Footage from Will Smith‘s comeback Based On A True Story tour has got perceptive online viewers pointing out curious happenings among the crowd.
Compiled of clips from his shows on tour, one shot includes fans holding up a sign that reads “We <3 You Willy” but some images of the faces around it are distorted and blurred. Others online have claimed some audience members have been bestowed extra fingers or oddly formed hands.
While some have accused the Prince of Bel Air of using artificial intelligence to beef up shots of the crowd, there have been reports of YouTube artificially altering videos uploaded to the platform without the creators’ knowledge. In a story published in The Atlantic last week, YouTuber Rhett Shull said that he believes that YouTube is using “AI upscaling” on his videos, which involves dialing up an image’s resolution and detail. “I think it’s gonna lead people to think that I am using AI to create my videos. Or that it’s been deepfaked. Or that I’m cutting corners somehow,” he told the publication. “It will inevitably erode viewers’ trust in my content.”
A rep for Smith and a rep for YouTube did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s requests for comment.
The line between reality and illusions have blurred as AI floods the internet, from fake bands to artificially generated songs to bogus photos of music legends — including a completely imagined capture of Mick Jagger, Elton John, and Rod Stewart harmonizing at Ozzy Osbourne’s memorial service.
Last month, The AI band The Velvet Sundown went viral and garnered a flurry of media coverage after suddenly appearing on popular Spotify playlists. The band also inspired an apparent hoaxer who said he impersonated the band on X and falsely claimed to be a band spokesperson during interactions with the media, including a phone interview with Rolling Stone.
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The Velvet Sundown later put out a band bio calling itself “a synthetic music project guided by human creative direction, and composed, voiced, and visualized with the support of artificial intelligence,” adding: “This isn’t a trick — it’s a mirror. An ongoing artistic provocation designed to challenge the boundaries of authorship, identity, and the future of music itself in the age of AI.”
Many artists have called out the use of AI, with SZA criticizing the damaging use of AI programs that consume vital resources to function, such as ChatGPT and Elon Musk’s chatbot, Grok.
Without being hyperbolic–and as someone who has been an on-and-off again Overwatch fan since the original game’s release back in 2016–I don’t mean it lightly when I say that I believe Overwatch has never been better.
I’ve critiqued the series quite a bit throughout the years. In my Overwatch 2 review, I wrote at length about how it felt “detached from the principles and charm of the original,” was seemingly struggling to retain its identity, and how its new monetization models felt disingenuous and “at odds with the spirit of the original Overwatch.” Harsh words, yes, but I meant them. I was frustrated by what one of my all-time favorite games had become, and worried that I’d be chasing the same bliss I felt playing in 2017 endlessly and to no avail.
So, with all that said, how did we get here?
I recently had the opportunity to discuss the state of Overwatch 2 with game director Aaron Keller and associate game director Alec Dawson in an exclusive interview for GameSpot, and it seems a lot of this dramatic turn-around boils down to two things: an increased emphasis on responding to player feedback, and a sharp pivot away from the “conservative” mentality the Overwatch 2 team once clung to. The result is a vastly improved game that is taking big swings with more efficiency.
Be it Stadium mode, Perks, the inclusion of heroes with never-before-tried mechanics, map voting, hero bans, or one of the many other tweaks and additions made to the game, Blizzard is not shying away from shaking up Overwatch 2’s core gameplay loop; Season 18 is no exception. And according to Keller and Dawson, all these changes are just the beginning of the studio’s push to “explore how big” Overwatch can become.
GameSpot: A lot of changes have happened this year in Overwatch 2, so I would love to start by unpacking that with you both. How do you think things are going? How are you feeling about the overall health of the game?
Keller: When you look at the way that 2025 has gone for the game, we’ve done a lot of big releases. Earlier this year, we released our Perk system, which was a pretty substantial game mechanic that changed the way moment-to-moment gameplay can happen. It gave players more strategic choices that they could make over the course of a match and put more emphasis on what a hero can do and [fulfilling] that power fantasy.
In Season 16, we released Stadium. It’s probably the biggest new game mode we’ve ever introduced to the game and there was a lot of player excitement there. We’ve done a lot of other things, too. We introduced hero bans this year. We introduced map voting this year. We’ve introduced a new hero as well, with another one soon to come.
A lot of players are now telling us that this is the best state that Overwatch has ever been in and we think that some of that is because we’re making bigger changes to the game than we typically would have in the past. If you look back on the history of Overwatch, you could say that maybe we’re a little bit conservative, but we have a new mindset and a new vision for how we operate the game. [We want] to be taking bigger swings and bigger bets with Overwatch, and I think you’ll see that when we get to Season 18.
That’s great to hear. Touching on that, I would love to hear a little bit more about what’s coming tomorrow in Season 18.
Dawson: We look at Season 18 as sort of the next steps for a number of the big swings we’ve taken this year. There’s around 60 new Perks that are brand new–every hero gets [a refresh]. Quick play is coming to Stadium, and then you have four new heroes coming: Brigitte, Winston, Farah, and then Tracer.
A lot of what we’re doing in [Season] 18 [stems from] evaluating what’s in the game currently and evolving it in some way and/or even revamping it. Our progression system is a great example. It’s been one of those things that’s been in the game for a bit now, but there’s a lot of screen space that players weren’t really caring about; a lot of bars going up, a lot of things you’re leveling up. We want to simplify it–make sure it’s a lot more visible, make sure it’s a lot more surfaced.
Keller: We are doing a total revamp to our progression system. When you looked at our progression system before, it kind of just felt like there were just a bunch of bars going up all the time. It was pretty complex and so we’ve simplified it. But the exciting thing about it is that, not only is it easier to understand, but it has a lot of cool new rewards too.
There’s a whole rewards track where you’re updating things like emotes and Play of the Game [intros]–even loot boxes and legendary loot boxes. There’s a whole Ascended State where you get a really cool icon with VFX on it that lets you and other players know just how much time you’ve put into each one of your heroes. We have a new Hero [Skill Rating] system coming out, so you’re going to know how good [you are] not just at a [particular] role, but how well you play each of your heroes in Competitive. You can see which ones you’re better at, and which ones you’re worse at. We also have a new advanced hero info panel, where you can look up stats on what all of the different heroes do.
We’re bringing Stadium to Quick Play, which is one of the biggest requests that our players have for the mode, and that’s coming with cross-play enabled. We have four new heroes coming to Stadium, a new game mode, Payload Race, and two brand new maps for it. You mentioned Wuyang, our new support hero, is coming, and we have changes to Roadhog too. Lucio Ball is back–this time in third-person–and there’s mouse and keyboard support coming to console.
We even have [things] on the cosmetic side. Kiriko’s getting this skateboard emote [that lets her] travel around the maps riding a skateboard. The Mythic [Character] skins and Mythic Weapon skins are really cool this season… It’s a huge update to Overwatch. This is going to be one of the biggest seasons we’ve ever had for the game.
Is this the biggest update in terms of sheer content? Because I feel like, based on what you’re saying, I don’t know if there’s ever been an update quite this big.
Keller: I don’t want to jump into hyperbole and say like this is the biggest one coming, but man, it’s… it is big.
Dawson: There’s truth to that, though, to some degree. I think our team has been getting better and better about structuring our seasons to where, now, we can create some really big beats. Season 9 felt like a big change in the game, and then they went to Season 12 which had Juno and a bunch of competitive updates. 15 and 16 [added] Perks and Stadium. And now 18, is another massive update for Overwatch. We’ve been getting a lot more efficient and a lot better at planning over time, which has led to these big moments for Overwatch. [We can now] decide, like, “Hey, how do we want to change the game for the middle of the year?”
I can sense that. Even with your newest hero, Wuyang–he feels extremely different.
Keller: Yeah, there’s a lot of unique mechanics and abilities with Wuyang that I just think it’d be great to touch on. He can surf on his own private wave and cruise around the map. He gets this speed boost with it, too, and is able to jump over gaps and things like that. He can use his staff to create this wave of water in front of him that knocks down enemies, and can turn himself or allies basically into ticking time bombs by imbuing them with water. But what I’m most excited about with Wuyang is his primary fire. He shoots out this orb, and you can kind of do it rapid fire, but at any moment, you can also take control of it and steer it, turning it into a guided missile. Even if they take cover, you can actually bend it around a corner. There’s some skill expression here. It takes a little bit of practice to actually be able to do it, but once you get it, it feels so satisfying.
Dawson: I think he’s one of the best support heroes we’ve ever made. He’s an example of what a support is in Overwatch 2, where you can have a ton of impact through your offense and can make game-changing plays. Wuyang is dynamic in the sense that he has to go from offense to defense quite quickly. All of your attention is gonna be on the primary fire, landing some of those shots, and tracking people down, but then you have these defensive options that you’re going to [need to] be really timely with. His guardian wave is this big wave that gives healing and gives heal boosts–it can change the fight instantly.
I think players are going to really love him. I know we’re not supposed to play favorites, but he’s a joy to play with and I think he’s really special.
I think he’s also one of the first heroes where his skills and powers feel almost more magical rather than technological, right? I feel like Overwatch historically has always leaned more into tech rather than magic. Was that a conversation that had to be had when developing him?
Keller: Oh yeah, and we have those conversations all the time. We had those conversations a lot with both Hanzo and Genji, you know, because when they summon the dragon, that feels like a pretty magical thing there as well. We do have our own internal explanations for that that we’ll actually get into at some point with our players, but we’re not quite ready to yet. I guess all I can really say right now is that Overwatch is a science fiction game, and so there is an explanation behind the way those work.
At this point, do you feel like you’re still fighting that initial nature of being conservative? Like you both said, for a long time, Overwatch was more conservative. Are you still fighting that hesitation or is it like, “Nope, we’re all in”?
Keller: I think the team has left a lot of the hesitation about being conservative behind. The question for us really is, how big do we go with releases for Overwatch? Because there’s two sides of this coin. There’s an active player base that really appreciates the way that the game plays right now, you know. But we also see that, anytime we do make a big release for the game, players respond to it really positively.
So we want to keep going big. I think what we want to do is explore how big we really can go for Overwatch. And I think as we hit seasons like 18 here, and we see players’ excitement, that gives us the confidence to know this isn’t just the right direction–this is something that we can expand on in the future. We can keep pushing the boundaries of what a release for Overwatch can be.
With the implementation of Stadium, did you see a spike in people playing Overwatch 2? If so, how is retention following that?
Keller: There was a huge spike of people jumping into Stadium when it first came out. I think we went public at one point saying that over 50% of play hours in Overwatch were in Stadium. And when we do have new modes for the game, we do always see that initial burst of excitement and then it’ll kind of taper off after that. And Stadium did taper off, but not to the extent that our other modes have. It’s still, I think, our third most popular mode in the game right now, just behind Quick Play and Competitive.
Dawson: We view Stadium as one of the main ways to play Overwatch, and Season 18 as almost Stadium’s 1.0 launch. A lot of players are clamoring to have Quick Play in there. They’re clamoring for something that’s a little bit more brief and doesn’t have a rank associated with it. So with Quick Play, it’s a best-of-five round structure and you power up your hero even faster as well.
And then the other main piece of feedback from players is, “Hey, my favorite hero isn’t here.” So we’re continuing to release new heroes into Stadium. We’re going to be doing that throughout the rest of the year and there’s four this season who I’m really excited about. Tracer in particular. I think… She’s a little wild.
Keller: I’m super excited about Winston jumping into Stadium. I love playing as him and using his mobility. Sometimes with Winston, you just feel like you’re holding down primary fire a little bit too long to actually be doing what you want to do. [With Stadium], you can really juice his gun and it feels so satisfying.
How did you land on those four heroes and what are some other heroes who you see people clamoring for and are on the docket? If you can’t say right now, can you share what gameplay styles you’re focused on bringing in?
Keller: There’s a lot of things we look at when we’re looking at heroes for Stadium. First and foremost is how well we feel like we can make a really cool set of abilities for them. We want every hero in there to really double down on “hero fantasy.” We want to make sure that comes across to our players.
For the first few seasons of Stadium, we really tried to have at least a few heroes per role. Eventually, I think we’re going to have to break that pattern and start moving into other patterns. I think we’ll start seeing, you know, maybe different numbers of heroes coming to Stadium with different role ratios.
We want to make sure that heroes that we know a lot of people play are available there. Like Alex said, you know, we have a lot of people saying things like, “Hey, I’m just sitting on the sidelines, waiting for my hero to join the cast.” So we want to make sure that we’re opening up that funnel.
There’s also a few heroes we’re avoiding, you know? Like Widowmaker, who is a controversial hero that’s designed around a one-shot [kill]. I think that there’s probably some learnings we need to do with how we build those heroes–how we build counters for some of the sharper mechanics.
There was a recent IGN article in which you said that you’d “dropped the ball with story in Overwatch 2,” and I thought that was interesting to bring up this far removed from the announcement of PvE being dropped. So do you have plans to course-correct going forward?
Keller: Yeah. When you look back at the history of Overwatch, there are moments where there was more or less lore–where we were developing more or less story for players. And one of the things that we hear from our community–and we’ve been hearing it a lot lately–is that they just want there to be more of that in the game. That it feels like we’re doing less of it.
So I think I’m actually really excited for the Wuyang hero trailer to come out and for people to get a glimpse at that hero and maybe how they tie into the bigger, broader universe. It’s something that I can’t really go into a lot right now, but I’m excited for players to be able to get in touch with more lore over the coming seasons this year.
Based on that, do you plan on having more heroes come from similar factions or the same countries? I know that, for a while there, there was more avoidance since you’re trying to represent a lot of different backgrounds. But at the same time–and with the lack of PvE–do you find yourself thinking “Well actually let’s add this person’s best friend and have more storytelling through voice lines?” Or “Let’s try to add folks from the same factions.”
Dawson: Yeah, there’s a delicate balance to it. We don’t want to make it feel like heroes are appearing out of nowhere and like [players always have] this brand-new thing to learn. I think we’ve created a universe over quite some time that is very rich with tons of different characters from different factions, and we want to lean into that more and more.
Even some of the things you saw in the Freya story trailer earlier this year link back to some of the things we’ve already built in the world. We want to make sure that we’re pulling from that world because there are characters that people have only gotten glimpses of, that they love, or that could end up as heroes one day.
Keller: As far as where our heroes hail from, we do still like to spread heroes out across like all over the globe. That’s a really important value that we’ve got. We do like our heroes to feel like they represent Earth, but not in the strictest sense. We don’t have 40% of our heroes from China and India, which is maybe what a true representation of the global population would be.
Has the team considered any other avenues for more large-scale storytelling? I’m sure you see the success of series like Arcane and Castlevania on Netflix, and I wonder if that has been something that you’re interested in pursuing.
Keller: The team would love to have something like that come out. You know, we’re also fans of those shows and fans of those universes. To have something like that for Overwatch would be really, really cool. But I can’t really discuss the plans for future stuff like that.
I completely understand. I just ask because it’s something that I want to manifest into the universe. But on the subject of Overwatch’s story–and now that we’re a little bit more removed from what happened–do you want to go into a little bit more detail on why things didn’t really work out with story missions?
Keller: I know Blizzard holds their cards kind of close to their chests sometimes. But I don’t think we really saw the critical success that we wanted and it forced us to really analyze where we were putting our time and resources. At the end of the day, what we’ve been telling our players is that we want to make the game that they want to play. And the game that our players have been playing is this competitive, PvP-focused hero shooter. We really realized that that was the game that we needed to invest our time into.
Following the release of our sole campaign, we did a really big pivot internally on the team. We wanted to focus on what it means to be a best-in-class hero shooter. What are the competitive systems that we need in order to do that? What are some of the other systems?
In the year since that, we’ve focused on evolving the game our players play–on how we turn it into the best version of Overwatch it can be. That’s why we started doing these much bigger systems, like Perks and Stadium. Now that we’ve corrected the course, it gives us the opportunity to make bigger steps with the game. And some of those are things that players are asking for, but then some of them are really big surprises. That’s the future for Overwatch right now.
The above interview has been lightly edited for clarity, readability, and brevity.
The Court of King’s Bench has awarded 26 months’ reasonable notice of termination in Lischuk v K-Jay Electric Ltd, 2025 ABKB 460, exceeding the traditional 24-month “upper limit” of wrongful dismissal damages for the first time in Alberta.
The employee’s wrongful dismissal damages for the 26-month reasonable notice period totalled $1,522,841, based on “exceptional circumstances”.
Exceptional circumstances
As the Court explained, “exceptional circumstances” arise if an employee begins working for a company as a young adult and has their employment terminated near potential retirement age, after becoming a key or highly specialized employee. On termination, the employee’s prospects of obtaining similar and comparable employment are significantly limited based on factors specific to their singular employment. The termination of their employment is akin to being “forced into retirement”.
In this case, the plaintiff had been employed for his entire 34-year career with the defendant employer, working his way up from a labourer to a key employee as General Manager and shareholder. At the time of termination, he was 55 years of age. Interestingly, while the employer did not allege cause for termination, the employer chose to terminate the plaintiff’s employment because of his “old school mentality”.
While exceptional, the 26-month reasonable notice period was a function of the Court applying the usual factors in determining the length of reasonable notice from Bardal v Globe & Mail, including age, length of employment, character of employment, and availability of comparable employment. The particular combination of the factors in this case warranted exceeding 24 months.Notably, there was no written employment contract limiting entitlement to notice of termination.
Bonus entitlement
The majority of the wrongful dismissal damages awarded to the employee were based on the employee’s projected bonus payments over the reasonable notice period. The employee had historically been entitled to bonus payments based on his shareholdings in the employer corporation, K-Jay Electric Ltd. (through the plaintiff’s numbered company). While the bonus payments were made based on the employee’s shareholdings, they were historically paid to the employee as employment income.
The Court found that the provisions in the Unanimous Shareholder Agreement were insufficient to exclude entitlement to bonus payments as part of the employee’s wrongful dismissal damages, following the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Matthews v Ocean Nutrition. Further, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench rejected Ontario appellate law limiting the effect of termination upon entitlements related to shareholdings or shareholder rights.
Mitigation
Finally, the employee acknowledged that he had made no efforts to mitigate his damages or find alternative employment. Despite the employee’s acknowledgement, the Court declined to reduce the employee’s wrongful dismissal damages for failure to mitigate, reasoning that the employer had failed to demonstrate that comparable alternative employment was available.
The exceptional entitlement to notice in Lischuk – including substantial bonus entitlement – highlights the importance of implementing and updating written employment agreements.
If you have any questions about how this decision may impact your business, please do not hesitate to contact the authors or any member of our Canadian Employment and Labour Law Service Group, listed here.
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
If you’re looking for stylish sunglasses to complete your outfit, Shenseea has plenty of great options for you. Teaming up with Glasses USA, the Jamaican pop star has curated a selection of sunglasses and optical frames that fit her trendsetting personal style. From vibrant picks like the Muse Link shades to a more classic design in the Amelia E. Waverley frame, there are a variety of designs and styles to shop that’ll help level up your summer aesthetic.
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Blending personal style with star power, this collaboration brings Shenseea’s sparkle to life through each frame. “For me, style is all about having fun and keeping it real,” says Shenseea in a statement. “This collection with GlassesUSA.com is about wearing what makes you feel good and confident – just being yourself.”
The collection includes oversized silhouettes, sleek cat-eyes, tinted lenses, and glossy finishes designed to move seamlessly from day to night. Whether you’re heading to a rooftop party, a festival, or simply grabbing coffee with friends, these frames are made to add a burst of personality to any look.
“Shenseea’s style is about confidence and energy,” said Arie Tom, CMO of GlassesUSA.com in the press release. “We wanted this collection to feel like her music- fresh, vibrant, and impossible to ignore. These frames are a reflection of who you are. Like Shenseea says, we took it to the max- bold designs, interesting details, and held nothing back.”
The Shenseea x GlassesUSA.com collection is now available exclusively at GlassesUSA.com, and feature many sunglasses on sale up to 60% off right now. Shop Shenseea’s picks below.
If Salmonella poisoning conjures thoughts of being deathly ill with an upset stomach from undercooked chicken or eggs, you’re not alone. Another type – Salmonella Dublin – is primarily associated with cattle and can cause more severe illness in people.
Doctors see more bloodstream infections, longer hospital stays, and a higher risk of severe outcomes when this dangerous bacteria infects people, which it has started doing recently.
How does it get there? Unpasteurized milk and undercooked beef are common routes, and contact with sick animals can spread it too.
This is not only a farm issue; it is a public health issue because what happens around cattle does not always stay around cattle.
Humans, cattle, and Salmonella Dublin
Scientists have wrestled with a practical question: Are the Salmonella Dublin strains in cattle, people, and farm-linked environments in the United States different or basically the same?
The answer shapes how we prevent infections and how we handle antibiotics. If the strains match closely across settings, the effective approach should connect animal health, human health, and environmental monitoring – an idea many researchers call “One Health.”
This catchy phrase isn’t just a slogan. If the same bug moves between species and spaces without changing much, targeting only one part of the supply chain system will not be enough. We need solutions that address the pathogen wherever it travels.
Studying Salmonella Dublin
Researchers gathered Salmonella Dublin from three places: sick cattle, sick people, and environmental sites tied to farms or processing facilities.
Then they sequenced the bacteria’s DNA to compare how closely the strains were related.
In genetics, scientists track tiny letter-level changes called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), pronounced “snips.” Fewer SNP differences mean the strains likely share a recent common ancestor.
The goal was to see whether strains from cows, people, and the environment clustered into separate groups or stayed together.
If they stayed together, that would point to active movement between hosts and places, not isolated pockets of disease.
What we know so far
The team learned that strains from cattle, humans, and the environment in the U.S. were extremely similar – often differing by only a small number of SNPs.
In a study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, the researchers reported that despite some genetic differences across 2,150 Salmonella Dublin strains, the bacteria remained highly similar.
“This similarity shows potential for cross-transmission between cattle, humans, and the environment,” explained team leader and senior author Erika Ganda, an associate professor of food animal microbiomes in the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences.
“That’s important, because it shows that Salmonella Dublin is highly connected across humans, animals and the environment – so efforts to control it need to consider all three,” Ganda continued.
“This study’s findings provide detailed genetic evidence that can help guide surveillance – tracking the bacteria, intervention strategies such as limiting antibiotic use in livestock and public health policies.”
Salmonella Dublin has a tight family tree
The genetic picture does not split into distant branches based on where or when strains were found. It looks like a “tight family tree.” That suggests ongoing movement between animals, people, and farm environments or equipment.
That kind of connected pattern matters for hospital readiness, farm policies, and everyday choices at the dinner table.
The team also examined antimicrobial resistance. They did not stop at asking whether resistance existed.
They checked which resistance genes appeared and how those patterns differed among strains from cows, people, and the environment. They found meaningful differences across those sources.
That means control strategies should match the resistance patterns in each place. A one-size-fits-all antibiotic plan is unlikely to work.
Responsible antibiotic use requires laboratory testing and clear guidelines, not guesswork, to protect drugs that still work.
Farms, families, and food chains
Prevention starts before anyone gets sick. On farms, that includes biosecurity to keep new or sick animals from spreading infection, plus cleaning and disinfection that reach tough spots. In the food chain, the basics work: pasteurize milk and cook beef thoroughly.
For home kitchens, avoid raw milk and use a thermometer. Ground beef should reach 160°F, and whole cuts like steaks should reach 145°F with a rest.
For clinics and hospitals, rapid laboratory testing helps clinicians avoid antibiotics that will not work. When lab teams can see the resistance profile early, patients get better treatment sooner, and we save the stronger drugs for when they are truly needed.
High-resolution genome map
Genome sequencing turns thousands of bacterial samples into a high-resolution “map.”
By comparing SNP differences across many strains, scientists can connect dots that older methods might miss, including hidden links between farm sources and human cases.
That means public health teams can focus on the pathways doing most of the harm. Targeted steps beat broad, blunt strategies, especially when resources and time are limited.
Salmonella Dublin and human health
This is not a fear story or some type of political stunt. It’s a highly-coordinated scientific study driven by peer-reviewed evidence.
The U.S. Salmonella Dublin population looks tightly knit and changes only a little as it spreads.
That clarity helps, because it points to a shared job and a big “to-do” list.
Officials must strengthen surveillance that connects animal, human, and environmental samples; tailor antibiotic guidelines to the resistance patterns seen in each source; and block obvious transmission routes with pasteurization, thorough cooking, farm hygiene, and smart infection control in clinics.
Put simply, the same pathogen keeps appearing in cows, people, and nearby environments, showing a nearly identical genetic profile.
With a shared target and coordinated defenses, we stand a better chance of stopping it before it reaches pandemic levels by starting on someone’s dinner plate, ending up in the bloodstream, and spreading from there like wildfire.
The full study was published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
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MacOS has shipped with a collection of “utility” apps since the prehistoric era of classic Mac OS. A good rule of thumb what makes an app a “utility” is that it’s a tool for doing something about your computer. Ever since Mac OS X 10.0, most of these apps have been neatly filed away in /Applications/Utilities/. Others — some because they’re obscure (e.g. Ticket Viewer), some because they’re effectively deprecated (e.g. DVD Player, whose copyright date in MacOS 15 Sequoia is 2019), and some because they present themselves, when launched, not as apps but as system-level features (e.g. About This Mac) — are tucked away in /System/Library/CoreServices/ or /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/.
Basic Apple Guy posted a screenshot to Mastodon comparing the current MacOS 15 icons for four of these utilities (Disk Utility, Expansion Slot Utility, Wireless Diagnostics, and AppleScript Utility) to their new icons in MacOS 26 Tahoe, beta 7 (click to enlarge for detail):
I don’t think the old icons for these apps from MacOS 15 were particularly good — Apple has mostly lost its “icons look cool” game. But the new ones in MacOS 26 Tahoe are objectively terrible. The only one of this bunch that’s maybe sort of OK is Wireless Diagnostics. They all look like placeholder icons made by a developer who would be the first to admit that they’re not an artist. Disk Utility, which is an important app, doesn’t even look like it involves a disk. That icon just says “Fix something Apple related.” On an Apple computer, that could mean anything.
These new icons all use the same “wrench” motif, which is a lazy, limiting concept to start with. Tahoe, at the system level, enforces a squircle shape on all application icons. Apps that haven’t been updated with Tahoe-compliant everything-fits-in-a-squircle icons are put in “squircle jail” — their non-Tahoe-compliant icons are shrunk and placed atop a drab gray Tahoe squircle background, to force them into squircle compliance. But these Apple utility apps have an entire sub-motif — inside their base squircle shape is a large wrench fitted against a bolt. Only inside the bolt — which is inside the wrench’s forks, which wrench is inside the squircle — goes the part of the icon that identifies app itself. So maybe like 10 percent of the area of the icon is the area where the app can show something that identifies its purpose.
So the entire concept for these icons sucks. But the conceptual execution sucks too. The wrench is incredibly stupid-looking. Whoever drew it has obviously never used a crescent wrench because the forks on the wrench head are way too thin. They’d break off under any significant torque. Just look at a photo of real-life wrench, or — just look at the wrenches in the older MacOS icons.
Individually the icons mostly suck too:
Disk Utility — a very important app — has an icon that’s just an Apple logo (inside the bolt that’s inside the wrench that’s inside the squircle). Not a hard drive, not an external drive, not an SD card. Just an Apple logo. If I just showed you this icon without telling you which app it represented, how in the world would you guess what it is? Even if you know the “Apple utility app icon” motif of the big dumb wrench and bolt, the best you could guess is “a utility app for something Apple-related” which, for an Apple computer, could be anything.
Expansion Slot Utility — This app only runs on Mac Pros because Mac Pros are the only Macs with expansion slots. So the old icon naturally shows a Mac Pro. The new icon shows … three rectangular empty sockets?
AppleScript Utility — A fine concept for this icon (within the confines of the terrible wrench-and-bolt utility icon concept). Everyone who knows AppleScript knows the scroll that represents AppleScript scripts. So just put the iconic AppleScript scroll in the bolt in the wrench in the squircle. But here, the placement of the scroll is botched — it’s rotated a few degrees counterclockwise. It makes the scroll look like it’s falling over. Here’s how the scroll is canonically oriented, via the glyphs in SF Symbols:
and via the default icon for a script application (with a line added showing the center):
But here’s a close-up of the Tahoe AppleScript Utility icon, with a center line added:
It’s wrong. From Apple, of all companies.
These are the not the work of carpenters who care about the backs of the cabinets they’re building. These icons are so bad, they look like the work of untrained “How hard can it be?” dilettante carpenters who only last a few days on the job before sawing off one of their own fingers. The whole collection looks like the work from someone with no artistic ability nor an eye for detail. From Apple, of all companies.
Is it a big deal in the grand scheme of things that the icons for these seldom-used utility apps have gone to shit? No. But consider the proverbial canary in a coal mine. The problem isn’t that one little bird has died. The problem is that the bird might be dead because the whole mine is filling with deadly carbon monoxide or highly flammable methane gas. The icons in /Applications/Utilities/ in MacOS 26 Tahoe represent a folder full of dead canaries.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Modern humans and Neanderthals were interacting 100,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to researchers who used CT scans and 3D mapping to study the bones of a child they believe was the result of interbreeding between the two distinct groups.
The child, described in a recent study published in the peer-reviewed journal L’Anthropologie, was buried in a cave in Israel some 140,000 years ago. Because no ancient DNA was extracted from the fossilized remains, it’s impossible to confirm the child’s origins, but scientists say microscopic details in the bones indicate the child had traits of both groups.
When the bones were first excavated from Skhul Cave in northern Israel in 1931, archaeologists recognized that the child belonged to neither Homo sapiens, who had arrived in the region from Africa, nor Neanderthals, who arrived from Europe. They concluded it was a separate species indigenous to the area.
But the new 3D mapping allowed researchers to study small details of the skull that had previously been difficult to see or decipher. Researchers were able to examine distinctive traits such as the construction of the inner ear and the imprint of blood vessels that supplied the brain.
By comparing known characteristics of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, the researchers concluded the child was the result of interbreeding.
Previously, the earliest known example of interbreeding between the groups was around 40,000 years ago in central Europe, explained Israel Hershkovitz, the lead researcher of the study and a professor of archaeology and human evolution at Tel Aviv University.
A new glimpse into ancient relations
The new research helps shed light on when the two groups began interacting and offers clues about their relationships.
“What we’re saying now is that there was an extensive relationship between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals that started around 140,000 years ago,” and the two groups “managed to live side by side with no evidence for hostile encounters,” Hershkovitz said.
The interbreeding and shared cultural practices, including burials and tool construction, challenge the notion of Homo sapiens as “intolerant” to other human groups due to their eventual dominance, Hershkovitz said.
Without DNA, it will be impossible to prove that the child was a hybrid human, said Pascal Gagneux, an evolutionary biologist studying human origins at the University of California San Diego who was not involved in the research. Still, he said, the details revealed by the mapping, including the internal structure of some bones and several features, support the hybrid hypothesis.
Peering inside an ancient skull
Researchers took thousands of isolated scans of the skull and jaw of the child and then created a virtual 3D model of the fossil.
The model allowed them to analyze tiny details that are impossible to see on the fossilized bones, including delicate parts inside the skull. Blood vessels, for example, make a small imprint on the inside of a skull.
While some of the grooves are visible to the naked eye, the 3D scans allowed researchers to see the blood vessels like “tributaries of a river,” Hershkovitz said.
The patterns are distinct between the two groups, because Neanderthals and Homo sapiens have different brain shapes that require different blood delivery.
The virtual mapping created a more accurate reconstruction of the child’s skull than could be built from the bones and plaster when the remains were originally excavated. The new reconstruction is much more elongated, which is more typical for Neanderthals, Gagneux said.
However, the detailed reconstruction does not answer many of the questions surrounding the discovery, Gagneux said. Were the parents of the child also interbred? Or was one Neanderthal and the other Homo sapien? Why was the child, or anyone else, buried in the cave?
Thomas Levy, a professor in cyber-archaeology also at the University of California San Diego, said he was impressed by the study’s use of 3D models. The advances in scientific visualization allow more accurate measurements and comparisons of specimens, said Levy, who was not involved in the research.
The technology also offers archaeologists a fresh opportunity to review conclusions from objects excavated many years ago.
Living in harmony
Skhul Cave is one of three caves in the region that represent some of the oldest known intentional burials in the world, dating to more than 100,000 years ago, in the middle of the Paleolithic era. Multiple sets of remains were found at each site, and some are still being painstakingly excavated with tiny drills, which could provide more clues in the future.
In ancient times, Israel was a land bridge and point of interaction between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.
Because Homo sapiens eventually replaced Neanderthals in the region and across the world, many people speculate that their interactions were violent and hostile, with Homo sapiens eventually responsible for the “total elimination” of Neanderthals, Hershkovitz said.
“What Skhul is telling us is that Homo sapiens are not a vicious, aggressive creature, but one that managed to live in peace” with other groups, he said. “Our aggressive behavior, which continues today in our long history, is a recent phenomenon that has cultural roots and not biological roots.”
If you have trouble pooping in the morning, eating dinner at the right time might help.
GI experts say eating dinner three hours before bed may help you go in the morning.
It gives your body time for digestion and works with your body’s natural rhythms.
For most people, a morning poop can feel like the perfect start to the day. Your body feels lighter, your mind is at ease, and you’re ready to move on without worrying about when nature will call.
If you want to set yourself up for that smooth morning bathroom trip, when you eat dinner matters almost as much as what’s on your plate. Digestive-health experts say that finishing your last meal about three hours before bedtime can give your digestive system the time it needs to do its job. This early-evening eating window takes advantage of your gut’s natural rhythms, prevents sluggish digestion overnight and can help you stay regular without relying on more stimulating methods like coffee or laxatives.
That said, pooping in the morning is not essential. But it does come with some advantages. “Mornings are convenient because your body is naturally primed to eliminate after waking and eating, and it can set a nice one-and-done rhythm before the day gets busy,” says gastroenterologist Michael Bass, M.D.
If you could use some help getting things going in the morning, here’s how eating dinner three hours before bed can give your gut the kick start it needs.
Why 3 Hours Before Bed Is the Best Time to Eat Dinner
It Gives Your Body Enough Time for Digestion
Your digestive system is most active during the day, and it naturally slows down in the evening. “If you finish dinner at least two to three hours before bed, you give your body time to digest enough so that, by morning, the colon is ready to move things along,” explains Bass. Wrapping up dinner about three hours before bed allows your gut to focus on processing your meal while you’re awake instead of trying to multitask while you sleep. That digestive break can lead to a smoother, more predictable bowel movement the next morning.
It Helps Train Your Gut
Our guts love routine almost as much as our brains do. Eating around the same time each night helps train your digestive system to follow a regular pattern. “The body thrives on rhythm and patterns more so than isolated events, so focusing on consistent sleep and wake times, meal patterns, movement and adequate hydration is most important,” points out Stacey Collins, M.A., RDN, LDN, founder of Stacey Collins Nutrition, a gastrointestinal-focused registered dietitian.
When your body gets used to receiving food at consistent times, it tends to respond in kind, often with a morning bathroom visit right on schedule.
It Syncs with Circadian & Digestive Rhythms
Just like your sleep-wake cycle, digestion runs on an internal 24-hour clock known as your circadian rhythm. “The body is usually primed for a morning bowel movement due to cortisol shifts with the body’s natural circadian rhythm,” says Collins.,
By eating earlier in the evening, you’re aligning your mealtime with your body’s natural digestive peak. That sync-up can mean less bloating at night and a better shot at a timely trip to the bathroom after breakfast.
Other Strategies to Promote Regular Bowel Movements
Timing is essential, but these evening habits can also set you up for success the next morning.
Hydrate Well. Water helps keep stool soft and easy to pass, and your colon can’t do its job without it. So, don’t skimp on fluids when you eat dinner. Herbal tea, water or even a broth-based soup all count. Just keep in mind that gulping large amounts of liquid right before bed might have you up for reasons other than a morning bathroom trip. And don’t neglect your water first thing in the morning, either. “A big glass of water right after waking can kick-start your gut,” says Bass.
Load Up on Fiber. Fiber adds bulk to stool and helps it move through your digestive tract more efficiently. At dinner, aim for a mix of soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber, found in foods like beans, lentils, oats, nuts, apples, pears, oranges and strawberries, helps soften stool. Insoluble fiber, in whole grains and many veggies, bulks things up to keep them moving along.
Take It Easy on Sodium. Research has found that people with high sodium intake are more prone to constipation. Conversely, people who eat more low-sodium whole foods like fruits, vegetables and lean protein (especially plant protein and seafood) tend to be more regular.
Move a Little After Dinner. A brisk walk after your evening meal can gently stimulate digestion and keep things moving. Plus, it’s a great way to wind down without heading straight for the couch.
Try Magnesium Before Bed. “Nighttime magnesium could help stimulate a morning bowel movement,” says Collins. That’s because magnesium pulls water into your gut, lubricating your stool so it’s easier to pass. Bonus: Some people feel magnesium helps promote sleep. While more studies are needed to confirm this association, a nighttime magnesium supplement could be an added plus if it also helps you poop in the a.m.
Skip the Late-Night Snack. “Late-night snacks can muddy the waters a bit,” says Bass. “If you’re grazing right up until bedtime, that can blunt the ‘overnight reset’ and make your morning bowel reflex less predictable.”
High-Fiber Recipes to Help You Poop
Our Expert Take
Eating dinner about three hours before you hit the hay is a smart way to work with your body’s natural rhythms to help you poop in the morning. This interval gives your body enough time to digest your dinner, creates a predictable pattern for your digestive system and syncs with your body’s circadian rhythm. Like most health-related habits, consistency is key, says Collins. So, try to stick with this timing as often as possible.
For your best shot at regular morning bowel movements, pair this habit with plenty of water, fiber-rich, low-sodium whole foods, magnesium supplements and an after-dinner stroll. As helpful as these strategies may be, it can be good to know there’s no such thing as the perfect time to go to the bathroom. “Don’t stress if you skip a morning or two,” says Bass. “Regular means what’s normal for your body, not the same time every day.”
Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell Tuesday, as investors weighed U.S. President Donald Trump’s escalatory rhetoric on tariffs.
Trump reportedly threatened to “200% tariffs or something” on China if it does not export rare-earth magnets to the U.S, while also warning levies on countries that do not remove digital taxes and related regulations.
In another move roiling markets, the U.S. president fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook late Monday stateside, according to a letter he posted on Truth Social.
The Japanese yen, which is traditionally viewed as a safe asset during times of tumult, gained 0.3% against the dollar at 147.32. The U.S. dollar index, which measures movements of the greenback against six major currencies, fell 0.16% following news of Cook’s termination.
Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasuries rose nearly 2 basis points to 4.2887%. Meanwhile, gold strengthened by 0.17% to $3,372 as of 9:40 a.m. Singapore time (9:40 p.m. ET Monday).
Investors also assessed the meeting between South Korean and U.S. presidents over fleshing out the trade deal framework announced last month that stipulated 15% tariffs on the Asian country’s exports to the U.S.
The Kospi index fell 0.78%, while the small-cap Kosdaq was up 0.34%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined by 1.01% while the broader Topix index fell 0.94%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 benchmark dropped 0.41%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.44%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was down 0.68% — if losses hold, the index will snap a four-session winning streak.
U.S. equity futures were little changed in early Asia hours, as investors await Nvidia‘s earnings and reading of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge.
Overnight stateside, all three key benchmarks fell with the tech-heavy Nasdaq down 0.22% at 21,449.29. The broad market S&P 500 traded 0.43% lower to settle at 6,439.32, while the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 349.27 points, or 0.77%, at 45,282.47.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Tanaya Macheel contributed to this report.
