Sizzling burgers, blistered corn on the cob, and sweat dripping from your brow as you man the grill — this is how many mark the start of summer.Fifty-eight percent of Americans plan to barbecue this Memorial Day weekend, according to a new WalletHub report, and the average cost of a cookout is expected to be about $31, a 4% increase from last year.However, while grilling certainly captures the spirit of Memorial Day weekend, slow cookers can make preparing sides and meats much easier, with minimal cleanup and no need to bother with gas or charcoal.Or at the very least, having a couple of set-it-and-forget-it dishes can help you focus on your grill.From mouthwatering barbecue ribs to savory pulled-pork sandwiches, these slow-cooker recipes are perfect for any Memorial Day cookout. For your Memorial Day cookout this year, try making the potato salad using your slow cooker. Potato salad. ziashusha/Shutterstock You might not know that you can parboil potatoes in a slow cooker. To do so, chop and cover the potatoes with water, a little salt, pepper, and butter, and cook them until they're fork-tender, usually about six hours on low.Then, mix the dressing for your potato salad as you normally would, such as mayonnaise, dill, whole grain mustard, and a splash of red wine vinegar. You can also make a German-style potato salad with bacon, light dressing, and baby potatoes. Dips, such as this spinach-and-artichoke dip, are also easily made in a slow cooker. Spinach-and-artichoke dip. Damn Delicious "I love to make spinach-and-artichoke dip in my slow cooker," Chungah Rhee, the author of the blog Damn Delicious, told Business Insider. "You can just free up so much of your time by using a slow cooker and hang out with your guests instead of laboring in the kitchen," Rhee continued. "Especially for side dishes or dips. You put it all together, set the time, and it comes out ready to go." This set-it-and-forget-it corn-and-jalapeño dip is creamy and easy to make. Corn-and-jalapeño dip. Damn Delicious "Another favorite of mine is this corn-and-jalapeño dip," Rhee told Insider. The recipe combines many of the summer's best ingredients, from fresh and vibrant jalapeños to sweet corn. Buffalo-chicken dip is another quick and easy favorite you can make in a slow cooker. Slow cooker Buffalo-chicken dip. Erin McDowell/Insider One of the benefits of making a slow-cooker Buffalo-chicken dip, like this recipe on Rhee's blog — or any other side dish in a slow cooker — is that it can be prepared well ahead of time and reheated when you're ready to eat.Rhee's advice for someone using a slow cooker for the first time for entertaining is actually to start out with a dip or side dish. "If for some reason it doesn't turn out, because we all know that can happen using an appliance for the first time, it's not detrimental to your dinner party being a success," she said. Queso can serve a whole party when made in a slow cooker. Slow cooker queso with red onion, cilantro, and sliced jalapeños. Erin McDowell/Insider This creamy queso dip from Martha Stewart uses ingredients like American cheese and pepper jack cheese, a can of evaporated milk, diced tomatoes with chilies, sliced jalapeños, red onion, and cilantro.  Brisket is perfect for feeding a larger family and can easily be made in a slow cooker. Beef brisket. iStock / Getty Images Plus "Brisket is a natural partner for the slow cooker, as a gentle braise renders it meltingly tender," Kim Laidlaw writes in her cookbook, "Everyday Slow Cooking: Modern Recipes for Delicious Meals."Laidlaw's recipe for slow-cooked braised brisket includes garlic, onion, dry red wine, carrot, and chicken or beef stock, with a chimichurri sauce. Pulled-pork sliders are another great way to use your slow cooker for a cookout. Pulled pork sandwiches with barbecue sauce and coleslaw. Joshua Resnick/Shutterstock One of the best ways to use braised and slow-cooked pork shoulder is to make pulled-pork sliders, like this Damn Delicious recipe, with all that tender meat.To elevate the dish, top the meat with barbecue sauce and slaw before sandwiching it between two fluffy brioche buns or potato rolls. You can also use the carnitas to make tacos. You can also make barbecue ribs in a slow cooker. Barbecue ribs. David P. Smith/Shutterstock Nothing screams an end-of-summer cookout like sauce-covered ribs, like Laidlaw's recipe as shared on Cooking by the Book. After cooking them in the slow cooker, place them on a baking sheet in your oven and broil them until they're slightly crispy. To save space on your grill, you can also make slow-cooked sausages and beer brats in the slow cooker. Bratwurst with sauerkraut and Dijon mustard on a bun. Charles Brutlag/Getty Images Brats with onions, peppers, and garlic simmered in the slow cooker with beer — like this recipe by The Magical Slow Cooker — are one way to use your slow cooker on Memorial Day.Top your brats with a bit of sauerkraut and put them on buns for an easy summer dish. Mac and cheese can also easily be made in a slow cooker. A spoonful of Martha Stewart's slow cooker mac and cheese. Erin McDowell/Insider If you're looking to add some carbs to your menu, look no further than a piping hot pot of mac and cheese. Martha Stewart's recipe for mac and cheese in a slow cooker calls for evaporated milk, three kinds of cheese, and homemade breadcrumbs. Garlic-and-herb mushrooms are a delicious side dish but can also be used as a burger topping. Garlic-and-herb mushrooms. Damn Delicious "The recipe for slow-cooker garlic-herb mushrooms is divine and so easy," Rhee said. "Mushrooms made in a slow cooker are truly the best." Shredded Buffalo chicken goes great on top of salads. Shredded Buffalo chicken. from my point of view/Shutterstock One of the best — and easiest — ways to use your Crock-Pot or slow cooker is by making shredded Buffalo chicken, such as this recipe by The Magical Slow Cooker.Add seasoned chicken breasts to the slow cooker and cover with your preferred Buffalo sauce. Then add a splash of ranch dressing and a cube of butter, toss your chicken breasts in the mixture to coat fully, and cook until the chicken is shreddable. You can use it for Buffalo-chicken sliders, salads, or tacos. You can even make Buffalo or barbecue chicken wings using a slow cooker. Slow cooker Buffalo wings. Erin McDowell/Insider You can make any style of wings in a slow cooker, from Asian-style to barbecue and Buffalo wings. Add your wings to the slow cooker, add in your sauce of choice, toss to combine, and let them cook for a couple of hours on high.To make them crisp up, add a cornstarch and water mixture to your slow cooker. After they're cooked through, broil them for a few minutes in the oven. Meatballs make a great appetizer for guests and don't require cooking over a hot stove. Meatballs and sauce in a slow cooker. anewlifephotostudio/Getty Images Meatballs make the perfect appetizer for parties big and small and are easy to make in a slow cooker. Place your seasoned, raw meatballs into the slow cooker, top with sauce, and let the slow cooker finish them off, says one recipe by Spend With Pennies. Serve them on their own with toothpicks or stuff them inside toasted sub rolls for a meatball sandwich.

This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Inside the story that enraged OpenAI —Niall Firth, executive editor, MIT Technology Review In 2019, Karen Hao, a senior reporter with MIT Technology Review, pitched me a story about a then little-known company, OpenAI. It was her biggest assignment to date. Hao’s feat of reporting took a series of twists and turns over the coming months, eventually revealing how OpenAI’s ambition had taken it far afield from its original mission. The finished story was a prescient look at a company at a tipping point—or already past it. And OpenAI was not happy with the result. Hao’s new book, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, is an in-depth exploration of the company that kick-started the AI arms race, and what that race means for all of us. This excerpt is the origin story of that reporting. This spa’s water is heated by bitcoin mining At first glance, the Bathhouse spa in Brooklyn looks not so different from other high-end spas. What sets it apart is out of sight: a closet full of cryptocurrency-­mining computers that not only generate bitcoins but also heat the spa’s pools, marble hammams, and showers.  When cofounder Jason Goodman opened Bathhouse’s first location in Williamsburg in 2019, he used conventional pool heaters. But after diving deep into the world of bitcoin, he realized he could fit cryptocurrency mining seamlessly into his business. Read the full story. —Carrie Klein This story is from the most recent edition of our print magazine, which is all about how technology is changing creativity. Subscribe now to read it and to receive future print copies once they land. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Nvidia wants to build an AI supercomputer in Taiwan  As Trump’s tariffs upend existing supply chains. (WSJ $)+ Jensen Huang has denied that Nvidia’s chips are being diverted into China. (Bloomberg $) 2 xAI’s Grok dabbled in Holocaust denial The chatbot said it was “skeptical” about points that historians agree are facts. (Rolling Stone $)+ It blamed the comments on a programming error. (The Guardian)3 Apple is planning to overhaul Siri entirely To make it an assistant fit for the AI age. (Bloomberg $)4 Dentists are worried by RFK Jr’s fluoride ban Particularly in rural America. (Ars Technica)+ Florida has become the second state to ban fluoride in public water. (NBC News)5 Fewer people want to work in America’s factories That’s a problem when Trump is so hell-bent on kickstarting the manufacturing industry. (WSJ $)+ Sweeping tariffs could threaten the US manufacturing rebound. (MIT Technology Review) 6 Meet the crypto investors hoping to bend the President’s ear They’re treating Trump’s meme coin dinner as an opportunity to push their agendas. (WP $)+ Many of them are offloading their coins, too. (Wired $)+ Crypto bigwigs are targets for criminals. (WSJ $)+ Bodyguards and other forms of security are becoming de rigueur. (Bloomberg $)7 How the US reversed the overdose epidemicNaloxone is a major factor. (Vox) + How the federal government is tracking changes in the supply of street drugs. (MIT Technology Review)8 Chatbots really love the heads of the companies that made them  And are not so fond of the leaders of its rivals. (FT $)+ What if we could just ask AI to be less biased? (MIT Technology Review)9 Technology is a double-edged sword 📱 What connects us can simultaneously outrage us. (The Atlantic $) 10 Meet the people hooked on watching nature live streams They find checking in with animals puts their own troubles in perspective. (The Guardian) Quote of the day “People are just scared. They don’t know where they fit in this new world.” —Angela Jiang, who is working on a startup exploring the impact of AI on the labor market, tells the Wall Street Journal about the woes of tech job seekers trying to land new jobs in the current economy. One more thing How the Rubin Observatory will help us understand dark matter and dark energyWe can put a good figure on how much we know about the universe: 5%. That’s how much of what’s floating about in the cosmos is ordinary matter—planets and stars and galaxies and the dust and gas between them. The other 95% is dark matter and dark energy, two mysterious entities aptly named for our inability to shed light on their true nature. Previous work has begun pulling apart these dueling forces, but dark matter and dark energy remain shrouded in a blanket of questions—critically, what exactly are they?Enter the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, one of our 10 breakthrough technologies for 2025. Boasting the largest digital camera ever created, Rubin is expected to study the cosmos in the highest resolution yet once it begins observations later this year. And with a better window on the cosmic battle between dark matter and dark energy, Rubin might narrow down existing theories on what they are made of. Here’s a look at how. —Jenna Ahart We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.) + Archaeologists in Canada are facing a mighty challenge—to solve how thousands of dinosaurs died in what’s now a forest in Alberta.+ Before Brian Johnson joined AC/DC, he sang on this very distinctive hoover (vacuum cleaner) ad.+ Wealthy Londoners are adding spas to their gardens, because why not.+ I must eat the crystal breakfast! 🥓 🍳 🫘

This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Inside the story that enraged OpenAI —Niall Firth, executive editor, MIT Technology Review In 2019, Karen Hao, a senior reporter with MIT Technology Review, pitched me a story about a then little-known company, OpenAI. It was her biggest assignment to date. Hao’s feat of reporting took a series of twists and turns over the coming months, eventually revealing how OpenAI’s ambition had taken it far afield from its original mission. The finished story was a prescient look at a company at a tipping point—or already past it. And OpenAI was not happy with the result. Hao’s new book, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, is an in-depth exploration of the company that kick-started the AI arms race, and what that race means for all of us. This excerpt is the origin story of that reporting. This spa’s water is heated by bitcoin mining At first glance, the Bathhouse spa in Brooklyn looks not so different from other high-end spas. What sets it apart is out of sight: a closet full of cryptocurrency-­mining computers that not only generate bitcoins but also heat the spa’s pools, marble hammams, and showers.  When cofounder Jason Goodman opened Bathhouse’s first location in Williamsburg in 2019, he used conventional pool heaters. But after diving deep into the world of bitcoin, he realized he could fit cryptocurrency mining seamlessly into his business. Read the full story. —Carrie Klein This story is from the most recent edition of our print magazine, which is all about how technology is changing creativity. Subscribe now to read it and to receive future print copies once they land. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Nvidia wants to build an AI supercomputer in Taiwan  As Trump’s tariffs upend existing supply chains. (WSJ $)+ Jensen Huang has denied that Nvidia’s chips are being diverted into China. (Bloomberg $) 2 xAI’s Grok dabbled in Holocaust denial The chatbot said it was “skeptical” about points that historians agree are facts. (Rolling Stone $)+ It blamed the comments on a programming error. (The Guardian)3 Apple is planning to overhaul Siri entirely To make it an assistant fit for the AI age. (Bloomberg $)4 Dentists are worried by RFK Jr’s fluoride ban Particularly in rural America. (Ars Technica)+ Florida has become the second state to ban fluoride in public water. (NBC News)5 Fewer people want to work in America’s factories That’s a problem when Trump is so hell-bent on kickstarting the manufacturing industry. (WSJ $)+ Sweeping tariffs could threaten the US manufacturing rebound. (MIT Technology Review) 6 Meet the crypto investors hoping to bend the President’s ear They’re treating Trump’s meme coin dinner as an opportunity to push their agendas. (WP $)+ Many of them are offloading their coins, too. (Wired $)+ Crypto bigwigs are targets for criminals. (WSJ $)+ Bodyguards and other forms of security are becoming de rigueur. (Bloomberg $)7 How the US reversed the overdose epidemicNaloxone is a major factor. (Vox) + How the federal government is tracking changes in the supply of street drugs. (MIT Technology Review)8 Chatbots really love the heads of the companies that made them  And are not so fond of the leaders of its rivals. (FT $)+ What if we could just ask AI to be less biased? (MIT Technology Review)9 Technology is a double-edged sword 📱 What connects us can simultaneously outrage us. (The Atlantic $) 10 Meet the people hooked on watching nature live streams They find checking in with animals puts their own troubles in perspective. (The Guardian) Quote of the day “People are just scared. They don’t know where they fit in this new world.” —Angela Jiang, who is working on a startup exploring the impact of AI on the labor market, tells the Wall Street Journal about the woes of tech job seekers trying to land new jobs in the current economy. One more thing How the Rubin Observatory will help us understand dark matter and dark energyWe can put a good figure on how much we know about the universe: 5%. That’s how much of what’s floating about in the cosmos is ordinary matter—planets and stars and galaxies and the dust and gas between them. The other 95% is dark matter and dark energy, two mysterious entities aptly named for our inability to shed light on their true nature. Previous work has begun pulling apart these dueling forces, but dark matter and dark energy remain shrouded in a blanket of questions—critically, what exactly are they?Enter the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, one of our 10 breakthrough technologies for 2025. Boasting the largest digital camera ever created, Rubin is expected to study the cosmos in the highest resolution yet once it begins observations later this year. And with a better window on the cosmic battle between dark matter and dark energy, Rubin might narrow down existing theories on what they are made of. Here’s a look at how. —Jenna Ahart We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.) + Archaeologists in Canada are facing a mighty challenge—to solve how thousands of dinosaurs died in what’s now a forest in Alberta.+ Before Brian Johnson joined AC/DC, he sang on this very distinctive hoover (vacuum cleaner) ad.+ Wealthy Londoners are adding spas to their gardens, because why not.+ I must eat the crystal breakfast! 🥓 🍳 🫘

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Inside the story that enraged OpenAI —Niall Firth, executive editor, MIT Technology Review In 2019, Karen Hao, a senior reporter with MIT Technology Review, pitched me a story about a then little-known company, OpenAI. It was her biggest assignment to date. Hao’s feat of reporting took a series of twists and turns over the coming months, eventually revealing how OpenAI’s ambition had taken it far afield from its original mission.The finished story was a prescient look at a company at a tipping point—or already past it. And OpenAI was not happy with the result. Hao’s new book, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, is an in-depth exploration of the company that kick-started the AI arms race, and what that race means for all of us. This excerpt is the origin story of that reporting. This spa’s water is heated by bitcoin mining At first glance, the Bathhouse spa in Brooklyn looks not so different from other high-end spas. What sets it apart is out of sight: a closet full of cryptocurrency-­mining computers that not only generate bitcoins but also heat the spa’s pools, marble hammams, and showers.  When cofounder Jason Goodman opened Bathhouse’s first location in Williamsburg in 2019, he used conventional pool heaters. But after diving deep into the world of bitcoin, he realized he could fit cryptocurrency mining seamlessly into his business. Read the full story. —Carrie Klein This story is from the most recent edition of our print magazine, which is all about how technology is changing creativity. Subscribe now to read it and to receive future print copies once they land. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Nvidia wants to build an AI supercomputer in Taiwan As Trump’s tariffs upend existing supply chains. (WSJ $)+ Jensen Huang has denied that Nvidia’s chips are being diverted into China. (Bloomberg $) 2 xAI’s Grok dabbled in Holocaust denialThe chatbot said it was “skeptical” about points that historians agree are facts. (Rolling Stone $)+ It blamed the comments on a programming error. (The Guardian) 3 Apple is planning to overhaul Siri entirelyTo make it an assistant fit for the AI age. (Bloomberg $) 4 Dentists are worried by RFK Jr’s fluoride banParticularly in rural America. (Ars Technica)+ Florida has become the second state to ban fluoride in public water. (NBC News) 5 Fewer people want to work in America’s factoriesThat’s a problem when Trump is so hell-bent on kickstarting the manufacturing industry. (WSJ $)+ Sweeping tariffs could threaten the US manufacturing rebound. (MIT Technology Review) 6 Meet the crypto investors hoping to bend the President’s earThey’re treating Trump’s meme coin dinner as an opportunity to push their agendas. (WP $)+ Many of them are offloading their coins, too. (Wired $)+ Crypto bigwigs are targets for criminals. (WSJ $)+ Bodyguards and other forms of security are becoming de rigueur. (Bloomberg $) 7 How the US reversed the overdose epidemicNaloxone is a major factor. (Vox)+ How the federal government is tracking changes in the supply of street drugs. (MIT Technology Review) 8 Chatbots really love the heads of the companies that made them And are not so fond of the leaders of its rivals. (FT $)+ What if we could just ask AI to be less biased? (MIT Technology Review) 9 Technology is a double-edged sword What connects us can simultaneously outrage us. (The Atlantic $) 10 Meet the people hooked on watching nature live streamsThey find checking in with animals puts their own troubles in perspective. (The Guardian) Quote of the day “People are just scared. They don’t know where they fit in this new world.” —Angela Jiang, who is working on a startup exploring the impact of AI on the labor market, tells the Wall Street Journal about the woes of tech job seekers trying to land new jobs in the current economy. One more thing How the Rubin Observatory will help us understand dark matter and dark energyWe can put a good figure on how much we know about the universe: 5%. That’s how much of what’s floating about in the cosmos is ordinary matter—planets and stars and galaxies and the dust and gas between them. The other 95% is dark matter and dark energy, two mysterious entities aptly named for our inability to shed light on their true nature.Previous work has begun pulling apart these dueling forces, but dark matter and dark energy remain shrouded in a blanket of questions—critically, what exactly are they?Enter the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, one of our 10 breakthrough technologies for 2025. Boasting the largest digital camera ever created, Rubin is expected to study the cosmos in the highest resolution yet once it begins observations later this year. And with a better window on the cosmic battle between dark matter and dark energy, Rubin might narrow down existing theories on what they are made of. Here’s a look at how. —Jenna Ahart We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.) + Archaeologists in Canada are facing a mighty challenge—to solve how thousands of dinosaurs died in what’s now a forest in Alberta.+ Before Brian Johnson joined AC/DC, he sang on this very distinctive hoover (vacuum cleaner) ad.+ Wealthy Londoners are adding spas to their gardens, because why not.+ I must eat the crystal breakfast!

LG's 27-inch 1440p UltraGear OLED monitor (model 27GX790A) is as close to gaming nirvana as fps-hungry players can get — for now, anyway. It has a 480Hz refresh rate, allowing it to actually display up to 480 fps for insanely fast-paced shooters, along with a low 0.03ms response time. And it supports DisplayPort 2.1, which offers higher bandwidth than typical DisplayPort 1.4 ports, so it doesn't need to use Display Stream Compression (DSC) like most other gaming displays. Together with NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro technology, both of which will help to reduce screen tearing, the UltraGear 27 has pretty much everything you'd want in a high-end gaming display. But given its high $1,000 retail price (though it's currently on sale for $800), the UltraGear 27 clearly isn't meant for most people. You'll absolutely need a powerful GPU and CPU to get close to seeing 480 fps in 1440p. And, let's be honest, very few people will even see the difference between 480Hz and more affordable 120Hz to 240Hz screens. The LG 27GX790A is for the true sickos. I've tested plenty of high refresh rate screens in my time, from gaming laptops to a wide variety of monitors. I distinctly remember the excitement around 120Hz LCDs at CES 2010, and I definitely noticed the difference between those screens and standard 60Hz displays at the time. Shooters just looked smoother and felt more responsive. Then there was the leap to 240Hz screens, which was noticeable but not nearly as impressive as the arrival of OLED gaming displays with better black levels and astounding contrast. Then came 360Hz screens, which, to be honest, didn't feel like a huge leap over 240Hz. Our eyes can only see so much after all, especially if you're moving beyond your peak gaming years. So I didn't really expect to be wowed by the UltraGear 27 — I figured it would be yet another solid OLED monitor, like the 27-inch 4K Alienware we recently reviewed. But after spending plenty of time with the UltraGear 27 on my gaming PC, powered by an NVIDIA RTX 5090 and AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D, I noticed something strange. While I couldn't really see a major difference between its 480Hz screen and my daily driver, the 240Hz Alienware 32-inch QD-OLED, I could feel it. Devindra Hardawar for Engadget What's good about the LG UltraGear 27? The first time the UltraGear 27 truly clicked for me — the point where I finally understood the hype around 480Hz displays — was during a Rocket League match. I noticed that the longer I played, the more I reached a flow state where I could easily read the position of the ball, re-orient the camera and zip off to intercept. It almost felt like there was a direct connection between what my brain wanted to do, and what was actually happening on the screen. I forgot about the Xbox Elite controller in my hand, and the desk clutter in my office. The real world melted away — I was fully inside Rocket League's absurd soccer arena. When the match ended, it took me a few minutes to reacclimatize to reality. Rocket League's fast motion and lack of downtime made it the ideal introduction to super-high frame rates. I was also easily able to reach 480 fps in 1440p with my system's hardware, but you'll still easily be able to see upwards of 300 fps with older GPUs, especially if you bump down to 1080p. To be clear, this monitor is pretty much wasted on older and budget video cards. I noticed a similarly transcendent flow state as I got back into Overwatch 2, a game I gave up on years ago. The UltraGear 27 shined best when I was playing fast-paced characters like Tracer, Genji and Lucio, since I had a better sense of space during heated matches. But it also helped with more accurate shots when sniping with the likes of Hanzo and Widowmaker. Beyond the seemingly metaphysical benefits of its 480Hz screen, the UltraGear 27 is also simply a great OLED monitor. Black levels are wonderfully dark, and it can also achieve slightly brighter highlights (up to 1,300 nits) than most OLEDs in small areas. Graphically rich games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 practically leap off the screen, thanks to its excellent 98.5 percent DCI-P3 color accuracy. The UltraGear 27 doesn't use a QD-OLED screen like Alienware's latest models, but its color performance doesn't suffer much for it. Devindra Hardawar for Engadget If you've got a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X around, the UltraGear 27's two HDMI 2.1 ports will also let them perform at their best. While there are no built-in speakers, the display does include a headphone jack with support for DTS technology for spatial audio like most gaming monitors. It's also a 4-pole connection, so you can plug in headphones with microphones as well. For accessories, there are two USB 3.0 Type A ports, along with an upstream USB connection for your PC. The UltraGear 27 doesn't look particularly distinctive when it's turned off, but it's hard to ask for much flair when it does so much right. Its nearly borderless bezel makes the screen practically float in the air, and you can also easily adjust its height and angle to suit your needs. Devindra Hardawar for Engadget What's bad about the UltraGear 27? The biggest downside with the UltraGear 27 is its $1,000 retail price. While it's nice to see it already falling to $800, it's still absurdly high compared to most 27-inch 1440p monitors. If you want to save some cash, LG's 27-inch 240Hz UltraGear is still a very good option. But if you're in the market for a 480Hz display, you'll basically have to live with paying a ton. For example, ASUS's ROG Swift 27-inch OLED is still selling for $1,000. Should you buy the UltraGear 27? If you're an esports player, or a gamer who demands the highest framerates no matter the cost, the UltraGear 27 is an excellent OLED monitor. But I think most players would be perfectly fine with a cheaper 240Hz screen. Even if you can easily afford the UltraGear 27, it's also worth considering larger screens like the Alienware 32-inch 4K QD-OLED. You'll still get decently high frame rates, but you'll also get a screen that's more immersive for ogling the graphics in Clair Obscur. Devindra Hardawar for Engadget Wrap-up With Samsung teasing a 500Hz OLED gaming screen, there's clearly still a demand for insanely high refresh rates. If you absolutely must have that fix, the UltraGear 27 was made for you. It has all of the benefits of OLED, and with the right title, it might help you achieve a new level of gaming transcendence.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/lg-27-ultragear-oled-review-i-finally-get-the-480hz-gaming-hype-123042162.html?src=rss

BUDGET BALANCED Nvidia wants the RTX 5060 to be your new 1080p daily driver GPU thanks to big frame-generation boosts Nvidia’s newest entry-level card promises high frame rates and great performance on new games for $300 - but only if you turn on all of the performance-enhancing extras. Article by Alex Donaldson Assistant Editor Published on May 18, 2025 I often think of graphics cards as being a little bit like cars. They’re performance focused, but aesthetics and efficiency also hugely matter. They also run the budgeting gamut. If you want to run everything with all the bells and whistles, then your Porsche or Ferrari equivalent is there for you, should you be willing to part with a huge chunk of change. Equally, most people don’t need nor can afford such extravagance. Sometimes you just need something decent that is going to get you where you need to go. For most gamers, where they need to go is running the newest games at stable frame rates and having them look good. In many cases this is the realm of the console - but increasingly more players are jumping onto the PC bandwagon at an entry level - which is where graphics cards like the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 come in. Now, disclosure time - this is not a review of the 5060. Consider it a first look, so to speak, since the truly finalized drivers for this particular GPU weren’t available at the time of testing and Nvidia gave us an early glimpse at the card in more limited circumstances. As such, I’m not presenting in-depth benchmarks and the like today. I’ll check in with a final verdict along those lines a little later on - but for now, I wanted to take a brief early look (a preview, I suppose) at what this new $300 card is capable of. That price point is crucial. $300 is in the sort of realm where it’s a viable upgrade to toss in to an older PC, but for that money you’re also getting a card that is nevertheless a member of Nvidia’s ‘50 series’ family. That means access to all of the latest bits of snazzy RTX technology - including the new ‘multi frame generation’ (MFG) option that in supported games will let you boost frame rates massively with AI-augmented fakery that is surprisingly well-executed. It’s also a relatively familiar price. If you look at the class of card this belongs to from Nvidia, the price has been relatively stable for a while. 2019’s RTX 2060 ran $350 at launch, while the 4060 launched at $300. If you go back to 2016, before the advent of the ‘RTX’ era, you can find cheaper - but that was a long time ago in human terms, leave alone in the context of the evolution of PC graphics. In line with that evolution the expectations of such a card have shifted, too, obviously – which is where we come to a preview of this card, tested strictly on the terms Nvidia is most keen to highlight - which is obviously going to be favorable. Within these parameters, it’s a powerful proposition on paper. These parameters saw us offered a selection of games that Nvidia suggested as ideal for road testing the 5060. Among these was Cyberpunk, an old favorite tester of mine, and Doom The Dark Ages, the newly-released shooter that requires ray-tracing and benefits greatly from high frame rates and responsiveness. I zeroed in on those. With only 8GB of VRAM, the 5060 obviously has a bottleneck that sets it apart from the higher-end cards. But we also have to be realistic: this is a card primarily designed for 1080p or 1440p gaming, and as an RTX card you also have to assume that in many modern games DLSS is going to be something you want to switch on. Which is handy, as Nvidia’s guidelines for an early look at the card indeed wanted DLSS and Multi-Frame Generation switched on. As far as these features go, each individual has to decide if they’re content to make peace with the concept of upscaling, or indeed in ‘fake frames’ if you turn on frame generation. I personally think it’s fine - great, even - so long as the end result is a high-quality image. Others want raw rendering, of course - but if you’re in that camp you probably need to save more cash for a higher-end card. If you are simply focused on how the games look and feel on your eyeballs and in your hands, however, this is definitely a reasonable option. Watch on YouTube Looking at Doom, it all becomes clear that 8GB of VRAM be damned, DLSS4 does a lot of the heavy lifting for you. Let’s be blunt: you can whack the latest Doom release onto the ‘Ultra Nightmare’ preset - and then toggle on DLSS4’s balanced preset and 3x MFG, Nvidia’s two big frame-boosting offerings. With that setup, you can enjoy this brand-new shooter at 1080p with a frame rate in excess of 200fps. Tasty. Hop on over to Cyberpunk, which is broadly a more taxing game, and in RT Overdrive settings you’re once again reliant on those extra features of the 50 series hardware to get it to where you want it. Here the headline is an average FPS of around 120 - a magic number for high-end displays - but this came with heavier dips and stuttering when things got really heated than in Doom. This is something that could get mopped up with drivers, but my read is that this is probably the likely final performance - heavy highs but with some caveats - which is sort of to be expected on an entry-level card. Like I say, a lot of it comes down to your acceptance of the parameters of this card - and this preview. Is 1080p acceptable to you in 2025? And are you willing to accept turning on features that mean that all the frames you’re seeing aren’t technically ‘real’? That might also bring with it the odd blurry frame or diffuse detail, too. But that’s the trade off. The answer to how acceptable all that is will vary depending on the individual player - but many will doubtless take that deal for a shot at a game like DOOM at 200fps for $300. This is obviously a new generation card in terms of raw rendering too - but the focus of previews tips Nvidia’s hand, in a sense: this is a card led by its additional performance-enhancing features. Nvidia’s frame generation and upscaling technology is best-in-class - and this is now the cheapest way to get the newest generation of it. Testing in the coming weeks will reveal how well the 5060 stacks up against the 4060 and older in raw rendering, and it's here that the rubber may meet the road in terms of the question of if this is truly a full-on upgrade or not. But with the bells and whistles turned on, it looks to be a good quarter-step better than its predecessor while remaining at the same price. The concept is ‘Champagne Taste on a Beer Budget’, as the saying goes. But you’re not going to get actual Bollinger for the price of a four pack of Stella. There will always be compromises. But whereas before budget card marketing would promise you a stable 30fps, we've now got it talking about 120, albeit with frame generation. Or to continue my clunky analogy, previously at the entry level you were, indeed, just buying beer. This is masquerading as something else - and in many cases, the generated frames do the job impeccably. The question now is how this card performs more broadly, outside of narrow tests on just a handful of games. Stay tuned for that.

If your partner displays even just one (let alone all) of these three behaviors, you’ve definitely ... More got a good thing going.getty In too many areas of life, we’re inclined to search for negatives before we do positives. When we’re looking for a new TV show, movie or book, we look at the bad reviews before we do the good ones. We’re more likely to remember the one rude email we received at work than the five friendly ones that succeeded it. Occasionally, even our relationships fall prey to this pattern of pessimism. We point out weaknesses, in the relationship or even within our partner, more easily than we can point out their strengths. Of course, this is human instinct; it’s rooted in our DNA to do whatever we can to protect ourselves. The problem, however, is that this survival mechanism is difficult to switch off. That is, we forget that there comes a point where we can stop looking for dangers. But just as our brains can be trained to scan for threats, they can also be retrained to look towards the good. Making a conscious effort to recognize what’s going right in your relationship — and in your partner — can transform the way you see them. In the spirit of optimism, here are three signs that your partner is a real keeper. 1. They ‘Match Your Energy’ Colloquially, we often see people refer to the importance of a partner being able to “match your energy” — to be excited when you’re excited, or to feel your sadness in the same way they would their own. While the terminology might not be scientific, there’s ample research that lends support to the idea as a whole. In psychology, “matching someone’s energy” would be conceptualized as “compersion.” According to a 2023 reference in the Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior, compersion refers to the range of positive emotions one experiences in relation to those of another. In simpler terms, it could be understood as the opposite of jealousy: feeling happy when you witness your partner’s happiness, as opposed to feeling threatened by it. “Matching energy,” in this sense, is indeed a very positive indicator in a romantic relationship. In fact, a 2024 study from Emotion notes that greater “smile synchrony (that is, how frequently and quickly partners return one another’s smiles) is associated with greater relationship satisfaction. There’s nothing more discouraging than getting excited about something, only to be met with a blank stare, lukewarm indifference or a dismissive comment. Even if they don’t mean to, incongruencies like these can make you feel incredibly small and silly. So if your partner is able to share in your joy with genuine enthusiasm, you’ve definitely got a keeper. Maybe you just read a fascinating article about penguin parenting habits, or perhaps you finally beat that impossible boss level in your favorite video game. Whatever it is, you should never feel like you have to downplay your excitement to be taken seriously. If your partner can light up, laugh or celebrate right along with you — regardless of how trivial or offbeat the moment may seem — then they’re definitely waving a green flag. 2. They Always Take Your Side One of the most tell-tale signs that you’re in a healthy, lasting relationship is knowing that your partner will take your side when it really matters. It could be during tense moments with in-laws, standing up for you when your own family tends to dismiss your feelings or even offering support during disagreements within the relationship itself. In too many of these scenarios, people end up feeling like they’re fending for themselves, alone. But in a secure partnership, that should never be the case. No matter how complicated or uncomfortable the situation may be, you should feel that, at the very least, your partner will always have your back. Unwavering support like this is especially crucial for people who tend to feel insecure or anxious in close relationships. Stressful situations involving criticism, exclusion or emotional conflict can hit home for them. Without someone in their corner, they may feel the need to defend themselves, shut down or lash out in ways they’ll regret later on. In psychology, this is known as “partner buffering.” As 2020 research explains, this refers to one partner’s ability to help regulate the other’s emotions during times of distress. Sometimes this looks like stepping in to de-escalate a conflict. Other times, it’s simply about reassuring their partner that they’re not alone and that someone’s on their side. Maybe your in-laws are making subtle digs at you over dinner. Maybe your family mentions that one childhood memory that you’ve asked them to stop bringing up. Or maybe it’s something as light as a board game night where things unexpectedly became heated. If your partner is willing to firmly stand by you in these moments — to validate your emotions and speak up when no one else does — then you’re in a relationship that most people can only dream of. 3. They Do Things Without You Asking Them To It’s an unfortunate truth that, in many relationships, one partner ends up having to constantly remind the other of their needs — and often, these are just the basics. But when they speak up, they’re too often labeled as “needy” or accused of “nagging.” But, in reality, it’s nowhere near unreasonable to expect effort from someone you share your life with. You shouldn’t have to convince your partner to show up for you. In healthy relationships, however, this is never the case. There’s no scoreboard, nor a need to repeatedly spell things out. In fact, 2019 research from Personality and Individual Differences notes that choosing an altruistic partner — someone who genuinely cares about your well-being without expecting anything in return — is a smart, successful mate choice. In other words, choosing someone who consistently shows up for you just because they want to is one of the strongest predictors of long-term relationship satisfaction. You don’t need to ask them to put their phone down while you’re talking. You don’t need to chase them to pick up after themselves. And beyond these bare necessities, you don’t need to ask for them for love or kindness. It’s already part of their routine, and they do it without hesitation or resentment. Maybe they come home from the grocery store with your favorite snack or a bouquet of flowers, just because. Maybe they quietly start rubbing your shoulders after a long day without needing to be prompted. Or maybe they simply do the little things they know make you smile, without expecting praise, recognition or anything in return. This kind of selfless love is something only a rare few get to experience. And if your partner ticks all three of the boxes above — if they match your energy, have your back when it counts and show up without being asked — you probably already know you’ve got something special. But if you didn’t know it before reading this, let this be your sign: they’re a keeper. The kinds of relationships described above don’t just survive. They thrive. Take this science-backed test to find out if yours fits the description: Relationship Flourishing Scale

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. During the Pandemic Housing Boom, housing demand surged rapidly amid ultralow interest rates, stimulus, and the remote work boom—which increased demand for space and unlocked “WFH arbitrage” as high earners were able to keep their income from a job in say, NYC or L.A., and buy in say Austin or Tampa. Federal Reserve researchers estimate “new construction would have had to increase by roughly 300% to absorb the pandemic-era surge in demand.” Unlike housing demand, housing stock supply isn’t as elastic and can’t ramp up as quickly. As a result, the heightened pandemic era demand drained the market of active inventory and overheated home prices, with U.S. home prices rising a staggering 43.2% between March 2020 and June 2022. While many commentators view active inventory and months of supply simply as measures of “supply,” ResiClub sees them more as proxies for the supply-demand equilibrium. Because housing demand is more elastic than housing stock, large swings in active inventory or months of supply are usually driven by shifts in demand. For example, during the Pandemic Housing Boom, surging demand caused homes to sell faster—pushing active inventory down, even as new listings remained steady. Conversely, in recent years, weakening demand has led to slower sales, causing active inventory to rise—even as new listings fell below trend. Indeed, during the ravenous housing demand at the height of the Pandemic Housing Boom in April 2022, almost the entire country was at least -50% below pre-pandemic 2019 active inventory levels. BROWN = Active housing inventory for sale in April 2022 was BELOW pre-pandemic 2019 levels GREEN = Active housing inventory for sale in April 2022 was ABOVE pre-pandemic 2019 levels Of course, now it’s a different picture: National active inventory is on a multiyear rise. Not long after mortgage rates spiked in 2022—causing affordability to reflect the reality of the sharp home price increases during the Pandemic Housing Boom—and return-to-office gained a bit of momentum, national demand in the for-sale market pulled back and the Pandemic Housing Boom fizzled out. Initially, in the second half of 2022, that housing demand pullback triggered a “fever breaking” in a number of markets—particularly in rate-sensitive West Coast housing markets and in pandemic boomtowns like Austin and Boise—causing active inventory to spike and pushing those markets into correction-mode in the second half of 2022. Heading into 2023, many of those same Western and pandemic boomtown markets (excluding Austin) stabilized, as the spring seasonal demand—coupled with still-tight active inventory levels—was enough to temporarily firm up the market. For a bit, national active inventory stopped rising year-over-year. However, that period of national inventory stabilization didn’t last. Amid still slumped housing demand, national active inventory began to rise again—and we’re now in the midst of an 18-month streak of year-over-year increases in national active listings. Where active inventory/months of supply has risen the most, homebuyers have gained the most leverage. Generally speaking, housing markets where inventory (i.e., active listings) has returned to pre-pandemic 2019 levels have experienced weaker home price growth (or outright declines) over the past 34 months. Conversely, housing markets where inventory remains far below pre-pandemic 2019 levels have, generally speaking, experienced stronger home price growth over the past 34 months. BROWN = Active housing inventory for sale in April 2025 was BELOW pre-pandemic 2019 levels GREEN = Active housing inventory for sale in April 2025 was ABOVE pre-pandemic 2019 levels As ResiClub has closely documented, that picture varies significantly across the country: much of the Northeast and Midwest remain below pre-pandemic 2019 inventory levels, while many parts of the Mountain West and Gulf regions have bounced back. Many of the softest housing markets, where homebuyers have gained leverage, are located in Gulf Coast and Mountain West regions. These areas were among the nation’s top pandemic boomtowns, having experienced significant home price growth during the Pandemic Housing Boom, which stretched housing fundamentals far beyond local income levels. When pandemic-fueled domestic migration slowed and mortgage rates spiked, markets like Cape Coral, Florida, and San Antonio, Texas, faced challenges as they had to rely on local incomes to sustain frothy home prices. The housing market softening in these areas was further accelerated by higher levels of new home supply in the pipeline across the Sun Belt. Builders in these regions are often willing to reduce prices or make other affordability adjustments to maintain sales in a shifted environment. These adjustments in the new construction market also create a cooling effect on the resale market, as some buyers who might have opted for an existing home shift their focus to new homes where deals are still available. In contrast, many Northeast and Midwest markets were less reliant on pandemic migration and have less new home construction in progress. With lower exposure to that domestic migration pullback demand shock—and fewer builders doing big affordability adjustments to move product—active inventory in these Midwest and Northeast regions has remained relatively tight—with home sellers retaining more power relative to their peers in the Gulf and Mountain West regions. While national active inventory at the end of April 2025 was still -16% below pre-pandemic April 2019, ResiClub expects national active inventory to surpass pre-pandemic 2019 levels later this year. Big picture: The housing market is still undergoing a process of normalization following the surge in housing demand during the Pandemic Housing Boom, when home prices went up too fast, too quickly. To date, that normalization process has pushed some markets—including Austin (mid-2022-present), Las Vegas (second half of 2022), Phoenix (second half of 2022), San Francisco (second half of 2022), Boise (mid-2022–2023), Punta Gorda (2022–present), Cape Coral (2023–present), and Tampa (2024–present)—into correction-mode. In some other areas, so far, it has caused home price growth to stall out. Meanwhile, some markets still remain tight and have only seen a deceleration in home price growth from the highs of the Pandemic Housing Boom. ResiClub PRO members can access my latest monthly inventory analysis (+800 metros and +3,000 counties) here, and my latest monthly home price analysis (+800 metros and +3,000 counties) here.

Let's make this simple: You want to know if there are any post- or mid-credits scenes in Final Destination: Bloodlines. The answer is no. There weren't any credits scenes in the first five movies and there isn’t one in the sixth either!There is some imagery that runs along with the credits which is fun to check out though.Full spoilers for the movie (and the entire Final Destination series so far) follow!Final Destination: Bloodlines manages to have fun with the formula of the series, both sticking to the basic scenario fans expect – someone’s premonition of an impending terrible tragedy leads them to escape that tragedy alongside a group of others, only for Death itself to kill those who escaped it one by one in elaborate ways – while also introducing its own specifics that make it feel a bit different and fresh. Let’s break down the ending of the film and how it relates to the series as a whole…The Best Final Destination DeathsThe Set-UpIn Bloodlines, Iris (played by Gabrielle Rose in the present and Brec Bassinger in the past), the woman who had the premonition of the collapse of the high-rise Skyview Restaurant Tower, did so way way back in 1968. And unlike in the previous films, where many still died in the actual disaster except the few people who left thanks to the premonition, in this situation, Iris saved all of the hundreds of people packing the restaurant that night, who were evacuated thanks to her warning. Slowly but surely, Death did come after them for escaping its grasp, except there were extenuating circumstances, since so many of these people went on to have children and sometimes grandchildren. So Death, always so tidy and persistent, has spent the last 57 years killing not only each survivor off but the entire bloodline that has resulted from each person, since by Death’s rules, they shouldn’t have existed in the first place.. Now, Death’s work on Project: Skyview (our term, not Death’s) is nearly complete, and Iris’ family remains his big unfinished task – all of which starts to become clear to Iris’ granddaughter Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) when she begins having nightmares of Iris’ Skyview premonition, leading her to seek out the grandmother she’d never met, and who she was always told was crazy. PlayFinal Destination: Bloodlines Ending ExplainedA Reunion to Die ForStefani is initially skeptical of Iris’ story and the reason she now has spent years barricaded inside a house she’s attempted to death-proof to protect herself the best she can, even as she tells Stefani she now is dying from cancer and thus won’t be able to escape Death much longer. But when the still disbelieving Stefani goes outside to leave, Iris impulsively runs after her to ensure Stefani takes the book in which Iris has collected her findings on what happened to all those who survived Skyview and how to try to avoid literal Death traps - and decides to prove what she knows about Death’s plan by staying outside long enough for a weather vane to snap off and impale her in front of Stefani. Soon enough, with Iris dead, Death now goes after everyone else in the family, which includes Stefani’s brother and her estranged mother, plus her uncle and three cousins (anyone who married into the family, like Stefani’s father or her aunt are safe, since they would have existed regardless of Skyview). And after Uncle Howard (Alex Zahara) and his daughter Julia (Anna Lore) both go out in classic Final Destination scenarios involving a lawnmower and a garbage truck, the rest of the family is suddenly much more onboard with the claims of both Stefani and her mother Darlene (Rya Kihlstedt) - the latter of whom returns after years in self-exile because her own erratic behavior thanks to her mother’s “Death is everywhere” teachings had made her fear how she was raising her kids. Tony Todd’s Final Appearance: One Last Message From an IconMaking an emotional final appearance as his second most famous horror character after Candyman, the late, great Tony Todd – who passed away a few months after production wrapped on Bloodlines – returns as Final Destination regular William Bludworth, who Stefani and her family encounter at a hospital, learning he is the “JB” Iris referred to in her book. It turns out JB is a nickname his friends use, based off of his full name being William John Bludworth. It’s a fun way to suddenly add some personal touches to a character who was so enigmatic in his previous appearances that this is the first time since we met him 25 years ago that his name has been spoken out loud. Bludworth is only in the one scene, which was the norm for Todd’s role in this franchise, but it’s a big one for several reasons, effectively bidding a well-earned fond farewell to both the character and the man who played him. PlayBeyond his middle name and a nickname we didn’t know before, Bludworth reveals much more, including that he was the little boy who Iris tried to help in her premonition in 1968, in which the two of them died last in the tower collapse, making him the other last target Death has been seeking among those who survived the Skyview. Now though, like Iris did, he has terminal cancer and his time is nearly up once Iris’ family are all gone. Todd himself was sadly in the final stages of stomach cancer when he shot Final Destination: Bloodlines and the filmmakers have noted all involved understood the situation and why it was important to properly say goodbye to the character while, most importantly, giving Todd his due. As Bloodlines co-director Zach Lipovsky explained to IGN, “We’re really grateful that we had the ability to, from the beginning, design that experience for the audience with Tony and with all the writers and everybody. We knew he was ill for quite a while and he was extremely excited to be in the movie. He was very grateful for the ability to participate in the film and he was so joyful on set when he was there and he was cracking jokes and really excited to just have his ability to be in the film and give his character a lot more backstory. We give a lot of answers to who Bludworth is in the film, which is something that during the franchise, people have been clamoring for for a really long time. But we also knew that this was also going to be a goodbye of the character. And that's something that we worked very closely with him, to figure out really the best way of doing that, because these films are about death and his mortality was very present as we were working with him.” Bludworth tells Stefani and the others there are two known methods to actually cheat Death, in a moment that is rather exciting for longtime Final Destination fans in terms of acknowledging previous lore. First, as established in Final Destination 5, you can take the life of someone else - basically using that other person as a sacrifice, with you now getting the “credit” for the time your victim naturally had left to live, or even potentially some extra credit if they had decades and decades more to go before they would have died. But perhaps more importantly, because it’s the only way Bludworth knows of to save everyone still alive involved in a situation like this, is the cheat introduced in Final Destination 2 where clinically dying but then being resuscitated breaks Death’s chain completely. Which means if one of the family can pull this off, they can all be saved. But Bludworth says only one person has ever done this successfully (more on that below). He had this sort of mischievous smile, even when he delivers that line and then says, ‘Good luck.’ -Co-director Zach Lipovsky on shooting Tony Todd's final scene“Todd’s scene ends with Bludworth revealing that he is going to retire and enjoy the time he has left and then his final words get notably poignant for a Final Destination film - something Lipovsky credits fully to Todd. “One of the unique opportunities that came up was that near the end of that scene, we asked him to actually throw away the script for a moment and just speak from the heart as to everything that he was thinking about as far as what the movie was about, what the franchise has been about, but also just what life's about and what is it all about in the end. And the take that's in the film where he says, ‘Life is precious. Cherish every second because you never know when…’ And the earnestness that he says that with all came in the moment from him. And I think you really feel that when you watch the movie that he's obviously speaking as a character who knows that their death is coming, but he's also speaking as an actor who's speaking to the audience as far as what's important in life. And that was a really powerful moment on set when we filmed that with him.” Not surprisingly, it was a highly emotional day on set when Todd shot his scene, but Lipovsky loves how Todd’s actual final words of “Good luck” to the other characters (and, essentially, to the audience) and how he delivers them let him also meld the actor and Bludworth together further.“He had this sort of mischievous smile, even when he delivers that line and then says, ‘Good luck’ in the way that he has – that sort of dark, mischievous way as he goes out the door – he knew exactly what he was doing and he relished [it].” Final Destination: Bloodline GalleryFarewell to the Family While still at the hospital, Stefani’s cousins Erik (Richard Harmon) and Bobby (Owen Patrick Joyner) are the next to go. Technically, Erik wasn’t on Death’s list because he doesn’t share Iris’ bloodline – he’s shocked to discover he was the result of an affair his mother Brenda (April Telek) had – but he gets taken out too when he attempts to break the chain by “killing” his brother using Bobby’s peanut allergy before rushing him to the ER to be revived. However, an errant, Death-controlled MRI machine acting like it’s Magneto on a rampage pulls the piercing-laden Erik towards it, who is then snapped in half when a wheelchair shoves him into the MRI machine in a very unrecommended manner - and then Bobby is stabbed by a projectile-powered spring from a vending machine, which drills into his head. With Uncle Howard’s side of the family all gone, it’s just Stefani and her brother Charlie (Tio Briones) and Darlene left. Given all Iris did to keep it safe for herself inside, they decide to go to Iris’ abandoned cabin, with Darlene intending to now live the isolated life her mother did - because if Death can’t get to her, it can’t move on to her kids. But when they arrive, Death does its best to keep them out, with the RV crashing and Stefani submerged in water as a result, while the house itself gets set on fire and explodes. Darlene is then killed when a post falls onto her but Charlie gets to his sister, who has seemingly drowned, and performs CPR on her. He is able to save her, and in the process, seems to have finally stopped Death from continuing to hunt them. The siblings laugh, thinking they’ve escaped - before one of the train cars suddenly pivots, sending huge logs flying which crush and kill Stefani and Charlie.“Sometime later, Charlie is getting ready for prom night alongside his dad and sister and it’s mentioned to his date’s father, who’s a doctor, how Charlie brought Stefani back from the dead. However, the doctor then tells them that, considering how quickly Stefani was revived, she was unconscious but never actually clinically dead… which means Death was never truly thwarted.And that’s when a train passing by crashes and derails, skidding through the street and seemingly aiming right for Stefani and Charlie, who desperately try to outrun it. It comes to a stop and the siblings laugh, thinking they’ve escaped - before one of the train cars suddenly pivots on its side, sending huge logs it was carrying flying through the air, which crush and kill Stefani and Charlie, in a callback to one of the franchise’s most famous and most meme’d moments (from Final Destination 2). Does Final Destination Bloodlines Have a Mid- or Post-Credit Scene?Not really, but there are some visuals accompanying the closing credits that focus on articles Iris had collected in her book about various notable deaths through the years, intercut with quick footage from some of those tragedies - before we end on the newest article, reporting on Stefani and Charlie’s bizarre death. PlayBut Does Bloodlines Set Up Final Destination 7 in Any Way?The sixth Final Destination movie doesn’t really offer any set-up for a seventh installment… unless it does? This is a franchise that has never been about heavy serialization. Only the second movie was truly a direct sequel with explicit plot threads to the movie that preceded it, including a prominent returning character in the form of Ali Larter’s Clear Rivers. But following that film – and Clear dying in it – the series consisted of nearly entirely standalone stories that introduced a brand new group of characters each time, with the exception of a possible William Bludworth scene (he wasn’t in Final Destination 3 or 4, though Tony Todd made an audio cameo in FD3). And having new characters made sense, because Final Destination 3, 4 and 5, as with Bloodlines now, also made sure there were zero survivors among their crop of new Death targets. Along with Bludworth, the only real recurring element beyond the core concept was that the strange occurrences of the first film’s Flight 180 explosion and the ill-fated group who initially escaped that scenario were at least somewhat well known and would usually be brought up at some point, but even then, usually in a nebulous manner. (Though Final Destination 5 of course skipped a Flight 180 mention in order to mask its very fun Secret Prequel status, with that film’s ending looping back into the original movie in a thrilling manner.)To have Final Destination 2's Kimberly brought up makes it hard not to wonder if there might be plans for her going forward as someone with important information for those wishing to stop Death.“All of which is to say that it really stands out in Final Destination: Bloodlines when Bludworth, while explaining how you can actually cheat Death – and talking about the only person who did it – says the name Kimberly Corman. Played by AJ Cook, Kimberly Corman was the main character in 2003’s Final Destination 2, and following multiple mentions in Bloodlines of the “survivor” Iris wrote about “JB” finding in her book, Bludworth specifically mentions Kimberly as the one and only person who’s ever fully cheated Death without it coming back around on her. In Final Destination 2’s conclusion, Kimberly purposely drove into a lake and drowned and was truly clinically dead briefly before a doctor resuscitated her. (It’s worth noting that Kimberly’s actions also saved her friend, Thomas Burke, who would have died after her, but we’ll just assume Bludworth didn’t want to complicate matters and stuck to discussing the person whose actual decision affected the outcome.)Longtime mega-fans of the series may recall that the Final Destination 3 DVD had a “Choose Their Fate” interactive special feature where you could see alternate scenarios from what occurred in the film. And in one of them, a headline did report on Kimberly and Burke’s eventual deaths. But that version of the story was never canon and now Bludworth’s information in Bloodlines confirms Kimberly’s method really and truly worked and she’s still alive. It’s been 22 years since we’ve seen Kimberly or Burke but to have Kimberly’s name suddenly brought up in this manner makes it hard not to wonder if there might be plans for her going forward as someone with important information for those wishing to stop Death in the future - especially given that, with Bludworth no longer an option, this series is probably in need of a new Person Who Knows Things for the newbies to go to, given sticking only to internet searches for your characters just isn’t cinematically exciting. And look, AJ Cook’s been plenty busy for the past couple of decades as a cast member on Criminal Minds, but maybe she can still take a break to go deal with Death once again. Of course, there’s also Iris’ book and all of the information she’s gathered as a notable remaining element, and it does stand out that Stefani’s father Marty (Tinpo Lee) and Aunt Brenda are both alive at the end of the film, thanks to not being part of Iris’ bloodline. Could either one of them or Iris’ book play a role in the future, at least as far as briefly appearing to pass on what they know? We’ll have to see what Death’s – and the Final Destination producers’ – design is.What did you think of Bloodlines? Let’s discuss in the comments!Note: This story was updated with full spoilers on May 16, 2025.