Blogroll

In the tech world, it’s easy to get lost in specs, but a bigger number isn’t always better. When it comes to a smartwatch, this is especially true. I recently upgraded from a bigger watch to a smaller one, and it has been a vast improvement.

At $1800, Galaxy XR is half the price of the Apple Vision Pro, but it’s still far from an impulse buy. Yet I’ve decided to buy one and am about to take the plunge into VR for the first time. Here's why this headset appeals to me when others have not.

Dreams really can come true. In some cases, that looks like landing the job you've always wanted, or finding the love of your life. In my case, that looks like reading an excerpt of a made-up romantasy novel from a TV show.

That show is Vince Gilligan and Apple TV's sci-fi series, Pluribus, and that novel is none other than Bloodsong of Wycaro by Carol Sturka (played by Rhea Seehorn).

As viewers learn in the Pluribus premiere, Bloodsong of Wycaro is "the fourth book in [Carol's] Winds of Wycaro trilogy." The series as a whole is a bestselling phenomenon, with diehard fans eager to see how the high-stakes romance between Captain Lucasia and corsair Raban unfolds. Carol hates the fans and her work, but that didn't stop me from hoping the Wycaro books could somehow become a reality.

And now they have! Kind of.

Apple Books has released a free chapter from Bloodsong of Wycaro, one that reunites Lucasia with Raban in an island cave. The entire excerpt is a spot-on pastiche of historical fantasy, complete with otherworldly jargon and overly descriptive passages. You can imagine Carol rolling her eyes at herself as she writes about sandy cyclocanes and painful moonsburn. Still, though, it's tough not to get sucked into Lucasia and Raban's story, even without the context of three other books to guide us.

However, the most fascinating part of the Bloodsong of Wycaro excerpt is the letter from Carol at the beginning. In the letter, Carol reveals that she's releasing this excerpt to appease the hordes of "Rabasia" shippers who are angry that Raban (presumed dead after walking the plank) is not on the cover.

"You know I am on record for despising 'spoilers' in any form, that my preference would be to let events unfold in their own time through Lucasia’s anguished eyes. But I also understand that’s not everyone’s preference," Carol writes in the letter. "Different strokes for different folks. How hellish would the world be if we all thought exactly the same?!"

Of course, the entire world thinking the same is precisely the hell that awaits Carol in Pluribus, where she is one of the sole humans unaffected by the happiness hive mind. That line is a darkly tongue-in-cheek reminder of what's to come for her. The same goes for the beginning of the letter, which reveals that Carol is finishing up the final leg of the Bloodsong of Wycaro tour. In Pluribus, the worldwide joining of the hive mind happens right after finishing the tour, which means that as of writing this letter and publishing the excerpt, Carol only has a short amount of time left before the world as she knows it vanishes.

For more foreshadowing and excellent fantasy parody, check out the full excerpt from Bloodsong of Wycaro.

Bloodsong of Wycaro is free to download on Apple Books. Pluribus is now streaming on Apple TV, with a new episode every Friday.

Road construction is a necessary evil when we talk about infrastructure, but it always brings along a frustrating mix of traffic jams, surprise detours, and trips that take way longer than they should. For most drivers, seeing those orange cones and flashing lights means their day is about to get worse, turning a normal drive into a real test of patience.

The entire point of mobile payments is to be more convenient than a physical card. Any little bit of friction ends up feeling more cumbersome than just pulling out your wallet. While Google Wallet is genuinely great, there are a few often-hidden tweaks that can make the tap-to-pay process even better.

3D printing is a hobby that quickly turns casual observers into enthusiasts. That means it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and overlook the rougher edges, even if you’re completely taken in by it.

We've all purchased a tool, gadget, or tech item that we eventually regret or don't use enough. However, if there's one thing you'll end up using frequently, or be glad you have a few extras in your garage, it's power tool battery packs.

Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update pulled no punches on President Donald Trump this week, with anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che skewering him over his connections to the Epstein emails released this week.

"House Democrats released an email written by Jeffrey Epstein in which he claims that Donald Trump 'knew about the girls,'" Jost says. "It's bombshell news that legal experts are calling, 'duh.'"

Che also zeroed in on an email from Epstein's brother Mark. "In one of the emails, Epstein's brother asked if Vladimir Putin has a picture of Donald Trump giving oral sex to someone named Bubba, which was an old nickname for Bill Clinton," Che says. "So I guess that's one job Trump has created."

Weekend Update didn't stop at the Epstein emails, though. Jost and Che also targeted Trump's request for the new Washington Commanders stadium to be named after him, his denial that his golden White House decorations come from Home Depot, and his $5 billion threatened lawsuit against the BBC.

"This might be my favorite episode," Che says.

The rest of this week's SNL episode further lampooned Trump's connections to the Epstein emails, addressing them in the cold open and in a series of shorts that brought back Will Forte's MacGruber.

A smart home needs solid foundations, and that means reliable wireless pathways that ensure your lights, sensors, and remotes can communicate effectively. If you’re suffering from dropouts and spotty performance, there’s a cheap trick you can use to get a bit more range out of your Thread, Zigbee, or Z-Wave networks.

Toyota has long been synonymous with resale value, but one of its newest models breaks sharply from that reputation. Despite wearing one of the most trusted badges in the industry, this vehicle sheds more than 80% of its original price within just five years, an eye-opening contrast to the brand’s usual strong performers. For shoppers who assume every Toyota is a safe financial bet, this outlier proves that name recognition isn’t everything.

Saturday Night Live brought back Will Forte's long running character MacGruber for its Nov. 15 episode. But this time around, the bomb-defusing man of action is hiding some seriously messed-up secrets about his ties to the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Each of Nov. 15's three pre-taped MacGruber shorts follow the same formula as prior installments: MacGruber and his assistants Colton (host Glen Powell) and Tawnee (Chloe Fineman) are trapped in control rooms, trying to disarm a bomb that's about to explode.

However, it's not long before Colton drops a bomb of his own: He has an uncensored copy of the Epstein files. And based on MacGruber's reaction — and subsequent shredding of the files — he's definitely on the list. It's going to take more than a pencil sharpener and a square of foil to get him out of this mess.

The MacGruber shorts were only the tip of the iceberg of this very Epstein-heavy SNL installment. The cold open saw Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson) react to the release of thousands of Epstein emails this week, and Weekend Update continued to mock Trump over his Epstein connections.

I've always loved to read. My house is so full of books that I'm struggling to find places to put them all. I've listened to audiobooks in the past, but I always found myself returning to physical books. I finally decided to give audiobooks another try, but the experience still left me cold.

This week, the House Oversight Committee released thousands of documents from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, including emails that mention President Donald Trump. While the real-life Trump has mostly dodged questions about the emails — even yelling "quiet!" at a reporter asking follow-up questions about them — Saturday Night Live's version of Trump (James Austin Johnson) had a lot to say in this week's cold open.

The cold open kicked off with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (Ashley Padilla) reluctantly fielding questions from reporters about the emails at a press briefing.

"The only thing these emails prove is that President Trump did nothing wrong!" SNL's Leavitt says. "If anything, his crime was loving too much, and possibly too young."

It's not long before Johnson's Trump takes over the press briefing, aiming to hit journalists with some "gotcha" questions designed to highlight his innocence.

"If I was innocent, wouldn't I just release all the files?" Trump asks.

Well, yes, say the reporters grilling him.

It turns out that SNL's Trump does have plans to release all the Epstein files — as part of a business venture, that is. For the low price of $800, buyers can get framed, extremely low-resolution screenshots of Epstein's emails, including the infamous one that asks, "Does Putin have the photo of Trump blowing Bubba?"

"It makes a great stocking stuffer," Trump proclaims. So if you're low on Christmas gift ideas, there's an idea straight from SNL.

And if you thought SNL was done with the Epstein emails after that cold open, you'd be wrong. This week's installment of Weekend Update continued to lampoon Trump's connection to the emails, while the return of Will Forte as MacGruber yielded unexpected ties to the Epstein files.

pandas is the premier library for data analysis in Python. Here are some advanced things I like to do with pandas DataFrames to take my analysis to the next level.

As the days get shorter and the temperature drops, we can quickly fall into the trap of the winter blues. Luckily, technology offers simple tools to help boost our mood and motivation. Here are the ways I use tech to stay energized and positive throughout the winter months.

Every recent Windows update feels like a lateral move in terms of new features added (unless you count Copilot, which I won’t). However, behind the scenes, Microsoft developers have built some super useful new features for Windows 10 and 11, but you have to install them manually. It’s a set of utilities called PowerToys, and the best part is they’re free and open source. Let me show you how you can use these tools to add features that Windows should have by default.

Did your smart home devices suddenly stop responding? There’s a good chance that the cloud is to blame. But, what do you do when that happens?

Do you ever wish you could easily let everyone who uses your Jellyfin server know what shows and movies you just added? I did, and I found out it's pretty simple to set up an automated email newsletter thanks to a third-party Jellyfin plugin.

I was 18 for most of 2005, and I have fond memories not only about that time in my life but also the technology that came to define it. So is this pure nostalgia, or is there something desirable about a simpler time?

Have you ever seen those GIFs that animate the command line and wondered how they look so good? Or seen a tiny GIF and wondered how they're so small? It's not as difficult as you may think, and I address both with two easy-to-use commands.