My yard consists mainly of plants and garden beds because lawns are boring. But we have some grass, which has been growing ridiculously fast due to tons of rain. I have already done a ton of yard work this spring, and it’s not even Memorial Day. That has made me realize my battery-powered tools could use a refresh. Right now, Amazon has a ton of powerful Greenworks battery-powered yard tools on deep discount during its early Memorial Day sale. Most of these tools work together on the same battery platform, so consider jumping in with multiple devices and an extra battery to make things more efficient. Greenworks 60V 13" Cordless String Trimmer & Leaf Blower Combo Kit, 4.0 Ah Battery and Charger Included — $165 (was $299) You already have a mower, so get the rest of the tools you need. Greenworks See It If you already have a mower, you can jump into the Greenworks system with this combo kit of a blower and a string trimmer. For one price, you get a 13-inch string trimmer that’s perfect for cleaning up the edges of your yard and other hard-to-reach places. The 540 CFM blower is powerful, but quiet, which will help you keep your space tidy without angering all of your neighbors. The kit comes with a single 60V battery, as well as a charger, so you can add tons of other tools to the system that work with the same cell. Greenworks 80V 21" Brushless Cordless (Push) Lawn Mower (LED Headlight + Aluminum Handles), 4.0Ah Battery and Rapid Charger Included (75+ Compatible Tools) — $399 (was $499) Never pull-start a mower again. Greenworks See It This is everything you need in a lawn mower. It has an optional bag system and a mulching function in case you don’t feel like picking up the clippings. It starts with the push of a button and has a 21-inch-wide deck that covers a lot of territory in a hurry, but still fits in narrow areas. A built-in headlight is great for illuminating obstacles or mowing under moonlight. Just make sure you’re mowing correctly. Greenworks battery deals Greenworks 82V 5.0Ah Battery (21700) + Bluetooth $249 (was $299) Greenworks 24V 4.0Ah USB Battery (2-Pack) Starter Kit + Dual Port Rapid Charger $111 (was $159) Greenworks 80V 5.0Ah Lithium-Ion Battery (Genuine Greenworks Battery / 75+ Compatible Tools) $239 (was $299) Greenworks blower deals Greenworks 40V (150 MPH / 130 CFM / 75+ Compatible Tools) Cordless Leaf Blower $30 (was $60) Greenworks 82V Brushless (760 CFM / 140 MPH) Cordless Leaf Blower, 4.0Ah Battery and Dual Port Charger (Great for Landscapers and Professionals) $299 (was $349) Greenworks 40V (120 MPH / 450 CFM / 75+ Compatible Tools) Cordless Axial Leaf Blower, 4.0Ah Battery and Charger Included $111 (was $159) Greenworks 40V (165 MPH / 660 CFM / 75+ Compatible Tools) Cordless Brushless Backpack Leaf Blower, 8.0Ah Battery and Charger Included, Green $262 (was $349) Greenworks 80V (180 MPH / 610 CFM / 75+ Compatible Tools) Cordless Brushless Backpack Blower, 5.0Ah Battery and Rapid Charger Included $319 (was $399) Greenworks 60V 610 CFM Cordless Leaf Blower, 2.5 Ah Battery and Rapid Charger $159 (was $199) Greenworks 80V (180 MPH / 610 CFM / 75+ Compatible Tools) Cordless Brushless Backpack Blower, 2.5Ah Battery and Rapid Charger Included, Green/Black $229 (was $349) Greenworks 80V 770 CFM Cordless Leaf Blower, 4.0Ah Battery and Rapid Charger $219 (was $299) Greenworks power tool deals Greenworks 24V Brushless Cordless Drill and Impact Driver,Power Tool Combo Kit Included 1/2”Drill & 1/4”Hex Impact Driver and (2) Batteries $89 (was $99) Greenworks chainsaw and polesaw deals Greenworks 80V 16″ Brushless Cordless Chainsaw (Great For Tree Felling, Limbing, Pruning, and Firewood), 75+ Compatible Tools, 2.5Ah Battery and Charger Included $263 (was $329) Greenworks 80V 10″ Cordless Polesaw (Great For Pruning and Trimming Branches / 75+ Compatible Tools), 2.0Ah Battery and Charger Included $239 (was $299) Greenworks 40V 8″ Brushless Edger, Battery and Charger Not Included $145 (was $189) Greenworks 82V 18″ Brushless (2.7 kW) Cordless Chainsaw (210 Cuts Per Charge), 4.0Ah Battery and Dual Port Rapid Charger $399 (was $499) Greenworks 40V 8″ Pole Saw + Pole Hedge, 2.0Ah Battery (Gen 1) $175 (was $219) Greenworks 40V 16″ Brushless Cordless Chainsaw (Gen 2) (Great For Tree Felling, Limbing, Pruning, and Firewood / 75+ Compatible Tools), 4.0Ah Battery and Charger Included $207 (was $259) Greenworks 40V 20″ Cordless Pole Hedge Trimmer, 2.0Ah Battery and Charger Included $139 (was $199) Greenworks pressure washer deals Greenworks Pro Brushless 2700 PSI (CSA Certified) 2.3 GPM Max / 1.2 GPM Electric Pressure Washer (Foldable Handles, Rugged Steel Frame, 25 FT Hose, 35 FT GFCI Power Cord) $319 (was $399) Greenworks 2100 PSI (SGS Certified) 1.2 GPM 13Amp Compact Electric Pressure Washer Telescoping Handle $159 (was $199) Greenworks 1800 PSI (1.1 GPM) Electric Pressure Washer PWMA Certified $99 (was $139) Greenworks 3000 PSI Pressure Washer (2.0 GPM Max) with Foam Cannon – Easily Remove Dirt and Grime on Siding, Fences, Patios, $374 (was $499) Greenworks 24V 4 Gallon Battery Powered Backpack Sprayer with 5 Tips, 70PSI Pressure-Weed Killer, Pest Control, Sanitizing & Garden Spraying, High-Pressure Sprayer, 2.0Ah Battery and Charger Included $139 (was $199) Greenworks yard work combo kit deals Greenworks 80V 21” Brushless (Self-Propelled) Cordless Electric Lawn Mower + (580 CFM) Axial Leaf Blower (75+ Compatible Tools), 4.0Ah Battery and 60 Minute Rapid Charger, Green and Black $464 (was $749) Greenworks 48V (2x24V) 21″ Brushless Mower+12″ String Trimmer+320CFM Blower,(2) 5.0Ah Batteries and 4A Dual Port Charger $407 (was $609) Greenworks 80V 21” Brushless (Push) Cordless Electric Lawn Mower + (500 CFM) Axial Leaf Blower + 13” String Trimmer (75+ Compatible Tools), (2) 2.0Ah Batteries and 30 Minute Rapid Charger $524 (was $699) Greenworks 80V 21” Brushless (Self-Propelled) Cordless Electric Lawn Mower + (580 CFM) Axial Leaf Blower + 16” (Attachment Capable) String Trimmer, 4.0Ah Battery and 60 Minute Rapid Charger $675 (was $899) Greenworks battery-powered lawn mower deals Greenworks 80V 25″ Brushless Cordless ( Self-Propelled) Lawn Mower (75+ Compatible Tools), 5.0Ah Battery and Charger Included$629 (was $899) Greenworks 82V 25” Brushless (Self-Propelled) Cordless Lawn Mower, (2) 4.0Ah Batteries and Dual Port Rapid Charger $699 (was $799) Greenworks 40V 16″ Cordless (Push) Lawn Mower (75+ Compatible Tools), 4.0Ah Battery and Charger Included $209 (was $299) Greenworks electric string trimmer deals Greenworks 40V (120 MPH / 500 CFM / 75+ Compatible Tools) Cordless Axial Leaf Blower, 2.5Ah Battery and Charger Included $99 (was $149) Greenworks 24V 10″ Cordless TORQDRIVE String Trimmer, 2.0Ah Battery and Charger Included $69 (was $99) Greenworks 40V 13″ String Trimmer / Edger, Battery and Charger Not Included $50 (was $85) The post Greenworks battery-powered yard tools are up to half-off during Amazon’s early Memorial Day sale appeared first on Popular Science.

There’s something so satisfying about surprising “aha!” moments — those strange instances of insight that strike when you’re struggling with a problem and arrive at an answer suddenly, seemingly without warning. But is satisfying all that those moments are?Apparently not, as it turns out that the flashes of inspiration you feel when a solution finally bursts into your brain are much more than pleasurable. They’re also an important part of your memory-making process. Tied to surges of activity in your brain, these moments may shape your ideas into stronger memories, a new neuroimaging study suggests. Published in Nature Communications, the results may adjust the way we approach education, as environments that encourage learners to explore problems and experience “eureka” moments may lead to longer-lasting learning. New Insight Into Eureka MomentsExample of the hidden picture puzzles in the black/white images on the left; corresponding real-world picture on the right. (Image Credit: Maxi Becker) It’s a bit of a stretch to say that the relationship between “aha!” moments and memory is a sudden insight in and of itself, as eureka moments and epiphanies have been associated with memory boosts before. But little is known about how, exactly, these moments work, and about how they’re tied to memory at a neuroscientific level. Setting out to study the neural mechanisms that connect sudden insight and memory together, the authors of the new study recorded people’s neural activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as they solved a series of visual puzzles. After the participants solved the puzzles, the researchers then prompted them to describe their thought process — particularly, whether they worked out their solutions suddenly or slowly, with a single moment of inspiration or without. Analyzing the participants’ recordings along with their responses, the authors revealed that the puzzles that participants solved with moments of sudden insight were associated with surges of activity in the hippocampus — a small structure in the brain that’s responsible for learning and memory. In fact, the researchers even linked stronger moments of inspiration to stronger surges of activity in the hippocampus. And these surges weren’t trivial, either, as they meant that participants were “actually more likely to remember the solution” to particular puzzles later on, said lead study author Maxi Becker, a neuroscience researcher at Humboldt University, according to a press release. When the authors tested the participants to see whether they remembered their solutions to the puzzles several days after they solved them, the results revealed that they recalled the solutions they settled on suddenly, with a sense of epiphany, better than those they settled on slowly, without that same sense. “If you have an ‘aha! moment’ while learning something, it almost doubles your memory,” said senior study author Roberto Cabeza, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, according to a press release. “There are few memory effects that are as powerful as this.”Read More: What Happens in Your Brain When You Make Memories?Measuring ‘Aha!’ MomentsExample of the hidden picture puzzles in the black/white images on the left; the corresponding real-world picture on the right. (Image Credit: Maxi Becker.) The puzzles themselves were simple, though they were still able to encourage epiphanies on a small scale. Testing their ability to parse through patchy visual information, the puzzles prompted participants to identify ambiguous black-and-white images of objects and of animals, such as snakes, snails, and spiders. “It’s just a little discovery that you are making, but it produces the same type of characteristics that exist in more important insight events,” Cabeza said in the release. According to the researchers, the brain recordings also revealed bumps in activity in brain regions responsible for visual recognition, with a stronger sense of sudden insight being seen with a stronger bump in activity in the ventral occipito-temporal cortex (VOTC). Not only that, the researchers also revealed an association between more intense “aha!” moments and more intense brain connectivity between the hippocampus and the VOTC. “The different regions essentially communicate with each other more efficiently,” Cabeza said in the release.Ultimately, the study provides important insights into the neuroscience of some of our most sudden, most creative, and most satisfying solutions. It also supports the idea that exploratory learning, based on active inquiry and investigation, may be better for our minds by encouraging these surprising moments to occur. “Insight is key for creativity,” Cabeza said in the release — a lesson for learning that all of us should try to remember.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Nature Communications. Insight Predicts Subsequent Memory via Cortical Representational Change and Hippocampal ActivityPsychological Research. Aha! Experiences Leave a Mark: Facilitated Recall of Insight SolutionsSam Walters is a journalist covering archaeology, paleontology, ecology, and evolution for Discover, along with an assortment of other topics. Before joining the Discover team as an assistant editor in 2022, Sam studied journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Villa 144 / Lin3rd ArchitectsSave this picture!© Parham TaghioffHouses•Bushehr, Iran Architects: Lin3rd Architects Area Area of this architecture project Area:  313 m² Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2025 Photographs Photographs:Parham TaghioffMore SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. Dwelling emerges through a presentful, dynamic, and constructive dialogue between the subject and the place. Villa 144 is situated near Bushehr, a city in southwestern Iran along the Persian Gulf, characterized by a hot and humid climate. The residential architecture of old Bushehr, shaped mainly during the 18th and 19th centuries, features unique traits such as narrow, labyrinthine alleyways, making it one of the most expressive and unconventional narrations of Iran's traditional residential architecture.Save this picture!The villa's structure comprises three white cubes that interlock at varying levels, defining both interior and exterior spaces. At the intersection of these cubes lies the main entrance, which acts as a pivotal boundary between the primary living area, bedrooms, and the western and eastern courtyards. The arrangement of sliding and overlapping cubes evokes a sense of lightness and suspension, subtly echoing a defining spatial quality of Bushehr's historic homes. Along the path to the entrance, the main living room cube appears to float above a reflecting pool clad in turquoise glazed Iranian tiles. In the region's intense heat, the presence and sound of water offer a soft, sensory counterpoint and create a moment of gentle release.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The main living room is the most transparent and outward-facing space, visually and functionally linked to the villa's four courtyards. In the living room, the focal point is not a television but an antique Heriz rug —a masterpiece of Persian weaving—displayed as a framed artwork on the wall. Similarly, the kitchen's window seat, adorned with handwoven Zanjan rugs, reflects a deliberate practice to reveal Persian carpets in settings that amplify their symbolic, aesthetic, and spatial resonance. A 3.3-meter-long corridor connects the main entrance to the living room and kitchen. The walls of this corridor are built from coral stones sourced from the shores of Bushehr—once the principal construction material in the region's historic buildings—while its ceiling and floor are clad in raw iron sheets.Save this picture!Save this picture!The villa's landscape has been designed to offer multiple pathways, allowing visitors to explore the garden in various intended and unintended ways. These routes provide deeper engagement and a more profound understanding of both the garden and the villa. The garden is a collection of native and nostalgic trees of Bushehr, including different varieties of bougainvillea (the most beloved tree in Bushehr), several types of the Ficus family, six rescued mature eucalyptus trees, and the majestic silk tree—the most striking tree of Bushehr. Throughout the design process, we excavated prominent archetypes of Persian—and more specifically, Bushehri—architecture, distilled their functional essence, and reconfigured them to align with contemporary lifestyle.Save this picture!In traditional Bushehri architecture, there are no cul-de-sacs. Instead, users move through a network of narrow alleys—reminiscent of Borges' labyrinths—allowing for layered, narrative-based spatial experiences. In the design of Villa 144, inspired by this ethos and with the aim of deepening subject-place interaction, the structure has been intentionally freed from spatial dead ends. The result is a layout that invites a more intuitive, intertwined, and multi-narrative engagement with place.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less About this officeLin3rd ArchitectsOffice••• Published on May 16, 2025Cite: "Villa 144 / Lin3rd Architects " 16 May 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1030148/villa-144-lin3rd-architects&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

Disneyland is turning 70 this summer, and festivities begin this weekend at Walt Disney’s first theme park. While past anniversaries emphasized a throwback to opening day nostalgia, this milestone wants to bring the party energy like no other. Thankfully, that doesn’t mean turning the castle into a Birthday cake, but the zany fun comes in the form of mix-taping the greatest hits with the latest number ones from the studio. After attending the media week preview at the Disneyland Resort, that’s what we loved about this year’s theme. The unabashed excitement for so many characters, from the fairytale Disney Princesses, The Muppets and Star Wars icons to the niche like Duffy the Disney Bear and A Goofy Movie. There were also incredible moments as well, including new Pixar and Disney animation faves Inside Out, Turning Red, Encanto and Moana all over the resort’s 70th offerings. It’s certainly celebration of cartoon chaos and we welcome Robot Walt’s imminent arrival in July to coincide with the actual anniversary of the opening date of the park. Some of the best things we found at the event were discovered on their own. When I wandered around Disney California Adventure I stumbled upon the most unhinged Disneyland 70 merchandise. And it confirmed that Disney really got all of its various types of fans when I looked upon the face of an official googly-eyed Mickey Mouse shirt, and a spinner-top colorful baseball cap. Yes, there’s the glam Loungefly Minnie ears and purses and Disney trendy lifestyle spirit jerseys, but the zany and bizarre get representation too. What’s hilarious is that those items weren’t made with meme comedy in mind, but actually straight from the Disney Vault of yester-merchandise. © io9 Gizmodo And just across the way at the Animation building, a new set of visuals debuted in the musical lobby which highlighted added moments from Coco, Moana, Encanto, The Princess and the Frog, and Zootopia. When I need a time to just bask in the magic of animation while staying out of the heat, this is where I (like so many others) go, and it’s such an underrated gem that rarely gets a refresh–not since the release of Frozen! And the Encanto representation at DCA didn’t stop there–while we love “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”, I’m glad to get a break from it to let the other amazing songs shine. In the new World of Color: Happiness, Anxiety from Inside Out 2 (my rising sun sign of the emotions) presents a great sequence where Luisa’s “Surface Pressure” gets a moment on the water, and it was so cool to hear everyone sing along. Hot take: it’s the better song between it and Bruno. The Muppets opener for the show is an all-timer, too, with a muppety death defying act from Gonzo the Great. World of Color: Happiness also finally featured a kaiju-sized Panda Mei on the mist screen projections set to “Nobody Like You” which led into the best in-universe run of real fake Disney pop hits, right into a Powerline moment from “A Goofy Movie”. The beat drop on “I2I” sent the crowds into a frenzy as Powerline electrified the stage like we were really at the show with the Goofs. We are loving the Max Goof inclusion too, as he joins his dad over at Disneyland for the Celebrate Happy Character Calvacade parade, right behind Duffy and ShellieMay Bear leading the way. I know they’re tossing around all the different nomenclatures around “Happy”, but this was for those of us who are into the offbeat or niche things of the Disney fandom. © io9 Gizmodo For Star Wars fans, there’s even a new R2 unit available at Droid Depot, with exteriors to match the pinks, purples, blues and yellow of the 70th. And we also took a peek at the new scrap pieces that debuted earlier this month for May the Fourth at Savi’s lightsaber build experience. The ombre chrome look of the blaster emitter is a fierce need. Unfortunately, these pieces aren’t individually available for those who have already built their lightsabers for over 200 bucks–if you want to cop these parts you’ll have to try to get in on the limited time action with another whopping purchase before they’re gone. © io9 Gizmodo Paint the Night, the rave-inspired answer to the Electrical Parade is back and we got to see it near the Small World promenade with a special new projection show on the ride’s facade. Spooky and bizarro Disney lore fiends got a treat here with a fun Grim-Grinning Ghosts montage right into “Hellfire” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Mr. Toad crazy eyes, the crone Evil Queen and Frollo giving children some gateway frightful imagery that they’ll obsess over later in life. At the end of my second night, it capped off with Wondrous Journeys which takes the pages of countless animation cells and brings them to life on the Disneyland Castle walls showcasing the stories that have spoken to generations for 100 years. It really does feel like Disney wanted to reach far and wide for the park’s big anniversary this year–and not be afraid to get a little zany in the process. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

I don’t like the look of GTA 6 and I’m not afraid to admit it – Reader’s Feature GameCentral Published May 17, 2025 1:00am Not everyone is looking forward to it (Rockstar Games) A reader explains all the problems he has with the Grand Theft Auto franchise in general and why e’s unlikely to ever buy GTA 6. There has, understandably, been a lot of talk about GTA 6 in the last few weeks, after the annoucement of the release date and the release of the new trailer. But there’s also been a lot of (well, some) talk recently from people admitting they don’t really like the series and aren’t actually that excited about a new one. I am one of those people and while others seem embarrassed of their opinion, I’m not afraid to explain the issues I have with it or why I think it is overrated in some areas. I’ll start with what I accept the game does very well, starting with the open world design and the general size and level of detail of it all. It’s obviously very impressive, although not that interactive, in that you can’t go into most buildings, and there’s little to no destruction effects either. I doubt that will be much different in GTA 6, simply because that sort of thing requires a ton of horsepower, that console don’t have yet. The detail from GTA comes less from the interactivity and more from the huge array of things you can see and do, with lots of mini-games and optional missions. All of that stuff is great and not only does GTA 5 still look good, but GTA 6 looks amazing. More than that, it looks extremely expensive. Over $1 billion according to the rumours. You can certainly see that money on screen and I’m sure it’s all matched by hundreds of hours of dialogue for even the smallest characters. I’m sure no expense was spared anywhere. I have three main problems with the games that already exist though and while they could be improved, or even removed entirely, in GTA 6 I’m not confident of that as Rockstar will assume, quite understandably, that if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. So the first issue I have is the gameplay: it’s just not good. Up to GTA 5 it was downright terrible, with overcomplicated and completely awful combat and driving – like you’re steering a boat is the common comparison. Some things, like controlling aircraft are so broken there’s just no point doing it. Just a teenage fantasy? (Rockstar Games) Nothing is fun, beyond the novelty of being in such a big game world, and almost every other similar game does it better. When you’re getting outdone by Saints Row, which could probably have been made with the catering budget of GTA 5, let alone 6, you know something’s wrong. My next problem is the plot. Rockstar get praised a lot for their dialogue, which I’ll get onto in a minute, but their plots are always paper thin to the point where they barely exist at all. I mean, what is the plot of GTA 5? Three men do crimes. The end. The game gets so caught up in its own size it never bothers to tell an actual story. The third issue, in my opinion, is the dialogue. Not necessarily the writing quality of it but the fact that it’s always so try-hard and edgy. Rockstar started making GTA 3 in the 90s and that’s no more obvious than in the dialogue, which sounds like every angst-ridden teen’s idea of tough guy dialogue. I get that’s exactly why the game is popular, but I don’t like it. Even though the head writer has left I see no sign of change in GTA 6, where main character Jason seems to already have morphed from just an ordinary looking guy in the first trailer to a musclebound beefcake who is so ultra cool women catcall him from the street when he’s driving by. I get it, the whole game is a teenage boy’s fantasy, but c’mon. Surely we can aim higher than that by now? I’m also worried about the trailers revelling in the absolute worst of American culture, which may be meant as parody but already comes across as endorsement. I think that’s particularly unfortunate given when they started this game they had no idea Trump would get in for a second time. More Trending I actually wonder whether that’s one of the reasons they’ve delayed the game, to rewrite some of the dialogue, but I imagine little will really change. And that’s why I have no interest in anything I’ve seen so far of GTA 6. By reader Johnson To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

AI-powered video interviews are likely to become more common as companies seek to streamline and automate early hiring stages. amperespy/Getty Images 2025-05-17T00:00:01Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? TikTokers are posting clips of interviews with glitching AI bots. These cases are rare and likely staged, professors told Business Insider. AI interviews are on the rise, and glitches can erode trust in the hiring process. TikTok videos of glitchy AI interviews have gone viral in recent weeks,One user, who goes by Freddie, posted a video on May 3 of an AI assistant named "Catherine Appleton" glitching and spewing gibberish during his job interview. As of Thursday, his video had 8.8 million views."Should I email them? I was expecting a real human," he wrote in the caption.Another TikTok user named Ken shared a clip of her interview, in which the AI assistant repeated the phrase "vertical bar pilates" on loop.Neither responded to requests for comment from Business Insider. @its_ken04 It was genuinely so creepy and weird. Please stop trying to be lazy and have AI try to do YOUR JOB!!! It gave me the creeps so bad #fyp ♬ original sound - Its Ken 🤍 Your next job interview probably won't involve a glitching AI botYes, the viral TikToks are creepy. But they're probably not your future."The TikTok videos showcasing glitches or malfunctions are likely either doctored or represent rare, isolated incidents," said Sriram Iyer, an adjunct senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore Business School.They "should not be considered a common phenomenon," he added.Tan Hong Ming, the deputy head and senior lecturer in the department of analytics and operations at NUS Business School, said social media "tends to amplify things.""It can make something appear far more common than it actually is through repetition and viral sharing," he said.Tan, who also serves as lead advisor to a Singapore-based AI recruitment firm, said the looping audio is "likely dramatized or re-enacted to drive engagement and shares." He said he has not come across this specific glitch in AI interviews, but occasional breakdowns aren't surprising.Many companies are using AI-powered recruitment tools which are often "wrappers around the same core models or APIs."Some of them may not use the latest or most stable versions, which could explain why similar glitches show up across platforms, he said.Unaizah Obaidellah, a senior lecturer specializing in AI at Malaysia's University of Malaya, said insufficient or irrelevant data could also be a culprit. If the bots are not trained with enough relevant examples, their quality suffers.She added that the incidents portrayed on the videos could reflect the larger race to deploy AI faster than we're ready for, which is "quite worrying."AI interviews on the riseEmily DeJeu, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business who specializes in AI communication and etiquette, told BI earlier this week that AI-powered video interviews are likely to become more common as companies seek to streamline and automate early hiring stages. Any time technology promises to save time and money and make everything faster, "we by default pursue it — there's a kind of inevitability to it," she said.Despite what the TikToks might suggest, candidates aren't necessarily turned off by bots, said Iyer, who has worked in HR tech for 20 years.What to do if your interview bot glitchesGlitches during AI interviews aren't just awkward."Glitches chip away at trust and can make the hiring process feel impersonal or even unfair," said Tan, especially if companies are not upfront about conducting an AI interview."They undermine the candidate's experience," he said, adding that employers need to "build in strong fallback options" and monitor these tools closely in real-world settings."Otherwise, what feels like a time-saving solution could quietly become a systemic problem," he added.For candidates, the key is not to panic.If an AI bot malfunctions mid-interview, Tan recommends emailing the hiring manager with a screenshot or recording of what happened."Most should offer a redo assuming the candidate isn't already put off by the idea of being interviewed by a bot in the first place," he said.Unaizah, from the University of Malaya, said candidates can also request feedback from the HR team on their interview performance.If there's clear evidence the interview wasn't properly assessed — or wasn't reviewed by a human — ask for an in-person interview, if possible, she said."If all fails or your gut feeling says otherwise, perhaps it's best to look for other companies," said Unaizah. "Target companies that prioritize human-centered hiring." Recommended video

"My Adderall Store" Spotify caught hosting hundreds of fake podcasts that advertise selling drugs Fake 10-second podcasts are easily found fronts for black markets, reports say. Ashley Belanger – May 16, 2025 4:03 pm | 28 Credit: Andy Teo aka Photocillin | Moment Credit: Andy Teo aka Photocillin | Moment Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more This week, Spotify rushed to remove hundreds of obviously fake podcasts found to be marketing prescription drugs in violation of Spotify's policies and, likely, federal law. On Thursday, Business Insider (BI) reported that Spotify removed 200 podcasts advertising the sale of opioids and other drugs, but that wasn't the end of the scandal. Today, CNN revealed that it easily uncovered dozens more fake podcasts peddling drugs. Some of the podcasts may have raised a red flag for a human moderator—with titles like "My Adderall Store" or "Xtrapharma.com" and episodes titled "Order Codeine Online Safe Pharmacy Louisiana" or "Order Xanax 2 mg Online Big Deal On Christmas Season," CNN reported. But Spotify's auto-detection did not flag the fake podcasts for removal. Some of them remained up for months, CNN reported, which could create trouble for the music streamer at a time when the US government is cracking down on illegal drug sales online. "Multiple teens have died of overdoses from pills bought online," CNN noted, sparking backlash against tech companies. And Donald Trump's aggressive tariffs were specifically raised to stop deadly drugs from bombarding the US, which the president declared a national emergency. BI found that many podcast episodes featured a computerized voice and were under a minute long, while CNN noted some episodes were as short as 10 seconds. Some of them didn't contain any audio at all, BI reported. CNN noted that developments in artificial intelligence have simplified audio and voice generation, as well as the "proliferation of text-to-speech tools,"which have made it easier than ever to quickly create these phony podcasts linking out to scam websites or perhaps legitimate black markets. Neither CNN nor BI could verify if drugs could actually be purchased on the sites linked. Sometimes Spotify's content moderation seemed to work to catch these podcasts, CNN suggested. But Spotify may not be hugely motivated to hunt them all down, the director of the non-profit Tech Transparency Project, Katie Paul, told CNN. Most platforms lack accountability for user-generated content like these fake podcasts, she said, shielded by Section 230. Even if Spotify did pursue a platform-wide crackdown, Paul thinks Spotify may still struggle to stay ahead of the trend, since podcasts seemingly have a "bigger blind spot," as "voice makes it much more difficult for moderation." It's unclear how many Spotify users interacted with the fake podcasts, CNN reported. However, the podcasts were promoted in top results for searches for various prescription drugs that some users may have conducted on the platform in search of legitimate health-related podcasts. Spotify's spokesperson told Ars that all fake podcasts flagged by the outlets were removed—considered violative as either illegal or spam content—but remained vague on whether there was any risk they might pop back up. As the service continues to play whack-a-mole, the spokesperson said, "we are constantly working to detect and remove violating content across our service." Ashley Belanger Senior Policy Reporter Ashley Belanger Senior Policy Reporter Ashley is a senior policy reporter for Ars Technica, dedicated to tracking social impacts of emerging policies and new technologies. She is a Chicago-based journalist with 20 years of experience. 28 Comments

Nothing says “surround sound” like a full-on Dolby Atmos soundbar system. While many of these bar-speaker bundles cost upwards of $1,000, one of the best Atmos rigs has a crazy-good discount at Woot today: For a limited time, you’ll be able to score the Samsung HW-Q990D 11.1.4ch Dolby Atmos Soundbar for only $868. That’s a $1,132 markdown from its original $2,000 price!  Why you should buy the Samsung HW-Q990D Soundbar More than just an upgrade for your TV speakers, the Samsung HW-Q990D is a true, all-hands-on-deck surround sound, but minus a bulky AV receiver and all that speaker wire. Thanks to side-firing and up-firing drivers, the HW-Q990D is able to direct audio around you and up toward the ceiling for the height effects Dolby Atmos is renowned for. The system also comes with two rear speakers and a wireless subwoofer. One of the best features of the Samsung HW-Q990D is Spacefit Sound Pro. This calibrates the soundbar to accommodate the unique acoustics of the room it lives in, so you’ll always have the best sound for the space. We’re also big fans of the Adaptive Sound feature, which analyzes and enhances dialogue and vocals in real time, so you’ll never miss a line of your favorite show.  The Samsung HW-Q990D can be used for video passthrough to your TV as well, and has both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity for streaming tunes wirelessly from a phone or tablet.  Get Samsung’s 2024 flagship audio system for only $868 when you purchase right now. You should also take a peek at our lists of the best soundbar deals, best Samsung TV deals, and best Samsung deals for even more discounts on top Samsung tech!

Choose wisely! The correct answer, the explanation, and an intriguing story await. Correct Answer: Facebook A brief explanation why In the world of software, a billion monthly active users (a metric also known as "MAUs") isn't just a milestone, it's a coronation. It marks an ascension from useful to essential, a tool embedded in the muscle memory of daily life. Facebook was the first mobile app to cross 1 billion MAUs in June 2015. It took them 8.7 years to achieve the feat. At the time, this was seismic: the social network had not only transitioned successfully to smartphones but had become the default layer of digital social interaction worldwide. That figure would later balloon to over 3 billion, cementing Facebook's role in the architecture of the internet. Then came TikTok. Launched outside of China in 2017, ByteDance's short-form video app hit a billion MAUs by September 2021 – in just five years. No app had ever scaled faster. TikTok's secret weapon was its content discovery algorithm which mixed entertainment, identity, and community, all delivered in 60-second dopamine loops. Other giants that have reached the billion MAUs fast but were still outpaced by TikTok includes Instagram (7.7 years), YouTube (8.1), and even Facebook Messenger (4.9), which grew rapidly in part because Facebook decoupled the chat service from its main app, effectively forcing adoption. WhatsApp is another giant (owned by Meta/Facebook) which hit the the 1 billion MAUs mark in 2016 and surged past a staggering 3 billion in 2025. WhatsApp still has no ads and no fees, so it's become the default SMS replacement in many countries. For Meta it's turned into a strategic AI gateway, powering customer service, commerce, and chatbot deployments, with great success in massive markets like India, Brazil, and Indonesia. For full context, compare this warp-speed growth to legacy software that is still used by billions. It took Microsoft 25.8 years for Windows to hit a billion users. Office followed closely at 21.7 years. Even Google Search, launched in 1997, needed 12 years to reach the billion user milestone. The difference lies in platforms and a full paradigm shift. It's no coincidence that all modern billion-user apps share a few key traits: they're usually free (or feel like it), global by default, integrated into daily life (social, messaging, navigation, video), backed by massive infrastructure, and optimized for mobile. But perhaps most importantly, they're habit-forming. Arguably, the next major shift is already underway. New contenders are rising in generative AI, decentralized social networks, and super apps that blend communication with commerce.

Sergey Nivens - Stock.Adobe.com News The Security Interviews: David Faugno, 1Password David Faugno, co-CEO of 1Password, discusses how his background led to him joining the company and why maintaining profitability is a key factor in overcoming the challenges of switching markets. By Peter Ray Allison Published: 16 May 2025 12:15 Although companies may embrace emerging technologies to remain competitive, they can be risk averse, especially when it comes to changing their customer base. However, this shift in focus is what 1Password did when it moved from being consumer focused to providing enterprise grade security solutions. In 2006, the company 1Password developed a password manager of the same name for the Windows, Android, iOS and Linux platforms. Since then, it has earned a reputation for being a secure method for protecting sensitive user information. Software licenses and other sensitive information can also be securely stored in a virtual vault on their servers, which is locked with a password-based key derivation function (PBKDF2) guarded master password (a password storage algorithm that is designed for deterring brute force attacks by making them computationally expensive). David Faugno had previously been enjoying a semi-retirement, working as a board member and adviser for various companies, including 1Password. As his interest in the company grew, he soon became increasingly impressed with its collaborative approach and transparency. He was invited to join the company as its president and chief operating officer in September 2023, before becoming co-CEO just over a year later. Faugno had previously spent more than 10 years with security and storage provider Barracuda Networks as its chief finance officer. Faugno’s experience with Barracuda Networks gave him a broad understanding of the security landscape, as well as a unique perspective for solving security problems facing organisations of all sizes. When Faugno joined 1Password, the world was emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid transformed the way companies operate by accelerating remote working technologies and encouraging people to work from home and, since then, hybrid working has become the norm in many sectors. “The world was fundamentally changing. The way people worked and the tools that businesses had provided to their employees to stay safe and secure, and create a secure perimeter, no longer really existed,” says Faugno. “This got accelerated pretty dramatically during the pandemic, which is right at the point in the time when we first invested and got involved.” As a consequence of the proliferation of remote working, the security perimeter for an organisation also expanded. Previously, the security perimeter had been at the endpoints of the corporate network, but now it has extended into homes of employees. Most cyber security incidents are due to compromised credentials, such as stolen, weak or reused passwords. Consequently, employees who use weak identification systems at home may inadvertently expose corporate networks to attack. It is therefore essential for maintaining security of a corporate network security that the cyber security of devices in the employees’ home is also protected. One method for achieving this is to provide each employee with a free family license for a cyber security package. Balancing security and data privacy against accessibility and usability can be challenging as these aspects can often be at odds with each other. Faugno acknowledges that uncompromised security may cause friction with setup and account recovery, however, 1Password took a decision early in the product development cycle to focus on ensuring that the most secure way was also the easiest. This led to a rapid uptake of its password manager, which resulted in it being adopted into thousands of businesses. Faugno soon noted that although 1Password was primarily a consumer-focused product at the time, it was becoming increasingly used in the enterprise sector. “When the work environment started to change and people started to get access to resources that were not being necessarily centrally controlled through their SSO, or through the tools that the company had put behind the firewall, these security-centric folks in business thought, ‘Oh, I can use 1Password for this’,” says Faugno. “We got pulled into thousands of business environments by these people. That’s when our awakening happened – the battlefield had moved from the building walls to where the end user was, wherever they were, with whatever tools they were using.” One of the first things Faugno did when he joined 1Password was to hire a finance leader. By having a sales team engage with enterprise clients to understand their needs, such as administrative controls or additional reporting functionality, 1Password was able to develop its existing platform and market an enterprise service to the business community. “When we first made the investment in 1Password in 2019, the company had zero salespeople and pretty much zero accountants,” says Faugno. “It was nothing but developers, building a great product, and support people. Those use cases would organically come, but what we weren’t doing is interfacing with the chief information security officers at large enterprises to share how our platform fits into their overall security architecture.” 1Password started building infrastructure around enterprise level support and billing capabilities, as well as sales and post-sales implementation capabilities, to allow it to engage with the business sector. Any change to a company carries with it a certain level of risk and expense, especially when it involves adapting to a changing market. It has taken four years, but 1Password’s core business model has created solid foundation for the company to build on. Despite the absence of salespeople and accountants, 1Password’s cash flow had remained profitable. This strong position allowed 1Password the opportunity for forward investment (investing in a company to improve a return on investment) without sacrificing profitability. Although maintaining durability of growth is essential for financial sustainability, it can be challenging. Unless an organisation has a financially stable core product, significant resources can be spent promoting a product that causes a sudden growth curve, but the growth will stop as soon as the money is used up if it was not sustainable. 1Password had the opportunity to invest in itself while remaining profitable in the different sectors, ensuring a durable growth. Instead of optimising for profitability, 1Password is forward investing across several areas without the need to pay off debt from a private equity transaction. “Over 75% of our sales are to companies, but so many people think of us as a consumer business, because either they know us personally or they’ve seen the legacy of us over the 20 years,” says Faugno.  The cyber security sector is a constantly evolving market, with an ongoing war of attrition between hackers and security teams: what is cutting edge now could be obsolete in six months’ time. Not only must security companies have a solid product, but they must also constantly update it in response to emerging threats. Soon, one of the key challenges that cyber security teams will need robust solutions for is protecting their communications in a post-quantum world. Quantum computers can process vast amounts of information in a fraction of the time that classical computers would take, including today’s supercomputers. This will have massive implications for cyber security as quantum computers will be able quickly break current encryption systems. There are various technologies already being developed that are described as quantum resistant, but testing of these is still ongoing. Rather than focusing on a specific technology, 1Password has teams researching emerging challenges. The future security challenge presented by quantum computing necessitate a multifaceted security strategy – 2FA/MFA, passkeys and federation (authentication across networked systems). “We have teams that are engaged deeply in thinking about what’s not only the next step, but two steps ahead,” says Faugno. “The world is changing across a number of dimensions, and quantum computing represents one. Passkeys are going to help, but the pathway to passwordlesss is a journey that’s going to take decades.   “Our view is that you have to start with the visibility of everything that exists and move everything on the continuum to passwordlesss. Today, that is having strong and unique passwords and encrypted vaults, adding multi-factor authentication, using passkeys where they’re available, and ultimately moving to federation.” Reputation is essential, especially in security. If a tool has proven itself to be viable and effective protection against attacks in the wild, then that will over carry into the business sector and naturally generate interest from organisations. “If you can build that level of endearment to the end user at the individual level, then what you can do for the business user is very similar,” concludes Faugno. “You can satisfy the most robust and hard-to-crack use case for making someone feel like this tool is helping them be secure and productive.”  Read more from the Security Interviews Series Armis CEO Yevgeny Dibrov talks about how his military service and intelligence work opened the door into the world of cyber security entrepreneurship. Okta regional chief security officer for EMEA sits down with Dan Raywood to talk about how Okta is pivoting to a secure-by-design champion. Threat intel expert and author Martin Lee, EMEA technical lead for security research at Cisco Talos, joins Computer Weekly to mark the 35th anniversary of the first ever ransomware attack. In The Current Issue: UK MoJ crime prediction algorithms raise serious concerns Interview: Markus Schümmelfeder, CIO, Boehringer Ingelheim Download Current Issue GraphQL as an ‘essential protocol’ for AI-API orchestration – CW Developer Network Mind the insight-to-impact gap, Qlik captures analytics ‘in the moment’ – CW Developer Network View All Blogs