January 15, 20254 min readWildfires Started by Daily Human Activities Are Often More DestructiveFast-moving fires, such as the recent ones in the Los Angeles area, and those started by humans, whether accidentally or not, are often some of the most destructiveBy Virginia Iglesias & The Conversation US Fire engines drive through flames ripping across Highway 36 as the Park fire continues to burn near Paynes Creek in unincorporated Tehama County, California on July 26, 2024. Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty ImagesThe following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.Investigators are trying to determine what caused several wind-driven wildfires that have destroyed thousands of homes across the Los Angeles area in January 2025. Given the fires locations, and lack of lightning at the time, its likely that utility infrastructure, other equipment or human activities were involved.Californias wildfires have become increasingly destructive in recent years. Research my colleagues and I have conducted shows U.S. wildfires are up to four times larger and three times more frequent than they were in the 1980s and 90s. Fast-moving fires have been particularly destructive, accounting for 78% of structures destroyed and 61% of suppression costs between 2001 and 2020.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Lightning strikes are a common cause of U.S. wildfires, but the majority of wildfires that threaten communities are started by human activities.A broken power line started the deadly 2023 Maui fire that destroyed the town of Lahaina, Hawaii. Metal from cars or mowers dragging on the ground can spark fires. Californias largest fire in 2024 started when a man pushed a burning car into a ravine near Chico. The fire destroyed more than 700 homes and buildings.Chart: The Conversation (CC-BY-ND); Source: National Interagency Coordination CenterWhat makes these wildfires so destructive and difficult to contain?The answer lies in a mix of wind speed, changing climate, the legacy of past land-management practices, and current human activities that are reshaping fire behavior and increasing the risk they pose.Fires perfect stormWildfires rely on three key elements to spread: conducive weather, dry fuel and an ignition source. Each of these factors has undergone pronounced changes in recent decades. While climate change sets the stage for larger and more intense fires, humans are actively fanning the flames.Climate and weatherExtreme temperatures play a dangerous role in wildfires. Heat dries out vegetation, making it more flammable. Under these conditions, wildfires ignite more easily, spread faster and burn with greater intensity. In the western U.S., aridity attributed to climate change has doubled the amount of forestland that has burned since 1984.Compounding the problem is the rapid rise in nighttime temperatures, now increasing faster than daytime temperatures. Nights, which used to offer a reprieve with cooler conditions and higher humidity, do so less often, allowing fires to continue raging without pause.Finally, winds contribute to the rapid expansion, increased intensity and erratic behavior of wildfires. Wind gusts push heat and embers ahead of the fire front and can cause it to rapidly expand. They can also create spot fires in new locations. Additionally, winds enhance combustion by supplying more oxygen, which can make the fire more unpredictable and challenging to control. Usually driven by high winds, fast-moving fires have become more frequent in recent decades.FuelFire is a natural process that has shaped ecosystems for over 420 million years. Indigenous people historically used controlled burns to manage landscapes and reduce fuel buildup. However, a century of fire suppression has allowed vast areas to accumulate dense fuels, priming them for larger and more intense wildfires.Invasive species, such as certain grasses, have exacerbated the issue by creating continuous fuel beds that accelerate fire spread, often doubling or tripling fire activity.Additionally, human development in fire-prone regions, especially in the wildland-urban interface, where neighborhoods intermingle with forest and grassland vegetation, has introduced new, highly flammable fuels. Buildings, vehicles and infrastructure often ignite easily and burn hotter and faster than natural vegetation. These changes have significantly altered fuel patterns, creating conditions conducive to more severe and harder-to-control wildfires.IgnitionLightning can ignite wildfires, but humans are responsible for an increasing share. From unattended campfires to arson or sparks from power lines, over 84% of the wildfires affecting communities are human-ignited.Human activities have not only tripled the length of the fire season, but they also have resulted in fires that pose a higher risk to people.Lightning-started fires often coincide with storms that carry rain or higher humidity, which slows fires spread. Human-started fires, however, typically ignite under more extreme conditions hotter temperatures, lower humidity and stronger winds. This leads to greater flame heights, faster spread in the critical early days before crews can respond, and more severe ecosystem effects, such as killing more trees and degrading the soil.Human-ignited fires often occur in or near populated areas, where flammable structures and vegetation create even more hazardous conditions. Homes and the materials around them, such as wooden fences and porches, can burn quicklyand send burning embers airborne, further spreading the flames.As urban development expands into wildlands, the probability of human-started fires and the property potentially exposed to fire increase, creating a feedback loop of escalating wildfire risk.Chart: The Conversation (CC-BY-ND) Source: Virginia Iglesias, data from ICS-209_PLUS and FIREDWhiplash weatherA phenomenon known as whiplash weather, marked by unusually wet winters and springs followed by extreme summer heat, was especially pronounced in Southern California in recent years.A wet spring in 2024 fostered vegetation growth, which then dried out under scorching summer temperatures, turning into highly combustible fuel. This cycle fueled some of the biggest fires of the 2024 season, several of which were started by humans.That dryness continued in Southern California through the fall and into early winter, with very little rainfall. Soil moisture in the Los Angeles region was about 2% of historical levels for that time of year when the fires began on Jan. 7, 2025.As the factors that can drive wildfires converge, the potential for increasingly severe wildfires looms ever larger. Severe fires also release large amounts of carbon from trees, vegetation and soils into the atmosphere, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and exacerbating climate change, contributing to more extreme fire seasons.This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Rockstar shuts down ambitious mod that put GTA 4's Liberty City in GTA 5Inner city pressure.Image credit: World Travel News by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on Jan. 16, 2025 Just weeks after publicly releasing the Liberty City Preservation Project - an ambitious mod adding a playable version of Grand Theft Auto 4's map to GTA5 - its developers have confirmed the project is being taken down following conversations with Rockstar Games.The Liberty City Preservation Project - which modding team World Travel has been working on since 2018 - generated significant interest when it launched earlier this month, giving GTA 5 players a chance to explore GTA 4 protagonist Niko Bellic's old stomping ground. It featured the entire Liberty City map - complete with traffic, pedestrians, weather, and more - alongside improvements such as overhauled lighting, better textures, and new scenarios.Unfortunately, the mod's enthusiastic reception also set it on a collision course with Rockstar, and the Liberty City Preservation Project is now officially no more. As spotted by Insider Gaming, lead modder nkjellman announced its end on Discord, writing, "Due to the unexpected attention that our project received and after speaking with Rockstar Games, we have decided to take down the Liberty City Preservation project."Liberty City Preservation Project trailer.Watch on YouTube"We appreciate all the support the project has received," nkjellman continued, "and we look forward to continuing to pursue our passion for modding the Grand Theft Auto series."Nkjellman didn't specify what had drawn Rockstar's ire, but the studio has frowned on similar mods before. Back in 2017, it called time on the 'Liberty City in GTA5' mod, saying that while it "generally [would] not take legal action against third-party projects involving Rockstar's PC games that are single-player, non-commercial, and respect the intellectual property rights of third parties", it would not allow "use or importation of other IP", including its own. So it seems likely that's where the Liberty City Preservation Project has fallen foul of Rockstar's rules.Perhaps notable, too, is the fact an official GTA 4 remaster was reported to have been in the works back in 2022. At the time, the project was said to have been shelved due to the poor reception of 2021's GTA: The Trilogy remasters - but the report also referenced a supposedly canned Red Dead Redemption remaster that did eventually show up in 2023. It's possible Rockstar's rumoured GTA 4 remaster is also alive and well, which might have contributed to the Liberty City Preservation Project's swift slap-down. But regardless, 2025 is a massive year for the long-running series, with GTA 6 currently expected to release this "autumn".

submitted by /u/GM_PhillipAsshole [link] [comments]

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube792kThe folks at this Digital Foundry have this week taken a look at the latest Switch release Donkey Kong Country Returns HD.In brief, the resolution and frame rate are "surprisingly solid". This Unity-powered game runs at 1080p docked and 720p in handheld mode on the Switch - with reasonable image quality and sharper textures. Unfortunately, it's not all intact - with "some oddities" and hiccups like reduced effects and sloppy animation."The closer you look though, the more you start to spot some oddities. Visual effects that were missing in the original trailer have been implemented and improved, but there are still small hiccups - the dust clouds kicked up while pounding the DK symbol are reduced, and the animation of the barrel breaking as DK shoots out of it is a bit sloppy."You might not notice stuff like this while just playing through, but you probably would notice the missing sunset in stage three, the less glowy floating KONG letters, and simplified shadows on the intro to the first boss fight. These sorts of nips and tucks are throughout, and while these are minor changes, it still feels weird to see a game released on a vastly more powerful system with fewer effects and details."The loading times of this HD version have also been cited as being "nearly twice as long as they were on the Wii version running from a disc", which feels like a "big step back".As for the frame rate, this version of the title runs at 60fps at 1080p, which is an improvement on the 3DS entry that was dropped back to 30fps. Overall, Digital Foundry sums this latest version as both "good and disappointing" - while the remastering efforts have been "largely successful", the areas where it falls short "feel less acceptable" given the age of the original game.You can get the full rundown in the video above, and check out our own thoughts in our review here on Nintendo Life: That's what you get for not hailing to the chimpWorth going bananas over?Monkey businessWill you be returning to this Donkey Kong outing this week? Let us know in the comments.[source youtu.be, via eurogamer.net]Related GamesSee AlsoShare:00 Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesReview: Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (Switch) - Aping A Retro ClassicThat's what you get for not hailing to the chimpRound Up: The Reviews Are In For Donkey Kong Country Returns HDWorth going bananas over?

Chinese firms continue to release AI models that rival the capabilities of systems developed by OpenAI and other U.S.-based AI companies.This week, MiniMax, an Alibaba- and Tencent-backed startup that has raised around $850 million in venture capital and is valued at more than $2.5 billion, debuted three new models: MiniMax-Text-01, MiniMax-VL-01, and T2A-01-HD. MiniMax-Text-01 is a text-only model, while MiniMax-VL-01 can understand both images and text. T2A-01-HD, meanwhile, generates audio specifically speech.MiniMax claims that MiniMax-Text-01, which is 456 billion parameters in size, performs better than models such as Googles recently unveiled Gemini 2.0 Flash on benchmarks like MATH and SimpleQA, which measure the ability of a model to answer math problems and fact-based questions. Parameters roughly correspond to a models problem-solving skills, and models with more parameters generally perform better than those with fewer parameters.As for MiniMax-VL-01, MiniMax says that it rivals Anthropics Claude 3.5 Sonnet on evaluations that require multimodal understanding, like ChartQA, which tasks models with answering graph- and diagram-related queries (e.g., What is the peak value of the orange line in this graph?). Granted, MiniMax-VL-01 doesnt quite best Gemini 2.0 Flash on many of these tests. OpenAIs GPT-4o and Metas Llama 3.1 beat it on several as well.Of note, MiniMax-Text-01 has an extremely large context window. A models context, or context window, refers to input (e.g., text) that a model considers before generating output (additional text). With a context window of 4 million tokens, MiniMax-Text-01 can analyze around 3 million words in one go or just over five copies of War and Peace.For context (no pun intended), MiniMax-Text-01s context window is roughly 31 times the size of GPT-4os and Llama 3.1s.The last of MiniMaxs models released this week, T2A-01-HD, is an audio generator optimized for speech. T2A-01-HD can generate a synthetic voice with adjustable cadence, tone, and tenor in around 17 different languages, including English and Chinese, and clone a voice from just 10 seconds of an audio recording.MiniMax didnt publish benchmark results comparing T2A-01-HD to other audio-generating models. But to this reporters ear, T2A-01-HDs outputs sound on par with audio models from Meta and startups like PlayAI.With the exception of T2A-01-HD, which is exclusively available through MiniMaxs API and Hailuo AI platform, MiniMaxs new models can be downloaded from GitHub and the AI dev platform Hugging Face. Just because the models are openly available doesnt mean they arent locked down in certain aspects, however. MiniMax-Text-01 and MiniMax-VL-01 arent truly open source in the sense that MiniMax hasnt released the components (e.g., training data) needed to re-create them from scratch. Moreover, theyre under MiniMaxs restrictive license, which prohibits developers from using the models to improve rival AI models and requires that platforms with more than 100 million monthly active users request a special license from MiniMax.MiniMax was founded in 2021 by former employees of SenseTime, one of Chinas largest AI firms. The companys projects include apps like Talkie, an AI-powered role-playing platform along the lines of Character AI, and text-to-video models that MiniMax has released in Hailuo.Some of MiniMaxs products have become the subject of minor controversy.Talkie, which was pulled from Apples App Store in December for unspecified technical reasons, features AI avatars of public figures, including Donald Trump, Taylor Swift, Elon Musk, and LeBron James, none of whom appear to have consented to being featured in the app.In December, Broadcast magazine reported that MiniMaxs video generators can reproduce the logos of British television channels, suggesting that MiniMaxs models were trained on content from those channels. And MiniMax is reportedly being sued by iQiyi, a Chinese video streaming service that alleges MiniMax illicitly trained on iQiyis copyrighted recordings.MiniMaxs new models arrive days after the outgoing Biden administration proposed harsher export rules and restrictions on AI technologies for Chinese ventures. Companies in China were already prevented from buying advanced AI chips, but if the new rules go into effect as written, companies will be faced with stricter caps on both the semiconductor tech and models needed to bootstrap sophisticated AI systems.On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced additional measures focused on keeping sophisticated chips out of China. Chip foundries and packaging companies that want to export certain chips will be subjected to broader license requirements unless they exercise greater scrutiny and due diligence to prevent their products from reaching Chinese clients.Topics

Constructed of random-coursed stone, this charming building in Cornwall, Connecticut, exhibits a prominent classical entry, Tuscan pilasters, and modillion eaves. This handsome structure was completed in late 1908 following a substantial donation to the town for its first purpose-built library by summer resident John E. Calhoun. Mr. Calhoun had cultivated an interest in architecture and is said to have designed the building, and later designed his own home in the village years later. The high-style architectural building documents the transformation of Cornwall from a sleepy agricultural town into a fashionable residential retreat in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The building operated as the towns public library until 2002 when the contemporary library building was completed. This stone structure was converted to the town hall.

Richard Drury/Getty ImagesZDNET's key takeawaysMonarch Money is one of the most feature-rich personal financial programs I've tested, and it offers a free week-long trial.Pros: It's easy to set up and has powerful tools for analyzing finances and building a budget.Cons: It's one of the more expensive Mint alternatives I've tested.In the fall of 2023, I spent a week looking at personal finance programs. Why? When Intuit decided to bury Mint, its popular and free money-tracking and budgeting program, I didn't have a choice. I had to find another way to manage my money.Intuit wanted me to move my Mint data to Credit Karma, but I didn't want to do that. While Credit Karma is good at working with your credit scores, it's not a budgeting application.Also: The best identity theft protection and credit monitoring services of 2025With precious little time to move my years of financial data to a new service, I had to find a suitable replacement. Everyone's financial needs are different. In my case, I needed a program that could handle multiple bank and credit card accounts, several 401Ks, and some stock and real estate investments. details View at Monarch Money So, I kicked the tires of Monarch Money, NerdWallet, Rocket Money, Quicken Simplifi, and YNAB (You Need A Budget). My pick? Monarch Money.Also:The best identity theft protection and credit monitoring services of 2024Monarch Money provides a financial framework for zero-based budgeting. With this approach, you allocate every dollar you earn to expenses and savings. Monarch is more than just a budgeting app. It provides everything you need to manage your personal finances.What I like most about Monarch MoneyMonarch presents income and expenses clearly, making it easy to track your remaining budget. I'm not an emoji fan, but their use here for spending subcategories is charming and functional, enabling quick identification of different categories.One of my favorite Monarch features is its transaction tracker. The tracker allows you to categorize spending into broad categories, such as food and dining; subcategories, such as groceries and restaurants; and specific merchants, such as Ingles Market and Five Points Diner. This detailed view of spending habits is a standout feature. The app's auto-categorization is precise and customizable, allowing users to set rules for future transactions based on the merchant or amount.Also: The five biggest mistakes people make when prompting an AIMonarch also easily imports data from your bank accounts, retirement funds, stock accounts, and credit cards. Of all the applications I looked at, Monarch did the best job of automatically importing data from other services.Note: If you've already downloaded your Mint data as a CSV file, the default format, you can still upload it into Monarch or another money management program. If you haven't downloaded it yet, I'm sorry to say your Mint data is gone for good now.I also like that Monarch prioritizes savings. You can set a financial goal, such as saving for a house downpayment, and set a deadline. The app creates a dedicated savings section on the home screen. Contributions to this section are only possible when expenses are lower than income.The customizable dashboard provides an overview of your financial situation, with widgets for comparing monthly spending, viewing recent transactions, monitoring investments, and tracking savings goals.Also: Could AI make you a billionaire in 2025?Another handy feature is Monarch's Advice section. Here, Monarch spells out the steps you need to manage your money in the long run. This section includes how to review your cash flow, how to set up estate documents, and what to look for in life insurance.The app also supports shared budgeting, making it suitable for couples or families. Adding another person to the budgeting platform is straightforward. I was able to add my partner to my dashboard without hassle.I've now been using Monarch Money for nearly a year. In a word, it's great. It does everything I need and makes managing my money much easier.Monarch is better than Mint ever was. Mint consistently had trouble importing data from several of my accounts, so I'd need to reconnect them every month or two. Those same accounts stay linked up in Monarch.Also: The best free tax software of 2025Perhaps the best reason to use Monarch is that, unlike Mint, which stagnated for years, its team has been working hard on improving it.Specifically, Monarch has been upgrading its transactions. These include:New quick search filters: Now you can filter by debit and credit, include or exclude "hidden" transactions, include or exclude synced from institutions, and filter for transactions with attachments, splits, or notes.New sorting on mobile: Mobile sorting is now on par with what's available on the web, including the option to sort by date (old to new) and amount (high to low or low to high).New buttons for quick review: With new buttons at the top of each detailed transaction page, you can hide or mark a transaction as reviewed in a snap.More detail for quicker scanning: Category and account details are now included in your main transaction list, so you'll have less to click through to find what you need.You'll also see more space on the page for transaction details, a new menu bar that consolidates filters, and the option to collapse the summary panel on the right-hand side.Behind the scenes, Monarch has also made several significant improvements and fixes. In a Reddit post last summer, the Monarch CEO listed the top ones as:Improved aggregation:He said the company has boosted data partners' connection reliability, data accuracy, and sync times: "While we've made improvements, this is always an ongoing effort. Many of these issues come from the underlying institution or data provider. This doesn't absolve us of solving them -- and you shouldn't have to care where the issues are coming from -- it just makes it a harder problem to solve."Improved customer support:"We have spent a lot of time growing and training our CS team, as well as overhauling some of our internal systems. Our customer response times are back to under 24 hours and we're resolving customer tickets with higher satisfaction levels. Our experiments with AI-based bots have admittedly been a miss for the most part, and we have humans answering the bulk of our support requests now. We're really sorry if you previously had a poor experience with support. If that's the case, please try again!"Bug bashing:"We launched a lot of things very quickly after the Mint shutdown. This introduced some technical debt and more bugs than we had anticipated. We've spent many cycles fixing these behind the scenes. Thanks to everyone who has reported them."Monarch's CEO also listed the following as new improvements coming soon:Rules for split transactionsRapid transaction reviewSupport for an alternative budgeting methodology called "Fixed/Flex"The ability to view bills and dates for credit cards and other liabilitiesA complete overhaul of goals and the planning systemImproved collaboration featuresA new app design (Yes, it will reduce the whitespace for all of you exhausted by scrolling)I appreciate a company that admits it got something wrong and plans to fix and improve things.How to use Monarch MoneyGetting started with Monarch is easy enough. You link your various finances -- checking, savings, retirement, and credit card and loan accounts -- to the service. You can also incorporate assets like real estate, vehicles, and cryptocurrencies to assess your net worth. Once set up, these links will automatically update future transactions.When that work is done, you're prompted to define your financial objectives, such as clearing a student loan. Monarch then helps you set up a specific line item for these goals, allowing you to decide how much to contribute monthly.Also:3 easy ways to save on your home office energy billAs I mentioned earlier, Monarch uses the zero-based budgeting method for planning your expenditures -- it urges you to allocate every dollar of your income each month. Monarch suggests budget amounts for different spending categories based on your historical spending patterns, covering necessities like groceries and lifestyle choices like fitness.You can monitor the budgeted amount for each category and switch between your current spending and the remaining budget, giving you more control over your finances.The app's primary interface showcases your complete budget, including your net worth, recent transactions, and investments, and it compares your current spending against the previous month. The app also highlights your progress towards saving objectives. This dashboard is adaptable, allowing you to tailor the display of information to suit your preferences.Also: These tech skills drove the biggest salary increases over the past yearMonarch also supports collaborative budgeting, making it ideal for partners or families to manage finances together. It's easy to invite others to join your budgeting dashboard via email, and it's just as simple for them to accept the invitation. Should the need arise, removing someone from your dashboard is also simple.What I'd like to change about Monarch MoneyOne oddity with Monarch is that it doesn't offer credit score access. I get that capability via my credit cards, so I don't miss it, but still, it would have been nice if Monarch offered it.Also: This Sony Bravia is my pick for best TV for the money - and it's 38% offMonarch's $100/year price positions it among the more expensive budgeting apps. Still, overall, I found Monarch to be a good value. For my money, Monarch is the best money management program available today.Why I didn't choose any of the other optionsThere wasn't anything wrong with the other choices. They just weren't right for me.NerdWallet is an interesting combination of an excellent free application and an informative website. It's ideal for anyone new to managing their money. But, that's not me. Still, you can't beat the price.Rocket Money has an excellent interface, but I found its "pay-what-you-wish" model pricing misleading. To get the most from the application, you'll need itsPremium Membership, which costs from $48 to $60 annually or $4 to $12 per month. I also found it difficult to import data into Rocket Money. However, it does a good job of finding and helping you lose subscriptions and other hidden fees.Quicken Simplifi is not Quicken. Although its parent company still offers Quicken, Simplifi doesn't resemble it -- for better or worse. Simplifi stands out by providing tailored spending plans. You can update these in real time to monitor your spending. But, like Rocket Money, Simplifi has trouble importing my data. If your accounts work with Simplifi (and with a free 30-day trial, you'll have ample opportunity to see if that's the case), the program is well worth its annual cost of $47.99.YNAB, short for "You Need A Budget," is a straightforward, zero-based budgeting app. It will help you meticulously plan your spending by assigning funds to specific categories every time you're paid. As such, YNAB demands more upfront work than the other applications. Yes, it can help you track your money, but the name of its game is to teach you how to budget using thezero-budget approach. For people who have trouble making and sticking to a budget, YNAB's annual rate of $99 is well worth the investment. But, I learned how to keep a budget on my own.Quicken still livesThe old favorite financial program, Quicken, is still around, but it's no longer supported by Intuit. Mint's parent company, while still offering QuickBooks, sold Quicken in 2016. Under new management, the program lives on.Today, Quicken is one of the most comprehensive personal finance applications available. Quicken Classic, a desktop-based software complemented by a mobile app, provides extensive financial management tools. This software justifies its annual subscription cost by offering multiple features, including in-depth account management, budgeting, bill handling, and investment tracking.Also: The best budget headphones I've tested are not made by JBL or SonyI can't recommend Quicken to most people because you must be deep into personal finance management to make the most of the tool. While you can access Quicken via an app with Quicken Mobile and via the internet with Quicken on the Web, the full-powered versions are only available on PCs.That said, if you've used Quicken in the past, it's still worth a look. The software is available in four versions. To see if it's for you, give the Quicken Starter for $3.49 a month a try. The more advanced versions come at different prices:Quicken Deluxe, for personal and small business finance, costs $6 a month; Quicken Classic Premier, for investors, costs $7 a month; and Quicken Business & Personal, for advanced users, will run you $10 a month. Only Quicken Starter and Classic are available for Mac users.What's a credit score?Your credit score is probably the most important number in your life. It determines how likely you are to get credit and your interest rates, how much you'll pay for everything from a credit card to rent, and even whether you'll get a job. Heck, there are dating apps that consider your credit score!A credit score, also known as a FICO score, is a numerical indicator, typically ranging from 300 to 850, that predicts how likely you are to repay loans and bills. This score is calculated using data from your credit accounts.Also: I invested in a no-fees video doorbell, and it's paying off for my smart homeThere are five main criteria for determining a FICO credit score: payment history, current debt level, frequency of new credit applications, the length of credit history, and the variety of credit types. The two most critical components are payment history, which makes up 35% of the score, and the amount of credit in use. Payment history factors include the timeliness of payments, the frequency of missed payments, how late payments are, and the recency of missed payments. Applying for new credit can briefly lower one's score.What is a good credit score?A score of 700 or more is a good score, while 800 and above is excellent. Most people have scores ranging from 600 to 750. To improve a credit score, you can open accounts that report to credit bureaus, keep low balances, pay bills promptly, and limit new account applications.It's also important to remember that you don't have a single, fixed credit score. The score can differ based on the scoring model used, the data source, and the date of calculation.Also: I bought an iPhone 16 for its AI features, but I haven't used them even once - here's whyFinance programs can help you build up your credit score because they put the information you need to control your finances in your hands. Without these programs, you're operating blind.Featured

Today's NYT Strands hints and answersCredit: New York TimesLooking for Wednesdays Strands hints, spangram and answers? You can find them here:Welcome back, dearest Strandistas! Baby, its cold outside but in here its warm and cozy thanks to the soft glow of another Strands puzzle to solve. Yesterday I complained about how easy theyve been. Today, the NYT heard my prayers and gave us a much more challenging grid. Lets uncover some words!Strands is the newest game in the New York Times stable of puzzle games. Its a fun twist on classic word search games. Every day were given a new theme and then tasked with uncovering all the words on the grid that fit that theme, including a spangram that spans two sides of the board. One of these words is the spangram which crosses from one side of the grid to another and reveals even more about the days theme.Spoilers ahead.Todays Strands HintsTodays Theme: Bar associationHint #1: Nothing to do with lawyersMORE FOR YOUHint #2: Well, maybe lawyers at happy hourTo help you uncover all the words, here are the first two letters of every word, including the spangram.ZOCOMASISTCORemember, spoilers ahead!What Are Todays Strands Answers?Todays spangram is: COCKTAILSHeres the full list of words:ZOMBIECOSMOPOLITANMARTINISIDECARSTINGERHeres the completed Strands grid:Today's StrandsScreenshot: Erik KainTodays Strands BreakdownThis one really stumped me for awhile. Once Id found MARTINI, however, I realised Id been looking for the wrong thing entirely. I quickly found ZOMBIE and then COCKTAILS, the spangram, and from here...well, it actually remained a challenge to uncover the final three. COSMOPOLITAN was the last one I turned up.How did you do on your Strands today? Let me know on Twitter and Facebook.Be sure to check out my blog for my daily Wordle guides as well as all my other writing about TV shows, streaming guides, movie reviews, video game coverage and much more. Thanks for stopping by!

It seems as though Panasonic forced LG Displays hand when it announced at CES 2025 the new panel technology at use in its new Z95B OLED TV a new four-layer OLED panel structure that increases brightness while improving efficiency at the same time. Today, LG Display has confirmed that it has developed this new tech, while providing more details than LG Electronics did last week when we met with them.For context, the new G5 OLED LG debuted gets brighter than last years model, but without the benefit of the MLA (Micro Lens Array) technology LG developed specifically to achieve the improved brightness it needed to compete with QD-OLED and micro-LED. At the time, LG was coy on the new technology that helped the G5 get demonstrably brighter than its predecessor, the G4 OLED TV (Well have more to talk about at the reviewers workshop later this year, they told us), but we had strong suspicions it was a new four-layer OLED panel technology.Recommended VideosTwo days later, Panasonic unveiled its new OLED TV, touting a new four-layer OLED panel one almost certainly provided by LG Display.Please enable Javascript to view this contentSo what is this new panel structure? Instead of having a red/green/yellow emissive layer sandwiched between two blue layers, LG Displays proprietary four-layer structure called Primary RGB Tandem by LG Display (and Panasonic, which confirms it uses an LG panel) has independent red, green, and (two) blue layers. This fourth-generation OLED panel delivers improved brightness (and not just better white brightness, but color brightness, too) while also having 20% better energy efficiency over previous generations.And the amount of improved brightness is the truly impressive part. LG Display claims the new panel structure is capable of up to 4,000 nits of brightness (which is the same number weve heard from Samsung Display about its new QD-OLED panel). If the G5 is capable of hitting that 4,000 nit number, likely with the help of LGs processing, the G5 OLED TV could prove to be a bit brighter than the Z95B (Panasonic stated 3,700 max brightness at the announcement).Color brightness is said to reach 2,100 nits, a 40% improvement over last year. The four-layer structure also allows for a decrease in the typical level of blue light emitted.To improve black-level performance, regardless of the amount of ambient light in a room, LG Display has also developed an ultra-low reflection film that blocks 99% of internal and external light reflections.The G5 we saw at CES was honestly supremely impressive, and very well might be the best TV we see in 2025.

Billionaire owner Franois Pinault promoted Bonnie Brennan from within as the auction house seeks to shake off a market slowdown.