Author Archives: Carol Edwards

New Mutants has some new stars.

The X-Men spinoff has just cast Game of Thrones alum Maisie Williams and Split star Anya Taylor-Joy, Mashable has confirmed. Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) is directing.

That makes Williams the second Stark sibling to join the X-Men universe. Her small-screen sis, Sophie Turner, starred in X-Men: Apocalypse last year and is set to return for Dark Phoenix next year.

New Mutants is pitched as a YA take on the X-Men series, following a group of students as they navigate teen angst and mutant powers. Williams will play Wolfsbane, a Scottish girl whose werewolf-like powers are in conflict with her religious beliefs. Read more…

More about X Men, Maisie Williams, New Mutants, Anya Taylor Joy, and Entertainment

Satya Nadella changed Microsoft.

That’s the assessment of Microsoft Executive VP for Windows and Devices Terry Myerson who was recalling the very first staff meeting with the newly installed CEO three years ago.

“He deeply was convicted about refreshing our mission statement,” said Myerson, who sat down with me a few weeks ago, just hours after unveiling Windows 10 S and the Surface Laptop.

Myerson looked a little drained (“I kind of feel like I go down in a dark cave for two days before these events”) and was careful not to tip anything coming at this week’s Build Developer’s Conference, but he wanted to explain Microsoft’s transition from a company that builds good products to one that more intentionally marries form and function. It all started, it seems with the new mission statement: Read more…

More about Microsoft, Windows 10, Build 2017, and Tech

With all the communication between Russian government officials and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, you’d think someone at the White House would know that the Kremlin is home to professional trolls. 

But they apparently didn’t realize this until after a photo session at the White House on Wednesday went public. 

Trump hosted Russia’s U.S. ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the White House on Wednesday. Members of the U.S. press weren’t allowed in, and photos from the official White House photographer didn’t appear anywhere until the following day.  Read more…

More about Russia, Photos, White House, Troll, and Photographer

The New Yorker has capped off an insane week — and it’s only Thursday — with preview of next week’s issue. And it’s absolutely brutal. Take a look:

The cover features recently fired FBI Director James Comey in a purple suit with blood dripping ever-so-slightly from his nose as he’s dragged off a plane in a way that can only be called “United-style.” The dragger? None other than Jeff Sessions, the U.S. attorney general who was supposed to have recused himself from anything Russia investigation related, clad in full law enforcement uniform.  Read more…

More about Media, Donald Trump, United, Magazine Cover, and New Yorker

Is it possible to already know news before it happens, because it feels like we already knew about this.  

President Trump, while eating dinner in the White House, gets two scoops of ice cream while everyone else gets one. He gets an extra scoop. Obviously.

The president invited three Time reporters to spend a day at the White House on Monday, which ended with a candlelit dinner in the Blue Room, and there were some pretty notable differences between the four dinner attendees’ meals.

While the three reporters were served salad with a vinaigrette, Trump got what appeared to be Thousand Island dressing. During the entree portion of the meal, the president got “an extra dish of sauce” with his chicken. While everyone else was offered water, President Trump drank—interestingly—a Diet Coke. Read more…

More about Watercooler, Politics, Donald Trump, White House, and Time

People once routinely brushed off bullying as a normal part of childhood that built character. Now we know with certainty that it actually tears people down in devastating ways. 

The longterm risks of bullying, however, don’t have to shape the rest of your life. While the research on protecting yourself from those effects is still limited, there are some important steps you can take to boost your resiliency and improve your coping skills. 

Studies have shown a connection between being bullied and doing worse in school, abusing alcohol, and experiencing mental health problems. New research published this week in Pediatrics, for example, showed that more frequent bullying experiences in the fifth grade were associated with symptoms of depression in the seventh grade, which was related to a higher chance of using alcohol, marijuana and cigarettes in the 10th grade. A separate Psychological Science study indicated that both bullies and victims were at higher risk for feeling more stress and had fewer skills for managing stress as adults.  Read more…

More about Science, Bullying, Mental Health, Research, and High School

There has been talk on the internet of doughnuts going too far. A recent article argued that purveyors of fried dough have overreached with their unorthodox takes on the original treat. 

But wary as I am of doughnuts made from fried spaghetti, Doughnut Plant’s pretty “Doughflowers” make a strong case for the unusual.

Per the New York Times, the doughnut shop is selling pastries formed in the shape of flowers and dipped in sweet blood orange, strawberry, or rose glazes. 

Though a Doughnut Plant representative wouldn’t tell us exactly how they’re made, he did share that owner Chef Mark Israel has spent the past five months perfecting his method. Each is made by hand so that no two are the same. Read more…

More about Watercooler, Pics, and Watercooler

Snapchat may soon be introducing a new way for it to make money — with a little help from some furry friends. 

A tipster sent us a snap taken by Gabe Lehrman, a partnership associate at Snap, that shows a selfie of him surrounded by a bunch of virtual stickers. The stickers are of characters in Sanrio, including Hello Kitty and Badtz-Maru.

Text over the snap reads: “First partnered stickers alert!!”

Apparently Snapchat is testing more virtual stickers that aren’t by their own design or copied from someone else’s, as this story from The Ringer exposed.  Read more…

More about Business, Snapchat, Apps And Software, Stickers, and Snap Inc

A redesigned iPad Pro might be announced next month.

9to5Mac has obtained an image of what it claims is an inventory listing for cases for an iPad Pro with a 10.5-inch screen — an iPad that doesn’t exist yet.

According to the listing, Urban Armor Gear (UAG) is preparing to ship folio cases made for a 10.5-inch iPad Pro in June. 

Case leaks are a dime a dozen and nothing new when it comes to revealing unannounced products, but the fact that UAG, a major case maker, is throwing its weight behind what is only a rumored iPad Pro suggests Apple might not wait until the fall to revamp its most powerful tablet. Read more…

More about Apple, Ipad, Wwdc, Ipad Pro, and Rumors

If you’re still puzzled over Nintendo’s baffling decision to discontinue the extremely popular NES Classic, I have some good news: Hyperkin’s got your back.

The hardware maker’s latest creation — out May 25 — is the RetroN HD. It’s basically a Nintendo Entertainment System, only it can play your old cartridges in HD.

While you’ll need to actually own copies of the games you want to play — unlike the Classic with its built-in library — you also won’t be restricted to just 30 titles. It’s not unlike Hyperkin’s RetroN 5 — which features cartridge ports for five different consoles — except it’s for NES games only. Read more…

More about Entertainment, Gaming, Nintendo, Nes, and Hyperkin