Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb will head the UAP Science Advisory Council established by the White House, the Pentagon, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, and "the intelligence community." The Council will provide scientific reports and advice to the UAP Governing Board, in an effort to "resolve the nature of UAP," or unidentified anomalous phenomena.On paper, Loeb's qualifications seem strong. And he's surrounded himself with a team from a variety of backgrounds. The Council includes not only physicists, but a pathologist, a computer scientist, a philosopher, a psychologist, and even the founding publisher of S …Read the full story at The Verge.

If you're a music maker of a certain age, then you probably once dabbled with a pirated copy of a little app called Fruity Loops. These days it's called FL Studio, and Constantin Koehncke, is the man responsible for shepherding the pioneering digital audio workstation (DAW) through the modern age. As CEO of Image Line, the company behind FL Studio, Constantin has overseen the introduction of a number of AI-powered features like stem separation and its Gopher chatbot.Before taking the reins of Image Line in 2022, Constantin was the head of Native Instruments, where he spearheaded the shift towards digital services, did a stint in marketing, …Read the full story at The Verge.

I spend a lot of time trying to shave a few dollars off 3D printing costs, and most of the obvious methods come with some penalty. Cheap filament can be fine, but I’ve also bought rolls that needed more drying, more calibration, or more patience than the price difference justified. Hardware upgrades can reduce waste, but they usually start with me spending more money and hoping the savings arrive later. Switching to filament refills was much less dramatic, and that’s exactly why it worked: I paid less for material I already trusted, stopped bringing home another plastic spool with every kilogram, and barely had to change how I print.

More mint green synths please. | Image: Nopia After setting the music gear corner of the internet on fire back in 2023 with the first glimpse at the Nopia, creators Martin Grieco and Rocío Gal are almost ready to bring it to market. The duo brought it to the MusicRadar offices for an in-depth first look and revealed that it will be launching in "a couple of months" for around £550.Nopia is built around harmonic interplay in a unique way. Rather than a few knobs and a keyboard controlling a single synth patch, it blends multiple modules - keys, bass, arp, and pad - into a single performance, not unlike a drumless groovebox. There's a one-octave keyboard called the Chord Builder, a 12-b …Read the full story at The Verge.

If there's one term that describes most of my life perfectly, it's organized chaos. I've always been the type of person who needs a million things going on in her life simultaneously to be able to actually focus. Ultimately, I'm doing as much as I realistically can at any given moment, and the only way that doesn't collapse into pure chaos (and lose the organized element entirely) is by having certain systems in place. I've tried practically every productivity app that you've heard of. Notion, Obsidian, Todoist, Structured, Tana, Google Keep, a dozen more I don't even remember the names of anymore.

I'm not trying to come across as condescending, but I've lost count of how many times my gaming friends have complained about lag while playing ranked matches. They're quick to blame the ISP, but I usually ask them if they're downloading anything in the background or if someone else at home is streaming Netflix or downloading updates. More often than not, that's exactly what's happening.

After years of use, one morning I went to turn on my PC, and I was met with the dreaded blue screen of death sporting a clinical, unforgiving stop code: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE. After troubleshooting everything I could, I finally managed to access my PC again via Windows Safe Mode. However, it gave me the shock I needed to double-check my SSD's health, and I realized I wasn't far from total data loss.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield had been seeking documents from Paramount related to its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Rayfield also asked a state circuit court judge to delay the closing of the deal by 60 days so that his office could review the documents. But according to Deadline and Variety, he's now dropped his civil investigative demand for the records.Obviously, Paramount is pleased with Rayfield's decision to withdraw his request, but the AG's office isn't exactly satisfied with the outcome.Jenny Hansson, communications director for Rayfield, told Deadline that, "Paramount made it clear that they weren't going to compl …Read the full story at The Verge.

Ollama has been my go-to choice for experimenting with local AI models for a long time. It is simple and reliable, and it works with almost every local AI tool I throw at it. Naturally, when I started looking for an alternative, LM Studio was the first name that came to mind. I had used it before and knew exactly what to expect. But while exploring other options, I came across Msty AI and decided to give it a try. I wasn't expecting it to replace anything in my setup. A few days later, though, I was using it far more often than I had planned.

Federal agents patrol the halls of immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in December 2025. | Photo by Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images Donald Trump's Homeland Security regime has been at the center of two critical stories in the past two weeks. In the first, federal agents shot and killed a man and quickly got to work justifying the use of force under the flimsiest of pretenses. In the other, it made house calls to people who said mean things to them online.Since taking office last year, the Trump administration has been telling us that fighting the good fight of white supremacy will make you look cool and noble. The DHS under former Secretary Kristi Noem spent $220 million to help her cosplay as a cowboy and call up ICE recruits as if we're fighting a new World War, this …Read the full story at The Verge.

If you’re the type of person who could always use a little extra positive affirmation, or you have a weakness for weird gadgets, the Talking Flower might be of interest. I’m only kind of serious. The toy is based on a character from Super Mario Bros. Wonder that guides Mario through levels with quippy, whimsical remarks. It’s a little weird that it even exists, but, then again, this is the company that made Alarmo.The Talking Flower debuted for $34.99, but it got a small price reduction at Amazon and Walmart. It’ll instead cost you $29.99 to buy the cute talking toy. Nintendo Talking FlowerWhere to Buy: $34.99 $29.99 at Amazon $34.99 $29.99 at WalmartThe Talking Flower doesn’t have much utility. Unlike the $110 Alarmo, it can’t serve as an alarm even though it asks when you go to bed and wake up (so that it knows when to keep quiet). It’s there to call out every passing hour when you’re awake, and to say random stuff unprompted. It can make comments about the general time of day, as well as the temperature thanks to its built-in thermometer. The Talking Flower lacks a microphone, and it doesn’t connect to the internet. However, it has a button that’ll make it say things, if you don’t want to wait for it to randomly blurt out its pre-programmed thoughts. Like in the video game, you can select the language it speaks.My colleague Andrew Webster went hands-on with the Talking Flower, and his takeaway was that it’s a drip feed of whimsy. However, it would occasionally say something that reminded Andrew to take care of himself, whether it be to slow down and relax or to take a lunch break. I’m entertained by many reviews on Amazon, which highlight that buyers are split on being annoyed with the Talking Flower, but loving it anyway — just like the character in Wonder.

When you spend all day working on your computer, finding new ways to be more productive and speed things up is very important. Many people look to debloating Windows 11 as a way to speed up their computers so things load and happen faster and they get work done more quickly. But sometimes the solution is simpler: you just need the right app.