Posted on : May 17, 2025 By Tech World Times General  Rate this post Turner Syndrome is a rare chromosomal condition that affects approximately 1 in every 2,000 female births. It occurs when a girl is born missing part or all of an X chromosome, leading to a variety of physical, developmental, and medical challenges. Despite the hurdles it can present, many women and girls with Turner Syndrome go on to live healthy, successful lives—including a few who have made names for themselves in the public eye. In this article, we’ll explore the stories of celebrities living with Turner Syndrome, how they’ve navigated their journeys, and why their visibility matters in raising awareness for this lesser-known genetic disorder. Understanding Turner Syndrome Before diving into specific examples, it’s important to understand what Turner Syndrome entails. Girls with Turner Syndrome may experience: Short stature Delayed puberty Infertility Heart or kidney abnormalities Learning difficulties, especially in spatial reasoning and mathematics However, Turner Syndrome does not affect intelligence in most cases. With proper medical care, hormone therapy, and support, individuals can thrive in all aspects of life, including high-achieving careers. Are There Celebrities Living with Turner Syndrome? Due to the private nature of health conditions and the rarity of Turner Syndrome, very few high-profile celebrities have publicly disclosed having it. However, there are some well-known figures and public individuals who have either shared their diagnosis or been associated with Turner Syndrome awareness. These women have become powerful examples of how it’s possible to overcome medical obstacles and shine in the spotlight. 1. Missy Marlowe – Former Olympic Gymnast Missy Marlowe is one of the most publicly recognized individuals associated with Turner Syndrome. A celebrated gymnast who competed for the United States in the late 1980s, Marlowe was diagnosed with Turner Syndrome at a young age. Despite the challenges, including the need for growth hormone treatments and surgeries, she went on to earn numerous gymnastics titles and even competed in the 1988 Olympic Games. Her journey is a powerful testament to the potential of celebrities living with Turner Syndrome to achieve greatness in sports. 2. Dr. Catherine Ward Melver – Geneticist and Advocate While not a traditional celebrity, Dr. Catherine Ward Melver is a notable public figure in the medical and advocacy community. Diagnosed with Turner Syndrome herself, she has not only built a successful career as a geneticist but also actively works to raise awareness and support other women with the condition. She’s been featured in news articles and documentaries, using her voice and expertise to help others understand the science and emotional impact of living with Turner Syndrome. 3. Women Featured in Documentaries and Public Campaigns Numerous women with Turner Syndrome have shared their stories in documentaries, such as “Turner Syndrome: A Love Story”, “Living with Turner Syndrome”, and various health organization awareness campaigns. These women may not be celebrities in the traditional sense, but their public presence and courage in telling their stories have made them influential figures in the Turner Syndrome community. Their openness contributes greatly to public understanding and helps break down stigma—especially among younger girls looking for role models who reflect their experiences. Why Representation Matters The visibility of celebrities living with Turner Syndrome is vital for multiple reasons: Inspiration and Empowerment: Seeing someone in the public eye overcome similar challenges can be incredibly empowering for young girls with the same diagnosis. Awareness and Education: Public figures can bring national or even global attention to rare conditions like Turner Syndrome, helping to dispel myths and promote understanding. Encouragement for Early Diagnosis and Treatment: With more public awareness, families and physicians are more likely to recognize symptoms early and seek appropriate treatment, improving long-term outcomes. Challenges to Public Disclosure One reason we see so few celebrities living with Turner Syndrome could be the deeply personal nature of the condition. Because it can involve physical characteristics such as short stature and reproductive health issues, some may choose to keep their diagnosis private. In the entertainment industry, where appearance and personal image are often scrutinized, sharing such information can be daunting. Still, the courage of those who have come forward continues to inspire and pave the way for broader acceptance. Turner Syndrome in Media and Literature Beyond real-life celebrities, Turner Syndrome has occasionally been explored in books, TV shows, and films. While representation is still limited, there is growing interest in portraying genetic and medical diversity more accurately and respectfully. This increasing visibility helps normalize Turner Syndrome and encourage inclusive storytelling. Looking Ahead As society becomes more accepting and inclusive of people with different medical and genetic backgrounds, we may see more public figures come forward with their Turner Syndrome diagnoses. Whether in sports, science, activism, or entertainment, their stories will continue to inspire future generations and foster understanding. FAQs: Q1: Are there many celebrities with Turner Syndrome? There are very few widely known celebrities who have publicly disclosed having Turner Syndrome. However, some public figures and advocates have shared their experiences and raised awareness.Q2: Can women with Turner Syndrome live normal lives? Yes, with proper medical treatment and support, most women with Turner Syndrome can lead healthy and fulfilling lives, pursuing careers, education, and personal goals.Q3: Is Turner Syndrome common? Turner Syndrome affects about 1 in every 2,000 to 2,500 female births, making it a rare condition.Q4: What challenges do people with Turner Syndrome face? Common challenges include short stature, delayed puberty, infertility, and potential heart or kidney issues. Many of these can be managed with modern medical care.Q5: How can Turner Syndrome be diagnosed? It is typically diagnosed through a chromosomal analysis called karyotyping, often after observing certain physical or developmental signs.Tech World TimesTech World Times (TWT), a global collective focusing on the latest tech news and trends in blockchain, Fintech, Development & Testing, AI and Startups. If you are looking for the guest post then contact at techworldtimes@gmail.com

Sonali De Rycker, a general partner at Accel and one of Europe’s most influential venture capitalists, is bullish about the continent’s prospects in AI. But she’s wary of regulatory overreach that could hamstring its momentum. At a TechCrunch StrictlyVC evening earlier this week in London, De Rycker reflected on Europe’s place in the global AI race, balancing optimism with realism. “We have all the pieces,” she told those gathered for the event. “We have the entrepreneurs, we have the ambition, we have the schools, we have the capital, and we have the talent.” All that’s missing, she argued, is the ability to “unleash” that potential at scale. The obstacle? Europe’s complex regulatory landscape and, in part, its pioneering but controversial Artificial Intelligence Act. De Rycker acknowledged that regulations have a role to play, especially in high-risk sectors like healthcare and finance. Still, she said she worries that the AI Act’s broad reach and potentially stifling fines could deter innovation at the very moment European startups need space to iterate and grow. “There’s a real opportunity to make sure that we go fast and address what we’re capable of,” she said. “The issue is that we are also faced with headwinds on regulation.”  The AI Act, which imposes stringent rules on applications deemed “high risk,” from credit scoring to medical imaging, has raised red flags among investors like De Rycker. While the goals of ethical AI and consumer protection are laudable, she fears the net may be cast too wide, potentially discouraging early-stage experimentation and entrepreneurship. That urgency is amplified by shifting geopolitics. With U.S. support for Europe’s defense and economic autonomy waning under the current Trump administration, De Rycker sees this moment as a decisive one for the EU. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW “Now that Europe is being left to fend [for itself] in multiple ways,” she said. “We need to be self-sufficient, we need to be sovereign.” That means unlocking Europe’s full economic and technological potential. De Rycker points to efforts like the “28th regime,”a framework aimed at creating a single set of rules for businesses across the EU, as crucial to creating a more unified, startup-friendly region. Currently, the mishmas of labor laws, licensing, and corporate structures across 27 countries creates friction and slows down progress. “If we were truly one region, the power you could unleash would be incredible,” she said. “We wouldn’t be having these same conversations about Europe lagging in tech.” In De Rycker’s view, Europe is slowly catching up—not just in innovation but in its cultural embrace of risk and experimentation. Cities like Zurich, Munich, Paris, and London are starting to generate their own self-reinforcing ecosystems thanks to top-tier academic institutions and a growing base of experienced founders. Accel, for its part, has invested in over 70 cities across Europe and Israel, giving De Rycker a front-row seat to the continent’s fragmented but flourishing tech landscape. Still, on Tuesday night, she noted a stark contrast with the U.S. when it comes to adoption. “We see a lot more propensity for customers to experiment with AI in the U.S.,” she said. “They’re spending money on these kinds of speculative, early-stage companies. That flywheel keeps going.” Accel’s strategy reflects this reality. While the firm hasn’t backed any of the major foundational AI model companies like OpenAI or Anthropic, it has focused instead on the application layer. “We feel very comfortable with the application layer,” said De Rycker. “These foundational models are capital intensive and don’t really look like venture-backed companies.” Examples of promising bets include Synthesia, a video generation platform used in enterprise training, and Speak, a language learning app that recently jumped to a $1 billion valuation. De Rycker sees these as early examples of how AI can create entirely new behaviors and business models, not just incrementally improve existing ones. “We’re expanding total addressable markets at a rate we’ve never seen,” she said. “It feels like the early days of mobile. DoorDash and Uber weren’t just mobilized websites. They were brand new paradigms.” Ultimately, De Rycker sees this moment as both a challenge and a once-in-a-generation opportunity. If Europe leans too heavily into regulation, it risks stifling the innovation that could help it compete globally – not just in AI, but across the entire tech spectrum. “We’re in a supercycle,” she said. “These cycles don’t come often, and we can’t afford to be leashed.” With geopolitical uncertainty rising and the U.S. increasingly inward-looking, Europe has little choice but to bet on itself. Whether it can do so without tying its own hands remains to be seen. But if the continent can strike the right balance, De Rycker believes it has everything it needs to lead, and not just follow, in the AI revolution. Asked by an attendee what EU founders can do to be more competitive with their U.S. counterparts, De Rycker didn’t hesitate. “I think they are competitive,” she said, citing companies Accel has backed, including Supercell and Spotify. “These founders, they look no different.” You can catch catch the full conversation with De Rycker here : Topics

In the beginning, building Machine Learning models was a skill only data scientists with knowledge of Python could master. However, low-code AI platforms have made things much easier now. Anyone can now directly make a model, link it to data, and publish it as a web service with just a few clicks. Marketers can now develop customer segmentation models, user support teams can implement chatbots, and product managers can automate the process of predicting sales without having to write code. Even so, this simplicity has its downsides. A False Start at Scale When a mid-sized e-commerce company introduced its first machine learning model, it went for the quickest route: a low-code platform. The data team quickly built a product recommendation model with Microsoft Azure ML Designer. There was no need for coding or a complicated setup, and the model was up and running in only a few days. When staged, it did well, recommending relevant products and maintaining user interest. However, when 100,000 people used the app, it faced problems. Response times tripled. Recommendations were only shown twice, or they did not appear at all. Eventually, the system crashed. The issue wasn’t the model that was being used. It was the platform. Azure ML Designer and AWS SageMaker Canvas are designed to operate fast. Thanks to their easy-to-use drag-and-drop tools, anyone can use machine learning. However, the simplicity that makes them easy to work with also covers their weaknesses. Tools that start as simple prototypes fail when they are put into high-traffic production, and this happens due to their structure. The Illusion of Simplicity Low-code AI tools are promoted to people who are not technology experts. They take care of the complex parts of data preparation, feature creation, training the model, and using it. Azure ML Designer makes it very quickly possible for users to import data, build a model pipeline, and deploy the pipeline as a web service. However, having an abstract idea is both positive and negative. Resource Management: Limited and Invisible Most low-code platforms run models on pre-set compute environments. The amount of CPU, GPU, and memory that users can access is not adjustable. These limits work well in most cases, but they become a problem when there is a surge in traffic. An educational technology platform using AWS SageMaker Canvas created a model that could classify student responses as they were submitted. During testing, it performed perfectly. Yet, as the number of users reached 50,000, the model’s API endpoint failed. It was found that the model was being run on a basic compute instance, and the only solution to upgrade it was to rebuild all the workflows. State Management: Hidden but Dangerous Because low-code platforms keep the model state between sessions, they are fast for testing but can be risky in real-life use. A chatbot for retail was created in Azure ML Designer so that user data would be maintained during each session. While testing, I felt that the experience was made just for me. However, in the production environment, users started receiving messages that were meant for someone else. The issue? It stored information about the user’s session, so each user would be treated as a continuation of the one before. Limited Monitoring: Blindfolded at Scale Low-code systems give basic results, such as accuracy, AUC, or F1 score, but these are measures for testing, not for running the system. It is only after incidents that teams discover that they cannot track what is essential in the production environment. A logistics startup implemented a demand forecasting model using Azure ML Designer to help with route optimization. All was good until the holidays arrived, and the requests increased. Customers complained of slow responses, but the team could not see how long the API took to respond or find the cause of the errors. The model could not be opened up to see how it worked. Scalable vs. Non-Scalable Low-Code Pipeline (Image by author) Why Low-Code Models Have Trouble Handling Large Projects Low-code AI systems cannot be scaled, as they lack the key components of strong machine learning systems. They are popular because they are fast, but this comes with a price: the loss of control. 1. Resource Limits Become Bottlenecks Low-code models are used in environments that have set limits on computing resources. As time passes and more people use them, the system slows down or even crashes. If a model has to deal with a lot of traffic, these constraints will likely cause significant problems. 2. Hidden State Creates Unpredictability State management is usually not something you must consider in low-code platforms. The values of variables are not lost from one session to another for the user. It is suitable for testing, but it becomes disorganised once multiple users employ the system simultaneously. 3. Poor Observability Blocks Debugging Low-code platforms give basic information (such as accuracy and F1 score) but do not support monitoring the production environment. Teams cannot see API latency, how resources are used, or how the data is input. It is not possible to detect the issues that arise. Low-Code AI Scaling Risks – A Layered View (Image by author) A list of factors to consider when making low-code models scalable Low-code does not automatically mean the work is easy, especially if you want to grow. It is essential to remember Scalability from the beginning when making an ML system with low-code tools. 1. Think about scalability when you first start designing the system. You can use services that provide auto-scaling, such as Azure Kubernetes Service in Azure ML and SageMaker Pipelines in AWS. Avoid default compute environments. Go for instances that can handle more memory and CPU as needed. 2. Isolate State Management To use session-based models like chatbots, ensure user data is cleared after every session. Ensure that web services handle each request independently, so they do not pass on information accidentally. 3. Watch production numbers as well as model numbers. Monitor your API’s response time, the number of requests that fail, and the resources the application uses. Use PSI and KS-Score to find out when the inputs to your system are not standard. Focus on the business’s results, not only on the technical numbers (conversion rates and sales impact). 4. Implement Load Balancing and Auto-Scaling Place your models as managed endpoints with the help of load balancers (Azure Kubernetes or AWS ELB). You can set auto-scaling guidelines depending on CPU load, number of requests, or latency. 5. Version and Test Models Continuously Make sure that every model is given a new version every time it is changed. Before releasing a new version to the public, it should be checked in staging. Perform A/B testing to check how the model works without upsetting the users. When Low-Code Models Work Well Low-code tools do not have any significant flaws. They are powerful for: Rapid prototyping means giving priority to speed over stable results. Analytics that are done inside the system, where the potential for failure is minimal. Simple software is valuable in schools since it speeds up the learning process. A group of people at a healthcare startup built a model using AWS SageMaker Canvas to catch medical billing errors. The model was created just for internal reporting, so it didn’t need to scale up and could easily be used. It was a perfect case for using low-code. Conclusion Low-code AI platforms provide instant intelligence, as they do not require any coding. However, when the business grows, its faults are revealed. Some issues are insufficient resources, information seeping out, and limited visibility. These issues cannot be solved just by making a few clicks. They are architectural issues. When beginning a low-code AI project, consider whether it will be used as a prototype or a marketable product. If the latter, low-code should only be your initial tool, not the final solution. The post The Automation Trap: Why Low-Code AI Models Fail When You Scale appeared first on Towards Data Science.

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.

MrBeast is causing a stir in Mexico. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for YouTube 2025-05-16T19:33:31Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? MrBeast's latest video, in which he visits ancient Mayan temples, is causing a stir in Mexico. A government agency said it's filing suit against a production company that worked with the YouTuber. "It is unfortunate that this has turned into a political issue," a person close to MrBeast told BI. MrBeast's latest video has captured the attention of the Mexican government, and even President Claudia Sheinbaum has weighed in.Earlier this week, the YouTube star — whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson — posted a video exploring several ancient Mayan temples, including Chichen Itza."Can't believe the government's letting us do this," the 27-year-old says in the video, after which he reiterates in a voiceover, "Not even archaeologists are allowed to go back here."In the description of the video, which has 60 million views and counting, Donaldson wrote that the video was filmed "in collaboration with the Mexican Tourism Board," and he thanked the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), a government agency that works to preserve Mexico's cultural heritage.CNN reported there was initially controversy around Donaldson's access to the sites. On Monday, the INAH said in a statement that the necessary permits had been processed and that INAH personnel were supervising the recordings at all times.The INAH added that the video seemed to involve extensive post-production work and allude to events that never occurred, including a helicopter descent onto one of the temples and the handling of an ancient mask.On Wednesday, Sheinbaum spoke publicly about the video. CNN reported that she asked the INAH to report the conditions under which the production permit had been granted. If the permit was violated, she added, then sanctions must be determined.'It is unfortunate that this has turned into a political issue'On Thursday, the INAH said in a thread on X that it was bringing a lawsuit against a production company called Full Circle Media that worked with Donaldson on the video. Donaldson himself isn't facing any legal action.The thread alludes to a moment near the end of the video, when Donaldson is enjoying a traditional Mayan feast. After dinner, he brings out a box of Feastables peanut butter cups for dessert, joking that it's the "only Mayan-approved snack on the planet."The INAH on X said that while it is open to collaboration to disseminate Mexico's cultural heritage, it condemned those who detract from the value of archaeological sites for commercial gain.It said the permit granted to Full Circle Media did not authorize the publication of false information or the use of the sites for advertising. The INAH is demanding compensation for damages and a public retraction.Full Circle Media didn't immediately respond to a request for comment."This video, similar to the one of the pyramids in Egypt, was meant to highlight these treasured Mexican sites," a source close to MrBeast told Business Insider. "No advertisement material was shot on any archaeological sites overseen by INAH, so it is unfortunate that this has turned into a political issue — hopefully it can lead to a productive dialogue and encourage people to visit these unique historical treasures." Recommended video

ZDNETMemorial Day savings are a few days away. If you aren't soaking up the sun at the beach this holiday, maybe you're shopping for some summer essentials. It might sound silly to consider a health tracker a summer essential, but as someone who tests them out year-round, they come in handy while I exercise at the park, pay for food and snacks at the beach (thank you, Apple Pay on Apple Watch), or track my steps on vacation. I've rounded up some of my favorite health trackers you can shop at a discount right now, ahead of Memorial Day. From a fitness tracker fit for marathon training to a smart ring that will capture your night's rest and recovery, these are the deals I recommend mostShop Amazon Memorial Day dealsMy favorite Memorial Day health tracker deals Nina Raemont/ZDNET Current price: $200Original price: $250The nice thing about buying one of Oura's earlier model smart rings is you'll get the same app and software experience -- just a different form factor and one less day of battery life. If prospective Oura Ring buyers don't mind this, they should opt for the Oura Ring 3, which has reduced its price by around 20% since the Oura Ring 4's debut.The Oura Ring tracks your daily sleep, stress, activity, and readiness to deliver scores, insights, and recommendations. It's a great health tracker for people looking to optimize their sleep and activity routine, but who want gentle recommendations and encouragements that won't make them feel bad about a poor night of sleep or a day of low activity. It's constantly innovating with new features, like a Cardiovascular Age feature that tells you if your physiological age is ahead, behind, or at your chronological age. Plus, it partners with other health brands, like Dexcom, so you can keep track of your glucose levels on the Oura app if you use its Stelo continuous glucose monitor. The smart ring is compatible with Android and iOS phones, so everybody can use it to capture data. The only downside of an Oura Ring is its $70 annual subscription (which is not on sale) to unlock all that data it collects and displays. The Ring Gen 3 is also an sale in select finishes and sizes at Oura.  Show more View now at Amazon Kerry Wan/ZDNET Current price: $229Original price: $299I test health trackers for a living, but even when I am (or am not) testing a wearable for work, I have the Apple Watch Series 10 on my wrist. As an avid exerciser who goes to the gym most days of the week, no fitness tracker makes me feel as on top of my exercise as my Apple Watch and my closed activity rings. This deal applies to the Apple Watch Series 10 in jet black, rose gold, and silver. The sport loop the smartwatch comes with is uber-comfortable, especially for exercise, and also moisture-wicking (I've taken many a shower with this smartwatch on and haven't had any issues of prolonged wetness. The Apple Watch Series 10 is an accurate health and sleep tracker that doubles as your iPhone's assistant. Yes, you can record hundreds of workouts on the Fitness app or stay up to date on your sleep in the Vitals app, but you can also set timers while you're cooking, respond to calls or texts, and even locate your lost phone with a quick and easy ping. That's the best part of Apple Watch -- you get accurate data aggregation of your health metrics and a personal assistant around your wrist.  Show more View now at Amazon Matthew Miller/ZDNET Current price: $350Original price: $450Maybe you want a health tracker that you'll only wear during workouts -- or you aren't an iPhone owner and an Apple Watch wouldn't work with your phone. Either way, if you aren't interested in the Apple Watch Series 10, I'd recommend the Garmin Venu 3S instead. Garmin watches are loved by runners, bikers, and outdoorsy exercisers, and they come with several health and sleep-tracking features that rival Oura and Apple. Unlike the Apple Watch's one-day battery life, the Garmin Venu 3S comes with a ten-day battery life to power a week's worth of walk, run, or cycle sessions. It also tracks your sleep -- and naps -- to identify sleep stages and monitor vitals during rest. Even though it doesn't have the seamless integration of an Apple Watch for an iPhone or a Galaxy Watch for a Samsung phone, you can still take calls straight from your watch once it's paired with your smartphone.  Show more View now at Amazon Jason Hiner/ZDNET Current price: $189Original price: $250 Apple has released new earbuds since it debuted the AirPods Pro 2 in 2022, but none have been able to match the Pro 2's software and hardware functionalities. These are Apple's best earbuds, and lucky for us, they regularly go on sale. The AirPods Pro 2 include noise cancellation that minimizes distractions around you, microphones that make your voice clear on calls, and a battery life that will carry you through a run, workday, or commute home. Other benefits of the Pro 2 within the Apple ecosystem include getting text notifications spoken to you through the earbuds as you're on the go, and a seamless connection and setup.  Show more FAQs When is Memorial Day? Memorial Day is Monday, May 26.  How did I choose these Memorial Day deals? As I type this, three fitness trackers are around my wrist and fingers. I wear and test these health trackers constantly and have developed opinions on which ones are worth buying -- and which ones are worthy of skipping. I and someone on the ZDNET team have tested and can vouch for the products I recommended above. Looking for the next best product? Get expert reviews and editor favorites with ZDNET Recommends. Show more ZDNET Recommends

Inviting people over to hang out at my house is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I don’t need to leave home. On the other, I’m plagued by anxiety, not because I don’t enjoy seeing my friends, but because of all the tidying and cleaning I feel pressured to do even for a casual evening of watching TV. In an instant, I transform into my mother, frantically scrubbing and organizing. To welcome guests into a house that shows signs of life — a pile of unopened mail sitting on the dining room table or crumbs in the couch cushions — is to open yourself up to judgment. It’s a common sentiment among those of hosting age: the manic cleaning that precedes the arrival of guests, memed and parodied ad infinitum. Of course these concerns primarily afflict women — centuries of socialization have reinforced the notion that the condition of a home is a woman’s business. (A 2019 study found that women are held to higher cleanliness standards than men and are more likely to face negative social consequences for failing to meet that standard.) Mothers, who are somehow expected to be the primary caretaker and keep the house spotless on top of everything else, carry an even heavier domestic burden. Whenever Ciara Bogdanovic’s clients come to her with these concerns, she can’t assure them that no one is judging the state of their home. But she can promise them that the majority of people aren’t. “Often,” Bogdanovic, a licensed marriage and family therapist, says, “we project our own beliefs about ourselves onto what we believe others are thinking.”But here’s the thing about hanging out at home: It’s free, low-key, and convenient. And we should be looking for more ways to find connection, not less, given the negative physical and mental health consequences of loneliness and social isolation. Many people crave more time with their friends, yet the anxiety of hosting what should be an undemanding get-together may preclude them from seeing their buds more often. So the only rule you really need to keep in mind is to make sure your house is just tidy enough for guests to relax, experts say. Fear of having a space that looks like people live there shouldn’t hold you back from spending time with friends. If they’re judging you, that’s a reflection on them. The fear of judgmentPersonal standards for how a home “should” look before hosting are shaped by past experiences, Bogdanovic says. Many people either had a relative who stressed the importance of cleaning up for guests or saw the caricature depicted in culture — or online. Across social media, images of uber-organized homes and performative cleaning videos create the false perception that the average home looks like a magazine. We also have a tendency to compare our spaces to those of our friends. “You’re comparing your behind-the-scenes with someone else’s highlight reel,” says KC Davis, a therapist and author of How to Keep House While Drowning. “When you’re at home, you’re looking at your home the way it really looks in the midst of living there. When you go over to other people’s homes, most people are cleaning before you get there.” This tendency to compare is also why you might find yourself subconsciously spotting dust bunnies in a friend’s home. “There might be some conclusions we’re trying to draw,” says licensed clinical social worker Alyssa Petersel. “Is this person doing better or worse than I am in life, financially? Is their style more or less like what I want my style to be?” These observations impact how we view ourselves.Assuming you don’t want to be critiqued about your own home, it’s always best to suspend judgment about how others live. Unless the state of their home poses a danger to those living there, what they choose to clean — or not — before you come over is not worth commenting on. “What is important to you in a friendship?” Bogdanovic says. “Is cleanliness and perfection really the most important thing? Or would you prefer someone who listens to you and you have fun with?”Aim for clean enoughThe primary goal of a host should be to pay attention to guests, not a stray toy. Davis says to focus your efforts on making the room where you’ll be hanging out comfortable for guests. Think practically: providing a place to sit (that isn’t covered in pet hair), making sure the floor is clear so people can walk around, offering drinks and snacks on fresh dishes, ensuring the bathroom is clean. The dishes in the sink or your disorganized bedroom? Not so much a priority. “As long as things are sanitary, people aren’t going to remember what it looks like,” Davis says. “They’re going to remember the way that they felt and the time that they had while they were there.”Whatever you do, don’t apologize for the state of your house, experts say. If you feel awkward when you notice a guest eye your disorganized coat rack, you can cut the tension with a quick joke, like, “Come on in, we live here!” or, “The kids have taken over with their jackets.” If you’re still feeling self-conscious, Bogdanovic suggests observing your friends’ actions and body language. Are they looking around your house or sitting rigidly trying to keep as little of their body from touching your sofa as possible? Or are they lounging and engaging in conversation? Take stock of what’s actually happening, not what you’re imagining is happening. Unless you truly value spending hours cleaning, focus on your priorities, Bogdanovic says, which is probably spending quality time with your friends — an activity that contributes to happiness more than a clean house. Letting friends into your space, mess and all, breaks the cycle of perfectionism. Once you ditch the expectation that homes should look like furniture showrooms, your friend group may feel more comfortable hosting despite the chaos in their kids’ rooms, too. “In the moments where we are a bit imperfect or we’re a little raw or we’re a little unpolished,” Petersel says, “we’re actually giving other people permission to show up as their full selves.”See More:

(Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Airbnb) Welcome back to This Week in Stratechery! As a reminder, each week, every Friday, we’re sending out this overview of content in the Stratechery bundle; highlighted links are free for everyone. Additionally, you have complete control over what we send to you. If you don’t want to receive This Week in Stratechery emails (there is no podcast), please uncheck the box in your delivery settings. On that note, here were a few of our favorites this week. Airbnb and the Limits of Founder Mode. Wednesday’s Daily Update was Stratechery at its very best. The focus was this week’s news that Airbnb is relaunching its app and expanding its purview to include a new Services offering and a revamped, curated approach to selling Experiences, all in the hopes of making the Airbnb app more than just a once or twice-a-year destination for users around the world. Responding to those ambitions, Ben synthesizes analysis of Airbnb’s past experiments, comments from Founder and CEO Brian Chesky, honesty about what the Airbnb experience entails today, and reflections on the gap between how Chesky wants his company to be seen and where market forces have taken it instead. The piece is filled with themes that apply more broadly across tech, and if you missed it this week, it’s worth your time over the weekend. — Andrew Sharp Inside the NBA Lottery in Chicago. The NBA Playoffs continue apace, but this week also brought high drama for the dregs of the league, as the NBA held its annual Draft Lottery in Chicago. My co-host Ben Golliver was inside the drawing room for the Washington Post as the Dallas Mavericks(!), with 1.8% odds(!!), took home the number one pick. Greatest of All Talk recapped the whole evening earlier this week, including a look at how the NBA conducts this business every year, abject heartbreak for my Washington Wizards, and conspiracy theories that were ubiquitous and unavoidable after another team lost its once-in-a-generation superstar to Los Angeles and was rewarded with a chance at a franchise player (in this case, Duke’s Cooper Flagg). All of it is the height of absurdity, which is to say, it’s exactly the sort of event that makes for a great podcast. — AS Do You Know What a Femtosecond Is? If you don’t, fear not, because 72 hours ago I was right there with you. Then I watched Jon Yu’s video explaining a) what a femtosecond is (spoiler: one quadrillionth of a second); b) what femtosecond lasers are; and c) the ways in which those lasers are used today. A field of study that began with measuring horses galloping and a machine called a phosphoroscope later spawned micro-chemistry, and today is dominated by lasers that are integral to everything from Lasik surgery to semiconductor manufacturing. This is a video that will make anyone smarter, but what I appreciated was the reminder to be amazed and delighted by the long (and continuing!) history of human curiosity and ingenuity. Check it out below, or, if you prefer it in podcast form, Stratechery subscribers can access the entire Asianometry catalog here. — AS Stratechery Articles and Updates OpenAI Restructuring, Microsoft’s Rights, Simo and Windsurf — OpenAI is tying up all its loose ends in preparation for being the user interface for AI Airbnb’s New App, Experiences and Services, Chesky’s Founder Mode — Airbnb has a new app with new offerings for experience and services; I’m not sure the economics make sense for either. An Interview with Ben Thompson at the MoffettNathanson Media, Internet, and Communications Conference — An interview with Ben Thompson about AI and Big Tech. Dithering with Ben Thompson and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber Asianometry with Jon Yu How Did China’s LFP Batteries Get So Cheap? Sharp China with Andrew Sharp and Sinocism’s Bill Bishop A 90-Day Pause, Big Tariff Reductions and What De-Escalation Might Mean for the U.S. and China Greatest of All Talk with Andrew Sharp and WaPo’s Ben Golliver The Mavs and a Lottery Stunner, A Very Bad Night for the Celitcs, OKC-Denver and the Cavs Crash Out in Indy Sharp Tech with Andrew Sharp and Ben Thompson Airbnb and Its Varied Ambitions, The High Agency Golden Era, HBO Max and the End of an Error This week’s Stratechery video is on Apple and the Ghosts of Companies Past.

The morning after Elon Musk’s 2022 acquisition of Twitter (now X), reporters encountered two men with boxes outside the company’s headquarters. One introduced himself as recently laid-off Twitter engineer “Rahul Ligma.”  His real name is Rahul Sonwalkar but the prank went viral. While he never worked for X, he is actually very much a techy. Sonwalker spent several years working as an engineer at Uber. He even went through Y Combinator at that time, working on a logistics startup that he later scrapped before pivoting.   The now 27-year-old wants to draw attention to his more serious endeavor: Julius, the AI data analyst startup he founded about two years ago.  The tool, which can analyze and visualize extensive datasets and perform predictive modeling from natural language prompts, has attracted over 2 million registered users. “I wanted to build something that would make data science very accessible to everyone,” Sonwalkar told TechCrunch. While some of Julius’ functionality is also available on ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini, Iavor Bojinov, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School (HBS), liked the tool so much that he had to convince Sonwalkar to modify Julius specifically for HBS’ new required course called Data Science and AI for Leaders. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW  “We had done a head-to-head comparison across a number of platforms, including ChatGPT, and Julius ended up performing the best,” Bojinov told TechCrunch. The adoption by HBS, an educational institution that breeds about 1,000 future business leaders annually, is clearly a big win for Julius, which is currently a team of 12 employees. Sonwalkar has also raised a seed round led by Bessemer Venture Partners’ Talia Goldberg, TechCrunch learned from someone familiar with the deal. But Sonwalkar wouldn’t discuss the details.  Bessemer didn’t respond to a request for comment. Did Sonwalkar’s “Rahul Ligma” stunts open doors when he was first building Julius?  “A little bit in the early days, but to be honest, not as much recently,” he said.

The morning after Elon Musk’s 2022 acquisition of Twitter (now X), reporters encountered two men with boxes outside the company’s headquarters. One introduced himself as recently laid-off Twitter engineer “Rahul Ligma.”  His real name is Rahul Sonwalkar but the prank went viral. While he never worked for X, he is actually very much a techy. Sonwalker spent several years working as an engineer at Uber. He even went through Y Combinator at that time, working on a logistics startup that he later scrapped before pivoting.   The now 27-year-old wants to draw attention to his more serious endeavor: Julius, the AI data analyst startup he founded about two years ago.  The tool, which can analyze and visualize extensive datasets and perform predictive modeling from natural language prompts, has attracted over 2 million registered users. “I wanted to build something that would make data science very accessible to everyone,” Sonwalkar told TechCrunch. While some of Julius’ functionality is also available on ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini, Iavor Bojinov, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School (HBS), liked the tool so much that he had to convince Sonwalkar to modify Julius specifically for HBS’ new required course called Data Science and AI for Leaders. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW  “We had done a head-to-head comparison across a number of platforms, including ChatGPT, and Julius ended up performing the best,” Bojinov told TechCrunch. The adoption by HBS, an educational institution that breeds about 1,000 future business leaders annually, is clearly a big win for Julius, which is currently a team of 12 employees. Sonwalkar has also raised a seed round led by Bessemer Venture Partners’ Talia Goldberg, TechCrunch learned from someone familiar with the deal. But Sonwalkar wouldn’t discuss the details.  Bessemer didn’t respond to a request for comment. Did Sonwalkar’s “Rahul Ligma” stunts open doors when he was first building Julius?  “A little bit in the early days, but to be honest, not as much recently,” he said.