ZDNET's key takeaways The Oukitel WP100 Titan will be available on Amazon in mid-AprilThere is no word on final retail price but the initial release will sell for around $899.With a built-in projector, massive battery, rugged chassis, and powerful light, this phone is ideal for outdoorsy types.It's also massive, and weighs nearly 1.5 pounds. View now at Kickstarter I have in my hand the single heaviest phone I've ever reviewed. It's beefy in a way I never imagined a phone would be. This phone weighs 1.93 pounds. Pounds! To put that into perspective, my Pixel 9 Pro weighs 0.438 pounds, and the Asus Zenbook A14, a standard-sized laptop we recently reviewed, is 2.1 pounds.Yeah, this phone is chonky. But it's also pretty cool. It's the Oukitel WP100 Titan, and it's aptly named.Also: How to turn on Private DNS Mode on Android - and why it matters for privacyI received the Titan to review and when I pulled it from the box, my jaw dropped to the floor. I had no idea what this phone was all about. I intentionally left myself in the dark, so my impression was neutral. But I quickly discovered the reason behind its monumental size: it includes a built-in projector. details View at Amazon That's right, you can project whatever's on your screen onto a wall (or whatever flat surface you have) to share with those around you. Before you get too excited, the projector isn't perfect. Getting the display large enough, in focus, and keystone properly. It takes a bit of fiddling, but it works. There are even two buttons on the side of the device that are dedicated to projector focus.There's some serious fun to be had with this.My experienceFirst off, it's an Android device, so setting it up is about as simple as they come. After about five minutes, the WP100 Titan was ready for the big test.Obviously, the first thing I did was fire up the projector. To do that, there's a matching icon on the home screen. Tap that and you'll hear a fairly loud fan spin up and the phone will project the Android screen onto whatever surface you're facing.The projector is fairly simple to operate, and does a good job of displaying whatever's on your screen. When I was testing it, however, I realized the projector did have some limitations. First off, getting it to focus isn't quite an exact science.Also: Best of MWC 2025: 10 most impressive products that you might've missedTo focus it, you click either one of the rectangular buttons on the left side of the device. What I discovered is that the ability to get the focus right depends on what you're watching, how far you are from the projection surface, and how much ambient light you're dealing with. A quick idea of how well the projector on the WP100 Titan works. Jack Wallen/ZDNETIt took me a while, but after an OS update, I found the projector to be much easier to work with. I was able to successfully project whatever was on the Android display to a wall or a screen.Okay, let's get beyond the projector and examine the actual phone.One of the first things I did was to enable the Android App Drawer. I have no idea why any Android phone manufacturer would disable this feature out of the box, but fortunately, it can be enabled by long-pressing a blank spot on the home screen, tapping Home Settings > Launcher Style, and then selecting Default.Also: This MagSafe battery pack is the perfect companion to my Pixel 9 Pro - and it looks so coolThe WP100 Titan has a few other interesting tricks up its sleeve. There's the Camping Light that produces 1200 lumens and can be used as an SOS light, a super-bright flashing pulse of light, or just a regular (albeit incredibly bright) flashlight. I made the mistake of switching on the Camping Light with the bottom of the phone facing me and I saw spots for a minute. This beast is bright; far brighter than a standard phone's LED.Some other features that impressed me were:The massive 33,000 mAh battery that can go weeks without a charge.512GB of internal storage.The display might not beat the Pixel 9 Pro, but it can hold its own with most mid-range phones.The ruggedness of it all.ZDNET's buying adviceThe Oukitel WP100 Titan is not for everyone. This isn't a phone you slip in your pocket and carry around with you. If, however, you regularly need to project your Android display so others can see it, this is the phone to have. You could even adopt it as a second phone for the specific purpose of carrying around a mobile projector.Another reason this phone might appeal to you is the battery life. I used the projector for an extended period, lit up my office with the Camping Light, and upgraded the OS, and the battery barely depleted. Try that on a standard phone with an average battery and you'll see that percentage drop fairly quickly.Also: Meet ArcoPlasma, the Linux distro for control freaksFinally, if you regularly find yourself in situations where the environment isn't exactly friendly to electronics, the WP100 Titan will happily shrug off inclement weather or rough terrain. It's mighty and it won't back down.Currently the WP100 Titan is only available via Kickstarter but will find its way to retailers such as Amazon in mid-April. The early bird pricing starts at $599 on Kickstarter.The Specs6.8" FHD+ IPS TFT display with 1080 x 2460 resolution and 120Hz refresh rateDimensions: 178.30 x 84.18 x 34.00 mmWeight: 876 gIP68/IP69K/MIL-STD-810H durability ratingsMediaTek Dimensity 7300 (MT6878) processor8-core CPU: 4x 2.5 GHz ARM Cortex-A78, 4x 2.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A55GPU: ARM Mali-G615 MC16GB LPDDR5X RAM, expandable up to 48GB with virtual RAM512GB internal storage200MP main camera with Sony S5KHP3 sensor20MP night vision camera2MP macro camera32MP front-facing camera33,000mAh battery capacity66W fast charging18W reverse chargingUp to 6 months standby time100-lumen DLP projector (854 x 480 resolution)1200-lumen camping light with 1,500 LEDs130dB loudspeakers5G, 4G, 3G network supportDual SIM capabilityWi-Fi 6E, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4, GPSAndroid 14 operating systemFeatured reviews

Google's Pixel smartphones will soon be able to operate as remote wireless cameras when connected to ... [+] a Pixel 9 series device. 2024 Bloomberg Finance LPGoogle has announced a powerful new camera feature that allows Pixel users to shoot video from multiple angles by adding a wirelessly connected external camera. This functionality is possible without the use of third-party streaming apps, unlike on rivals such as the iPhone.March 9 Update below: Ive added some of my experiences using Connected Cameras. I originally posted this article on March 6.March 8 Update below: Google has started rolling out the Connected Cameras feature, and users can now enable it. I originally posted this article on March 6.The new feature, Connected Cameras, is part of Googles March Pixel Feature Drop, which includes several enhancements to Googles smartphone lineup, including the Pixel 6 and up.However, with Connected Cameras, exclusive to the Pixel 9 series, users will soon be able to connect wirelessly to an external camera and stream video from two different angles when using the Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok apps.When using a compatible app, you can switch back and forth between local and remote cameras at will to create more engaging videos without having to shoot multiple takes. During capture, audio is recorded from whichever camera is in use at the time.March 8 Update: Connected Cameras feature now rolling out to users. Heres how it works.Googles Connected Cameras feature is now available to Pixel 9 series owners. A quick way to find it is to launch the Pixel Tips app and look for an entry labeled Use another Pixels camera. Tapping on this tile will launch a short step-by-step tutorial showing you how to connect a second Pixel phone as a remote camera. If you want to hook up a GoPro instead, swipe right from here to see instructions on how to set up your camera.Pixel 9 owners can now connect other Pixel devices and GoPros as remote cameras.PAUL MONCKTONAlternatively, you can go into your Pixels settings and search for connected. " This should locate the new Connected Cameras settings page. Swipe right on the Use Connected Cameras toggle switch to turn the feature on.Turn on Connected Cameras to enable remote cameras on on your Pixel 9 series smartphone. Select a ... [+] camera, and then grant access on the remote device.PAUL MONCKTONNow youre ready to open your streaming app and use Connected Cameras. The feature currently supports Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. If you have a Pixel 9 series device and dont see Connected Cameras available, make sure your smartphone is fully updated and that you have the latest versions of Device Connectivity Service and Pixel Camera Services installed from the Google Play Store. Note that Googles lower-cost A-series Pixels arent compatible with the Connected Cameras feature and wont work as a remote device.March 9 Update: Ive added some of my experiences using Connected Cameras. I originally posted this article on March 6.Google Pixel Connected Cameras Feature: Still Needs WorkThe Connected Cameras feature is a powerful addition to the Pixel 9 range, but theres plenty of room for improvement. Here are a few of my initial thoughts.Switching between cameras is slowEach time you switch cameras, youll have to endure a three-second countdown before the feed switches over to the other camera. Theres no way to quickly flip back and forth. Furthermore, every time you connect to a remote camera, you must grant access from the remote device. If youve set up your remote camera some distance away, then youre going to have to walk over to it and grant access each time you connect.No easy way to switch between camera lensesYour remote camera can share either the rear or front camera, but you have to make this choice when you start the connection. You cant switch camera lenses on the remote device while youre connected.Switching between multiple remote device is painfulOnly one remote camera can be connected at a time. If you want to start using a different remote camera, you must first switch back to your local camera before disconnecting the remote one. Only then can you connect to a different device. If you dont follow these steps the Add Pixel button simply does nothing.The default camera app isnt supportedConnected Cameras only works with supported social media apps. You cant just fire up the Pixel camera and use Connected Cameras from there. This means your control over camera settings is limited by the app youre using you probably wont get access to all the settings available in the default camera app.It doesnt always work.Ive found that camera sharing sometimes just refuses to work even though the remote device is connected and supposedly sharing correctly. Restarting one or both of the devices will usually fix this.Original article continues below:Your remote camera can be a Pixel 6 or newer or a GoPro Hero 10 and up. You can pair multiple remote cameras simultaneously, but only one can be connected to your session at a time. This limitation is somewhat restrictive, but if you havent already traded in your older Pixel, Connected Cameras may be the perfect way to make good use of that unused smartphone.How To Enable Connected Cameras On The Google Pixel 9 SeriesYou can enable Connected Cameras in the Connected Devices section of your smartphones settings. Once the feature is available to you, a new option will appear there.When Connected Cameras is enabled, a new camera picker appears on the screen whenever you stream video with a compatible app. The camera picker then allows you to switch between cameras while streaming and add or remove new ones from the list.The Connected Cameras feature requires a Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL or Pixel 9 Pro Fold as your primary device.Google's Connected Cameras feature lets you stream from remote wireless cameras to your Pixel 9 ... [+] series smartphone.GOOGLEGoogle Pixel Connected Cameras: Possible DrawbacksOne important restriction with Connected Cameras is that, because it relies on Googles cross-device services feature, youll have to sign in on both devices with your Google Account. This means you cant connect a friends Pixel 6 as a remote camera on an ad hoc basis, for example.Another restriction I foresee becoming an issue for many is the automatic switching of audio recording to whichever camera is active. While this makes sense for the most part, there are many situations where you might want to continue recording audio from the primary device while switching the view to the remote camerasuch as when you're recording a voiceover and want to switch to a different view while you continue talking.Switching between cameras isnt instantaneous youll see a countdown on screen when switching from one camera to another. This means you cant make quick cuts from one camera view to another, making the Connected Cameras feature significantly less useful in some scenarios, for example when you want to switch quickly between showing your face and a closeup of an object youre unboxing.Theres also potential for misuse. Remote recording devices can make it easier to covertly record or live stream someone on social media without their knowledge or permission. Making the Connected Cameras feature widely available without the need for third-party apps will only make these forms of misuse.The March 2025 Pixel Drop is available now, although some features may not be immediately available in all regions.Follow @paul_monckton on Instagram.

The Volvo ES90 was launched recently in Stockholm, Sweden.JDMIf theres one word that has historically summed up the Volvo brand, its safety. But now that cars have become digital technology products, this no longer just means crumple zones, airbags and hardened passenger compartments. To get top ratings, a car needs sophisticated computer-assisted systems. With the launch of the Volvo ES90, the Swedish company hopes to continue its safety leadership into the digital era. I talked to Alwin Bakkenes, Head of Software Engineering at Volvo, about what the ES90 means for the brands core aims.Volvo ES90: Premium EV FeaturesThe Volvo ES90 has only been launched without giving journalists a chance to drive it yet. But the design is promising. Although it looks like a sedan, the ES90 is a hatchback. This will make it more practical for families, who want plenty of luggage space without being an SUV. Passenger space is superb, too, with plenty of room for adults over six feet tall to sit behind similarly sized people in the front seats.Electric range is up to 435 miles in the WLTP cycle, and this car uses an 800V architecture (Volvos SPA2, also used by the Polestar 3) rather than 400V as used in the Volvo EX30. So it can charge very quickly, able to replenish 186 miles in just ten minutes when connected to a 350kW charger. Battery sizes up to 106kWh and a dual-motor option signal the premium positioning of the ES90. But its the computing capability that cements this car as Volvos new flagship and leader in the companys push towards digitally enhanced safety.The ES90 is a hatchback masquerading as a sedan.JDMSoftware is now replacing hardware as a primary driver of innovation, says Bakkenes. For Volvo this is all about raising the bar in safety and providing innovative human centric technology. The ES90 is the first Volvo powered with two NVIDIA DRIVE AGS Orin processors, which have computational power of about 500 trillion operations per second (TOPS), making this the most powerful Volvo car ever. These are chips designed for inference tasks around AI. We use them to orchestrate everything in the car with emphasis on our safety stack. The ES90 shares the same underpinnings as the EX90, which was the first car to use SPA2.Central to these underpinnings is Volvos Superset tech stack. As with all our products using Superset, the ES90 is designed to improve over time through over the air updates, says Bakkenes. The EX90 only had one Orin chip, with its second computer the less powerful NVIDIA Xavier series. Volvo intends to offer a free upgrade to all existing EX90 owners, updating the hardware to twin Orin CPUs as well. The Orin is about eight times more powerful than the Xavier chip for AI compute. This enables us to enhance the number of parameters for our AI models significantly.Harnessing The Computing Power Of The Volvo ES90Although the ES90 has the same sensor array as the EX90, including cameras, radar and LiDAR, the improved compute performance will radically increase its software-enhanced safety capabilities. We can do more inference on the edge and that gives the systems better performance, says Bakkenes. We're going to leverage this compute power to enhance safety. The ES90 is designed to look out for you with an extremely good perception stack for the surroundings using cameras and radars to enable the car to be reliable in different weather conditions, darkness, and sunlight. The LiDAR can detect obstacles, even small objects, at a very long range and in the dark. We combine that with an advanced driver understanding system with multiple cameras enabling the car to interpret the attentiveness of the driver to build a holistic Advanced Driver-Assistance System (ADAS) solution.Unlike some manufacturers, Volvo has incorporated LiDAR as well as radar and cameras into the ES90 ... [+] and EX90.JDMVolvos aim is to go well beyond just providing sufficient technology for a top safety rating. We do this with real life safety in mind, in every scenario, and that's what we optimize for, says Bakkenes. The optimization is improved with every software update. This is a journey we started a long time ago. Every car that we've built for many years is fully over the air updatable. It's not just for the entertainment system. We can touch every ECU in the car, and we also collect data. That data enables us to understand how to improve systems over time.The computing power in the ES90 allows it to contribute data to this optimization process as well as benefit from it. With the Superset tech stack now in SPA2, we even have the ability to collect raw sensor data that we can use to train our models to improve them over time and then deploy those models back to the vehicles, says Bakkenes. Superset underpins all our upcoming electric cars. When we do an enhancement in the ADAS stack, it doesn't just benefit the ES90. It also benefits the EX90, as well as future cars coming on the Superset tech stack like the EX60.This is the most powerful Volvo to date from a computational perspective and, being software defined, it is designed to be able to evolve continuously, says Bakkenes. We can leverage that compute power over time. Initially we combine that with an exceptional sensor array using AI to keep yourself as an occupant in the vehicle, but also your surroundings, safe. Thats what we call Safe Space Technology.Volvo ES90: Technology For Future AutonomyWe're Volvo and our customers expect us to provide them the safest experience out there, says Bakkenes. Collision avoidance is one of the most important things, protecting the occupants of the vehicle, but also the people around the vehicle. The ES90 and EX90 are not just equipped with two computers and a vast array of sensors, including LiDAR. There is also redundancy. There's redundant braking, steering, and power supply. These cars are truly prepared for autonomous driving. We roll out supervised autonomy first, where it is really working and where it's safe, and we will progressively enhance the capabilities. But the hardware is prepared for unsupervised autonomy.One of the reasons why we're upgrading to two Orins is because of the computer requirements that we need to fulfil the self-driving that we envisioned with these cars, says Bakkenes. Having 500 TOPS in the cars enables us to do inference in the edge. You cannot do self-driving tasks in the cloud. You need to do all of that locally. We also have enough compute power to run scenarios in shadow mode, so we can deploy new algorithms, and before we activate them, test them and see how the behavior is in the real world, to build the necessary confidence. We equipped these cars with 5G connectivity, too, so we can upload perception data to a data center where we ingest and process it. We analyze it and decide whether that needs to become part of the training stack.The Volvo ES90 is a statement of the company's intention to be the safety leader into the digital ... [+] era.JDMIts a double revolution, says Bakkenes. The car is a computer now, but youve also got the ability to fast track development by going through many scenarios in simulation with a digital twin before testing them physically. Having this amount of compute power in the ES90, there is so much more we can do with the system. One of the powerful parts of our transformation is that were not just building a car. We're building a Superset tech stack, which we deploy to a wide range of cars, and that enables us to inherit functionality from one car to the other. We might announce a feature for the ES90. The EX90 gets it as well. And the car after, which of course makes us much more efficient over time.While Volvo shares many parts of its EV technology with other brands in the Geely Group of which it is part, the focus on safety will be a Volvo-specific feature. These computing sensors enable us to build a customer experience that we believe is truly stunning, says Bakkenes. Part of our transformational journey is being able to become a software driven company with thousands of software engineers that can build great products and a machine that enables us to manage all this active safety data.Weve been data-driven from the early 70s when we went out with measuring tapes to understand what happened in physical crashes, says Bakkenes. We implemented connectivity back in 2020 on every car to collect real life data from events. Weve been collecting telemetry data from actual or near crashes as they happen to help increase our understanding of real-life safety. The computing power of the Volvo ES90 could help tie this data together for the ultimate in safe driving.

Love crossword puzzles but dont have all day to sit and solve a full-sized puzzle in your daily newspaper? Thats what The Mini is for!A bite-sized version of the New York Times well-known crossword puzzle, The Mini is a quick and easy way to test your crossword skills daily in a lot less time (the average puzzle takes most players just over a minute to solve). While The Mini is smaller and simpler than a normal crossword, it isnt always easy. Tripping up on one clue can be the difference between a personal best completion time and an embarrassing solve attempt.Recommended VideosJust like ourWordle hints and Connections hints, were here to help with The Mini today if youre stuck and need a little help.Please enable Javascript to view this contentBelow are the answers for the NYT Mini crossword today.New York TimesAcrossAll over the ___ MAPExasperated words before trailing off into a facepalm IJUSTGKendrick who won five Grammys for 2024s Not Like Us LAMARRapper in a beef with 7-Across DRAKEThe birds and the bees DownNot spicy, as salsa MILDSlightly open, as a door AJARMountain lions PUMASAlcohol whose varieties include junmai (pure rice) and nigori (cloudy) SAKEDino with short arms TREXEditors Recommendations

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsHow to play StrandsHint for todays Strands puzzleTodays Strand answersStrands is a brand new daily puzzle from the New York Times. A trickier take on the classic word search, youll need a keen eye to solve this puzzle.Like Wordle, Connections, and the Mini Crossword, Strands can be a bit difficult to solve some days. Theres no shame in needing a little help from time to time. If youre stuck and need to know the answers to todays Strands puzzle, check out the solved puzzle below.Recommended VideosHow to play StrandsYou start every Strands puzzle with the goal of finding the theme words hidden in the grid of letters. Manipulate letters by dragging or tapping to craft words; double-tap the final letter to confirm. If you find the correct word, the letters will be highlighted blue and will no longer be selectable.RelatedIf you find a word that isnt a theme word, it still helps! For every three non-theme words you find that are at least four letters long, youll get a hint the letters of one of the theme words will be revealed and youll just have to unscramble it.Every single letter on the grid is used to spell out the theme words and there is no overlap. Every letter will be used once, and only once.Each puzzle contains one spangram, a special theme word (or words) that describe the puzzles theme and touches two opposite sides of the board. When you find the spangram, it will be highlighted yellow.The goal should be to complete the puzzle quickly without using too many hints.Todays theme is Kitty corner.Heres a hint that might help you: purrsonalities.Todays Strand answersNYTTodays spanagramWell start by giving you the spangram, which might help you figure out the theme and solve the rest of the puzzle on your own:CATBEHAVIORTodays Strands answersSNUGGLEPURRSWATHISSSTRETCHBLINKPOUNCEEditors Recommendations

sure sure sure Huh? The valuable role of interjections Utterances like um, wow, and mm-hmm arent garbagethey keep conversations flowing. Bob Holmes, Knowable Magazine Mar 9, 2025 7:05 am | 10 Interjectionsone-word utterances that arent part of a larger sentenceused to be dismissed as irrelevant linguistic detritus. But some linguists now think they play an essential role in regulating conversations. Credit: Daniel Garcia/Knowable Magazine Interjectionsone-word utterances that arent part of a larger sentenceused to be dismissed as irrelevant linguistic detritus. But some linguists now think they play an essential role in regulating conversations. Credit: Daniel Garcia/Knowable Magazine Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreListen carefully to a spoken conversation and youll notice that the speakers use a lot of little quasi-wordsmm-hmm, um, huh? and the likethat dont convey any information about the topic of the conversation itself. For many decades, linguists regarded such utterances as largely irrelevant noise, the flotsam and jetsam that accumulate on the margins of language when speakers arent as articulate as theyd like to be.But these little words may be much more important than that. A few linguists now think that far from being detritus, they may be crucial traffic signals to regulate the flow of conversation as well as tools to negotiate mutual understanding. That puts them at the heart of language itselfand they may be the hardest part of language for artificial intelligence to master.Here is this phenomenon that lives right under our nose, that we barely noticed, says Mark Dingemanse, a linguist at Radboud University in the Netherlands, that turns out to upend our ideas of what makes complex language even possible in the first place.For most of the history of linguistics, scholars have tended to focus on written language, in large part because thats what they had records of. But once recordings of conversation became available, they could begin to analyze spoken language the same way as writing.When they did, they observed that interjectionsthat is, short utterances of just a word or two that are not part of a larger sentencewere ubiquitous in everyday speech. One in every seven utterances are one of these things, says Dingemanse, who explores the use of interjections in the 2024 Annual Review of Linguistics. Youre going to find one of those little guys flying by every 12 seconds. Apparently, we need them.Many of these interjections serve to regulate the flow of conversation. Think of it as a tool kit for conducting interactions, says Dingemanse. If you want to have streamlined conversations, these are the tools you need. An um or uh from the speaker, for example, signals that theyre about to pause, but arent finished speaking. A quick huh? or what? from the listener, on the other hand, can signal a failure of communication that the speaker needs to repair.That need seems to be universal: In a survey of 31 languages around the world, Dingemanse and his colleagues found that all of them used a short, neutral syllable similar to huh? as a repair signal, probably because its quick to produce. In that moment of difficulty, youre going to need the simplest possible question word, and thats what huh? is, says Dingemanse. We think all societies will stumble on this, for the same reason.Other interjections serve as what some linguists call continuers, such as mm-hmm signals from the listener that theyre paying attention and the speaker should keep going. Once again, the form of the word is well suited to its function: Because mm-hmm is made with a closed mouth, its clear that the signaler does not intend to speak.Sign languages often handle continuers differently, but then again, two people signing at the same time can be less disruptive than two people speaking, says Carl Brstell, a linguist at the University of Bergen in Norway. In Swedish Sign Language, for example, listeners often sign yes as a continuer for long stretches, but to keep this continuer unobtrusive, the sender tends to hold their hands lower than usual.Different interjections can send slightly different signals. Consider, for example, one person describing to another how to build a piece of Ikea furniture, says Allison Nguyen, a psycholinguist at Illinois State University. In such a conversation, mm-hmm might indicate that the speaker should continue explaining the current step, while yeah or OK would imply that the listener is done with that step and its time to move on to the next.Wow! Theres moreContinuers arent merely for politenessthey really matter to a conversation, says Dingemanse. In one classic experiment from more than two decades ago, 34 undergraduate students listened as another volunteer told them a story. Some of the listeners gave the usual Im listening signals, while otherswho had been instructed to count the number of words beginning with the letter twere too distracted to do so. The lack of normal signals from the listeners led to stories that were less well crafted, the researchers found. That shows that these little words are quite consequential, says Dingemanse.Nguyen agrees that such words are far from meaningless. They really do a lot for mutual understanding and mutual conversation, she says. Shes now working to see if emojis serve similar functions in text conversations. Storytellers depend on feedback such as mm-hmm and other interjections from their listeners. In this experiment, some listeners were told to count the number of times the storyteller used a word starting with ta challenging task that prevented them from giving normal feedback. The quality of storytelling declined significantly, with problems like abrupt endings, rambling on, uneven or choppy pacing and overexplaining or justifying the point. Credit: Knowable Magazine The role of interjections goes even deeper than regulating the flow of conversation. Interjections also help in negotiating the ground rules of a conversation. Every time two people converse, they need to establish an understanding of where each is coming from: what each participant knows to begin with, what they think the other person knows and how much detail they want to hear. Much of this workwhat linguists call groundingis carried out by interjections.If Im telling you a story and you say something like Wow! I might find that encouraging and add more detail, says Nguyen. But if you do something like, Uh-huh, Im going to assume you arent interested in more detail.A key part of grounding is working out what each participant thinks about the others knowledge, says Martina Wiltschko, a theoretical linguist at the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies in Barcelona, Spain. Some languages, like Mandarin, explicitly differentiate between Im telling you something you didnt know and Im telling you something that I think you knew already. In English, that task falls largely on interjections.One of Wiltschkos favorite examples is the Canadian eh? If I tell you you have a new dog, Im usually not telling you stuff you dont know, so its weird for me to tell you, she says. But You have a new dog, eh? eliminates the weirdness by flagging the statement as news to the speaker, not the listener.Other interjections can indicate that the speaker knows theyre not giving the other participant what they sought. If you ask me whats the weather like in Barcelona, I can say Well, I havent been outside yet, says Wiltschko. The well is an acknowledgement that shes not quite answering the question.Wiltschko and her students have now examined more than 20 languages, and every one of them uses little words for negotiations like these. I havent found a language that doesnt do these three general things: what I know, what I think you know and turn-taking, she says. They are key to regulating conversations, she adds: We are building common ground, and we are taking turns.Details like these arent just arcana for linguists to obsess over. Using interjections properly is a key part of sounding fluent in speaking a second language, notes Wiltschko, but language teachers often ignore them. When it comes to language teaching, you get points deducted for using ums and uhs, because youre not fluent, she says. But native speakers use them, because it helps! They should be taught. Artificial intelligence, too, can struggle to use interjections well, she notes, making them the best way to distinguish between a computer and a real human.And interjections also provide a window into interpersonal relationships. These little markers say so much about what you think, she saysand theyre harder to control than the actual content. Maybe couples therapists, for example, would find that interjections afford useful insights into how their clients regard one another and how they negotiate power in a conversation. The interjection oh often signals confrontation, she says, as in the difference between Do you want to go out for dinner? and Oh, so now you want to go out for dinner?Indeed, these little words go right to the heart of language and what it is for. Language exists because we need to interact with one another, says Brstell. For me, thats the main reason for language being so successful.Dingemanse goes one step further. Interjections, he says, dont just facilitate our conversations. In negotiating points of view and grounding, theyre also how language talks about talking.With huh? you say not just I didnt understand, says Dingemanse. Its I understand youre trying to tell me something, but I didnt get it. That reflexivity enables more sophisticated speech and thought. Indeed, he says, I dont think we would have complex language if it were not for these simple words.Bob Holmes, Knowable Magazine Knowable Magazine explores the real-world significance of scholarly work through a journalistic lens. 10 Comments

2025-03-09T12:00:01Z Read in app Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI There's a growing problem for older Americans: doctors who specialize in geriatric care are dwindling.More than 80 million Americans are expected to be older than 65 by 2050, according to the US Census Bureau.However, geriatricians are in short supply, which could complicate access to care.Jerry Gurwitz, a 68-year-old geriatrician based in Massachusetts, is at a tricky point in his career.He's spent decades taking care of older Americans, but now, as Gurwitz approaches the age of some of his own patients, he sees a brewing problem with his profession: there aren't many people willing to take his job, and he has serious doubts over whether there will be enough doctors to properly take care of people as they get older, he told Business Insider.Gurwitz, who graduated medical school in 1983, said he saw this problem brewing decades ago as he was completing his medical education. Part of the reason he chose to specialize in geriatric medicine was because practically comparatively few people were interested in the field, he said, a trend that hasn't improved more than forty years later."These people are going to be retiring. There's not substantial interest on the part of trainees to go into the field," he said of the supply of geriatricians today. "I can't see how the healthcare system isn't going to be overwhelmed over the next decade. It'll be too much, and too many people to take care of."Medical professionals say the problem has been in the making for years, with the supply of doctors trained specifically to treat older adults nowhere near keeping pace with a quickly aging US population.There's no clear path to addressing the shortage, Gurwitz said. He and other medical professionals told BI the influx of older patients could lead to a quality-of-care crisis.The problem is visible in the numbers.According to an estimate from the American Geriatrics Society, the US will need some 30,000geriatriciansby the end of the decade. Yet, the total number of board-certified geriatricians declined to around 7,400 in 2022, according to the American Board of Medical Specialities, down from around 10,000 at the start of the century and the US population is quickly getting older.According to the latest projections, the number of Americans aged 65 and older is expected to soar to 82 million by 2050, up 47% from 2022 levels.Timothy Farrell, a geriatrician and a professor of medicine at the University of Utah, says the signs of strain on the profession have been increasing for years, but have become more severe recently.Across the board, wait times have gotten longer, with the average wait for a physician appointment rising to 26 days, according to one 2022 survey, up 8% in five years."We could probably double our space, and we would very quickly fill," Farrell said, adding that he believed stress in the geriatric unit could be higher than in other areas of the hospital.R. Sean Morrison, a geriatrician at Mount Sinai, says he knows others in the industry who say they have waiting lists that stretch for six months.The strain of caring for older adults is particularly evident in nursing homes. A survey of over 400 nursing homes conducted by the American Health Care Association found that 72% had fewer employees in 2024 than they did prior to the pandemic.The survey also showed that 57% of nursing homes said they had a waiting list, 46% said they began to limit their intake of residents, and 7% said they were turning away patients on a daily basis."We don't have right now, nor will we unfortunately ever have enough people who are trained," Morrison said. "That's evidenced by the amount of time it takes for an appointment within our geriatric practices. It's evidenced by the number of older adults that need to be taken into the hospital that the inpatient services don't have the capacity to see. And it's just the tip of the iceberg."A dwindling medical professionGurwitz says he had always wanted to be a geriatrician, but the sentiment is rare among medical professionals. Data from the National Resident Matching Program showed that only 174 out of 419 available positions in geriatric specialty programs were filled in 2023, making it one of the most unfilled programs the organization tracks.Convincing people to specialize in the field isn't easy.For one, the profession doesn't pay as much as some specializations. According to data from Salary.com, the median salary for a geriatric physician in New York hovered around $264,163. That's less than half the median salary of a cardiologist in New York, which stood at $573,498 a year as of March 1.There is also a perception that geriatrics medicine is a less distinguishing field than other areas, Gurwitz said. "I think there are certain fields of medicine that are more prestigious in which they are more respected than others. Geriatrics, for one reason or another, is not among those," he added.Farrell said he thinks that the complexity of treating older patients could be another factor turning professionals away from the trade. Geriatricians treat older adults who typically have overlapping health conditions, with some patients taking as many as 20 medications, he said."How do you prevent falls? How do you manage multiple chronic conditions for the same person?" he said. "I think there's people in primary care who have more or less comfort with the complexity taking care of complicated, older adults, and that's what geriatrician is trained to do."

2025-03-09T11:43:01Z Read in app The author (not pictured) and her family made friends with their neighbor. Getty Images This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? We didn't really know our neighbor of 11 years until my husband asked to borrow his truck.He not only said yes, but accompanied him on his errand. Afterward, he came over for dinner.We're still friends to this day, and he's a grandfather figure to our kids.My husband and I found a sinkhole in our backyard. When we received a high bid to fix it, we decided to D.I.Y. the project following our contractor friend's detailed instructions.The job required a few tons of dirt more than our Subaru Forester could haul. My husband had eyed our neighbor's truck in the driveway. Even though we had lived next door to each other for 11 years, I really only knew his name was Gary and that he was a retired bachelor. During that time, we'd exchanged no more than neighborly waves and friendly small talk. I worried that asking him to help us haul dirt was too big an ask.It proved to be one of the best things we ever did.Gary was outside that day, watering his plants, and he willingly stopped to chat with my husband. He quickly offered to help when my husband asked for his assistance, seemingly not bothered by the 20-minute drive or the three yards of dirt plopped into his pristine truckbed.It was the beginning of our friendship.He stayed for dinner and basically became part of our familyMy husband gassed Gary's truck, pumped up the tires, and washed the bed. As a thank you, I invited him to stay for dinner. To my surprise, he said yes. I worried our spunky children might annoy a bachelor and that the chicken I made was too dry. But Gary was pleasant about everything, from the children badgering him with questions (including "How old are you?") to the dog licking him incessantly.When the evening was over, my husband said that Gary had told him he was in a new phase he wanted to be more open to what life brought his way. Our request for help had given him the chance to say yes.That first dinner together led to more. When we found out Gary's family was in Boston and that he would be spending the holidays alone, we invited him to join our large, boisterous family for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. To my continued surprise, he accepted. We extended an invitation for him to spend Christmas morning with our family, too, and filled a stocking with chocolates, coffee, mints, and other treats. And when we discovered that his birthday was three days after Christmas, my 6-year-old daughter and I made him a cake and gave him more chocolate while the family dog showered him with kisses.Over time, he became a grandfather figure to my children. Reflecting on our friendship, it's wild to think we lived next door to Gary for more than 10 years before getting to know him. The same goes for another neighbor on our street. She and I are now close friends through our mutual love of writing. We, too, had been neighbors for more than a decade before we learned of our shared passion. I wish we'd gotten to know our neighbors sooner, but I'm still grateful for their friendships.We love that our children are growing up with a sense of communityFor Gary, our family fills that gap created by far-flung family. He even asked for a photo of us to share with his Boston relatives when he visited them recently. Our dog Maple enthusiastically greets him at every opportunity. He plays catch with our toddler. Our 7-year-old asks him to toss her in the air or watch her latest gymnastic trick, while our 12-year-old ensures we never forget him on our nightly walks.I believe neighborhood relationships teach our children how to pursue unlikely friendships and care for others outside their inner circles. It's one of the greatest gifts of their childhoods to know neighbors like Gary. And to think it all happened because he said yes to an inconvenient errand and dinner invitation.

A Vox reader asks: What is wealth inequality and class warfare and why is it extra bad at this point in time?Wealth is someones net worth that is, their assets (like savings, stock portfolios, and the value of their property) minus their debts (like student loans). Wealth inequality is measured by looking at how total wealth is spread out across the population. The more wealth there is at the top, the more inequality there is because theres less to go around for everyone else.Today, theres a huge gap in incomes between rich and poor. Even though incomes across the board rose at relatively similar rates in the decades after World War Two, incomes at the very top started to grow much faster after the 1970s a trend thats driven, at least in part, by shrinking union membership. For instance, CEOs compensation has grown by 1,085 percent since 1978 while the average workers salary has only grown by 24 percent. And though wages at the bottom have grown at a faster clip than those at the top in recent years, that change has not been enough to reverse the overall trend. Since 1979, the top 1 percent of earners saw their wages grow by 182 percent; the bottom 90 percent saw their wages grow by 44 percent. As a result, the concentration of money at the top of the income ladder is at the highest its been in nearly 100 years. But thats income inequality, which just looks at the distribution of peoples wages. Whats more extreme is the gap in wealth between rich and poor households. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the bottom half of households have an average net worth of $51,000. Collectively, they own just 2.5 percent of household wealth in the country. By contrast, the top 10 percent of households had an average net worth of nearly $7 million and own more than two-thirds of household wealth a share that has only been growing over the last three decades. There are other worrying aspects of the wealth gap, including racial inequality. On average, for every $1 that white families owned, Black families and Latino families owned 23 cents and 19 cents, respectively.Class warfare, or class conflict, happens when the tension between social classes comes to a boil. That happens when the interests of different classes diverge, building resentment between them. Oftentimes, this comes in the form of protest or revolt and is generally viewed as a struggle between workers and the ruling class or elites in society. Sometimes this gets violent, as was the case in the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, when workers in multiple states went on strike after railroad workers saw their wages get repeatedly cut. Eventually the rebellion was squashed by the National Guard and private militias, and about 100 people were killed.Why does this matter? Part of the reason you might be hearing phrases like wealth inequality or class warfare more often these days is because the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few has been on full display. In January, for example, Donald Trump, a billionaire, was sworn in as president while being surrounded by other billionaires. (There were many, many millionaires in the audience as well.) So as most Americans who watched Trumps inaugural address saw it on their screens, a handful of the worlds richest men had a front-row seat. In fact, the combined wealth of everyone at the Capitol that day topped $1.2 trillion.At its very core, the reason this level of inequality is bad is because its deeply unfair. But its not just a matter of fairness. Its also dangerous. The fact that so few people own so much wealth is a threat to democracy.In his farewell address, former President Joe Biden warned the nation that the United States was becoming an oligarchy a system of government in which power is only shared by a small group of elites. Its a warning that politicians like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have been talking about for years, especially after the 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections.The hoarding of wealth is already having an impact on our government. Since Trump returned to the White House, hes handed over a lot of power to Elon Musk, who, with a net worth of hundreds of billions of dollars, stands to be the worlds richest man. And while Musk is charged with gutting the federal workforce, hes not required to adhere to certain government standards. Why is it that Musk has been able to evade the ethics rules that typically apply to other government personnel? And why is it, anyway, that Musk now an unelected bureaucrat has so much influence over policymaking? The answer is that Musk likely gained access to so much power because he spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the election last year in an attempt to help Republicans win, and his investment seems to have paid off. He operates by different rules than everyone else because he can simply buy his way to the White House.The concentration of wealth has also degraded some of the countrys institutions outside of government. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, for example, who owns the Washington Post, directed the newspapers opinion pages to avoid publishing views that are in conflict with his own, focusing their coverage on personal liberties and free markets. Bezos also killed the Posts endorsement of Kamala Harris last fall.Its not necessarily the case, though, that America is on the brink of a class war, despite the fact that theres so much inequality that billionaires are taking joyrides to space while millions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet. In fact, the last election cycle showed that people in different income brackets are becoming less politically divided, with Trump making gains among poorer voters, who historically have overwhelmingly voted for Democrats. But if history is any guide, this level of inequality is unsustainable, and the economy might course-correct. Between 1800 and 1920, for example, inequality in the US grew very quickly. But in the 60 years that followed, the gap between rich and poor shrank significantly. During that period, the wealth of the average family grew 40 times its size while the wealthiest Americans saw their fortunes double.Its hard to say how the situation will improve this time. But chances are, at some point, that the rich will push their luck and the rest will say enough. See More:

By Florence Ion Published March 9, 2025 | Comments (2) | A killer foldable you can't buy in the United States. Florence Ion / Gizmodo For the first time since the Galaxy Z Fold 4 launch in 2022, I have not been using a Samsung foldable to do my bidding. Instead, Ive felt perfectly content doing it all on the Oppo Find N5 since it arrived a few weeks ago. The book-style foldable has an 8.12-inch inner screen and a 6.6-inch outer screen. Its a larger device than the Galaxy Z Fold 6 thats out now and even Googles Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Its relative thinness compared to the rest of the foldable offerings makes it palatable despite the larger screen sizes. It makes us wonder if Oppo has the same plans for the brand it sells in the U.S., OnePlus, which hasnt seen an update to its loudly lauded foldable since 2023. Thats not to say the Oppo Find N5 is a perfect foldable. It starts at $2,500 Singapore dollars, or about $1,880 USD. It still suffers from the conundrum of using this factor in the first place, especially with small hands. Its a hefty cradle with just the fingers! My hands are medium-to-small, I know, and were not built to act as phone holsters. However, the bigger inside screen made me realize that what I want is a folding tablet phone. I dont want a folding device pretending to be a phone in my pocket. I like the screen space to wander, read, and deep dive into a niche subject, no matter where I am. Thats the point of such an expensive phone that does this, and the Find N5 facilitates all that. Im ready to embrace bigger, thinner folding devices. One of the best foldable experiences Florence Ion / GizmodoThe Find N5s front cover screen is 6.6-inches across. Lets talk about what you do get with the Oppo Find N5, especially if, for some reason, you are so enamored with this overseas release that you try to import it for yourself. For one, this is one of the thinnest folding devices you can hold today. The Find N5 is 4.2mm thin when splayed open, compared to the Pixel 9 Pro Folds 5.1mm, which boasts one of the thinnest designs in the foldable space in the U.S. Wireless charging remains intact, thanks partly to Oppos proprietary charging infrastructure, which facilitates up to 80W SuperVooc tethered and 50W wireless charging, but only with the brands cables. The battery is ample enough, at least for what Oppo has going on here. Its a 5,600 mAh battery, a little bigger than youd find in Google and Samsungs foldables. Its way bigger than Samsungs Galaxy Z Fold 6, which has a 4,400 mAh battery. I havent run the full battery test, but battery life has been promising anecdotally. Thats with the Find N5 connected to a mobile network and getting all my notifications from the newspaper and chat apps I have installed, plus the OnePlus Watch 3 syncing my workouts. (For what its worth, Ive been running the Find N5 with a SIM connected to the Mint network, and its been fine.)Everything else about the Find N5 is a standard smartphone affair, down to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. You can buy the Find N5 with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage space, but it starts with an ample 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM. The Find N5 has cute little quirks, like a mute switch on one side of the device and a fingerprint scanner embedded into the power button. Again, this seems to be a common trope of usage among folding smartphones. Samsung does this already, and there are rumors that Apple will do the same with its folding smartphone. Florence Ion / Gizmodo Florence Ion / Gizmodo The Find N5s 8.1-inch inside screen is where its at. I used it to read books and magazines on Libby, coordinate with my hobby friends on Discord, and scan through only the headlines I can handle in my two newspaper apps. Another night, I just propped it up halfway on my belly and watched episodes of The Anna Nicole Show on YouTubethankfully, the YouTube app knows how to work with a screen folded in half.Its the widescreen thats working for me. Samsungs Galaxy Z Fold 6 is good if youre trying to use a more phone-like foldable. Oppos position seems to be that, if youre going to wield one of these, you know what youre in for, so why not make it nice, big, and tablet-like? As much as I loved having a 7-inch Android tablet like the Nexus 7 back in the day, the larger screen size of the Find N5 is why I prefer it over other folding devices. It just feels like I can get more done. Florence Ion / Gizmodo Wait, why are you telling me about this phone? The Oppo Find N5 isnt readily available in the U.S., which might make you wonder why were bothering to cover it. Well, because Oppo is the parent company of OnePlus, a brand that does sell in the U.S., and one which, as Ive mentioned, often carries the traits of the Oppo devices that have been successful overseas. So far, the Find N5 is getting many glowing reviews, mainly for its slim, lightweight(ish) design and large screens. The Oppo Find N5 isnt just interesting because its a thin-ass phone, though thats the driving force behind why youd bother importing this thing in the first place. It also shows us what manufacturers think is an essential feature for its users. You cant have a thin device without a few caveats. Florence Ion / GizmodoThe backside of the Find N5 is basically a OnePlus device with the same Hasselblad branding. For instance, the camera on the Find N5 is middling. On paper, it seems promising enough with dual 50-MP camera sensors, one for primary shooting, a secondary one for telephoto capabilities, and a third 8-MP camera sensor for ultra-wide shooting. However, that primary camera often prefers to over-brighten images, unless you tap in and ask it to focus on a specific point. Like Samsungs Galaxy Z Fold 6, its limited to a 3x optical zoom. Regarding software updates, Oppo wont support this phone as long as Samsung and Google plan to do so on their respective folding devices. Samsung and Google have committed to seven years of software updates and security patches. Oppo and OnePlus remain committed to the four-year timeline.The Find N5 also isnt what Id call durable. The case the manufacturer sent over with our review unit doesnt even cover the front part of it. It pops onto the back, and theres enough case to cover the hinge. The entire cover screen remains exposed. At the very least, the Find N5 is water resistant, even if it is not built for the tough outside world. Oppo achieved an IPX6, IPX8, and IPX9 rating. The Find N5 can withstand varying water conditions, including rain submersion and high-pressure water jets. Its about the same on Google and Samsungs devices. The speakers are also limited for a smartphone that costs this much, especially compared to the bass-forward sound Id get from an iPhone 16, for instanceeven the iPhone 16e has some powerful woofers in its little phone body. You cant buy this phone (if youre in the U.S.) The war for the thinnest folding smartphone remains ongoing, even as most manufacturers seem to be at a standstill, figuring out how to cram artificial intelligence into already withering phone bodies. Its good news for those of us who are gadget freaks obsessed with the future being available now. The Find N5 is a comfortable foldable. The hinges are sturdy enough that the Find N5 can prop itself up on its own. If you havent already caught on to the great news of folding smartphones, the Oppo Find N5 will hopefully give you some faith. I like this phone as a dedicated reading device, and it has all the same software tricks as Samsungs One UI on its foldables, so it was no problem transitioning over.Sorry for the tease, however, as those of us in the U.S. cant buy this phone outright. I hope this means some good news on the horizon for both OnePlus fans and those looking for a third offering beyond Google and Samsung.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Florence Ion Published March 7, 2025 By Florence Ion Published March 6, 2025 By Florence Ion Updated March 4, 2025 By Florence Ion Published February 5, 2025 By Kyle Barr Published January 31, 2025 By Sherri L Smith Published January 4, 2025