Honestly, I've kind of given up on using Windows Search to find things on my computer. There are plenty of third-party tools and one not-so-third-party one that can do the job a lot better. However, Microsoft is adding a new and improved Windows Search to its operating system on the Insider channel, albeit not everyone can get it.

Image: Netflix Castlevania: Nocturne season 2 gets philosophical about what it means to be a monster who loves. Read the full story at The Verge.

If you're running Windows 11 22H2 or 23H2 and have been putting off the upgrade to 24H2, you may be in for a shock. The company has confirmed that anyone running an older version of the operating system is now getting an upgrade to 24H2, whether they want it or not.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Now that TikTok has finally reached the end of its legal options in the US to avoid a ban, somehow its future seems less clear than ever. The Supreme Court couldn’t have been more direct: the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, as applied to TikTok, withstands First Amendment scrutiny and can take effect on January 19th. The court agreed that the government had a compelling national security interest in passing the law and that its rationale was content neutral. The solution proposed — forcing Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok or see it ousted from the US — was ruled appropriately tailored to meet those ends. Yet the government’s response hardly feels like a victory lap. In fact, despite being still under ByteDance’s control, it’s not clear that anyone in the US government will even act like TikTok is banned on the 19th. “TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement after the Supreme Court ruling today. “Given... Read the full story at The Verge.

Image: Nintendo Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, the just-launched port of the 2010 Wii game, doesn’t include individual members of the original Retro Studios development team in the credits, as reported by GameSpot. Since the discovery, however, Nintendo has commented on the omission, giving a statement to Eurogamer.“We believe in giving proper credit for anyone involved in making or contributing to a game’s creation, and value the contributions that all staff make during the development process,” the statement reads, which is sourced only to Nintendo and not to a specific individual. The game’s credits reveal that the port was done by Forever Entertainment.Crediting is an industry-wide issue, and this isn’t the first time Nintendo has come under scrutiny for its crediting decisions. Some developers who worked on the original Metroid Prime — another Retro Studios game — were unhappy that Metroid Prime Remastered’s credits didn’t include the full original credits. And external translators have expressed frustrations with being left out of credits for some major Nintendo games, Game Developer reported last year.As of late, Nintendo has also been somewhat cagey about things like voice actors and the specific studios developing its games.

The falling debris field from the SpaceX Starship explosion lit up the night sky over the Caribbean, | Screenshot: YouTube Falling debris from the SpaceX Starship explosion yesterday created what looked like a meteor shower, or a colorful fireworks show based on videos shared by people in the area, but it also delayed flights. Eight and a half minutes after launch yesterday, the upper stage of the SpaceX Starship “experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” following the separation from its booster and the start of its ascent to space.The footage of the explosion’s aftermath was shared to social media and Reddit. Some of it was recorded inside planes flying nearby, and many flights were diverted around the debris field, or delayed until all the fragments touched down.The Federal Aviation Administration said it had “briefly slowed and diverted planes around the area where space debris was falling,” according to Reuters.The 7th test flight of Starship was at least a partial success, marking the second time SpaceX successfully caught the Super Heavy booster with its launch tower. It was also the first time one of the booster’s Raptor engines was reused from a previous flight. The launch was a testbed for a redesigned propulsion system, an improved flight computer, and the craft’s heat shield. It’s unclear if any of these were factors in the failure, but SpaceX says that, according to “initial data,” the explosion was potentially the result of a fire that developed in the ship’s rear section.The company says that “Starship flew within its designated launch corridor” and “any surviving pieces of debris would have fallen into the designated hazard area.” The falling debris put on a show in the evening sky over the Caribbean and was captured by several tourists who seemed both amazed and slightly anxious about what they were witnessing.@cnnbrk @CNN @cnni @Pardon_Me_22 appears to be a meteor shower over Turks and Caicos this evening.. Wow!!! Flew right over @ClubMedTurkoise pic.twitter.com/OL7vq8vbkH— Joshua Johnson (@JoshAJohnson10) January 16, 2025Just saw the most insane #spacedebris #meteorshower right now in Turks and Caicos ⁦@elonmusk⁩ what is it?? pic.twitter.com/a7f4MbEB8Q— Dean Olson (@deankolson87) January 16, 2025This just happened in the sky over #turksandcaicos ☄️ ‍♀️ #Aliens #meteor #firework??? pic.twitter.com/OwodvImSVC— Sally Alington (@sallyethos) January 16, 2025 pic.twitter.com/v1kyg6YtTg— andres (@_thatonedolphin) January 17, 2025After SpaceX Starship’s rapid unscheduled disassembly, our most tracked flights are all aircraft holding or diverting to avoid any potential debris. https://t.co/CzXnD5YvZg pic.twitter.com/4FTa4zI24V— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) January 16, 2025A screenshot shared by the flight tracking website FlightRadar24 to its X account yesterday showed several aircraft in holding patterns or being diverted following the incident, while another showed flight departures from Miami and For Lauderdale airports being delayed by 45 minutes.The last time SpaceX lost the Starship was during its third test flight last March. Although it was the first flight where the Starship completed its full-duration ascent burn, SpaceX lost contact with the spacecraft shortly before it was expected to splash down in the Indian Ocean.

3D printing has revolutionized our ability to create functional designs and creative projects. The right software at each stage of the printing process makes all the difference in quality, efficiency, and overall satisfaction.

Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Bumble founder and executive chair Whitney Wolfe Herd, who stepped down as CEO at the beginning of 2024, is returning to the post in mid-March. Former Slack CEO Lidiane Jones, who succeeded Herd, has resigned for “personal reasons” and will remain in the role until Wolfe Herd takes over.“As I step into the role of CEO, I’m energized and fully committed to Bumble’s success, our mission of creating meaningful, equitable relationships, and our opportunity ahead,” Wolfe Herd says in a statement. “We have exciting innovation ahead for Bumble in this bold new chapter.”Bumble gained popularity in part because it was set up for women to message their matches first. But in April, it introduced a redesign and a feature that let men send the first message in response to prewritten questions. That redesign was announced following layoffs that the company said would “better align its operating model with future strategic priorities,” however, as Fortune notes, its share price has dropped by more than half since the redesign.Dating apps have struggled as of late, following the “Bumble fumble” anti-celibacy ad it apologized for last year, as competitor Match Group (the owner of Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, and other services) reported a drop in users. In Bumble’s most recent earnings report, it said that the number of paying users had increased from 3.8 million to 4.3 million over the last year, however, average revenue per paying user dropped from $23.42 to $21.17, and its total revenue dropped slightly.A 2023 Pew Research survey found that 52 percent of respondents thought they had come across a scammer on dating sites and apps, and 51 percent of women said their experiences had been negative. In the UK, an Ofcom report last year noted that usage of each of the top three largest dating services had declined from 2023, and survey data increasingly suggests Gen Z daters aren’t using the apps as much.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images In his first statement since the Supreme Court upheld a law that could ban TikTok from the US on Sunday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew offered no insight into what would happen to the app in just a few days. Instead, he took the opportunity to appeal to President-elect Donald Trump.“I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States,” Chew says in a video on the platform. “We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a President who truly understands our platform — one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process.” @tiktok Our response to the Supreme Court decision. ♬ original sound - TikTok In discussing Trump’s TikTok views, Chew is speaking his language. After all, the incoming president is famous for keeping close tabs on his TV ratings and recently declared he had a “warm spot” for TikTok after seeing how the platform played a role in his campaign. It’s TikTok’s most public attempt to butter Trump up before he takes over the Oval Office on Monday (one day after the ban takes effect), but Chew has already visited him at Mar-a-Lago and plans to attend his inauguration, along with several other tech CEOs.Trump has previously declared his intention to save TikTok but has not said how he’d do so. After Friday’s Supreme Court ruling, he asked the public to “respect it” and said, “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation.” Earlier on Friday, he said he’d spoken with China’s President Xi Jinping about TikTok, among other things, calling it a “very good” call.Chew’s statement seems to indicate that TikTok believes appealing to Trump is now its most promising path to remaining viable in the US. Even so, Trump’s options are somewhat limited. The most effective path, if he could achieve it, would be to somehow broker a deal to get ByteDance (with China’s allowance) to sell TikTok and comply with the law’s divestiture requirements. Otherwise, he could instruct his Justice Department not to enforce the ban, possibly through an executive order — but that might not be enough to reassure companies like Apple, Google, and Oracle that they won’t risk serious penalties by continuing to provide service for TikTok.In the meantime, we still don’t know how TikTok itself will handle the impending ban, which takes effect the day before Trump is sworn in. The company has reportedly planned to go dark in the US in that case. “Rest assured, we will do everything in our power to ensure our platform thrives as your online home for limitless creativity and discovery, as well as a source of inspiration and joy for years to come,” Chew says. “More to come.”

The best laptops use Windows as their standard operating system because of its stability, universal compatibility, and impressive overall ability. However, there’s always room for improvement, and customization apps like PowerToys and Windhawk are popular because they enhance functionality and allow users to personalize their experience.

When the internet was in its infancy and home networks were complicated things to set up correctly, every device on your network had a public-facing IP address. This made it easy for game servers, FTP servers, and other services that you might want to use. This was fine, mostly, but it did mean that your devices were exposed to the wider internet and also that IPV4 addresses were going to run out unless something was done.

Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images A new rule requiring all vehicles to have automatic emergency braking is “flawed” and should be repealed, a new lawsuit filed by the auto industry’s main lobbying group says. The suit was filed in US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by the Alliance of Automotive Innovation, which represents most of the major automakers, including Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Hyundai, Volkswagen, and Toyota. The group is asking the court to overturn the new rule, which was finalized last year, requiring all vehicles to have automatic emergency braking (AEB) by 2029. Under the rule, all vehicles will be required to be able to “stop and avoid contact” with other vehicles at speeds of up to 62mph. In addition, AEB systems must apply the brakes automatically “up to 90 mph when a collision with a lead vehicle is imminent, and up to 45 mph when a pedestrian is detected.” Vehicles must also be able to detect pedestrians in both daylight and darkness. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says the new rule will help prevent hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of injuries every year.But after the rule was finalized, the alliance petitioned NHTSA to “reconsider” it, arguing that current technology was insufficient to meet the high standards outlined by the regulation. The group also claimed that its suggestions were rejected during the rulemaking process, and urged NHTSA to reconsider several key provisions in order to make it more achievable by the target date.But NHTSA denied the group’s petition, stating that the requirements were “practicable” and that the overall aim is to “force” the industry to adopt new technology in order to meet the goals of saving lives and preventing injuries. “NHTSA acknowledged that the final rule is technology-forcing”“NHTSA acknowledged that the final rule is technology-forcing,” the agency said in its response, “but emphasized that the standard is practicable and no single current vehicle must meet every requirement for an FMVSS to be considered practicable under the Safety Act.”The auto alliance says that it has spent “more than a billion dollars” developing AEB over the years, but doesn’t want this lawsuit to be seen as undermining its own technology. And it says it much prefers the “voluntary agreement” that preceded the mandate. “This litigation by Alliance for Automotive Innovation should not be interpreted as opposition to AEB, a lack of confidence in the technology, or an objection to AEB’s widest possible deployment across the U.S. vehicle fleet,” the group says in a press release. “Rather, this litigation is about ensuring a rule that maximizes driver and pedestrian safety and is technologically feasible.” But consumer and safety advocates aren’t buying it. “The AEB Rule is the most impactful regulation for roadway safety issued in years,” said Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, in a statement. “Considering that automaking is America’s largest manufacturing sector, employs 10 million Americans, generates five percent of the U.S. GDP and drives $1 trillion into the economy annually, it is remarkable that it would be unable to meet the requirements in the AEB Rule by September 2029.”And William Wallace, Consumer Report’s director of safety advocacy, said, “It is profoundly disappointing that automakers are suing to block this lifesaving automatic emergency braking rule. Car companies have brought impressive safety technology to our roads, but AEB performance among new vehicle models is uneven. This rule is needed because everyone on our roads should be able to benefit from automatic emergency braking systems that meet reasonable minimum standards.”