Blogroll
A Raspberry Pi was the ultimate addition to my NAS, and I wish I'd bought one sooner
I've run a NAS for years, but it always felt like something was missing. Adding a Raspberry Pi to the mix changed everything. It's a small, cheap upgrade that quietly solved problems I didn't even know I had.
5 thrilling Prime Video movies to watch this week (May 25 - May 31)
As a movie enthusiast, I’m always looking for a good thriller with a unique story where tension, danger, and uncertainty reign supreme. Whether it’s psychological mind games, a high-stakes mystery, or pulse-pounding action, it should tap into something primal that keeps me on the edge of my seat, with my eyes glued to the screen.
Krispy Kreme data breach settlement deadline approaches. Claim $75 to $3,500.
Krispy Kreme employees affected by a Nov. 2024 company data breach can still claim their portion of a $1.6 million pie.
SEE ALSO: AI's new cottage industry: Lawyers defending students accused of cheatingThe class action lawsuit was brought forth by impacted individuals after their personal information — including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, biometric data, and financial account credentials — was exposed in a 2024 cyberattack targeting the company's employee data. Krispy Kreme disclosed the breach in December 2024 and settled the class action case in March.
But the June deadline to claim your money is fast approaching.
Who is eligible?The data breach impacted 161,000 current and former Krispy Kreme employees; individuals whose information was exposed should have received a notice from the company via email.
If you believe you were affected but didn't receive an alert, you can contact the settlement administrator at (877) 239-1879.
How do I claim my money?The deadline to file a claim online or by mail is June 22.
Settlement class members can either submit an itemized claim form for up to $3,500 in losses, or accept a $75 single time payment. If you want to opt out of the settlement, you have until June 6 to decline either online or by mail.
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I put NFC tags on my storage bins so Home Assistant could finally track my junk
As a family with kids, we have far more stuff than can comfortably fit in our home. Thankfully, there's a useful attic where we can dump stuff when it's not in use. In the past, finding things in the attic involved hunting through multiple storage bins, but some cheap NFC tags solved the problem.
Google Wallet can replace 5 apps you probably still have installed
Most people set up Google Wallet once for payments and never open it again. Once your credit or debit cards are loaded onto it, people simply tap and pay, and often don’t realize that Google Wallet holds a lot more potential.
This criminally underrated Linux distro beats CachyOS in every way that matters
At the time of writing, CachyOS sits in the #1 spot on DistroWatch. It’s been getting a lot of attention, and honestly, much of it is deserved. But there’s another Arch-based distro that doesn’t get nearly as much love, and I think it’s the better pick for most people—I’m talking about Garuda Linux. I’ve run both distros on real hardware, and here’s why I believe Garuda is better than CachyOS in the ways that actually matter.
You're getting 20% of Claude's power. Here's how to unlock the rest
Most people use Claude the same way. Open the app, type a question, read the answer, close the tab. It's useful enough that way and, in fact, better than a Google search for a lot of things. But if that's all you're doing, you're getting maybe 20% of what Claude actually is.
The one feature that turns a mini PC into a networking powerhouse
Your mini PC, or most mini PCs you might find for purchase new or used, probably comes with just one single Ethernet port. Yet, for full-size PCs it's becoming more common to have dual Ethernet ports as standard.
Inside the worlds biggest bet on fusion energy
ITER is the world’s largest fusion reactor project, bringing together scientists from around the globe to pursue clean fusion energy. The goal is to recreate the same process that powers the sun and turn it into a usable energy source on Earth. Here’s a closer look inside one of the most ambitious scientific projects ever attempted.
I tried these free and premium reader apps on my modded Fire Tablet—here's the one I'm sticking with
If there is anything at all I'm obsessed with, it has to be modding Android devices/Fire Tablets and reading comics, books, magazines, and anything else I can get my grubby little hands on.
The 5 biggest mistake beginners make when self-hosting apps
If you're just getting started with self-hosting apps and services in your homelab, there are a number of mistakes you should try to avoid. These are the five biggest mistakes that I see self-hosters make, and how you can avoid them.
SpaceX Starship Flight Test 12 ends with a bang
SpaceX launched Flight Test 12 of its reusable Starship Version 3 rocket from Starbase in South Texas. The mission included deploying 22 Starlink satellite dummies, including one carrying a camera that captured views of Starship’s heat shield during flight. The test ended dramatically as SpaceX continued pushing development of the massive rocket system.
After two years with a Pixel Watch, I realized Samsung's smartwatch approach is still unbeatable
Android owners have two main smartwatch brands to choose from: Samsung Galaxy Watch or Google Pixel Watch. I’ve spent extensive time with both, but I just recently switched back to a Galaxy Watch after wearing a Pixel Watch for the last couple of years. I’ll explain why.
Meal planning stresses me out, so I let Claude handle it instead
One of the biggest problems I have with AI is that it can do so many things that it's hard to know where to start. I decided to see if Claude could solve one of my biggest frustrations. The results were impressive, and I barely had to lift a finger.
Hybrid smartwatches are the anti-smartwatch trend we need, but nobody's ever done them right
Hybrid watches have always seemed like an interesting concept to me. I'm someone who loves tech, but when it comes to watches, nothing beats the aesthetics, reliability, and simplicity of a traditional wristwatch. Although the idea of adding smart features to a traditional watch sounds like a match made in heaven, it never quite comes together in reality.
The safety net Windows users miss: How I switched to Linux without over-committing
Are you tempted by a switch to Linux but worried about leaving Windows behind? It may seem like you're starting from scratch, but you're not. Linux has a reassuring pathway that lets you cross over without fully committing.
Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser talk Pressure and competency porn
Following Memorial Day weekend, Focus Features is releasing Pressure, a World War II movie about a lesser-known — but nonetheless fascinating — hero of D-Day.
Andrew Scott stars as James Stagg, a "genius" meteorologist from Scotland, who became a crucial adviser to American General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Academy Award winner Brendan Fraser) ahead of the Allies' pivotal invasion against the Axis powers.
Now, this premise may sound a bit stiff, focusing on World War II and the weather. However, Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko found the film had surprising similarities to Focus's crackling Vatican thriller Conclave in its humor, and to HBO's The Pitt in terms of competency porn.
When she sat down with Scott and Fraser for an interview, she spoke with them about these similarities, how the actors approached this engaging movie adaptation of David Haig's play, and who they consider a genius.
NYT Pips hints, answers for May 25, 2026
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.
Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.
Currently, if you're stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.
How to play PipsIf you've ever played dominoes, you'll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we've shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don't necessarily have to match.
SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for May 25, 2026The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.
Here are common examples you'll run into across the difficulty levels:
Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.
Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.
Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.
Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.
Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.
If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.
SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for May 25, 2026 Easy difficulty hints, answers for May 25 PipsNumber (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed horizontally; 0-0, placed horizontally.
Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 0-0, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed horizontally.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed horizontally.
Medium difficulty hints, answers for May 25 PipsEqual (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 4-2, placed vertically; 4-3, placed horizontally.
Greater Than (5): Everything in this space must be greater than 5. The answer is 6-5, placed vertically.
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 4-2, placed vertically; 2-5, placed horizontally.
Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 2-5, placed horizontally; 6-5, placed vertically.
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 6-1, placed vertically; 6-3, placed horizontally.
Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 6-1, placed vertically.
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally; 2-3, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed horizontally.
Hard difficulty hints, answers for May 25 PipsNumber (11): Everything in this space must add up to 11. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally; 5-4, placed vertically.
Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally.
Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 5-4, placed vertically; 0-1, placed vertically.
Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 3-5, placed vertically.
Number (11): Everything in this space must add up to 11. The answer is 0-1, placed vertically; 5-5, placed horizontally.
Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 3-1, placed vertically; 0-5, placed vertically.
Greater Than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 0-5, placed vertically.
Equal (1): Everything in this space must be equal to 1. The answer is 1-1, placed horizontally.
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 4-4, placed vertically; 4-1, placed horizontally.
Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 4-1, placed horizontally.
Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-2, placed horizontally.
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 4-2, placed horizontally; 2-1, placed vertically.
Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 2-1, placed vertically.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-6, placed horizontally.
Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-4, placed vertically.
Less Than (5): Everything in this space must be less than 5. The answer is 3-4, placed vertically; 0-6, placed horizontally.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally.
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
NASA may use a one-legged robot to explore a Saturn moon. Watch it hop.
A one‑legged robot that jumps instead of rolls could help scientists explore the icy geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus, sampling material from a hidden ocean that may be friendly to life.
The early mission concept, known as LEAP — short for Legged Exploration Across the Plain — imagines a robot about one-foot tall and weighing roughly 2 pounds. Rather than driving like a Mars rover, LEAP would use a spring‑driven leg, a pair of wheels, and internal spinning "reaction wheels" to roll, tip itself upright, and launch into long, arcing hops.
Funded by NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts program, the LEAP project builds on a real-world prototype, called SALTO. Though it looks like a little pogo stick — or Pixar's boinging lamp — its jumping action actually takes inspiration from squirrels. (If that's not cute enough, imagine scientists collecting data from squirrels with high-speed cameras while the critters traverse a homemade parkour course.) The researchers published their results in Science Robotics last year.
Whether the hopping robot ever reaches Saturn will depend on mission choices still years away. But you can watch the little robot do its thing in a new video just released by NASA further down in this story.
Enceladus has become a prime target in the search for life beyond Earth. Beneath its bright ice crust lies a global ocean. Near the south pole, deep fractures nicknamed "tiger stripes" vent that water into space as plumes of ice grains and gas. Those jets give scientists a rare advantage in the outer solar system: They can sample ocean material without drilling through miles of ice.
SEE ALSO: This NASA gear may be the first to survive the brutal lunar nightReaching those jets is not straightforward. The region around them looks fractured and uneven, with steep ridges, broken ice fields, and powdery material. Other options, like aircraft, have limits as well, said Justin Yim, a mechanical science and engineering assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"Conventional rovers may struggle to navigate this rugged terrain. Flying poses its own challenges," said Yim at the 2025 NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts symposium. "Enceladus has no atmosphere, and the use of rocket-based propulsion [would risk] contaminating samples. It is in this context that we find jumping to be uniquely promising."
Because Enceladus has extremely weak gravity — about one-eightieth of Earth's — a relatively small push can send an object traveling far. Researchers estimate LEAP could travel roughly 560 feet — close to the length of two American football fields — in a single hop and rise about 300 feet into the air.
Each jump would play out in slow motion compared with Earth. That long airtime is central to the design. It would allow the robot to pass directly through a plume while in flight. A single hop could last close to a minute, with several seconds spent inside the icy spray.
During that time, onboard instruments could analyze ice particles, measure composition, and capture data on how the plume behaves. Contrary to popular belief, more legs wouldn't necessarily improve its jumping performance, Yim says.
"One is a great number for jumping, particularly because it has this great advantage of allowing you to concentrate your actuation in one very powerful and simpler design," he said at the symposium last year. "Multiple legs give you a lot of benefits for doing things like sitting or standing on the ground, but you could do those equally well with wheels."
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.LEAP's two wheels and one leg give it three points of contact, which makes the robot stable in that position as well, he said.
The robot would likely ride to Enceladus aboard a larger spacecraft that first orbits the moon and then lands, a setup often described as an Orbilander. From that base, LEAP could deploy, make repeated jumps between vents, and go beyond the landing zone.
But before any mission becomes real, engineers still need to demonstrate that the system can survive Enceladus' extreme cold, which reaches about minus -330 degrees Fahrenheit, and test how its foot behaves on unfamiliar ice. Most development will have to happen through simulations and lab testing.
"It's going to be difficult to get the same type of conditions we'll have on Enceladus," Yim said. "It's extremely, extremely cold, and the type of ice particles we'll encounter there are probably very different from what we'd see in natural environments on Earth."
The Boroughs ending explainer: Why did Sam just glitch?
You've done it! You've braved the tunnels and laboratories of The Boroughs, met Mother (Nancy Daly) and her spidery "kids," and watched Sam Cooper (Alfred Molina) and his friends free them in a daring escape.
SEE ALSO: 'The Boroughs' review: Stop what you're doing and watch retirees fight monsters in this fantastic sci-fi seriesIt's a happy ending for almost everyone involved. Sorry to the villainous Blaine (Seth Numrich) and Anneliese (Alice Kremelberg), but they had it coming. However, there are still some major revelations to unpack, and a few more questions the show has yet to answer. Let's break it down.
What are the monsters in The Boroughs? Credit: NetflixThe origin of the spider-like nightmares who lurk in the tunnels beneath the Boroughs is tied to the founding of the retirement community itself.
In 1949, Boroughs founder Marcus Shaw found an egg in a mine. It hatched a creature he called Mother. Drinking her blood holds your body in time. You won't age, get sick, or die, as long as you keep drinking the blood. Marcus has been drinking her blood for decades, but in order to keep his immortality a secret, he changed his name to Blaine and posed as Marcus' grandson.
SEE ALSO: 2026 Summer TV preview: Every TV show you need to know about nowWhile Blaine, Anneliese, and their co-conspirators feed on Mother's blood, she needs to feed on cerebrospinal fluid. To obtain it, Blaine sics Mother's kids on the Boroughs' inhabitants at night. They feed the fluid back to Mother, thus creating the golden, goopy lifeblood that keeps Blaine and Anneliese looking young.
Draining so much cerebrospinal fluid can lead to rare neurological diseases, like Maxwell's, which impacts Edward (Ed Begley Jr.). Maxwell's is fictional, likely a cover-up Blaine and his staff use to explain their residents' decline as a result of all the brain fluid siphoning. In trying to buy more time for themselves, they're robbing time from others. It's a sick, exploitative cycle, but not one the monster kids seem aware of beyond simply needing to feed.
Why does Mother look like a human in The Boroughs?While the kids have spider-like legs and human-like torsos, Mother is extremely human in appearance. (Aside from the occasional extra limb and a large protuberance on her back, of course.) Why does she look so different?
In episode 7, Wally (Denis O'Hare) posits that Mother looks human because she's been eating a steady diet of human brain fluid. Yummy. It's a very literal interpretation of "You are what you eat," and it appears to go both ways. Just as Mother looks human after eating so much human brain fluid, so too can Blaine and Anneliese shift into monsters after drinking so much of her blood. The kids have their fair share of human characteristics as well, likely also because of all the brain fluid changing their bodily makeup. That raises the question: If these creatures are fundamentally altered by what they eat, then what do they look like before they eat anything? How did Mother look when she first hatched?
How could Mother communicate with Sam in The Boroughs? Alfred Molina in "The Boroughs." Credit: NetflixAll throughout The Boroughs, Sam experienced traumatic flashbacks to the day his wife Lilly (Jane Kaczmarek) passed away. At first, they seemed like straightforward memories stirred up by external sensory triggers. As the season went on, though, they became stranger. Lilly would appear in the Boroughs, glitching like the monsters do in video footage and begging Sam for help.
Turns out, these weren't just memories. They were Mother trying to communicate.
As the oracular Manor resident known simply as the Duchess (Mary Mcdonnell) tells Sam in episode 7, Mother doesn't experience time in a linear fashion. Because of this, she communicates with people by looking like someone from their past. She mostly makes contact with the Manor's dementia patients, who are similarly unmoored in time. Sam is an exception. He's still grieving Lilly, and according to the Duchess, that loss "split" his mind.
SEE ALSO: 'Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed' review: The power of Tatiana Maslany makes this thriller a must-watch"You've got one foot stuck with us now, and the other on the day she died," she reveals.
That connection allows Sam to find and rescue Mother with the help of the rest of his friends. He returns her to a cave in the old mine shaft, where she chooses to die in a glowing explosion alongside her kids (and Blaine).
Contrast Mother's embrace of death with Blaine's abject fear at the thought of aging and dying. No matter how long he tried to put it off (killing who knows how many Boroughs residents in the process), even he has to face the truth that everybody dies. As Sam puts it, "Join the club."
To thank Sam, Mother offers him the gift of a small bit of time with Lilly: not as a memory, but as herself. The two share a sweet dance, one that offers closure on Season 1's thoughtful examination of just how overwhelming grief can be. Have the tissues handy.
What was the deal with the cave and peach tree in The Boroughs? Clarke Peters in "The Boroughs." Credit: NetflixThe cave where Mother dies is the same cave where Art (Clarke Peters) discovered the peach that briefly restored his health. Mother's kids had been preparing it for her eventual death, explaining why the tree was adorned with beautiful glass ornaments.
The peach gets less of an explanation, though. How did it have the same healing powers as Mother's blood if Mother was all the way in the Boroughs? And why did the tree immediately wither after Art picked it? Perhaps it all goes back to Mother's birth. Did the presence of her egg or the act of her hatching impact the tree's growth and any fruit it might produce?
SEE ALSO: 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' review: If this is the future of Star Wars, I don't want it Why was Sam glitching at the end of The Boroughs?While Mother and her kids are gone by the end of The Boroughs, their supernatural impacts linger.
In the season's final scene, Sam goes to the bathroom to apply a new bandage to his head wound. As he does so, his reflection glitches in the mirror, similarly to how Mother's kids glitched in video footage. What's happened to Sam?
The Boroughs leaves that question open-ended. However, it's clear that his time with Mother left a supernatural mark on him. Perhaps this alteration stems from the time Mother gifted him with Lilly. (Sweet!) Or maybe he got a little Mother blood in his mouth when she exploded. (Gross, but I'm not ruling it out.) Mother was also adamant that only Sam accompany her to the cave, so she may have known he would be changed by her death. Whatever the case, Sam is still linked to these creatures, leaving the door open for more adventure.
Are The Boroughs' monsters aliens?We've witnessed Mother's death, but The Boroughs doesn't really give us clarity on her origins. Sure, we know she hatched from an egg, but how did that egg get in the mines in the first place? Who is Mother's Mother?
My guess? There are some alien shenanigans afoot. The Boroughs draws serious inspiration from E.T., even casting star Dee Wallace as Grace in its opening scene. Could those references go beyond homage and hint at the series going beyond Earth? The show's setting of New Mexico, home to Roswell and its theorized UFO crash site, also feels intentional.
But the most compelling argument for alien involvement is the show's very last shot, which pans from the rooftops of the Boroughs up to the stars. Between that shot and John Paesano's swelling score, The Boroughs suggests that further adventures await in space. Could Mother and her kids' people be living out there, looking down on the Boroughs?
Is there going to be The Boroughs Season 2? Alfred Molina and Denis O'Hare in "The Boroughs." Credit: NetflixBetween Sam's glitching and the very pointed look to the stars, The Boroughs has set up some juicy story threads to follow in a potential Season 2. As yet, Netflix has yet to renew the show for a second outing.


