I’m not usually a fan of tech products that claim to be able to make homemade versions of customers’ favorite store-bought foods. Sorry to companies like SodaStream, but the end products just never come out tasting right.

But then I came across ColdSnap at CES 2024.

ColdSnap is a countertop ice cream maker that claims to make the “creamiest, best tasting ice cream available anywhere.” You simply insert a “pod,” which looks like a slim can of Coca-Cola, containing one of an assortment of available ice cream flavors into the machine and shortly after, soft-serve ice cream is yours for the eating.

When I first saw ColdSnap, I did not get it. There was a huge line of people around the company’s booth because, of course, free food will always attract a crowd. But I’ve been there and done that when it comes to ice cream makers. 

My mom has a “Ninja CREAMi” at her home, a different countertop ice cream maker, which costs less than $200. On visits, I’ve had Ninja CREAMi soft-serve and it’s good, but it’s no replacement for real soft-serve like you get at Carvel or Mr. Softee. It’s just not “soft” enough. In my experience, Ninja CREAMi ice cream comes out too icy and not creamy enough. I expected ColdSnap to be a bit like that.

I decided to see what the hubbub surrounding ColdSnap was about. And, of course, yeah, the free food.

I was wrong. ColdSnap ice cream actually had the consistency of real soft-serve like you’d get straight from your favorite ice cream truck or soft-serve shop. The ice cream was creamy soft-serve and it was delicious. It seems like its actually possible to replicate store-bought food exactly how it was intended to taste using a homemade ice cream machine.

ColdSnap does come with some issues and unanswered questions. Storing the coke can-sized pods will be less than ideal, and when it comes to disposal, will cities add them to recycling programs for other, similar pods? But the biggest question is: when will it actually be available to buy? ColdSnap actually debuted way back at CES 2021 and stole the show-related headlines then. But the company seemingly disappeared without ever releasing a commercial product.

At CES 2024, ColdSnap was all the rage once again. But the company was showing off a larger machine that they said they don’t want to sell to customers. A ColdSnap representative told me they’re looking to create a smaller version within the next year to put on the market.

Personally, I don’t think the current ColdSnap product is that big. It’s a kitchen countertop food maker. These products can be rather large and consumers usually don’t mind. And then there’s the question of will this smaller ColdSnap device still be able to make creamy soft-serve ice cream? Or will downsizing the product mean the output quality is icier in consistency, putting ColdSnap more in line with the previously mentioned Ninja CREAMi? That would certainly be a huge disappointment.

But, I guess we’re closer to finding out than we were when ColdSnap debuted at CES three years ago. 

George Carlin has dropped a new comedy special. And if that seems weird — because, you know, he died in 2008 — well, it’s because it isn’t actually Carlin.

The special is from Dudesy, a comedy AI, that co-opted Carlin’s persona for a YouTube “special” called George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead.

To be clear, the hour-long video from the AI goes out of its way to say the special is not actually Carlin.

“I just want to let you know very clearly that what you’re about to hear is not George Carlin. It’s my impersonation of George Carlin that I developed in the exact same way a human impressionist would,” it says in the video. “I listened to all of George Carlin’s material and did my best to imitate his voice, cadence, and attitude as well as the subject matter I think would have interested him today. So think of it like Andy Kaufman impersonating Elvis or like Will Ferrell impersonating George W. Bush.”

But frankly, the impression is not like that at all. Ferrell and Kaufman were human beings, accentuating certain qualities of powerful people in order to create comedy and social commentary. The Dudesy special is a voice-accurate copy of Carlin, not adding context but rather trying to resurrect a ghost. It’s a weird, less funny version of Carlin.

I watched a bit of the video and my takeaway was that, yes, it seemed like an AI impression of Carlin. It talked about some of the topics you’d expect from a modern Carlin: billionaires, the class system in America, and social media. But, from the little bit I saw, it felt like an impression. It didn’t have much to say.

The great comedian had a point of view because he was…a great comedian. Dudesy has amalgamated its idea of Carlin into something resembling the genuine article. It’s weird, unsettling, and capitalistic nonsense nobody asked for and nobody needs. In other words: The AI version of Carlin sure seems like something Carlin would’ve hated.

At one point the AI even jokes about replacing stand-up comedians and news anchors because it could stream forever and ever. Ah yes, endless flotsam, the perfect version of art. For what it’s worth, Carlin’s family seems to agree that the AI special was a bad idea.

“My dad spent a lifetime perfecting his craft from his very human life, brain and imagination. No machine will ever replace his genius,” Carlin’s daughter Kelly Carlin wrote on Twitter/X. “These AI generated products are clever attempts at trying to recreate a mind that will never exist again. Let’s let the artist’s work speak for itself. Humans are so afraid of the void that we can’t let what has fallen into it stay there. Here’s an idea, how about we give some actual living human comedians a listen to? But if you want to listen to the genuine George Carlin, he has 14 specials that you can find anywhere.”

SAVE $50: Pre-order the Segway Ninebot eKickScooter E2 Pro for just $449.99, down from its regular price of $499.99. That’s a 10% discount.

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If you’re tired of hopping on the metro for your morning commute or no longer find enjoyment with your rideshare companions, it might be time to find a new way to get into the office. Thanks to today’s deal, you can pre-order one of Segway’s best commuting scooters and kick off your year with savings.

As of Jan. 11, you can pre-order the new Segway Ninebot eKickScooter E2 Pro for $449.99, a $50 discount off the MSRP of $499.99. Segway estimates shipments will begin on Jan. 25.

The Segway Ninebot E2 Pro is built for daily commuting, running errands, or enjoying an adventure. With a top speed of 15.5 miles per hour, the E2 Pro features Segway’s RideyLONG technology which adds 20% to the scooter’s range without needing an extra battery. At max speed, the E2 Pro gets 16.8 miles of distance on a single charge. There’s an anti-skid traction control system should you face precipitation and you get front and rear turning indicators for a safer ride. Plus, the braking system has a front drum brake and a rear electronic brake.

Glide your way up hills with the E2 Pro’s ability to head up slopes with up to an 18% incline thanks to the combination of rear-wheel drive and the 750 W motor. It takes about five-and-a-half hours to recharge the scooter for your next ride.

If you’re looking for a new way to get around, the new Segway Ninebot E2 Pro scooter could be your dream mode of transportation. Pre-order the scooter today to save $50.

SAVE $70: As of Jan. 11, the Oh! vibrator is available for preorder from Ohdoki for $74.95. That’s 50% off its normal price of $149.95.

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Looking to spice things up in the bedroom? Norwegian tech company Ohdoki just debuted one very interesting piece of sextech at CES 2024, and it looks like a very interesting proposition for people with vulvas. The same company, which introduced the automated penis stroker The Handy at last year’s tech expo, wants you to meet The Oh!, a new vibrator that looks more like a remote control than something that could rock your world. But despite its looks, it promises some serious sensations.

If you’re in the market to try something new beyond your go-to toys, now’s a great time to get in on the Oh! craze before it even starts. The newly-announced toy is available for preorder from Ohdoki right now for 50% off its MSRP. That means if you lock in your purchase as of Jan. 11, you can get it for just $74.95, which is down from its suggested price of $149.95.

The Oh! doesn’t rely on motors to create those satisfying vibrations you expect from this kind of toy. Instead, according to Ohdoki, it uses sound wave-based “ResoTouch technology” to help users “create their own vibrational patterns.” What that means, exactly, is a bit up in the air right now. But it probably translates to you or a partner having a great time.

You can sync up the Oh! with your favorite audio or video through Bluetooth as you take in the vibrations. And there’s the opportunity to try it out with a partner using the brand’s Handy toy as well, so there’s an interesting type of synergy here that could bring you and someone else together while you enjoy content with a little something-something physical in the background.

The Oh! is set to debut this spring, so if you want to get it at its lower price now, be sure to pre-order early.

If you didn’t think you could Moneyball dating, Netflix’s latest film has a sporting strategy to change your mind.

The streaming service has dropped the trailer for Players, director Trish Sie’s romantic comedy following a group of friends who run “plays” to help each other meet people for casual flings. In their dating rulebook, there’s only one proviso: You can’t start a relationship from a play. Seems somewhat ethical, I guess.

When Mack (Gina Rodriguez) falls for someone she has her eye on, a war correspondent named Nick (Tom Ellis), she goes to the group to help her run a play for something bigger. Her best friend Adam (Damon Wayans Jr.) and the rest of her pals decide to help her out and create a game plan to rival their usual scenarios. But the trailer hints at something else going on closer to home.

Netfix is releasing this one on Valentine’s Day, so it’s going to be the streaming service’s big mushy romance play — and the latest addition to Netflix’s existing romantic movie lineup.

Players debuts on Netflix Feb. 14

The HP Spectre x360 14 got a refresh for CES 2024, and I got a chance to get my hands on it. And let me tell you — I can’t keep them off. So much so that I actually contemplated chucking my MacBook Pro out the window for that sweet, sweet typing experience on this irresistible HP laptop.

I thought the keyboard on the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 was blissful, but that’s nothing compared to the clackers on the Spectre x360.

In addition to HP continuing to equip its laptops with addictive keyboards, the Spectre x360 14 has updated internals, including new Intel Core Ultra processors that now have AI-focused components (i.e., the NPU).

Oh, and did I mention the keyboard?

7 ways AI benefits the HP Spectre x360 14

The HP Spectre x360 14, as I hinted at the outset, is filled with new upgrades, particularly in the realm of AI.

So what, exactly, is new with the next-generation HP favorite? Let’s start with how the Intel Core Ultra processors, now equipped with a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for running machine-learning tasks, will use AI to benefit the Spectre x360:

• Stable Diffusion, a deep-learning, text-to-image model, gets a performance boost

• Adobe Premiere Pro gets a “tremendous advantage,” according to an HP rep, while rendering AI effects

• AI apps like Superpower, a platform that records everything you do and turns it into a searchable archive via an AI assistant, will see improvements, too

• It can detect when someone is watching your screen over your shoulder — and alert you

• Instant wake is improved

• Better customization for battery life and power consumption

• Your laptop’s behavior is optimized based on the apps you run and other activities

Other notable HP Spectre x360 14 features

Aside from the uptick in AI dedication, what else does the HP Spectre x360 14 have to offer? Let’s start with the display.

The 14-inch OLED panel offers a variable refresh rate display, which means it adjusts the refresh rate depending on what you’re watching. For example, if you’re simply watching static content, the refresh rate drops to 48Hz. But if you’re diving into some light gaming, it can climb to 120Hz for a smoother experience.

HP also claims that the OLED screen, featuring high resolution and dark blacks, is IMAX enhanced, a certification that confirms that the Spectre x360 14 meets high standards when it comes to vibrancy, contrast and clarity.

Other notable upgrades include a new 9MP webcam, up from 5MP. Plus, you should expect better performance — not just because of the new processors, but due to an improved system.

And finally, the HP Spectre x360’s four-speaker system were tuned to deliver “studio-class” sound.

But it’s the keyboard that steals the show

As a laptop reviewer, I’ve never experienced such clicky keys and responsive feedback. But what really makes this laptop stand out of all the rest is its bounce-back capabilities.

The moment my fingers land and hit an actuation point, they’re already flying off to the next letter. As a keyboard snob, take it from me when I say the HP Spectre x360 14 has the best keyboard on the market.

I’m not joking when I say that I struggled to take my fingers off it.

UPDATE: Jan. 10, 2024, 5:18 p.m. EST This story has been updated to reflect that Evolve MVMT is now available to buy.

Wearables that track your steps are nothing new, but what about a wearable that tracks how you step?

At CES 2024, Evolve MVMT unveiled an ankle wearable that tracks the quality of your steps, and helps you improve your gait over time. Claiming to be the first of its kind, Evolve MVMT uses proprietary tracking technology to analyze heel strike – the act of landing hard on your heels – which is hard on your joints and can lead to certain injuries.

As someone with flat feet, this is something I’m painfully aware of, and I’m not the only one. According to 2017 study, almost 27 percent of people have fallen arches or flat fleet. Whether it’s walking on hard surfaces all the time, or wearing shock-absorbing sneakers, we’ve evolved to be bad at walking. Basically, many of us are guilty of heel striking, and even though walking is one of the most basic activities humans do, a lot of us are doing it wrong. Evolve MVMT uses a technique developed by founder and physiotherapist Luke Pickett called “light walking” to minimize heel striking and make walking more efficient.

Evolve MVMT works by doing a walking test to measure your baseline. From there, the app will give you live guidance on how to improve your steps. The idea is that over time, practicing “light walking” will activate the right muscles, and make walking more beneficial. In studies conducted at the Cleveland Clinic and Monash University, patients reportedly burned 36 percent more calories when using the Evolve MVMT technique.

If decreasing stress on your joints, improving your posture, and burning more calories sounds good to you, Evolve MVMT is available now. That said, improving your gait doesn’t come cheap — the device and accessories costs $499. But if you’ve ever had to pay for expensive orthotics or special footwear, which have to be replaced every few years, this might be a solid alternative.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians fans, the wait is over. A worthy adaptation of Rick Riordan’s beloved novels is finally hitting TV, and I, for one, could not be giddier to relive my childhood.

As is the case with all book-to-screen adaptations, Percy Jackson and the Olympians deviates occasionally from the source material. However, the main arc of the series remains the same: 12-year-old Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell) learns that he’s a demigod, the son of a human woman and a Greek god. Not long after this discovery, he undertakes a cross-country quest to recover Zeus’s stolen Master Bolt and stop a war of mythic proportions. Accompanying him are Annabeth Chase (Leah Sava Jeffries), a daughter of Athena, and Grover Underwood (Aryan Simhadri), Percy’s satyr protector.

This story will sound familiar to book fans, but the show does make a few changes along the way, adding new story beats, omitting others, and focusing on other characters beyond Percy’s narrative point of view. So what are some of the biggest changes the show makes? Do they work? And if so, what do they add to the show? Let’s dive in. (But take heed: From here on out, spoilers for the show and the novels are in full effect.)

Episode one: The Mrs. Dodds fight (and aftermath) look a little different.

Season 1 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians tackles Riordan’s The Lightning Thief, meaning it kicks off, like the book, with Percy’s fateful field trip to the Met. In the novel, math teacher Mrs. Dodds (Megan Mullally) lures Percy into the museum alone. She reveals herself to be a Fury and attempts to kill him. Luckily, Latin teacher Mr. Brunner (Glynn Turman) — later revealed to be the centaur Chiron — tosses Percy a ballpoint pen-turned-sword, and he’s able to slay Mrs. Dodds.

The show takes a different approach, moving the fight to the front steps of the Met and removing Mr. Brunner’s involvement. Instead, Mrs. Dodds lands on top of Percy and nearly finishes him off. It’s only by a stroke of luck that Percy survives, as his pen (given to him earlier) turns into his sword Riptide and impales Mrs. Dodds without Percy realizing it.

On the one hand, this change threw me for a loop, as the scene plays out extremely quickly and robs Percy of his first big monster-slaying moment. If anything, Dodds’s death here reads more like an accident! However, the fast-paced, confused framing of the incident places us deeper in Percy’s horrified mindset. His math teacher is trying to kill him — of course he’d be freaking out and not be completely aware of what’s going on. His less coordinated attack here also contrasts nicely with his slaying of the Minotaur at the end of episode one. Armed with more knowledge about who he is, Percy is able to take down another fierce beast with more control this time. It’s his first classic hero moment, something the show has built to from his initial flailing defense against Mrs. Dodds.

The fallout from Mrs. Dodds’s attack plays out a little differently in the show as well. Percy is expelled from Yancy Academy because he supposedly pushed bully Nancy Bobofit (Olivea Morton) into the Met fountain — a story Grover corroborates even though he’s supposedly Percy’s best friend! While this may seem like a betrayal at first, it was actually Grover playing the part of protector to a tee. Knowing that monsters will find Percy at Yancy, Grover realizes he has to get him away from the school as quickly as possible. We get hints of this motivation in the book, especially when Percy eavesdrops on a cryptic conversation between Mr. Brunner and Grover. Yet Grover’s choice in the show is a concrete example of him doing everything he can to keep Percy alive — even if it means he may lose his friendship. The seeming betrayal also isolates Percy further, bringing him to an even lower emotional point by the time he learns the truth about who he is.

Episode one: Sally Jackson has a bigger part to play.

Speaking of the truth about who Percy is, let’s get into how he finds out the truth in the show versus the books. The Lightning Thief sees Percy getting a crash course in very real world of Greek myth from his mother, Sally (Virginia Kull), and Grover on the ride to Camp Half-Blood. At camp, Chiron, Annabeth, and Luke (Charlie Bushnell) teach him even more, including telling him outright that he’s a half-blood.

However, in the show, a lot of these revelations fall to Sally. She’s the one who tells Percy he’s a demigod, hoping to console him about why he’s always felt different from everyone else. We also see how she’s been training Percy for his birthright his whole life. One sweet flashback scene features her telling Percy why she named him after Perseus. It’s not just because Perseus was a hero, but because of the bond he and his mother shared while cast adrift at sea. Later, we also understand just how far Sally will go to get Percy to safety. When the Minotaur attacks, Sally takes a more active role in keeping it away from her son, including distracting it with Percy’s red jacket, matador-style.

None of this is to say that Sally doesn’t get a lot to do in the books: Right from the start, we see that she’s a fiercely devoted, loving mother. She listens to Percy’s worries about being expelled from Yancy and even gives him tips on how to survive the Minotaur attack. We just get less time with her is all. In the show’s first episode (which was co-written by Riordan), that time is expanded upon somewhat. By giving Sally more of a say in telling Percy about who he is, the show also helps build their emotional connection, which in turn informs Percy’s decision to go on his quest in the first place.

Episode two: The hellhound goes missing.

The main set piece of the second episode is a camp-wide game of Capture the Flag. The game plays out the same way it does in the books, with Annabeth using Percy as bait to distract the rival team captain — and daughter of Ares — Clarisse La Rue (Dior Goodjohn). Her plan results in victory, and here’s where the show and the book diverge. In the book, the win is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a bloodthirsty hellhound, whose attempt to kill Percy is thankfully unsuccessful.

The hellhound scene is all of a page and a half long, so perhaps that’s why it simply doesn’t appear in the show. After all, Percy Jackson and the Olympians calls for the creation of several complicated on-screen beasts. If you’re going to cut one to save the brunt of visual effects for other creatures, this would be the one to choose. Still, the hellhound’s arrival marks an important change for the atmosphere at Camp Half-Blood. A hellhound on camp grounds is a signal that something is very wrong. Only a traitor in the campers’ midst could have summoned the beast, stoking an atmosphere of paranoia that culminates in Percy accepting the quest to recover Zeus’s Master Bolt. Without the hellhound, we unfortunately get less of a sense of that paranoia, or much of a hint at a certain traitor.

The absence of the hellhound also changes the sequence where Poseidon claims Percy as his son. After suffering severe wounds from the attack, Percy goes into a nearby creek on Annabeth’s orders. Just like with his injuries from Capture the Flag, his hellhound wounds heal magically thanks to the water. Poseidon chooses this moment to reveal himself as Percy’s father.

With the hellhound missing from the show, we only see the water’s healing properties working post-Capture the Flag. But between that instance and Percy’s magical control over water in his bathroom fight with Clarisse, Annabeth has gathered enough evidence to realize who Percy’s father is. Wise girl, that one! To prove her point, she shoves him back into the water, and we get the show’s rendition of the Poseidon-claiming scene. Honestly, I adore the shove — it’s so deeply in keeping with the mildly contentious start to Percy and Annabeth’s dynamic, as well as a reminder of just how young these kids are.

The only part of this scene that disappoints me is the Poseidon reveal. After the triton appears over Percy’s head, we get a disembodied Chiron voiceover telling us what that means. However, we don’t get to see his or the campers’ reactions in the moment. And given that Percy is a forbidden child of one of the Big Three gods — Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades — their reactions should be massive! For example, the book sees campers kneeling (some, like the children of Ares, do it reluctantly). I wish the show could have included something like that in order to let us sit in this moment more and understand the momentous consequences of Percy’s parentage.

Episode two: Grover learns about Sally Jackson’s fate from the Council of Cloven Elders.

A totally new subplot in episode 2 involves Grover speaking to the Council of Cloven Elders, a group made up of satyrs. He learns from them that Sally is not actually dead, a fact neither Chiron nor camp director Dionysus (Jason Mantzoukas) want Grover to tell Percy. However, Grover does so anyway, as Percy is his friend and deserves to know the truth about his mother. Knowing that Sally is alive and could be brought back from the Underworld motivates Percy to take the quest to get the Master Bolt back from Hades, lending an extra layer of drive to his epic journey.

In the book, Percy doesn’t know his mom isn’t fully dead. Still, when he realizes his quest will take him to the Underworld, he does think about what that could mean for Sally. The show just surfaces this thought even more. The addition of Grover’s involvement also helps him mend his somewhat rocky relationship with Percy, who’s understandably upset about his best friend keeping major secrets — god-tier secrets, in fact — from him.

Book-wise, we don’t learn Sally’s fate ourselves until (spoiler alert!) our valiant crew reaches the Underworld. There, Hades reveals he took Sally hostage right before she died in order to gain some leverage over Percy. You can bet we’ll get that confrontation in the show farther down the line, but for now, we know that Percy didn’t just accept his quest in order to gain glory or save the world. He accepted it to save Sally, whose relationship with Percy is the emotional core of the show’s two-episode premiere, even when she’s not on-screen.

Episode three: The selection ceremony

As Percy prepares to undertake his quest to retrieve Zeus’s Master Bolt, Chiron presents him with a selection ceremony. Here, he must choose two companions from the camps’ best and brightest. Options include Clarisse and Luke, but Percy has eyes for only one member of this formidable lineup: Annabeth. He picks her without hesitation, finally giving her the chance at the quest she so desperately craves. When telling Chiron his reasoning, he also acknowledges that she will do anything to succeed — even push him down the stairs without hesitation.

Percy’s second choice is Grover, who wasn’t even an option at the selection ceremony in the first place. Yet Percy knows he needs someone on his team he can trust completely, especially after the Oracle prophesied that Percy would be betrayed by someone who calls him a friend.

The selection ceremony is a show-only invention, but it certainly works as both a character- and world-building device. On the one hand, it gives Camp Half-Blood an even deeper sense of ritual. On the other, it also strengthens the bond between our main trio. Percy choosing Annabeth is a deep demonstration of respect, particularly after Luke told Percy about Annabeth’s desire to go on a quest. (Also a great moment for Percabeth shippers!) Elsewhere, Grover and Percy have gone through a lot in the past two episodes, with Grover getting Percy kicked out of Yancy (granted, for his own safety) and revealing that he was Percy’s satyr protector this whole time (again, for safety reasons). Any tension from these secrets is long gone, and these two best friends are ready to take on the impossible.

Episode three: Alecto offers Annabeth a deal.

Thought evil math teacher Mrs. Dodds died in episode 1? Think again! She’s a monster — a Fury, to be more exact — and monsters can’t truly ever die. Her real name is Alecto, and she and her Fury sisters are back on the hunt for Percy. They find him and his friends at a bus stop in New Jersey. Here, Alecto offers Annabeth a deal: If she lures Percy to the Furies, they’ll make sure her quest continues unimpeded. But Annabeth is having none of this. Sure, she may disagree with Percy sometimes, but she’s not going to sell him out to the Furies who killed her friend (and daughter of Zeus) Thalia! She warns Percy and Grover, and they manage to escape.

Alecto’s proposed deal is completely new to the show. It is also a scene without Percy’s perspective, marking a departure from the books, which are told strictly from his point of view. We see this broadening of perspective often with TV adaptations, as they take the opportunity of a new medium to explore other characters whose interiority we don’t always get to see in the source material. In this scene’s case, that character is Annabeth.

Annabeth’s conversation with Alecto hints at an interesting element from the books: fatal flaws. These are weaknesses demigods must reckon with, as they could lead to their tragic undoing. In Riordan’s work, Annabeth’s fatal flaw is hubris, or pride. Alecto’s bargain works to exploit that flaw, balancing Annabeth’s friendships and sense of duty against her need for glory and acknowledgment from Athena. But it looks like Annabeth isn’t ready to let her pride be her downfall just yet.

Episode three: A very different Medusa

The main set piece of the third episode is an encounter with Medusa (Jessica Parker Kennedy), she of the snake hair and stony gaze. The Lightning Thief sees our main trio stumble upon Aunty Em’s Garden Gnome Emporium, where Aunty Em, concealing her real identity as Medusa, plies them with food before trying to turn them into statues. The show changes that entirely, and in doing so, opens up some fascinating thematic questions.

In Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Annabeth realizes right away they’re in Medusa’s realm — and why wouldn’t she? She’s well-versed in Greek myth, and since her mother cursed Medusa in the first place, it makes sense she’d be familiar enough with her legend to the point of recognizing her in the wild. Medusa doesn’t keep up any Aunty Em pretenses either. She introduces herself right away and offers Percy, Annabeth, and Grover shelter from a pursuing Alecto.

Once inside, Medusa gives our heroes her side of her myth, showing us a completely different side of the character we got in the book. She likens herself to Annabeth: The two are devoted worshippers of Athena, even if they hear nothing back from the goddess. So when Poseidon told Medusa he loved her, she felt seen by a god in a way she never had with Athena. Unfortunately, Athena did see Medusa’s interaction with Poseidon. She blamed her for desecrating her temple and cursed her, even though it was all Poseidon’s doing. (Given that Percy Jackson and the Olympians is meant for a young adult audience, the show skirts around the sexual violence of the original myth. However, if you are aware of said violence, Medusa’s discussion with the children takes on an even more somber quality.)

Because of her past relationship with Poseidon, Medusa also feels a kinship with Sally Jackson. She tells Percy, “Your mother and I are like sisters, in a way. Targeted by the same monster.” Her words cause a reckoning, in more ways than one: Did Poseidon take advantage of Sally in the same way as he did with Medusa? Should Percy continue on this quest to help his father clear up his quarrel with Zeus, even after all the pain he’s caused?

This is the test Medusa poses Percy: Let her get rid of his companions so he can save Sally without worrying about the quest, or continue to serve the wrathful, unjust gods. Like Annabeth with Alecto, Percy chooses his friends and the Medusa fight ensues, ending — like it does in the books — with Medusa’s severed head shipped to Mount Olympus. Still, the ideas Medusa raises in this iteration of Riordan’s story will reverberate throughout the rest of the series. Should the demigods really be serving their parents if all they do is ignore them and mistreat others? And in becoming monster-slaying heroes, are they doomed to repeat their mothers’ and fathers’ mistakes?

Episode four: More time with Echidna

The fourth episode of Percy Jackson and the Olympians introduces us to yet another important adversary from Riordan’s books (and Greek mythology, obviously): Echidna (Suzanne Cryer), otherwise known as the Mother of Monsters. Naturally, like every other monster from Hades to Olympus, she’s after Percy Jackson.

Both the book and the show versions of Echidna’s pursuit of Percy end with a confrontation at the top of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. However, the buildup to that point varies from page to screen. In The Lightning Thief, Echidna takes the form of a tourist at the Arch, with her beloved Chimera disguised as a chihuahua.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians introduces Echidna far earlier. She meets Percy, Annabeth, and Grover on a train, then chases them all the way to the Arch. As with Medusa in episode three, this shift from the books allows for an expansion of Echidna’s character. She spends quite a bit of time talking to Percy, Annabeth, and Grover on the train. And as sinister as she is, this discussion clues us into her relationship to her darling children (aka her brood of terrifying monsters) and how she trains them to hunt. After all, she only lets Percy escape her initial clutches so the Chimera can get some practice. These changes — like most of Percy Jackson and the Olympians‘ shifts from the books so far — complement our understanding of Echidna as she appears in The Lightning Thief, while also allowing for fun twists that will surprise new and old fans alike.

Episode four: Percy Jackson and the self-sacrificing streak

Here’s a much smaller change between Riordan’s books and the show, but an important one nonetheless. In The Lightning Thief, Echidna only reveals herself to Percy after he gets separated from Grover and Annabeth at the Arch. The separation isn’t anything dramatic, just that the two of them get on a different elevator down. Notably, the two don’t know about the Echidna attack until after the fact.

With Echidna and the Chimera hunting our main trio for much longer in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the reason for that separation gets tweaked a bit in the show. Annabeth tells Grover and Percy to save themselves while she takes on the Chimera in the Arch. But at the last second, Percy shoves her to safety and locks her and Grover out of the Arch’s observation deck, all so he can face the Chimera alone.

Remember how Alecto’s offer to Annabeth in episode three hinted at pride being her fatal flaw? Here, Percy Jackson and the Olympians is hinting at Percy’s own flaw: He’s loyal to a fault. In fact, he’s so loyal he’ll risk fighting a monster — while poisoned! — in order to save his best friends. Since we don’t officially learn about fatal flaws until The Sea of Monsters, book two in Riordan’s book series, instances like this are a nice way to seed them for future seasons of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Plus, Percabeth fans get another awesome new moment to freak out about, with Percy getting Annabeth out of harm’s way. It may be a seaweed-brained move, but it’s only making this ship stronger.

Episode five: Say hi to the Fates!

In the fifth episode of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, our characters have a brush with fate — sorry, I meant a brush with the Fates. Annabeth spies three old women knitting by the Gateway Arch. One of them snips a piece of yarn with foreboding flair, meaning that a member of our main trio will die soon. The Lightning Thief features a similar scene much earlier on, where Percy sees the Fates on his way home from Yancy Academy. In that scene, the yarn snip foreshadows the loss of Sally. Here, it’s hinting at Percy and Annabeth’s disastrous trip to Waterworld, raising the stakes for the episode.

Episode five: Percy and Annabeth visit Waterworld

Speaking of Waterworld, let’s get into all the ways Percy and Annabeth’s side quest to retrieve Ares’s (Adam Copeland) shield differs from the book. The main conceit is the same: Hephaestus (Timothy Omundson) used the park as a trap to catch his wife Aphrodite in an affair with Ares. In the book, said trap involves a Tunnel of Love ride, booby-trapped Cupid’s arrows, and a livestream to Mount Olympus. In the show, only the Tunnel of Love ride remains, and it poses Percy and Annabeth with a heartbreaking choice: In order to get the shield, one of them will have to sit in an inescapable chair designed by Hephaestus. It’s as good as a death sentence, and both Percy and Annabeth know it.

Just like in St. Louis, Percy is ready to sacrifice himself in order to save Annabeth so she can continue with the quest. But even once she gets the shield, Annabeth isn’t willing to leave Percy behind, proving just how deep their friendship has become. Her attempts to tinker with the chair’s mechanism summon Hephaestus, who is so moved by Annabeth’s insistence that Percy isn’t like the other backstabbing Olympians that he releases him. Hephaestus’s appearance and the dilemma with the chair are all entirely new to the series, though they are based in Greek mythology. However, they all serve the episode’s larger theme of how horrible the familial relationships between the Olympians are — and how people like Percy could break away from the gods’ violent, self-destructive patterns.

Episode five: Bonding time with Grover and Ares

Where was Grover during all this drama? Buddying up with the Greek god of war, that’s what. In a twist from the books, Grover doesn’t actually go to Waterworld. Instead, Ares keeps him as collateral. A nature-loving satyr might seem like the antithesis of all that Ares stands for, but Grover wins him over by citing some of his “deep cuts,” like the Turbot War and the Lobster War. (In classic satyr fashion, both are bloodless conflicts over various fishing disputes.)

Grover uses Ares’s goodwill to pry for information about Camp Half-Blood’s visit to Mount Olympus on the winter solstice, the day the Master Bolt was stolen. As he does, he uncovers some information about Ares’s annoyance with Athena. Based on what he tells Percy and Annabeth at the end of the episode, it seems like this conversation clued him into who really took the Master Bolt. But did he really solve the mystery? Or is this another red herring?

This story will be updated weekly as each new episode drops.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is now streaming on Disney+, with new episodes weekly.

The year 2024 could be the dawn of a new Space Age, full of landing attempts on the moon and successive rocket launches.

It may seem doubtful that it could top 2023: The super-sensitive infrared James Webb Space Telescope enriched astronomers’ understanding of other worlds and the early universe, and NASA flew home its first asteroid chunks. SpaceX’s Starship is priming to become the most powerful spaceworthy rocket. And India joined the ranks of nations that have successfully landed a robotic spacecraft on the moon.

But 2024 promises another banner year in space. Much of North America will get to experience a total solar eclipse in the spring: Another such opportunity for the United States won’t come for two decades. And several more robotic moon landings are in the pipeline.

UPDATE: Jan. 10, 2024, 1:31 p.m. EST This calendar has been edited to reflect a delay for NASA’s Artemis II crewed moon mission, pushed back to 2025, according to an agency announcement Jan. 9. It also includes the tentative February timeframe for SpaceX’s third Starship test flight.

Here’s a round-up of space missions and cosmic events just around the bend.

Astrobotic’s moon landing attempt: January 2024

An Astrobotic Technologies lander will blast off atop a new rocket in January on a quest to be the first commercial company to land on the moon.

The launch, expected no earlier than Jan. 8, will be the maiden voyage for United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. If the spaceflight succeeds, the company will try to land its Peregrine spacecraft on Feb. 23.

NASA tapped Astrobotic as one of several vendors for its Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative to explore the moon over the next few years. The program has recruited the private sector to help deliver instruments and send back crucial data. Astrobotic is set to be the first of the CLPS vendors to embark on the 250,000-mile trek from Earth to the moon.

Japan’s moon landing attempt: January 2024

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The Japanese space agency JAXA will try to put its own lander on the lunar surface early this year.

The SLIM mission, short for Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon, is expected to touch down near Shioli crater on the moon’s near side on Jan. 20. Its goal is to demonstrate so-called “pinpoint landing” with an accuracy of less than 100 yards, a level of precision unprecedented for moon landings.

JAXA announced that the mission had achieved a major milestone on Christmas, successfully inserting into an oval-shaped orbit around the lunar north and south poles.

Intuitive Machines’ moon landing attempt: February 2024

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A private Houston company is nipping at the heels of Astrobotic’s first lunar lander mission.

Intuitive Machines recently announced its IM-1 mission is targeting a mid-February launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral. Assuming a successful spaceflight, it will attempt to touch down its Nova-C lander near the lunar south pole about a week later. Like Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines is part of NASA’s CLPS initiative, and the two companies are neck and neck in a race to achieve the first successful private moon landing.

The space agency’s payloads onboard the lander will focus on testing communication, navigation, and precision landing technologies, as well as gather data about rocket plume and lunar surface interactions.

SpaceX Starship orbital spaceflight: February 2024

SpaceX attempted two orbital flights of its skyscraping rocket and spacecraft, known collectively as Starship, in 2023. During both attempts, Starship exploded before completing the space journey.

But billionaire Elon Musk’s company is getting closer. It made significant progress over the past two tests — in particular demonstrating a new method of separating the booster from the spacecraft in the air, known as “hot-staging.”

These tests are crucial for NASA, which will depend on Starship and its human landing system to get astronauts on the moon in the next few years. If successful, it’ll mean Musk is one small step closer to realizing his personal dream of building a city on Mars.

As part of SpaceX’s contract with NASA, the company will need to show a successful uncrewed test flight to the moon before Artemis III, the return of astronauts to the lunar surface, which could come as early as 2026.

Total solar eclipse for North America: April 2024

A rare total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada on April 8, the likes of which won’t return until Aug. 23, 2044.

A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the sun. People can’t normally see the sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona. During a total solar eclipse, the sky will darken as if it were dusk, allowing people to remove their protective eclipse glasses for a few minutes.

This phenomenon can confuse wildlife, causing nocturnal critters to wake up and other animals to head off to bed.

Boeing Starliner’s first crewed flight: April 2024

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will take astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time, becoming the second commercial carrier capable of transporting NASA crew to the outpost.

No longer serviced by its own shuttle program, the U.S. space agency relied on Russian rockets after 2011 to get astronauts into space. That period ended in 2020 when SpaceX largely took over that responsibility, but NASA has been without any backup, which wasn’t the original plan.

Boeing encountered many technical problems with the spacecraft, finally docking an uncrewed capsule at the station in 2022. But more issues arose with the spacecraft, causing the first crewed flight to slip. NASA will send two astronaut test pilots — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams – to the station on Starliner no earlier than April.

Peak of Lyrids meteor shower: April 21-22, 2024

Meteor showers happen every year or at regular intervals as Earth passes through the dusty wake of previous comets. Each time a comet zips through the inner solar system, the sun boils off some of its surface, leaving behind a trail of debris. When the planet intersects with the old comet detritus, the result is a spectacular show, with sometimes up to hundreds of meteors visible per hour. The Lyrids, best viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, will be active from April 14 to 30.

China’s return to the moon: January — June 2024

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China plans to return to the moon with another uncrewed robotic mission this year.

The mission dubbed Chang’e 6 will send a probe to the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon. It’s expected to collect rock samples from different regions and periods. To enhance communications between the moon’s far side and Earth, China plans to launch its new relay satellite Queqiao-2, or Magpie Bridge-2, according to China’s State Council Information Office.

It’s unclear when exactly the mission will launch, as the military-controlled space program is often secretive. The Chinese government has previously said the mission would happen in the first half of the year.

The spacecraft will carry instruments from France, Italy, Pakistan, and the European Space Agency. The United States has prohibited NASA by law from collaborating with China or participating in scientific exchanges with the national program.

Peak of Eta Aquariids meteor shower: May 4-5, 2024

The Eta Aquariids meteor shower, best viewed from the southern tropics, produces strong “persistent trains” of shooting stars. The celestial event will be active from April 19 to May 28.

Peak of Perseids meteor shower: Aug. 11-12, 2024

The popular Perseids, made up of remnants of comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, is a spectacular show for the Northern Hemisphere. The meteor shower is active from July 14 to Sept. 1.

NASA’s Europa orbiter launch: October 2024

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One of Jupiter’s moons could hold double the water that is in Earth’s oceans. That’s why experts are eager to send the robotic Clipper spacecraft to explore Europa up close.

Scientists think Europa could perhaps have conditions capable of supporting life. Clipper, set to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral in October, will determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below. Instruments will also help scientists investigate its geology.

The spacecraft, expected to arrive at Jupiter in 2030, will make nearly 50 flybys of the water world, coming within 16 miles of the surface at its closest approach.

DART follow-up asteroid mission: October 2024

In 2022, NASA deliberately crashed a spacecraft into a harmless asteroid to practice thwarting a space rock, should a hazardous one ever be on a collision course with Earth.

The European Space Agency is providing a follow-up to that Double Asteroid Redirection Test, better known as DART. The Hera mission’s spacecraft will launch no earlier than October and rendezvous with Dimorphos, the slammed asteroid, in 2026.

Performing a sort of post-op investigation, the spacecraft will measure the asteroid’s mass and take a close look at the crater. The data should tie up the loose ends of the experiment, perhaps making DART a repeatable planetary defense technique in the future.

NASA’s water-mining mission: November 2024

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Hitching a ride on an Astrobotic Griffin lander, NASA’s rover will set out on a mission to drill for ice at the lunar south pole.

Scientists believe ice is buried in permanently shadowed craters in the southern region. The plan is for VIPER — short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover — to land on Mons Mouton in late 2024. Over 100 Earth days, it will explore roughly 12 miles and venture into craters where it will drill and measure frozen water.

Delivery of NASA moon rover and orbiter: 2024

Intuitive Machines has the added responsibility of sending a new NASA rover to the south pole of the moon later in the year. This mission, referred to as IM-2 or PRIME-1, is to land and test a drill and mass spectrometer, a device that identifies the kinds of particles in a substance.

As currently planned, another spacecraft, NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer, will also hitch a ride on this flight. The small satellite will orbit the moon to map out the locations of lunar water. The mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.

Firefly’s moon landing attempt: 2024

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In yet another CLPS initiative mission, a private U.S. company will carry 10 NASA instruments to the moon.

The space agency tapped Firefly Aerospace, a Cedar Park, Texas, company, to take its payloads to Mare Crisium on the moon’s near side. The mission, using Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander, is expected to happen in 2024.

The NASA cargo is designed to test soil sample collection, navigation systems, radiation-tolerant computing, and moon dust mitigation.

Peak of Geminids meteor shower: Dec. 13-14, 2024

Widely regarded as the best meteor shower of the year, the Geminids can be seen from most any part of the world, especially the Northern Hemisphere. The Geminids are denser meteors, allowing stargazers to see them as low as 29 miles above ground before the cosmic dust burns up. The shower will be active between Nov. 19 and Dec. 24.

This year a full moon will obscure the number of meteors people can see. If skies are clear, though, you could glimpse bright meteors by facing a direction with the moon at your back, according to the American Meteor Society.

Other 2024 space mission events

Sept. 5, 2024: The European Space Agency’s BepiColombo mission is expected to make its fourth Mercury flyby.

Dec. 2, 2024: ESA’s BepiColombo mission should make its fifth Mercury flyby.

Dec. 13, 2024: NASA’s Lucy mission will make its second Earth flyby.

Slack knows you’ve got a lot going on at work. There are just so many channels, messages, and threads. A new feature is aimed at making things easier to navigate.

The Verge reported Slack is set to add a feature called “Catch Up” that’ll let you swipe through channels and DMs, either marking it as read or leaving it unread. Catch Up is reportedly slated to drop only for the mobile app and is aimed at helping workers parse through the massive amounts of messages at any given time on Slack.

Slack envisions Catch Up as a tool to help people start or resume their workday. The company noticed that folks often use the mobile app as more of a prep station for the real work.

“Before they get to their desk in the morning, or when they’re away from their desk, or maybe at lunch — a 30-second session, super fast, just trying to catch up,” Akshay Bakshi, a product management director at Slack, told The Verge. “Then the stuff they want to get back to at their desktop, they leave it for later.”

Slack has been playing around with changes lately, including a complete redesign of the app that wasn’t particularly well received. It has, of course, added some AI functionality like every other company on planet Earth.

But hopefully, Catch Up will prove useful for folks. Oftentimes it feels like all the Slack channels and messages distract from real work instead of helping you get it done. Maybe this new feature can be a fix.