Author: Awais
We are living (or maybe just lived) through the age of the great fantasy book TV adaptation. It all started with Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books. That franchise is still going pretty strong, with another new show on the way. But there was also The Witcher, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and The Wheel of Time (a show I’m still upset got canceled). It’s been high time for fantasy fans over the past decade. But somehow, one of the most popular modern fantasy authors has yet…
One of the best things about food memories is that you can bring them back to life through the senses. I’m not sure there is a more powerful way to feel transported back to a moment, experience, or tradition than through cooking. My grandpa was a wildly talented home cook. He was intuitive, creative, particular, and passionate in the kitchen. He taught my mother so much of what she knows about cooking, and she has passed a great deal of this on to me (as much as she can without one single written recipe to work with). Grandpa was ahead…
Cami (Demi Moore – here’s my interview with her about the show)… you in danger, girl. M-Tex has officially gone into partnership with the nefarious Gallino (Andy Garcia) in Landman season 2, and Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton – here’s my interview with him) has no choice but to go along with it.Still, at least Angela (Ali Larter – here’s my interview with her) is keeping him on his toes at home. If she’s not trying to mount Tommy while he’s driving, she’s getting arrested for giving alcohol to pensioners at a care home.It will be a miracle if Tommy survives…
Zack Nelson’s Christmas gift to his 9.7 million YouTube subscribers was a durability test of Samsung’s TriFold smartphone. “Every so often there’s a piece of technology that lands on my desk that almost makes me feel bad for what’s about to happen … almost,” the guy behind JerryRigEverything says at the start of the test, leaving you with a strong feeling that it will not end well for Samsung’s first-ever phone with not one but two hinges. Anyone who’s already witnessed one of Nelson’s durability tests knows that it involves lots of scratching and plenty of scraping. Phones will also…
I used to feel embarrassed every time I bought the pre-made veggie trays from the grocery store—like I was caught cutting corners on adulthood. It was like admitting I couldn’t be bothered to wash and chop some vegetables, which I suppose was true. But over time, I’ve learned to cut myself some slack, and if there’s ever a time to embrace practical shortcuts, it’s the holidays. A store-bought veggie tray isn’t a compromise—it’s a head start. The washing, chopping, and portioning are already done, so you can focus on the fun part: making it look and taste like you put…
Setting up a PS5 for a child means you can offer an age-appropriate and safe platform for them to play. Sony made its parental control tools more comprehensive in recent years and they allow families to manage screen time, block unsuitable content, guide online interactions and approve purchases. The process is straightforward once the right menus are in view, but it helps to understand how each feature works before handing over the controller.The system uses individual accounts for each family member, and these accounts determine what a child can access. A parent or guardian assigns restrictions to the child’s profile…
AI tools went mainstream in 2025, but they were hardly static. New models and features gave rise to all kinds of trends, fads, and fashions. The more durable or notable trends have had a real impact on my life, sometimes in obvious ways and sometimes in ways I only notice in retrospect.Here are some of the best and worst, or at least annoying, ways AI trends have affected me this year.1. I now double-check every realistic AI photo (Image credit: Shutterstock)Until recently, spotting an AI-generated photo took me no time at all. I didn’t have to check for a watermark;…
Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one, but you might struggle at first to see a connection between the words. If you need hints and answers, read on.I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So FarHint…
[Submitted on 10 Dec 2025 (v1), last revised 24 Dec 2025 (this version, v2)] Authors:Tiwei Bie, Maosong Cao, Kun Chen, Lun Du, Mingliang Gong, Zhuochen Gong, Yanmei Gu, Jiaqi Hu, Zenan Huang, Zhenzhong Lan, Chengxi Li, Chongxuan Li, Jianguo Li, Zehuan Li, Huabin Liu, Lin Liu, Guoshan Lu, Xiaocheng Lu, Yuxin Ma, Jianfeng Tan, Lanning Wei, Ji-Rong Wen, Yipeng Xing, Xiaolu Zhang, Junbo Zhao, Da Zheng, Jun Zhou, Junlin Zhou, Zhanchao Zhou, Liwang Zhu, Yihong Zhuang View a PDF of the paper titled LLaDA2.0: Scaling Up Diffusion Language Models to 100B, by Tiwei Bie and 30 other authors View PDF…
AI isn’t new to Hollywood — but this was the year when it really made its presence felt. For years now, the entertainment industry has used different kinds of generative AI products for a variety of post-production processes ranging from de-aging actors to removing green screen backgrounds. In many instances, the technology has been a useful tool for human artists tasked with tedious and painstaking labor that might have otherwise taken them inordinate amounts of time to complete. But in 2025, Hollywood really began warming to the idea of deploying the kind of gen AI that’s really only good for…