It was September 2023, and a certain sweatshirt wouldnt leave me alone. It was heather gray with a grid of 12 pickle jars on it, and it showed up on my TikTok feed with what Id consider astonishing frequency, as in, multiple times an hour. Between ads for the pickle sweatshirt on TikTok Shop, I saw young people drinking the brine of their pickle juice, reviewing various grocery store pickles, putting edible glitter into a pickle jar and shaking it like a snowglobe, and doing the pickle challenge by sticking dill pickles in chamoy, Tajin, and sour candy powder so that they became bright red and spicy. Even Dua Lipa was putting pickle juice in her Diet Coke. Why are all these people so obsessed with pickles? I wondered, a thought immediately followed by a chilling realization: I was witnessing a new generation discover its version of the avocado. For reasons that have less to do with millennials and more to do with lifted import restrictions, improved production techniques, and the explosion of a little fast-casual chain called Chipotle, US avocado consumption skyrocketed at the dawn of the 21st century. Avocados were healthy, they were versatile, and they were also more expensive than most produce, which made them feel a tiny bit luxurious. It wasnt until 2017, when an Australian real estate mogul blamed young peoples inability to afford homes on spending too much on avocado toast that millennials became forever linked to the fatty green fruit. Avocados, even more so than other au courant superfoods like kale, quinoa, or aa, illustrated something about the generation: specifically, that our appetite for small pleasures would ultimately bring about our doom. What then, do pickles say about Gen Z? Pickles are weird. Theyre inherently funny because they look like the male sex organ if it was green. Pickles are good for you, and specifically good for your gut, the health obsession of the moment. Like avocados, they are extraordinarily versatile. They pair well with other contemporary food trends like dirty martinis and canned cocktails, and fit right in with aesthetically pleasing butter boards and girl dinner spreads. Unlike avocados, however, theyre cheap. (In the age of Shein, Temu, and dupes for everything, perhaps pickles are a sign Gen Z has learned from our lessons: If you ever want to own property, dont go broke on produce.)Andrea Hernndez, founder of the food and beverage trend newsletter Snaxshot, traces the rise of the pickle on social media to the early days of Covid, when people were stuck at home and filming social media content about life under lockdown. It was boredom and a desire to experiment, she says, that led people to confess that they loved to drink the brine of the pickle jars in the back of their fridges or bring viewers along for taste tests. Or, to put it more bluntly, People were playing around with TikTok clickbait.Soon enough, influencers were making pickle wreaths, brands were releasing pickle-flavored gummy vitamins, hard seltzers, sparkling waters, Doritos, Goldfish, and Mountain Dew. At the end of 2024, Pinterest listed pickle fix as one of the top trend predictions for 2025, despite the fact that the rest of the food world seems to have moved on now theres a whole new slew of hot food items that were once unassuming pantry staples. An it-food must be a little controversial: Not everyone enjoys the lumpiness of cottage cheese, the smell of tinned fish, or the brininess of an olive.A recent viral tweet listed nearly two dozen of these items as pick me foods, including tinned fish, dates, rice cakes, olives, dark chocolate, and bone broth. (Though typically used in dating contexts, to be a pick me is to do something solely for the attention because you believe it makes you special or different e.g., begging someone to pick you.)Jaya Saxena, a correspondent at Eater, describes these foods as giving an aura of Ive studied abroad, that they lend a sophistication other, more popular foods dont. An it-food must be a little controversial: Not everyone enjoys the lumpiness of cottage cheese, the smell of tinned fish, or the brininess of an olive. You should feel a little special for being able to recognize its merit. If youre a social media creator making it-food content, so should your commenters who agree that pickles are hugely underrated and then form a little tribe around them. (Its reverse is also crucial to drive engagement: There is some level of rage bait happening here, where you can get people to be like, Ew, I hate olives! Saxena says. And then someone says, Im Greek, youre racist for saying that.)The food and consumer packaged goods industries, seeing this chatter play out online, will then jump to invest in cool, elevated (and needless to say more expensive) iterations to appeal to this hot new market. It-foods should also have humble origins oysters used to be cheap! and therefore be ripe for a rebranding. Meme pages will make collages of these hot new products in a tone that is both laudatory and ironic, gently poking fun at the desperation of the brands and the coolhunters who buy them; journalists and trend watchers will compile them all into stories about what it all means, if anything. And thus, an it-gredient is born. This cycle is a relatively new one. Food trends in the 20th century typically traveled top-down from cookbook publishers, professional chefs, the food industry, and pop culture, then spread to the masses. It was Julia Child and The Joy of Cooking, for instance, that made quiche inescapable at 1970s dinner parties, while a single scene of a 2000 episode of Sex and the City officially launched the cupcake craze. Then in the early 2010s, Instagram changed everything. Food now had to look good in a flat lay photo (colorful macarons and avocado toast were early favorites), or shock viewers with too-weird-to-be-believed social media bait like rainbow bagels and milkshakes with whole-ass pieces of cake on top. Simultaneously, a backlash brewed on Tumblr, where all the cool kids were suddenly making cheesy, fatty junk foods like pizza, cheeseburgers, and tacos a part of their digital identity as a winky response to picture-perfect treats on social media. The Hairpin coined it snackwave, one part self-deprecation and one part ironic nihilism (touch my butt and buy me pizza). Snackwave was Jennifer Lawrence in gowns on a red carpet talking about pizza, it was Miley Cyrus straddling a hot dog, and it was the accounts for Taco Bell and Dennys mimicking the affectations of Weird Twitter. Notably, the biggest food trends of the current moment are not themselves meals or dishes but rather ingredients. Saxena points out that olives and tinned fish tend to feel a bit more chic than a bowl of pasta (they also tend to look cuter on, say, a pair of pants). All these foods are items you would find on a grazing table or a cocktail garnish, she says. Eating styles like charcuterie boards and girl dinner are about assembling things rather than cooking here are my little cubes of cheese, my olives, my martini. Its this sort of aperitif culture thats more about assembling beautiful little things.But a more pivotal reason that this eras it-foods are largely ingredients you can pick up in a grocery store might be because post-Covid, even basics have seen their prices skyrocket. These days, coming home with a colorful grocery cart is no longer a given its a status symbol. Older generations saw groceries as more of utility, and maybe its late stage capitalism, but its weird that somehow the only thing we have left to social signal is with our groceries, Hernndez says. I always think, were living in Andy Warhols biggest dream, how he made Campbells cans a message of mass consumption. Im like, Wow, were insane. Because there are influencers for everything now, there are also grocery influencers showing off their supermarket hauls; one such creator who shops at the high-end Los Angeles grocery store Erewhon mused to Cosmopolitan, People will go to these stores as tourists just to see them, like a museum. Perhaps grocery store staples are status items because everything is a status item now, from water bottles to dog breeds. Or perhaps its because were all just desperate to belong to something, even if the bonds of community are as loose as everyone here loves pickles. This is why I often feel as though something in me died when I started buying Graza, the yassified olive oil that comes in a tall skinny squeeze top bottle with beautiful packaging and costs roughly 25 percent more than the kind I bought previously. It feels corny to fall for such a naked attempt at rebranding an item that was perfectly good to begin with, founded by people who came from similarly disruptive brands like Magic Spoon and Casper. Alison Roman once described such marketing pivots as having Hello, Fellow Young People energy, Grub Street referred to it as smallwashing. Were living in Andy Warhols biggest dream, how he made Campbells cans a message of mass consumption.On Snaxshot and other in-the-know Instagram accounts where people poke fun at their own tastes, Graza and its ilk are stand-ins for a certain type of wannabe urban sophisticate, someone who has failed to achieve anything intellectually or creatively fulfilling and therefore relies on status olive oil to feel culturally relevant. (Though of course I tell myself I buy it because the sqeezey top is legitimately innovative, product design-wise.) These products have already begun to feel cringe because they recall an even more humiliating food trend associated with millennials than avocados: bacon. Remember in the late 2000s, when Reddit humor advice animal memes, dogespeak, ironic finger mustache tattoos decided that inserting bacon into things that didnt already include bacon in them instantly made them epic? I think about epic bacon every time a new food trend shows up on my feed, wondering if pickles or espresso martinis or olives will get big and omnipresent and annoying enough to line the halls of Gen Zs most embarrassing tastes in the eyes of future generations.The latest shelf-stable item to get the it-gredient treatment is perhaps the least sexy of them all. This years excitement over beans can pretty much be traced back to a single person: Violet Witchel, a popular cooking TikToker who in 2024 posted a video of the dense bean salad she made for healthy meal preps. Though shed posted recipes and other videos of the salad before, shed previously referred to it as a chickpea salad or white bean salad. But when she added a single adjective, her videos exploded, garnering her tens of millions of views and 700,000 new followers. Suddenly, Witchel became dense bean salad girl. She launched a Substack, where she now has more than 162,000 subscribers and earns a high six figures income, stemming largely from her innovation or rather, rebranding of describing a bean salad as dense. While bean salad sounds like something your aunt would bring to a barbecue, dense bean salad implies that it is packed with nutrients, that this one dish acts as a full meal, and, of course, that you can prepare it in advance. People are turning to beans as an affordable protein source, she says. And they love a quick and snappy name.As for whats next, she senses fiber is about to make a serious comeback (a prediction echoed on this very website): My theory is that all the colon cancer research coming out is going to make soluble fiber the next big thing. I wouldnt be surprised if figs or broccoli had a moment, or lentils or popcorn. I could see making my nightly popcorn! becoming a fiber snack trend. Food influencers, meme accounts, and the consumer packaged goods industry: You have your marching orders. Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More: Culture

This story originally appeared in Kids Today, Voxs newsletter about kids, for everyone. Sign up here for future editions.Ever since Donald Trump won the presidential election last November, kids around the country have been scared about what his promise of mass deportations might mean for them and their classmates.They come up and say, Whats going to happen, teacher? Elma Alvarez, an instructional specialist at an elementary school in Tucson, Arizona, told me.Now the fear in classrooms has ratcheted up to a new level, thanks to a directive issued last week allowing immigration agents to arrest people at schools and other sensitive areas that theyve avoided in the past. Anxiety ramped up even further last Friday after federal agents who showed up at a Chicago elementary school were initially mistaken for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They were actually Secret Service agents, but the episode has parents in the city feeling frightened, with one mom, who has legal status but whose children do not, telling the Washington Post over the weekend that she didnt want her son going back to school until things had calmed down. The incident reflects the fear and anxiety that is present in our city right now, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez said in a letter to parents.That fear and anxiety have been echoed around the country, with parents and students afraid to leave their homes, and educators worried about how the threat of ICE raids could affect a generation of kids already reeling from school shootings, the Covid-19 pandemic, wildfires, and other disasters. Theyve already been through so much, Alvarez said. School is a place where everybody, every single person that steps on campus, should feel safe.The fear of ICE in classroomsSince at least 2011 including during the first Trump administration ICE policy has been to avoid making immigration arrests in or around schools, churches, hospitals, and other locations deemed sensitive, in order to avoid scaring people away from basic services. But last Tuesday, Trumps Department of Homeland Security reversed that policy, with a spokesperson saying in a statement that this action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens including murders and rapists who have illegally come into our country.The Trump administration has said it will target violent criminals in its immigration enforcement actions and not, presumably, schoolchildren. Moreover, all children in the US have a legal right to a public education regardless of immigration status, as Axios notes, and schools generally do not keep track of whether students are in the country legally. Some school districts, such as Chicago and New York, have said they will not allow ICE agents into schools without a warrant signed by a judge. Getting such a warrant can be an involved process and we did not see a lot of that in the first Trump term, said Julie Sugarman, associate director for K12 education research at the Migration Policy Institutes National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. Even if ICE agents do enter a school, there is a legal argument that arresting children there violates their right to an education, some experts say. However, the Trump administration has already taken actions many believe to be unconstitutional, such as attempting to end birthright citizenship, and the sense that the country is entering uncharted territory is fueling panic in many immigrant communities.Theres just a generalized sense of fear and confusion about the new administrations policies, said Abigail LEsperance, co-director of the immigration program at the East Bay Community Law Center in Berkeley, California. Its a lot of wait and see, but with an undercurrent of terror.The fear is the most acute among families in which one or more members are undocumented 6.3 million households, according to the Pew Research Center. Nearly 70 percent of those families are mixed status, meaning at least one member is a US citizen or legal resident.But the prospect of federal agents entering a classroom and taking students can be terrifying for any child, regardless of immigration status. Decades ago, border patrol agents came to Alvarezs sisters classroom and took two of her classmates away, Alvarez told me. My sister was in first grade. Shes almost 50 now, and she remembers that day so clearly, Alvarez said. She still remembers her whole class just breaking out in tears.Thats whats going to happen to our children, our students, if ICE does enter classrooms, Alvarez said.Kids are scared of losing their parentsBeyond fear of ICE raids at school, kids are facing another worry too: that when they get home at the end of the day, their parents wont be there anymore. The children are saying to their mothers, I dont want you to be deported, I dont want to be separated from you, said Evelyn Aleman, founder of Our Voice: Communities for Quality Education, a nonprofit that serves primarily Latino and Indigenous parents in Los Angeles.Aleman herself was deported in 1970 along with her mother, while her father stayed behind in the US, she told me. Here we are, 55 years later, still dealing with family separation, she said. The trauma is real and it never goes away.Research has found that children separated from families under the first Trump administration experienced profound harms, including PTSD; in 2021, a group of pediatricians wrote that family separation constitutes cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment that rises to the level of torture.The anxiety that someone in their family could be deported is already affecting children at school. Its hard for them to focus on subjects like math and reading when all theyre thinking about is what is happening to Mom and Dad, Alvarez said. Theyre just on survival mode right now.Other kids are scared to even leave the house. Carolina Avila, a social worker in California who works with students who came to the US as unaccompanied minors, says many of her clients have expressed an intense fear of really going anywhere, not just school.Some parents, too, dont feel safe congregating, they dont feel safe leaving their home, Aleman said. Some are afraid to drive or walk their kids to school. That fear comes at a time when school districts are trying to battle chronic absenteeism and get kids back in school after the disruption of the pandemic. Its also a time when kids around the country have to endure active shooter drills and hear about children their age losing their lives to gun violence. Our kids are already traumatized thinking some crazy person is going to come in and shoot them, Alvarez said.For the kids in Alemans community in Los Angeles, fear of ICE arrives on the heels of devastating wildfires that have destroyed thousands of homes and at least eight schools. While the fires are a natural disaster, ICE raids are a disaster of human proportions, Aleman said. Its being caused on a human being by another human being. How schools are supporting kidsAs the next weeks and months unfold, schools and districts can help kids by publicly affirming their right to an education and setting clear policies around when and how ICE agents can enter schools, experts say. Families may also need help creating alternate care plans in case a childs parents are detained, said Avila, the social worker, who works with the Childrens Holistic Immigration Representation Project, a program serving unaccompanied minors in California.Outside of schools, ordinary people can also support students and families who are feeling fear right now, Alvarez said: Call your local legislative representative, let them know that you dont think this is right.These kids are loving kids, she said. Theyre intelligent. They care about their community. They love their families. Theyre not here to hurt anyone. Theyre here to be a child.What Im readingExtreme weather disrupted school for at least 242 million kids around the world last year, according to a new UNICEF report. Heat waves were the most common reason children had to miss school.The Department of Educations Office of Civil Rights under Trump has rescinded Biden-era guidance warning schools that banning books could violate civil rights laws. Because this is a question of parental and community judgment, not civil rights, OCR has no role in these matters, the office said in a release.Being good at the internet means something very different to kids than it meant to their millennial parents.My little kid and I are reading Oge Moras Saturday, a sweet story about a special day that goes off the rails, and how a mother and daughter salvage it together. From my inboxA reader pushed back in response to my story last week on kids and food dyes, writing, My 14-year-old daughter has ADHD. She and I can both tell with high reliability if she has eaten something containing FD&C red 40 fifteen minutes earlier.He added: As you say, Cutting out dyes wont make all kids better-behaved, because not every child is sensitive to dye in the first place. But it will help, and moving in the right direction is something we should all strive for.To share your thoughts, recommendations, or ideas for stories I should cover, get in touch with me at anna.north@vox.com.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Remember when Nintendo unveiled consoles at huge public events and not through a two minute YouTube video? (Nintendo/Consolevariations)The man who once auctioned off the Queens golden Wii is now hoping to sell a rare Nintendo GameCube for a six-figure sum.To an outsider, spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on a rare video game console can seem like madness, especially if it cant actually play any games. But for some, the bragging rights alone are worth it.Weve seen it happen before, such as with a prototype of the cancelled Nintendo PlayStation console. While it wound up selling for about 276,900, it would have sold for much more had its owner agreed to an initial offer of 1 million.While its unlikely the newest example a rare prototype of the Nintendo GameCube will ever go for that much money, its owner is certainly hoping to make sextuple figures by putting it up for $100,000 (roughly 80,400).Nintendo unveiled the GameCube during its Space World trade show in 2000, more than a year before the consoles official launch, which sounds unbelievable nowadays when you look at how secretive the companys been with the Nintendo Switch 2.Anyway, the GameCube that was shown was purely for display purposes, so only a very small numberwere ever made. One of these prototypes the purple one specifically was found and acquired by Consolevariations (an online catalogue for game console variants) in 2023.While at first glance it looks identical to the GameCubes final design, there turned out to be a number of differences in the hardware. For instance, the lid has a transparent window you can see through, and it has more air vents for cooling purposes (121 compared to the final designs 64).Now, Consolevariations co-founder Donny Fillerup has listed the console on eBay for $100,000 or best offer, acknowledging there is some wear due to how long it was hidden for.More TrendingWhile Fillerup is no doubt hoping to sell it for more, its entirely possible someone can manage to haggle for less if not enough people bite. Its an incredibly niche item, especially since it wasnt designed to play any games, although it would be nice to see in a museum.Despite the price tag, its also not atually the rarest GameCube prototype out there. That honour belongs to the Nintendo Dolphin, which was the GameCubes original codename. That ones so rare that detailed pictures of it only emerged last year.This isnt the first time Fillerup has auctioned off a rare console. He once owned the gold-plated Wii that was delivered to Queen Elizabeth II as part of a marketing stunt.He initially hoped to sell it for $300,000, but it ultimately went for a significantly smaller price of $36,000 (just under 29,000). Anyone got a spare 80 grand lying around? (eBay)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Call Of Duty effect on Game Pass was tiny reveals new Xbox sales infoGameCentralPublished January 30, 2025 10:44amUpdated January 30, 2025 10:44am Call Of Duty hasnt helped Game Pass numbers at all (Microsoft)Microsofts latest financial results reveal that Xbox console sales are down a calamitous 29% over Christmas, with Call Of Duty boosting Game Pass by only a fraction.Just yesterday, Microsoft was revealed to be the biggest video game publisher in the world, primarily indeed, almost solely thanks to Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6, which was the most successful entry in the series so far.You wouldve thought, and certainly it was Microsofts fervent hope, that the fact that Black Ops 6 was available on Game Pass from day one, for no additional cost, wouldve given a major boost to the service.But just as Starfield had little to no affect on Game Pass numbers neither did Black Ops 6, with Microsofts results showing an increase of just 2%. At the same time hardware sales fell by 29% and overall gaming revenue was down 7%, over the vital October to December quarter of last year.Microsofts gaming division which now includes Activision Blizzard and Bethesda made $6.6 billion (5.3bn) in revenue during the last three months, which was down $530 million (426m) on the same time last year.Thats pretty shocking considering 2023s Call Of Duty was the considerably less popular Modern Warfare 3 but the underlying problem is that console sales continue to freefall and without that Microsofts games business is little more than just Activision with a new hat on.Microsoft boss Satya Nadella tried to make the best of the results in the companys earnings call, with some very carefully cherry-picked stats, such as PC Game Pass subscriptions being up 30%.Clearly that had little affect on the overall Game Pass results, with the recent subscription price rises likely meaning that console numbers decreased compared to 2023 although its impossible to know for sure as Microsoft still refuses to provide figures for subscriber numbers or console sales, which tells its own story.However, according to analyst group Ampere, PC subscriptions account for no more than 16% of the total.Nadella also revealed that four million people have played Indiana Jones And The Great Circle since its release in December. However, that figure includes Game Pass players and doesnt indicate how many bought it separately although the games sales will no doubt spike later in the year though, when its released on PlayStation 5.He also stated that Xbox Cloud Gaming saw a record 140 million hours streamed during the quarter, insisting that, We are focused on improving the profitability of the business, in order to position it for long-term growth, driven by higher-margin content and platform services.Nadella didnt address any of the negative sales results or give any indication of what was going to be done about falling console sales and their impact on Game Pass subscriptions. Although its worth noting that the weak console sales results from 2023 are what precipitated the current attempts to embrace multiformat publishing. Game Pass cant grow while console sales plummet (Microsoft)Given how little affect the PC increase had on the overall Game Pass results it suggests that the release of Black Ops 6 had even less influence on Game Pass subscribers than it first seems, which is disastrous news for Microsoft.Call Of Duty was their last card to play, in terms of individual titles that would drastically increase interest in Game Pass, and while they are hoping that its influence will become more obvious in subsequent months theres certainly no sign of it at the moment.The problem, as we outlined in a recent article, is that the majority of Game Pass subscribers are Xbox console owners and with hardware sales bottoming out there is very little capacity for future growth.More TrendingIndeed, subscriber numbers are likely to fall if current Xbox owners abandon the console or switch to the PlayStation 6 in the next generation.Microsoft will no doubt focus more on PC in the future but their emphasis on streaming depends on Wi-Fi infrastructure over which they have no control, making it very difficult to guess when it might become a more mainstream concern.Although the Xbox console business has declined two generations in a row, with the Xbox Series X/S plateauing even more quickly than the Xbox One, Microsoft has no option but to continue to support its hardware business or it will lose the majority of its current Game Pass subscribers.Xbox has already announced a next gen console, amidst constant hints at a portable device, but theres still no clear idea when theyll be released or, more importantly, why Microsoft thinks they will succeed where its last two consoles have failed. Xbox is getting into the handheld business (Valve/Microsoft/Metro)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

A Fire TV Stick is a great way to upgrade an older TV that still works into a full blown smart TV. Youre by plugging it into one of your TVs HMDI ports, youll now be able to access anything you would on a smart TV through the streaming stick itself. And would you look at that? Amazon has the Fire TV Stick Lite as part of a limited time deal. You can pick one up for a solid 40% off at the moment. That brings the price down from $30 to just $18 for a limited time. That makes for a total savings of $12.Navigating through the Fire TV interface is a breeze. The remote includes an Alexa button and a microphone built in. That means you can just press down the button and say what you want to search for, be it saying, Netflix to jump right to the app, or Stranger Things to get right to the content directly.See at AmazonAmazon Alexa can also be used to control your smart home. Hold down the remote button to check the weather, dim the lights, view camera feeds from your security system, pull up music from Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, and so much more.A big bonus on the Fire TV Stick is Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.No longer is it required to own an Xbox console to play Xbox games. You can stream games likeHalo InfiniteandCall of Duty Black Ops 6through the cloud directly to your Fire Stick TV 4K. All you need to make is happen is subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and grab yourself an Xbox controller or other compatible gamepad.One thing that differentiates the Lite version of the Fire TV Stick from its standard counterpart is the lack of TV controls. Do note that the Fire TV Stick cannot be used to turn on your TV or change the volume. Youll have to continue with your TV remote for that or just go for the full Fire TV Stick of Fire TV Stick 4K.Over 300,000 Free Movies and TV ShowsAs one would expect, the Fire TV ecosystem supports all the popular streaming apps from Netflix to Hulu to Disney Plus to Max. With a subscription, youll be able to access all of those individual catalogues. However, there are also a ton of free movies and TV show episodes you can access via ad-supported apps like the various Fire TV Channels, Amazon Freevee, Tubi, and Pluto TV.Right now, you can save a solid 40% on the Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite. For a limited time, the streaming stick has be slashed in price down from $30 to just $18. Thatll save you a worthwhile $12 off your purchase.See at Amazon

If you thought the world went a little mad for the magnetism of Bill Skarsgrd in Nosferatu, no one is ready for Jacob Elordi in Guillermo del Toros Frankenstein. The Brightburn and Euphoria star plays the monster in Netflixs upcoming adaptation of Mary Shelleys legendary novel and, in the first footage from the film, he looked about as dashing as a Frankensteins monster can be, despite the fact hes the reanimated amalgamation of human corpses. The footage, which was not released online, screened as part of a big 2025 preview event put on by Netflix in Los Angeles Wednesday morning. It began with an introduction from del Toro himself from his famous nerd cave, Bleak House, where he showed that he has an entire room dedicated to Frankenstein. The message was that this is a movie hes been waiting to make for, basically, his entire life. Then came the footage, which was all period, mostly shot on location or epic sets, all featuring gorgeous, flowing costumes. Much of the footage centered on Dr. Frankenstein (played by Oscar Isaac) as hes seen experimenting in the middle of a large, crowded room with an emaciated torso. The people watching are taken back. We get the sense his desire to reanimate the dead isnt going well and, in fact, hes being mocked for it. Among the people who do so is Mia Goths character. He then meets a character played by Christoph Waltz who agrees to fully fund his research. Multiple corpses are brought into his lab in various ways, including a very bright, white ivory coffin. The lab is powered by large, green-colored energy sources. In it, we see close-ups of the doctors surgery, all of which are graphic and gory. Dr. Frankenstein slices skin, severs limbs, and puts together a new body almost like a jigsaw puzzle. The final construction has an eternal set of ribs, made of metal, on the outside of his body (think Lord Zedd from Power Rangers), built around a cylindrical red energy source. Dr. Frankenstein raises the table up in the middle of the room. Next, we see him on the roof in the middle of a storm, lightning and thunder everywhere. However, when he returns, he doesnt think the experiment has worked. Cut to the doctor sleeping in a large elaborate bed, covered in sultry red sheets. He opens his eyes and is scared as something is towering over him. Its his creation, Frankensteins monster, played by Jacob Elordi.Now, according to Google, Jacob Elordi is a very large 6 foot 5 inches tall and his monster is every bit of that and more. Hes tall, hes lanky, and despite being pieced together from various body parts, you can very clearly see that its Elordi under all the makeup. His movie star good looks clash with the horrific makeup in a way that just works. Even the signature cut across the head, a staple of every Frankensteins monster, is a little cooler than usual as it starts on the upper right side of his head and then swoops down closer to above his left eye. The monster looks at photos, tries to woo Goths character, walks in the snow, and more. Hes a commanding presence. Basically think about Jacob Elordi with lines on his body and pasty-looking make-up and, well, we have the internets latest thirst trap. Or, at least, thats our prediction. We wont know for sure until November when Guillermo del Toros Frankenstein comes to Netflix. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

An Eden within the Workplace: Flexible Pods with Biophilic and Human-Centered DesignSponsored ContentWinston Churchill once wisely stated, "We shape our buildings, and in turn, our buildings shape us," a reflection that highlights how architecture, in its dynamic nature, responds to functional needs and molds the experiences of its users. Workplaces have been no exception, evolving with the social and technological changes that have redefined our understanding of organizational interactions. Almost in the blink of an eye, the once-restrictive cubicles and closed offices have made way for open layouts, while hybrid models have transformed offices into destination spaces. Furniture elements like office pods are at the forefront of this changebalancing collaboration and privacy. Designed to adapt, they have continually evolved alongside the shifting demands of modern workspaces and their inhabitants.With this in mind, the offices themselves have the power to shape the culture they nurture, as office environments and their elements influence how we engage with tasks and colleagues. Today, these atmospheres are being transformed into spaces designed for growth, conveying the message: Workspaces foster comfort, productivity, and well-being. This new vision is inspired by Boss Design through the Eden work system, shaped by 15 years of experience designing office pods and a desire to create a system based on the principles of positive architecture the practice of designing buildings and spaces that enhance physical, mental, and emotional health and human-centric design. It offers a distinctive, high-quality feel that delivers ergonomic comfort, functionality, and flexibility across different environments, from corporate spaces to, why not, hospitality settings.Save this picture! An Extendable Pod Family for Focus, Connection, and Productivity Considering interior design, furniture, and architecture as a unified whole, the system presents an opportunity to create an even wider gamut of spaces people want to inhabit. Clean lines, thoughtful geometry, and precise engineering create a light touch and a sense of continuity, establishing an intuitive connection between the overall design scheme and the surrounding architecture. Its uninterrupted glazing and glass-to-glass corners exemplify this, offering views that allow natural light to flow into a space where nature-inspired forms, fabrics, colors, textures, and lighting come together to foster a calming, well-illuminated atmosphere.Acknowledging the potential of workplace pods to enhance spaces and human interactions, Eden consists of an extendable family of four modules, ranging from an individual focus pod to a six-person meeting space, which can be mixed and matched in clusters to meet a wide variety of functional requirements, bringing spaces to focus, collaborate, and connect. The seating and tables from the Boss Design catalog introduce smooth, organic lines and a soft, welcoming aesthetic, while video conferencing features can be integrated to support a hybrid work environment. Additionally, the modular concept reflects modern urban planning principles, akin to a microcosm of grid planning. Pods are arranged in neat, repeatable structuressuch as rows and clustersallowing for efficient space usage, easy navigation, and the flexibility to reconfigure the workspace, ultimately creating a wide range of destination spaces.Save this picture!Save this picture! Eden gives designers the tools they need to realize the atmosphere and thus the workplace culture they envisage. Within a single cluster, you can provide focus working, formal meeting and videoconferencing spaces, alongside a lounge setting each with outstanding levels of comfort, and each respecting different working styles and levels of privacy." -Mark Barrell, Design Director at Boss Design The ability to specify units with lounge furnishings further enriches the atmosphere, adding an extra layer of comfort and habitability to the workplace pod environment. With the inclusion of the well-proportioned Beau modular lounge seating, the pods shift to a relaxed and soft atmosphere where users can meet, share ideas, communicate, collaborate, or socialize. Whether in large or small footprints, Eden lounge spaces are recurrent when the goal is to cultivate relationships, strengthen teams, and nurture a workplace culture that feels both personal and inclusive.Save this picture!Save this picture! Bringing Biophilic Design to Workplace Pods As its name suggests, Eden's design process has been inspired by nature from the outset, incorporating biophilic elements through natural colors, textures, foliage arrangements, and the organic curves of furniture to create a calm ambiance. This approach is rooted in the premise that introducing greenery, natural shapes, and visual interest into a space creates a calming effect, helping to reduce workplace stress and enhance well-being. Complementing this vision are the painted frame optionsCopper Brown, Reed Green, and Sanddrawn from nature's color palette. With the wood grain textures of the timber acoustic panels, the system brings a sense of calm and nature-inspired tranquility, paired with flexible privacy features to ensure screen confidentiality, including reeded and frosted glass vignette options. Cabin privacy can be tailored using various materials, including upholstered or hardwood acoustic panels, patterned or ombre curtains, and wood-slatted partitions. These options enable adjustable privacy levels based on work preferences, making them suitable for multigenerational environments. The selected materials enhance the space's comfort and ambiance and create a sensory experience aligned with human-centered design principles. Fabrics can be smooth or bobbly, and upholstery can be trimmed or plush. The exterior can blend minimalist styling with clear or frosted glass or embrace the warmth of slatted timber. Custom lighting options, including pendant and recessed wall-mounted designs, address functional and atmospheric needs, while air circulation features enhance environmental quality.Save this picture!Eden Pod System - Reed Green. Image Courtesy of Boss DesignSave this picture! Exceptional design and sustainability are always central to our process, but with Eden, we've focused more than ever on the user experience. Features such as its timber strip privacy screening, beautiful ombr curtains, and biophilic foliage arrangements put people at ease, helping foster creativity, communication, and the ability to focus. -Ben Mitchell, Head of Pods Sustainability has been central to the system's development, aligning with its biophilic features and guiding its manufacturing process. Its aluminum frame and glass elements are fully recyclable and contain a proportion of recycled materials. All timber components are sourced from FSC-certified suppliers and are recyclable. Internal fabrics and upholstery can be specified in textiles made from recycled materials or reconstituted fibers, including SEAQUAL, a textile made from plastic waste removed from the ocean.Save this picture!Save this picture!Times change, and with them, our spaces evolve, reflecting new needs and aspirations in contemporary architecture. Our spaces are becoming increasingly complexnot due to insurmountable technological challenges, but because the focus has shifted to an aspect that is both diverse and evolving: people. Atmospheres designed with the principles of positive architecture aim to inspire, uplift, and support the well-being of their inhabitants. In this regard, approaches like Eden create comfortable spaces that adapt to users' needs, promote well-being, and contribute to a sustainable future.Save this picture!To learn more about Eden, visit the Boss Design website.Image gallerySee allShow lessAbout this authorEnrique TovarAuthorCite: Enrique Tovar. "An Eden within the Workplace: Flexible Pods with Biophilic and Human-Centered Design" 30 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1025776/an-eden-within-the-workplace-flexible-pods-with-biophilic-and-human-centered-design&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 Austrian Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale to Focus on Migration and Affordable HousingSave this picture!Helmut-Zilk-Park at Sonnwendviertel, Vienna. Image Paul SebestaWhat defines good housing and a good living environment? What political framework is needed to create them? How can we design socially equitable, affordable housing? And what strategies lead to the best results? These are the questions guiding Lorenzo Romito, Sabine Pollak, and Michael Obrist's proposal for the Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025. The building, designed by Josef Hoffmann and inaugurated in 1934, will become an interactive space with the opening of the "Agency for Better Living", an exhibition dedicated to exploring the new political dimension of the fundamental right to housing. The proposal takes as its starting point a comparison of social housing models in Vienna and Rome, creating a space for sharing ideas on better living for all.The curatorial concept for the Austrian Pavilion contrasts two approaches to social housing: a top-down model (Austrian) and one characterized by bottom-up practices (Italian). Rome serves as a local case study, illustrating responses to large-scale contemporary displacement as a civil and creative urban laboratory. The curators, academics and practicing architects, are seeking to learn from the juxtaposition of an institutionally organized system and an activist, self-managed approach. In this proposal, visitors will be invited to get involved and actively participate in discussions about migration, economy, nature, climate, tourism, among many others. Save this picture!The pavilion will host an exhibition and discussion space. Throughout the Biennale, it will be occupied with activities such as presentations, talks, and workshops, bringing together activists, residents, experts, and anyone interested in working toward better living conditions anywhere in the world. The invitation is open, calling for the exchange of ideas in a creative environment. The primary objective is to gather a wide range of experiences and knowledge, not only from the cities studied but from as many voices, places, and institutions as possible. Part of the discussions will also be compiled in a special issue of the architecture and urbanism magazine ARCH+, under the title Agency for Better Living. Related Article "Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective": Carlo Ratti Announces Theme and Title for 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale Save this picture! With their contribution on the 'housing question,' the curators are devoting themselves to a subject of urgent socio-political relevance. By comparing Vienna's social housing model with the bottom-up practices in Rome, they are opening up a range of perspectives and potential approaches to the development of affordable housing, which is coming under increasing pressure due to phenomena such as gentrification. By integrating workshops, lectures, and interactive formats, the Austrian pavilion will become a dynamic place of knowledge sharing, in which questions of social justice, political responsibility, and sustainable urban development can be addressed across national boundaries. - Elias Molitschnig, Commissioner of the Austrian Contribution to the Biennale Architettura 2025 / Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport The 19th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia 2025, curated by Carlo Ratti and centered around the themeIntelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.", will feature a wide range of activities from May 10 to November 23, 2025. Alongside the characteristic symmetry of the Austrian Pavilion, visitors to the Biennale will encounter around thirty buildings and installations in the Giardini, each rich in themes and insights. The Swiss Pavilion will explore the equally timely topic of women's participation in the architecture industry, while Denmark's contribution will focus on reuse and resourcefulness in sustainable architectural practices for a better future.We invite you to check out ArchDaily's comprehensive coverage of the 2025 Venice Biennale.Image gallerySee allShow lessAbout this authorCite: Antonia Pieiro. "The Austrian Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale to Focus on Migration and Affordable Housing" 30 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1026318/the-austrian-pavilion-at-the-2025-venice-architecture-biennale-to-focus-on-migration-and-affordable-housing&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

Join the course here: https://cgboost.com/robots Learn to create fun hard-surface robots from a mechanized world in Blender, now with two new robot breakdown chapters (Snail Bot & Ostrich Bot).Course Author: @ldm

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