Author: Awais

My parents are fairly impossible to buy for. Every year, come the holidays, they insist they have everything they need, and I insist on getting them something. I like to think everything I’ve given them has been well-loved, but one gift is in a class of its own: espresso cups from Le Creuset. Credit: Le Creuset Why I Love Le Creuset’s Espresso Cups I gave my parents these cups for Christmas over a decade ago, and they still use them every day. (My dad makes my mom a cappuccino each morning and brings it to her in bed, which is…

Google Ads launched VTC-optimized bidding for Android app campaigns, letting advertisers toggle bidding toward conversions that happen after an ad is viewed rather than clicked. Previously, VTC worked as a hidden signal inside Google’s systems. Now, it’s a clear, explicit optimization option. The shift. Google is shifting app advertising away from click-centric logic and toward incrementality and influence, especially for formats like YouTube and in-feed video. This update aligns bidding more closely with how users actually discover and install apps. Why we care. You can now bid beyond clicks, improving measurement for video-led app campaigns and strengthening the case for…

[Submitted on 5 Dec 2025 (v1), last revised 11 Dec 2025 (this version, v3)] View a PDF of the paper titled TRACE: A Framework for Analyzing and Enhancing Stepwise Reasoning in Vision-Language Models, by Shima Imani and 4 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Reliable mathematical and scientific reasoning remains an open challenge for large vision-language models. Standard final-answer evaluation often masks reasoning errors, allowing silent failures to persist. To address this gap, we introduce TRACE, a framework for Transparent Reasoning And Consistency Evaluation that diagnoses reasoning trajectories rather than only end results. At its core, TRACE leverages Auxiliary Reasoning…

Ubisoft is moving deeper into MOBAs after buying March of Giants from Amazon and acquiring the team that made the game. As part of the agreement, Amazon will help promote March of Giants on Twitch. The deal is expected to close on December 16There’s no release date as yet for March of Giants. Amazon announced the free-to-play game back in August and there was a closed alpha playtest the following month. The next playtest will take place in 2026. The next major update for March of Giants will include “new giants, expanded competitive modes and foundational systems designed to support…

You finally muster the strength for a midday workout only to look down at a dead watch screen. Motivation: gone. Honestly, would you even work out if your smartwatch didn’t give you credit for it?Sure, most newer smartwatch models can now last more than a day, including a full night of sleep tracking. But even some of the top powerhouses, including the Pixel Watch 4 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, tend to crap out midway through day two when there’s no charger in sight (mine’s on my nightstand). After one too many days staring at a dark screen and missing key…

Google updated its JavaScript SEO documentation to clarify that noindex tags may prevent rendering and JavaScript execution, blocking changes. When Google encounters `noindex`, it may skip rendering and JavaScript execution. JavaScript that tries to remove or change `noindex` may not run for Googlebot on that crawl. If you want a page indexed, avoid putting `noindex` in the original page code.

AI-powered email content suggestions are changing how marketing teams write, test, and scale email campaigns. Instead of guessing what message will resonate, marketers can now use AI to analyze data, predict engagement, and generate personalized content that converts.

be honest. Writing code in 2025 is much easier than it was ten, or even five, years ago. We moved from Fortran to C to Python, each step lowering the effort needed to get something working. Now tools like Cursor and GitHub Copilot can write boilerplate, refactor functions, and improve coding pipelines from a few lines of natural language. At the same time, more people than ever are getting into AI, data science and machine learning. Product managers, analysts, biologists, economists, you name it, are learning how to code, understand how AI models work, and interpret data efficiently. All of…

Developer Supergiant Games smash hit Hades is just as much a roguelike action RPG as it is a relationship simulator. The pantheon of Greek gods has always been a messy, discordant family — but it’s up to you to wrangle their affections for special boons as you step into the role of Zagreus, son of Hades.The young demigod has been trapped in the Underworld his entire life, smothered by the whims of his dispassionate father. Zagreus misses his mortal mother, and he’s willing to fight through hell in order to see her again. Godly weapons, Olympian boons and loyal friends…

Having trouble getting connected to Spotify? It could be down, or it could be an issue with your device. Here’s how to find out. How to Tell if Spotify Is Down If something’s gone wrong with Spotify and you think it might be the service itself, check these places first for confirmation: Go to the Spotify Status X (formerly Twitter) account or the corporate X page for Spotify. The corporate page usually won’t tell you much, but if something truly major is happening, they do post a message here. You can also check the SpotifyCares X page. Check a third-party…