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Never use harsh cleaning products to clean your smartphone — do this instead
Smartphones pick up significant dirt and bacteria through daily use, with studies suggesting the average handset is around 10 times dirtier than a toilet seat, making regular cleaning important. However, harsh products such as Windex, compressed air, hydrogen peroxide or bleach should be avoided, as they can strip the oleophobic coating on the screen, permanently…
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Melbourne’s rave and nightclub scene rocked as well-known party boy photographer charged with rape after four-year police investigation
A well-known Melbourne photographer with a prominent presence in the city’s rave and nightclub scene has been charged with rape following a four-year police investigation. Calum Sim, 26, appeared before Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday accused of raping a woman in Hawthorn in July 2022, when he was 22. The case has reportedly shocked members…
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Fusion power startups find new partners in the defense world
Fusion power startups, which have traditionally relied on climate tech investment to fund their pursuit of grid electricity, are increasingly forging partnerships with the defence industry as venture funding for climate technology has slowed. This marks a return to the sector’s origins, as fusion research began decades ago with physicists seeking peaceful applications of thermonuclear…
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‘Food divorce’ trend among couples could drive them apart, experts warn
A social media trend dubbed “food divorce” – where couples deliberately cook, order and eat their meals separately – is gaining traction, but experts warn it can weaken relationships despite solving practical problems like clashing schedules or dietary needs. Nutritionists say the real loss is not the shared food itself but the daily opportunity for…
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Burning Man at 40: the once anarchic desert festival faces a midlife crisis
Burning Man, the Nevada desert arts festival, has just marked its 40th anniversary while showing clear signs of demographic strain: attendance is ageing rapidly, with wealthy tech figures increasingly prominent, and the proportion of younger participants shrinking sharply since the event resumed after its pandemic hiatus. The shift raises questions about whether the festival can…
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Ex-police chief hired under Mamdani abruptly quit high-profile role amid allegations he ripped wife’s fingernails out and tried to buy $5m pardon from Trump
Jamiel Altaheri, the former police chief of Hamtramck, Michigan – the first Muslim-majority city in the US – has resigned after just one day in a new, high-profile role overseeing hospital police for New York City Health and Hospitals under Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The 43-year-old, who spent 20 years with the NYPD before leading the…
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Vivienne Medrano reveals her plan for Helluva Boss / Hazbin Hotel crossovers
Vivienne Medrano, creator of Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel, has revealed her plans for crossovers between the two adult animated musical series ahead of the release of Helluva Boss’s third season on Prime Video. Speaking to Polygon, Medrano said the first half of the season, launching on 14 October, would feature only visual nods to…
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‘He would have been the center of everything’: the art exhibition imagining if Emmett Till lived
A new exhibition at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Photography, “If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground,” imagines the life the 14-year-old might have led had he not been lynched in Mississippi in 1955. Co-curated by Harvard professor Sarah Elizabeth Lewis and Reverend Wheeler Parker Jr, Till’s cousin and the last surviving witness to his…
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Your car is selling your data
Cars have become a major source of personal data collection, with automakers gathering information such as driving speed, night-time driving habits and location and often selling it to data brokers without customers realising. This came to light most prominently with General Motors, which was hit with an unprecedented five-year ban by the US Federal Trade…
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Emily St John Mandel: ‘When half the electorate disagrees on basic reality, how do you come back from that?’
Novelist Emily St John Mandel, whose 2014 bestseller Station Eleven appeared to eerily foreshadow the Covid pandemic, has spoken about her new seventh novel, Exit Party, which explores alternative Americas and the “collapse of consensual reality” in modern politics. In an interview marking the book’s release, she reflects on chance, identity and the unsettling cultural…