Author: Awais
For some, the changing seasons are ushered in by Starbucks’ menu updates. But for me, it’s what’s on shelves at the grocery store. Every fall, I patiently wait for my favorite store-bought coffee brand, Stok, to bring back its spiced pumpkin cold brew. But the real excitement begins after the leaves fall and the weather stays permanently cool. It is then, often in mid-November, that my number one returns to shelves. A coffee that’s smooth, creamy, and captures two of the holiday season’s most popular flavors in a single sip: Stok Peppermint Mocha Cold Brew Coffee. Stok Peppermint Mocha Cold…
Google packed a lot into this week, with Search Console picking up AI-powered configuration, Maps loosening its real-name rule for reviews, and a new test nudging more people from AI Overviews into AI Mode. Here’s what that means for you. Google Search Console Tests AI-Powered Report Configuration Google introduced an experimental AI feature in Search Console that lets you describe the report you want and have the tool build it for you. The feature, announced in a Google blog post, lives inside the Search results Performance report. You can type something like “compare clicks from UK versus France,” and the…
Ready or not, the holiday shopping season is underway. Choosing the best Christmas gifts for the ones you love is either an epic quest that you look forward to every year — or one you dread. Luckily, we spend our days testing all the latest gadgets and gear, and we know exactly what to recommend.For 2025, our Christmas wishlist is simple: It’s all of the awesome stuff we loved the most this year. That includes the newest gadgets we put to the test every week, the swoonworthy items we just had to take home and keep for ourselves, and some…
Over the summer, I agreed to host my family over the holidays. I’m excited about this, but with the holidays looming, the full scope of the endeavor is coming into focus. To ease the pressure, I decided to buy some hosting insurance in the form of frozen appetizers. With nearly seven years of experience in food media, I’ve tasted and tested a broad range of homemade and store-bought appetizers. I felt confident that I could find options I would be happy to have on hand to serve. (Who knows if my prep and cooking timeline will fall apart, or if…
Never miss a new edition of The Variable, our weekly newsletter featuring a top-notch selection of editors’ picks, deep dives, community news, and more. ‘Tis the season for data science teams across industries to crunch numbers, deliver annual reports, and plan goals and targets for next year. In other words: it’s the perfect moment to dig into the often-messy world of metrics, KPIs, and evaluation methods, where the pitfalls — and the rewards! — are many. The top-notch articles we’ve selected for you this week tackle the challenges of producing reliable insights and avoiding common mistakes. Why AI Alignment Starts…
What does it mean to be “on track” as a developer, and as a team?Sadly, I think we are well past the days of staying “on track” meaning writing some clean code for your latest release and moving on to the next project. The demand for faster features, with almost instantaneous hotfixes, and expansive roadmaps has grown exponentially.Even the best team runs into chaos that it can never control, from dependencies to shifts in the overall business goals. AI and tech promise to cut away layers of complexity, but some teams see them as added stress. You may like Shannon…
What’s happened? Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, has launched a new unified support hub on its Android and iOS apps. In the hub, users can report issues, recover accounts, and get help with security settings (via Meta). In addition, the hub will provide an AI-powered search or assistant to guide them on their concerns. The global rollout of the unified support hub is part of a broader redesign to improve account support. Unsplash Why is this important? In its press release, Meta writes that AI- and behavior-based security tools have helped the platform reduce new account hacks…
Yes, our editors love to cook, but sometimes we need to get dinner on the table ASAP. In these moments, we look to kitchen helpers, humble ingredients that can quickly form the base of full-on delicious meals. Each month, we’ll be giving you fuss-free recipe ideas to call upon any day of the week. This month, it’s all about rotisserie chicken.Packed with protein and beaming with flavor, store-bought rotisserie chicken lends a helping hand at meal time, forming the base of 10-minute dinners and uncomplicated work lunches. From a halal cart chicken salad to work-from-home tacos, here are all the…
Meta has acquired Limitless, the maker of an AI-powered “Pendant,” to work on building consumer hardware for the company, the startup announced via a YouTube video and blog post. So far, Meta has focused on selling VR headsets and AI smart glasses. Now the company seems interested in branching out.”Meta recently announced a new vision to bring personal superintelligence to everyone and a key part of that vision is building incredible AI-enabled wearables. We share this vision and we’ll be joining Meta to help bring our shared vision to life,” Limitless CEO Dan Siroker said in the post announcing the…
File-sharing apps may host files with malwareBox and WeTransfer offer virus scanning only with paid plansNews comes as the UK seeks to boost proactive scanning of illegal contentHave you been diligently using free versions of Dropbox, Box, or WeTransfer to exchange files about Christmas presents or New Year’s holiday ideas?If so, you might want to think twice before clicking the ‘download’ button next time, as these free services may host files with viruses or malware, making you more likely to download or share harmful content without realising it.The warning comes from Surfshark, one of the best VPNs, which recently carried…