Cultivating Green Apartments: A Guide to Integrating Nature in Small Urban SpacesSave this picture!Madreselva Building / Vicca Verde. Image Per ThomasUrban living has become synonymous with limited space and creativity for compact apartments. As cities become more dominated by concrete and steel, there is an exciting, yet unsurprising, rise in interest in embracing the green thumb, even within the constraints of a dense urban environment. This interest is not purely to tend aesthetic tastes, as studies consistently show that exposure to nature reduces stress, improves focus, and enhances overall well-being. However, in dense urban environments, the challenge lies in finding innovative ways to make this vision a reality for apartments where every inch matters.Architects, interior designers, and residents are rising to this challenge by reimagining how vegetation can be integrated into the smallest of urban residences. From vertical gardens to balcony terraces, greenery continues to mold how we experience city living. Shared spaces in these contexts, such as rooftop gardens or interior courtyards, can elevate an individual's health and foster a sense of community with neighbors. These creative solutions demonstrate that greenery is not just a decorative element, but can play an essential component in a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle.In addition to the mental and physical health benefits, bringing vegetation into urban apartments addresses pressing environmental concerns. Rising temperatures and air pollution in cities make plants more vital than ever, offering natural cooling, filtering the air, and a haven for biodiversity. Through biophilic design principles, which increase occupant connectivity to the natural environment, urban spaces are evolving through direct and indirect relationships to greenery. By rethinking how we live with greenery, we can transform urban apartments into thriving, verdant spaces that connect us to nature in profound and lasting ways. Related Article Green Walls, Trellises, Flower Displays and Plant Pots: Integrating Vegetation Indoors Vertical Gardening: Maximizing Functionality in Compact SpacesSave this picture!Urban apartments often struggle with limited floor space, but one powerful way to bring nature indoors is to grow plants upwards. Vertical gardening maximizes wall space, without overcrowding valuable floor space. For those hesitant to commit to large-scale installations, wall-mounted shelves can house small pots, adding layers of greenery to any room. Be sure to choose lightweight materials for planters and mounting systems to ensure easy maintenance and safety, especially in rental apartments. Whether you opt for built-in plant walls, hanging planters, or wall-mounted shelves, vertical gardening adds personal vibrancy to interiors and maximizes the functionality of compact spaces.Consider creating modular systems that grow upwards, personalized with plants of various heights and textures. Self-watering systems or hydroponic solutions ensure easy maintenance, while climbing plants like ivy or jasmine can add layers of depth and a sense of natural enclosure. Alternatively, hanging planters or suspended macram baskets can host trailing plants like pothos or ivy. Another space-saving option is tall, slender plants such as snake plants or bamboo palms, which draw the eye upward while taking up minimal horizontal space. Vertical gardening not only brings greenery inside but serves as an effective way to provide natural air filtration and insulation.Window and Balcony Gardens: Designing Underutilized SpacesSave this picture!Windows and balconies are natural focal points for greenery in urban apartments. With ample light, these spaces can become thriving environments for many species of plants, in many regions around the world. To make these areas adaptable, choose modular or mobile setups that can be rearranged with changing seasons or light conditions. When it comes to maximizing small spaces, windowsills and balconies are often underutilized. However, with clever design and intentional care, even compact windowsills and balconies can become green centerpieces for the home.For windows, consider installing slimline shelves or hanging racks to hold an assortment of plants. Sun-loving species like succulents or cacti thrive here while trailing varieties like a string of pearls create an enchanting cascade effect. Windowsills can house small potted plants such as herbs or succulents, offering both aesthetic and practical benefits. Herbs like basil, rosemary, mint, or thyme can be grown within arm's reach for culinary use.Balconies, no matter their size, offer even more opportunities for creative gardening. Use stackable planters, vertical trellises, or railing-mounted pots to create lush, layered arrangements. Compact options like lavender, small ornamental grasses, or climbing jasmine work beautifully, providing color, texture, and even fragrance. For those with limited outdoor access, transform balcony corners into a mini-greenhouse with glass enclosures, allowing plants to thrive even in colder months.Interior Courtyards and Roof Gardens: Collective Care in CitiesSave this picture!Greenery should not be confined to individual apartments. Architects and designers can encourage community building by incorporating shared garden spaces into apartment complexes and residential blocks to be cultivated, maintained, and enjoyed collectively. For larger apartment buildings, interior courtyards, rooftop spaces, or open-air atriums provide opportunities to bring greenery to urban routines and act as a catalyst for communal activities.Interior courtyards and atriums, for example, offer a wonderful opportunity for communal greenery in dense urban centers. These shared spaces can house potted trees, climbing plants, or even small vegetable gardens, serving as a focal point for social interaction and relaxation. Rooftop terraces, another underutilized urban space, can double as lush communal gardens. Here, residents can cultivate herbs, flowers, or even small crops while enjoying expansive city views.Shared gardens also encourage collaboration among neighbors, turning greenery into a community-focused project. In designing these areas, consider incorporating natural elements like seating areas, water features, or even edible gardens that foster community engagement. These green spaces don't just enhance the aesthetics of a building as they contribute to the mental and physical well-being of its inhabitants. Thoughtfully designed courtyards can also help regulate the building's microclimate, reducing the heat island effect that's common in dense urban environments. By thinking beyond individual apartments, shared gardening solutions bring nature closer to everyone.Biophilic Design: Intentional Experiences with NatureSave this picture!Biophilic design is a growing trend in interior design, one that seeks to create a deeper connection to nature by incorporating elements like natural light, water, and organic materials into the built environment. However, this interest is not only concerned with the aesthetic approach. This approach extends beyond adding plants; it involves weaving nature into the very fabric of a space.To embrace biophilic principles, consider pairing greenery with natural materials like stone, wood, and linen for a harmonious, organic atmosphere. Plants should be strategically placed to serve functional purposes, such as reducing noise levels, dividing spaces, or improving indoor air quality. For example, peace lilies and spider plants are not only visually appealing but also excellent at filtering toxins from the air. Technology can also enhance the experience. Smart planters with automated irrigation systems and app-controlled light monitors make plant care effortless for busy residents and new green thumb enthusiasts.When designing the interior of urban apartments, introduce fractal patterns, flowing curves, and plant-inspired textures in the design to encourage a sensory connection with the natural world. These principles can be seamlessly integrated into compact spaces, where seemingly minute design choices, like selecting furniture or wall treatments, transform the space.Cultivating Urban Life: the Big PictureSave this picture!Designing with greenery in mind is more than a passing trend; it is a necessity for creating sustainable, livable urban environments. As cities grow taller and denser, the presence of plant life in residencies cannot be underestimated as an antidote to the stresses of modern living but as a transformative element that redefines how we experience space. Whether through vertical gardens, shared courtyards, or biophilic interiors, even the smallest design choices can yield profound benefits for individuals and communities alike.For architects, designers, and planners, integrating greenery into apartments is more than an aesthetic enhancement; it is a powerful tool for fostering health, sustainability, and social connection. The future of urban living is undeniably green. Through thoughtful and creative approaches, the smallest apartments can transform into thriving, vibrant spaces. In doing so, residents cultivate more than just plants; they reshape the urban fabric, providing refreshing and needed alternatives for a sustainable and livable future.Image gallerySee allShow lessAbout this authorOlivia PostonAuthorCite: Olivia Poston. "Cultivating Green Apartments: A Guide to Integrating Nature in Small Urban Spaces" 19 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1025364/cultivating-green-apartments-a-guide-to-integrating-nature-in-small-urban-spaces&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

'The tooth, by itself, is one challengegetting it to become part of bone, integrating into your jaw, is another aspect of regeneration.'Credit: DepositPhotos ShareIf youre an adult human, odds are you already know a thing or two about tooth regeneration. Around age six, most of us begin to lose baby teeth in a process called eruption, exchanging our delicate, first set for more burly, permanent teeth. The phenomenon calls to mind the critters that continuously regrow their chompers for example, sandbar sharks, which sprout tens of thousands of serrated teeth over time; and rabbits, whose incisors grow continuously as theyre worn down by roughage. If fish, bunnies, and kiddos do it in their sleep, then why dont adults naturally expel their aging molars with shiny, new replacements? And on that note, just how close is science to making such a feat a reality? Please, I feel a toothache coming onOff the bat, why dont we do this already? To better understand what were up against in this toothy quest, Dr. Ophir Kleina professor of orofacial sciences and pediatrics at the University of California, San Franciscooffered Popular Science a brief history lesson.Long ago, before celebrity veneers, bleach kits, or even dental floss, animals diverged into invertebrates and vertebrates, explained Klein. At the time, hundreds of millions of years ago, the earliest vertebrates [were] sort of reptile-like creatures, and mammals came out of that, as did dinosaurs and birds and amphibians.[ Related: Why do humans have toenails? Because were evolutionary weirdos. ]As fate would have it, Klein explained, teeth became an integral part of the vertebrate mouth, but its not exactly clear where they originated, he addedwhether they started inside the mouth or whether they started as scales, like fish have, that migrated from outside to inside. Okay, gross! We know these early teeth were simple, and they mightve been somewhat like the teeth we see in fish today. If you open a salmons mouth, all the teeth are the same and theyre continuously replacing, explained Klein. Thats a stem-cell driven process.Teeth got more complicated with the emergence of mammals, and eventually, humans. Rather than having all the teeth within a species being the same, which is called homodont dentition, we have heterodont dentition, said Klein. With the development of roots, we have molars and premolars and canines and incisors, each with specific jobs to do. Although plenty of mammals evolved teeth and tusks that grow continuously, a defensive strategy against wear and tear, humans did not. When our adult teeth arrive, the hard, outer part (enamel) is permanent and we dont have the cells anymore to make that. In other words, somewhere in the evolutionary process, we lost some special progenitor cells necessary to continuously replace teeth.So, maybe our perma-teeth represent a sort of ancestral tradeoff, in which we exchanged replicability for complexity. In any case, just how close are experts to undermining (or augmenting) this evolutionary development?An intermediate step towards regrowing permanent human teeth could involve a mash-up of synthetic materials and stem cells. Get the Popular Science newsletter Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.Were pretty good at making artificial enamel, said Klein. We could, perhaps, use the stem cells that exist inside the tooth to regrow the living part of the tooth and then make a crownjust like we do now for a root canalto bioengineer a new tooth. Later on, Klein added, if we can learn how other animals are able to regrow their teeth from stem cells, we could actually really grow a full, new tooth in vitro. This isnt something Klein thinks well see in the next five years, but he said he would not be shocked if it happened during the next couple of decades, just because things are moving so fast.It might sound like sci-fi on first blush, but theres a whole lot to chew on here.The tooth, by itself, is one challengegetting it to become part of bone, integrating into your jaw, is another aspect of regeneration, explained Dr. Salvador Nares, a professor in the periodontics department at the University of Illinois, Chicagos College of Dentistry. Nares spoke to Popular Science on a call along with Dr. Afsar Naqvi, an associate professor in the same department.Ultimately, the vision would be to seed, if you will, some sort of capsule or something within the gum tissue, and then let it grow out into a tooth, said Nares. However, there are challenges with that, because you have to have a certain morphology [thats] accurate and complete. The tooth must be durable and the right shape, plus it has to stay in place and work well with the rest of the body. On top of all that, it has to stop growing, because if it keeps growing, then thats called cancer, said Nares. As for where things stand today, the professor pointed to research on stem cells in erupted baby teeth, which certain laboratories have been able to utilize to actually manufacture parts of teeth.[ Related: Why do we have earlobes? They make no evolutionary sense. ]Fields such as scaffolds (structures in which we can seed cells), and bio-printing, have likewise progressed, as have gene-editing techniques a la CRISPR.Naqvi explained, Gene editing could be one very promising avenue of avoiding the rejection of the organoids, using patients own cell types, guiding them into the desired cell type, and using it for the purpose of repair and regeneration.Theres also research towards an antibody drug that might, theoretically, spur human tooth growth some day. However, Naqviwho was not involved in the researchraised concerns about the possible treatment, which would target a gene (USAG-1) that is not specific to the dental tissues.This gene is expressed in different tissues, including kidneys, where it is expressed at a very high level. Naqvi added, What if, beyond tooth [growth], it affects our bone growth in a positive, negative, or whatever manner? It has to be controlled.Popular Science emailed lead author Dr. Katsu Takahashi and Kyoto University Hospital for comment on their USAG-1 research, but neither responded.Anyhow, given the scope of inquiry into tooth regeneration, surely something will work someday, right? Twice-annual cleanings be damned?If you were to ask this question five, ten years ago, youd probably get a different answer in terms of how far we are in the whole process, said Nares. But with AI being able to rapidly make calculations and see patterns and things that we dont see, we would envision that this is going to accelerate discovery and bring this notion of growing teeth or growing other tissues to bear. Still, Nares cautioned that he doesnt expect to see it all realized in the next decade; I think were still quite a ways off, he said, citing safety concerns, trials, regulatory rules, and generally a lot of work to be done.[ Related: What does oil pulling do to your teeth? We asked dentists. ]In the meantime, Nares spoke of the adult teeth we do have with reverence. The natural dentition that we were born with is one-of-a-kind, he explained.To function through adulthood, permanent teeth need ongoing care, including brushing, flossing, and cleanings. Plus, dental health isnt limited to teeth and gums; the state of your mouth is an indicator of overall health. Researchers have linked gum disease to Alzheimers, diabetes, and other conditions.I would caution readers not to give up on their oral hygiene, Nares said. All the microbes that cause cavities and more so gum disease, which loosen teeth and [cause them to fall] out, disseminate into other parts of the body and can really create effects away from the mouth.He added, So, definitely keep the mouth clean.This story is part of Popular SciencesAsk Us Anything series, where we answer your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the ordinary to the off-the-wall. Have something youve always wanted to know?Ask us.

Nature, Published online: 15 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-04156-wA phase I clinical trial of GD2-CAR T cells (immune cells engineered to target the molecule GD2) in children and young adults with diffuse midline gliomas incurable cancers of the central nervous system shows promising results. Several trial participants exhibited substantial improvements, and one childs tumour has been undetectable for more than three years.

A helmet up for auction in London is a well-preserved example of the "Corinthian" helmets used by many hoplite warriors.

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Watch Mengya Zhang test her cool OpenCL-powered Skin Slide deformer HDA on a panda character.Get it for free: https://80.lv/articles/free-houdini-tool-skin-slide-deformer/#houdini #opencl #simulation

One Piece's backstories have always been incredibly sad. Whether dealing with the death of a close childhood friend or coping with the loss of an entire island of people, each character in One Piece is hiding massive amounts of depth that are just waiting to be explored. Characters like Robin or Law, have been completely changed by their tragic childhoods, making them into the complex characters they are today.

Game designer Sam Barlow deserves a lot of credit for driving the redemption of FMVs. The full-motion video game format was pioneered in the early 90s as a cutting-edge visual technique in an age when computer graphics were more simplistic.But long before that, filmmakers were experimenting with ways to make films more interactive, in theaters and on home DVDs. The efforts met with uneven success until Black Mirror: Bandersnatch became a hit, simultaneously justifying the interactive format and killing all future attempts at it.As part of the launch of our documentary The Great Game: The Making of Spycraft, we asked FMV aficionado (and prolific podcaster and former Polygon writer) Justin McElroy to sit down with Barlow and talk about the appeal of this strange genre, and the ways its changed through the history of entertainment. You can find the whole conversation in the video above. The Great Game: The Making of Spycraft was recently nominated by the New York Videogame Critics Circle for a New York Game Award for Best Games Journalism. You can learn more about the New York Game Awards and our fellow nominees here.Sam Barlow: There were a couple of movies in theaters in the 90s where you got the big plastic buttons. And they were just terrible.Justin McElroy: Im Your Man is one that I know was on you could get it on DVD. It was an interactive DVD, one of those types of things where you could make the choices with your home remote.Barlow: Theres such a good talk, I think its online I think I want to say Brian Moriarty did it at NYU about interactive movies where hes like, Hey, people have been trying to do this thing for ages. And going back to the early fake interactive movies. William Castle, the great producer, did a movie called Mr. Sardonicus. And the gimmick of that movie because he loved his gimmicks was when you went into the theater, you were given a big maybe it was like a big hand, or some sort of big prop. At the end of the movie, the character turns to the audience, so were establishing that already, and says, Hey, what do you think? Should this big evil villain, Sardonicus, should he be punished or should we forgive him? You, the audience, will now decide. And everyone would have to raise or lower their thing to signal if they wanted to kill the guy. And one of the ushers would make a show of tallying the votes and then disappear. And then the movie would play out, and the ending you got would depend on the vote. Heres the thing: William Castle understood his audience. He knew the vote was always going to be to punish. So it was a linear movie. It was just a movie that waited three minutes, and went, The audience has decided to punish Mr. Sardonicus.McElroy: Well, just these past couple of weeks, Megalopolis was released with an interactive scene with an audience member whos supposed to come up and do a line in the film. Thats an interactive element.Barlow: I still need to watch that movie, but I will say the stuff Ive seen looks like a 90s interactive movie. Like some of the back projection, the CGI, and certainly the performances.McElroy: Its up to about eight CDs.Barlow: Jon Voight is the exact guy you wouldve cast in a 90s FMV at the time.McElroy: I think his disc had some scratches on it. Jon was having a rough time.Barlow: Youd be like, Could we get some Hollywood talent in our FMV game? And theyd be like, Well, Tom Cruise isnt returning our calls, but Jon Voight is down as long as we donate some money towards the Trump campaign or something.McElroy: Do you wish more people were sort of exploring this space, this interactive cinema area? Do you feel like there is a lot of room for iteration and growth, or do you think that it is going to remain a sort of subgenre or even sort of a branching media between two different types of media?Barlow: If I dont be cynical for a second, I get very excited about the possibilities. And I think when Her Story blew up, I got a lot of meetings with people in Hollywood and stuff, at a time when Netflix were sort of disrupting things and lots of people were like, Fuck, we need to figure out how we are going to do the digital thing. We need to figure out how were going to get gamers watching television again. Because they dont. Theyre too busy on their phones, right? And I was like, This is really cool, because I think there is so much interesting stuff that could be done on the Im going to say TV side versus the game side. And the tech is kind of there, and I think there could be a huge, interesting shift that would create really interesting things.Then in the how many years has it been now? nearly 10 years since, Ive just seen like, Oh no, the world of Hollywood is so risk-averse that I kept being told time and time again: We dont want to be number one. We want to be number two. Let somebody else break the ground, and then we can step in. So I would hear things like, Well, do you know what? When Steven Soderbergh brings out Mosaic, then the floodgates will open.Mosaic came out and didnt change things. I think you look at Bandersnatch and that came out [on Netflix] and I think that kind of killed a lot of these discussions because it was almost if you were trying to kill that movement dead, Bandersnatch was a great way of doing it, because it was very successful. The Hollywood mindset goes, OK, lets replicate that. Well, hang on a minute: It worked because it was Black Mirror, which was an IP that allowed you to have fun with technology, have that sort of humor to it and just that sort of self-awareness. The story was about 80s Choose Your Own Adventure games.McElroy: Right, the form and the content are sort of [baked in].Barlow: And youve seen Netflix struggle. They were like, Oh, were going to make tons of these now. Well actually everything done since doesnt have those affordances. So that structure of essentially the Choose Your Own Adventure TV show breaks down when you cant nod and wink at the camera, when it isnt self-referential, when its not about the literal thing that it is. And so I think it kind of killed things because all the other people in the industry went, Well, hey, Netflix did a really good job of that and it was really successful, but I just dont see how like, its a one and done. And I think that allowed people to retreat back.[Ed.s note: In December 2024, two months after this conversation, Netflix pulled all but four of its interactive programs. Bandersnatch is one of the remaining titles.]Whereas [] take Netflix, theyve to use a phrase I hate theyve gamified the experience of choosing what to watch, right? Ive stopped doing this now because I want to escape my digital hell. But there was a period where if I had a free evening and my family were out or something and I got to choose what was on TV, Id be like, OK, Daddys going to watch something cool on the television. And I would sit down, and 45 minutes later Im still paging through Netflix, looking at the stuff, seeing the algorithmic choices. So theyve done a really good job of making the browsing the shelf experience feel very interactive. Its personalized, right? I get different shows pushed to me. Not only do I get different shows, I get different thumbnails. The funny thing of like, you get the stuff right, where its like, the thumbnail says Godfather, and then its a picture of one of the female characters from The Godfather that doesnt even have a speaking line, because the algorithm has decided, Oh, you like things with women in them, we need to push that on you.And then the other one that delighted me was when there was a Netflix show, Love, Death & Robots. And a cool thing with an anthology show is you have to decide what order to put the episodes in. And this is a fascinating problem. If you think of a traditional linear setup, its like, you cant have the best episode first because youre going to then kind of fail to meet expectations. But you want a good episode.McElroy: [Laughs] Not too good!Barlow: The episode that will hook people, but still give us room to have the best episode. And Netflix being algorithmic and all this were like, Hey, we know how to solve for this problem. We can run A/B tests and we can try different algorithmic episode orders and see which works best. So they did this for Love, Death & Robots. There was a journalist for one of the tech sites who was gay. He watches Love, Death & Robots. First episode he gets is the quote-unquote gay episode, and his flatmate is also watching Love, Death & Robots, and the episode he gets is the quote-unquote extremely heterosexual episode, and the two of them are like, Wait, fuck, does Netflix know that Im gay? And then youre like, Yeah, it probably does. If Netflix is watching what Im watching, you could make assumptions. And then they were extremely creeped out. So this guy wrote this article of like, Holy hell, Big Brother is watching. Netflix knows that Im gay and is now targeting content based on my sexuality. This is kind of scary. To which Netflix had to immediately step in and be like, We werent, it was random. We were just randomly choosing episodes.McElroy: But also this is a really good idea, and we are going to write this down, if thats OK with everybody.Barlow: I was like, Theres something so cool Its almost like building to a kind of War of the Worlds moment of like, Hey, my video content, which historically has been static and safe and behind my TV screen, is somehow aware and alive.Well be running more excerpts from this conversation between Sam Barlow and Justin McElroy each weekend, for the next few weeks.

As an active TikTok user, I have been trying to ignore the impending reality of next weeks closure. While my fingers are crossed for a last minute save, and I still plan to try to use it after the 19th, yesterday I began the process of preserving all my data. If youre a TikTok user, you should, too. Heres how.Download your likes, favorites, and followsMy three main concerns before the ban are making sure I have a list of people I follow, so I can follow them elsewhere, grabbing videos Ive bookmarked since they probably had some utility, and saving my own videos. TikTok is the best place to start, since they have a built in feature that gives you all of that data as a document. You can request a data download of all your personal settings including your likes, followers, follows, bookmarks, and a list of your posts. Note: this does not include any actual videos; its more an inventory for you to work off of. Credit: Amanda Blum To request this data, go to your profile, and click on the menu from the upper right hand side. Go to Settings and Privacy > Account > Download your data. Note that you can select what types of data you want to download and what format you want it in (text file or JSON). A text file is more useful right now, since it will output your information in a format you can easily access, but having a JSON file might enable you to work with future utilities to help import follows and likes to another platform, so I recommend grabbing both formats of data. This means going through this exercise twice. Once for the text file, once for the JSON file (a computer language) to store in case some TikTok replacement can use it in the future to make importing follows or likes easy.Once the file is ready, youll need to verify an SMS code sent to the phone number on record for the account to download the file. While youll likely conduct this operation on your phone, once youve downloaded the file, locate it in your file manager and click on Share and then email it to yourself.How to save your own videosThe most painful (but cost effective) way to save your own videos is to simply visit each of them and download individually. Once the video is open from your profile, click the three dots in the lower right corner and select Download Video. If it sounds labor intensive, it is.If youre a confident coder with some JSON experience, you can use a free tool a TikToker built that theyve open sourced on GitHub. You'll need that JSON file for this method to work. Credit: Amanda Blum A simpler solution was Tokbackup, a web utility that you can use from your desktop. For $5 a month, you can download up to 6,000 videos for up to three profiles (higher priced plans allow for more profiles). You can use this utility to download all the videos of any profile, not just your own, so while it wont save all your favorite videos, if you love one particular creator, this is a reasonable solution to grab all their videos to rewatch at home. Tokbackup took about ten minutes to grab all 100 of my videos, and I was pleased to see the data download included my most frequent hashtags, as well. Once the utility had grabbed them, you click on download to save a zipped file to your hard drive. For 100 videos, my file was almost 4GB, so you may want to find someplace in the cloud to park the file. Once downloaded, remember to cancel your account so you dont get charged next month.There are additional tools, like Repurpose.io, which will reportedly download all your videos for you, and even crosspost them to other platforms, but at a steep cost ($349 for the year).How to save your favorited or liked videosIf youd specifically like to grab videos from other people that you liked or favorited, you can download them individually, as noted above. However, I had luck using the MyFaveTT extension for Chrome, which is free. Credit: Amanda Blum Once installed, open it and connect to TikTok on the desktop. From there, you select whether youd like to save your liked or favorited videos, and designate a location for them on your hard drive. This was a pretty seamless process, and over the course of an hour, all my bookmarked videos were saved. Depending on how many videos this is, it could take up hefty resources on your hard drive, so as above, you may want to have someplace online to park the videos until you need them. Credit: Amanda Blum While I wish there were one utility that would grab all the data and videos I want at once, piecing these methods together will result in getting all your content out of TikTok safely.

Samsungs first big launch of 2025 is almost here. Galaxy Unpacked will take place on January 22 at 1PM ET in San Jose, CA, where Samsungs Next Big Thing (to borrow a 14-year-old marketing slogan) will be revealed. What exactly will be on tap? Well, apart from a few sure bets and some likely leaks, only those sworn to a blood oath under an NDA know for certain. But here are the most likely products and features well see. Spoilers: There will be phones.Galaxy S25, S25+ and S25 UltraGalaxy S24 UltraSam Rutherford for EngadgetMuch like Apple reveals its latest iPhones at its first fall event, Samsung typically launches its mainline Galaxy S flagships at its first Unpacked shindig of the year. You can bet the farm that there will be Galaxy S25 phones at this event. And given Samsungs recent trend of launching three tiers of flagships standard, Plus and Ultra you can bet well see that again. (Samsung could technically change the brand names, but the three-layered lineup is practically guaranteed.) Theres even an FCC certification (first spotted by 91Mobiles) to dispel any doubts.The degree of certainty falls sharply once we dig into the phones features. A subtle redesign with rounded corners, flatter edges and thinner bezels appears likely based on a leaked video posted to Reddit and images from reputable tipster Ice Universe. But this isnt expected to be the generation where Samsungs hiring of a former Mercedes-Benz designer will lead to drastic aesthetic changes.Android Headlines also posted plenty of pictures of the purported Galaxy S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra that confirm the relatively minor redesign. The site also claims the screen size for the Galaxy S25 and S25+ are unchanged from last year at 6.2 and 6.7 inches, respectively. The Ultra gets an ever-so-slightly bigger display at 6.9 inches.QualcommAt least in the US, the phone is practically guaranteed to use Qualcomms Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which the chip-maker revealed in October. (Qualcomm even listed Samsung among the companies launching devices with that processor in the coming weeks.) Like just about every flagship processor these days, the Snapdragon 8 Elite is built for on-device generative AI, which aligns with Samsungs Galaxy AI blitz in recent models.We dont know whether the company will split its S25 processors between Snapdragon (US and other markets) and Exynos (everywhere else), but Ice Universe has claimed it will be all Snapdragon this generation. That would be a good thing, given whats often a glaring performance and battery life disparity favoring Qualcomm. There would be precedence, too: although the vast majority of Galaxy S generations have had different processors regionally, the S23 had the same "Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy" chip globally.Samsung is rumored to stick with last-generation OLED displays (made with M13 organic materials) instead of the brighter and more efficient M14 OLED panels used in the iPhone 16 Pro and Google Pixel 9. Logic suggests Samsung would want its best homemade screen in its best phones especially when its competitors are already using it. But it could stick with the cheaper panels to keep the bill of materials down. Perhaps it calculated that better displays dont make for better generative AI (the obsession of nearly every tech company right now), while the latest Qualcomm chip does.Speaking of AI, expect Samsung to devote a perhaps agonizingly long portion of the event to generative AI features. The hit-or-miss DigiTimes reported last month that the Galaxy S25 series will include an AI Agent that provides personalized clothing suggestions and transport information. What that would look like in practice is anyones guess, but Im not sure I want to know.SamsungThe phones will run Samsungs One UI 7 on top of Android 15. We know this because Samsung said in October that its user experience (based on Android 15) will launch on the next Galaxy S flagships. Its already available in beta for Galaxy S24 phones. Samsung has said that One UI 7 will be its "first integrated AI platform." It added that Galaxy phones "will become true AI companions" that are able to understand natural language derived from speech, images and text.On the camera front, Ice Universe claims (via Android Headlines) its confirmed that only the ultra-wide sensor will see an upgrade in the Galaxy S25 Ultra to 50MP from 12MP in last years model. The leaker says the S25 Ultra will stick with a 200MP main sensor, 10MP 3x zoom and 50MP 5x zoom.Galaxy S24 UltraSam Rutherford for EngadgetSamsung will add the Qi2 wireless charging standard to its new flagships and that comes straight from the horses (aka, the Wireless Power Consortiums) mouth. However, leaker chunvn8888 (aka yawn) says Samsungs phones wont have built-in magnets for Qi2s native MagSafe in everything but name charging. Given that's the main benefit of Qi2, this would be disappointing news. Instead, the leaker says Samsung will sell a first-party case with a Qi2 magnetic ring to enable that. (Gotta move those accessories, baby!) Is it really Qi2 if you need a case?Rumors have buzzed about an alleged Galaxy S25 Slim with a you guessed it slimmer design joining the trio at some point this year. Thats something Apple is also rumored to be working on. Leakers have posted numerous renders this past week comparing how the different size options may compare to each other. A post from Ice Universe puts the S25 Slim at 6.4mm. However, given the FCC certifications only appear to cover the familiar trio of flagships, that phone (if its in the pipeline at all) may not arrive until later in the year.Galaxy Ring 2, Samsung XR and AR glassesGalaxy RingSam Rutherford for EngadgetDigiTimes reported in December that Samsung would show off (or maybe just tease) the Galaxy Ring 2 and augmented reality (AR) glasses during its January Unpacked event.The Taiwanese publication says the Galaxy Ring 2 will add two more sizes to the nine from the original model, which only launched in July. The second-gen wearable health tracker is said to add new AI features (surprise!) and updated sensors for more accurate measurements. The Galaxy Ring 2 is also rumored to last longer than the current models maximum of seven days.GoogleDigiTimes also claims Samsungs AR glasses which the company has confirmed its working on will look like regular prescription glasses and weigh around 50g. It says the futuristic glasses would use Googles Gemini AI, which aligns with what we already know about Samsungs partnership with Google and Qualcomm on Android XR. But given the lack of supply chain rumors surrounding the glasses, its likely that any mention at the event would amount to little more than a teaser, a la its grand reveal of... a stinkin render for the first Galaxy Ring at Unpacked 2024.We also know Samsung is co-developing an Android XR (extended reality) headset codenamed Project Moohan alongside Google and Qualcomm. The lightweight and ergonomically designed headset will have a state-of-the-art display, passthrough video and natural multi-modal input. Googles renderings show a wearable reminiscent of Apples $3,500 Vision Pro.Project MoohanGoogle / SamsungSince Google only recently began offering a developer kit and API for the platform, any glimpse of it at Unpacked wouldnt likely include an imminent release or deep dive into its hardware.Engadget will have full coverage of Samsungs first Unpacked event of 2025. More to come on January 22!Update, January 13 2025, 12:58PM ET: This story has been updated with purported images and more details on the Galaxy S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra from Android Headlines.Update, January 14 2025, 3:20PM ET: This story has been updated with some more information about One UI 7.Update, January 17 2025, 12:45PM ET: This story has been updated with more details on the Galaxy S25's processor and the history of processors in the Galaxy S series.Update, January 19, 2025, 12:15PM ET: This story has been updated with more information about the rumored Galaxy S25 Slim.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-s25-unpacked-2025-event-what-to-expect-on-wednesday-202024600.html?src=rss