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It's so tempting to buy starts—I get it. It feels great to look out over the garden, and finally see something in the beds, bringing color back to the landscape. But before you buy, you should seriously consider growing the following vegetables from seed. It might mean waiting a little longer for your crops, but your yields will likely be better. CarrotsCarrot seeds are small and cheap. You can pick up a pack of seeds at the grocery for a few dollars and it will yield far more carrots than a few six-packs of carrot starts. That’s $14 for starts vs. $3 for a packet of seeds. Not to mention: When you buy carrot starts, each cell holds a ton of individual carrot seedlings. You can’t simply plunk a whole cell of starts into the ground. You have to carefully separate them, and then plant each seedling in the ground, with space around it. It takes forever. If you grow from seed, you simply draw a line in the dirt using a yard tool, sprinkle seeds down the line, and lightly cover with dirt. Water, or let the rain do the work for you. You’ll have to thin the seeds, sure, but it's a much easier endeavor. Beets and radishesBeets and radishes both suffer from the same crowded-seedling problem as carrots, but there are two additional reasons to seed these yourself. First, beet and radish seeds are a lot bigger and easier to handle than carrots. So it's quite easy to ensure you’re planting one beet or radish every few inches, and neither has to be buried deep—you can push a seed into the ground with your finger. This means you won’t have to thin them later, and both beets and radishes germinate easily. Second, you don’t want 50 radishes or beets to be ready for harvest at the same time—as every seedling from a six-pack will be. You want 10 or 15. By planting several seeds weekly, you’ll have radishes or beets that are ready for harvest week after week. CornCorn has insufferably shallow roots and is annoying tall. When you transplant corn, it inevitably does not develop strong enough roots to hold itself upright, and will need some additional support. Which is silly, because corn is a huge seed, and has incredibly high germination rates. Even better, you plant it late in the season, so you’re unlikely to miss the timing. Plus, most nurseries only carry standard sweet yellow corn. With seeds you get access to more interesting varieties like Glass Gem or popping corn. BeansBeans, like corn, don’t develop very deep roots, and those roots need to support either a big bushy plant or a tall, climbing vine. It’s almost always better to plant from seed for that reason, so the seed has the opportunity to genuinely root itself in place. Like corn, you can access so many wild and wonderful bean seeds, while your nursery will offer a much smaller variety. In fact, you can try growing almost any bean you buy in the store and really like. Some bean purveyors like Rancho Gordo encourage it, allowing you to sign up to test-grow their beans. For a shipping fee, they’ll send you seed beans every year. CucumbersFor years I purchased cucumber starts, to get a jump on the season. And then my cucumbers did nothing for the first few weeks, which was always disappointing. Meanwhile, I noticed that the cucumbers that naturally grew from whatever seeds were left from last year grew prolifically. This is because cucumbers hate their roots being disturbed. When you transplant them, they go into shock for a few weeks, and stall. They’ll recover, but in those few weeks, you could have grown the starts from seed. LettuceIf you want to eat lettuce all summer long, you want to be planting it all summer long. With lettuce seeds being as abundant and cheap as they are, it’s far more efficient to grow them yourself. Lettuce is easy to germinate, and sprinkling in some seeds every week starting in spring just makes sense. Let the rain do the hard work. Lettuce is great to grow in blocks in your garden, or grow it between other plants. View the full article

This morning, news broke that the fast-credit fintech company Klarna has deposed its competitor Affirm as Walmart’s exclusive provider of “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) loans. Affirm stock (AFRM) dove over 10% Monday morning following the news, before regaining some of those losses. Shares are currently down around 5% as of this writing. According to a press release published this morning, Klarna will be partnering with Walmart’s majority-owned fintech startup, OnePay, “to exclusively offer installment loans for purchases at Walmart in the United States.” The partnership will be available both online and in stores, and will roll out at Walmart checkout this year. Klarna’s BPNL services will allow consumers to pay for items purchased at Walmart in installments, with repayment terms ranging from 3 to 26 months. Based on a January report from Capital One, Walmart is the world’s largest retailer above competitors like Amazon—meaning Klarna is about to become a lot more visible to consumers. “This is a game changer,” Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna’s cofounder and CEO, said in the press release. “OnePay choosing Klarna as their exclusive installment loans partner at Walmart in the U.S. is a huge vote of confidence as we pursue our goal of being available everywhere for everything.” A big week for Klarna—and a rough one for Affirm Walmart’s former exclusive BNPL partner was Affirm, Klarna’s main rival in the space—and investors seem to think that the major new deal isn’t looking so good for Affirm. In a statement cited by Bloomberg, Affirm shared that its former partnership with Walmart represented about 5% of its gross merchandise volume and approximately 2% of its adjusted operating income in the six months through December. Meanwhile, Klarna is riding high, given that news of its Walmart deal comes just days after the company filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) related to an initial proposed public offering, a sign that Klarna’s IPO could be coming sooner than expected. Although Klarna has not yet set an official IPO date, it’s now one of the most highly anticipated fintech IPOs this year. View the full article

TeamViewer, a global provider of remote connectivity and workplace digitalization solutions, has announced a new initiative offering free one-year licenses of TeamViewer Remote to eligible women-led startups and small businesses. This initiative, launched in celebration of International Women’s Day, aims to support female entrepreneurs by providing secure remote access and IT support capabilities. The offer is available through March 31, 2025, for businesses with a female CEO or co-founder. Eligible businesses must have between 5 and 31 employees, be no more than 10 years old, and be registered in the United States, the United Kingdom, or Germany. Additionally, businesses must not be existing TeamViewer customers. Enhancing Remote Access and Productivity TeamViewer Remote enables businesses to access and control devices from any location, providing secure IT support and facilitating remote work. The technology allows employees to safely connect to systems, applications, and files, helping minimize downtime and increase operational efficiency. According to TeamViewer, this initiative aligns with its broader mission to enhance workplace digitalization and support underrepresented groups in business. “At TeamViewer, we believe technology should be an enabler, not a barrier, and by providing these women-led businesses with powerful remote connectivity tools, we’re helping female leaders optimize operations, support flexible work arrangements and focus on growth,” said Mei Dent, Chief Product & Technology Officer at TeamViewer. “This initiative complements our other diversity efforts, such as SheSportTech which supports women in sports technology, and we’re excited to continue empowering women through initiatives that we see first-hand truly make a difference.” How to Apply Female entrepreneurs interested in applying for the free TeamViewer Remote license can find more information on TeamViewer’s website. Applications will be accepted until March 31, 2025. This article, "TeamViewer Launches Free License Initiative for Women-Led Businesses" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

TeamViewer, a global provider of remote connectivity and workplace digitalization solutions, has announced a new initiative offering free one-year licenses of TeamViewer Remote to eligible women-led startups and small businesses. This initiative, launched in celebration of International Women’s Day, aims to support female entrepreneurs by providing secure remote access and IT support capabilities. The offer is available through March 31, 2025, for businesses with a female CEO or co-founder. Eligible businesses must have between 5 and 31 employees, be no more than 10 years old, and be registered in the United States, the United Kingdom, or Germany. Additionally, businesses must not be existing TeamViewer customers. Enhancing Remote Access and Productivity TeamViewer Remote enables businesses to access and control devices from any location, providing secure IT support and facilitating remote work. The technology allows employees to safely connect to systems, applications, and files, helping minimize downtime and increase operational efficiency. According to TeamViewer, this initiative aligns with its broader mission to enhance workplace digitalization and support underrepresented groups in business. “At TeamViewer, we believe technology should be an enabler, not a barrier, and by providing these women-led businesses with powerful remote connectivity tools, we’re helping female leaders optimize operations, support flexible work arrangements and focus on growth,” said Mei Dent, Chief Product & Technology Officer at TeamViewer. “This initiative complements our other diversity efforts, such as SheSportTech which supports women in sports technology, and we’re excited to continue empowering women through initiatives that we see first-hand truly make a difference.” How to Apply Female entrepreneurs interested in applying for the free TeamViewer Remote license can find more information on TeamViewer’s website. Applications will be accepted until March 31, 2025. This article, "TeamViewer Launches Free License Initiative for Women-Led Businesses" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Government measures require a Commons vote that could provoke a rebellion by Labour MPs View the full article

Shares of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) rose over 8% in early morning trading on Monday on news that incoming CEO Lip-Bu Tan has big plans to turn around the ailing chipmaker, including restructuring the company’s approach to AI, resurrecting its manufacturing operations, and eyeing cuts to what Tan views as a “slow-moving and bloated middle management layer,” according to a Reuters report. Tan said he’ll need to make “tough decisions” when he takes Intel’s helm on Tuesday, after the company posted $19 billion in annual losses in 2024. Tan’s appointment comes three months after the company ousted former CEO Pat Gelsinger, as it struggled after missing out on the generative artificial intelligence boom and losing market share to Nvidia and AMD. One problem with Gelsinger’s leadership, a semiconductor industry expert told Reuters, was that Gelsinger was “too nice” and did not want to “fire a bunch of middle management in the way they needed to.” The Reuters report also said Intel could have architecture ready for an AI chip by 2027, and would plan to release a new version of it each subsequent year. This would be a big coup for Intel, which is lagging behind Nvidia and Broadcom (AVGO) in the AI hardware market. In the past several quarters, Intel has lost market share in data centers and PCs, and lost billions in its manufacturing business. Tan also plans to restart production of chips that power AI servers, and expand beyond servers into software, robotics, and AI foundation models, per Reuters. Tan’s appointment comes amid ongoing reports that Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) are among several investors in talks to divide the ailing chipmaker’s business into two parts, spinning out its chip-design and marketing business and its manufacturing arm. However, Tan has indicated he won’t split up the company. Tan was a member of Intel’s board until he resigned last August. He spent a decade as CEO of Cadence Design Systems, an Intel supplier and chip-design software company, where he doubled revenue and sent the stock price soaring. View the full article

When you buy a new home, it’s natural to get excited about wanting to move in and settle in as quickly as possible, putting off potential renovations—even the ones that will make you happier in the space—and other home projects until later. And sure, some renovations, like kitchen remodels or additions, require a lot of planning and are best scheduled when your bank account and stress levels have recovered from the home-buying process. That said, there are some home projects that are best tackled right away—because they come with a lot of disruption, take a long time to pay off on the investment, or both. Planting treesIf your property has outdoor space but no trees, the time to plant some is right away. Trees offer a lot of benefits—they beautify the property, provide shade that helps keep your house cool in the warmer months, and add serious value to your house. But trees take decades to mature—20 to 30 years on average, thought some species will mature in just a few years. Depending on where you live and the variety of tree, waiting to plant might mean that the people who get to enjoy your lush, leafy outdoor space (and the added value it brings) will be the folks who buy the house from you. Refinishing the floorsIf your new house has old floors, don’t wait to refinish or replace them. The ideal time to sand, stain, and seal hardwood, tear out worn old planks, or remove ancient carpet is before you have all your furniture in place and you’ve transplanted your busy schedule to the new house. Even if you’re willing to move everything out of some rooms (or an entire floor), the dust and noise of refinishing flooring will probably drive you to move out for a few days or weeks. If you know you’ll need to redo those floors eventually, rip off the bandage and get it done before you move in. Then you can arrange your furniture with the knowledge that you won’t have to move it any time soon. If you’re not going to replace or refinish old flooring, you should at least have a deep clean done before you move, especially if we’re talking about carpeting. Carpets trap dust, dirt, mold spores, and a host of other stuff—and this can all be deep down in the pile, so even a carpet that looks clean might not be. The easiest time to have the floors in your home cleaned is before you and your family are living on it. Removing popcorn ceilingsIf your home has popcorn ceilings you probably know you’re going to get rid of them eventually. There are two compelling reasons to do so right away, before you move in. One, removing popcorn ceilings is a dust nightmare, so getting the work done before your furniture, clothes, and everything else you own can be coated in a layer of grime will be the better option. Two, you might need to worry about asbestos, depending on when your home was built and when those ceilings were installed. You’re well advised to test for it before scraping those ceilings off. If asbestos is present, the removal and remediation will be more complex, and you will have to vacate the house while it’s being done. Painting your home's interiorPainting the interior of your home before you move in is one of the smartest home improvement projects you can do. First of all, a coat of paint will make even a new build home feel fresh and inviting. And painting the walls and ceilings of your house will be a lot easier when you don’t have to move or cover a ton of furniture, window treatments, or possessions. Changing locks and codesThis is one project a lot of homeowners overlook—but it’s crucial: Change (or rekey) the locks and any security codes associated with the house. Homeowners tend to hand out keys to their home over the years—to contractors, neighbors, house cleaners, even dog walkers. And they’re not always great about remembering to collect them, so it’s possible a lot of people have keys to your house when you move in, or the codes to the alarm system you inherited. The time to change those keys and codes is before you move in and get caught up in everyday life and forget to do it. And, yes, you should have the locks changed even if the house is a new build. The builder probably has master keys to those locks or a record of the alarm system codes, and you don’t want to rely on their discretion or competence when it comes to your security. Replacing the windowsReplacement windows are expensive, so it’s no wonder people tend to put this project off. If the windows in your house are in decent shape (even if they’re old) delaying their replacement feels like money in your pocket. But old windows, even if they’re functional, are going to be an eyesore, and they’re not going to be very effective in terms of soundproofing, nor are they very energy efficient. Delaying this project will doom you to years of drafts, water leaks, and being able to hear every car that drives past the house all too clearly. If you’d prefer more peace and quiet and lower utility bills, bite the bullet and replace those windows right away. Air sealing“Air sealing” a house is a process of identifying and eliminating gaps and openings that let your climate-controlled air escape and let the outdoor cold, heat, and/or humidity in. If your house is porous and lacks proper insulation, you’ll constantly lose the battle to keep its interior comfortable—and you’ll pay a lot for a losing cause, too. Sealing up a house is a process of identifying air leaks (a process you can do yourself), then caulking and otherwise plugging up the gaps you identify. While you’re at it, take a look at the insulation in your attic, crawl space, or basement and consider having it upgraded (or added, if it’s missing) to make the house as snug as possible. Getting this done is a lot easier before you’ve moved in, and getting it done as soon as possible reduces the time you’ll be overpaying to heat or cool the place. View the full article

Bumble rolled out a handful of new safety features on Monday, including ID verification, in an attempt to draw in a new class of users who are focused on safety. ID verification requests a government-issued ID to authenticate the user’s age and name and then adds a badge indicating they are who they say they are on their profile. Users can then filter profiles by both photo verification and ID verification. ID verification is now available in 11 markets, including the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, with plans to expand further. Another safety-focused feature, “Review Before You Send,” addresses the messaging section, where users often receive inappropriate content. Originally launched for the Compliments feature, it prompts users to revise flagged messages before they’re sent. In addition, the company is launching a new “Share Date” feature that lets users share details about their dates with selected contacts. The safety efforts could help Bumble bring users to its namesake dating app at a time when the broader dating industry is dealing with post-COVID slumps, generational changes in dating behavior, and AI making it harder than ever to tell who is real or fake. Bumble, whose founder Whitney Wolfe Herd is back in the helm after leaving the post a little over a year ago, is pushing to revitalize the dating and social connection company. Bumble reported a 3.8% decline in quarterly app revenue in its most recent earnings report. Bumble’s biggest rival Match Group is also feeling the pressure. The company, which owns Hinge, Tinder, and other star dating apps, recently swapped out chief executives. The company’s new leader, Spencer Rascoff, sent employees a note last week that called for increased focus on product and user experience. Rascoff said that going forward, users need to be at the core of every choice. “Every product decision, policy, and innovation must be guided by their experience and outcomes,” he said. “Trust is the foundation of real connections, and we are committed to rebuilding it with urgency, accountability, and an unwavering focus on the user.” View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. You’ve seen it at the end of hundreds of recipes: “Add salt to taste.” Whether it’s beef stew or a chocolate chip cookie, salt is a seasoning we often lean on as an inoffensive way to wake up the palate. But, like it or not, sometimes salt needs help. (Coming from a long-time salt worshiper, this is saying a lot.) For a surefire way to kickstart your tastebuds, crack open the MSG. I do it on a regular basis. What is MSG? Though the misinformation about MSG is waning, there are still plenty of folks who’ve heard (and believe) that it’s poisonous, leads to health problems, or is bad for you just because. This is incorrect. Our Senior Health Editor, Beth Skwarecki, breaks down how the MSG scare started and the racism that kept it alive long after it was disproven. MSG is exactly what its longer chemical name, monosodium glutamate, indicates: a harmless combination of sodium and the glutamate amino acid. Amino acids combine to form proteins, and they are naturally in our bodies, plants, and other animals. In fact, glutamates and monosodium glutamate are also naturally occurring in plenty of our food already, like parmesan cheese, kombu seaweed, tomatoes, mushrooms, and grapes—to name a few. You might already be enjoying MSG more than you know. What does MSG taste like?Monosodium glutamate is a teeny, clear, crystalline substance. It looks a lot like salt at first glance, but when you look closely you’ll see that the granules are longer and more regular in shape. It dissolves quickly so it doesn’t have a texture when you eat it. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann We identify the flavor of MSG as umami, or savory. It’s one of the five elemental flavors we can detect: umami, salt, sweet, sour, and bitter. Like sweet or salty, or any building block, it’s not exactly like anything else. Umami is a word we can use to describe other things, though, and that can help you identify when you taste it. I often can taste umami in deeply savory foods—dishes with mushrooms, meats, olives, aged cheeses or yeast extracts. When you eat pizza, especially pepperoni pizza, umami is there. Umami adds complexity of flavor, almost like a bass line beneath the music of the entire dish. If you take a bite of risotto and you can feel your mouth water, MSG is actually what is making that happen. When you eat MSG, the glutamate receptors in your taste buds (yep, your body was made to detect glutamates) fire up and actually trigger salivation. Use MSG in your cooking and bakingI want all of my cooking to make people salivate and take another bite. Since MSG doesn’t taste like anything, it can go in sweet and savory dishes without throwing off the flavor profile. Adding a pinch here or there is going to give your casserole, spaghetti sauce, chocolate cake, or blondies recipe an irresistible je ne sais quoi. I highly recommend adding MSG to brownies—here’s my recipe for dark chocolate soy sauce brownies, but you can use boxed mix and just stir in a quarter-teaspoon of MSG to get the same effect without using soy sauce. The same goes for savory dishes. I like to stir a pinch into soups and stews toward the end, taste, and take it from there. Basically, you use MSG as you would any seasoning in your cupboard—add, taste, adjust. Even though sodium is part of the MSG equation, it's not exactly salty, so you will likely use it in conjunction with a pinch of regular cooking salt. If I’m making homemade stocks or broths, I’ll add about a quarter-teaspoon of MSG per four cups of liquid before I add salt simply because I might not need as much as I think. Taste the food if you can, and then add salt to taste. As I mentioned earlier, sometimes we add more salt when what we’re actually looking for is more umami. Using a smidge of MSG can actually help you reduce your salt intake. As Beth mentions in her article linked above, “sodium only makes up 12% of the weight of MSG (as opposed to 40% of table salt).” Get an MSG cellar Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann One of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten was my MSG cellar. But you don’t need one made especially for MSG—you can use any salt cellar. You can also buy these cute panda Ajinomoto MSG shakers instead of a cellar to easily sprinkle it onto your food just like you would salt or pepper. In the store, MSG might be packaged in medium-sized clear bags, or small seasoning bottles. Check the seasoning aisle of your grocery store. In the Uzbek market near me they carry clear bags of Ajinomoto and I decant it at home into my MSG cellar and smaller back-up jars for easier storage. In my Shoprite, I’ll find MSG in seasoning shakers like these from Ac'cent and Spice Supreme. A little goes a long way, so a shaker this size can last you eight months or longer. Here are some things I’ll always season with MSG:All my egg dishes. MSG brings out the best in your breakfast. All it takes is a pinch per two eggs. Add it to your scrambles, omelettes, quiches, and casseroles. Soups and broths. MSG brings complexity, a more “round” flavor, to broths. It’s subtle, but once you have a broth with MSG it’s impossible to go without. A quarter-teaspoon per quart of broth will add a richness that pairs well with every soup, from sweet, earthy borscht to savory beef stew. Fresh sliced tomatoes. Enjoy the best tomato sandwich or BLT of your life. There is no better way to quickly improve crappy tomatoes than to add a mixture of MSG, salt, and sugar. And even if they’re not crappy, I still add it—sans sugar. Burgers and meatballs. Any mixed ground meat situation is better with MSG. Beef and veal meatballs, pork dumplings, turkey burgers—especially turkey burgers—will have a richer, more meaty flavor from a dose of MSG (about a half-teaspoon per pound of meat). This is actually a prime example of when more salt just wasn’t giving me the flavor I wanted. MSG and less salt fixed my burgers and meatballs. Salad dressings. Whether you’ve been looking for a way to avoid those anchovies in your homemade caesar, or your Dijon dressing needs a softened edge, MSG is a great way to improve your whole salad. Gravies and sauces. MSG brings a welcome depth of flavor to tomato sauces, meatiness to brown gravies, and while the French might never admit this, all of the mother sauces are better with MSG. Roasted vegetables. Part of the reason that roasted veggies are so good is because the flavors are concentrated and the natural sugars caramelize. Adding MSG will elevate them to a whole new level of flavor. Simply sprinkle it in when you toss them with oil and salt before roasting. If you’re new to roasting, here’s the easy way to do it. View the full article

An ex-Biden administration official suggested potential challenges in identifying lands that have access to both employment opportunities and infrastructure. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Blink Mini 2 is currently $19.99 (down from $39.99)—the lowest price it’s ever hit, according to price tracking tools. Blink Mini 2 $19.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $39.99 Save $20.00 Get Deal Get Deal $19.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $39.99 Save $20.00 It’s a compact, no-fuss security camera with a wide 143-degree field of view, an improved sensor for better low-light performance, and a built-in LED spotlight for color night vision (the night vision works in color with the spotlight on and black and white otherwise). Unlike the original Mini, this one can detect people, pets, and packages—but only if you’re willing to pay for a Blink subscription ($3/month for one camera, $10 for unlimited). Without it, you still get live views, motion detection, and local storage with the Sync Module 2 ($49.99, sold separately), which lets you record footage on an SD card (supported up to 256GB) instead of paying for cloud storage. The camera works with Alexa and supports IFTTT for smart home integrations, but there’s no Google Assistant or Apple HomeKit support. The Mini 2 is IP65-rated, according to this PCMag review, but if you’re thinking about using the Mini 2 outdoors, you’ll need the $9.99 Blink Weather Resistant Power Adapter to make it outdoor-ready—because the default power cable isn’t water-resistant. That extra cost is worth considering, especially if you’re comparing it to alternatives like the TP-Link Tapo C120, which is currently $24.99 (down from $39.99) and fully weatherproof out of the box. The Tapo C120 also captures 2K video instead of 1080p and includes free AI-powered alerts without a subscription. If sharper footage and free smart detection are must-haves, that extra $5 might be the better buy. That said, the Blink Mini 2 still holds its own if you’re already in the Blink ecosystem or just want an affordable indoor camera with Alexa compatibility. Through the Blink Home Monitor app, you can fine-tune motion settings, control the spotlight, and adjust privacy features. View the full article

More than a year after her viral project was shut down, TikTok’s “Tunnel Girl” has officially been given the green light to resume digging a massive tunnel beneath her home. On her TikTok account @engineer.everything, the woman—who identifies herself only as Kala—has built a following of over 657,000 by documenting her ambitious, off-the-books tunnel project in Herndon, Virginia. Despite the handle, Kala has no formal engineering background; she began digging in 2022 as a hobby. While many viewers were fascinated by her underground progress, others questioned the legality of the endeavor. “Are we… are we allowed to build tunnels?” one commenter asked under Kala’s one-year anniversary recap video. The answer, as Kala eventually discovered, is no—not without proper permits. After nearly two years of work, her project was shut down in January 2024. “They did give me a stop work order and are requiring an immediate evaluation by a professional engineer. Fortunately, contrary to rumors here, it is constructed entirely below the slab of my house and it shouldn’t be too hard to get the permits and approval,” she explained in a TikTok video posted shortly after. Turns out, she was right. The permits have now been approved, and the tunnel is officially back in progress. A video posted last week shows Kala receiving a phone call and unrolling stamped construction plans. “You have permits now, so clearly you did a good job!” one commenter wrote. Another added: “Digging is one thing, but navigating a complex permitting process after the work has been done is nearly miraculous.” If you’re inspired to dig your own tunnel, don’t expect the process to be easy. “I’ve had to go and get a lot of engineering certifications, a lot of tests, and provide a lot of documentation and provide a lot of calculations and information for the permit process,” Kala told the news station WUSA9. The tunnel system currently extends 22 feet below ground with a 30-foot entrance below her house on her property. Where does it lead? Nowhere—yet. “The permits that I submitted for only goes about where I wrapped up right now,” Kala told WUSA9. “My permits have a note that [the tunnel] may be expanded in the future, of course, I’ll have to go through the engineering process, the permit process, but I would like to potentially go a little bit further.” Kala hopes to finish the tunnel within the next six months. The end goal? A self-contained underground shelter just outside the footprint of her home—because, well, why not? View the full article

The pace of AI development doesn't seem to be slowing down, and we're seeing a flurry of updates for the big apps and models every week. One of the most recent of those updates makes it easier to integrate ChatGPT into Android: You can now set it as the default digital assistant on your phone or tablet. As spotted by Android Authority, you need to have the beta version of ChatGPT for Android installed for this to work at the moment, though the feature will no doubt roll out to everyone in due course. If you'd rather have ChatGPT answering your questions about life, the universe, and everything, this makes it easier to access. To access the beta for ChatGPT, you need to have ChatGPT for Android installed already. Then, open the Play Store on Android, tap your profile picture (top right), and choose Manage apps and device > Manage. Select ChatGPT to see its full listing page, and you should then see a Join the beta box you can tap Join in. The usual rules for betas apply: You get access to the newest features first, but you might also see more bugs along the way. After a few minutes, once you've been registered as a ChatGPT beta tester, you'll see an update appear for the app and you can then dive in. To change the default assistant to ChatGPT or any other app on Android, open Settings and Apps: You can then tap Default apps (on Pixels) or Choose default apps (on Galaxy phones) to find the Digital assistant app option. On the next screen, tap Digital assistant app again to make your choice. Using ChatGPT as your default assistant Changing the assistant setting on a Galaxy phone. Credit: Lifehacker Changing this setting doesn't give ChatGPT any more capabilities—it just means the AI bot can be launched in the same ways you would normally launch Gemini. That can be with a long press on the power button or a swipe up from the bottom-right corner of the screen, depending on how your device is configured, though there's no "hey ChatGPT" voice shortcut you can use. This will work for all ChatGPT users, whether you've subscribed to a paid plan or not, though the features and underlying AI models you get once you've launched ChatGPT will depend on your subscription level. The bot appears on screen as a floating blue circle and goes into the Gemini Live voice mode that's now available to everyone, so you can have a two-way spoken conversation with it. Bear in mind the limitations of ChatGPT as a digital assistant at the moment: It doesn't have anywhere near the same feature set as Google Gemini when it comes to getting its hooks into Android and your other apps. You can't use ChatGPT to set timers or add events to your Google Calendar, for example, and you can't queue up songs in Spotify. On the other hand, you can have a chat about almost every topic imaginable (watch out for hallucinations), and get information that's available on the web—such as the latest sports scores or the local weather forecast for your part of the world. You can get ChatGPT to invent text, create images, and everything else the chatbot is capable of. No doubt more improvements are on the way before OpenAI rolls this option into the stable ChatGPT app. It's an interesting contrast to the iPhone: It seems unlikely that Apple will ever allow an alternative app to take Siri's spot as the default assistant, even if you can now access ChatGPT through Siri. View the full article

Kremlin decree allows firms including Jane Street, GMO, and Franklin Templeton to offload holdings View the full article

A little over a decade ago, Netflix decided to take streaming into its own hands: Instead of relying on commercial content delivery services, the streamer built its own servers from scratch, and gave them away to internet service providers. Since then, Netflix has distributed over 18,000 of these servers, now installed in 6,000 locations spread across 175 countries, forming the company’s Open Connect content delivery network. Now, Netflix is ready to take this tech beyond movies and TV shows: The company has begun to develop its own cloud gaming infrastructure, with servers that could eventually allow any Netflix member to play complex games on their smart TVs without an expensive game console. This kind of cloud gaming requires a whole new generation of Open Connect servers. “The appliances that are going to stream games will need to look different,” says Netflix CTO Elizabeth Stone. “That’s something that we’re building now.” Netflix’s servers have improved by 40x Netflix began working on Open Connect in 2011, and placed a first set of servers in the data centers of select U.S.-based internet providers in 2012. At the time, Netflix engineers taped a different movie quote on each custom-built, bright red Open Connect server. The concept behind Open Connect has stayed pretty much the same ever since: Once a server gets installed in an internet provider’s local data center, it gets loaded up with copies of Netflix’s movies and shows, which are then streamed to the provider’s customers whenever they’re ready to watch something. “When you click play, the content is coming from around the corner,” Stone explains. That allows Netflix to deliver movies faster and more reliably, while also reducing congestion for upstream pipes that connect a service provider to the internet at large—a win-win for everyone involved. These days, the movie quotes are long gone, as are the red chassis housings. The technology itself has changed as well: Netflix server racks now incorporate both machines with fast flash drives that stream Netflix’s most popular fare, as well as massive hard drive clusters to store thousands of additional movies and shows for customers with more eclectic taste. “One half-rack of our servers serves all of Netflix’s catalog,” Stone says. “It can serve about 500,000 simultaneous streams. When we first got started, this half-rack could only serve about 13,000 simultaneous streams.” Video games are a different beast Open Connect’s next challenge is Netflix’s budding video game business. The company has launched more than 120 mobile games since it began exploring gaming in 2021, but its ambitions reach far beyond mobile: Netflix ultimately wants to allow its subscribers to access games comparable to what’s available on Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation directly from the Netflix app running on a regular smart TV. To do this, Netflix has begun to build its own cloud gaming service, which it is currently testing with a subset of its subscribers in eight countries, including the U.S. and Canada. Subscribers in the beta test get to play around a dozen titles, including the indie game hit Oxenfree and the rebooted Atari classic Centipede: Recharged. This trial run helps Netflix test its cloud gaming technology, and optimize the design of its new Open Connect game servers. These appliances are very different from Netflix’s existing streaming hardware. “If you are streaming games to the TV, you execute the game on a server,” Stone explains. The server then captures a live video feed of the game and beams it to the consumer’s TV. That requires Netflix’s game servers to be optimized for real-time graphics rendering. “More GPU-heavy, different types of chips, and a different type of design,” Stone says. Cloud games also need to be delivered with as little latency as possible so that players don’t miss a critical jump or turn due to a delayed stream. For some games, synchronization across locations is also needed to allow Netflix subscribers to play together remotely. “Cloud games tend to be pretty social, in many cases,” Stone says. Stone readily admits Netflix’s current cloud gaming test is small. “As we feel more confident in our approach, we [will] start to scale to other countries and other game types,” she says. “That will come in the coming years.” The Tyson-Paul disaster helped future-proof Open Connect Getting a new technology like cloud gaming right can be challenging, especially for a company the size of Netflix; opening up the service too early to all of its 300 million subscribers could easily overwhelm the company’s infrastructure. Netflix did get a lesson in humility last year when it aggressively expanded into livestreaming—only to have the broadcast of a match between boxing legend Mike Tyson and YouTube star Logan Paul turn into a train wreck. “Everything about Tyson-Paul was extraordinary, including how large that event was,” Stone says. An estimated 65 million viewers tuned in simultaneously, overwhelming even Netflix’s content delivery network. The result: widespread buffering, and some users being kicked from the stream entirely. Stone describes the experience as a painful but necessary lesson. “For that fight, there was no way to simulate that in a lab,” she says. The insights her team gained from that knockout not only helped Netflix successfully stream two NFL games over the holidays, but are helping make Open Connect more resilient for whatever comes next, from live sports to cloud gaming. “Our aspirations are much larger than 300 million members,” Stone says. “In order to stream film and TV to 400 million members, 500 million members all around the world, we need Open Connect to continue to evolve.” View the full article

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With all this talk about spring cleaning, you could be forgiven if you focused on, well, just cleaning in the spring. But the real beauty of spring cleaning is that it can be a jumping-off point for a clean year. Yes, you can put in extra effort right now, restocking and upgrading your cleaning supplies and doing all those intense annual tasks, but if you don't keep up with your tidying all year round, you'll be stuck doing another exhausting round next spring. Use this as a starting point for a big year of your cleanest home ever. First, commit to a cleaning scheduleWhile you're undertaking spring cleaning this year, keep track of what tasks you enjoy (or just hate less than the others), what takes the most time, and when you feel most motivated. You're going to want to know all of that as you set out to create a manageable and personalized schedule for the rest of the year. There are a lot of ways you can structure your schedule, but what's most important here is finding a time that really works for you, whether it's the morning, afternoon, or evening. It will depend on your existing schedule of work and responsibilities, plus when you feel most motivated and how you choose to approach cleaning. I recommend only cleaning in 15-minute chunks each day to keep the whole endeavor manageable and stop it from getting overwhelming, but you can divide those up however you like. Micro-cleaning and -decluttering are a great option, as they ask you to pick a small space every day (think: a cabinet or a tabletop, not a whole room or even a whole closet) and focus on that. Over time, cleaning every small space will result in a cleaner home, but there will still be times you need to call in the big guns and tackle a large project, like a kid's room or a kitchen that's seen better days. Block out a day every month to do a whole-house tidying. Otherwise, really stick to your scheduled 15 minutes every day. If you're finding that, after a few weeks, the time you selected doesn't work, switch it up. It's better to make some adjustments early on than to fall behind because you're determined to stick with something that's not working. Pick cleaning approaches that work for youOnce you get a handle on the times you commit to cleaning, you need to figure out what you're going to do and how you're going to do it. The micro-cleaning approach of picking a small space every day works well, but you still need a plan for what you're doing to that micro-space. There are a few techniques out there that lend themselves to long-term home maintenance more than others, like 365 Less Things and the "calendar" method. Both of those are centered on decluttering, but can be modified for general cleaning tasks, too. With 365 Less Things, you commit to throwing away or donating one piece of clutter every day; with the calendar approach, you toss or donate one thing on the first of the month, two things on the second, and so on until you are up to 30 things on the 30th and 31 on the 31st. These are great for decluttering and habit-building, so use them as intended at first, but feel free to switch it up. Instead of getting rid of six things on the sixth, think of something you could clean six of, like the six upholstered chairs around your dining table or the six mirrors on the upstairs landing. Here is a list of my favorite decluttering techniques and here are my favorite cleaning techniques. There are a ton out there, from books by cleaning gurus to methods discovered and disseminated by regular people on social media, and trying them out during your scheduled cleaning time can keep you engaged and help you find the approach that works best for your home. Adjust as necessaryLike I said, you should be keeping track of how this goes. You don't have to keep hyper-detailed data, but it's helpful to make note of what's working and what isn't. Changing the time you typically clean, trying a new technique, or playing around with the rewards system you want to use for yourself are all fine and even good. It takes a long time to build a habit and sink into a quality routine, but the goal should be to use spring cleaning as an opportunity to see how great your home can look and spend the next 11 months keeping it that way. One thing that is pretty helpful here, at least for me, is calling in reinforcements. I don't mean a professional cleaner—although I have found that hiring one every month or two is super helpful, as they notice spots that need attention that you may overlook, plus I counterintuitively clean extra well before one comes out of fear of being embarrassed. I mean using an app. There are a handful of apps out there that can help you build the perfect cleaning schedule, keep tabs on what's been tended to and what hasn't, and even send you push notifications reminding you when a certain area needs your attention. Apps, cleaning pros' books, and CleanTok influencers' posts can all help guide you, motivate you, inspire you, and altogether push you toward getting better at keeping up with your cleaning. Then again, you can read, watch, and log in to as much as you want, but none of it matters unless you get after it in real life, so start building your schedule, download my checklists, and prepare for spring, summer, fall, and winter cleaning now. View the full article

PepsiCo is sick of being left out of the prebiotic soda craze—and to catch up with competitors, the multinational food and beverage corporation just dropped $1.65 billion to acquire the functional soda startup Poppi. The deal, announced this morning, will bring Poppi’s range of 14 colorful, low-sugar, prebiotic-packed sodas into Pepsi’s expansive existing beverage portfolio. The move comes as young consumers are increasingly turning away from traditional soda in favor of more health-conscious, “functional” beverages, which typically come with a mood or health benefit derived from a specific set of ingredients. Popular prebiotic brands like Poppi and Olipop fit in this category, as do hydration-based drinks like Mio and Magna. While Pepsi already owns Gatorade—which continues to dominate the hydration market, despite an influx of new entrants—the corporation has yet to make a move in the prebiotic space. Meanwhile, its main competitor, the Coca-Cola Company, just announced its own prebiotic soda brand called Simply Pop early last month. Now, Pepsi is ensuring that it leaves no functional beverage category unchecked. “As we look to reorient our portfolio offerings to address white space consumer needs, the Poppi brand’s unique intersection with wellness and culture is a perfect addition to our portfolio,” Ram Krishnan, CEO of PepsiCo Beverages U.S, said in a press release on the acquisition. What’s your function? According to data from NielsenIQ, U.S. sales of functional beverages grew 54% to $9.2 billion between March 2020 and March 2024. As of last March, functional beverages accounted for an impressive 10% of the nonalcoholic beverage market. Poppi has been well-positioned to capitalize on this growing interest: In 2024, the brand made more than $500 million in sales. Poppi’s “healthy soda” premise attracts young consumers, but where the brand really hooks potential drinkers is through its influencer marketing tactics (like its controversial decision to send entire vending machines to TikTokers for the Super Bowl) and an ultra-vibrant, colorful branding approach designed to court Gen Z. Founder Allison Ellsworth says that these efforts have helped to distinguish prebiotic sodas as a new “modern soda” section on grocery store shelves. “Over the last five years, we’ve worked with our buyers and retailers to define this whole new category. It’s what we call the modern soda set,” Ellsworth told Forbes in an interview this month. “It’s a dash destination within the store for this whole new category.” America’s soda-drinking habits are changing, with young consumers leading the way—and Pepsi’s latest acquisition demonstrates that prebiotic soda might just be the next sparkling water. View the full article

Rocket said the Redfin deal is part of a purchase mortgage strategy, but originating and retaining residential mortgages in portfolio is the real endgame writes the chairman of Whalen Global Advisors. View the full article

It's spring again: The time of renewal, rebirth, and cleaning your damn house. I mean really cleaning—not just picking up a little, but moving the couch, wiping the blades of the ceiling fan, and getting behind the fridge. Spring cleaning. If you’re putting effort into it, you can make both the returning Messiah and the Easter Bunny proud, but you'll need to avoid these common spring cleaning mistakes. Doing all the heavy lifting yourselfI’m putting this one first because moving the furniture is what separates spring cleaning from regular cleaning. That said, a spotless home is not worth screwing up your back. Like anything else, there’s technique to moving furniture: keep heavy objects close to your body, don’t bend at the waist, lift with your legs. Remember to breathe. Improper technique leads to injury. For a deeper dive on injury-free furniture moving, check out our guide—but the best advice, is “if you think it’s too heavy, get some help.” Mixing cleaning productsPersonally, I can’t understand people who prefer to clean with vinegar, lemon juice, or other wimpy options. It’s not really clean to me unless dangerous chemicals are involved. But dangerous chemicals demand respect: cleaners like ammonia, bleach, and oven cleaners are probably going to be caustic, poisonous, fume-releasing, and otherwise capable of killing you, your pets, or your loved ones if used (or mixed) incorrectly. So read the warning labels carefully, actually follow their guidelines, and have the number of poison control on hand. Trying to do it all at once (or without a plan)Honor your moment of sudden motivation, but instead of an “I’m cleaning everything right now” vibe, use your energy to plan first. Break your spring clean into smaller, manageable tasks, or you’ll end the day with all the furniture moved and everything in disarray. Spring cleaning is a project, and like any project, it will come out better if you make a realistic plan. For the specifics, start with taking the advice of professional housekeepers. Cleaning before declutteringWhen I’m cleaning, there’s little worse than spending all day scrubbing, only to have my place still look cluttered. Too much crap around makes me feel like my whole life is disorganized, so I use deep cleaning days as “getting rid of things” days, too. If I haven’t used it since the last time I cleaned, I seriously consider a trip to the local thrift store. Lifehacker's decluttering queen Lindsey Ellefson has many more tips to get you started. Forgetting the mattress (and garbage cans)Even if it isn’t stained and smelly, your mattress is probably disgusting. You spend eight hours a night there sweating, drooling, and shedding dead skin cells. You probably let your dog up there, too. It’s a hassle, but there are a lot of ways to clean a mattress. Don’t forget the inside of your garbage cans either. And the inside of your refrigerator. And your remote controls. I could go on all day—you're probably forgetting a lot of places you should be cleaning. Not having the right cleaning suppliesYou don’t need a ton of gear to deep clean, but you can’t clean your house with a single old rag either. A basic surface cleaning kit should include all-purpose cleaning liquid, window cleaning liquid, cloth (microfiber, if possible), a scrub-brush, and a hand duster. You also need a mop and bucket, a broom, more garbage bags than usual, and a vacuum with attachments. Optional are things like ivory polish, guitar wax, and other specialized-to-you cleaning supplies. Want a clear rundown of what you need to take on this annual task and keep your home clean all year long? Here's a guide. Relying on a moment of inspirationI always mean to clean my house. I have the best intentions, but then there’s something to watch on TV or I decide to get some empanadas, and before I realize it, the day is over. But if I’ve invited people over, I’m going to clean, because I don’t want other people to see how I live. Perhaps you can relate. If you’re having motivation problems, nothing solves them like fear of other people judging you. So throw a springtime party. If your house really sparkles, all your friends will silently feel shame for their own slovenliness, and that’s a win-win. View the full article

Country’s chief prosecutor links Russian intelligence to Vilnius fire and at least one suspect to other sabotage incidents View the full article

The next time you’re due for a medical exam you may get a call from someone like Ana: a friendly voice that can help you prepare for your appointment and answer any pressing questions you might have. With her calm, warm demeanor, Ana has been trained to put patients at ease—like many nurses across the U.S. But unlike them, she is also available to chat 24-7, in multiple languages, from Hindi to Haitian Creole. That’s because Ana isn’t human, but an artificial intelligence program created by Hippocratic AI, one of a number of new companies offering ways to automate time-consuming tasks usually performed by nurses and medical assistants. This March 2025 image from the website of artificial intelligence company Xoltar shows a demonstration of one of their avatars for conducting video calls with patients. [Photo: Xoltar via AP] It’s the most visible sign of AI’s inroads into health care, where hundreds of hospitals are using increasingly sophisticated computer programs to monitor patients’ vital signs, flag emergency situations and trigger step-by-step action plans for care—jobs that were all previously handled by nurses and other health professionals. Hospitals say AI is helping their nurses work more efficiently while addressing burnout and understaffing. But nursing unions argue that this poorly understood technology is overriding nurses’ expertise and degrading the quality of care patients receive. “Hospitals have been waiting for the moment when they have something that appears to have enough legitimacy to replace nurses,” said Michelle Mahon of National Nurses United. “The entire ecosystem is designed to automate, de-skill, and ultimately replace caregivers.” This March 2025 image from the website of artificial intelligence company Xoltar, shows two of of their demonstration avatars for conducting video calls with patients. [Photo: Xoltar via AP] Mahon’s group, the largest nursing union in the U.S., has helped organize more than 20 demonstrations at hospitals across the country, pushing for the right to have say in how AI can be used—and protection from discipline if nurses decide to disregard automated advice. The group raised new alarms in January when Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the incoming health secretary, suggested AI nurses “as good as any doctor” could help deliver care in rural areas. On Friday, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who’s been nominated to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, said he believes AI can “liberate doctors and nurses from all the paperwork.” Hippocratic AI initially promoted a rate of $9 an hour for its AI assistants, compared with about $40 an hour for a registered nurse. It has since dropped that language, instead touting its services and seeking to assure customers that they have been carefully tested. The company did not grant requests for an interview. AI in the hospital can generate false alarms and dangerous advice Hospitals have been experimenting for years with technology designed to improve care and streamline costs, including sensors, microphones and motion-sensing cameras. Now that data is being linked with electronic medical records and analyzed in an effort to predict medical problems and direct nurses’ care— sometimes before they’ve evaluated the patient themselves. In this photo provided by National Nurses United, nurses hold a rally in San Francisco on April 22, 2024, to highlight safety concerns about using artificial intelligence in healthcare. [Photo: National Nurses United via AP] Adam Hart was working in the emergency room at Dignity Health in Henderson, Nevada, when the hospital’s computer system flagged a newly arrived patient for sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to infection. Under the hospital’s protocol, he was supposed to immediately administer a large dose of IV fluids. But after further examination, Hart determined that he was treating a dialysis patient, or someone with kidney failure. Such patients have to be carefully managed to avoid overloading their kidneys with fluid. Hart raised his concern with the supervising nurse but was told to just follow the standard protocol. Only after a nearby physician intervened did the patient instead begin to receive a slow infusion of IV fluids. “You need to keep your thinking cap on—that’s why you’re being paid as a nurse,” Hart said. “Turning over our thought processes to these devices is reckless and dangerous.” Hart and other nurses say they understand the goal of AI: to make it easier for nurses to monitor multiple patients and quickly respond to problems. But the reality is often a barrage of false alarms, sometimes erroneously flagging basic bodily functions—such as a patient having a bowel movement—as an emergency. “You’re trying to focus on your work but then you’re getting all these distracting alerts that may or may not mean something,” said Melissa Beebe, a cancer nurse at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. “It’s hard to even tell when it’s accurate and when it’s not because there are so many false alarms.” Can AI help in the hospital? Even the most sophisticated technology will miss signs that nurses routinely pick up on, such as facial expressions and odors, notes Michelle Collins, dean of Loyola University’s College of Nursing. But people aren’t perfect either. “It would be foolish to turn our back on this completely,” Collins said. “We should embrace what it can do to augment our care, but we should also be careful it doesn’t replace the human element.” More than 100,000 nurses left the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to one estimate, the biggest staffing drop in 40 years. As the U.S. population ages and nurses retire, the U.S. government estimates there will be more than 190,000 new openings for nurses every year through 2032. Faced with this trend, hospital administrators see AI filling a vital role: not taking over care, but helping nurses and doctors gather information and communicate with patients. ‘Sometimes they are talking to a human and sometimes they’re not’ At the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences in Little Rock, staffers need to make hundreds of calls every week to prepare patients for surgery. Nurses confirm information about prescriptions, heart conditions and other issues—like sleep apnea—that must be carefully reviewed before anesthesia. The problem: many patients only answer their phones in the evening, usually between dinner and their children’s bedtime. “So what we need to do is find a way to call several hundred people in a 120-minute window—but I really don’t want to pay my staff overtime to do so,” said Dr. Joseph Sanford, who oversees the center’s health IT. Since January, the hospital has used an AI assistant from Qventus to contact patients and health providers, send and receive medical records and summarize their contents for human staffers. Qventus says 115 hospitals are using its technology, which aims to boost hospital earnings through quicker surgical turnarounds, fewer cancellations and reduced burnout. Each call begins with the program identifying itself as an AI assistant. “We always want to be fully transparent with our patients that sometimes they are talking to a human and sometimes they’re not,” Sanford said. While companies like Qventus are providing an administrative service, other AI developers see a bigger role for their technology. Israeli startup Xoltar specializes in humanlike avatars that conduct video calls with patients. The company is working with the Mayo Clinic on an AI assistant that teaches patients cognitive techniques for managing chronic pain. The company is also developing an avatar to help smokers quit. In early testing, patients spend about 14 minutes talking to the program, which can pickup on facial expressions, body language and other cues, according to Xoltar. Nursing experts who study AI say such programs may work for people who are relatively healthy and proactive about their care. But that’s not most people in the health system. “It’s the very sick who are taking up the bulk of health care in the U.S. and whether or not chatbots are positioned for those folks is something we really have to consider,” said Roschelle Fritz of the University of California Davis School of Nursing. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. —Matthew Perrone, AP Health Writer View the full article

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