. Again, head to your profile, then tap the hamburger menu. Only this time, choose "Account," then "Political content." Right now, I still see the old Suggest political content setting, which is off by default.

As we muddle through another flu season, keeping things clean remains an effective way to stay healthy. But cleaning alone isnt always enough when it comes to the microscopic germs that can make us sicksometimes you have to sanitize and disinfect, as well.Theres a defined difference between cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting, and a right and wrong way to go about them. Here are the highlights, with guidance from the CDC.Cleaning vs. sanitizing vs. disinfectingFirst, let's discuss the difference between cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting, as defined by the CDC:Cleaning involves physically removing dirt, debris, and (some) germs from surfaces. This is typically done with soap or other cleaners, water, and a little scrubbing (hence the "physical" part). Cleaning only scrapes away some of the germs that can make you sick, but this is often sufficient to stay healthy in generalthe germs left on a dinner plate after you wash it in the sink are usually safe as long as youre in good health.Sanitizing greatly reduces the germs on a surface, leaving behind a level thats considered safe. Most sanitizers kill bacteria, but they arent necessarily intended to kill viruses (though they often can kill some).Disinfecting kills everythingboth bacteria and viruses.An important distinction to remember is that sanitizers and disinfectants dont clean very wellthat is, they will kill most or all of the germs, but might not do a very good job of removing dirt and debris. If you only use hand sanitizer, for example, your hands might be sanitized, but they might also still be dirty.When to clean, sanitize, and disinfectSince cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting are different things, it makes sense that you should treat them as such. Here's when to do each:Clean everything regularlyevery day. In fact, the order of germ-killing operations always starts with cleaning (removing debris and dirt), as you cant as effectively sanitize or disinfect a dirty surface. Cleaning should always comes first when you want to sanitize or disinfect something.Sanitize surfaces and objects that touch food or might end up in your mouth after every use when you're concerned about illnesses.Disinfect surfaces if youre sick (or someone else in the house is sick), or if you or someone in the home has a compromised immune system.In other words, you normally dont need to disinfect every day, but you do need to clean and sanitize specific things every day.Check your product labelsIf you want to sanitize or disinfect a surface, youll need to use a cleaning product thats appropriate to the taskbut dont put too much faith in labels. Many sanitizing products will claim they kill 99% or even 99.9% of germs, but this is usually deceptive. What they mean is that they kill 99.9% of certain bacteria and viruses. Even then, they usually dont give you any information as to the conditions under which those tests were performed underthat is, how thoroughly the surfaces were cleaned or how the product was applied.That doesnt mean sanitizers are useless, but it does mean that you shouldnt assume your home is antiseptic and completely germ-free after you use them. If you want to really kill the most bacteria and viruses as possible, you shouldnt rely solely on a sanitizing product, even if it has that shiny 99.9% claim.If youre disinfecting, make sure you read the label and follow the instructions. Most products require you to leave the disinfectant on the surface for a prolonged period of time (sometimes as long as 20 minutes) to ensure full efficacy. If you just spray and wipe, youre probably not really disinfecting. If youre looking at a sanitizer or disinfectant that uses isopropyl alcohol, also make sure its a 70% strength mixture (as opposed to a 99% alcohol mixture)the lower strength, counterintuitively, is the sweet spot for disinfecting.

CES 2025 presented us with big innovations, outrageous concepts, and impressive solutions to everyday problems. This year, the CNET Groupmade up of sibling sites CNET, ZDNET, PCMag, Mashable and Lifehackerteamed up with the CTA as the official media partner of the Best of CES Awards. Staff experts and editors weighed in, and from those discussions, we've chosen the top products and services at CES and awarded them with the official distinction of Best of CES.To be eligible for this award, the product or service needs to be an exhibitor at CES 2025, and meet one of the following criteria:Includes a compelling new concept or ideaSolves a major consumer problemIs new or is an update to an existing product that sets a new bar in performance or quality CNET Group's sibling sites have worked together to name the best products of CES 2025. Credit: CNET Group Staff Best AI: Nvidia Cosmos AI model Credit: Nvidia CES 2025 was packed with AI tech, but Nvidia Cosmos wins in our book, since it might be what the next big things in AI, robotics, and autonomous vehicles are powered by. Cosmos takes 3D models of spaces in the real world, and, through generative AI, turns them into photo-realistic videos to train robots and self-driving cars. It solves a big problem with AI training data: Traditionally, robots require a huge amount of training data to continuously improve. Cosmos, however, can generate that training data with AI, continuously feeding the training sets for new products. Cosmos will likely run best on Nvidia chips, but the company wants to open-source the code and put it on Github. Runner-up:Gemini for Google TVBest transportation/mobility: Honda 0 Series Credit: Honda Honda's futuristic 0 Series SUV and Sedan are nearly here. The company plans to release these vehicles in North America by 2026, and will be made on Honda's new battery platform in Ohio. If you pick one up, you should expect to be able to charge up your car in 10 to 15 minutes. 0 Series runs Honda's ASIMO OS on a new AI chip, with the end goal of powering Level 3 self-driving.The 0 Series we saw at CES should be pretty close to what Honda releases, unlike some of the other prototype designs shown off. We don't know how much it will cost, but we're excited about where Honda is going with its EV program. Runner-up: BMW Panoramic iDrive with Operating System XBest laptop: Asus Zenbook A14 Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt The Asus Zenbook A14's 2.2-pound design makes it obviously portable, but Asus manages to add a 30 hour-long battery life and some extra features to the package. The Ceraluminum chassis is durable (from the aluminum) and scratch-resistant (from the ceramic), not to mention 100% recyclable. The laptop ships with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X chip, which makes it a Copilot+ PC. You can expect AI features like summarization, text generation, photo editing, and using natural language to search for media. This Zenbook comes with both USB-C and HDMI 2.1, as well as fun tap-and-slide controls for volume, brightness, and track selection. The OLED display impressed our team, and the whole package seems fairly priced at $1,099 (X Elite), or $899 for the X Plus (coming in March).Runner-up: Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 RollableBest TV/home theater: LG G5 OLED TV Credit: James Martin/CNET The LG G5 was the TV that impressed us most at this year's CES, and is the front-runner for the highest quality TV of 2025. Its OLED display is 40% brighter for 2025, with better contrast in bright lighting when compared to the G4one of our favorites of 2024. The remote is improved, while the TV keeps the gallery design that makes it look nearly bezel-less. You might be temped by the M5 wireless TV, as it has the same quality display, but that wireless tech makes it much more expensive.Runner-up:Hisense 116UXBest smart home/home tech: Roborock Saros Z70 Credit: Roborock The Roborock Saros Z70 is a vacuum-mop hybrid, but it can do a lot more than that. Thanks to a new mechanical arm, the bot can pick up and put away socks off the floor. Plus, it's no prototype: The Saros Z70 will be available to consumers in April. Its vacuum has 22,000 Pa of suction power, which makes it among the most powerful robovacs out there. That won't come cheap: This model costs about $2,000. But our hope is it starts a trend where we see less expensive models hit the market. Runner-up:BioLite CompleteBest sustainability: Flint Paper Battery Credit: Katie Collins/CNET Have you ever seen a battery made out of paper before? Flint brought one it made to CESa more sustainable, scalable, and affordable alternative to lithium-ion batteries. It all comes down to cellulose, which lets ions transfer between the node and cathode of the battery. Better yet, the battery can be sized down to just about whatever size you need, such as a coin battery or the strap of a smartwatch. When you're finished with them, they don't end up in a landfill: They decompose in six weeks.Best gaming: Lenovo Legion Go S Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt Like many PC handheld consoles, the Lenovo Legion Go S runs Windows 11. But what makes this model stand out is the other operating system it is compatible with: Valve's SteamOS. That makes it the only non-Valve portable to run this OS, making it a true Steam Deck competitor. It sadly doesn't have the detachable controllers of the Legion Go, and has a smaller lower-res display, but it has a lot else going for it: two USB-4 port on top of the console, Hall Effect joysticks to prevent drifting, and an interior that better supports upgrading the storage. This will be the least expensive Legion Go device when it launches in May, at $600.Best wellness/fitness tech: Ozlo Sleepbuds Credit: Jake Peterson Ozlo's Sleepbuds impressed us by not only offering comfortable earbuds for sleeping, but ones that can potentially enhance the quality of your sleep as well. The Sleepbuds are designed to be flush with your ear, which means you can sleep on your side without feeling them pressing into you. The design also prevents them from falling out of your ear. In addition, the Sleepbuds have a number of slumber-specific perks, including biometric sensors in the earbuds that can track your sleep, sensors in the case that can identify potential sleep interruptions in your room, an in-ear alarm that won't wake up a sleeping partner, and 10-hour battery life, so you won't wake up to a dead battery notification. You can even play sound directly from the Sleepbuds without connecting to another Bluetooth device, which means you don't have to look at your phone before going to bed. They earn an official Best of CES award this year for wellness tech.Runner-up: YoctoMatBest mobile: HMD OffGrid Credit: HMD If you have a brand new smartphonesay, an iPhone 16 or Google Pixel 9you may have access to satellite communications, which lets you contact emergency services and other contacts when there's no cellular signal available. For most of us, however, these features don't exist on our phones, and if reception goes down, we're out of luck. HMD's new OffGrid accessory aims to fix this: With a $200 dongle, you can send texts and contact emergency services on any iPhone or Android device. However, you'll also need to subscribe to the monthly service, which runs $80 per year.Runner-up: TCL 60 XE NxtpaperBest privacy and security: Ultraloq Bolt Mission UWB Plus NFC Credit: Maria Diaz/ZDNET The Ultraloq Bolt Mission is the first smart lock on the market that supports ultra-wideband technology. With that, the lock can sense within inches when you're approaching the door, whether you're approaching from inside or outside your home, and can unlock without you having to touch the lock at all. If that fails for whatever reason, it has NFC for tap-to-unlock, a keypad, and a traditional key. It's protected by 128-bit AES data encryption, IP65 weather resistance, BHMA Level 1-certified durability, and it supports wifi, Matter, Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Samsung SmartThings. Plus, you only need to worry about changing the battery once a year.Runner-up: Lockly Prestige Duet SeriesBest weirdest/most unexpected: Kirin Electric Salt Spoon Credit: Jake Peterson The Kirin Electric Salt Spoon generated quite a bit of attention at CES this year. The idea is this: The spoon sends an electric current to your tongue to create the illusion that your food tastes saltier. In theory, it's a great concept, and could enable people who need to cut down on their sodium levels to enjoy food as they wish to. However, our team experienced mixed results with the spoon. Hopefully by the time it's available in the United States, things will be more consistent. Best overall: Nvidia Cosmos Credit: Nvidia While plenty of tech this year impressed us, the overall winner had to be Nvidia Cosmos. Cosmos is actively solving a problem with how robots can continue improving, and we expect it to power the next big things in tech. Nvidia is already partnering with Toyota to build next-generation self-driving cars, showing that the industry sees the potential here as well.

If you want to get Solo Loop bands for your Apple Watch in several colors, this may be your chance to grab a few at a discount. Woot is selling them for up to 70 percent lower than their actual price, so you can get the Braided Solo Loop bands that sell for $99 on the official Apple website for just $30. The regular Solo Loops are also on sale, and you'll only have to pay $20 instead of $49 for one. That's just a few dollars more than some third-party bands considered as affordable alternatives to official Apple products. Apple's Solo Loop bands for its watches are stretchable, don't have any overlapping parts and come with no clasps or buckles. The company says they're "designed to provide a precise, comfortable fit," which means you'll have to make sure to get the correct size for your wrist if you want to be able to put one on comfortably and make sure it doesn't slide off. The braided variants on sale come in several black and white hues, blues, greens, purples, reds, oranges and yellows. You can also get the rainbow-colored 2021 Pride Edition band. Apple's braided Solo Loops are made with strands of recycled polyester yarn filaments around ultrathin silicone threads. If you don't like their textured feel, you can opt for the regular Solo Loop bands made of liquid silicone rubber instead. The same colors are on sale, and you can get any of them for $20. They're sweatproof and waterproof, so they're probably the better choice for physical activities, though the braided bands are sweat- and water-resistant, as well. You'll be able to choose your watchface measurement and your wrist size on Woot. If you don't know what size you're supposed to wear, you can check out Apple's pages for its Solo Loop bands for instructions on how to measure your wrist. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apple-watch-solo-loop-bands-are-on-sale-for-up-to-70-percent-off-153001030.html?src=rss

The Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset could see the base-model S25 offer similar performance to leading Pro flagships, giving S24 users a tangible reason to upgrade.

CES 2025 is packed with futuristic tech, but these are the 11 trends that'll have the biggest impact on our gadget lives in 2025.

Someone is impersonating CrowdStrike to deploy XMRig, a popular and dangerous cryptojacker.