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When I was in Japan earlier this month, we visited the village of Kurokawa Onsen, which has over 25 Japanese hot-spring bathhouses you can walk to. It was an incredible experience.You can read all about the spas at Kurokawa Onsen with a Google search, so I will instead tell you about the fantastic cat I met in the village. - Read the rest The post Kurokawa Onsen has 25 hot springs, but I'd go back just for this cat appeared first on Boing Boing.

Local Wikipedia shows you Wikipedia articles about things that are a half-hour or less walk from the address you enter in the search field.I entered Golden, Colorado, where I lived in my early years, and read an article about the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, which "contains over 800 quilts dating back to the 19th century." - Read the rest The post Local Wikipedia shows you articles about everything within a half-hour walk appeared first on Boing Boing.

I promise I would never take time out of my day to write about something as mundane as a football team changing its logo unless it was whipping up a frenzy. Most NFL logos feature cool animals in profile, but the Falcons have taken theirs a step further. - Read the rest The post The Bird Reich: The new Atlanta Falcons logo is uncomfortably familiar appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: With VoiceType, you can speak 9 times faster than you type. Get a lifetime subscription for $24.99 (MSRP $154).When efficiency is the goal, you want to speed up the most laborious part of AI prompting: typing. With VoiceType AI, you can dictate your words to the AI-powered software with 99.75% accuracy. - Read the rest The post Don't let typing slow down your AI prompting - switch to voice dictation for $25 for life appeared first on Boing Boing.

So. BioWare, the legendary RPG studio that created the Mass Effect series, was shut down just yesterday, taking with it an in-development Mass Effect 5. In my coverage of the initial event, I lamented that we'd never see the project again thanks to its unceremonious death. - Read the rest The post Mass Effect 5 trailer leaks the day after studio closes appeared first on Boing Boing.

Greetings, all. I'll be your psychopomp this evening, the keeper of the crypt, the mistress of the dank, the lightning rod of this sterling dungeon, if you will. I ask you now to picture something horrid, something ghastly, but all too real...Imagine: sometime in the future, October in the city of New Orleans. - Read the rest The post New Orleans artistic haunted house heralds horrors of the Deep South appeared first on Boing Boing.

When I was in Japan earlier this month, one of my travel companions introduced me to the wonderful world of Umaibo, a puffed corn snack that you can buy in all convenience stores throughout Japan.I wasn't expecting them to be so much fun to eat, but after trying one, I could not resist having at least one or two every day on the trip. - Read the rest The post I couldn't stop eating these 16-yen corn puff sticks in Japan appeared first on Boing Boing.

The most famous person who hid in an attic in the Netherlands from the Nazis during World War II is Anne Frank, whose diary became a posthumous literary sensation.But there was another Jewish author, also hiding in a Netherlands attic, who also found a way to create literary art while in concealment. - Read the rest The post The Underwater Cabaret, a magazine made by a poet hiding from Nazis appeared first on Boing Boing.

The Uncensored Library is what you might call gamizdat: forbidden literature hidden inside a game. A Minecraft server (or downloadable map) housing a massive and beautifully-designed neoclassical library, it's packed with books, essays and other writings banned in authoritarian regimes. - Read the rest The post Uncensored Library hides forbidden literature inside Minecraft appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 with faster solution loads and full Visual Studio 2022 compatibility for a one-time $29.97 (reg. $499.99).Microsoft's professional developer tools usually come with a recurring subscription, and the charges continue for as long as you keep writing code. - Read the rest The post Visual Studio Professional 2026 drops to $30 and opens your 2022 projects as is appeared first on Boing Boing.

Playdate (previously) is a delightful handheld console with a 1-bit display (for an original Mac-like aesthetic) and a peculiar hand-crank control in addition to the regular controls. Unlike other game machines, it comes with "seasons" of curated games, encouraging people to share their experiences, and season three is upon us. - Read the rest The post Playdate Season 3 launches with an adorable frogs and abominable dungeons appeared first on Boing Boing.

London's Victorian Era Exhibition in 1897 featured a wide variety of modern innovations, the weirdest of which was a lamppost that doubled as a vending machine, dispensing coffee, cocoa, milk, tea, and a concoction called "fluid beef." Called the Pluto Lamp, this monstrous hybrid was installed throughout London. - Read the rest The post In 1897, London had lampposts that sold coffee, tea, and "fluid beef" appeared first on Boing Boing.

Talk about a game that keeps on giving. Cyberpunk 2077 fans once again have cause to celebrate - or, if your game is heavily modded, cause to curse CD Projekt RED for their apparent refusal to keep their hands off their excellent sci-fi RPG. - Read the rest The post Cyberpunk 2077 adds dual-wielding and more in third "final update" appeared first on Boing Boing.

If you need any more proof that private equity ruins everything it touches, look no further than the curious case of EA. Electronic Arts has long had a reputation for being the greediest game publisher around, going to great pains to monetize its games to the fullest extent possible and touting a list of killed studios Ted Bundy would be jealous of. - Read the rest The post EA shuts down BioWare, the studio behind Dragon Age and Mass Effect appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Learn 12 languages with AI speaking practice and no penalties for mistakes with a Promova Premium Plan subscription on sale for a one-time $79.99 (MSRP $299.99).Most language apps run on streaks and push notifications, and Duolingo's owl has turned that guilt into a meme. - Read the rest The post Practice ordering in Spanish with an AI before you try it on a waiter in Madrid - Promova is a flat $79.99 appeared first on Boing Boing.

When I was in Fukuoka, Japan, last week, I stopped by Rakusuien garden, asmall strolling garden with a koi pond, a waterfall, a picturesque bridge, and meticulously tended plants. It also has a tea house, but on the day we went, there was no tea ceremony. - Read the rest The post A box of free acorns at a Fukuoka garden put me in a great mood appeared first on Boing Boing.

An underground monorail, non-existent bizarrely skinny killer whales, directions to extinct attractions, guide maps that bear no resemblance to reality. AI-generated Disney theme park guide books are flooding the market, filled with hallucinated slop that would drive a trusting tourist insane with misinformation. - Read the rest The post AI-written Disney guidebooks send tourists to rides that don't exist appeared first on Boing Boing.

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH a Simpsonian Donald Trump brings his friend Musky the Clown to meet his boss, Mr. Putin-"Back in 2012 Bolling-noting that the comic was more widely read than ever yet generating less money than ever-started a subscription membership called The Inner Hive. - Read the rest The post Tom the Dancing Bug: A Simpsonian look at Trump, Putin, and Musk! appeared first on Boing Boing.

I have little faith in polls, and I hate prediction markets, but I can't help peeking at PressAudit's 2026 midterm tracker.The founder, Paul Renshaw, created this midterms page that shows prediction market odds from Polymarket and Kalshi on who is likely to control Congress. - Read the rest The post I hate prediction markets, but I keep peeking at this midterm tracker appeared first on Boing Boing.

One of my favorite publishers of beautiful books, Beehive Books, has a Kickstarter for Death Is a Room: Illustrated Gothic Tales by Women Writers.It has nine Gothic horror stories by women writers, including Virginia Woolf, Kate Chopin, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Susan Glaspell. - Read the rest The post A book of Gothic horror stories designed as a nine-room boarding house appeared first on Boing Boing.

This is George Lucas' vision. Forget the sequel trilogy or The Acolyte somehow managing to be one of the most expensive TV shows ever made and still ending up mid: Secondhand Movie Co.'s recreation of the original Star Wars with nothing but a metric ton of cardboard and a dream is where it's at. - Read the rest The post Star Wars on a ten-dollar budget appeared first on Boing Boing.

If vibe coding is absolutely going to stick around, I'd rather have it used for goofy video game mods rather than, say, critical infrastructure. I categorically do not want Claude anywhere near the government or cybersecurity... but maybe, just maybe, things like ViceBounce are fine. - Read the rest The post Vice City mod makes an entire GTA game bounce to your favorite song appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Voibe is a private AI voice dictation app for Mac and Windows, and a lifetime subscription is $79.99 (MSRP $199).Typing is slow. Not slow like dial-up, where the wait was obvious, but slow in a way that eats five or ten minutes from every email, every Slack thread, and every prompt you feed into an AI chatbot, and you never notice because your fingers have been doing the work your whole life. - Read the rest The post You talk faster than you type, and this app finally does something about it appeared first on Boing Boing.

Claude maker Anthropic burned $9B feeding Claude and took a $72B noncash accounting charge in the first half of 2026. Get ready for an IPO; they hope to value the business in the low trillions.Anthropic is getting ready to bring normal folks into the action thus far reserved for strategic partners, venture and private equity investors: handing them money to set on fire. - Read the rest The post Anthropic lost $80.7 billion in six months and would now like your money appeared first on Boing Boing.

A Sacramento man claims ICE abducted his wife. The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office issued an arrest warrant for the husband after her burnt remains were found in the woods.Gurinder Singh Gill says ICE took his wife, Jasmine Gill, who had stepped outside. - Read the rest The post His wife vanished. He said ICE took her. Detectives found something else appeared first on Boing Boing.

There are easier ways to watch a football game uninterrupted than taping your wife to a chair.64-year-old Terry Ward is facing an abduction charge after finding a creative yet abusive way to get some time alone; he taped his wife to a chair in the basement. - Read the rest The post Terry Ward allegedly wanted 45 uninterrupted minutes of football very, very badly appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: File your 2025 federal and state returns with H&R Block Tax Software Deluxe + State for $29.99 (MSRP $59.99).October is a strange time to think about taxes, unless your 2025 return still isn't filed. H&R Block Tax Software Deluxe + State 2025 walks you through federal and state returns with plain step-by-step questions, and it's on sale for $29.99 (MSRP $59.99). - Read the rest The post Still haven't filed your 2025 taxes? This $30 software asks the questions for you appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Get Windows 11 Pro plus a 10-hour course showing you how to use it for $14.97 (reg. $237).A new operating system usually comes with only a welcome screen and a few tooltips. This bundle pairs a lifetime license for Microsoft Windows 11 Pro with The Essential Windows 11 Pro Course, 150 lessons that break down how to get the most from your new OS. - Read the rest The post Get Windows 11 Pro plus a useful bonus in this $15 bundle appeared first on Boing Boing.

A man accused of stealing a flamingo was convicted on two counts of animal cruelty crime yesterday in Las Vegas. Mitchell Fairbarn, 34, "appeared emotionless" in court after jurors deliberated for several hours. In closing arguments, prosecutors made a clear distinction between the two charges: "one stems from what happened in the habitat while the second is for what happened in the hotel." - Read the rest The post Flamingo kidnapper convicted in Vegas appeared first on Boing Boing.

Albertans overwhelmingly rejected moves toward independence yesterday, voting 3 to 1 in favor of staying part of Canada. With 79% of the ballots counted, 76% of voters in the western province chose to remain with 24% wanting a formal referendum."We are a solid country that's united from coast to coast to coast," said Alberta's former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk, leading the Forever Canadian campaign against separation, at a campaign event. - Read the rest The post Alberta votes to stay in Canada appeared first on Boing Boing.

When I was in Nagasaki earlier this month, I visited the Atomic Bomb Museum there. One of the displays, which showed the damage caused by the bomb that the U.S. dropped on the city, had long audio narration in Japanese only. - Read the rest The post I wore Timekettle's translating earbuds around Kyushu, where few people speak English appeared first on Boing Boing.

Minecraft, the world's most successful video game and now a blockbuster movie series, will soon bring its blocky voxelated world into reality. Minecraft World, first revealed in March, will open in 2027 at Chessington World of Adventures, just outside London, and will include a 70-room themed hotel. - Read the rest The post First Minecraft hotel to open with London theme park in 2027 appeared first on Boing Boing.

In 2013, Politizane explained America's untenable and growing wealth gap in what would become an all-time classic of data visualization. Thirteen years on, they're back with a four-part update. It makes for grim viewing: the wealth gap has become runaway income inequality, with the world's first trillionaire in the mix, a fast-sinking middle class, and a tax system that offers elites a myriad of legal dodges. - Read the rest The post Data visualization exposes just how bad income inequality has grown appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows as a one-time $14.97 purchase (reg. $229).Most people use Office for the same handful of jobs, like a resume, a household budget, and the occasional slideshow for work. So paying $99.99 a year for Microsoft 365 is already expensive. - Read the rest The post Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for $14.97, and that's the whole bill appeared first on Boing Boing.

This walnut-sized ivory carving of a skeleton attempting to lift a boulder was created by Gyokushun sometime in the 19th century. The British Museum holds it, and Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks donated it after using his large inheritance to buy thousands of objects and give them to the museum. - Read the rest The post A tiny 19th-century ivory skeleton tries to lift a boulder appeared first on Boing Boing.

In 1986, the New Republic held a reader competition to submit the most boring headline ever. The idea for the contest was inspired by a New York Times column from April of that year, headlined, "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative." The New Republic said of the headline, "Each word taken alone is sleep-inducing. - Read the rest The post In 1986, a magazine asked readers to find the most boring headline ever printed appeared first on Boing Boing.

I'm on the constant lookout for the tiniest umbrella available.On my recent trip to Japan, I found the smallest one yet at the fantastic Hands store in Fukuoka.It weighs just 65 grams and measures 8 inches long and about 1.5 inches in diameter when collapsed. - Read the rest The post This 65-gram umbrella from Japan fits in my front pocket appeared first on Boing Boing.

The remote Pacific island of Nikumaroro, Kiribati, has been a candidate for the aviator's final resting place since she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared en route to Howland Island, 400 miles to the north, on July 2, 1937. A recent satellite image stoked new interest as it appeared to depict an angular, plane-sized object beached inside the lagoon. - Read the rest The post "Wreckage" of Amelia Earhart plane probably just trees appeared first on Boing Boing.

Granted, I'm not the world's biggest Resident Evil fan. The only one I've played in full was Resident Evil 7, a grimy Texas Chainsaw Massacre-inspired ordeal that's about as close to disconnected from the series' convoluted overarching plot as it gets. - Read the rest The post Resident Evil fan film is just as spooky as the games appeared first on Boing Boing.

The one upside to the recent explosion of online scams (another symptom of the AI boom - thanks, Altman) has been the scambaiting movement growing to match it. There is nothing more cathartic than watching someone take an unsuspecting scammer for a ride, wasting their time, energy and occasionally AI tokens. - Read the rest The post Atomic Shrimp, the godfather of scambaiting, is back appeared first on Boing Boing.

YouTuber Husk IRL is in kind of a weird spot. Not everyone can say they've more or less invented a wildly popular subgenre of online content - in this case, messing with AI agents to expose their many and obvious shortcomings. - Read the rest The post Husk IRL's AI therapist test is a warning appeared first on Boing Boing.

No, I don't mean the kind of 'sunset' games like Concord or Highguard get. Rather, the big glowy thing in the sky. Who among us hasn't stopped every once in a while to take in the probably-toxic Los Santos sunset?Fruitless and hubris-fueled as humanity's attempts to digitally recreate the splendor of the natural world around us may be, we have come pretty close. - Read the rest The post The very best sunsets in gaming appeared first on Boing Boing.

Researchers tasked six top AI assistants with getting a 350 train-ticket refund after it was too late. The LLMs operated as normal, but were sandboxed so that all outgoing comms were intercepted and answered by the research team. Here's the prompt:

Tiny Brutalism is a $5 game for Windows, MacOS and Linux that brings utilitarian mass to the relaxing sandbox genre. Whether you're designing your next sandcastle or a Marcel Breuer deathmatch arena, it's got you covered.

TL;DR:Turn your car's wired CarPlay or Android Auto into a wireless connection with this mini adapter, now $34.99 (reg. $59).Plenty of newer cars come with CarPlay or Android Auto, but many of them still require a USB cable every time you want to connect your phone. - Read the rest The post Modernize your car with this wireless phone adapter, only $35 right now appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office Pro 2019 and Windows 11 Pro together for a one-time $18.97 (reg. $428).Microsoft sells Windows 11 Pro on its own for $199.99, and that's before you pay for a single Office app. This bundle puts Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 and Windows 11 Pro together for $18.97 (reg. - Read the rest The post Under $20: Windows 11 Pro and Microsoft Office with no subscription appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Own Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows with a one-time payment of $27.97 (reg. $219.99).Microsoft 365 Personal costs $99.99 a year, and that bill keeps coming whether you open Excel twice a week or twice a year. Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows skips the renewal entirely, and it's on sale for $27.97 (reg. - Read the rest The post Microsoft Office is under $30, right now appeared first on Boing Boing.

TL;DR: Convert your existing content, PDFs, images, and URLs to speech with this lifetime subscription to the AnyToSpeech Hobby Plan for just $39.99 (reg. $249).Creating content across multiple formats takes time, but repurposing work you've already produced can make the process more efficient. - Read the rest The post Turn any of your content into a podcast in minutes with this $40 lifetime purchase appeared first on Boing Boing.

On Friday, a new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City opened: Monarch's Journey, featuring the work of cartoonist Peter Kuper.From a museum statement: