Category Archives: Blog

I love you. It’ll pass.

If you’re still not quite over hearing Fleabag and Hot Priest utter these devastating words on your TV screen, then we have some news for you.

Show creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge has collaborated with Edinburgh Gin to design a limited edition Fleabag gin bottle that tells the story of one of the best British shows of the 2010s. The bottle is emblazoned with the iconic lines of dialogue from the show’s final episode, to utter into the inevitable G&Ts you’ll be making.

What’s more, 100 percent of the profits will create financial support for emerging artists.

The hand-draw, screen-printed bottle design was designed by Waller-Bridge and features Fleabag looking into the Edinburgh night sky. A fox represents the show’s truly moving final moments, and the words “I love you,” have been hand-written by Waller-Bridge, while the response “It’ll pass,” has been scrawled by Andrew Scott, who plays Hot Priest.

“If that isn’t incentive enough to hunt one down and hold it against your cheek, I don’t know what is,” Waller-Bridge said in a press statement.

Credit: edinburgh gin 

Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh, is a significant place to Waller-Bridge as she first performed Fleabag at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013, which led to her rise to fame. The chair on the label is a nod to the bare staging of the original play, which she performed as a one-woman show.

“Gin and theatre are my two great loves. We wanted this bottle to capture a glimpse of Edinburgh in all her mystery and wonder, through the eyes of Fleabag who found her first home there,” said Waller-Bridge. “I hope every purchase inspires outrageous and creative conversations over ice while bringing the beloved Fringe festival back to life.”

As any gin lover will attest, it’s about what’s inside the bottle that really counts. The covetable vessels will be filled with Edinburgh Gin’s Classic London Dry gin, with pinebuds, lavender, mulberries, and citrus botanicals.

Profits from the sales will go towards creating subsidies that will enable the “next generation of talent to return to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2022,” according to the press release. The distillery hopes to raise £150,000.

Gin-loving Fleabag fans can pre-register on Edinburgh Gin’s website for presale access on July 20. The gin, which is priced at £48 ($66.50) per bottle, will then go on general sale to the public in early August and will be delivered during the festival, which takes place from August 6 to 30.

Scientists are training drones to hunt people down by following the sound of their screaming.

Yes, it does sound like the beginnings of a Terminator/Quiet Place-style dystopia, but it isn’t meant that way. Rather, these drones are intended to save lives.

Researchers from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics (Fraunhofer FKIE) are developing scream-seeking drones to help rescue workers quickly find people who are trapped or injured in emergency situations. Mounting an array of microphones onto a drone, the researchers can hone in on screams by using processing techniques such as beamforming, which enables the microphones to detect which of them is closest to a sound and then hone in on it.

Speaking to Mashable via email, researcher Macarena Varela explained that she and colleagues Wulf-Dieter Wirth and Manfred Okum previously developed a similar system in 2016, but it had been too big and heavy to mount on a drone.

“In 2018, Dr Wirth was convinced that we could use MEMS [microelectromechanical system] microphones instead of the traditional condenser microphones, making the system much smaller,” said Varela. “This was the beginning of our dream to be able to mount it on a drone for the purpose of SAR (Search and Rescue).”

The research was presented at the Acoustical Society of America’s 180th meeting in June.

Credit: Macarena Varela

The researchers’ system currently utilises 32 microphones in its array, though Varela notes they haven’t yet experimented to find the minimum number it could use while still being effective. Even so, they consider that more is better in this case.

“Since MEMS microphones are so small and affordable, we are planning to double the amount of microphones in the near future instead of reducing them,” said Varela.

Increasing the number of microphones will allow researchers to more accurately estimate the angle of sounds they detect, as well as pick up audio that is further away. This will enable the drone to determine the location of the victim with increased precision.

“Ideally, to use beamforming techniques, it is practical to use an array of identical microphones delivering synchronous data,” said Varela. “We opted for a very particular array called Crow’s Nest, where all microphones are randomly positioned in a sphere. This type of array provides sound coverage in every direction and [is] equally good in all directions.”

“The data from all microphones is combined, after adding delays or phases to it, in order to achieve the maximum sensitivity for a selected direction, and thus forming a sensitivity beam,” continued Varela. “Then, by varying or scanning the direction, the search for sound sources is achieved.”

The researchers use the monopulse radar technique to establish the exact angle of the sound. This technique compares at least two simultaneous beams received from slightly different directions, determining which signal is stronger to detect the position of a target.

Valera and her colleagues are currently developing and testing filtering methods in order to reduce noise such as the sound of the drone’s rotor. At the same time, they are also experimenting with various detection methods for picking up the sound of people in distress, including AI and neural networks. For both purposes, Fraunhofer FKIE’s researchers are using an audio database which includes “impulsive sounds…. that victims may produce, such as tapping, clapping and screaming.”

“In previous tests in the lab, we were able to detect impulsive sounds, such as clapping, having rotor noises present,” said Varela. “We are currently processing the data with the drone flying.”

Varela provided Mashable with video demonstrating their ongoing research.

Drones are already used in search and rescue efforts, capable of reaching areas that are difficult to access as well as covering a lot of ground much more quickly than humans or dogs. However, such efforts typically rely on a human monitoring a camera mounted on a drone. Locating victims of a disaster quickly is often critical to their survival, so any technology that helps first responders find them is useful.

It may be some time before we see this system in action, though. Varela says that it “depends on how many hours [she and her colleagues] can work on it.” Testing is still ongoing, and the researchers haven’t had any concrete deadlines. Still, they believe the system has significant potential.

“A big part of the work is to now transfer the methods already implemented on the big system to this smaller one,” said Varela. “Nevertheless, we also face new challenges, such as the drone noise while flying. In other words, we have the expertise in our team, so it’s a matter of time.”

There’s probably a scientific explanation for why we’ve have been so susceptible to a good old-fashioned catchy tune this year. Stripped raw by the trauma and stress of a global pandemic, reduced to a brain-in-a-jar with one hand for constant phone scrolling, unable to process the complex emotions of some of our favourite “real” music, and subjected to the infinite smorgasbord of TikTok sounds, our minds have been easy targets for these sonic remora.

It’s entirely possible that one of these ditties took up residence in your mind’s ears for such an extended period of time that it verged on the traumatic. I apologise in advance for inviting them back in. But that said, please enjoy reliving it all with our list of the most insidious, perfidious, bing-bang-bongiest earworms of 2021 so far.

“Welcome To The Internet” / “Shit” — Bo Burnham

Almost every song from Bo Burnham’s surprise quarantine special Inside could qualify here, if we’re honest. My TikTok For You Page has been riddled with Bo content for weeks now — from the straightforward, relatable lipsyncs to “Shit,” horny clips of “Problematic” and “All Eyes On Me,” and ADHDtok loops of “a little bit of everything all of the time,” to the meta-trend of people realising that not everyone’s FYP is wall-to-wall comedy songs about mental illness and maybe the algorithm is trying to tell them something. (Also, working for a website that covers the tech industry is doubly stressful when I can hear Burnham crooning “Jeffrey Bezos! Jeffrey Bezos!” every time I see a photo of the richest cueball on earth.)

But part of the genius of Burnham’s ode to our collective Year Indoors is the way it captures the manic quality of certain states we all found ourselves in throughout the year. The most devastating songs aren’t necessarily the saddest, but the deceptively perky ones that address the inevitable, mildly hysterical acknowledgement that we’re not in a good place (“Are you feeling what I’m feeling / I haven’t had a shower in the last nine days”) and the loopy, overwhelmed feeling you get around hour five of an idle browse turned solid doomscrolling session (“Here’s a tip for straining pasta / Here’s a 9-year-old who died!”).

If you have one of these stuck in your head, it could be a sign you need to shower, log off, or touch grass — or it could just be that they’re wildly catchy.

“UK, Hun?” — The United Kingdolls / RuPaul’s Drag Race UK

The second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK gave us an absolute smorgasbord of charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent, but it had absolutely no business dropping a camp banger like this on us when nobody was allowed to go out dancing.

Both teams in the season’s RuRuVision challenge performed the same song, with each queen contributing an original verse — but it was clear after the first performance that the United Kingdolls had delivered not only the winning act of the night, but also the best musical challenge of the franchise in years, period. (Justice for Tia Kofi’s verse from the other version, though.)

That said, everyone responsible for this sing-sang-song ought to be tried at the Hague. I woke up every morning with Lawrence Chaney demanding “Clap for the bing bang BOOOONG!” in my head and went to sleep every night fighting to ignore the constant loop of “Release the beast: BIMINI!” Fully half of the queers I follow on multiple platforms appeared to be genuinely suffering after a full week of this.

“Kiss Me More” — Doja Cat ft. SZA

There are two kinds of people: Those who mumble random noises along with the third verse of “Kiss Me More,” and those who just hear Doja Cat going, “I feel like fuckin’ something,” over and over and over. Pre-vaxed era horniness, encapsulated.

“she stole my broccoli casserole recipe” — Lubalin

Montreal producer, singer, and songwriter Lubalin is a Serious Artist in his own right, but hit the viral jackpot with a series of TikToks where he turned random internet drama — the kind shared around via screenshots on Reddit and Twitter — into The Weeknd-esque dark pop jams. Within weeks of the first (and best) two going viral in the first days of 2021, he was doing the third on The Tonight Show alongside Jimmy Fallon and Alison Brie.

With all due respect to “good evening, is this available,” which is triggered in my brain every time I use Facebook Marketplace, the best remains this ode to boomer Facebook beefs. (The fact that it’s actually from a Facebook group where people role-play as boomers does not lessen its power.)

“good 4 u” — Olivia Rodrigo

The breakout pop star of 2021 had her first big moment at the beginning of the year with “driver’s license,” but it was this Paramore-aping anthem to breakup bitterness that wormed its way into our brains. It took over TikTok as well as the charts, spawning remixes, mashups, and even a version that cuts out the negative self-talk to be a simple affirmation that you’re actually doing great, thanks.

But if you’re just feeling a bit petulant and ragey, the taunting, elliptical melody of “good 4 u” is primed to loop in your head.

“Agatha All Along” — Kathryn Hahn / WandaVision

She’s insidious! And so is her signature song. WandaVision‘s era-hopping sitcom conceit gave us a fun new theme for its show-within-a-show every week. But it was the goofy, extravagant soundtrack to the first MCU Disney+ show’s villain reveal that took over the internet and our minds’ ears. Kathryn Hahn’s series MVP deserved a better arc than she got, but at least she got to live rent-free in our heads for weeks thanks to this brassy banger.

That stomping, shimmying horn part also lent itself well to a trap remix that demands to be yanked onto a mixtape ASAP.

“Edgar’s Prayer” from Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar

The deep silliness of Barb and Star arguably reaches its peak in this emotional number inspired by Kevin Bacon’s angry-dancing scene from Footloose. (See also: “Angry Mad” from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend for more proof of this moment’s impact.) There’s a hint of Lonely Island’s powerful work with Michael Bolton here, too.

Jamie Dornan, playing the entire film straight as the villain’s lovesick henchman Edgar, belts lines like “Seagulls in the sand, can you hear my prayer?” with full commitment. The song quickly deteriorates into Edgar narrating his own attempts to dance, spin, and climb out his overwhelming feelings. “I’m going up a palm tree like a cat up a palm tree who’s decided to go up a palm tree” — that’s just solid storytelling, right there. Showing and telling. It’s all in good fun, but then you find yourself belting it in the shower a week later and it’s weirdly cathartic.

It’s been a rough year so far, OK?

A robot gave me a manicure last week.

Let me stop you before you envision a bipedal humanoid carefully dipping a brush into a bottle and lacquering my nails. Instead, the experience felt more like inserting my hand into a 3D printer.

Cameras inside an oversized microwave-like purple box scanned each fingernail. Then a small tube of purple-gray polish that I had loaded into a front-facing compartment like a printer cartridge started “painting” my nails one by one in a circular pattern. But the tube only started painting after I clearly said, “Ready” — or hit a button on the touchscreen — with my hand in position, making sure to keep still. It wasn’t even painting as much as calculated squirting, since there wasn’t a brush.

When robots take over your beauty routine.
Credit: Valentin Mahé-Duverger / mashable

After about 10 minutes of inserting and re-inserting my fingers into the machine, my fingertips were neatly and consistently polished. All for under $8.

The process reminded me of those key-copying machines at home improvement stores, where you stick in your key and after some noise and moving parts, you have a new copy. Instead, the key was my finger, and the big box was one of two robots from the robotics company Clockwork.

Clockwork’s “lab,” a storefront in San Francisco’s hip Marina District, is the first known nail salon to feature any robot nail techs. It’s something of a pop-up for at least the next few months as the company tests the machines. Appointments are booked solid into July.

This robotic experience wasn’t devoid of human contact. Far from it. Two Clockwork employees, including the recently hired director of business development and operations, Tracy Torhan, welcomed guests, helped us select from 10 color options (ranging from dark reds to bright blues and greens), and explained how everything worked. If any customers came in with old polish, these two helped remove it.

Near the two humans, the two Clockwork machines sat on tables across from each other. Even though the machines’ screens clearly explain what to do, taking you through each step on how to position your hands and fingers, some guidance from the humans helped things run more smoothly. For instance, when I sat waiting for the tube to start painting but hadn’t pushed my finger far enough into the hand slot, the humans gave a helpful nudge or suggestion: “Just a bit more until you hear the click.” The robot doesn’t have that personal touch.

With 10 fingers, you have enough time to get into the rhythm and cadence of the robotic dance. By the time I inserted my last pinky into the soft plastic strap used to keep each finger in the right spot and grabbed the hand rest that I clicked into place for each finger, I was already envisioning coming back for another manicure. I was impressed, not just with the low price but also the efficiency. It was faster, so exacting, and more consistent, with no stroke lines compared to a traditional manicure.

Eventually I would be a pro, I imagined, with no need for a human to remove the paint for a re-do like I needed on one of my smudged thumbs after the robot painted it. I’d be in and out within roughly 10 minutes, not including the time to let my nails air dry. The next time I wouldn’t be distracted by the novelty of the machine and human-free process. I’d also know how to position my hands so that my painted thumb wouldn’t nick the side of the hand rest in the future.

This is a bare-bones manicure: no pedicures, gel paint, acrylics, designs, or French tips. There’s a single coat of polish, and no nail clipping, trimming, cuticle removal, buffing, or filing. And there are no hand massages with lots of lotion. The nails you came in with will look and feel the same on the way out, just with some color on them.

Enjoy some robotic pampering.

Credit: Valentin Mahé-Duverger / mashable

Ten fingers later, I’m done.

Credit: Valentin Mahé-Duverger / mashable

But the whole thing cost just $7.99, pre-paid online or at the store through a digital wallet. No tip. No awkward money exchange. No stilted small talk. And this is where it gets uncomfortable. It was almost too easy, too fast, too efficient, too cheap. (The workers assured me that each manicure uses a high-quality, though unnamed, polish.)

You’re lucky to find a traditional manicure in a city like San Francisco for $15, not including a tip. It takes time (about an hour) and requires a person to deal with your fingers and nail clippings and the grime underneath your nails. It can be awkward to pay someone to pamper you for this purely aesthetic, unnecessary beauty ritual.

But the nail industry is also a major job source, even if it’s a dangerous workplace, especially for undocumented workers. In New York City alone, there are more than 4,000 salons, according to the New York Nail Salon Workers Association. During the COVID pandemic, as many as 80 percent of nail salon workers in the city didn’t qualify for federal assistance even though most salons shut down, permanently closed, or drastically cut hours, as Allure magazine reported.

Now salons are reopening, and there’s even more competition — from a contact-free nail technician that doesn’t want your tip and isn’t poisoned by salon fumes and chemicals. Automation is coming for more and more jobs in trucking, manufacturing, retail, and healthcare: as many as 20 million by 2030, according to a study from Oxford Economics. For the beauty industry, robots have typically been more involved in cosmetics production as opposed to providing the services. More robots interacting with customers could make nail work healthier by taking the brunt of workplace risks, and yet, what happens to human workers when their jobs are taken over by robot techs?

Clockwork’s CEO Renuka Apte, a Georgia Tech computer science alum with a background in engineering, doesn’t intend to run nail salons out of business or replace human nail workers. Instead, the Bay Area-based company views itself as complementary, for in-between appointments. In the New York Times, the CEO called her service “minicures.” Clockwork claims it could be incorporated into a salon, working alongside nail workers for touch-ups and quick re-colorings. The lab location in SF is more about proof-of-concept than a long-term salon setup.

Ideally, Clockwork wants other businesses (whether they be traditional beauty salons or apartment buildings looking to offer better amenities) to lease or buy its manicure machines.

Pick a color for the robo-manicure.
Credit:

Clockwork —formerly known as Marionet AI when it first formed as a beauty tech company in 2017 — recently emerged out of stealth mode after raising its first round of $3 million from Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian’s venture firm, Initialized Capital. Now it’s anything but stealthy.

TikToks, Instagrams, YouTube videos, and selfies of robo-painted nails are peppering the internet and blowing up discussions about our inevitable robot takeover. The robotic nail salon even made it onto a recent episode of NPR’s weekend quiz show, “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me” as a part of a limerick clue: “When your fingers come out, they’ll look so hot…manicures done by a robot.”

Other nail tech is popping up, but that’s more focused on the at-home experience, like the ManiMe app that ships custom 3D-printed nail stickers after photographing your hands. Or the Nimble home manicure machine with a robotic arm that brushes on polish; it’s already fully backed on Kickstarter.

A steady stream of passersby stopped by during my Friday afternoon appointment to check out what was behind the sign in the window that read, “The First Robot Manicure for Unstoppable Humans.”

The company keeps collected camera footage of your fingernails for about 24 hours, but that’s to train and improve the machine-learning algorithm. As the bot made its public debut less than two months ago, it’s still learning more about different types of nail shapes, sizes, and lengths. Each day Clockwork engineers overview what mistakes and issues came up from the “lab” appointments, like when a nail needed to be repainted because of a missing spot or uneven painting. Data from my manicure should help with future shorter nails after the machine glossed a small smudge onto my fingertips beyond the nails.

Maybe next it’ll learn how to do pedicures.

If you get a million app notifications a day, and have become numb to the important ones, iOS 15’s Notification Summary feature is about to be your new best friend.

Notification Summary will let you zero in on what you might call your “important-but-overwhelming-due-to-constant-pestering” apps, and receive a summary report of their notifications for you to review at a time of your own choosing. By default, you’ll get your report twice a day, but you can opt to see it anywhere from once to 12 times a day.

To get your personalized app updates in a format that won’t immediately induce a headache, follow this step-by-step guide.

1. Go to Settings, and tap on Notifications

Searching through the many iPhone settings can sometimes be a long haul. Luckily, the Notifications settings are right near the top of the list.

2. Tap “Scheduled Summary”

And our luck continues! The “Scheduled Summary” feature is also near the top of the Notifications settings, right under “Show Previews.”

3. Toggle on the feature

If this is your first time setting up your summary, the next screen should also be very simple: just one toggle button. Tap it, watch it go green, and an Apple pop-up instruction box should appear.

4. Follow the prompts and choose your preferred summary schedule

You’ll only see this screen the first time you set up Notification Summary.

Credit: screenshot: apple

Not sure why you would want 12 summaries a day, but this is where you could add them all.

Credit: screenshot: apple

The initial setup screen will show time options for a first and second daily summary. Choose your times, and tap on the red minus button if you only want one summary per day, or the blue plus button if you want more than two per day.

5. Choose what apps you want summarized

The next screen will show what apps can be included in the daily summaries. This will include both system apps, like Phone and Messages, and downloaded apps, like Instagram and TikTok.

If there’s an app you want included in your summary but don’t see on the list, make sure you have allowed that individual app to send notifications. To check this, go back to the general Notifications settings, and scroll down to the specific app.

6. Edit as you please

If you later decide you don’t want scheduled summaries, want different apps included in the summaries, or want them delivered at different times, you can edit all of this in the Scheduled Summary settings menu. This will now display when you tap on “Scheduled Summary,” since you have completed the initial setup.

And there you have it! You now have slightly more control over how often your phone bugs you, and you can rest easy knowing that you won’t miss anything important.

Sometimes feedback in the form of comments is welcome on Facebook posts. Other times, not so much. For those moments you may be wondering how to turn off commenting on your Facebook posts, the short answer is: You can’t. Facebook states: “Unfortunately, the functionality to disable comments on your posts is not currently available. Anyone included in the privacy setting of your post will be able to view, like, and comment on your post.”

You can, however, stop commenting on posts in a Facebook group page. Bear in mind, you must be a group admin or a moderator of the group to turn off commenting on a post in a group.

How to turn off comments on a Facebook group post

It’s a quick and simple job to turn off comments on a Facebook group post. Simply click on the three dots icon at the top right of the post.

From the options that pop up, tap on “Turn off commenting.” Comments will now be disabled.

How to hide posts from a certain person or people

While you can’t turn off comments outright in non-group posts, there are some other workarounds. If you have a particular person, or people, who regularly make annoying comments on your posts, it is possible to hide your posts from them. Here’s what to do:

When you create a post, look for the “Friends” dropdown menu underneath your name.

Limit who can see your post on your Facebook.
Credit: screenshot: amy-mae turner

Click this. In the window that pops up, look for the “Friends except…” option.

Select “Friends except” to limit who can see your Facebook post.
Credit: SCREENSHOT: AMY-MAE TURNER

Click this, and select the person or people you want to hide the post from.

How to hide comments containing certain words from your profile

Another thing you can do for your personal Facebook profile is to hide comments containing certain words. You can generate a personalized list of up to 1,000 words which, if someone uses one or more of them in a comment, will result in the comment automatically being hidden.

To set this up, click on the triangular icon at the top right of your Facebook and select “Settings and privacy.”

In the “Settings and privacy” menu, select “Settings.” Now look to the left of your screen and select “Profile and tagging.” In the “Viewing and sharing” section, look for the option to “Hide comments containing certain words from your profile.” Click “Edit.”

This gives you the option to “choose a list of words, phrases, or emojis that you want to hide from your profile.” Enter your undesirable words in the text box, and click “Save.”

Now, if anyone comments on any of your Facebook posts and uses one of those words or phrases, the comment will automatically be hidden from you and everyone else. Only the person who posted the comment will still be able to see it.

The obvious hack here: If you enter a ton of commonly used words as your words that mean the comment gets hidden, it’s unlikely that many comments will pass your filter.

Whether you’re selling an Apple Watch, giving it away, or trading it in for a newer model, you’ll want to make sure that all your content and data are fully wiped from the device.

But the reset options might require a little digging around within the Settings to find. So, we’re going to break down the steps for you.

Here’s how to reset your Apple Watch.

Reset using your Apple Watch

If you don’t mind carrying out important tasks on a tiny screen, your data wipe can be performed on the watch itself. Simply head to Settings and tap General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. If your watch is password protected, you’ll then be prompted to enter it. From there, tap ‘Erase All’ and your Apple Watch will reset to back to factory settings.

If you have a GPS + Cellular model with a data plan, nothing will happen to your actual plan (which will be fine if you’re upgrading). But if you’re going watch-free, you’ll want to cancel via your carrier, or use the Watch app on your phone.

Reset using your iPhone

You can also use the Watch app on your iPhone.

Credit: SCREENSHOT / APPLE

Here, you can reset the watch AND remove your data plan.

Credit: SCREENSHOT / APPLE

You can also perform the whole reset on your iPhone. Open the Watch App, tap General > Reset > Erase Apple Watch Content and Settings.

And if you do have that cellular plan mentioned above, you can remove it right from the Watch App. All you have to do is tap ‘Remove All Cellular Plans.’

If you want to keep all your data and content on the Apple Watch, you can unpair it from your iPhone instead.
Credit: SCREENSHOT / APPLE

If you just want to unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone (without factory resetting it), tap ‘All Watches’ on the Watch App and then the information icon on the right. From there, tap on ‘Unpair Apple Watch.’

Despite being a writer who specializes in motherhood, I didn’t buy my first nursing bra until I had my second daughter this past February. Since I work from the privacy of my home, I can breastfeed her easily, so I never thought I needed to invest in a nursing bra, let alone a pumping one. (Because I’m at home, I don’t pump much anyway.)

But here’s the other side of that: When I do pump (before bed or if I miss a feeding), I dread it. I never feel like I produce as much milk as when I breastfeed (which might be an accurate assessment, as some research suggests that a baby’s suckling is more effective than a breast pump’s work). My arms wind up tired from holding the bottles. I fear clogged ducts (even though I’ve never had one). Mostly, I just dread it.

Enter: the Lilu Massage Bra, a hands-free pumping bra that mimics compression massage, a technique shown to help increase and maintain milk supply and make pumping easier. I’ve been using it for three weeks to write this article, and I really like it. Not only that, I think it works.

Does the Lilu Massage Bra actually work?

Your first question is likely, “do you actually pump more milk when you use this bra?” To that, my short answer is yes.

Every time I have used Lilu’s bra while pumping, I have noticed that I have pumped more milk than I usually do, even at the end of the day when supply tends to be at its lowest. This leads me to believe that the bra’s compression massage—it’s actually quite relaxing—does indeed help me better empty my breasts. (For what it’s worth, the brand says you could pump up to 50 percent more milk each session. While I haven’t found that significant of an increase, I have noticed a bump.)

As for the claims about increasing and maintaining milk supply, I’m not sure. I’ve never had an issue with milk supply, nor am I looking to increase my supply. I’d be inclined to say that I do notice a slight increase in supply overall while using this bra (even just using it once or twice a day), but it’s not something that’s overly noticeable. Though if you were using this bra as part of a regular pumping routine, it could have an impact on your overall supply.

What’s it like to use the Lilu Massage Bra?

Baby and motherhood products that promise the moon and come with multi-page instructional packets scare me. (Just the other day, I spent 30 minutes sitting on my kitchen floor installing a battery in a play sink for my two-year-old; something I thought would be a two-minute process.)

But using Lilu’s bra is surprisingly easy. The directions are simple and easy to read, too. Even if you didn’t read them, you’d figure out how to use the bra.

All you have to do to start the massage once wearing the bra (you just put it on like you would any other bra and slip the pump flanges through openings) is push a button. From there, it’s nothing fancy: The massager works at two speeds, high and low.

What does it do well (and is there anything terrible about it)?

Anyone who’s bought any item of maternity clothes (bras included) knows that sizing can be incredibly variable, making the process of shopping frustrating.

I was impressed by the sizing chart on Lilu’s website that is easy-to-use. Based on your current bra size, the chart suggests sizing for the Lilu (S-XL).

I also think this bra does what it’s supposed to do in a functional way with an added benefit of making the pumping process easier (no hands!).

Some drawbacks: My first thought upon opening the Lilu was that it was heavy (though it doesn’t feel heavy when you wear it). The cute bag it comes in is a tight squeeze for the bra and its bulky massage parts. I also find the bra’s plastic clasp to be a bit cheap.

In a market of sleek and semi-silent wearable pumps (the Willow, the Elvie) the Lilu’s noise also stands out. It isn’t discreet or quiet, though I doubt that it was designed to be either. Frankly, I don’t really care. I use it in the privacy of my living room when the kids are asleep, and I’d trade a little bit of noise and clunk for efficacy any day.

Who’s it good for?

It’s hard to say who the Lilu massage bra is best for. I like it and I’ll continue using it, but I also don’t know if I would have bought the Lilu to begin with because I didn’t think I’d need it or like it. It’s also expensive, though the company states that the bra can be paid for with funds from a Flexible Spending Account or Health Savings Account. You should confirm eligibility with your insurance carrier.

If you work in an office and are pumping every three hours or so, you might find it annoying (and a little bit more time-intensive) to put the bra on multiple times a day. The company notes you can wear the bra over a nursing bra and you can—I’ve tried it. (But personally, I might just suck it up and hold the pump versus undressing and dressing for pumping sessions.)

But I could also be wrong: Maybe if you work in an office and you’re sick of holding your pump to your breasts every three hours and you’re worried about supply or you just want to sit back and (try to) relax for a few minutes, this could be for you. A pleasant surprise for me is that this bra truly does allow you to do just that: relax a little bit.

And that’s one of the main benefits I’ve noticed. Even though it’s a bit of a nuisance to put on the bra before you pump (it is, after all, just another *thing* you need), the Lilu does eliminate some of the work and stress of pumping—and there’s some research to suggest that simple relaxation goes a far way in helping to increase your supply and help you remove more milk.

So would I suggest you or a friend buy it? If you’re stressed about pumping, sick of holding your pump on your own, and hoping to increase supply, I’d say give the Lilu a shot.

The Fourth of July is a weird time for James DeMonaco.

“It’s become almost like ‘Purge Day’ in my life,” the creator of Universal’s popular action horror franchise jokes over Zoom. “I try to hide a little bit from it because I get overwhelmed, but [the movies] have definitely changed the meaning of the holiday for me.”

“I didn’t want to do another one unless we could flip The Purge upside down.”

Set in a dystopian America where all crime, including murder, is legal one night per year, The Purge is a touchstone reference among horror fans — and, thanks to some clever marketing and well-timed release dates, is closely associated with Fourth of July weekend. So, ever since unleashing The Purge onto unsuspecting audiences in 2013, DeMonaco has spent summer after summer promoting new chapters in his savage satire. You know, fireworks and hotdogs, murder and mayhem.

But as moviegoers flock back to theaters this Independence Day, the first after one of the most politically fraught times in our nation’s recent history, DeMonaco is breaking the Purge mold with The Forever Purge. It’s a sprawling thriller that opens up exciting possibilities for the franchise that could take us far away from the U.S.A. — and maybe give DeMonaco back his holiday weekend — if we get another sequel.

“People are not going to listen to that final siren.”
Credit: universal pictures

“I didn’t want to do [The Forever Purge] unless we could flip The Purge upside down,” DeMonaco explains of the fifth film in the series, directed by Everardo Valerio Gout. “Then, something hit me. Purgers are not people who listen to laws, so why would they ever stop?”

“I’ve always said you can’t contain this; it’s a virus of hatred.”

Viciously expanding on the pulpy patriotism of the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) — a pro-Purge political party we got to know better in The Purge: Election Year (2016) — The Forever Purge focuses on a rogue group of Purgers intent on keeping the country’s lawless night of ultraviolence going year-round. By the film’s terrifying end, they’ve succeeded, and, just as the NFFA loses power, what these aggressors call the “Ever After Purge” takes hold.

“I’ve always said you can’t contain this; it’s a virus of hatred,” DeMonaco explains, referencing Purge Night’s long history of targeting vulnerable groups, including people of color and the poor. “That was where [this idea] started taking off — this idea that you can no longer contain the Purge to one evening, that people are not going to listen to that final siren, that they’re going to keep going.”

(from left) Elijah Hardin (Jeffrey Doornbos) and Adela (Ana de la Reguera) in The Forever Purge, directed by Everardo Valerio Gout.
Credit:

This apocalyptic “end to America,” as DeMonaco describes it, sends U.S. citizens not so keen on living in Mad Max times fleeing to foreign countries. And, in a not at all subtle nod to the Mexico-U.S. border crisis, The Forever Purge’s final scene sees its surviving heroes actually escape from Texas to Mexico, where the first post-United States “American” baby is born on Mexican soil.

“We’ve always wanted to go international with it.”

But the destruction of America — a country supposedly “reborn” through this night of barbarity — doesn’t mean the Purge is over for fans of the franchise.

“Four months ago, if you asked me if there was going to be a Purge 6, I would be like, ‘No way, it’s over. Purge 5, that was it,'” DeMonaco says. “Then I woke up one day and I had an idea.”

Although The Forever Purge was previously thought to be the last movie in this hellish storyline, DeMonaco says a sixth Purge movie could see the Purge tradition/holiday/horror show spread across the globe. It’s an idea DeMonaco had been workshopping for a Purge TV series, but now seems better suited to the big screen.

“I’ve always said, ‘You can’t contain this.’ It’s like a virus of hatred.”
Credit: universal pictures

“We’ve always wanted to go international with it,” the screenwriter says, adding the script he’s currently working on features the return of fan favorite character Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo).

“American culture spreads throughout the world… In the fictional world of the Purge, the Purge might spread too. So we’ve always wanted to explore that.”

The Forever Purge is in theaters on July 1.

Mars is dusty. Like, really dusty. And that dust may suffocate NASA’s InSight mission.

InSight sits on the surface of Mars measuring marsquakes and observing the local weather, powering itself with a pair of solar arrays that soak up energy from the sun. Since it landed in November 2018, InSight has been operating for more than 920 sols (Mars days), equal to about 940 Earth days.

That’s seven months longer than its planned two-year mission. In that time, dust has obscured around 80 percent of the arrays, InSight’s principal investigator Bruce Banerdt shared in a presentation on June 21.

The team expects to keep InSight running through the summer, but as that dust keeps piling up, it won’t be able to press on much longer.

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Along with his work on InSight, Banerdt was project scientist on the Mars Exploration Rover Project, which launched the solar-powered Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity in 2003. He’s been dealing with Martian dust for years.

“Dust is definitely up there as one of our major design challenges,” he said in an interview. “My black piano notwithstanding, we don’t really have a lot of dust on Earth compared to Mars.”

“My black piano notwithstanding, we don’t really have a lot of dust on Earth compared to Mars.”

Where there are rocks, there is erosion, and where there is erosion, there is dust. On Earth, 71 percent of the surface is water, and when dust touches water, it sticks to it and eventually gets deposited on the ocean floor. Mars is notably devoid of water, so all the dust that’s blowing around just keeps blowing around, sometimes even resulting in planet-wide dust storms.

Shortly before InSight landed, Opportunity found itself in such a storm, which blocked out the sun for multiple sols. Having run for 14 years on the red planet, the storm was too much for Opportunity’s solar panels. Last contact with the rover was made on June 10, 2018, just a few days into the storm.

This series of images shows simulated views of a darkening Martian sky blotting out the Sun from NASA’s Opportunity rover’s point of view during the 2018 global dust storm.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/TAMU

Spirit and Opportunity were both encumbered by dust at various points in their journeys, but the rovers caught breaks that InSight just can’t seem to match: cleaning events. Strong Martian winds can blow dust off of technology, giving them much-needed power boosts and prolonging their operations.

“We think this is because of dust devils, or more precisely ‘atmospheric vortices,’ that actually passed over the spacecraft,” Banerdt said, referring to the rovers’ cleaning events. “We hoped that we would experience the same thing with InSight.”

Alas, it seems that there just aren’t as many dust devils spinning around InSight’s landing site as there were around Spirit and Opportunity. If a cleaning event does happen for InSight though, it could remain in action for a long, long time.

Learning from the dust

As we spend more time exploring Mars, scientists can develop new strategies to tackle problems like dust in the future.

“[InSight] is the first mission that was actually designed to last a long time” Banerdt said. “We didn’t really have a lot of a lot of information and data to go on.”

As it happens, solar arrays tend to maintain an electric charge, as do particles banging around in the sun’s radiation on Mars. That means the dust is extra attracted to solar arrays.

Future missions could use special coatings on arrays to make them less adhesive, or even a grid of electrical wires above the arrays that a spacecraft could run a charge through and zap dust off, Banerdt said. Another option involves double-sided arrays set on a revolving joint that could flip over every couple of years.

For InSight, the team has found a method that sometimes helps to push some dust off the arrays: Pouring sand on them. Using a scoop, InSight grabbed some sand and dropped it upwind of a solar array. As the grains blew over, they picked up some dust, giving InSight a measurable power boost. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always seem to be very effective.

InSight’s scoop can be seen lifted above the solar array on the left side of the image before it drops sand.
Credit: nasa/jpl-caltech

“People are always asking us why we don’t just put wipers on to clean them off,” Banerdt said. “The main reason we don’t do that is because of weight and complexity. It’s not a trivial thing to set something up there with motors, and rubber doesn’t work very well in a vacuum with an oxidizing environment.”

In the future, astronauts on Mars could just sweep a rover’s solar arrays every once in a while. Or future rovers could just rely on nuclear power, like NASA’s Perseverance and Curiosity rovers.

But using nuclear power is expensive. Perseverance’s plutonium-based power supply cost NASA $75 million. Solar arrays are much cheaper.

Nuclear power involves environmental risks, too. If something went wrong, radiation could contaminate parts of Mars and ruin the results of future research missions.

“People are always asking us why we don’t just put wipers on to clean them off.”

If astronauts make it to Mars, dust could also be a serious health problem.

“The dust might be kind of toxic,” Banerdt said. “Mars is a very oxidizing environment, and the ultraviolet radiation hitting the ground is not filtered out by the atmosphere. So the dust could be kind of reactive, and probably not deeply poisonous, but could be very irritable to lungs and mucous membranes and things like that.”

Over long periods of time, dust can mess with a rover’s other parts, even corroding wheels. Spirit lost the use of two wheels, and Curiosity has some wheel damage that NASA chemist James Gaier pinned mostly on Martian dust in a Medium article.

Martian dust will continue to be a challenge, but that’s just part of the fun of exploring places that aren’t like Earth.