If you own a printer from China-based Procolored, watch out: The company’s driver files are full of malware, including a Windows-based backdoor.Karsten Hahn, a researcher at cybersecurity vendor G Data, reported the findings on Thursday. "A printer company provided infected printer software for half a year," he said.Hahn began investigating after YouTuber Cameron Coward at Serial Hobbyism received a printer from Procolored, a provider of direct-to-film printers, which can be used for creating custom T-shirts. While testing the printer for a review, the built-in antivirus Windows Defender and Google's Chrome browser alerted him of malware threats on his PC. His computer had been hit with Floxif, a powerful malware that can change Windows executables and install other malicious code. It can also spread itself through connected USB drives. Coward’s PC received the malware alert after installing software from a ZIP folder on the “USB thumb drive Procolored supplied with the printer.”Although Procolored, a Shenzhen-based company, claimed the malware alerts were false-positives, Coward posted a call on Reddit for a third-party security researcher to double-check. Hahn at G Data began investigating and traced the threat to the printer driver files hosted on Procolored's website. (Credit: Mega.nz/Procolored)Surprisingly, Procolored continues to host the printer driver files for six products on a third-party Mega.nz file sharing account. Hahn’s antivirus scan found that 39 of the files triggered two malware detections: One for a cryptocurrency wallet stealer, the other a backdoor for Windows PCs dubbed XRed.  Recommended by Our EditorsHahn estimates the malicious driver files were circulating for half a year because the Mega.nz directory shows many of the files were last updated about six months ago. His investigation also uncovered evidence that driver files had been originally tampered with on a system that had been “infected several times” with different kinds of malware, which might explain why Hahn’s PC encountered the Floxif infection. Procolored didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But the company told Hahn that it suspects the drivers files were tampered with through an infected USB drive. "The software hosted on our website was initially transferred via USB drives. It is possible that a virus was introduced during this process,” Procolored said. "As a precaution, all software has been temporarily removed from the Procolored official website,” the company added. “We are conducting a comprehensive malware scan of every file. Only after passing stringent virus and security checks will the software be re-uploaded. This is a top priority for us, and we are taking it very seriously."The statement also notes that Procolored plans on disclosing the incident to customers and updating its site “once all software has been thoroughly reviewed and confirmed safe.” Hahn says he’s received copies of the new driver files and reports they appear to be clean. Some might speculate that Procolored deliberately planted the malware. But in his blog post, Hahn wrote, “a far more plausible explanation points to the absence or failure of antivirus scanning on the systems used to compile and distribute the software packages.” That's because the command-and-control server for the backdoor malware XRed appears to have been offline since February 2024, reducing the threat's severity. In the meantime, Hahn recommends affected users consider reinstalling the Windows OS to fully wipe out the threat. "It is possible that some users have dismissed antivirus warnings, assuming the files were safe. This could have allowed the malware to remain undetected," he said.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Vegetable plants are expensive. To get the best yield out of them, you need to pay attention to more than just the soil, sun, and watering. You need to get your plants off on the right foot by planting them the right way. Here's what I mean. Choose the right plant at the nursery Credit: Amanda Blum When I first started gardening, I thought the best vegetable starts to buy were the ones that were the biggest, with flowers and fruit already on them. This would give the plant a head start, right? Sadly, no. Plants go through something called "transplant shock" when you move them. You’re disturbing the plant's roots, and moving it to a new environment. To survive, the plant needs to focus all its energy on the plant's roots, and if there's a lot of plant matter like leaves, flowers, and fruit to support, energy is wasted supporting them. Plants with established fruit, in particular, struggle during the transplant process. Choose plants that look healthy, with strong stems and leaves without damage, but that don't yet have flowers or fruit. Prepare your soil Credit: Amanda Blum There are legions of ways to handle your garden from season to season. Some people till the soil, while others employ a no-till method, and still others use something called "chop-and-drop." Regardless of the method, the soil you’re planting into has to be pliable enough that roots can flourish in them. For that reason, ensure that the soil is turned over and broken up—from a shovel to a shovel and a half’s depth. You can use a broadfork for this, if you don’t want to disturb the soil structure, but otherwise, just use a shovel. Breaking up the soil will help you see the texture—so you can add sand if the soil has too much clay in it, or compost if it isn't holding any moisture. You can use this time to add amendments such as vegetable fertilizer and lime. Fertilizer is obvious, but lime is used to turn your soil less acidic, which happens over time through watering and growing. Most vegetables don’t enjoy acidic environments. Turn the amendments into the soil. Choose an overcast dayYour plants will already be stressed by transplanting. Planting them into the blazing sun is even more stress. A stretch of overcast days is the perfect planting time. If that's not an option, plant at twilight to give your plants a night to adjust. Consider giving the plant some shade the next day to help it acclimate.Get the plant out of the pot without damaging the roots Credit: Amanda Blum By the time plants reach the nursery, they’re often root-bound in the plastic pots or six packs you buy them in. Roots are resilient, but you don’t want to disturb them more than necessary. The best way to break a plant free from a plastic pot is to use two fingers and squeeze the bottom of the pot. This should free the plant. Don’t turn the pot over or pound on it with your palm, and definitely don’t try to pull it loose by the plant’s stem.  on the left, the eggplant seedling just out of the pot, and on the right, after the roots have been broken up Credit: Amanda Blum Once the plant is out, you want to break up the roots by using your fingers like a comb on the bottom of the plant, so that roots are freed. That said, these plants do not enjoy their roots being disturbed: cucumbers, beans, pumpkins, luffa, beets, and most root vegetables. For these, I simply dig a hole, remove the plant from the plastic tray, carefully plop the plant in, and walk away.  Separate plants as necessary Credit: Amanda Blum Most pots have more than one seed in each cell. In some cases, like tomatoes, someone usually culls the seedlings so only one is left to flourish. However, in some cases, like herbs and lettuce, nurseries leave the seeds alone and let multiple seeds grow. In other cases like onions and carrots, the cells are purposely overseeded to be filled with lots of seedlings. Strawberries usually come in a pot of five to 10 starts.  If you take a cell of onion seedlings out, you can separate them by diving the block in half over and over again, until you have individual seedlings. Credit: Amanda Blum When there’s more than one seedling, you need to separate them. You shouldn’t try to plant them altogether. For lettuce or herbs, this is simple: Remove one cell, and with your fingers, gently pull the soil pod apart. Start by pulling the pod in half, and then keep dividing until all the seedlings are free. This works on larger plants like squash, and smaller plants like carrots where there can be 20 or more seedlings in a single cell. Once the individual seedlings are free, they can each be planted as if they’re a whole plant. This is how you get a whole row of carrots or onions. This is also a great way to save money, since you usually get far more than six lettuce heads from a six-pack of lettuce. Know the right depth Credit: Amanda Blum Plants need to go in the ground at the right depth, ensuring that the base of the plant is at soil level. In some cases, though, you can (and should) plant the stem deeper.Leeks and onions, for example, can be planted deeply. In particular, leeks can be planted as deeply as possible, with only an inch or two of seedling above the surface of the soil. This will help blanch the leek (keep it white). Tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers can be planted deeply, as they’ll form roots along their entire stem. If your tomato is leggy (tall with little horizontal branching), this is a spectacular way to fix the problem. When in doubt, follow the directions on the plant tag, or simply plant at a standard depth so the roots are covered, but the stem is exposed above the soil. Don’t mulch against your stemsWhile mulch is an important part of insulating your vegetable plants and keeping moisture in the ground, it’s also a way to spread pathogens. You want to ensure plants have a few inches of clearance between them and the mulch. Keep your labels or make new ones Keep those plant tags. Credit: Amanda Blum In the melee of planting, it’s common to lose your plant tags. After all, a tomato is a tomato. However, you’ll be sad at the end of the season when one tomato does spectacularly and another doesn’t, and you don’t know what variety each was. Label your plants! 

Courtyard House without Second Floor | © Ken’ichi Suzuki Photo Studio In the dense urban fabric of Tokyo’s low-rise residential zones, the idea of a courtyard house often arrives burdened with contradictions. While courtyards promise tranquility, daylight, and spatial openness, they simultaneously risk exposure in neighborhoods where proximity to adjacent buildings is a constant reality. In Courtyard House without Second Floor, Takuro Yamamoto Architects responds to this tension not by enclosing the courtyard at ground level, as is typical in urban Japan, but by lifting it skyward and, in doing so, rethinking the basic assumptions of residential typology. Courtyard House without Second Floor Technical Information Architects1-11: Takuro Yamamoto Architects Location: Tokyo, Japan Area: 84.81 m2 | 912.87 Sq. Ft. Completion Year: 2023 Photographs: © Ken’ichi Suzuki Photo Studio By having a courtyard on the third floor where one does not need to worry about neighbors’ houses, and by making the living room that faces the courtyard the main living space, it is possible to propose a lifestyle of living with the sky. – Takuro Yamamoto Architects Courtyard House without Second Floor Photographs © Ken’ichi Suzuki Photo Studio © Ken’ichi Suzuki Photo Studio © Ken’ichi Suzuki Photo Studio © Ken’ichi Suzuki Photo Studio © Ken’ichi Suzuki Photo Studio © Ken’ichi Suzuki Photo Studio © Ken’ichi Suzuki Photo Studio © Ken’ichi Suzuki Photo Studio © Ken’ichi Suzuki Photo Studio © Ken’ichi Suzuki Photo Studio Rethinking the Urban Courtyard Typology In the dense urban fabric of Tokyo’s low-rise residential zones, the idea of a courtyard house often arrives burdened with contradictions. While courtyards promise tranquility, daylight, and spatial openness, they simultaneously risk exposure in neighborhoods where proximity to adjacent buildings is a constant reality. In Courtyard House without Second Floor, Takuro Yamamoto Architects responds to this tension not by enclosing the courtyard at ground level, as is typical in urban Japan, but by lifting it skyward and, in doing so, rethinking the basic assumptions of residential typology. Commissioned by a couple seeking privacy and serenity within a compact urban site, the house proposes a bold inversion of conventional planning. Rather than layering private and public functions vertically, the architects chose to eliminate the second floor entirely, allowing the first and third floors to operate in deliberate dialogue. The result is a residence that privileges visual and environmental connection with the sky while subtly redefining the relationship between floor height, program, and spatial character. Design Intent and Spatial Strategy: Living with the Sky At the core of the project lies a radical conceptual maneuver: displacing the courtyard from the ground to the third floor. This decision emerges from a critique of the traditional urban courtyard model. In this Tokyo neighborhood, where surrounding buildings are often taller and closely spaced, a ground-level courtyard would likely be overlooked, compromising its function as a private outdoor room. High surrounding walls could restore privacy but at the cost of daylight and spatial openness. By relocating the courtyard upward, above the line of sight of nearby houses, the architects enable a new kind of domestic experience centered on openness, air, and sky. The third floor becomes the primary living domain, composed of a light-filled living room that opens directly onto the rooftop courtyard. The courtyard, in turn, becomes not just a spatial device but a living boundary between interior and exterior, structured absence and atmospheric presence. This elevated void also informs the project’s volumetric logic. Since the clients required only a modest floor area, the architects chose to dispense with the intermediate second floor, enabling a clearer division of functions. Communal and spatially expansive activities are raised above, while intimate, enclosed functions occupy the ground level. This unusual strategy reorients how verticality is deployed not as a stacking of programs but as a spatial gradient calibrated to privacy, light, and openness. Materiality, Light, and Spatial Atmosphere Constructed using a rigid wooden frame structure, the house maintains a calm and tactile material palette, allowing spatial relationships and natural light to define its atmosphere. The first floor, often overlooked in vertically stratified dwellings, benefits from a double-height volume due to the absence of the second floor. This inversion creates unexpected generosity in typically constrained spaces, such as the two workrooms facing each other across a slender internal courtyard planted with a Japanese dogwood tree. Light becomes the central agent of spatial modulation. Tall windows on the first-floor drawing in daylight, softening the compactness of the lower level and offering fluctuating lighting conditions throughout the day. Meanwhile, the upper courtyard receives unobstructed sunlight, casting dynamic shadows and amplifying the architectural strategy of turning upward for openness. The spatial sequence thus becomes non-linear, entering into lower, quiet rooms whose expanded vertical dimensions lend them dignity before ascending to a third-floor realm that opens horizontally to the sky. Rather than a classical hierarchy of levels, the house presents a compositional field of contrasts between enclosure and exposure, compression and release, and ground and air. Courtyard House Urban Context Tokyo’s residential neighborhoods are defined not only by density but also by a highly codified regulatory environment. Within the constraints of a Type 1 restricted low-rise residential zone, the architects worked with a site area of 169.78 m², achieving a floor area ratio of 77.87% and a building coverage of just under 50%. These constraints typically lead to compact, stacked dwellings. Yet the Courtyard House without Second Floor resists this default model, proposing a typological deviation that extracts architectural generosity from regulatory discipline instead. Courtyard House without Second Floor Plans Floor Plan | © Takuro Yamamoto Architects Section | © Takuro Yamamoto Architects Elevation | © Takuro Yamamoto Architects Courtyard House without Second Floor Image Gallery About Takuro Yamamoto Architects Credits and Additional Notes Design Team: Takuro Yamamoto, Tomoko Yanagi Structural Design: NCN Corporation / Yuusuke Okamoto Construction: REMOL DESIGN / Hiroyuki Watanabe, Syuhei Watanabe Furniture: Tanaka Kogei / Toshiya Tanaka, Takeshi Minamizawa Structure: Wooden rigid frame Site Area: 169.78 m² Total Floor Area: 132.21 m² 1st Floor Area: 74.09 m² 3rd Floor Area: 58.12 m² Lot Percentage: 49.95% Floor Space Ratio: 77.87%

Game Dev Digest Issue #282 - Unity 6.2 Beta, Level/Character Design, and more posted in GameDevDigest Newsletter Published May 16, 2025 Advertisement This article was originally published on GameDevDigest.comEnjoy!Unity 6.2 Beta is now available - Test the latest features, including Unity AI, Mesh LOD, and World Space UI for UI Toolkit. Dive in today and help shape the future of Unity!discussions.unity.comSpace is not a wall: toward a less architectural level design - People want to do level design. They grow up playing games like Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnite — all 3D games with 3D worlds. And to create 3D worlds, supposedly you need this thing called “level design.” Then when you search YouTube, you'll be told that level design is about implanting secret lines that "guide the player" into walking down hallways. Such is the power of ARCHITECTURE!blog.radiator.debacle.usSound and Music in Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader | An Audio Director's Perspective - In this article, I will discuss the approach to sound design and music that we took in our latest game: Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader.audiokinetic.comCastle Kellmore rendering - Since Castle Kellmore released on Playdate, I have had a lot of interest in the technical aspects of its rendering system. So I thought I would give a brief insight into how I made it look as good as possible, while (mostly) keeping to 50 frames per second.ligeiagames.comUnity-Advanced-Engineering-Guide - Unity Software Engineering Guide (Design Patterns, Software Architecture, Algorithms and Data Structure)MfaXyz VideosDesigning and Creating Video Game Zombie AI ft. PikPok - James and Sarah from PikPok (creators of Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days) are here to share their process for designing zombie behavior and bringing them to life in Unity!UnityThe GOOD, The BAD, and The BIZARRE of Unity 6.1's XR Updates - Unity 6.1 brings major XR updates, but not all features are created equal! This breakdown reveals which VR/AR features are genuinely useful. Learn about Variable Rate Shading, the new Mixed Multiplayer Tabletop Template, and why Deferred+ rendering is great tech you'll rarely use unless you're making a PC VR experience. I also dive into Unity's strange decision to support Android XR devices that don't actually exist yet!Fist Full of ShrimpHow to Generate Random Tilemap Decorations in Unity - In this continuation of the "How to Make a 2D Platformer Game in Unity" series we'll be generating random tilemap decorations using a rule tile.Wild Cockatiel GamesDiscover the HIDDEN POWER of Unity Property Bags and Visitors - The Property bag is the cornerstone of Unity.Properties—a powerful system that lets you generically access, inspect, and modify object data at runtime without reflection. In this video, we’ll show you how property bags, visitors, and adapters work together to build flexible, high-performance systems for tooling, UI binding, data validation, and more. You’ll learn how to write your own visitors, construct property paths, and use these patterns to create runtime features that adapt to any data structure.git-amendUnderstanding shaders is easy, actually - Shader code can be scary but... Well, it is scary, but it's also quite simple!tEEvy gamezBeginner mistakes when drawing assets | 2D Game Art - If you're a beginner to game art all of this art stuff might feel a bit dauntingNonsensical 2DEnemies in Unity ECS - Fundamentals & ICleanupComponentData - Build a high-performance Enemy System in Unity using ECS and DOTS!Tale ForgeI’m a Caver Making a Cave Game with Custom Tech. It’s Complicated. - This video is a longer discussion and explanation about the tech I'm developing for my caving game.Fredrik Andersson AssetsLevel Up: 5K World Building Assets Bundle - Build the game of your dreams in any setting or scenario with our Level Up: 5K World Building Assets Bundle.__Character Art Tutorial Bundle - Flash Sale - Create stylized AAA characters today Say hi to summer with a scorching hot FLASH SALE! Learn how to create original AAA-quality characters from the pros at FastTrackTutorials. Build warriors, ninjas, and more with a suite of lesson videos. 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Includes ready-to-use samples, real-time previews, and per-vertex animation capabilities.LeiQiaoZhi Open SourceStereoCancer - An open-source stereo-correct screen-space shader for Unity, mainly intended for usage in animations and games such as VRChat.xwidghet Open SourceMobileConsoleKit - Mobile Console Kit is a Unity Asset Store that help you not just viewing logs in mobile devices, but helping you monitor, do experiment and speed up development time.pixeption Open SourceDevAccelerationSystem - The DevAccelerationSystem helps to enable features to speed up development iteration from code perspective. 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Designs include a freestanding classroom, new planting and integrated sculptures intended to link art, nature and learning Source: Tom Stuart-Smith StudioThe proposed new Clore Garden Tate Britain has unveiled proposals for a new public garden and education facility at its Millbank site, developed by Feilden Fowles and landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith Studio. The Clore Garden project seeks to transform the approach to the Grade II* listed gallery into a planted landscape incorporating accessible pathways, public art and a new garden classroom. According to Tate, the project aims to enhance biodiversity and increase opportunities for community engagement, while offering a new civic green space in central London. The landscape design features a network of pathways set within densely planted zones and intends to create varied conditions for seasonal planting, wildlife habitats and informal gathering. The garden will include new seating areas, a café terrace, a wildlife pond and spaces for programmed outdoor activities. Sculptures from Tate’s collection are expected to be integrated into the landscape. Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain, said: “We are enormously excited to share a first look at designs for Tate Britain’s new garden, a significant green space uniting art and nature and encouraging biodiversity. “These sumptuous, innovative designs demonstrate the role museums can play in our cities, places where contemplation and relaxation can go hand in hand with joy and creativity. We hope the garden will offer new ways to engage with Tate’s Collection, for both visitors and local residents alike.” The proposed new Clore GardenSource: Tom Stuart-Smith Studio The proposed new Clore GardenSource: Tom Stuart-Smith Studio The proposed new Clore GardenSource: Tom Stuart-Smith Studio The proposed new gardenSource: Tom Stuart-Smith Studio 1/4 show caption Tom Stuart-Smith said: “It’s a wonderful opportunity to create a haven for people, plants and sculpture right in the heart of London and to transform the setting of the gallery into a beautiful garden that is really engaging, biodiverse and sustainable.” Planting selections are being developed with input from the Royal Horticultural Society to include a range of species suited to creating a garden for year-round public use and to support local biodiversity. The project will include a single-storey classroom structure to be designed by Feilden Fowles. No images have so far been released of the building. Feilden Fowles and Tom Stuart-Smith Studio were selected to lead the project in early 2024 following an open design competition. A planning application is expected in the summer, with construction scheduled to begin in the autumn and completion anticipated by 2026.

About a half hour south of the Puerto Escondido airport is a stretch of Oaxacan coastline where whale sightings are common and the surf break is world famous. The remoteness of the region is key to its appeal. Architects and designers are drawn to the Mexican state for its deep history of crafts, from villages where weavers have worked for generations to the artist Bosco Sodi’s Tadao Ando–designed nonprofit, Casa Wabi. And while this rugged region may be hard to get to, it’s anything but unfamiliar territory to the architect Will Meyer and his wife Kerstin; their sprawling coastal compound occupies a three-acre plot that has been in her family for decades. Based in Nashville most of the year, the couple wanted to create a retreat for themselves and their two teenage children.The IngallsThe living room is set beneath a double-height palapa and has a 35-foot custom sofa. Chairs by Decova; custom cocktail table and rug.Meyer, who co-founded the multidisciplinary design studio Meyer Davis with Gray Davis, worked with builder Patricio Sodi, brother of Bosco, to develop a -family-friendly structure that nods to local culture as well as to Mexican modernism. “It was a really collaborative working relationship,” Meyer says. “We were able to play off each other.”“It’s very difficult to keep the elements out in this part of the world. You have to let nature tell you what to do.” —Will MeyerThe building’s central feature is a double-height palapa, a traditional thatch-roofed structure made of dried palm leaves. A symbol of tradition, the palapa anchors the southern end of the six-bedroom residence and houses communal areas including the dining room, kitchen, and bar.Almost 1,000 custom-made breeze blocks, laid out in a lattice pattern inspired by traditional weavings and made from local clay, serve as a focal point while also allowing for natural cross-ventilation. Only one room in the home has air conditioning. “It is very difficult to keep the elements out in this part of the world,” Meyer says. “You have to let nature tell you what to do. There is a lot of engineering behind the scenes to make it all seem effortless.”The IngallsIn the guest wing’s lounge, the sofa and chair are by Decova, the cocktail tables are by Arca, the rugs are from Dialecto Puerto Escondido, and the lamp is by Tseebal.Living in harmony with the elements is central to the layout. The interiors are outfitted in a palette of warm gray, rich oxblood, and tawny ocher drawn directly from the surrounding landscape. (The concrete pool deck is even -color-matched to the sand on the beach below.) The grounds were planted by Kerstin’s brother Ramses Alexander, who has a home next door, as does her father. The celebrated landscape architect Edwina von Gal consulted on sustainable plantings for the area, which is densely populated with Natal plums, cacti, and 15-foot-tall mangrove shrubs, between which the family likes to hang hammocks.See Inside the Oaxacan RetreatOutdoors, a 35-foot-long built-in sofa stretches along the back of the home, connecting the guest rooms and primary suites and inviting visitors to linger in front of the egg-shaped pool, gazing at the unobstructed 220-degree view of the ocean beyond. “If we’re here, we’re entertaining,” Kerstin says. “We can’t have an empty house. It needs to be lived in.” All the pillows, rugs, and fabrics were commissioned from local vendors by Kerstin, who has spent years sourcing Oaxacan textiles for her company, Maya Sund. “Every town here in Oaxaca has its own talent and its own history,” she says. “There is always something new that you learn in the creative process.”The IngallsHomeowners Will and Kerstin Meyer.The furnishings are sparse, but they feel even more luxurious for the intentionality with which they were chosen. The sizable dining table in volcanic stone was -custom-fabricated in Mexico by Arca, pendants were made locally of palm leaves, and decorative ceramics and dishes were sourced from the ethical online market Obakki. “There’s a precision to the house and architecture that’s seen through the lens of craft, and the hand that can be seen in everything in it,” Kerstin says. “Those two things need each other.”And with a stable Starlink connection and the calming sound of the sea close by, the family just needs to make the time to sit back and relax—and keep an eye out for whales. ◾This story originally appeared in the May 2025 issue of Elle Decor. SUBSCRIBESean SantiagoDeputy EditorSean Santiago is ELLE Decor's Deputy Editor, covering news, trends and talents in interior design, hospitality and travel, culture, and luxury shopping. Since starting his career at an interior design firm in 2011, he has gone on to cover the industry for Vogue, Architectural Digest, Sight Unseen, PIN-UP and Domino. He is the author of The Lonny Home (Weldon Owens, 2018), has produced scripted social content for brands including West Elm and Streeteasy, and is sometimes recognized on the street for his Instagram Reels series, #DanceToDecor

By Passant Rabie Published May 15, 2025 | Comments (0) | The Athena lander ended up lying on its side on the surface of the Moon. Intuitive Machines Earlier this year, an ill-fated lander skidded across the lunar surface and ended up lying sideways in a cold, dark crater. Intuitive Machines’ Athena lander was declared dead on arrival at the Moon. Now, the company has released a report detailing the chain of mishaps that led to its demise. Athena touched down on the Moon on Thursday, March 6, following a week-long journey through space. After a less-than-ideal touchdown, the lunar lander ended up on its side in a shallow crater in the Moon’s Mons Mouton region, 820 feet (250 meters) from its targeted landing site. During an earnings call on Wednesday, Intuitive Machines listed three factors that affected Athena’s ability to land on the Moon, SpaceNews reported. The first issue had to do with the lander’s laser altimeters, instruments designed to help it estimate its distance from the Moon during descent. “In the final phase of descent, we saw signal noise and distortion that did not allow for accurate altitude readings,” Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said during the call. The Houston-based company also blamed conditions at the Moon’s south polar region. According to Altemus, the sunlight’s low angles and the topography “created long shadows and dim lighting conditions that challenged the precision capability of our landing system.” The third factor that resulted in Athena’s lunar tumble was the lander’s inability to recognize craters on the Moon from lower altitudes. Intuitive Machines relied on photos captured by NASA’s Lunar Reconnoissance Orbiter to guide the lander’s optical navigation system during its descent. Those images, however, are captured at an altitude of 62 miles (100 kilometers) and therefore “could not accurately account for how craters appear at lower altitudes with south pole lighting conditions as you approach the landing site,” Altemus said. The company is treating Athena’s failed mission as a set of lessons learned as it prepares to launch its third lander sometime next year. “We’ve added dissimilar and redundant altimeters to the sensor suite, and they’re going through more rigorous and extreme flight-like testing than we’ve done before,” Altemus said in Tuesday’s call, according to Space.com. “We’ve incorporated an additional lighting-independent sensor for surface velocity measurements. We’ve expanded onboard terrain crater database for enhanced navigation across the surface of the moon.” Intuitive Machines launched its first lunar lander, Odysseus, in February 2024. It reached the lunar surface, but the landing wasn’t exactly smooth. One of the lander’s legs may have gotten caught during its descent, causing it to tip onto its side and end up lying sideways on a rock. The mission did operate for seven days on the lunar surface, making Intuitive Machines the first company to land a private lander on the Moon. “Moving forward, we will succeed,” Altemus said. “Land softly, land upright, land ready to operate.” Daily Newsletter You May Also Like By Passant Rabie Published May 10, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published May 9, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published May 8, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published May 2, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published May 2, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published May 1, 2025

When a Toronto legal eagle who happens to be a hardcore design hound moved into a new home in the city’s Rosedale neighborhood, she knew exactly what she wanted: something moodier and edgier than her last place. She was done with the white wall living that defined her previous home. “I wanted a feel of age and patina,” she says. “The last thing I wanted was a new-build vibe.”So she enlisted Montana Labelle, the rock star of the city’s design scene, to renovate her 1911 Dutch Colonial–style home. The interior designer, who has long Hitchcock-blonde hair and intricate wrist tattoos (her Canadian parents named her Montana “just because they liked the sound of it”) is a graduate of the Parsons School of Design in New York, and she has a wait list among Toronto’s young professional set. She also has a lifestyle brand featuring objects she creates largely out of her favorite material, marble—everything from richly veined salad spoons to toothbrush holders to toadstool-shaped side tables.Patrick BillerA custom bookcase holds the homeowner’s collection of Montana Labelle Lifestyle and vintage ceramics. The chair is by Adrian Pearsall.“Montana is a bit of an outsider, and as such she has attracted the right kind of people.”—Tommy Smythe Despite her firm’s growth, Labelle is selective about the clients she takes on, and she keeps a relatively low profile. “She has managed to remain a bit of a mystery,” says Tommy Smythe, a Toronto decorator and television personality. “Montana is a bit of an outsider, and as such she has attracted the right kind of people. She’s working with clients who want her to create a world for them. She’s truly an artist.”Patrick BillerThe living room mantel in the 1911 home was covered in volcanic ash–glazed tile by Formafantasma for Dzek. Custom cocktail table; Montana Labelle Lifestyle bowl; Samsung Frame TV.Labelle’s face lights up when she speaks of her passion for craftsmanship and objects with beautiful imperfections. “People are craving authenticity and connection in their spaces more than ever,” she says. “Cookie cutter decor is being swapped out for unique pieces that tell a story and add personality to a home.”Patrick BillerThe dining room’s Cresco table by Acerbis is framed by 1970s Mobil Girgi chairs and a vintage Fritz Hansen settee. Sconces by RBW; Venetian plaster walls in Benjamin Moore’s Natural Cream; artwork by Michael J. Kuczer.For this 4,000-square-foot residence she created a bathroom vanity out of a midcentury brutalist dresser, clad a living room mantel in Formafantasma volcanic tiles, and planted a deep clay soaking tub in the primary bathroom. She also enlisted decorative painter Jeanne Shemilt to sheath the walls in rich Venetian plaster finishes. “I wanted every room to feel warm and curated,” Labelle says.Patrick BillerIn the primary bath the clay soaking tub is by Studio Loho. Vintage Pierre Chapo chair; walls in Benjamin Moore’s Masada. The hands-on approach extended to the client, who appears to be as conversant in French designers from the 1960s and in midcentury Italian lighting fixtures as she is in the law. She and Labelle, together with Shemilt, put their heads together, and within a year (which in design terms is basically the blink of an eye) they had created a richly realized and one-of-a-kind monument to the power of women who know what they want—and what they don’t. “What can I say?” says the homeowner, whose first project with Labelle was eight years ago. “We are very efficient.”Tour this Handcrafted, Patina-filled Toronto HomeThe lawyer had no desire for a house that looked like the neighbors’ homes. “She is moody in a good way,” Labelle says. “She likes rooms that are dark and interesting. We wanted to create something that would reflect her personality.”Walls were knocked down, curios were purchased, and each room became a modern yet eminently livable refuge. There were vintage wall tapestries, a midcentury Italian modular sofa now re-covered in earthy Dedar stripes, and in the family room Labelle designed white shutters and had them customized with polka dot cutouts. The goal was to nail down the cool factor but with nothing cold about it.The goal was to nail down the cool factor but with nothing cold about it.Labelle found many of the home’s vintage pieces on Etsy, as well as at Texas and Massachusetts antiques fairs, from which she livestreamed her favorite finds to the client. “I’d send a picture, and within minutes she’d say yes or no,” the designer says. Labelle pushed her to accept groovy finds. For her part, the owner insisted on a bathtub and a laundry room sink ample enough for her goldendoodle, along with a long harlequin-tiled hall corridor where her dog could frolic on freezing winter days.Though the project wrapped two years ago, Labelle and the client still text daily—about their pets or cool design images they spot on the internet. The homeowner now has a dream home as well as a friend and thought partner—and no regrets. “It’s a very different house,” she says of her place. “Every time somebody comes over, they say it’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. And I know if I ever had to move out of this house for whatever reason, it would be okay, because Montana would help me make the next one equally amazing—if not more.” ◾This story originally appeared in the May 2025 issue of Elle Decor. SUBSCRIBE

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. The Ecosia search engine has just come up with a replacement for its tree counter Paul Hill Neowin · May 15, 2025 05:10 EDT The search engine that uses its income to plant trees, Ecosia, has just introduced a seed counter system to help users understand their impact a bit better. Previously, Ecosia used to have a tree counter that increased after a certain number of searches, but it was phased out a while ago to put more emphasis on the collective impact represented in the total trees planted counter. In its announcement, Ecosia said that many users missed the tree counter that used to be present, so it has decided to reimagine the impact counter. The company said that it does more than just plants trees nowadays, so its new impact counter has been designed to reflect this. It said: “Ecosia has always been about turning your everyday digital habits into real climate action — and that action now goes way beyond planting trees. Today, we support farmers who are restoring soil through regenerative agriculture, protect endangered animals and plants in biodiversity hotspots, invest in bold climate tech, and grow renewable energy capacity to speed up the transition away from fossil fuels.” The seed counter will increase daily when you use Ecosia, but if you’d like to save your score more securely, or view it across devices, then you need to make an account and login on your devices. There is no need to make a whole new account, you can just sign in with Google if you want (I know, it’s ironic). Once you’re logged in, you can go to your profile page and see your impact dashboard. You can see your level, which you can increase by getting more seeds, how many seedlings you’ve helped to plant (Ecosia plants 6 per tree to account for failure), how much energy you’ve helped produce via Ecosia’s solar panels, hours of tree care you’ve supported, and your impact on the amount of area restored. The latter two impacts are not unlocked until you reach level 5 and level 10, respectively. You can read in more depth about each of these stats on the help page. Ecosia is not giving up on displaying your collective impact. It has a section under the one mentioned above which says how much money has been raised and where it is being spent. While the new counter is not as simple as the tree counter, the presence of a dashboard is nice as that never existed before. The new setup also better reflects the other ways users are contributing to climate restoration. Switching to Ecosia is relatively straightforward if you want to give it a go. You can install the Ecosia extension for your browser to be switched over, or if you’re on Chrome, you can choose Ecosia from the search providers list - other browsers may or may not have it as a choice, in that case, get the extension. Tags Report a problem with article Follow @NeowinFeed

Straw Stack Space in Houhu Art Park / WCY Regional StudioSave this picture!© Jinquan KongCommunity Center, Cultural Center•Chang Sha Shi, China Architects: WCY Regional Studio Area Area of this architecture project Area:  748 m² Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2023 Photographs Photographs:Jinquan Kong, Haohao Xu Lead Architects: Chunyu Wei, Sheng Ouyang More SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. Straw Stack Space is located in Houhu Art Park in Changsha, Hunan Province, which is a special 'village in the middle of the city' in Changsha that grew up spontaneously, located at the foot of Yuelu Mountain, and in the centre of the university town. Since the 1950s, the Houhu Art Park has become a unique cultural landmark in Changsha through its history of fisheries, art training and art exhibitions. And, Straw Stack Space is a small community cultural complex in Houhu Lake, integrates exhibitions, art salons, music performances and cultural and creative exchanges.Save this picture!Using pure 'Euclidean Geometry' ---square and circle as the basic graphic language, Straw Stack Space tries to revive the poetic atmosphere of Houhu's past as a field and countryside through the abstraction and metaphor of 'wheat (rice) haystacks', round barns, sunbathing yards and other memorable scenes in the rural landscape. The building occupies two residential sites, and we combined one house with six 'cylinders' in juxtaposition, while the other house has one 'cylinder' implanted in a pure 'square'. The cylinder array and the standard square form an isomorphic and inverted base relationship.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The public cultural and artistic activities that take place in the Straw Stack Space with a sense of 'autonomy' or 'accident', such as contemporary art exhibitions, university graduation design exhibitions, small-scale music parties, modern dances, lawn music festivals, etc. At this point, the 'space' has the ability of 'functional transformation',and it has already departed from the original design preconception, and has generated other interpretations, but it is also an unexpected praise to us.Save this picture!The windows of the Straw Stack Space are mainly orientated to spatial experience, especially strengthening the use of natural top light: when the light is thrown down from the upper part of the building's cylindrical space, through the vertical directivity of the cylinders, it draws one's visual focus to the sky, establishing a relationship between the space, the body and the sky and the earth. Together with the geometrical order of the arrayed cylinders, it tries to let the body deeply perceive a certain ritual, quiet and poetic spatial atmosphere.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!After the completion of the project, whether it is the indigenous villagers, neighbouring citizens, teachers and students of the university, or foreign tourists, when they are relaxing in the Straw Stack Space, they will feel a special kind of 'spatial' information, which tries to evoke the memory of a familiar place or unfamiliar reverie, which belongs to the unique 'sense of place' of the Houhu Art Park or the Straw Stack Space, and it is also the power of the Archetype that we are looking for.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less Project locationAddress:Chang Sha Shi, ChinaLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeWCY Regional StudioOffice••• MaterialBrickMaterials and TagsPublished on May 15, 2025Cite: "Straw Stack Space in Houhu Art Park / WCY Regional Studio" 15 May 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1030097/straw-stack-space-in-houhu-art-park-wcy-regional-studio&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream