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Let’s say you own one of the most valuable homes in a lush, gated community that has been earmarked as a future point of growth for decades to come. One day, a letter appears in your mailbox, offering to buy your property for between a third and two-thirds of its value on the open market. On the face of it, you should turn it down. But the person offering to buy it owns every house in the estate, and runs the HOA. They’re also friends with the police chief and the fire department. So you have to think carefully. That’s the situation Sam Altman finds himself in today as an Elon Musk-led group launches an audacious bid to buy the non-profit arm of OpenAI, the hottest ticket in tech, for $97.4 billion. The bid, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, is undoubtedly a cheeky one. OpenAI was last valued at $157 billion late last year when it last went into the market to seek investment. And just this week SoftBank, the Japanese investment company, valued it at $260 billion. That makes Musk’s bid to take over the company a cut-price one, worth significantly less than the going market rate. The idea that OpenAI, which has spent the last year or more in an on-again, off-again court case against Musk over an argument dating back a decade to the latter’s involvement in setting up the AI company as a non-profit, would accept the offer for the non-profit arm seems preposterous. Yet we are in an era where Elon Musk has emerged as a right-hand man for Donald Trump. Things are no longer normal in politics or business, and Trump sees OpenAI as a strategically important business for the United States. (Just look at his recently announced AI project Project Stargate for proof.) “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” Musk said in a statement made through his attorney announcing the bid. “We will make sure that happens.” We’ll soon find out whether that’s the bluster of a businessman who has long made audacious bets (many of which have paid off), or the commentary of someone whose quasi-governmental position allows him to exert power. For now at least, Sam Altman appears to be treating it like the joke it is. “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” he quickly tweeted. View the full article

When U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department told their contractors to pause all work, Sadie Healy expected the impact to be “horrendous.” But Healy, who runs a small global health consulting firm, Molloy Consultants, realized no one was documenting how bad the freeze on U.S. foreign aid would be. USAID wouldn’t be cataloging the impacts as President Donald Trump’s administration fired senior staff, shuttered its headquarters and then told its employees their jobs would end. The nonprofits and aid companies who worked with USAID were fighting to survive. So Healy decided she would do it. “I am an action person. The depression and the sadness that we knew this was going to cause was something I couldn’t deal with,” Healy said in an interview with The Associated Press. “So we called a Zoom meeting.” Healy is one of a growing number of people and organizations in the international development ecosystem stepping forward to track the impact of the freeze on U.S. foreign aid. Many are nonprofits who already support grassroots groups around the world, while others are professionals now volunteering their time, connections and skills. The U.S. is the largest single global humanitarian funder, giving $13.9 billion in 2024, and largest supporter of U.N. agencies, meaning any changes to foreign assistance have sweeping impacts across geographies and issues. The pause in funding has since turned into the dismantling of USAID and its programs. “CLOSE IT DOWN,” Trump said on social media on Friday, though a judge has paused a plan to put thousands of employees on paid leave. Are USAID cuts permanent or not? Elon Musk, Tesla CEO and billionaire adviser to the Trump administration, has led the campaign to shut down USAID, saying in posts on X that it is “evil,” a “criminal organization,” and a “viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said funding will not be permanently cut, but people in the field say every day the freeze continues and USAID stops works causes irreparable harm. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment. Healy and her business partner Meg McClure said they decided to focus on documenting the number of American jobs lost. They eventually got in touch with a staffer from a Senate committee, who advised them on what data to collect. Within days, they launched a website, USAID Stop-Work, and a survey to document how many U.S. jobs have been lost as a result of the freeze on foreign assistance. So far, employers or employees have reported 10,758 jobs cut since the stop work orders landed on Jan. 24. That number includes some positions at USAID, but not all of the 8,000 workers directly employed by the agency and the thousands more in the field. “We can document the destruction that this executive order has caused,” Healy said. “And we hope that lawyers and we hope that members of Congress can use that for their case.” At least two groups with tech capacity and deep networks circulated online surveys to learn about the extent of the funding cuts. They eventually merged efforts and set up the website, Global Aid Freeze to visualize the initial responses. The nonprofit GlobalGiving launched a fund to support small international organizations, many of whom will not survive even a 90-day pause in U.S. foreign funding. Roth Smith, an assistant professor in the School of Communication Studies at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, studies how people organize outside of formal structures, often in response to a disaster. He said volunteer efforts to map a crisis and connect that information to people who can act is typical, but the reach of this organizing is impressive. “This is a much larger scale and it seems to be highly polished,” he said. ‘Things are fundamentally changed’ The international nonprofit Accountability Lab, which now operates the Global Aid Freeze website, said 568 organizations responded to its survey about the impacts of the U.S. government’s foreign aid freeze. Half of the respondents estimated they had less than 3 months of operating reserves, meaning they will shutdown by May if funding remains on hold. Blair Glencorse, founder and co-CEO of Accountability Lab, said they’ve been in touch with foundations to try to help them figure out where their support can be most strategic. He said it also seems hard for nonprofits in developing countries to understand how dramatic and lasting the changes in U.S. foreign funding may be. “Things are fundamentally changed and I don’t think the aid system is going to be the same again,” he said. Other grassroots efforts have focused on supporting those who lost their jobs. Joanne Sonenshine, an economist who has worked as a consultant alongside USAID for more than a decade, said she saw a flood of LinkedIn posts about layoffs and in response, a flurry of job announcements. So, she set up a spreadsheet where people could put in their experience and contact information and others could post links to open positions. Almost 800 people wrote in their names, locations and work history. Another spreadsheet included more than 550 entries. “This just goes to show how much we need support for these people. And this is not just D.C. people, by the way,” Sonenshine said. “These are U.S. contractors or U.S. staff all over the world whose livelihoods and their family’s life depended on the U.S. government.” These grassroots tracking efforts are largely self-funded and self-directed. Healy and McClure pay for the website tracking U.S. job losses themselves. Accountability Lab stood up their survey without any dedicated funding, though they’ve recently gotten some support to continue the effort. Other professionals within international development have also offered to work for free to help people find jobs or help organizations get new funding. Healy said that willingness reflects the broader ethos and resilience of the community. “We love planning, it’s our favorite thing,” Healy said. “We are like, ‘This is the moment we were made for. Let’s go.’” ___ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy. —Thalia Beaty, Associated Press View the full article

A group of investors led by Elon Musk has given OpenAI an unsolicited offer of $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit part of OpenAI. An attorney for the group submitted the bid to OpenAI Monday, the Wall Street Journal reports. Per the Journal, the other investors in the group include Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management, Vy Capital, and 8VC, a venture firm led by Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale. Ari Emanuel, CEO of sports and entertainment company Endeavor, is also backing the offer through his investment fund. OpenAI uses a hybrid business structure that consists of a nonprofit parent entity (OpenAI, Inc.) and a for-profit subsidiary (OpenAI LP, referred to as a “capped-profit” company). In part because of the extraordinary high costs of inventing and training AI models, OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary in 2019 that has let it raise billions from Microsoft and others. Altman is now in the process of turning the subsidiary into a traditional company and spinning out the nonprofit. The nonprofit would, however, own equity in the new for-profit. (Neither OpenAI nor Musk immediately responded to Fast Company’s requests for comment.) The situation may seem familiar to OpenAI board member Bret Taylor, who was chairman of Twitter’s board of directors when Musk bid for, then bought, the company in October 2022. Taylor left Twitter soon after, along with most of the board. The unsolicited bid ratchets up Musk’s ongoing battle with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman. Musk, who cofounded OpenAI with Altman and others in 2015 (and now leads the Department of Government Efficiency), has already filed two lawsuits against OpenAI complaining that the company has deviated from its original nonprofit mission and is now prioritizing profit over public benefit. In the second lawsuit, filed in November 2024, OpenAI’s backer Microsoft was named as a defendant. Musk and the other investors could conceivably end up owning a large share of the for-profit AI. Musk’s AI company, xAI, has said that it’s building large language models that are less constrained by political correctness and more focused on objective truth. OpenAI, meanwhile, has been focused on developing frontier models that achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI), or AI systems that can do most “economically valuable” tasks better than humans. OpenAI’s for-profit arm is growing quickly. Altman is currently in discussions with the Japanese investment bank, SoftBank Group, which may invest up to $40 billion in the AI company, upping its value to about $300 billion. View the full article

ASUS has introduced the Cobble SSD enclosure, a high-speed, durable external storage solution designed for gamers, professionals, and content creators. Featuring a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2×1 interface with transfer speeds up to 10Gbps, support for M.2 NVMe PCIe and SATA SSDs, and an IP55-rated water- and dust-resistant chassis, ASUS Cobble delivers both performance and protection. The 2024 Good Design award-winning ASUS Cobble SSD enclosure incorporates a cobblestone-inspired design, available in black or gray, with scratch-resistant speckle-painted surfaces. Its metallic chassis and heat-resistant coating offer stability in demanding conditions, while its compact size ensures portability. Designed for rugged environments, ASUS Cobble features IP55-rated protection against dust and water exposure, safeguarding data from spills, dirt, and debris. Its aluminum-alloy construction and built-in thermal pad enhance heat dissipation, preventing SSD overheating and extending lifespan. With a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2×1 interface, ASUS Cobble achieves transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps for PCIe SSDs and 6Gbps for SATA SSDs, allowing for rapid data access and storage. The tool-free Q-Latch and screwless-lock cover enable easy SSD installation without extra tools. ASUS Cobble is fully compatible with Windows 11, macOS, mobile devices, and gaming consoles, including ROG Ally, PlayStation 5, and Xbox, making it a versatile option for users managing large files or gaming libraries. Technical Specifications Interface: USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (backward compatible with USB 3.2 Gen 1 and USB 2.0) SSD Compatibility: M.2 NVMe PCIe & SATA SSDs (22×42, 22×60, 22x80mm) Transfer Speeds: Up to 10Gbps (PCIe) / 6Gbps (SATA) Dimensions: 128.96 x 44.35 x 16.63mm Weight: 92±2 grams Temperature Range: 0–40°C (operation) / -40–60°C (storage) Water & Dust Resistance: IP55 certified ASUS Cobble SSD Enclosure is now available for purchase. For more details, visit ASUS official website. Image: Asus This article, "ASUS Unveils Cobble SSD Enclosure with High-Speed USB-C and Rugged Design" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

ASUS has introduced the Cobble SSD enclosure, a high-speed, durable external storage solution designed for gamers, professionals, and content creators. Featuring a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2×1 interface with transfer speeds up to 10Gbps, support for M.2 NVMe PCIe and SATA SSDs, and an IP55-rated water- and dust-resistant chassis, ASUS Cobble delivers both performance and protection. The 2024 Good Design award-winning ASUS Cobble SSD enclosure incorporates a cobblestone-inspired design, available in black or gray, with scratch-resistant speckle-painted surfaces. Its metallic chassis and heat-resistant coating offer stability in demanding conditions, while its compact size ensures portability. Designed for rugged environments, ASUS Cobble features IP55-rated protection against dust and water exposure, safeguarding data from spills, dirt, and debris. Its aluminum-alloy construction and built-in thermal pad enhance heat dissipation, preventing SSD overheating and extending lifespan. With a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2×1 interface, ASUS Cobble achieves transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps for PCIe SSDs and 6Gbps for SATA SSDs, allowing for rapid data access and storage. The tool-free Q-Latch and screwless-lock cover enable easy SSD installation without extra tools. ASUS Cobble is fully compatible with Windows 11, macOS, mobile devices, and gaming consoles, including ROG Ally, PlayStation 5, and Xbox, making it a versatile option for users managing large files or gaming libraries. Technical Specifications Interface: USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (backward compatible with USB 3.2 Gen 1 and USB 2.0) SSD Compatibility: M.2 NVMe PCIe & SATA SSDs (22×42, 22×60, 22x80mm) Transfer Speeds: Up to 10Gbps (PCIe) / 6Gbps (SATA) Dimensions: 128.96 x 44.35 x 16.63mm Weight: 92±2 grams Temperature Range: 0–40°C (operation) / -40–60°C (storage) Water & Dust Resistance: IP55 certified ASUS Cobble SSD Enclosure is now available for purchase. For more details, visit ASUS official website. Image: Asus This article, "ASUS Unveils Cobble SSD Enclosure with High-Speed USB-C and Rugged Design" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

When Nvidia introduced the free Nvidia Broadcast app in 2020, it promised to use the AI capabilities of RTX GPUs to boost the video and sound quality of users' recordings, presuming they had the right hardware. This could be useful when a laptop’s built-in webcam and microphones may not capture the best looking footage or the richest audio, and could potentially help streamers get by with a cheaper setup. With version 2.0 of the Nvidia Broadcast app, released at the tail end of January, the capabilities are stepping up even higher...perhaps a little too close to the sun. In Nvidia Broadcast 2.0, microphones still have options for noise removal and room echo removal, but there’s now also a studio voice effect in beta that “enhances the quality of your mic to simulate a high end recording studio.” For video, the app can still make tweaks to your background (replacing, blurring, or essentially green-screening it), remove noise from grainy footage, zoom in and automatically keep you in frame, and strangely enough, make it look like your eyes are looking at the camera. But new with the update is virtual lighting, to better highlight you in your video. Some of these new features call for powerful GPUs. Studio voice, video noise removal, and virtual key light all call for a “high-end GPU” and aren’t recommended for use while gaming or using other GPU-intensive applications. All features require RTX hardware, meaning you’ll need at least an RTX 2060 or above to try them, but for the features that require a “high-end GPU,” Nvidia says an RTX 4080, 5080, or higher is “required.” That said, I was able to run both features on an RTX 4060 mobile GPU. Nvidia Broadcast in actionThe idea behind these AI features is cool, but how well they actually work is still in question. For one thing, they may really be as demanding as Nvidia says. Running either the virtual key light or studio voice feature on my RTX 4060-powered laptop showed the GPU was absolutely slammed by the process. Nvidia’s built-in GPU Utilization monitor was showing red, with the RTX 4060 all but maxed out and the performance overlay showing it drawing 60 watts. My laptop’s fans even ramped up as if I were gaming at full throttle. So just from an economics standpoint, these features are costly no matter how you look at them. You’ll need to have powerful hardware to run them, and then run that hardware hard. Plan on using these features on a desktop computer or with your laptop plugged in. Then there’s the even more crucial matter of how they really look and sound. Let’s start with video. Credit: Mark Knapp The eye contact tool, despite being available before Broadcast 2.0, has now come out of beta. But I’m not convinced it should have. Sure, enabling it makes it look like I’m staring into the camera in video footage. But in my testing, it invariably gave me big blue eyes that made me look like a White Walker right out of Game of Thrones. For reference, I do not have blue eyes. Even when I was making eye contact with the camera, Nvidia Broadcast still insisted on editing my eyes and making them blue. Credit: Mark Knapp The virtual key light did what it said. It created artificial lighting to boost brightness on me without bumping up the brightness on the whole video. The results failed to impress me, though. With it enabled, I simply look like I’ve gone radioactive. The lighting is very unnatural. As for the audio, at first blush, it sounds fairly impressive. The mics on my laptop are not very good. Even in a quiet room, they put out audio that has me sounding far away and slightly muffled. With studio voice enabled, my voice ends up much fuller and clearer sounding. But listening closely, there’s an odd digitization going on. It’s hard to characterize, but it doesn’t sound like it’s really my voice. It sounds more like a recording of my voice was used in a voice cloner, and then that repeated everything I said. It’s all just a little stilted and quavering. Listen below: The studio voice feature also can’t save the mic from a bad recording environment. Testing in a small room with a box fan running at full blast, the audio was a dramatic improvement in clarity compared to the raw recording from the microphones, but it was still audibly processed, and the efforts to subdue the background noise made my voice sound especially odd. If you have a half-decent microphone, studio voice might even make it worse. I made additional test recordings using the built-in boom mic on the Audeze Maxwell headset with it directly wired into my laptop. In both a quiet and loud room, it provided a loud, clear, and full recording of my voice without studio voice enabled. In both cases, turning on studio voice then introduced hard-to-miss digitization that not only made the audio sound worse but also made it harder to comprehend. Can Nvidia AI replace a proper streaming setup?Given the hardware requirements, performance demands, and quality of the results, the stars really need to align for these newer Nvidia Broadcast features to feel truly worthwhile. If you have an Nvidia-powered system, by all means, play with the tool. Some of the features can come in handy, like the auto-framing one. But I wouldn’t recommend shelling out for a new Nvidia GPU just so you can save money on audio and video recording gear, especially if you want to get anywhere close to professional quality. And don’t forget that the power draw of the GPU trying to run these features will add up over time. The audio quality I got from studio voice — perhaps limited by the RTX 4060 in my system — wasn’t something I’d want to share with any kind of audience on a regular basis, and it paled in comparison to the quality I could get just from having a headset with a boom mic. I’ve tested a lot of gaming headsets, and even very cheap wired headsets with a boom mic are leagues better than what I heard from studio voice. The eye contact feature failed to be anything other than unsettling, and I don’t think it’s going to fool anyone into believing you’re actually making eye contact with them. And the virtual key light, much like studio voice, doesn’t appear to be a quality substitute for a real key light, especially when affordable LED lights are a dime a dozen. View the full article

Google confirms an outage in the Business Profiles reviews system and says a fix is in progress. The post Google Confirms Business Profile Reviews Outage appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Bid complicates CEO Sam Altman’s plans to turn artificial intelligence group into for-profit companyView the full article

Officials and federal officers turned away scores of U.S. Agency for International staffers who showed up for work Monday at its Washington headquarters, after a court temporarily blocked a Trump administration order that would have pulled all but a fraction of workers off the job worldwide. A front desk officer told a steady stream of agency staffers — dressed in business clothes or USAID sweatshirts or T-shirts — that he had a list of no more than 10 names of people allowed to enter the building. Tarps hung over USAID’s interior signs. A man who earlier identified himself as a USAID official took a harsher tone, telling staffers “just go” and “why are you here?” USAID staff were also denied entry to their offices to retrieve belongings and were told by officials that the agency’s lease had now been turned over to the General Services Administration, which manages federal government buildings. Neither the White House, State Department, USAID nor GSA immediately responded to requests for comment. The move marks the latest step in what has been the fast-paced dismantling of the six-decade-old U.S. aid and development agency and its programs worldwide three weeks ago. Even as President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, who runs a cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, have taken aim at other government agencies, USAID has been hit hardest so far. The president signed an executive order freezing foreign assistance so the administration could review spending that it says is wasteful or not aligned with Trump’s agenda. That has forced U.S.-funded aid and development programs worldwide to shut down and lay off staff even as Secretary of State Marco Rubio had sought to mitigate the damage by issuing a waiver to exempt emergency food aid and “life-saving” programs. Despite the waiver, neither funding nor staffing has resumed to get even the most essential programs rolling again, USAID officials and aid groups say. The Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the largest humanitarian groups, called the U.S. cutoff the most devastating in its 79-year history and said Monday that it will have to suspend programs serving hundreds of thousands of people in 20 countries. “The impact of this will be felt severely by the most vulnerable, from deeply neglected Burkina Faso, where we are the only organization supplying clean water to the 300,000 trapped in the blockaded city of Djibo, to war-torn Sudan, where we support nearly 500 bakeries in Darfur providing daily subsidized bread to hundreds of thousands of hunger-stricken people,” the group said in a statement. In an interview aired Sunday with Fox News host Bret Baier ahead of the Super Bowl, Trump suggested that he might allow a handful of aid and development programs to resume under Rubio’s oversight. “Let him take care of the few good ones,” Trump said. Aid organizations say the damage that has been done to programs would make it impossible to restart many operations without additional substantial investment. A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked a Trump administration order that would have put thousands of USAID staffers on administrative leave that same day and given those abroad 30 days to get back to the United States at government expense. The temporary restraining order came in a lawsuit by two groups representing federal workers, and another hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. While the judge ordered the administration to restore agency email access for staffers, the order said nothing about reopening USAID headquarters. Some staffers and contractors reported having their agency email restored by Monday, while others said they did not. Some staffers told The Associated Press that they came to the USAID offices because they were confused by conflicting agency emails and notices over the weekend about whether they should go in. Others expected they would be turned away but went anyway. A USAID email sent Sunday night, saying it was “From the office of the administrator,” told employees that what it called “the former USAID headquarters” and other USAID offices in the Washington area were closed until further notice. It told workers to telework unless they are instructed otherwise. Department of Homeland Security officers and civilians also blocked USAID staffers and Democratic lawmakers from entering the headquarters last week. —Ellen Knickmeyer, Associated Press View the full article

This week's biggest event was the Super Bowl. While the game was a snore-fest reminiscent of the lopsided Super Bowl blowouts of the past, the halftime show was nothing like the performances of 1980s Super Bowl favorites "Up with People." If you compare the two performances (and you should), you'll see how far we have come as a society. Kendrick's jeans win the Super Bowl Super Bowl 2025 may have been more of beatdown than an exciting football game, but luckily Kendrick Lamar was around at halftime to provide some much needed drama. From "Uncle" Samuel L. Jackson providing a preemptive critique of the show from "mainstream" America, to Serena Williams crip walking for more total yards than the Kansas City offense, to the copious Drake-baiting, plus some provocative, timely questions about what "America" means anyway, all of it performed in front of the sitting president himself, it was a lot. But even still, Kendrick's jeans stole the show. Debates over jean length and style have been vital part of youth culture since forever, and K Dot's choice of washed, boot-cut jeans—flares, even—marks a turning point. For the last few years, kids have been wearing huge, Jnco style jeans dug up from the mid-1990s, often accented with some chrome studs, but Kendricks "loose fit on top; wild at the ankles" style is destined to be the must-wear cut for the foreseeable future. Hopefully kids will take note that Kendrick's jeans are the right length, and not do that "so long it's draggin on the ground" thing that was popular the last time people wore bell-bottoms. As for the future of jeans, look for the return of skinny jeans; it is inevitable. "What's a father?" memes take over the internetOnline wags recently rediscovered an old clip of an interview with deceased rapper XXXTentacion, and they have been turning out hilarious memes using it on X, TikTok, and everywhere else ever since. The original video was released in 2022 by TheFader. In it, XXX is asked “Do you have any relationship with your father?” He responds "What’s that? What’s a father?" and there's something so performativly poignant about it—so real-but-so-fake—that the moment defines cringe. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. The internet piled on after the initial post on X, with the consensus that XXX was corny. Then there were attempts to recreate the clip as accurately as possible: And lots of memes where XXXTentacion fails to understand other simple things, like showers and jobs. What does "reheating your own nachos" mean?"Reheating nachos" or "reheating your own nachos" is an evocative piece of slang that comes from online fandom and amateur cultural critics. It is used to refer to performers and/or artists, and it means something like "trying to recapture what was good about previous work." It's usually meant as negative criticism—nachos are generally not nearly as delicious when reheated—but it's possible to successfully reheat your own nachos too. For instance, many fans of Lady Gaga regard her new single "Abracadabra" as reheated nachos—it's got the same electronic beats, wordplay, and catchy chorus of her best work—but it's regarded as awesome by many, leading to the suggestion that she made the new nachos as delicious as the old ones and/or created new nachos from her old recipes. Like a good nacho cheese pull, it's possible to stretch this concept pretty far. What does "boombayah" mean? The slang term "boombayah" is a euphemism for having sex, sometimes phrased like "doing the boombayah." It's used mostly online, often to defeat censorship algorithms, so it's not the kind of word you're likely to hear said aloud. The word originated with K-Pop band BlackPink's 2016 song of the same name but has only recently caught on widely, first within the fandom of Squid Game (thanks to this video), from whence it spread to everyone else. Everyone hates "Influencer Smurf" Few things engender as passionate a reaction as reboots of beloved childhood media. When the new version of the old thing is done well, people absolutely love it, like the reaction to the recent Super Mario Bros. movie. But when it's done poorly, the vitriol is off-the-charts. So it is with the upcoming Smurfs movie. The plot, in which the Smurfs have to enter the real world for some reason, is seen as lazy, obvious, and also the same as the story for the quite poor 2011 live action Smurfs movie. But there's a special hatred for one character in the trailer: Influencer Smurf. His line in the trailer ("Smash that subscribe button!") and his smug look are seen as the worst kind of pandering, and a desperate bid to create modern relevance in the most obvious way possible. "Influencer Smurf will lead to a catastrophic event in July," sums up one Reddit poster. On the positive side of The Smurfs reactions, people like the casting of John Goodman as Papa Smurf. So there's at least something nice to say. There's also the fact that Smurfs were never anything but horrible, and people only liked Smurfs in the first place because they were 5 years old. A new generations of 5-year-olds is primed to fall in love this summer when The Smurfs is released. Again. Viral video of the week: Doug's winter party This week's viral video is so wholesome you can't help but love it. Taken by a Ring doorbell cam, Doug's Winter Party documents 85 year-old Doug visiting his neighbor Michelle to invite her and her family to his party. "Hi, I'm Doug across the street over here," Doug says. "This is an invite to a party on February 15. I didn’t want to leave it in the mailbox.” That would be fairly cute—maybe a five on a 10-point adorability scale—but Michelle follows with a video showing off the paper invitation, where Doug writes the party is from "4 p.m. until the cops arrive." That shoots it up to 11. An invitation to Doug's winter party is now the most coveted ticket in the world (or on the internet, anyway), with many angling for a spot on Doug's guest list and trying to impress with the dance moves they'll bring. We can all only hope that no weird strangers actually show up. Nobody wants that, least of all Doug. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Everyone has their opinion on how to make a perfectly boiled egg—is it boiled from a cold start, hot start, steamed, pressure-cooked, or sous vide? This argument will rage all the more feverishly as periodic cooking enters the fray. According to science, periodic cooking yields the perfect boiled egg. The test required two pots of water at different temperatures, a two-minute timer, a notepad, and 32 minutes of uninterrupted focus. I must admit, the results were fantastic—but I’d never do it again. The special thing about eggs is that you have two substances: the egg white and the egg yolk, one encapsulating the other. As this study details, since those two components have different compositions, they require different cooking temperatures to reach perfection. But unless you literally cook them separately, how are you supposed to cook each part to a different temperature without overcooking the white? Why, with the periodic cooking method, of course. What is periodic cooking?Periodic cooking in regards to boiled eggs is a process where the cooking temperature alternates, in this case from boiling water (212°F) to warm water (86°F), over the course of 32 minutes until the white and the yolk proteins cook to their individual state of perfection. No overcooked rubbery whites or dusty yolks. Instead, a yolk that is just-gelled across the entire orb, and a white that is set, but not gummy. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann The group of scientists who conducted this experiment had a controlled environment, spectroscopy, and tasting experts at their disposal to settle on the most perfectly texture egg. Then they wrote up instructions on how to do the periodic cooking method at home. So I tried it out, of course. How to make the perfect boiled eggSet up two pots of water. Bring the smaller one up to boiling. This pot will be boiling for the entire time. Fill a second, larger pot up about halfway with warm water. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann Once these pots are at the right temperature, put the egg into the boiling water for two minutes, then take it out with a slotted spoon and drop it into the warm water for two minutes. You’ll do this cycle a total of eight times, which ends up being 32 minutes. If you want to try this method at home, here are some helpful tips: You’ll need a thermometer. A probe thermometer (I used the Thermapen One) or a low temperature clip-on thermometer. To me, 86°F water feels just pleasantly warm to someone who has cold hands. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann Use a big pot for the warm water. When the hot egg plunges in a few times, it won’t change the temperature of a great pool of water as much as a small one. Still, keep a cup of cold water close by if you have to cool it down, and take the temperature every time the hot egg goes in. Have a kettle of hot water nearby. Since you’ll be boiling that smaller pot of water for a half hour, be prepared for the water level to decrease. If you see the egg poking above the surface, top up the boiling water when the egg is in the warm water pot. Keep a notepad. Eight back-and-forths is a trap: You’re definitely going to forget what round you’re on unless you keep a tally. I did a tally mark every time I put the egg in the warm water, signaling the completion of one cycle. Is the perfect boiled egg worth it? Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann As much as I enjoyed testing out this method of egg cookery, no, it is not worth it. Between the set-up, the amount of space needed, the attention required, and the length of time, the final result did not rock my world. And seeing as I usually crush boiled eggs on toast, the subtle differences are lost. I made three eggs so I could taste them all side by side. Crucially, the instructions from Science News do not indicate if the egg should be a fridge-cold or room temperature egg, so I did both. As a control, I made a steamed egg the way I normally do to get a set yolk. The cold egg and the room temperature egg produced similar results, which I think is good news if you want to do this at home. The fridge-cold egg had a noticeable barely-set ring of white around the yolk, while the room temperature egg did not have this. Judging from the results, I’d say the Science News article wants us to use room temp eggs. The yolk of the periodically cooked egg was markedly different from other boiled egg yolks I’ve eaten. So if you’re a big yolk connoisseur, you may like this. It’s velvety and has a consistent texture throughout. Traditional-method boiling yields egg yolks that have a less cooked center and become more cooked closer to the white. The white was delicate and easy to bite through, but I don’t think boiling produces very rubbery whites anyway, so the difference is rather subtle. I only noticed because I tasted the eggs side by side. Since “perfect” is in the belly of the beholder, I’ll likely be sticking with my usual fried and scrambled. View the full article

U.S. President Donald Trump said Palestinians would not have the right of return to the Gaza Strip under his proposal to redevelop the enclave, according to excerpts from a Fox News interview. In a transcript released on Monday, Trump added that he thought he could make a deal with Jordan and Egypt to take the displaced Palestinians, saying the U.S. gives the two countries “billions and billions of dollars a year.” Asked if Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza, Trump told Fox: “No, they wouldn’t because they’re going to have much better housing,” according an excerpt Fox News broadcast on Monday. “I’m talking about building a permanent place for them,” he said, adding it would take years for Gaza to be habitable again. In a shock announcement last week, Trump proposed resettling Gaza’s 2.2 million Palestinians. His remarks to Fox were the first time he said they would have no right of return. Residents of Gaza have broadly rejected any suggestion of moving from the strip, as has the Palestinian Authority and the militant group Hamas that administers Gaza. Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Trump’s statement that Palestinians would not be able to return to Gaza was “irresponsible.” “We affirm that such plans are capable of igniting the region,” he told Reuters on Monday. When Trump introduced his proposals last week, including one for the U.S. to take over Gaza, he drew rebukes from allies throughout the world. Palestinians and regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia rejected the proposal outright. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met Trump last week, praised the proposal to resettle Palestinians. He said: “They can leave, they can then come back, they can relocate and come back. But you have to rebuild Gaza.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will depart later this week for his first visit to the Middle East in the job, said Palestinians would have to “live somewhere else in the interim” while strip was rebuilt. Rubio met Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty in Washington on Monday for talks on regional stability, Egypt’s foreign ministry said on X, as Cairo fears Palestinians could be forced across Egypt’s border with Gaza. In portions of the interview broadcast on Sunday, Trump reiterated his plan to buy and own Gaza. In the latest excerpt released on Monday, Trump said between two and six communities could be built for the Palestinians “a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is.” “I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent,” he told Fox. —Susan Heavey, Simon Lewis, and Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Reuters View the full article

On Friday, we reported that the Google local reviews seem to be disappearing or being counted wrong. Well, Google finally confirmed the issue, just minutes ago, in the Google Business Profiles Forums.View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Americans are predicted to spend a whopping 2.5 billion dollars on flowers this Valentine’s day. If you are one of the people who are considering such a gift to your paramour, you may want to stop for a moment and consider your beloved’s beloved: Many popular flower choices are toxic for dogs and cats. Here's what to know before you choose your bouquet so you won’t have to apologize for a vet visit later. Flowers that aren't safe for petsFirst, consider whether your intended recipient has a cat or dog (or both), as they can have different reactions. For instance, lilies, a common Valentine’s Day choice, can be lethal to cats, even in very small amounts, including the plant itself and even the water it sits in. Lilies can cause kidney failure, which is often fatal. Lilies are dangerous to dogs, as well, causing gastrointestinal distress, but they don't carry the same risk for dogs as they do for cats. Tulips and daffodils, both bright and colorful enough to attract your pet, are toxic to dogs and cats. Both cause gastrointestinal distress, and while tulips usually result in vomiting and drooling, daffodils can be even dangerous: Ingesting the bulb of a daffodil can cause heart issues in animals. Fragrance is another reason some flowers are popular in bouquets: Hyacinth has a strong perfume and beautiful shape, but when ingested by dogs and cats, they cause severe drooling, vomiting, and tremors. Peonies, which are gorgeously ruffled and scented cause vomiting and diarrhea in dogs. Chrysanthemums, giant showy flowers which you might know as mums, are toxic to dogs, causing gastrointestinal issues, and incoordination. Tall, spiky flowers make for a dramatic and unique bouquet, but beware: Gladioli are toxic to both cats and dogs, causing drooling, lethargy, and diarrhea. Foxgloves are even more dangerous, causing cardiac arrhythmias and cardiac failure. Also out? Amaryllis (gastrointestinal distress, lethargy, and tremors), poinsettia (skin and eye irritation, vomiting, and drooling) and peace lily (vomiting, drooling, and difficulty swallowing). These flowers are safe for pet householdsIf you’re determined to order flowers, there are still plenty of choices that are safer for pets. Roses, though perhaps unoriginal, are non-toxic for cats and dogs—and florists usually de-thorn the roses, so even that risk is gone. Instead of tulips, consider gerbera daisies, which are bright, colorful, and safe for pets. Skip the daffodils and go for sunflowers. These giant blooms are like sunshine in flower form and are non-toxic for pets and people. The sunflower center becomes sunflower seeds, and you can even grill or cook the sunflower heart. If you want to be a bit more unique in your flower choices, snapdragons, a spiky flower alternative to foxglove and gladiolas, are safe and come in a wild array of colors. Want something scented like peonies? Try stock: This blandly named flower is deeply perfumed and has beautiful blooms along a single stalk. Freesia is also scented and has a beautiful shape of blooms on an arced stem, a bit like an orchid. If you’re looking for the impact of a chrysanthemum, ask for zinnias. They grow into similar shapes and petal structures with the same color and size impact. If you want a flower no one else will have that is fantastical and whimsical, celosia is non-toxic to pets and comes in both plume and cockscomb shapes. Of course, if you want to impress a pet parent on Valentine’s Day, you might consider ditching real flowers altogether and going right to bribery of the most important person in their life. View the full article

The U.S. military will no longer allow transgender individuals to join the military and will stop performing or facilitating procedures associated with gender transition for service members, according to a memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth filed in court on Monday. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month that took aim at transgender troops in a personal way — at one point saying that a man identifying as a woman was “not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.” “Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused,” Hegseth said in a memo dated Feb. 7 and filed on Monday with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. “All unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for Service members are paused,” he said. Hegseth said individuals with gender dysphoria already in the military would be “treated with dignity and respect,” and the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness would provide additional details on what this would mean. The military has about 1.3 million active-duty personnel, according to Department of Defense data. While transgender rights advocates say there are as many as 15,000 transgender service members, officials say the number is in the low thousands. A poll from Gallup published on Monday said 58% of Americans favored allowing openly transgender individuals serving in the military, but the support had declined from 71% in 2019. Last week, a U.S. judge asked lawyers for Trump’s administration to ensure that six military members who sued to stop the executive order targeting transgender troops are not removed from service before further court proceedings are held. Civil rights organizations had filed for a temporary restraining order after a service member alleged that she was told she must either be classified as a man or be separated from the military. Miriam Perelson, a 28-year-old female transgender service member based at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, had said she was required to leave the sleeping area for female troops, given a cot in an empty classroom and not allowed to use the female restrooms. —Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart, Reuters View the full article

Want more traffic to your Shopify store? Start a blog. Why? Look at Gymshark. Its blog ranks for over 174K niche-related keywords and brings in over 673.1K visitors every month. That’s high-value SEO traffic it can funnel to its product pages. All without relying on ads. And here’s the thing: If you’re not blogging, you’re missing more than search traffic. You’re walking away from opportunities to connect with your audience and position yourself as a leader in your industry. Let’s fix that. Here are 9 Shopify blog examples to inspire your own blog (plus practical tips to steal). 1. Gymshark – Health and Fitness Blog Gymshark’s blog, Gymshark Central, pairs high-quality content with a sleek design. It’s one of the best Shopify blog examples I’ve seen. Because it focuses on what actually works: Super-actionable content that helps its readers crush their fitness goals Eye-catching visuals that make you stop scrolling And it does all this while staying SEO-friendly. It all starts with its optimized website architecture. This includes well-thought-out categories such as: Product & Style Fitness Health Plus, the blog covers a wide range of topics in different content formats. For instance, it has detailed guides for workout routines and inspirational lifestyle content. And these aren’t quick throwaway articles, either. They’re highly engaging content that captures attention and ranks well. Case in point: The article “The Six Best Bicep Exercises For Mass.” It’s a 4,000-word guide that goes deep. Each exercise comes with highly detailed instructions. Every step includes a GIF showing how to do each exercise. (And features models decked out in Gymshark gear, of course.) And it’s not just filler. The step-by-step guide, along with the visuals, works like your very own personal trainer. Everything you need about proper form and technique is right there. It’s the kind of post you bookmark and come back to again and again. The best part? This post ranks high in search, bringing in highly qualified organic traffic every month. It’s getting visitors for keywords such as “bicep workouts,” and “best bicep exercises.” People searching for these terms are likely gym-goers—Gymshark’s target audience. Sure, they might not be ready to buy yet. But these searches act as entry points into Gymshark’s funnel. How Gymshark Optimizes Content for Top SEO Rankings That biceps article shows all the hallmarks of content that rank well in organic search. It breaks down each exercise with easy, step-by-step instructions. Plus, it includes GIFs of each move, so it’s easier for readers to follow along. This depth keeps readers engaged. So, they spend more time on the page—a signal Google uses to measure quality content. What’s more, the blog post follows basic search engine optimization. For instance, meta tags use the target keyword: Plus, the title is in an H1 tag: And the internal links guide readers and search engines through a logical path: These are SEO best practices that help rank blogs for relevant keywords. And the results speak for themselves. The bicep blog post ranks for over 18K keywords and gets roughly 78K organic traffic every month. That’s the power of pairing high-quality content with smart SEO. 2. Stanley: Adventure & Lifestyle Blog Stanley’s blog goes beyond just talking about its products. Instead, it paints a picture of an adventurous lifestyle. This helps the business tap into its audience’s adventurous spirit. The strategy is clear: By focusing on broader experiences, Stanley anchors its brand in universal experiences. And embeds its products into these stories. The result: Stanley becomes a must-have for life’s memorable moments. Like brewing coffee outdoors, for example. This works because it transforms Stanley from a simple purchase into a lifestyle choice. Readers start seeing Stanley products as part of the experiences they want to have. And this creates an emotional connection that goes beyond the product’s practical use. It’s no longer about selling drinkware. It’s about selling a lifestyle, with Stanley a key part of achieving it. How’s that for selling without selling? How Stanley’s Blog Strategy Drives Marketing Success The brilliance of Stanley’s blog is that it works as a key part of how the brand connects with people online. It speaks to people at every stage: Whether they’re just learning about the brand, comparing options, or ready to buy. For example: For existing fans, you’ll see posts like “Give the Gift of Stanley Personalization.” These readers already know and love Stanley products. They’re just looking for what’s new. For visitors who aren’t shopping yet, Stanley shares stories like “Women in Conservation: Jennifer Schall.” These posts build connections through shared values before any product pitch. Finally, for current customers, it offers practical content like “How to Properly Clean Your Stanley Gear.” These helpful guides keep customers coming back. Because the blog has different types of content for different customers, it’s not just a content hub. It’s a relationship-building tool. And in ecommerce, this is a great foundation for channeling buyers to product pages, and driving repeat sales. 3. Darn Tough Vermont: Outdoor Lifestyle Blog Darn Tough Vermont’s blog stays true to its roots. It has the same down-to-earth, community-first vibe that fans of the brand love. How does this manifest? First of all, the blog prominently features on the homepage (Unlike many ecommerce stores that hide their blogs in the footer. As if they don’t really want you to find it.) Here’s what this tells us: The blog isn’t just an afterthought. It’s part of the website experience and shows that Darn Tough is more than a store—it’s a community. This sense of community comes through in how its blog invites readers to explore. For starters, it’s easy to navigate. There are two well-organized drop-down menus for blog categories. One organizes content by topics like “Sock 101” and “Merino Wool.” The other lets you filter by activity, like “Hiking” or “Snow Sports.” It’s a sign that it’s considered the diverse interests of its readers. Even the design reinforces this welcoming feel. The clean, 3-column blog design is easy on the eyes. And the search bar shows attention to detail. Why? It doesn’t just shove products in your face. You can filter specifically for blog posts, too. It’s a small touch, but it makes browsing smoother. And honestly, more enjoyable. And all this work is paying off. The blog gets traffic from general search queries like “best socks for sweaty feet” and “ski socks.” These non-branded keywords are incredibly valuable. People searching for them aren’t focused on a specific product. And they likely haven’t formed strong brand preferences yet. Reaching them at this stage gives Darn Tough the chance to guide their buying decisions. Side note: Thoughtful design also keeps people on the site longer and encourages them to engage. These are signals of high-quality content. Exactly what you need to align with Google’s ranking factors. How Darn Tough Engages Readers With Stories That Sell Darn Tough knows how to hook readers still in the research phase. It uses a storytelling framework that subtly primes people to buy. Without being pushy. Take the article “Best Socks for Sweaty Feet.” It follows a blog post template that informs and engages readers. For example, it uses a first-person voice, which immediately lowers the reader’s defenses (because it doesn’t sound like a sales pitch.) Then, there are the visuals: Real-life images that feel authentic, not staged stock photos. These make the content relatable and help boost credibility. Finally, the product links fit naturally into the text. All these subtle, non-intrusive elements leave a lasting impression. Even if readers don’t buy right away, they’re likely to think of Darn Tough when it’s time to buy premium socks. That’s how storytelling turns “just researching” to “I only buy Darn Tough.” 4. Taut: Health Blog Taut’s blog is an extension of its premium anti-aging supplements. It educates with content focused on its audience’s needs. And positions Taut as an authority in this competitive niche. The blog design echoes the brand’s high-end positioning: It features bright, engaging visuals—many showcasing women, its target audience. And it pairs this with a light color palette and clean, modern typography. The blog homepage sets the tone instantly. Above the fold, a full-width section grabs attention with a bold image and a strong blog post title and description. Scroll down, and you’ll find the latest posts. With topics that align with its products, such as: The role of collagen in skincare Solutions for brittle nails Collagen pills vs. powders These posts go beyond surface-level content. For example, the article on ingredients you can’t mix in skincare provides detailed advice. It breaks down exactly which ingredients to avoid mixing. Plus, the information is easy to skim, making it easy to see at a glance. This helps readers make smarter choices. And shows them the brand knows its stuff. And you know what? When people see you as knowledgeable, they start to trust you. That trust positions your brand as an expert in your niche. How Taut Builds Topical Authority Taut shows it gets the SEO game by focusing on topical authority: a key strategy for dominating your niche in the SERPs. Look through its content, and you’ll notice multiple posts on the same topic. This creates a web of content that Google loves. Take collagen, for example. It has various articles on this topic, such as: Collagen Pills vs Powders: Which Is Better, Peptides or Capsules? Best Collagen Drink & Water: Which Brand Is Best for the Skin? Collagen for Face: How to Increase Face Collagen When Losing It Covering different angles of the same topic signals to search engines that the blog is an authoritative resource on the subject. And it helps readers, too. They can explore a topic in depth without leaving the site. This lowers bounce rates and increases engagement. The cherry on top? Many of its blog posts rank in various SERP features. For instance: It’s on the first page of Google for terms like “collagen facial.” It also appears in the “People Also Ask” section for queries like “super collagen.” It’s even in Google’s AI overviews. It’s hard to quantify exactly how much traffic this strategy drives without internal data. But one thing is clear. Creating topic clusters works. Side note: Topic clusters help Google see how well your content covers a subject. Want to rank higher? Prove you’re the expert with topic clusters. We’ve got a free topical authority analysis tool to help you identify and optimize your keyword clusters. 5. Press London: Food Blog Press London’s “The Squeeze Magazine” doesn’t feel like a traditional blog. It looks and reads more like a wellness publication. Just the perfect fit for its health-conscious audience. Notice the magazine-style layout that draws you in: And the sharp curated photos that bring the content to life: Plus, the zero clutter that creates a polished vibe: Together, they complement the brand’s simplicity and wellness. But it’s not just about looks. The content also focuses on practical wellness advice its readers need. And then smoothly connecting them to helpful products when relevant. Take the article about hydration in winter. Notice how it mentions its products naturally within the content. This feels more like getting tips from a friend than a sales pitch. And when people feel that way, trust builds and skepticism fades—a step that needs to happen before anyone decides to buy. How the Squeeze Magazine Turns Blog Content Into Sales Press London makes its blog work harder by using strategic internal links to drive sales. It uses links to: Take you to products that fit what you’re reading about Connect its most important product pages Help you find related content Look at these examples: In “The 70/30 Rule: Is This the Secret to Weight Loss?” the article ends with a call to action to a product category page. Perfect timing. That’s because after readers learn about a helpful approach to weight loss, they’re ready to see products that support their new world view. Now, in “How to Stay on Track After a Meal Plan,” it uses keyword-optimized links to product pages. This helps readers find the exact products they need when they’re most interested. (And it passes valuable SEO link juice, too.) Lastly, in “Vitamin D: Benefits: The Signs of Deficiency, and How to Get More,” it includes a link to a related article. This keeps readers engaged, exploring connected topics they care about. Here’s the takeaway: Internal links aren’t just navigation tools. You can use them to guide readers to product pages so your Shopify blog becomes another sales channel. And here’s the bonus: Strategic internal linking also helps search engines crawl your site more efficiently. It’s not a magic bullet for rankings, but it strengthens your SEO foundation. Further reading: Internal Linking for SEO: The Complete Guide 6. Game of Bricks: Toy Blog Game of Bricks sells Lego lighting kits and accessories. And its blog is unmistakably made for Lego fans. The content is diverse and perfectly targeted to their interests. From product-focused posts to gift guides, it covers a wide range of topics, such as: Football LEGO Sets: The Ultimate Gift for Every Football Fan How to Build and Display the LEGO Plum Blossom What is LEGO 11031: A Retired LEGO Set Most Valuable LEGO Sets: A Collector’s Guide This variety means it’s got something for everyone: Parents can get ideas for gifts, and collectors can learn more about rare and retired sets. How Game of Bricks Turns LEGO Fans Into Customers Game of Bricks focuses on providing educational content. Product mentions often feel secondary. Take the blog post “The Best LEGO Brickheadz Sets to Collect.” It starts by giving readers what they’re searching for: a list of LEGO Brickheadz sets. As the article continues, it casually introduces Game of Bricks’ lighting kits. This builds product awareness without making it sound too salesy. It’s a great strategy that builds product awareness, encouraging readers to think: “Maybe I could use that for my set.” (Even if a lighting kit wasn’t something they had in mind when they started reading.) 7. Ruggable: Interior Design Blog Ruggable’s blog, Into the Wash, is more like a home and lifestyle magazine. Not a blog about rugs. Every post takes you into living spaces where rugs are the secret ingredient for Instagram-worthy homes. And in every shot, you’ll find Ruggable’s rugs. What’s more, the blog layout is clean and minimalist. And the single-column design works beautifully on mobile. But the real star is the visually rich lifestyle content. The posts feature high-quality photography that makes you dream about turning your space into a Pinterest-worthy haven. If you love great design, these photos will have you dreaming of creating your own picture-perfect space. #lifegoals How Ruggable Organizes Blog Categories to Improve Reader Experience Look at Ruggable’s blog categories. And you’ll see it narrowed down to just three, catering to different audience interests. The first category: “Home Design Ideas.” This is where Ruggable goes broad. It’s the bucket for inspiration on styling your living space. Like a mood board in blog form. Want Bridgerton-inspired decor ideas? This is your stop. Then, there’s “Behind the Collection.” The product-focused category. It offers readers a deeper look at the products. It’s the get-to-know-us category where you’ll discover its process, design partnerships, and the inspiration fueling its collections. And finally, the “Rug Guide.” It’s a category for the practical stuff, like how to layer rugs. By sticking to these three categories, the blog is easy to navigate while catering to different reader needs, including: Inspiration seekers exploring styling ideas Brand fans curious about product backstories Shoppers searching for tips and guides This structure boosts the reader experience. And with clear, organized content for different search intents, it also improves search engine rankings. The result? The blog ranks well for a variety of keywords. According to Semrush, the blog attracts visitors through both brand-related keywords, like “how to wash a Ruggable.” And also for broader, non-brand terms such as “dining room rug ideas.” Quite impressive. Note: Want to know what keywords your Shopify blog ranks for? You can use this link to access a 14-day trial on a Semrush Pro subscription. 8. Beardbrand: Grooming & Lifestyle Blog Beardbrand’s Urban Beardsman blog features more than 1,000 articles. And because of this large library of content, its minimalist design makes sense. Instead of a flashy layout, it goes for straightforward, prioritizing ease of navigation. On the blog homepage, big, eye-catching images direct readers to categories like “Beard” and “Mustache.” When you click one of these links, you’ll find a simple category page structure. There’s a short description at the top of the page. Plus, a straightforward list of article links below. No fancy layouts. No complex navigation. As a result: Readers easily find what they’re looking for Search engines know which pages to prioritize for crawling and indexing And it’s working for the blog. It attracts over 67K monthly visits for various relevant keywords such as: Mustache styles Beard trimming Sea salt spray for hair How Beardbrand’s Shopify Blog Connects With Its Audience Beardbrand’s blog speaks directly to the “urban beardsman” persona. Each blog post makes them feel seen and understood, whether the post is a grooming guide or a personality profile. Read the blog posts, and you’ll notice that product pitches are rare. When product links do appear, it’s subtle and natural. And often, it’s left out completely. The only thing that’s always constant (and takes you back to its ecommerce store) is the navigation menu bar. This approach builds trust in two ways: It shows it cares about helping its community It positions Beardbrand as an authority in the beard care space The content strategy is clear: Build a community first. Sell products second. And that’s the thing about a blog. It can be a great sales driver. But it’s also a great asset for building trust and earning loyalty over time. Expert Tip: Every blog post takes time, money, and effort. So make each one count. One of the easiest ways to get more out of your content is to use SEO best practices, like internal linking. Take Beardbrand, for example. It could improve its rankings and site crawlability by adding links to relevant product pages. The trick? Make the links feel natural and true to the brand. It’s a small tweak that can make a big difference. 9. Lovevery: Parenting Blog Lovevery keeps things simple with a clean, focused structure. It groups its entire blog content under four main categories: By Age Skills & Stages Playtime & Activities Podcast This streamlined approach works well. While it covers countless parenting topics, these four clear sections help readers instantly know where to go. It shows how thoughtful organization makes navigation easier. But how does it fit dozens of articles into just four categories? Through smart subcategories. Each main category branches into specific topics. Take “Skills & Stages,” for example. It branches into specific areas like “Motor Skills,” “Tummy Time,” and “Social Skills.” The “Playtime & Activities” category goes even further, organizing topics by both age ranges and themes. This clear structure helps parents find content based on: Their child’s age Specific skills they want to develop Activities they want to try And there’s a bonus: Search engines love this clear organization, too. Why? This clear hierarchy of categories and subcategories helps search engines understand how different pages relate to each other. No wonder Lovevery attracts tens of thousands of monthly organic visits. How Lovevery Uses Sitemaps to Boost SEO Rankings Lovevery takes its website organization one step further using its sitemaps. The main sitemap acts as an index, linking to individual sitemaps organized by content type, such as by: Age Range Skills & Stages Posts Each sitemap serves a specific purpose. For example, the “Age Range” sitemap links to hub pages for specific age ranges, like “43-45 months” or “4 years old.” These hub pages list articles and resources for each developmental stage. (Below is an example of what this hub page looks like on the site.) Meanwhile, the “Skills & Stages” and “Posts” sitemaps link to the category page and individual blog posts within that category. This sitemap organization is a textbook SEO strategy. It helps search engines understand the hierarchy and relationships between pages. That way, they know which content to index and rank. Best Practices to Steal From These Shopify Blog Examples The Shopify blog examples above show how your site can boost traffic with a well-executed blog. But none of this happens by accident. Their success comes from doing the right things well. Want to do the same for your blog? Here are eight essentials to get you started. 1. Write Posts That Actually Help Your Customers Create blog content your customers care about. Not sure where to start? Use tools like Semrush’s Topic Research tool or Answer the Public to uncover topics your audience is looking for. For example, in Semrush, you enter your product. And it’ll instantly generate a list of topic ideas. If you need help framing those topics for your blog posts, check out our proven blog post templates. These are the same templates we use that helped us grow our blog to over 770K monthly unique visitors. Note: Want to explore Semrush’s topic research tool? Try Semrush Pro free for 14 days with this exclusive trial link. 2. Create Content for Window Shoppers and Regular Customers Ecommerce product pages work well for people ready to buy. But what about window shoppers who aren’t ready yet? That’s where your blog helps. It can attract different types of potential customers: People who are just learning what you sell and exploring their options Those comparing your products with alternatives Shoppers who are almost ready to buy but need that final bit of reassurance For example, Beardbrand attracts top-of-funnel readers with the article “How to Deal with Unruly Coarse Hair.” These people know they have a problem but aren’t aware of a product that can help them. So, they’re searching for solutions, which gives you a chance to catch them early on. In contrast: Stanley uses the blog post “Level Up Your Hydration With The New IceFlow™ Flip Straw Collection” for readers who already know its brand. These are often people who’ve interacted with the brand before. Like those who’ve bought a Stanley product or are specifically looking for one. So, the focus shifts from introducing the brand to keeping them engaged with updates and new offerings. By creating different types of content, you engage a wider audience. That’s how you make your blog work hard and turn it into a tool for growing your business. Top tip: Wondering how to start and scale your blog? We’ve got you covered. Get practical tips straight from our Lead Editor, Michael Ofei, on how to scale content. And finally, learn strategies that many content marketing agencies keep to themselves. 3. Help People Find Your Blog on Google Ranking for organic keywords and getting search engine traffic is one of the biggest perks of a well-optimized blog. Take Lovery, for example. It gets over 64K monthly visitors from organic searches. Yes, it takes time and effort. And no, it’s not completely free (think writers, SEOs, hosting). But when you do it right, it’s one of the most cost-effective ways to drive long-term, sustainable traffic. So, how do you make sure your blog is set up correctly? Start with basic SEO practices like: Setting up proper analytics to track performance Conducting keyword research effectively Optimizing your content for SEO and visitors Then, use our SEO checklist to stay on track so you don’t miss a thing. It covers everything from SEO basics to link building. 4. Stick to a Regular Posting Schedule When it comes to blogging, consistency is the name of the game. It signals to Google your blog is active, which helps with rankings. Even better? The more you post, the more chances you get to: Rank for different keywords Link internally to other blog posts or product pages But don’t stop there. Give your older blog posts a refresh, too. You can: Update outdated information Add new valuable insights Tweak blog titles and headings We’ve seen this strategy work wonders. In fact, using this content refresh strategy, Brian Dean increased organic traffic to a blog post by 22%. That’s the power of a content refresh. 5. Get Your Posts in Front of More People You’ve already done the hard work to create one piece of content. Now, make it pull double (or triple) duty. Repurpose it into different formats for multiple traffic channels. It’s the quickest way to get your message in front of more people without starting from scratch. For example, Huel turned its blog post “Simple Ways to Meet Your Daily Fiber Intake Goals” into a carousel post on Instagram. And Darn Tough Shared a Facebook post linking to its latest blog article. Want more ways repurpose your content? Here you go. Create infographics to highlight key points Transform blog images into graphics for social media Turn posts into short videos for YouTube, Instagram Reels, or TikTok Pin blog visuals to Pinterest Further reading: What Is Repurposing Content? 6. Show Readers What to Do Next Potential customers need 7 interactions with a brand before they decide to make a purchase. This means the longer readers stay on your site, the more likely they will convert. So, make the most of their time by encouraging them to explore more. Guide them with clear calls to action (CTAs) that prompt interaction. And use sales-focused CTAs where the natural next step aligns with a purchase. For example, Everlane’s blog post “Going Western” links directly to product pages featured in the article and images. And Beardbrand takes a more direct approach with a prominent CTA button linking to its “Eau de Parfum” product page in its blog post, “The Complete Guide to Men’s Cologne.” But not every CTA has to push a sale. CTAs can also build trust and engagement by encouraging actions like: Reading another article Signing up for your email list Downloading a helpful resource Joining your community Subscribing to your newsletter Following or engaging on social media For example, Gymshark’s post “What Is #Gymshark66?” doesn’t link to a product page. Instead, it features a bold banner inviting readers to apply for its athlete search. 7. Use Images That Catch Attention Visuals are essential for engaging blog content. They help: Break up long sections of text Illustrate complex concepts Make content more shareable on social media Improve the user experience So, use them to your advantage. Create high-quality visuals to grab attention and improve readability and engagement. And as a bonus: Those same images can boost your search engine rankings, too. Not sure how to get started? Check out our image SEO guide for everything you need. 8. Design Your Blog for Mobile Users With most internet searches happening on mobile, it’s a cardinal sin to ignore mobile optimization. Google recommends asking the questions below to check if your site is mobile-friendly: Does your site load quickly? Is it easy to navigate? Is it easy to take action? Here’s the thing about mobile optimization: When you get it right, the benefits are huge. Readers will appreciate the smooth experience (and stick around longer). Plus, search engines reward mobile-friendly sites with higher rankings. It’s a win-win for your audience and your SEO. Further reading: Learn everything you need to know about mobile SEO with our comprehensive guide. Turn Insights from These Shopify Blog Examples into Your Store’s Success You’ve seen what works through these Shopify blog examples. Now, it’s time to take action and create a blog for your Shopify store. Sure, it takes effort. But the rewards—more traffic, stronger customer connections, and increased sales—are worth it. And with the right tools and guidance, you can get it right from day one. Here are the resources you need to get started: How to Design a Blog – Learn the exact steps to create a stunning, user-friendly blog. Shopify SEO: The Complete Beginners Guide – Discover the SEO tactics to drive traffic and boost your visibility. Content Marketing Strategy: 10 Steps to Build a Results-Driven Plan – Master the 10-step framework to create content that turns readers into customers. The post 9 Shopify Blog Examples You Need to See (+ Pro Tips) appeared first on Backlinko. View the full article

“Insane project idea: all of wikipedia on a single, scrollable page,” Patina Systems founder Tyler Angert posted on X earlier this month. “Even better, an infinitely scrolling Wikipedia page based on whatever you are interested in next?” replied Bloomberg Beta VC James Cham. “WikiTok,” added Angert. insane project idea: all of wikipedia on a single, scrollable page — Tyler Angert (@tylerangert) February 3, 2025 New York-based app developer Isaac Gemal stumbled across the discussion the following evening. Within two hours, WikiTok was live. If you’re the type to instinctively pull up Wikipedia to fact-check anything and everything, this app is made for you. WikiTok users can swipe through an endless stream of Wikipedia article stubs, discovering random facts and interesting information along the way. “Damn this is really cool, much better for the brain,” one X user posted. “The rabbit hole we didn’t know we needed. knowledge discovery powered by attention span instead of search terms. finally, a productive way to waste time,” another added. Free from invasive tracking and endless notifications, this app offers the closest thing to guilt-free scrolling. Instead of feeding you content based on an algorithm, it delivers a truly random selection of Wikipedia articles, pulled straight from the Wikipedia API and displayed in a TikTok-style interface. Each entry appears with an image from the corresponding article, and if something catches your interest, a simple tap on “Read More” opens the full Wikipedia page in your browser. Gemal made the code for WikiTok available on GitHub, allowing anyone to modify or contribute to the project. Currently, the web app supports 14 languages, article previews, and sharing capabilities across both desktop and mobile browsers. As the community grows, new features are expected to roll in as contributors get involved. The app is currently algorithm-free and Gemal plans to keep it that way. “I have had plenty of people message me and even make issues on my GitHub asking for some insane crazy WikiTok algorithm,” Gemal told Ars Technica. “And I had to put my foot down and say something along the lines that we’re already ruled by ruthless, opaque algorithms in our everyday life; why can’t we just have one little corner in the world without them?” One little corner, in other words, without doomscrolling. View the full article

The Department of Labor (DOL) is a critical federal agency that protects workers' rights, ensures workplace safety, and promotes employment opportunities across the United States. Around since 1913, the DOL is the latest government entity currently facing scrutiny from the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). On Friday, a federal judge declined to limit DOGE—which is not an official government department, but a task force led by Elon Musk—from accessing the DOL's systems and sensitive information. Not everyone is happy about that, because they are worried Musk might gut the agency in similar fashion to what is being done with USAID. But what does the DOL do? It's worth knowing, because the labor department impacts everyone who has an employer of some kind. What the Department of Labor actually doesThe mission of the Labor Department is “to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.” The breakdown looks like this: Workplace safety: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), part of the DOL, sets and enforces workplace safety standards. This protects millions of workers from hazardous working conditions across industries. Wage and hour protection: The DOL's Wage and Hour Division ensures workers receive fair compensation, enforcing minimum wage laws, overtime pay, and child labor regulations. For instance, in 2024 the division recovered more than $273 million in back wages and damages for nearly 152,000 workers nationwide. Employment rights: The department enforces federal labor laws that prohibit discrimination, protect worker benefits, and ensure fair employment practices. This includes oversight of minimum wage requirements, overtime compensation, workplace discrimination protections, and family and medical leave rights. What laws does the Labor Department enforce?Some of the key labor laws the DOL enforces include: Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets standards for private and public employment including wages, overtime pay and child labor. Family and Medical Leave Act, which provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for medical and family care reasons. Occupational Safety and Health Act, which protects workers from unsafe and unhealthy working conditions and is administered by OSHA. Workers’ compensations acts including those related to longshore and harbor workers; Department of Energy employees; coal miners; and federal employees. Affordable Care Act provisions related to employer health care coverage. Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN Act), which requires employers to provide notice prior to large layoffs. Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which regulates private pension plans and benefits. Immigration and Nationality Act provisions applying to visa programs. Additional labor laws that the DOL enforces are listed here. How to contact the DOLTo file a complaint about an employer violating your rights, you’ll typically need to gather personal and work information including your name and contact information; the company you work or worked for and its location, contact information and manager or owner; the work you did; your payment and records of hours worked. File workplace complaints online at www.dol.gov Call 1-866-4-USA-DOL for assistance Report wage theft, safety violations, or discrimination Seek information about workers' rights The bottom lineThe DOL's impact extends to nearly every American worker, protecting fundamental employment rights and ensuring safe, fair working conditions. View the full article

Creative industries worry that generative artificial intelligence models could replicate or even replace their original works View the full article

Join for an insightful discussion designed for small business and agency marketers eager to transform their lead generation and conversion strategies. The post [Expert Panel] Effortless Conversions: Close More Sales With AI Data [Webinar] appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

T-Mobile has launched a wide-scale beta satellite-to-cell service using SpaceX’s Starlink, aimed at extending service to remote areas or “dead zones” cell towers can’t reach. The satellite messaging service will be free to use until July, even if you aren’t a T-Mobile customer (that means you, Verizon and AT&T users). Starlink, a satellite internet service that provides high-speed broadband internet to rural areas, is owned by SpaceX CEO and Trump adviser Elon Musk. The wireless carrier made the announcement Sunday with a big ad during the first quarter of the Super Bowl. While it’s free until July for all, after that, only T-Mobile’s customers can add the plan for $15 a month; those with T-Mobile’s premium Go5G Next plan will get it for no extra cost. T-Mobile Starlink uses satellites orbiting the Earth at over 200 miles an hour to deliver cell phone signals creating text messages to and from locations that traditional cell towers can’t reach, known as “dead zones.” In the future, users will also be able to send images, use data, and make voice calls. “It’s a massive technical achievement and an absolute game changer for ALL wireless users,” T-Mobile president and CEO Mike Sievert said in a statement. “We’re still in the early days—I don’t want to overhype the experience during a beta test—but we’re officially putting ‘no bars’ on notice. Dead zones, your days are numbered at the Un-carrier.” How does Starlink satellite texting work? “If you can see the sky, you’re connected with T-Mobile. It’s that simple, ”Mike Katz, T-Mobile’s president of marketing, strategy, and products, told Fast Company. When a cell phone is out of cell tower range, the phone automatically connects to the T-Mobile Starlink. The technology works on “most smartphones from the last four years,” including iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones, and most operating systems—however, the iPhone’s latest operating software, iOS 18.3, did not add Starlink to the handset (it merely added SAT as an onscreen option instead of LTE or 5G, according to Forbes). T-Mobile Starlink also broadcasts Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) nationwide to anyone in range of the signal and with a compatible device—which could be a game changer, enabling users to send and receive potentially life-saving messages in remote hiking areas or places impacted by severe weather and natural disasters. How do I sign up for Starlink’s beta test? Sign up for the satellite service beta here. It is free for everyone, but spots are limited, according to T-Mobile. Once enrolled, you may have to wait a few days before you can send text messages. Can I also make Starlink satellite calls? No, currently the free beta service only supports text messages including SMS, RCS, and iMessage—no satellite calls. Nor can you send your favorite video clips from last night’s Super Bowl, where the T-Mobile Starlink ad first ran, as data is not yet available. View the full article

Last month, Elon Musk’s social media platform X announced it was launching a “digital wallet” service. Users would be able to transfer money from their bank accounts to a wallet on X, bringing the platform one step closer to its much-promised Everything App destiny. The announcement was met on Bluesky and X with a torrent of jokes on a similar theme: the wallet inspector. “Congrats to Elon on his long-awaited move into the wallet inspector business,” wrote Edward Niedermeyer, author of a book on Tesla. And that was before Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency started poking around inside the national treasury. It’s early still, but the wallet inspector is already the frontrunner for the defining meme of 2025. It comes from a 1993 Simpsons episode called “Homer Goes to College,” written by Conan O’Brien. In the pivotal scene, Homer has just gotten a trio of nerds expelled from their university, and he feels remorseful about it. No sooner does one of the geeks assure him they can take care of themselves, though, then they are confronted by the town thief, who introduces himself as the wallet inspector, and holds out his hand in solicitation. The group doesn’t hesitate for a second, leaving the thief stunned that his dumb plan succeeded. It’s funny to contemplate a thief lazy enough to give the wallet inspector gambit a go. It’s also funny to imagine a squad of marks so sheltered and credulous, they believe this is standard procedure. And it may be funniest of all to think about a third party like Homer observing this exchange and, in the scene’s final beat, despairing: “That’s not the wallet inspector.” That the same versatile term can be deployed to evoke three separate sets of behaviors may be why it already seeped into cultural vernacular years ago. But the convergence of so much openly shady behavior and corresponding gullibility in recent months have made the wallet inspector especially relevant in 2025. It’s an ideal flourish for a moment when the mere suggestion of legitimacy, and a lack of shame, can take you seemingly anywhere. The day-to-day experience of life in 2025—when our institutions are crumbling, the barbarians are no longer even at the gates but within them, and no wretched outcome seems off the table—is pushing those with the capacity to take it all in toward a mindset of total distrust. Anyone steeped in that worldview can only look upon their neighbors who still have faith in anything—laws, public safety, basic decency—as grade-A suckers. When a legal scholar thinks the constitution is inherently inviolable, even after daily evidence of Musk and his minions openly flouting it, they are ready for the wallet inspector. When a Republican Senator who lived through the last decade is still surprised Donald Trump did not stick to his word, it’s inspection time. And when DraftKings offers its gambling-addled user base a premium subscription tier with “increased odds,” that wallet is gone. People lob plenty of inspection allegations at the saps of the tech realm—those lured into recent memecoin rug-pulls by the Hawk Tuah Girl or the president, for instance, along with anyone who ever invested in NFTs. They use the meme to describe the U.S. government handing over untold billions to AI companies, based on the adorable belief that a Chinese company could never in a million years undercut them—and they deploy it to shrug at everyone fooled by all the visual slop coming down the pike in the AI boom. And there was only one way to frame it when one of X’s lesser-known advertisers turned out to be, fittingly enough, a literal wallet inspection operation. All the wallet inspector talk seemed to hit a crescendo when X announced its digital wallet service; then, Musk’s team obtained access to the U.S. Treasury. The DOGE crew reportedly now has at their inexperienced fingertips data about Social Security numbers and banking information. They are effectively inspecting America’s wallet–and America’s top officials are just handing it over. The wallet inspector meme makes for a devastating way to describe anyone too trusting of plainly false assurances, the people making those assurances, and the Homer-like observers who don’t quite seem to understand what is happening, much less mount any meaningful opposition. It’s the rhetorical embodiment of a freefall era where so many people in positions of authority seem to be openly running scams, and the people meant to protect everyone else are either also running scams, or are getting scammed themselves. It’s wallet inspectors all the way down. View the full article

If you want to give yourself some grace, you can see tub rings as a sign that you are a person who, at the very least, takes regular baths. Unfortunately, that doesn't make rings any less unappealing to behold. Getting rid of them, unfortunately, isn't exactly an easy task, but I've figured out the two best ways to get it done with the least amount of elbow grease. Why you have a tub ringEvery two weeks or so, I run some water in my tub, splash a little Fabuloso in there, and zhush it around to clean and refresh the tile, but since I started using a new body scrub, the ring buildup has gotten too bad for that to be an effective end-all-be-all in my bathroom-cleaning routine. So I did a little research about what tub rings are, and how to get rid of them. Rings around your tub can have a number of causes: They can come from oils, hard water mineral deposits, soap, or a combination of those. My new body scrub is oily, as is the human body in general, so that's probably why I've had more buildup lately. As for eradicating the tub ring, a number of hacks sprang up when I searched, but the two that made the most sense to me were a baking soda paste and isopropyl alcohol, since I knew they'd both dry out the oil that was causing the rings to stick. Isopropyl alcohol works for removing tub ringsThe first thing I tried was a mixture of equal parts water and isopropyl alcohol, which I applied in two ways: First, I dipped a melamine sponge into it and used that to gently scrub at part of the tub ring. Slowly—very slowly—it did work, seeming to gradually melt away the residue. That was time-consuming and labor-intensive, though, so I tried a different application approach, dabbing the mixture on a larger section of the ring and letting it sit for five minutes. When I went back at the alcohol-dampened sections with my melamine sponge, the ring came away much more quickly. Some soap scum and grime flaked into the basin of the tub, where I was able to remove it easily by hand, but a lot of it liquified, which was even better, as that made it simple to remove with a paper towel. Baking soda is great for removing tub rings, tooEven though the isopropyl alcohol worked well, I knew it wouldn't be cost-effective to use it on my entire tub; that bottle cost me $13 and I need it for other things around the house. Baking soda is cheaper and, based on what I know about how it works to soak up oils and scour messes, it seemed like it had the potential to be an even better solution for the problem at hand. There are a few ways you can apply baking soda to your tub ring. You can make a paste by adding some to a bowl, then gradually adding water and stirring it until you get a thick consistency you like, then slather it on the grime and let it do its thing. I did something much lazier and easier, though: I sprayed water all over the offending marks in my tub, then sprinkled the baking soda right over that, letting it stick to the wetness. It didn't form a paste, but it certainly made a grainy layer. Then, I left it alone for five minutes and returned to it with my melamine sponge when the time was up. The rings absolutely came right off—but the mixture of powder, water, and soap scum formed a sludgy substance similar to dirty sleet, which was a little grosser to scrape out of the tub at the end of the process. Progress after using baking soda to remove the tub ring. Credit: Lindsey Ellefson General tips to remove tub ringsAfter I saw how well the baking soda worked, I sprinkled it all around the tub and left it there for a while. I came back, wiped it all into a pile of slush, removed that, and finished up by using my alcohol-and-water mixture to do one final wipe-down to get any remaining gunk. This worked flawlessly. What you don't want to do is rinse any of the scum or baking soda down the drain—you don't want to inadvertently clog or damage your pipes—so shut the drain before starting and keep some paper towels on hand to manually wipe the basin as you go. Be careful with how you scrub, too. You don't want a sponge or brush that is too abrasive, as this can scratch tile or ceramic, especially when you're using the already-abrasive baking soda. I used my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, but did so gently. You may want to consider using a microfiber cloth, especially if your tub is made out of a delicate material like acrylic. View the full article

Ever wondered what life is like for an astronaut? Now you can ask during NASA’s first Twitch event, where astronauts will be broadcasting live from the International Space Station (ISS). The stream is set to take place on Wednesday, February 12, at 11:45 a.m. ET on NASA’s official Twitch channel. The event will feature flight engineer Don Pettit, currently in space as part of the Expedition 72 launch which began on September 23, 2024, and ends in Spring 2025. He’ll be joined by NASA astronaut Matt Dominick, who returned to Earth in October 2024 after conducting scientific research for 232 days aboard the ISS. The NASA astronauts will answer questions about daily life up in orbit, as well as the research conducted in microgravity. They will also talk about how ordinary citizens can get involved with NASA, including via citizen science projects and programs across the STEM field. “This Twitch event from space is the first of many,” says Brittany Brown, director of NASA’s communications office. “We spoke with digital creators at TwitchCon about their desire for streams designed with their communities in mind, and we listened. In addition to our spacewalks, launches, and landings, we’ll host more Twitch-exclusive streams like this one. Twitch is one of the many digital platforms we use to reach new audiences and get them excited about all things space.” The agency has previously streamed spacewalks and liftoffs on Twitch and its own NASA+ streaming platform, with Earthbound viewers following along. But this will be the first stream where those in the chat have a chance to send their questions up into space. No pressure. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. It’s become fashionable to hate on Valentine’s Day, and I get it—the commercialization; the unreasonable expectations; the bland commodification of a deeply human experience. But here's why I clarify that it's also OK to love love. It’s OK to look forward to Valentine’s Day, whether because you’ve found your own storybook romance (whatever it looks like), or because you enjoy watching other people navigate the many possible relationship complications. Here are 25 movies that celebrate love, ranging from dark to outright comedic, If the expectations of V-Day start to feel overwhelming, throwing on a movie might offer you a break, or a reminder of why you are making the effort in the first place. Moonstruck (1987) Cher and Nicolas Cage are such distinctive, idiosyncratic performers that it’s hard to imagine a romantic pairing between the two being something other than a cartoon. Instead, it’s one of the great film romances of all time, with engaged widow Loretta Castorini falling for her boyfriend’s younger brother. That love triangle is the film’s core, but the troubled marriage of Loretta’s parents, played by Olympia Dukakis and Vincent Gardenia is a significant piece of the film’s heart. While most rom-coms deal with young people and first love, Moonstrucksuggests that that there’s room for romance even as life grows more complicated in middle age. You can stream Moonstruck on Prime Video, Tubi, Freevee, and The Criterion Channel. Moonstruck (1987) at Freevee Learn More Learn More at Freevee God’s Own Country (2017) Until relatively recently, gay romances (even many of the comedies) with happy endings were rather shockingly rare, with God’s Own Country representing a firm shift away from what felt like a dramatic necessity that these types of stories end in tragedy. It’s more pronounced here, because it simply doesn’t feel like the kind of movie that’s going to end well. Josh O’Connor (The Crown’s Prince Charles) and Alec Secăreanu play Yorkshire farmer Johnny and Romanian migrant worker Gheorghe. The initially tempestuous relationship that develops really does feel like it’s headed for tragedy (à la Brokeback Mountain), which makes the film’s unexpected turn even more joyous. You can rent God's Own Country from Prime Video. God’s Own Country (2017) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Philadelphia Story (1940) This is one of Hollywood’s all-time team-ups, with director George Cukor at the helm of a Katherine Hepburn vehicle in which she’s pursued by both Cary Grant and James Stewart (and, of course, her fiancé played by John Howard—but he never really has a chance). It’s hard to know who to root for. In one regard, this was Hepburn’s own attempt to manage and soften her public image—it worked, but only by adding shades to the perception of her as a woman in command. Even when she’s back-footed by the men in her life, she’s still the whole show, bandying brilliant dialogue in a movie that veers effortlessly from sophisticated to screwball. You can stream The Philadelphia Story on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video. The Philadelphia Story (1940) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Love & Basketball (2000) As the title suggests, the film and its characters are split between forces that seem to be in opposition. Monica and Quincy (Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps) share hoop dreams from their first meeting as children, as well as an attraction that grows over the years. What keeps them apart is the game that they both love, and their dedication to divergent careers in sports. It’s a sports movie, in part, but one in which the central relationship is more important than any big game. You can stream Love & Basketball on Max and Tubi or rent it from Prime Video. Love & Basketball (2000) at Max Learn More Learn More at Max Fire Island (2022) A bunch of friends go on vacation at the queer destination, only to find that social class is no less prevalent among modern gay friends than it was for the leads in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, on which this is very explicitly based. Joel Kim Booster plays Noah, the Elizabeth Bennett character interested in Conrad Ricamora's rich lawyer Will, while Bowen Yank plays his friend Howie—fat (at least by movie standards), femme, and Asian, and insecure about all of it. As in the novel, the paths toward true(-ish) love hit some bumps, but it's a reminder that, in romantic narratives, things haven't changed all that much. You can stream Fire Island on Hulu. Fire Island (2022) at Hulu Learn More Learn More at Hulu Palm Springs (2020) If you could live your life without consequences, what, or who, could make you ever want to truly change? In this twist on Groundhog Day, Andy Samberg plays Nyles who, we learn, has been stuck in a time loop on the day of a wedding in Palm Springs for quite some time, mostly doing whatever the hell he wants when not being hunted by Roy (J. K. Simmons) who's stuck with him in the loop and blames Myles for his awful fate. Cristin Milioti's Sarah is soon drawn in with them, but when real feelings start to develop between her and Nyles, a life devoid of forward motion starts to seem less than ideal. You can stream Palm Springs on Hulu. Palm Springs (2020) at Hulu Learn More Learn More at Hulu Before Sunset (2004) This middle chapter of director Richard Linklater’s trilogy might not have the most unambiguously happy ending of the three, but it’s the most memorable—one of the great romantic movie endings of all time, really. Reuniting nearly a decade after Before Sunrise, Jesse and Céline (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) spend a day roaming Paris, at which point the two are forced to decide whether or not they’re willing to leave their present dissatisfying lives and relationships—a scene perfectly set to Nina Simone. You can rent Before Sunset from Prime Video. Before Sunset (2004) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Crazy Rich Asians (2018) Family is the biggest barrier to lasting love in Crazy Rich Asians, the rare example of a crowd-pleasing modern blockbuster that doesn’t involve car chases or capes. Constance Wu plays New York native Rachel Chu, an economics professor from a poor family who learns a little too late that her boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding) is the scion of one of Singapore’s wealthiest families. She’s not prepared for the level of conspicuous wealth, nor the snobbery she encounters when she travels with him for a family wedding—Rachel’s forced to decide if she can handle the pressure and judgement from Nick’s family, and if she even wants to. The happy ending here does not come easy for anyone. You can stream Crazy Rich Asians on Max or rent it from Prime Video. Crazy Rich Asians (2018) at Max Learn More Learn More at Max The Shape of Water (2017) The course of true love is unlikely to ever run smooth in a Guillermo del Toro movie, this story of the cleaner in a Cold War-era laboratory and the alluring fish-man with whom she develops a relationship. What follows is a dark fairy-tale romance with elements of horror that place it firmly in the classic Grimm tradition, but with an atypically happy outcome. You can rent The Shape of Water from Prime Video. The Shape of Water (2017) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Shop Around the Corner (1940) Launching a thousand similar movies, most of which aren’t half as good, The Shop Around the Corner isn’t the first time that mistaken identity was central to a romance, nor the first time that mutual loathing turned (slowly) to love, but it’s never really been done with quite this level of style. Set at a shop in Budapest leading up to the Christmas season, Margaret Sullivan and James Stewart play competing co-workers who are always at each other’s throats, even as they develop a romantic relationship via their anonymous correspondence (neither knowing that they’re falling in love with their real-life nemesis). It’s cute, but never silly, and with all the frothy trademarks of director Ernst Lubitsch. You can rent The Shop Around the Corner from Prime Video. The Shop Around the Corner (1940) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Love, Simon (2018) Nick Robinson is closeted high schooler Simon, who takes inspiration from the anonymous confession of a similarly closeted student in his school. Without knowing the true identity of “Blue,” Simon strikes up an online friendship that turns into something more. Think The Shop Around the Corner, or You’ve Got Mail, with modern queer high schoolers. You can rent Love Simon from Prime Video. Love, Simon (2018) Learn More Learn More It Happened One Night (1934) The template for a million romantic comedies to come, It Happened One Night, despite appearing during the awkward early years of sound, and at the equally awkward end of the pre-Code era, remains unsurpassed in its charm and sexiness. Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable have terrific chemistry, and their relationship is one of near-equals—something that the coming Production Code would make nearly impossible for decades. In that way, it feels more modern than any number of much more recent movies. It’s also one of only three films to have won an Academy Award in every major category, and deservedly so. You can stream It Happened One Night on Tubi and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video. It Happened One Night (1934) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Rafiki (2018) Kena (Samantha Mugatsia) is the daughter of a Nairobi shopkeeper, helping her dad run the store while she prepares for nursing school. Ziki (Sheila Munyiva), on the other hand, mostly just hangs out with her friends and makes up dances. Their attraction is instantaneous, but they only meet because their fathers are running against each other for county assembly. Their love story, in a place where it’s illegal, threatens to complicate their family’s lives as much as their own, but the film still maintains a wonderfully bright, colorful, and musical, atmosphere, leading to a happy ending—even if that ending takes some time. You can rent Rafiki from Prime Video. Rafiki (2018) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) The modern classic, but very ‘90s, rom-com that retells The Taming of the Shrew in an American high school. And without some of the ugly misogyny. The film’s concluding exchange of a guitar for the title poem is delightfully memorable—there’s a reason the movie made stars of Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger. You can stream 10 Things I Hate About You on Disney+ or rent it from Prime Video. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) at Disney+ Learn More Learn More at Disney+ Shelter (2007) Aspiring artist Zach (Trevor Wright) has had to give up his dreams of art school, literally flipping burgers in order to support his disabled father and young nephew. The vibe being so very SoCal, Zach spends whatever free time he has painting and surfing, and starts hanging out with his best friend’s older brother, Shaun (Brad Rowe). It’s very nearly love at first sight, none of which makes Zach’s family problems go away—fortunately, Shaun’s not going anywhere and, by the end, the two have formed not just a relationship, but a family. You can stream Shelter on Here TV. Shelter (2007) at Here TV Learn More Learn More at Here TV Love Jones (1997) Smart and atmospheric, Love Jones didn’t do much at the box office back in 1997, but it’s developed bit of a cult following since. Larenz Tate plays Chicago poet Darius, who develops an instant attraction to photographer Nina Mosley (Nic Long). The film’s blues-y, bohemian setting in a world of middle-class Black artists and intellectuals was unusual in the 90s, and not all that much less so today, which lends the film a style and intelligence that stands apart. The essential question of any romantic drama (will they or won’t they?) is left to the very last moments here. You can rent Love Jones from Prime Video. Love Jones (1997) Learn More Learn More My Fair Lady (1964) In the abstract, a movie about a wealthy aristocrat who molds a poor young woman into his female ideal doesn't sound like it the stuff romances are made of. Audrey Hepburn plays Galatea Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney street peddler whose societal rehabilitation becomes the personal project of Rex Harrison's Henry Higgins, who is eager to prove that even a poor can mingle with the upper crust if provided the right training and elocution (a not entirely regressive notion). She's game, for a time, but comes to realize that she's not content to be an experiment—which, in turn, leads Higgins to understand that the things he's come to love about her don't need fixing. Aw, you realized a woman has agency! Have a cookie. You can rent My Fair Lady from Prime Video. My Fair Lady (1964) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Princess and the Frog (2009) There's a classic Disney set-up at the heart of the company's last big 2-D animated princess story, set in New Orleans in the Roaring '20s. Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) works multiple jobs hoping to save enough money to open her own restaurant. When she is asked to make beignets for the wedding of the arrogant Prince Naveen, fate finds her mistaken for a princess—and both she and Naveen turned into frogs due to the scheming of a villain looking to steal the prince's fortune. By the end of this enemies-to-lovers story, each of them proves willing to sacrifice their human lives if it means they can be together. You can stream The Princess and the Frog on Disney+ or rent it from Prime Video. The Princess and the Frog (2009) at Disney+ Learn More Learn More at Disney+ Barefoot in the Park (1967) A little old-fashioned even in 1967, there’s so much chemistry among a cast headlined by Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, and Charles Boyer that it all works as a charming comedy (from a Neil Simon play) about a newlywed couple who very quickly come to believe that they’ve made a horrible mistake. Comedic and romantic complications ensue before a drunken climax on the roof of an apartment building leads to cheers from the supporting cast. You can rent Barefoot in the Park from Prime Video. Barefoot in the Park (1967) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Photograph (2020) A photograph left behind by her deceased mother leads Mae (Issa Rae) to explore her own family’s past, while also bringing her into the orbit of a young journalist played by Lakeith Stanfield. Learning about her mother’s mistakes ultimately leads Mae to think twice before turning love away in this beautifully shot, multi-generational love story. You can stream The Photograph on Freevee or rent it from Prime Video. The Photograph (2020) at Freevee Learn More Learn More at Freevee Desert Hearts (1985) Desert Hearts was an absolute breath of fresh air during an era in which queer characters were typically either serial killers or themselves dying of HIV/AIDS. Here, Vivian (Helen Shaver), an English professor in the middle of a divorce, meets Cay (Patricia Charbonneau), an uninhibited sculptor, at a ranch in Reno. Vivian struggles a bit with the unexpected lesbian attraction, but this romantic drama never veers toward tragedy, and is all the better for it. After years as a gem of queer cinema, the perception of the movie, of late, places it more in the category of outright classic. You can stream Desert Hearts on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video. Desert Hearts (1985) at Max Learn More Learn More at Max Loving (2016) Based on the true story of the couple who took a challenge to their marriage all the way to the Supreme Court, Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga play the couple who were arrested shortly after their marriage under Virginia’s anti-miscegenation laws. It’s a love story that, quite literally, changed the course of history. You can stream Loving on Peacock or rent it from Prime Video. Loving (2016) at Peacock Learn More Learn More at Peacock The Lady Eve (1941) I’m not convinced that a lot of real-life romances begin as con-jobs, but it absolutely seems to work in the movies, and rarely better than in this Preston Sturges classic. Barbara Stanwyck is out to fleece shy, clueless beer heir Henry Fonda. Stanwyck is never anything less than completely shameless, and yet, somehow, you’re still cheering for her to get her man. You can stream The Lady Eve on The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video. The Lady Eve (1941) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Princess Bride (1987) There are any number of great romantic moments in The Princess Bride, all leading to an ingenious fairytale ending. It’s the silly, swoon-worthy moment, though, when Westley (Cary Elwes) and Buttercup (Robin Wright) are reunited following a long absence that qualifies as the film’s most romantic, with Buttercup only realizing that she’s met her true love after she throws him down a hill. There’s only one thing to do when in the grip of one of film’s all-time great romances: throw yourself right down after him. You can stream The Princess Bride on Disney+ or buy it from Prime Video. The Princess Bride (1987) at Disney+ Get Deal Get Deal at Disney+ Little Women (1994) As a Louisa May Alcott obsessive, I prefer Greta Gerwig's 2019 take on Little Women; a appreciate the way her version blurs Alcott's biography with Jo's character in the final act, cleverly acknowledging that Jo's romance with the older, duller Professor Bhaer was a puckish move on the author's part, rather than something we're meant to swoon over (were it not for editorial and audience demands, Alcott would have let Jo remain happily single). This 1994 take, however, pulls a similarly impressive feat in centering that romance and actually making us care about it. By the time Winona Ryder and Gabriel Byrne are kissing in the rain in the final moments, it's hard not to cheer them on. (Laurie is still an idiot though.) You can rent Little Women on Prime Video. Little Women (1994) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video View the full article