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How Alien Life Could Exist Without Water

The search for alien life usually hinges on finding the same conditions that sustain life on Earth. But what if aliens don’t need the same things that we need to survive? A new proposal tackles this question for water—arguably one of the most important factors in the search for alien life. Intriguing new research from MIT proposes that liquids are what’s important for extraterrestrial habitability, and not just water. The new research specifically focuses on ionic fluids—substances that planeta

Quick fixes: bring back Google Photos classic search instead of ‘Ask Photos’ Gemini AI

is a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Issue You just want to search your archived photos, instead of interacting with an AI assistant. Quick fix Inside the app, tap the Google account button at top-right, then go to Photos settings > Preferences > Gemini features in Photos, and turn off

Threads now has more than 400 million monthly active users

Just two years since its launch as a competitor to Twitter (now X), Meta’s Threads has topped 400 million monthly active users (MAUs), Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced on Tuesday. “As of a few weeks ago we there are more than 400 million people active on Threads every month,” Mosseri wrote in a Threads post. “It’s been quite the ride over the last two years. This started as a zany idea to compete with Twitter, and has evolved into a meaningful platform that fosters the open exchange of per

Preferred Sources wants to fix your Google Search results — here’s how to set it up

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR After introducing the feature in Labs in June, Google is now rolling out “Preferred Sources” in the US and India. With this feature, users can select trusted websites that will appear more prominently in Top Stories. Users can easily manage and update their source preferences anytime. Users have long been complaining about the dropping quality of Google Search results, thanks to a deadly cocktail of low-quality spam sites, a lot of sponsored content

Google lets you pick preferred sources when you search

Google is officially rolling out Preferred Sources, which lets you curate search results. The feature allows you to pick specific or "preferred" sources, like a certain blog or news outlet, and see them more prominently when you use Google Search. Google started testing it in June and it should be available in the coming days to English language users in the US and India. Preferred Sources seems pretty simple to use. You go to Google, search for a topic and then click on the preferred sources o

UK government advises deleting emails to save water

The National Drought Group met today (Monday 11 August) with the current water shortfall situation in England now defined as a “nationally significant incident.” Five areas are officially in drought, with six more experiencing prolonged dry weather following the driest six months to July since 1976. Despite the unsettled weather last month, many river flows and reservoir levels in England continued to recede compared to June. Rainstorms and showers helped mask the fact that July was still the

Where were you when goo.gl shutdown?

11 August 2025 "… all of this ended up in storage rooms, and everything became rotten and full of holes, and he himself finally turned into some kind of hole in humanity." ✪ ✪“…все это сваливалось в кладовые, и все становилось гниль и прореха, и сам он обратился наконец в какую-то прореху на человечестве.” — Google Gogol, Dead Souls Vol. 1, Chp. 6 In December 2009, Google launched a URL shortening service alongside an update to their toolbar and FeedBurner. TechCrunch heralded the new service

Topics: archive gl run team url

This U.S. Airport Wants to Go Nuclear, and the Backlash Has Already Begun

Within the last two decades, the aviation sector’s global energy-related carbon emissions have grown faster than rail, road, or shipping emissions. Amid an urgent need to transition this industry to clean energy sources, Denver International Airport (DEN) has proposed a bold solution: nuclear power. On Wednesday, August 6, airport chief Phil Washington and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced they were seeking proposals for a $1.25 million feasibility study of a small, on-site nuclear reactor t

Apple’s latest MacBook Pro with M4 is down to its lowest price to date

The MacBook Pro 14 with M4 is one of our top laptop recommendations for students, and it’s currently $1,299 ($300 off), an all-time low price at Amazon and Best Buy. In our tests, Apple’s entry-level pro laptop was powerful enough to process high-resolution raw files in Adobe’s Lightroom Classic without slowing down. It also easily clears the system requirements to play last month’s port of Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate to MacOS. The laptop has a 14.2-inch high resolution (3024 x 1964) 120Hz Mini-LE

Google is adding a new way to personalize the news you see

is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Google is making it easier to see news from your favorite outlets. A new feature, called “preferred sources,” will let you choose the outlets you want to see featured the most in Search’s “top stories” section. Google’s top stories hub appears when you search f

Google will now let you pick your top sources for search results

Google is rolling out a new feature called “Preferred Sources” in the U.S. and India, which allows users to select their preferred choice of news sites and blogs to be shown in the Top Stories section of Google’s search results. Enabling this feature means you will see more content from the sites you like, the company says. When users search for a particular topic, they will see a “star” icon next to the Top Stories section. They can tap on that icon and start adding sources by searching for th

12 of the Best Peacock Shows to Stream Today

Peacock costs more after a July price hike, but the streamer's reliably entertaining lineup of NBC and Bravo favorites could mean you're keeping it around. If you aren't dropping it, the platform's original series are also worth checking out. Some highly rated options include season 2 of the Natasha Lyonne detective show Poker Face and the 2024 Eddie Redmayne assassin series The Day of the Jackal. If you're poking around Peacock for something to watch, here are 12 standout shows to try. Peacock

The First At-Home Cervical Cancer Screening Wand Is Now Available

If you've ever had a Pap smear, you know how uncomfortable a cervical cancer screening can be, especially from inside a cold, clinical doctor's office. Cervical cancer is highly preventable with routine screening. To provide people with a cervix a comfortable and private screening option, women's health company Teal Health developed the Teal Wand, the first and only at-home vaginal sample self-collection device for cervical cancer screening in the US. Following its FDA approval in May, the Tea

Cloud vs. Local: What’s the Best for Security Camera Footage? (2025)

Whether you want to keep tabs on your kids, package deliveries, or pets when you’re away from home, security cameras and video doorbells are an affordable and easy way to do so. But there’s one important question to settle before deciding on your ideal home security setup: Where will you store those videos? Cloud convenience can be perfect for some, while others may prefer to keep things local and subscription-free. I’ve been testing security cameras and video doorbells for many years now, and

Sam Altman is right and wrong about the future of photos

I’m annoyed, not for the first time, by something Sam Altman has said. But this time it’s because I’m annoyed at how much I agree with what he’s saying — even though I think his statement is kind of bullshit. In a recent interview, journalist Cleo Abram asked Altman how people will be able to tell what’s real and what’s not in an age of convincing AI-generated content. Specifically, she references the bunnies. You know the ones I mean: caught in some Ring-camera-ish footage of a backyard, disco

Topics: ai altman know real think

This designer turned the new Beats Pill into a cool art piece you can’t get everywhere

Beats is rolling out a fresh limited-edition version of its recently relaunched Beats Pill Bluetooth speaker, teaming up with Bulgarian-born fashion designer Kiko Kostadinov. Known for blending modern form with historical references, Kostadinov brings his signature aesthetic to the portable speaker’s design. The Kiko Kostadinov Beats Pill features a custom grille inspired by intricate geometric patterns found in ancient Thracian art, a nod to Kostadinov’s heritage. The speaker’s body is finish

275M patient records breached—How to meet HIPAA password manager requirements

In 2024, the healthcare sector experienced over 700 data breach incidents, which is higher than any other industry, including finance. These breaches exposed more than 275 million patient records, with password-related vulnerabilities serving as the primary attack vector in most of the cases. While threat actors use various penetration methods, compromised credentials remain the most consistent and damaging entry point. These statistics reflect a fundamental threat to patient and organizationa

Women's health tracking features take center stage with this Oura update

Nina Raemont/ZDNET ZDNET's key takeaways Oura launched features for pregnant and perimenopausal users on Tuesday. The science-backed features provide further context during periods of drastic biological change. The features are personalized, and the brand stressed data protection and privacy. Pregnant and perimenopausal women are getting more ways to track and understand their health, thanks to several new features Oura announced on Tuesday. The smart ring brand launched a redesigned Pregn

I wore the best headphones from Sony, Bose, Apple, and Sonos: Here's how the AirPods Max wins

Jada Jones/ZDNET In the past few years, Bose, Sony, Sonos, and Beats have released premium headphones to compete with each other and Apple's AirPods Max. I've worn all of the AirPods Max's top competitors, and they each excel in different categories. But for an older dog in this fight, the AirPods Max are still kicking. Since their 2020 release (and 2024 re-release), the Max haven't received many significant software or hardware updates, aside from new colors, a USB-C port, and support for los

Is Chain-of-Thought Reasoning of LLMs a Mirage? A Data Distribution Lens

Credit: Zhao et al The researchers used test cases that fall outside of the LLM training data in task type, format, and length. Credit: Zhao et al The researchers used test cases that fall outside of the LLM training data in task type, format, and length. These simplified models were then tested using a variety of tasks, some of which precisely or closely matched the function patterns in the training data and others that required function compositions that were either partially or fully "out of

US influencer stranded in Antarctica after landing plane without permission

Your support helps us to tell the story Read more Support Now From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need

Best Kids Backpacks, Tested and Reviewed (2025)

As an adult gear tester, I have one major problem with looking for the best kids backpack: Ultimately, the decision is not up to me. My 8-year-old and 10-year-old are the ones who have to carry this backpack to school, camp, and beyond. It has to protect iPads and Chromebooks, fit lunch boxes and water bottles, and get kicked around cars, bikes, and school gyms. Most importantly, it has to be comfortable. And be a good fashion accessory. And you have to find it quickly when it’s hung up on a hoo

11 Best Computer Speakers (2025), Tested and Reviewed

Other Computer Speakers We Tested There are tons of computer speakers on the market, and many of the ones we tested are perfectly fine but don't deserve a spot above for one reason or another. Photograph: Simon Hill Onkyo Creator GX-10DB for $249: Capable of producing a warm and rich sound, Onkyo’s speakers are the perfect size for your desktop and come with angled stands (though they are plastic). The connectivity options are solid, with USB-C, optical, and stereo RCA inputs, and support for

Alien: Earth is a brilliant and terrifying expansion of the franchise

is a reporter focusing on film, TV, and pop culture. Before The Verge, he wrote about comic books, labor, race, and more at io9 and Gizmodo for almost five years. While the monsters in each of the nine Alien movies have been a little bit different, the nefarious corporate forces have remained the same. Ridley Scott’s original Alien didn’t need to mention Weyland-Yutani by name for it to be clear that a singular mega-company had cornered the market on space exploration. But subsequent Alien film

I hate Google Search’s AI overviews, so I replaced them with Brave

Megan Ellis / Android Authority A few months ago, I switched from Google to Brave on my Android phone. While I initially did this to force dark mode on my mobile browser and remove ads, I discovered plenty of benefits to using Brave over Chrome. One of these is access to Brave’s search engine, which prioritizes higher quality results with fewer ads and sponsored results compared to Google Search. But as I’ve continued to use Brave Search across devices, I also realized something else: AI summa

You can now watch Apple TV+ shows for free on United Airlines flights

You can now watch Apple TV+ shows on in-flight entertainment systems across United Airlines’ fleet of planes, thanks to a new partnership announced today. United travellers can get free access to Apple Originals like Severance, Slow Horses, and Ted Lasso, with more titles being added on a monthly basis. The United partnership follows a similar long-running deal Apple has had with American Airlines. In the case of United, customers can watch using the in-flight entertainment system in the back

Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company (2019)

Feb 7, 2019 by Sahil Lavingia Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company In 2011, I left my job as the second employee at Pinterest — before I vested any of my stock — to work on what I thought would be my life's work. I thought Gumroad would become a billion-dollar company, with hundreds of employees. It would IPO, and I would work on it until I died. Something like that. Needless to say, that didn't happen. Now, it may look like I am in an enviable position, running a prof

New Apple Watch Ultra 3 Rumors Point to an Overdue Upgrade

With September inching closer and Apple's next event likely just weeks away, rumors are heating up about the company's fall lineup, which this year could include the Apple Watch Ultra 3 alongside a flagship Apple Watch Series 11 and iPhone 17. In a turnaround from the busy rumor mill, the clearest signal yet for an Ultra 3 release comes from the secretive company itself. Imagery found in the public beta of iOS 26 (first uncovered by MacRumors) reveals new screen specs that don't match any of th

OnePlus 15’s SuperBlack could be the blackest black color we’ve seen on a phone

Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority TL;DR The upcoming OnePlus 15 may feature a brand new design, including a “black hole”-inspired aesthetic featuring the SuperBlack color and a new camera island design. The phone is rumored to come with a 6.78-inch flat LIPO display with a 1.5K resolution and symmetrically thin bezels. Other leaks suggest the phone will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 chipset, a 50MP triple camera, and a 7,000mAh battery. Once the Pixel 10 series launches, we’re

Weathering Software Winter (2022)

weathering software winter This is a blog post based on a transcript of a talk by Devine on November 26th 2022. Watch the video version on (YouTube). The slideshow presentation was made using Adelie. Thank you to Matt Mascarenhas for providing us with an auto-transcript, it would have taken us ages to put this text together without it. While we are grateful to have had the opportunity to give this presentation, an event in 2025 has resulted in us distancing ourselves from the conference respo