#culture

Venmo is changing a long-criticized design choice by prompting new users to decide how visible their transactions should be, rather than burying privacy decisions later in setup.

Disney has put Marvel’s long-promised ‘VisionQuest’ series on the calendar for October 14, with Paul Bettany returning and James Spader reprising Ultron.

Google is expanding Gemini’s role on Android through a new Gemini Intelligence suite that can automate tasks across apps, improve speech-to-text, and power browser actions on premium devices.

As headlines spread about a hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship, conspiracy networks and wellness influencers moved quickly to recycle familiar pandemic-era misinformation.

At-home vaginal microbiome tests are gaining traction among women seeking answers about pain, infections, fertility and overall wellness, even as experts question how much the results can really tell them.

A cruise-ship hantavirus response is a reminder that the digital tools built for Covid-scale exposure tracking are poorly matched to small outbreaks that demand exact, person-by-person tracing.

A yearlong drone pilot over New York City is less a victory lap for urban aviation than a hard test of whether repeated flights can deliver real value in one of the world’s busiest airspaces.

A proposed FCC approach to stopping illegal spam calls is drawing criticism from privacy advocates, who argue that new identity checks and broad risk flags could harm lawful users as well as spammers.

A new book by mathematician Richard Elwes explores why people are drawn to numbers that exceed everyday intuition, and what that says about human thought.

A documented H5N1 case involving a Los Angeles veterinary worker and an infected cat adds a new transmission route to the bird flu risk map, even though the exposed person never developed symptoms.

Nintendo says it will increase the U.S. price of the Switch 2 by $50 on Sept. 1, adding the console maker to a growing list of electronics companies coping with higher memory and storage costs.

Child safety experts and UK authorities are warning schools to rethink publishing identifiable student photos online after criminals used AI-generated explicit images in blackmail attempts.

A discounted Amazon preorder for the Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Chaos Rising Booster Display Box highlights the increasingly retail-driven economics of collecting before a set even launches.

The 2026 Tony nominations were led by new musical adaptations "Schmigadoon!" and "The Lost Boys," while major revivals also posted strong totals.

Researchers report evidence for a newly defined condition, atimiaphobia, describing an intense fear of losing honor or being labeled shameless.

The Moon enters a waning gibbous phase on May 2, but remains effectively fully illuminated in the night sky, with another full moon expected later in the month.

The early social network has been relaunched as an iOS app that removes feeds, ads, algorithms, and even remote friend requests.

Astronomy watchers get a crowded month in 2026, starting with the Flower Moon on May 1 and ending with a second full moon on May 31, a calendar quirk that turns this month into a two-full-moon event.

Amazon has cut the price of a Magic: The Gathering Secrets of Strixhaven Play Booster Box, underscoring how major retailers and specialty marketplaces are competing for collectors.

Sony says the widely discussed PlayStation license verification is a one-time online check, not a recurring 30-day DRM system, but the episode exposed deeper anxiety over digital ownership.