Saturday 11th May 2024

The return of Cambodia's food lost during the Khmer Rouge regime

A Cambodian chef is one of a few women looking to revive her culture's nearly forgotten Khmer recipes; her recent cookbook, Saoy, was named 'the best cookbook in the world'.

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The Worst Star Wars Prequel Became a Joke in The Best Possible Way

From Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs to the mockumentary short Troops, the original Star Wars trilogy essentially spawned a spoof empire. Hardware Wars, a $7,000 short fronted by characters named Ham Salad and Fluke Starbucker, was even released just 18 months after the Force first awakened. So it’s no surprise that when The Phantom Menace debuted in May 1999, it provided parodists with more ammunition than ever before.

Of course, Episode I was always going to struggle to live with the weight of expectation surrounding its release. But thanks to an incoherent yet juvenile narrative, lumpen performances, and one of the most vilified comic creations of all time, its lampoonings were far more at the merciless end of the spectrum than the affectionate. Everyone from British sketch comedians to pop’s premier parodist were determined to display their disdain, and ultimately disappointment, over a film promoted as an all-time cinematic spectacle. Viewed collectively, these parodies reveal the Star Wars community’s complicated obsession with a movie that’s aged over time like a fine French cheese: bolder, richer, and stinkier with every year.

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30 Years Later, Star Trek Dropped a Sneaky but Massive Easter Egg

What was the most action-packed year in Star Trek’s future history? Thanks to some deep-cut Easter eggs in the latest episode of Discovery, the answer might surprise you. As Discovery approaches the end of its fifth and final season, the show continues to expand our knowledge of the Breen, while also sending its eponymous starship on a zig-zag quest around the galaxy to solve a puzzle that explains the very nature of life itself.

Along the way, Discovery is retreading a bit of Star Trek history the crew skipped over thanks to their time-traveling shenanigans at the end of Season 2. Now, in the episode “Erigah,” Discovery has reminded us that several major Star Trek events all happened in the same year. For us, it was 1994, but in Star Trek it was 2371. Spoilers ahead.

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7 of the Most Popular AI Chatbots, Ranked From Worst to Best

From ChatGPT to Gemini to Copilot, which AI assistant chatbot is actually worth a monthly subscription?

When we last looked at the utility of AI assistants, it seemed like Microsoft’s Bing and Google’s Bard were the two chatbots actively going after everyday consumers, but multiple app and feature launches later, the market is a lot more crowded.

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Nothing's $150 Ear ANC Earbuds Are My Favorite Anti-AirPods

Nothing’s personalized sound profiles really sing thanks to a new ceramic driver that’s smaller, more powerful, and a heck of a lot more clear.

If you put Nothing’s last-gen Ear 2 next to its brand-new Ear wireless earbuds, you’d be hard-pressed to spot the differences. The case looks the same, save for a slight tweak in branding, the buds sport the same semi-transparent plastic that put Nothing on the map, and the colors are also a continuation of Nothing’s original design language (there’s black and there’s white).

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Asus’ New ROG Ally X Gaming Handheld Will Have a Much Bigger Battery

It's not an ROG Ally 2, but it is a notable upgrade over Asus’ first windows-based handheld.

It’s been a little less than a year since Asus released its Windows-based ROG Ally handheld, but there’s already a new sheriff in town.

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Xbox Is Reportedly Getting The Ultimate Franchise That Could Make Or Break Game Pass

If gaming’s biggest franchise can’t budge Game Pass numbers, it’s hard to imagine what will.

Xbox could launch gaming’s biggest franchise on its monthly subscription service Game Pass, in the ultimate Hail Mary-type gambit to finally drive up subscriber numbers.

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21 Years Later, Homeworld 3 Brings the Pivotal Strategy Series Back to Form

In the decaying husk of an ancient monolith, I formed my defensive line: painstakingly setting up turrets, frigates, and fighters in formations. The Mothership had to be protected at all costs. But, somehow, I’d missed a single hole in the ancient iron, a hole that the enemy fleet took advantage of, leaving me to scramble defenses at my now-exposed Mothership in the middle of repairs. Homeworld has never been better.

It’s been 21 years since the release of Homeworld 2. That’s a long amount of time in any regard, but in the world of video games, it might as well be a century with how fast technology and innovation move. While Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak filled the gap in 2016, the first two games are generally regarded as some of the finest real-time strategy games ever created, especially with their moody and ambitious themes. Homeworld 3 carries on that legacy to near-perfection, crafting an impeccable campaign that stands among the genre’s best, bolstered by a unique multiplayer experience that brings something fresh. It’s been a long time coming, but Homeworld 3 is everything you could want from a modern take on the series, with just a few growing pains.

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The Sun Is Experiencing a 'Potentially Historic' Eruption — With Possible Serious Consequences for Earth

Charged particles are spilling out of the Sun — and there may be some serious consequences for Earth.

These high-energy showers will first arrive on Friday, and continue until Sunday. At least seven expulsions, called coronal mass ejections, are expected to come our way then. As the particles strike our magnetic field and tickle the upper portions of our atmosphere, they produce what’s known as a geomagnetic storm. The torrent the Sun released on Thursday prompted the first severe geomagnetic storm watch from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in two decades.

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58 Years Later, 'Doctor Who's Most Mysterious Villain is Getting a Big Upgrade

Doctor Who is starting fresh, but that doesn’t mean that the show has moved on from the past completely. In fact, there are countless references to the early days of Doctor Who in the rebooted season’s first two episodes — including an entire episode set in 1963, the same year Doctor Who itself began airing.

But one of the biggest throwbacks of the new season is someone we saw only a few months ago — The Toymaker, the dastardly gamemaster portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris in the 60th anniversary special “The Giggle,” the first episode to feature Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor. But just who is the Toymaker, and why does he still matter even though he hasn’t appeared again?

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