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Cannabis and CBD for Insomnia: What Does Science Say Today?
Millions of Americans struggle with sleep. Many believe cannabis or CBD helps, but clinical evidence remains unconvincing. Neither is FDA-approved for treating insomnia.
Q3: Omnicom’s Media Business Is Growing, But Is It Agent-Proof?
If AI agents can plan and buy media, who needs a holding company? Good question. It came up during Omnicom's Q3 earnings on Thursday.
Omnicom lands Coca-Cola’s North American media business, as WPP retains its global remit
The beverage giant's US and Canada media move to Omnicom as the holdco's CEO John Wren made the case it would build a bespoke team, not a Pepsico holdover.
Join VENU's Live Investor Webinar: Redefining Live Entertainment Through Premium Venues and a Capital-Efficient Growth Strategy
Learn how VENU is developing a nationwide portfolio of multi-seasonal, multi-configuration, omni-content premium amphitheaters in underserved, high-growth markets
Can James Carville Please Just Be Quietly Wrong Somewhere Else?
The omnipresent consultant-cum-tantrum-thrower has long outlived whatever relevance he once had, but cable producers, podcast hosts, and Democratic campaigns haven’t got the memo.
Clinton Policy Institute outlines maternal health solutions for states
Health Care Clinton Policy Institute outlines maternal health solutions for states It’s the first major report from the project, which launched in July to foster nonpartisan policies to improve the wellbeing of children and families. Stephanie Akin 10:00 AM, Oct 15, 2026 Dr. Jacob Lenz performs an ultrasound at the Oklahoma State University obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Tulsa, Okla., on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mary Conlon) The Clinton Policy Institute is calling on states to lead efforts to curb maternal mortality, releasing a 61-page playbook Thursday highlighting successful policies that could be adopted nationwide. The playbook is the first major report from the Clinton Foundation’s project, which launched in July to foster nonpartisan state and local policies to improve the wellbeing of children and families. “Eighty percent of maternal deaths are preventable, and we know what works,” CPI Chair Jennifer Klein said. “The solutions are well established and evidence-based.” CPI’s mission is to convene political leaders from both parties, policy experts, state officials and other stakeholders to explore solutions to longstanding problems. “What we aim to do is bring together people who are deeply engaged, but may not be meeting together in the same room,” Klein said, noting that state policymakers might not always be aware of what their peers are doing in other states. In May, CPI brought together lawmakers from Virginia and Pennsylvania, two of the 14 states that have passed bipartisan maternal health “Momnibus” packages modeled after a comprehensive federal proposal that has repeatedly stalled, called the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act. Other participants included Dr. Mona Hanna, founder of Rx Kids, a Michigan program that provides direct cash allowances to pregnant women and infants. Pennsylvania Rep. Morgan Cephas, who was part of the group, said she learned about funding opportunities she hadn’t come across during her decade in the Legislature. “As legislators we can issue grants, we can pass legislation, we can move policy, but we want to ensure that funding opportunities and programs that are tackling this issue are sustainable,” Cephas said. The playbook outlines broad areas where state policy can make a difference, such as allowing Medicaid to pay for doulas and remote patient monitoring, and using federal and private grant funding to pay for home visits to pregnant and postpartum women. For each category, it highlights innovative programs that can serve as models, with examples of specific actions state lawmakers and governors’ offices can take. Those include the Rx Kids model, which gets funding from the Michigan state budget; Pennsylvania’s Healthy Moms Vibrant Futures strategic action plan, emphasizing equity-centered maternal care, regional collaboration, Medicaid innovation, and workforce development that was launched this year with more than 160 stakeholders; and Kansas’s Bridging Plan, which reserves three slots and provides at least $26,000 in loan forgiveness for obstetric residents who commit to practicing in rural or underserved communities for 36 months. CPI emphasizes that its work is nonpartisan. Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council under former President Joe Biden, acknowledged that CPI also takes positions on abortion, Medicaid funding, and the need to address the economic and social drivers of poor health, which might rankle some conservatives. “We don’t shy away from talking about those things that we think are part and parcel of the maternal health crisis in this country,” Klein said. “That said, there are so many policies that are both evidence-based and have been tried successfully in both red and blue states, and people can see that they can have real impact.” She pointed to the federal option to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months that was made available during the Biden administration and has since been adopted by every state but Arkansas. Other initiatives embraced across party lines include Medicaid coverage for midwives and doulas, as well as “bundled” payments for prenatal and postpartum care. That alternative payment model, pioneered in states such as Arkansas, Colorado and Tennessee, incentivizes fixed fees to cover all healthcare services associated with pregnancy and childbirth. Advocates say it promotes more coordination among caregivers, discourages unnecessary interventions, and expands postpartum support. In addition to maternal health, the initiative is also focused on addressing family economic security, children’s well-being, and democracy and civic resilience.
Kotaro Uchikoshi establishes new studio CRASH KEYS
Zero Escape and AI: The Somnium Files creator Kotaro Uchikoshi has announced the establishment of CRASH KEYS, a new game studio headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.
60 Second Lectures Fall 2026 Roundup Video
This fall’s 60-Second Lectures included talks ranging from quantum materials to U.S. healthcare.
Integrative Health Meets Clinical Science: OmniActive Launches Fenavari; Names Dr. Taz Bhatia, MD, As Women's Health Partner
/PRNewswire/ -- OmniActive Health Technologies (OmniActive), a global leader in the consumer wellness industry through innovative science and natural...
Digital detox how-to; artificial intelligence in nursing; when to see your doctor about GI issues; plus other stories with Vanderbilt Health sources
Prevention interviewed Beth Malow, MD, Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics in the Vanderbilt Sleep Division, about a study that found insomnia is linked with a 26% higher risk of stroke and 28% higher odds of hospital admission. William Schaffner, MD, Professor of Health Policy, was quoted by Parade about the most common COVID symptoms people are experiencing right now, HealthLeaders interviewed Deonna Taylor, PhD, ACMP, RN, Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Adult Ambulatory Nursing, about how artificial intelligence will affect nursing practice. The Wall Street Journal interviewed Joseph Schlesinger, MD, Professor of Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine, for a story about ICU alarms keeping patients from getting sleep and creating alarm fatigue for nurses. Cathy Eng, MD, Executive Director of the Young Adult Cancers Program was interviewed by the The New York Times about GI symptoms that patients should not ignore. Heather Jackson, PhD, APRN, Administrative Director, Advanced Practice, was interviewed by Fox17 about nurse practitioner roles becoming the fastest growing job in the next 10 years. Prevention interviewed Jonah Garry, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, for stories about how sleep impacts your heart health and how to do a digital detox.
Nvidia RTX Spark for $2,999.99: HP leak reveals RTX Spark laptop pricing ahead of launch
HP is gearing up to launch its new OmniBook Ultra 16 and OmniBook X 14 laptops with Nvidia's new RTX Spark super chip. Ahead of launch, the two models have briefly appeared on the company's US store, revealing a higher starting price than anticipated.
TV Tinsel: 'NCIS' franchise explores new territory in Big Apple
The long arm of naval law is stretching into the Big Apple as the new “NCIS: New York” premieres on CBS Tuesday and streams on Paramount+ Wednesday. The omnipresent “NCIS”
I’ve tested TVs and tracked Prime Day deals for 11 years. Here are the 10 best early sales
Our tech reviewer and TV tester has picked his favorite TV, soundbar and streaming device sales that arrived early for this year’s October Prime Day.
Security Camera Health: How to Keep Cameras Performing
Improve security camera health with ongoing assessments that identify image issues, guide maintenance, and help keep video usable.
HP’s MacBook Neo competitor is $699 with an OLED display and plenty of catches
The PC market was caught flat-footed by Apple’s MacBook Neo launch earlier this year, and while that laptop’s aggressive pricing...
HP’s answer to the MacBook Neo is thinner, lighter, and comes with OLED
8GB of RAM and some familiar colors.
Tamara Jordan, D.O., MPH, Joins Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute as a Sleep Medicine Physician
September 11, 2026 – Sleep medicine physician Tamara Jordan, D.O., MPH has joined Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute. Her clinical interests include sleep apnea, insomnia, narcolepsy and sleep-related movement disorders. She evaluates and treats sleep disorders that can affect a patient’s overall health, daytime function and quality of life. Dr. Jordan earned her medical degree from […]
Insomnia linked to higher risk of dementia, suicide, stroke and other major health issues: Study
Insomnia may be linked to an increased risk of stroke, dementia and several mental health conditions, a new study finds.
OMNIBUS X, a toxic proposal for health and biodiversity. MEPs should not vote for it: ECVC
Omnibus X is a legislative package which, under the usual pretext of simplification to streamline the pesticide approval system, weakens the precautionary principle at the heart of European pesticide regulation.
Our bodies react to microplastics in a way scientists never expected - Futura-Sciences
When Microplastics Go Straight to the Lungs Microplastics: the word alone might send your mind racing through images of floating trash islands or bottles bobbing in rivers. It’s now a scientific fact that microplastics are omnipresent in our environment. But while their presence is undeniable, much remains to be understood—especially...
Insomniac lets players turn off the dreaded "fart trail" from Marvel's Wolverine
Insomniac lets players turn off the dreaded "fart trail" from Marvel's Wolverine
Marvel's Wolverine Dev Adds Option to Turn Off Controversial Scent Trails and More in New Update
Insomniac Games has published a new Marvel's Wolverine update that adds an option to turn off those controversial scent trails for collectibles.
The 28 Most Expensive and Must-Have Cards in Reality Fracture
Reality Fracture is bringing the heat as the last in-universe set of 2027, and with the set comes a ton of new art styles and booster fun treatments, plus some big-money cards you'll want to be on the lookout for.
Google expands free AI video generation in Google Vids
Google expands Google Vids: create free AI videos with Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash, 1080p HD, avatars & SynthID watermark.
Wolverine developer Insomniac denies using generative AI after fans spot strange restroom sign
Insomniac denies using generative AI on Marvel's Wolverine after fans spotted a strange bathroom sign, blaming a "UV map bug" instead.
Insomniac Says Marvel's Wolverine Uses No Generative AI After Fans Spot Strange Signs in-Game
Insomniac Games has stepped in to confirm Marvel's Wolverine contains no generative AI after a few bizarre in-game signs raised eyebrows on social media.
The Big Holes in Wearable Heart Rate Variability And Readiness Scores
On September 9th, Apple announced it was revamping its Apple Watch Health Sensing System, rolling out a Readiness score (0 to 10), and increasing the frequency of heart rate variability (HRV) outputs 24-fold. This can be viewed as upping its competition with various other consumer wearable sensors. These “readiness scores” as a composite of multiple metrics, with heart rate variability (HRV) being front and center for most. The majority of Americans are now using wearable sensors, which equates to well over 100 million adults. HRV and Readiness scores are increasingly being marketed as a measurement of autonomic nervous system health, a digital marker for future disease, a clock for biological age, and a holistic metric to promote healthspan and even longevity. (Apple also introduced a new longevity tab and “Health Age”.) None of this has been proven. In this edition of Ground Truths I am going to review what we know about heart rate variability and readiness scores. Heart Rate Variability HRV is the variation in normal heart cycle timing. The variability of the heart rate, the barely perceptible millisecond changes in time between consecutive heart beats (see R-R intervals in the Figure below, left panel), is due to interplay between the sympathetic and parasympathetic (vagal nerve) inputs. Distinct from heart rate, individuals with the same heart rate can have very different HRVs. It is a rough reflection of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, inadequate to say whether a person’s ANS function is abnormal. For more than three decades, heart rate variability (HRV) has been measured and several studies have found an association of low HRV and clinical outcomes, particularly a link with higher all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. There have also been less well established links of low HRV to risk of early cognitive impairment, dementia, mental illness, Type 2 diabetes and substance abuse. An important reminder is that HRV is a surrogate marker without any established cause-and-effect relationship. If you increase your HRV, that doesn’t mean it will improve health outcomes. In fact, there is no hard evidence for that. All that work linking to health outcomes was done with electrocardiogram (ECG) derived HRV. Now, in the era of consumer wearables, this is getting assessed differently, by optical pulse (yes, the lights you see) plethysmography (PPG) or what is called pulse rate variability (PRV). They are not the same, as shown below (right panel) and only concordant when the delay between the ECG and pulse is kept constant, which basically means at rest. I should mention there’s also what I will call MPV, a mattress mechanical movement sensor, a derived heart rate variability, that companies like Eight Sleep use, even further away from directly measuring HRV. HRV has not one uniform measurement but many different types of quantification, such as RMSSD, the magnitude of difference between successive R-R intervals of normal sinus beats (N-N) or SDNN, the standard deviation of NN intervals, both in milliseconds. SDNN is one of the so-called frequency domain HRVs (others are LF, HF, LF/HF). Different wearable sensors use different metics; Apple has relied on SDNN and nearly all of the others use RMSSD, which is generally considered the more accurate metric. There’s also the different length of time measured, such as for a matter of minutes, all day, or an overnight’s sleep. Short measurements are especially problematic since they don’t capture enough of respiratory modulation and other factors that influence HRV. Share Ground Truths How well does HRV correlate with PRV? There are very limited studies, especially independently done. One that is commonly cited was conducted by Air Force researchers in only 13 healthy adults assessing Oura ring 3 and 4, Whoop 4.0, and Garmin Fenix 6 and showed a correlation coefficient of 0.88 to 0.97 and a mean absolute percentage error from 6 to 10%. The correlation is not a perfect 1.0, but there’s at least a fairly high level of correlation. HRV is supposed to increase during the night due to takeover of the parasympathetic nervous system, and higher during deep sleep. A recent example of my 1 week, all day “HRV,” and one during sleep is shown below. As you can see, the N of 1 data are inconsistent for the same days from different sensors (Oura, AppleWatch, Fitbit Air, and Eight Sleep) by patterns, absolute numbers, and comparison with prior days and weeks. The largest study in over 8 million Fitbit users (the old version, not Google Fitbit Air, introduced in May 2026) gives you a sense of the effect of age, sex, and the 2 different main HRV (here PRV) metrics, with RMSSD on the left and SDRR (=SDNN) on the right below. That study, from data collected in 2018, is a major outlier, since all the more recent ones are tiny with respect to sample size. Many of the companies have not had independent evaluation of their HRV, such as Eight Sleep, but have published a low standard error on their website. There are some other published studies on the correlation between HRV and PRV, but they are all small and only in healthy adults. A scoping review emphasized the lack of study in underrepresented individuals, including the aged, people of color (which affects the PPG signal), and individuals who are underweight or obese. Add the typical adult age 60 plus with one or more chronic diseases. For example, one study in over 900 adults found poor correlation of HRV and PRV, non-uniformly underestimated across many chronic diseases (cardiovascular, endocrine, neurological, respiratory, and others), concluding PRV is “an invalid surrogate for HRV.” A recent systematic review of 43 studies comparing HRV and PRV found reasonable pooled absolute standardized error (HRV as gold standard) but only 10 of the studies provided quantitative synthesis in ideal conditions. Their main conclusion was similarly cautious: “PPG-derived HRV [PRV] should not be regarded as universally interchangeable with ECG-derived HRV across all devices, populations, and recording contexts.” Factors Affecting HRV and PRV That gets me to the long list of factors that affect HRV (and PRV) besides the device, the type of measurement (RMSSD, SDNN or others), the person’s signal, the sensor site, the duration of data capture, if weighting by sleep stage is used, how artifact is processed and corrected. And this list is not complete!: Oura puts out data from their community of users (who input data) on what affects their overnight HRV. The factors currently provided are: no alcohol (increase 8%), melatonin (increase 2%, float tank (increase 2%), wine (decrease 4%), and party (decrease 14%) in overnight HRV. Must be some big parties! Subscribe What is a PRV measurement good for? It has been falsely characterized as an index of “autonomic balance” and a specific indicator of stress. A 2018 review of the studies available for HRV and its relationship to stress, not using any of the current wearables, found that stress can lower HRV. But so can many other factors. The non-specificity of the signal, indexed to the table above, is striking. Evidence from a UK Biobank study of over 46,000 participants with actual HRV looked at genetically predicted HRV, a genetic risk score, that failed to show the expected HRV-mortality link, indicating that _HRV is likely not causa_l, but rather a reflection of person’s physiologic state. A review of consumer wearable HRV data from 5 longitudinal studies showed that nighttime PRV was not associated with perceived stress, and surprisingly higher HRV, in the largest cohort (N=717 participants), was correlated with higher stress. An Oura ring cohort of 525 first-year college students found a link between overnight PRV and perceived stress, but that was also seen with resting heart rate, sleep, and respiratory rate. Several very small studies have examined the relationship of HRV and athletic injuries or guiding training with mixed, and predominantly negative results. HRV biofeedback training with paced breathing had no significant effect on reducing stress or raising HRV, as demonstrated with sham controlled trials. When HRV for multiple days showed a decline in conjunction with body temperature, the Oura ring published data for prediction of Covid. The WHOOP company sponsored an observational study, published in 2026, of 30,000 users for 72 weeks, without a control group, that reported reduced alcohol intake (5.8 % points) by self-report. That doesn’t tell us much, and particularly about the merits of HRV for behavioral change. If you use the same device and conditions as longitudinal trends for multiple (at least 2-3) weeks that may be the one way to get something useful from the measurements. Data for overnight sleep with minimal motion and using RMSSD is the best proxy for real HRV. The reason to look at trends rather than any given night is that it more likely represents something, even though you won’t know with certainty what the “it” is. Keep in mind there are no data, no peer-reviewed evidence, to show that HRV fluctuation in-person has any correlation with health outcomes. Share Readiness Scores These are proprietary scores that integrate different metrics for each of the wearables: no algorithms have been disclosed. They are unvalidated against health outcomes. In a review of 14 composite health scores of readiness and recovery, HRV contributed 86% to the scores, followed by reading heart rate (79%), physical activity and sleep duration (both at 71%). That review noted the substantial variability in measurement protools and lack of standardization. Sleep staging is notoriously inconsistent and inaccurate by these sensors, which adds further to the HRV uncertainties for what the scores, which use sleep stage data, mean. Only resting heart rate has been shown consistently across devices to be extremely accurate. I’ve made a Table to summarize what we know about which metrics are included, the scores, any peer-reviewed studies that compared the readiness score with health outcomes, and the corresponding (if any, NA-not available) citation. You will note that some companies do not use the term “readiness," such as WHOOP for recovery, and Garmin, which has 2 different scores, one of which is Body Battery. Eight Sleep uses the term “Fitness Score.” They all include HRV; Apple includes a new metric they call “Recovery HRV” which among other components uses 7-days of sleep, but it is unclear what this means or how it is differentiated from other scores (there are clearly no data for outcomes). We have no knowledge of how the different components are weighted or whether any of these scores are better than resting heart rate, HRV alone, physical activity, or any other single metric. Since none of these are standardized, they are not interchangeable, so if you get a 90 for Oura that has no relationship to a 90 on a Google Fitbit Air. Notably, the company can update its algorithm for readiness score at any point without notification to device users. Without any useful evidence of actionability for these scores or established relationship with health outcomes, it is hard to make a case for their value. At the Apple recent announcement they showed their Readiness score (0-10) on the watch (Figure below) but there are no published data on this score, not even on their website. It’s available only on their new Watch Series 12 or Ultra 4 [of course, ;-)]. That exemplifies the problems with these scores, lack of data and evidence for being meaningful to promote health. Perhaps the best study (which isn’t saying much) is the WHOOP Recovery for golfer performance, because it did correlate with an objective outcome, even though there was no control group and the authors were all from the company. Among the 389 pro golfers, an absolute 10-per cent point increase in Recovery score was associated with about 0.5 fewer strokes per round. But that’s hardly a health outcome! WHOOP is also conducting a study in over 2,700 runners to see if their recovery score will be linked to less injuries and improved performance, but that is not yet published and has no control group or randomization. Putting This in Context For two decades I’ve been enthusiastic about the potential for digital health and particularly wearable biosensors. Over the years, we’ve seen some great progress for their ability to promote physical activity and accurately detect atrial fibrillation (the first FDA cleared deep learning AI for consumers). That work was the subject of rigorous research. But there are holes in the data and evidence for other metrics. One notable one is the “VO2 max” story that I wrote about earlier this year. At that time many subscribers asked me to cover heart rate variability, which I finally got to here. When I dived into the research and publication for HRV and readiness scores, I expected to find at least some that were of high quality and demonstrated their utility by linkage to health outcomes. To my surprise, I found none. The wearable sensor measurements for HRV (PRV) are, for the most part, accurate, but that validation work has only been done in small studies of healthy adults and does not take into account the long list of factors, from the device, software side, and the user side, that affect HRV measurements. Moreover, this metric chiefly relies on optical sensing and, as we have learned for heart rate PPG sensing, may be less accurate in people of color. Keep in mind that all of the health outcome association evidence comes from ECG-derived HRV; none are from wearable sensor data. I will repeat the key point: there's no peer-reviewed evidence to show that in-person HRV fluctuation—or efforts to raise your HRV— has any correlation with health outcomes. For those of you who look at your HRV on awakening, or even 2+ week trends of it being low, I hope this context helps to relieve any anxiety. Yes, low HRV (not PRV) has been shown to increase risk of some diseases as summarized above. But efforts to raise your HRV—a surrogate metric— has not been established for improving any health outcomes. HRV does not have any evidence of causality (the genetic evidence actually goes against this possibility). In this summary, I have not included data for other wearable sensors such as Polar, Samsung, Withings, Suunto, Amazfit, Coros, Ultrahuman, or additional mattress sensors. These are beyond my first-hand experience, and as far as I know from my in-depth review none have any peer-reviewed published data that differ from the 6 sensors I’ve reviewed here. From the points I’ve gone over above, we’re not ready for readiness scores. Besides being proprietary, they are predominantly based on metrics that have their own issues. It’s compounding the problem, like building a house without a solid foundation that has never undergone a rigorous inspection, and then selling it. Like I mentioned for PRV, you can look at trends over weeks rather than any single day, to get a handle, but even that may not be helpful. There’s simply no evidence that these scores meaningfully relate to health outcomes. I’d emphasize they might, but that requires doing prospective or randomized studies to prove it. None exist. There’s great promise for HRV/PRV utility_. For example**,**_ Prof Maiken Nedergaard, who discovered the brain glymphatics that are essential in eliminating metabolic waste products from the brain during sleep, has posited that HRV could be a non-invasive marker for neuromodulator oscillations, brain-body regulatory circuits, and brain clearance. That would be extremely useful, but like everything else on HRV and readiness scores it requires solid research and validation. The lay media isn’t helping much to get the story straight. Earlier this year The Economist published a piece entitled “The most useful indicator of your overall health” which ordained HRV as an “accumulated stress score.” That’s akin to the false assertion about VO2max: “V02 max is the singular most powerful marker for longevity.” As I’ve summarized here, that is not established. The fact is that so many things can lower HRV, including physical exercise (especially an intense workout), reduced sleep quality, stress, the list above, no less the device, signal, and software. Whatever fluctuations observed have not been correlated with any health outcome. Sadly, “datamaxxers” are widely using HRV and readiness scores that have never been validated to mean anything. We already know that for some people using the sensors for sleep metrics, it can induce “orthosomnia,” an obsession to get high sleep quality, with associated high levels of anxiety. In an experiment done by a company to promote sleep quality for its employees, “For those employees who did use the trackers, many reported feeling perfectly rested until their tracker told them they had had a terrible night. Others were told that they had slept like a baby when they had actually been lying awake worrying about the quality of their sleep. “ The same problem can result from preoccupation with HRV or readiness scores, with anxiety that would lead to further reduction in both. It you are using a wearable like >100 million American adults, it’s OK to look at these data, but contextualized with the major caveats reviewed here. If you are one to require evidence that HRV or readiness scores are linked to health outcomes, you may not even want to look. The companies make it hard to turn them off! Let me end with the companies that make and sell wearables. Apple’s doubling down on HRV (24-fold more reporting and heart rate very 5 seconds) and introduction of a Readiness score tells us that consumers have bought into these metrics and they are joining the club. However, all of this is occurring with a backdrop of tens millions of users, claims about the data that are not backed up by adequate evidence, marketing way out in front of whatever limited data exists, and not being transparent about their readiness score algorithms. The companies can well afford to do the research that is needed to connect these metrics with health outcomes show, once and for all, that increasing HRV or using readiness scores promotes our health. If they believed and invested in the products they are selling, we’d not be in this position of not knowing. That’s essentially where we are with HRV and readiness scores. Perhaps someday this will change and we’ll have good reason to embrace them. NB: I wrote this post. No AI. I have no conflicts of interest with any of its content. Loading... Ground Truths has 215,000 subscribers from every US state and 214 countries. There are over 300,000 followers of Ground Truths so more than 90,000 folks who can easily convert to be free subscribers. Your subscription to these free essays and podcasts makes my work in putting them together worthwhile. If you’re not a subscriber, please join! If you found this interesting PLEASE share it! Share Ground Truths The proceeds from all voluntary paid subscriptions go to support our summer internship program. It enabled us to accept and support a record number of 62 summer interns that joined us in 2026! These are high school, college and medical students selected from thousands of applicants. We couldn’t do this expanded program without the funds coming in through Ground Truths. Thank you!
Insomniac Confirms Wolverine Doesn't Contain AI-Generated Assets After A Weird-Looking Sign Goes Viral
A funky-looking bathroom sign is the result of an in-game glitch and is not AI slop
Wolverine’s Motorcycle Section Is Going Viral For The Wrong Reasons
Insomniac’s latest scales back the open-world traversal of Spider-Man, and in some ways feels less involving than its predecessor
Will Netflix’s Latest Horror Film Save Its Summer? And Introducing a New Data Source...
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) All month, I’ve been polling you, my readers, on how we think the summer’s biggest blockbusters will do when they eventually land on streaming, and I wanted to share the results. First up, how readers think The Odyssey will perform when it comes to Peacock... People are pretty bullish that The Odyssey will smash it for Peacock. I don’t know that it will have as much rewatchability as Wicked did for kids, but we’ll see. It is now Universal’s highest-grossing film of all time. One note: almost half of Christopher Nolan’s films weren’t available for streaming the week The Odyssey came to theaters, including some of his biggest films like Inception, Dunkirk, Tenet, Oppenheimer and Insomnia. If you did want to watch the others, Prime Video had Memento and The Dark Knight trilogy, HBO Max only had The Dark Knight trilogy (even though Warner Bros. produced most of Nolan’s films), Hulu had The Prestige and Interstellar, and Paramount+ had Interstellar. So you needed at least two streaming subscriptions to catch the rest. Warner Bros. whiffed right here. I know they have long term licensing deals, but they should have tried to get as many Nolan films on HBO Max for launch as possible. Here are the results for Spider-Man: Brand New Day: The audience is a bit more mixed on this one, with everyone agreeing Spider-Man will swing to a big opening, but not necessarily elite or best all time. On to this week’s issue. Netflix continues searching for a hit straight-to-streaming summer film and Lioness and Ted Lasso allow me to look at the difference between a “hit” and a ‘hit for them”. All that, plus new YA/teen melodramas on Prime Video and Netflix, the House of the Dragon finale, USA Network claims a big opening, more big NFL ratings, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. But we start with a fun new data announcement. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of August 3rd to August 9th, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe A New Data Source: Reelgood’s Data on Content Libraries Here’s a fun new treat for you. Reelgood—an online service and app that lets users track where shows or films are streaming—is providing data every month for the Streaming Ratings Report on the size of each streamer’s catalogue, along with the new shows and films for each streamer. Yay! Previously, I had pulled “new shows on streamers premiering on the first of the month”: While I liked that data cut, it was a big wonky since it didn’t show all of the new shows or movies that came to a streamer each month. Instead, I would have preferred something like this from Reelgood’s annual report: And now we have it! I’m going to feature Reelgood’s data monthly, showing both total catalogue size and new shows and films appearing on the charts. That’s going to make these two cool new charts. First, here’s the size of various streamers’ film catalogues… (By the way, Reelgood offered to make the charts for me, but I like doing that task by hand to understand the data better.) They also provided data back to last year. Here’s the number of films timeline: And here are the new films on each streamer for the month prior to Aug: As I get used to this data, I plan to keep tinkering with how I display it, but I’m excited to feature it monthly. Today, I’m sharing the film charts; next issue, I’m going to feature TV shows by streamer. Now, in full disclosure, Reelgood is a sponsor of this little-newsletter-that-could. But in my constant quest to figure out what streamer various shows and films are on, I was already a Reelgood user before this sponsorship. I go to their website all the time, and their data is very accurate on where shows are (or have been). Plus, I’ve been sharing their weekly top ten lists for years now, pre-sponsorship. For me, this is a great win-win, since I get to amplify a service I love, and I get a cool new data source to play with. Now, normally folks don’t usually mention their sponsors directly, but as I wrote before, as I start featuring ads in my newsletter, I plan to be extremely open about who is sponsoring my writing so you can trust what I write. Television - Two Big Returning Shows Look Set to Take Over The Charts One key question when it comes to judging streaming shows is whether a show is a “hit” or a “hit for them”. To be clear, the former means a show that’s one of the top shows on streaming, no questions asked. The latter means a show is one of the biggest, for a given streamer. That distinction makes a big difference! It’s really good to be one of the biggest shows on a streamer; it’s much better to be the biggest on streaming, despite the size of a streamer. Because, as we’ve seen now, nearly every streamer—while lacking the number of subscribers or usage of Netflix—can make hit TV shows: Paramount released Landman, whose first and second seasons were among the top two TV shows the year they came out. HBO Max’s The Pitt’s second season is the biggest show of the year so far. Love Island USA was the top show in 2025 for Peacock. And, crucially for today’s discussion: Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy back in 2023, Ted Lasso was actually the top streaming show of the year according to Nielsen! So even Apple TV (formerly +) can make hit shows. It just doesn’t make them that often. And looking at the Nielsen charts this week, we have two prime candidates for this discussion: That’s right: Ted Lasso returned to Apple TV for its fourth season. Did it return in all its expected glory? Sure, though right now it’s still just a “hit for Apple TV”, but we’ll see how long it lasts on the charts. Its ten episodes are coming out weekly. (Smart choice, Apple!) Ted Lasso started out strong, actually making the Nielsen charts the week before new episodes dropped, which is a rare feat. (Shows like Stranger Things or Bridgerton have pulled that off. That’s terrific company to join!) On Nielsen, it opened to 14.4 million hours in its first week, and 16.6 million the week of 10-Aug. Here’s how that compares to previous seasons: Apple put out that this is their biggest TV launch through two days ever, and looking at the chart and Apple TV’s viewership history, I’d believe it. Here’s Apple’s top shows for season two and beyond: Other data tells a (mostly) similar story. Ted Lasso made Samba TV and it has elite IMDb scores, an insane 8.7 on 465K reviews. The only outlier is Luminate, where the latest season only had 7.4 million hours, and no other seasons made the top ten. As you’ll see below, that’s well below some other solid, but not spectacular shows like Sterling Point, Ride or Die or Furious. I’d be surprised if Ted Lasso isn’t bigger than those other shows, but it’s fine for different data sources to occasionally disagree. And while it’s sucky to bring this up, given that Warner Bros. produced this show, I do wonder how the streaming wars may have been different if Ted Lasso landed on HBO Max initially instead of Apple. I don’t think one show can make or break a streamer, but given HBO’s brand, it could have helped bring people to that streamer much earlier in its lifespan. (Though yeah, I don’t love calling out executives for passing on hit shows, since that’s just the nature of the job. Even the absolute best execs will pass on lots of successful shows. The key is not greenlighting the under-performers/misses.) The other show I’m thinking about in the “hit or hit for them” category is Lioness from Paramount+. Like Ted Lasso, its first season missed the charts, but it’s grown its audience since then. Here’s how season three opened: We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… How Lioness did on streaming... Two new melodramas for Netflix and Prime Video... Whether Netflix’s latest horror film saved its summer... Hulu’s Furious and Prime Video’s Ride or Die continuing their strong runs... The latest high profile showrunner to flop on streaming... All the flops, bombs and misses... And a whole lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Next week, we’ve got a double issue—since the week of 17-Aug had very few notable new shows or films—so I’ll look at HBO’s Lanterns, Prime Video’s Reacher, Netflix’s Tires, Outer Banks (which posted up huge numbers four years ago), an Aussie romance, and another baseball event (that didn’t resonate). And a bunch of movies like the latest dramedy from an Adam Sandler daughter, Don’t Say Good Luck, Camp Rock 3 on Disney Channel and Disney+, Michael on Starz, and more. Later this month, we’ve got a ton of shows and films to analyze! Movies will be the big story, featuring a box office bomb (Supergirl on HBO Max) and an “underperformer” (The Mandalorian and Grogu on Disney+) contending with a bunch of star-studded straight-to-streaming films like Netflix’s The Whisper Man (Adam Scott, Michelle Monaghan and De Niro!), Mayday on Apple TV+ (Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh!), The Runner (Gal Gadot) and The Last Sunrise (Eva Longoria and Maia Reficco) on Prime Video. Plus, a ton of TV shows have sophomore seasons coming out. Will The Gentleman put up big numbers on Netflix or suffer from a sophomore slump? Leanne and Beauty in Black on Netflix seem small, but they both might be bigger than you think. Hulu has a bunch of shows: a new season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (the first after all the controversy last year) and the second season of Chad Powers (from Peyton Manning’s production company and starring Glen Powell). This one flopped last year; can it score a touchdown this year? Same goes for FX’s Adults, which I didn’t track last year; will it hit this year? Peacock’s The Office spinoff, The Paper and Apple TV’s Dark Matter also return for second seasons. And Netflix has more Untold specials featuring Vince Young, Raygun (that horrible breakdancer) and Mr. T. Long term, Paramount+ is rebooting yet another franchise, Clueless, and I’m somewhat bullish on this new show. The talent attached (Alicia Silverstone) and creative Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (of The O.C. and Gossip Girl) also feel solid...if they make it funny like the original.
Review: ‘Marvel’s Wolverine’ packs ferocity but none of his nuance
Insomniac Games resurrected the “Spider-Man” franchise by re-envisioning how the web-slinger could inhabit an open-world Manhattan. The team did it so well that it spawned a spinoff and a sequel.
Review: ‘Marvel’s Wolverine’ packs ferocity but none of his nuance
Insomniac Games resurrected the “Spider-Man” franchise by re-envisioning how the web-slinger could inhabit an open-world Manhattan. The team did it so well that it spawned a spinoff and a sequel.
Virtuix Provides Business Update Highlighting 3X Omni One Order Growth and Expanding Defense and Enterprise Opportunities
Omni One Orders Increase Threefold Following Meta Launch Company Advances Defense Programs, Enterprise Sales and Acquisition Strategy AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Virtuix Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: VTIX), a leading developer of AI-driven, full-body simulation systems, today provided an update on the strength of its business and progress across its consumer, defense, and enterprise markets, as well as its acquisition strategy. The number of Omni One orders is up approximately 3X
HP has a new $799 mini PC for fans of the Mac mini form factor
HP has launched a new mini PC that pairs a Mac mini-like design with Windows 11, Intel Wildcat Lake processors, and plenty of ports.
Overwatch Reveals First Look at New Omnic Hero Coming Later This Year
Blizzard has teased another new Overwatch Hero after revealing Doctrine just moments ago.
After Sony tells fans they don't own digital games, one Consumer Rights group is tracking all the times PlayStation said the opposite
PlayStation previously argued "reasonable consumers" know they don't own digital goods. One Consumer Rights group is now pulling out receipts.
Omnilert Launches AI Camera Health Monitoring to Help Organizations Ensure Security Cameras Perform When It Matters Most
LEESBURG, Va. — — Omnilert, the leader in visual gun detection and automated emergency response, today announced the launch of Omnilert AI Camera Health
NASCO and Doxim Partner to Modernize Health Plan Administration and Improve Communications
NASCO, a leading provider of healthcare technology solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with Doxim®, a leader in customer communications management (CCM) and engagement technology for highly regulated markets. The collaboration brings together NASCO's deep health plan administration expertise with Doxim's omnichannel communications capabilities to help health plans modernize operations and deliver more seamless, personalized experiences for all healthcare stakeholders.
HP OmniBook Ultra 16 and X 14 get NVIDIA RTX Spark processors
HP is bringing NVIDIA RTX Spark to its OmniBook lineup, with the Ultra 16 supporting up to 128GB unified memory. The smaller OmniBook X 14 also uses RTX Spark.
New Gym in Paris Helps Homeless Improve Their Health And Habits
A Finnish gym company brought physical fitness to the homeless folks of Paris, installing a gym in the shady courtyard of a homeless shelter.
15 discouraging hours with Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and 10 brilliant ones with He Who Watches
In the last few weeks, while playing some video games that I might review, I emailed two cries for help. I sent the first to a rep for Capcom, confessing that the company’s samurai game Onimusha Way of the Sword (out today for PC and console) was crushing me. “Feels like I’m playing ‘hard’ mode, not ‘normal,’” I wrote. “And I don’t want to have to knock it down to “story”. I’m exploring, trying to level my gear, but these two-phase boss fights with no mid-fight checkpoints are brutal.” I wagered I was only about halfway through the game, if that. I wasn’t sure I could keep up with the steepening difficulty curve. Was I missing something? Then, on Monday, I took some photos of some puzzles that were baffling me in the mind-bending He Who Watches (out now on PC), wrote out lengthy descriptions of how I’d been trying to solve them and asked Bobby Vanden, the game’s solo developer, for a nudge in the right direction. I told Vanden I’d spent hours on these puzzles. “I’m stuck in triplicate,” I told him. Could he tell me if the solutions I was attempting were even on the right track? I didn’t mention that the puzzles—coupled with major time pressures from other work—were stressing me out so much that playing the game was giving me headaches. This double dose of panic was unusual. I’m used to managing a workload full of reporting and reviewing, used to a crowded schedule and the need to stay calm amid the bustle. But I was stressed about these games. No one was forcing me to review them, nor even play them. I’d simply found them interesting enough to start, hoped they’d be interesting enough to write about and I’d sunk hours into them assuming I’d made the right call. Suddenly, however, I felt trapped. I was emailing for a way out. Above: This guy took me about an hour to beat. The feedback I got from Capcom confirmed my fears. They didn’t say it, but I will: Onimusha Way of the Sword is not for me. It’s a brutally hard game in need of a normal difficulty level. It’s a game that spikes so severely during its abundant boss fights—yet offers such flawed ways to improve when outside of them—that it feels like a bait-and-switch. In the new Onimusha, you play as famed samurai Musashi Miyamoto, aided by a magical soul-absorbing gauntlet that is possessed by a lady who offers advice. (Way of the Sword is a continuation of Capcom’s long-dormant Onimusha series, but that set-up had me wondering if the company was cribbing from their ill-fated Bionic Commando reboot; read about “wife-arm” when you get a chance). Way of the Sword is partially set in 17th century Kyoto, an explorable city where Miyamoto can fight demons, help civilians and eventually rescue ghostly dogs. The city evolves over time, with new mini adventures and obtainable loot on offer, all feeding into systems that promise to upgrade your gear and sword-fighting skills. Upgrades, however, are so incremental as to be imperceptible, causing the exploration of Kyoto to feel like inconsequential busywork. From that hub, players can go on linear missions into forests and old temples, where they will encounter many of the game’s tough bosses. Combat in Way of the Sword is akin to many modern melee games. Players are asked to mix attacks with dodges and parries. They’re encouraged to deplete an enemy’s stamina bar in order to do greater damage to its health bar. The old Onimusha games’ signature move was the issen, a counter-attack so sudden it’s all but pre-emptive. You strike just as they begin to strike toward you, beating them to the cut. By definition, the issen is a high risk move, leaving you wide open to pain. It feels risky in the game, especially against bosses, who can maul you in just a few blows. A game might train you to perform an issen well by offering a variety of lesser enemies who are not as tough as the boss but get close. Or it might offer a toehold against bosses by saving or checkpointing the player’s progress when a boss’ first health bar has been destroyed and before the second health bar appears. It might offer the less skilled player a chance to over-level their character, should the player simply commit to playing through its optional sidequests. Way of the Sword does none of this. Fighting its trivially easy grunt enemies and then its ferociously adept bosses is like playing a game of chess where I’ve got a rook, while the opposing side is all pawns and five queens. Bosses simply don’t checkpoint. You may be able to clear a boss’ first phase without taking much damage. Good for you. Do it again, every time you fail the second phase. As for the the central Kyoto hub, I kept pace with all of its added side activities and never felt like I was overpowered. Bosses could still easily buckle me. The new Onimusha, I concluded, is just too discouraging to keep playing. The advice I got from Capcom had been well-intentioned. They reminded me of the game’s various systems. They alerted me to an optional assist that flashes recommended button inputs (basically: counter this move; dodge that move). It was a little helpful. So was dropping down to “story mode,” which I tried last night. Story mode turns on those button prompts by default. It makes countering and dodging way too easy, nearly automatic. I don’t consider myself a master of action games like these, but I’ve cleared the likes of God of War, Stellar Blade, Star Wars Jedi and others of sub-Sekiro difficulty and had a fun time doing so. Not here. Not yet. Unless they patch Onimusha: Way of the Sword and add a middle difficulty or just checkpoint the damn bosses when they’re between health bars, my streak of loving Capcom games released in 2026 will likely end at two. It’s a shame, because I was having a good time finding those ghostly dogs. And then there’s He Who Watches, a phenomenal first person puzzle game with Portal vibes, except instead of a portal gun you’ve got a magical bow that shoots one arrow that can activate switches or be used to drag blocks. The twist is an actual twist: you can also walk on walls and the ceiling, reorienting gravity as you do, thereby placing blocks onto those other surfaces. Walking on walls and ceilings to solve problems is really the best thing. Would that I could in reality. He Who Watches consists of locked-room challenges, each brief enough to only require about a minute to actually solving, though it will take five, 10, eventually 30 minutes to figure out said solutions. They are not obvious! It’s a game of layered mechanics and shocking solutions. For example, see if you can follow this: You can drag a block to a wall. Then you can walk on the wall, which now feels like the floor, and drag that block across the wall. Later, back on the floor, you might realize you can look up. The block is still on the wall, stuck to it. You can shoot your magic arrow to its underside. Doing so creates a tether, so that you can yank the block off the wall and carry it, as if it were a balloon, into the spot where you need it to be to solve the puzzle. Here, watch Vanden explain some of the game’s basics in this launch trailer: As with any great puzzle game, the solutions to He Who Watches’ puzzles elicit relief and amazement. Oh my god, that worked! I didn’t even think that could be possible! Learning to solve the game’s puzzles feels like learning magic. But, oh, does the game get hard. Its Steam reviews, mostly glowing, are full of players remarking how quickly He Who Watches made them sweat. Wrote one: “loving this one already although my brain is hurting!” Wrote another: “As you get further in the game it feels like you need an IQ level of at least 120+.” Vanden has shown some mercy. Each locked room puzzle includes an optional junior version of the puzzle, meant to teach you. Difficulty nevertheless ramps severely. By the time I was emailing Vanden for help, I was struggling to even clear one of the hint puzzles. When I messaged him, my stress was exacerbated by strange things I’d found in the game’s various hubs: suspicious passageways, odd blocks and some intriguing locked doors. These were hints of secrets, I realized, yet I sensed I needed to play further into the game to understand them. I was stuck, but I wanted to see the rest. Vanden offered to give me the exact solutions, to solve those three puzzles for me, but first he gave four nudges. Three were for the specific puzzles, but his best hint was for all and ultimately proved to be a terrific life lesson: go back a bit, he suggested. Do the puzzles right before those. They were teaching you something. Focus on what their lesson was. Don’t rush, in other words. Recognize what you’ve accomplished. Build off of that. I did so. I absorbed the lessons. I saw those three tough puzzles in a new light. I solved one the night after he wrote back, another the morning after. I left a third for another time. I didn’t need it and I wanted to plunge deeper into the game, closer to the moment when I was sure I could start unlocking those secret doors. My head stopped hurting, too. He Who Watches feels special. It’s got more challenges, and I’m undeterred. It’s also nice that its puzzles don’t have a surprise second health bar. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: In brief… 🎮 Ilari Kuittinen, co-founder of Helsinki-based Housemarque (Super Stardust HD, Resogun, Returnal) has stepped down from his studio, after a 31-year run, saying he’s “ taking a rare and well-deserved breather.” Sony purchased Housemarque in 2021, and the studio released its newest game, Saros, earlier this year. Trend-watch: Sony-owned Insomniac saw its founder Ted Price retire in early 2025, after a 30-year run. Sony-owned Sucker Punch saw its co-founder Brian Fleming step down in late 2025, after a 28-year run. 👀 Savvy Games Group chief Brian Ward is stepping down from the Saudi-government-backed games conglomerate, Bloomberg reports. No word on a long-term successor yet, nor if this augurs any closer integration between Savvy and Electronic Arts. EA was purchased by a consortium led by Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund, in early August. 💿 Square Enix has denied a Japanese media report that the company was planning to go private. In very different Square Enix news, the company revealed that the physical version of Final Fantasy VII: Revelation, the April 2027 finale of its radical remakes of FFVII, will include just one disc in its case, requiring a download for the rest. The first two FFVII remakes in the trilogy shipped on two discs apiece. While Square hasn’t commented on the reason why, a feature here in Game File last month broke down the processes and costs for physical games. The expense of a second disc comes out of the game publisher’s cut of each copy. Square could be saving in excess of a dollar a copy with this move. 🟥 Grand Theft Auto IV’s 26-minute ’‘extended look” gameplay showcase that premiered on Netflix last week—and was exclusive to the platform for six hours—drew 31.1 million views in its first four days, the streamer announced. (Netflix calculates views as total viewed hours divided by runtime; excludes replays). Compared to YouTube: The version that later premiered on Rockstar Games’ YouTube channel is sitting at 22.6 million views after seven days (YouTube’s more liberal counting system tallies anyone who viewed even just the first few second.) Compared to other Netflix mega-events: Last year, Stranger Things season 5’s first four episodes, which debuted together, drew a record 59.6 million views in their first few days on Netflix. For more of a live event type of comparison, in 2024, the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match drew 65 million concurrent streams as it happened; Netflix didn’t release live numbers for the GTA premiere. ☁️ Microsoft is changing the way it charges for cloud gaming, from an all-you-can-play offer for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, to caps for the subscription’s tiers (15 hours per month at the Ultimate tier), with the option to buy more hours in bulk beyond that. The company also said it will sell batches of cloud gaming time to non-Game Pass subscribers, details TBA. Microsoft does not release figures for cloud game usage, but said its changes would impact 4% of Game Pass subscribers. That implies a small portion of its subscribers exceed the 15-hour monthly mark. Cloud gaming offers the promise of playing games without the need for console or PC hardware, as the graphics, sound and controls are all transmitted via a streaming connection. Microsoft notes that its cloud gaming service can be used for a range of things, including Xbox One players using it to play newer-gen Xbox Series games via streaming; and people playing games via streaming, sans any console, “in markets where consoles are less available or affordable.” (That latter use case could even be relevant in Xbox’s home market soon, as console prices keep rising.) Take Two Interactive chairman Strauss Zelnick recently told investors he expects game-streaming tech, which has been only lightly adopted by gamers for over a decade, to be widely used within three years. 🇺🇸 The Trump administration has published multiple agenda-driven web video games to the White House’s website. One called Build The Wall partially clones Tetris as it asks players to build a wall to stop a “zombie border siege.” While actual Tetris involves clearing lines and basically not building a wall, the Trump-backed game omits the line-clearing aspect (and omits the fun as well). On Instagram, Tetris’ official license holders reacted by stating: “At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them. To our fans everywhere: we love you, we see you, and we’re grateful to have you in our community. P.S. The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of ‘Build the Wall.’ P.P.S.: We take copyright infringement very seriously.” Item 3: The week ahead: Tuesday, September 8 Game releases: Mewgenics (consoles; already out on PC) is an engrossing tactical combat game (with cats). It is getting its console port right after the release of a Star Wars tactics game and ahead of the late September launch of a Fire Emblem–a bumper crop for the genre. Wanderburg (PC) is an auto-shooting game like Vampire Survivors, but you’re a castle on wheels Event: Nintendo airs a 30-minute Nintendo Direct (10am ET) focused on The Legend of Zelda’s 40th Anniversary. A full unveiling of the upcoming remake of The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time is expected. Will they also show footage from next year’s live action movie? Tease the next big 3D Zelda? Add Link to Mario Kart World? Shadow-drop a new Tingle game? Wednesday, September 9 Event: Nintendo again! On this day, they’re planning to air a 45-minute Nintendo Direct (10am ET) focused on games heading to Switch 2 this winter. Followed by about an hour of gameplay demoed by the company’s Treehouse team. The September Nintendo Directs are always some of the year’s biggest. The 2025 edition included announcements of several major 2026 Switch/Switch 2 games: Pokémon Pokopia, Mario Tennis Fever, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave. Plus the return of the Virtual Boy. Friday, September 11 Game release: EA Sports NHL 27 (PlayStation, Xbox) is a hockey game. There are so few that an indie studio that had been making wacky sci-fi first-person shooters just announced that, hey, we’re going to fill a void and make a hockey game for PC.
HP’s latest OmniBooks get RTX Spark, 128 GB LPDDR5X RAM and 3K OLED displays
HP has unveiled the OmniBook Ultra 16 and OmniBook X 14, two RTX Spark-powered laptops that are among the first to offer the lower-tier 18-core N1X configuration with a 5,120-core Blackwell RTX GPU. Both come with up to 128 GB of LPDDR5X-9400 memory and 3K 120 Hz OLED displays.
HP unveils the world's thinnest Nvidia RTX Spark laptops for professionals and gamers alike
Perfect for people who want to deploy AI wherever they are.
CMI boosts medical affairs capabilities with new specialty communications unit
CMI Media Group is adding to its spread of media services through a new specialty communications business that introduces a slate of new cutting-edge marketing tools. | The new business unit is centered on four core capabilities, which includes AI-enhanced scientific intelligence, omnichannel "scientific ecosystems," and more.
CVS Health hires Dentsu Creative, retains Omnicom for media
Dentsu Creative will support the pharmacy and insurance giant’s creative efforts, while Omnicom retains media duties.
MAD: Omnicom Combines Mediahub, Hearts & Science
The new agency network operates across 40 markets and represents approximately $9.1 billion in 2025 billings. It will be led in the U.S. by Nicole Estebanell, who previously served as CEO of Mediahub U.S.
Omni-liberalism: Why you should hold this framework in politics
Views staff writer Logan Walters examines “omni-liberalism" and argues for approaching policy with flexibility and skepticism.
Can't sleep? Here's what causes insomnia and how to treat it
Insomnia can be a nightmare. Here's what you can do about it.
Omnicom Media Launches Hearts United, Merging Hearts & Science and Mediahub
Little Black Book, Omnicom Media merges Hearts & Science and Mediahub to form Hearts United, a $9.1B global agency focused on AI-driven growth and modern media strategies
Too much or too little sleep may make your body age faster
Both too little and too much sleep may be linked to faster aging throughout the body. Researchers analyzing 23 biological aging clocks found the lowest aging levels among people sleeping about 6.4 to 7.8 hours per day. Short or long sleep was also associated with numerous conditions affecting the brain, heart, lungs, metabolism, and digestive system.
Encompass Health (EHC) Could Be 19% Undervalued On Its Growth Narrative
Encompass Health (EHC) has put a fresh financing framework in place, filing an omnibus shelf registration that covers potential future offerings of common and preferred stock, warrants and debt securities. See our latest analysis for Encompass Health. Encompass Health shares have eased in the past week following the shelf registration and recent $100 million senior notes issuance, although a 30 day share price return of 6.57% and a 3 year total shareholder return of 77.79% indicate momentum...
An okay laptop with 16GB of RAM is better than a nice laptop with 8GB, and this $520 HP OmniBook proves it
Grading on a curve.
HP's new $599 MacBook Neo rival available with a 14-inch OLED display and over 40 hours battery life
The HP OmniBook 3 (14-hz0488nr) is available to order on Amazon and Best Buy. Like the MacBook Neo, the new 14-inch model comes with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, but it adds an OLED display, more ports, and a much larger battery for a much lower price.
College Students Can Get a Free Year of Google AI Pro
Google today said eligible college students in the United States can get a free year of Google AI Pro. Google AI Pro is normally priced at $19.99 per month, and it includes 4x higher usage limits in Gemini, access to Gemini Spark, Gemini in Google apps like Gmail and Google Docs, and 5TB of storage space. Eligible college students outside the United States can get a free year of Google AI Plus, which includes Gemini Omni, 4x higher usage limits in Gemini, and 400GB storage.
The 8 Best Breakfasts Gut Health
What if the key to a healthy gut isn’t only about being mindful of what you eat but also when you eat? Here, experts break down the best breakfasts to support your gut.
IT leader with a passion for transformation
Pascal Tran Binh joined Amer Sports in January 2026 to lead our Business Platform IT domain. This covers all go-to-market activities, including omnichannel, B2B and B2C engagement and experience…
Lindsay Clancy's family was 'very concerned' about her mental health in the months before she killed her kids
Lindsay Clancy's mother-in-law testified the accused mother was 'begging for help' with insomnia and anxiety months before the Duxbury killings.
Is hormone therapy the cheat code to perimenopause?
Perimenopause can be overwhelming. Mood swings, insomnia and hot flashes can make you feel like a completely different person. Hormone therapy is one way a lot of women are treating the symptoms. Life Kit’s Marielle Segarra talks with Dr. Mara Gordon of NPR’s Real Talk with a Doc column about the risks and benefits.Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekitSign up for our newsletter here.Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at lifekit@npr.orgSupport the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekit
Insomniac Staff Pins Overnight Wolverine Hate On Twitter
The studio’s marketing director blows off some steam on the sudden surge of scrutiny, believing this kind of culture can’t possibly be good for anyone’s mental health
NV lawmakers mull maternal health protections for ’27 session, punt on child welfare funding fix
Nevada lawmakers approved several health policy proposals, including a maternal health momnibus bill and plans to study child welfare funding.
Convention Center hotel hits a roadblock: 'I'll vote against it,' Senate president says
"I'm adamantly opposed to putting anything related to Omni on next week's agenda," Senate President Cameron Henry said. "I will be there, and if it's on the agenda, I will vote against it. The financing isn't in place, and we don't have a deal that's good for the state. I've been talking to the Omni folks, but we need to keep talking to find something that works."
'The Game Feels Super Smooth': Wolverine Will Run at 60fps with Ray Tracing on Base PS5
Insomniac wizardry
NV lawmakers mull maternal health protections for '27 session, punt on child welfare funding fix
Nevada state lawmakers are considering a wide-range of health-related policies in the next year’s legislative session that includes implementing a slate of maternal health protections in a “momnibus” bill, bolstering efforts to investigate Medicaid insurance fraud, and reducing reporting requirements for state health agencies. Also at Tuesday’s interim Health and Human Services committee meeting, discussion […]
Marvel's Wolverine "fully playable" on disc when it releases, Insomniac clarifies, perhaps making it one of the last few PlayStation games that will be
The controversy around Sony's decision to end production of PlayStation discs rages on. But Insomniac is all-in on physical media for Marvel's Wolverine.
Andrea Hennigan testifies on Lindsay Clancy's mental health and postpartum treatment
Registered nurse Andrea Hennigan testifies about her former colleague Lindsay Clancy. She describes Clancy's struggles with postpartum anxiety, insomnia, and medication side effects prior to January 2023.
Sounds Like Wolverine Gets His Arse Out in Insomniac's Upcoming PS5 Exclusive
Put it away, Logan
Wolverine's Going To Get His Butt Out In Insomniac's New Game
ESRB's game description reveals all
Alliance Entertainment Unveils Masters of the Universe SteelBook® Artwork and Announces Surprise Limited Project Hail Mary Restock at San Diego Comic-Con 2026
PLANTATION, Fla., July 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alliance Entertainment Holding Corporation (Nasdaq: AENT), a premier distributor and omnicha...
Media Buying Briefing: Why Omnicom merged Mediahub and Hearts & Science
Merging Hearts & Science and Mediahub into one agency that will operate under a new name and brand may not be the last move the holding company makes in simplifying its go-to-market offering.
Omnicom to merge Mediahub and Hearts & Science
Hearts & Science's Garrett O'Reilly will become UK chief executive of the merged global entity.
Less sleep = less health; Led Zeppelin in the OR; dangers of people-pleasing; plus other stories with Vanderbilt Health sources
Prevention interviewed Beth Malow, MD, Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics in the Vanderbilt Sleep Division, for a story about two randomized trials published in Annals of Internal Medicinethat found decreasing sleep by just 1.5 hours each night was linked with increases in body weight, waist circumference, and sedentary time in adults with elevated cardiometabolic risk. Yahoo Healthalso picked up the story. WTVF News Channel 5 reporter Nikki Hauser interviewed Ashish Shah, MD, Professor and Chair of Cardiac Surgery, for a new video podcast series called “Why Nashville” where she interviews interesting people doing interesting work about why they came to Nashville and how it is going. Among the revelations: his go-to OR music includes Led Zeppelin and AC/DC. Everyday Health interviewed Aaron Brinen, PsyD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, for a story about the TikTok trend that encourages women to speak up about their concerns or they’ll develop an autoimmune disease. Overall, people suggest that suppressing feelings of anger, minimizing your own needs, or people-pleasing raises your risk. Telemundo Nashville broadcast a story on cyclosporiasis that quotes both William Schaffner, MD, professor of Preventive Medicine, and Juan C. Salazar, MD, MPH, chair of the Department of Pediatrics and system Pediatrician-in-Chief for Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Schaffner also spoke to WKRN News 2 about measles and The Cutabout shingles and long distance running. WREG (Memphis) and others picked up the measles story as well. CNN reporter Deidre McPhillips interviewed John Trahanas, MD, Assistant Professor of Cardiac Surgery, and Director of Thoracic Aortic Surgery, for a story about aortic dissection in last week’s death of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham. The Nashville Post published a story by freelance reporter Leah Hunter on robotic surgery, including a patient story and numerous quotes from Sekhar Padmanabhan, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Surgical Oncology.
Google Vids now lets you star in your own AI videos
Google is adding personalized AI avatars to Vids that let users create videos starring a digital version of themselves, alongside Gemini Omni-powered tools for generating and editing videos from prompts and reference images.
Your smartwatch might be making your sleep worse
For people with insomnia or a fixation on perfect sleep, experts say wearable data can sometimes do more harm than good.
Your smartwatch might be making your sleep worse
For people with insomnia or a fixation on perfect sleep, experts say wearable data can sometimes do more harm than good.
HP OmniBook Ultra 14 review: HP's best ultraportable in years
While fully loaded models are quite pricey, the HP OmniBook Ultra is hard to beat for those in the market for a premium Windows ultraportable.
Meet Biomni
In creating a comprehensive, AI-enabled research agent for the biomedical sciences, Stanford researchers hope to speed innovation by eliminating the tedium of scientific legwork.
Monumint founders pivot from OmniAI to banking AI solutions
Founders Tyler Maran and Anna Pojawis scrapped their startup OmniAI and launched Monumint, which builds AI agents for banks. Here's their pitch deck.
Google Photos rolling out ‘Video Remix’ powered by Gemini Omni
Google Photos is using Gemini’s “create anything from any input” model to offer a new Video Remix capability for fast and stylized editing.
Firefighters on scene of large fire at scrap metal recycling business near New Carlisle
Firefighters are on the scene of a large fire at a scrap metal recycling business near New Carlisle.This is a live look at OmniSource on Smilax Road.Dispatchers
HP OmniBook X Flip 14 review: Flexible performance with AMD Zen 5
The new OmniBook X Flip 14 is even more impressive than the OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 with more CPU performance, more ports, and a revised keyboard and look. However, most SKUs are limited to just a 60 Hz touchscreen despite the ~$1500 asking price.
Apple veterans launch a $33 million fund for manufacturing tech
Omni Ventures will back pre-seed startups building AI, robotics, and automation tools for manufacturing.
NotebookLM adding Short Video Overviews with Nano Banana 2 Lite
Google today announced Nano Banana 2 Lite and preview availability of Gemini Omni Flash, as well as NotebookLM Short Video Overviews.
ADUSA tapped a former Amazon exec to helm its business. What does this mean?
The grocery company’s nominee for the top role may raise some eyebrows given Amazon’s brick-and-mortar track record, but Claire Peters' appointment could be the key to further omnichannel growth.
New Orleans Summer Entertainment & The Omni Hotel Controversy
This week on The Get Down, John Stanton breaks down the week ahead in New Orleans, including the City Council's final vote on the controversial Omni Hotel redevelopment plan. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1492300'); }); Jake Clapp shares some upcoming entertainment picks, including Ilana Glazer's tour stop at the Joy Theater, and we take a look at summer bucket list ideas in The Pearl for making the most of the season in New Orleans.Be sure to grab a copy of our latest issue of Gambit and stay tuned for the latest on all things New Orleans at bestofneworleans.com. .donate-gambit-article-module-container { text-align: center; padding: 10px; /* background-color: #24da6d; */ background-color: rgb(153, 0, 0); margin-bottom: 20px; } .donate-gambit-article-module-title { font-weight: bold; color: #fff; } .donate-gambit-article-module-copy { color: #fff !important; font-size: 16px; } .donate-gambit-article-module-button { background-color: black; width: 50%; border-color: black; font-size: 16px; } .donate-gambit-article-module-button:hover { background-color: black; } @media only screen and (max-width: 600px) { .donate-gambit-article-module-button { font-size: 14px; width: 100%; } .donate-gambit-article-module-copy { font-size: 14px; } } BECOME A GAMBIT MEMBER AND JOIN OUR KREWE TODAY For more than 40 years, Gambit has covered New Orleans, for New Orleans. We’ve stood up to city hall with you, cheered the Saints with you, danced in the streets with you and cried over our collective loss with you. And we’re plannin’ on being here for 40 more. To do that, we need your help. Become a Gambit member today and help us continue our mission SUPPORT GAMBIT
Science Over Tradition: Plymouth South Middle Schoolers Advocate for Later School Start Times
PLYMOUTH - June 15, 2026 - In a powerful demonstration of student advocacy, a delegation of eighth-grade students from Plymouth South Middle School presented compelling, science-based research to the School Committee, urging district leadership to push back school start times to improve adolescent mental health, well-being, and academic performance. The presentation sparked immediate commitment from the administration to formally evaluate the district’s schedule over the coming school year. Subscribe The Full Story The final in-person meeting of the academic year opened with a celebratory outdoor ceremony honoring dozens of elementary, middle, and high school student artists whose work was chosen for the biannual Central Office Artwork Awards. However, the evening’s primary policy focus quickly shifted to student-led civic action when eighth graders Sophia Scarini, Skye Togun, Leah Mansfield, James Moore, Avery Mahan and Lily Simpson took the podium. The students revealed that their presentation was the culmination of a year-long civics project involving local community assessments, interviews with former officials, and extensive literary analysis. The research sharply highlighted the biological mismatch between adolescent sleep patterns and current school schedules. Under the district’s current framework, Plymouth High Schools open at 7:20 a.m., Middle Schools at 8:12 a.m., and Elementary Schools at 9:05 a.m.. “The high school start times directly contradict students’ natural sleep patterns,” student Leah Mansfield explained, noting that the teenage brain does not naturally produce melatonin until around 11:00 p.m.. The student presentation underscored a harrowing correlation between sleep deprivation and severe mental health struggles, citing data that adolescents with insomnia are ten times more likely to develop depression. Conversely, data shows that just one additional hour of sleep results in a 28% reduction in students reporting feelings of depression or sadness.
Report: Insomniac's Wolverine Sabretooth Actor Is Part of GTA 6 Cast
The voice actor for Sabretooth in Marvel's Wolverine is also in Grand Theft Auto 6 as a supporting character.
This one question may reveal whether your body is getting the rest it needs, study finds
Research finds that feeling older than your actual age may be linked to poor sleep quality, insomnia symptoms, irregular patterns and daytime fatigue.
Siri AI Hands On: A Smart, Helpful Assistant
The new Siri AI is conversational, omnipresent, and actually helpful.
ASHE Health Care Facilities Innovation Conference
Meet Omnilert at ASHE Healthcare Facilities Innovation Conference and learn how AI Gun Detection and ENS can help secure your facility today.
Amendment 59: Several Updates to the ROSES-25 Summary of Solicitation
Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES)-2025 is an ongoing "omnibus" or "umbrella" solicitation meaning that it includes many individual
Google leaked its next Pixel Drop with Screen Reactions and paid features
Google's next Pixel Drop looks set to add Screen Reactions, Gemini Omni video tools, and AI music creation.
Google ads tease next Pixel Drop with Screen Reactions and Gemini Omni [Video]
We’re due for Google’s next Pixel Drop and, thanks to some early ads, we now know that Screen Reactions and...
How Do PENN Entertainment's US$460 Million Property Bets Reframe Its Omni-Channel Strategy? (PENN)
PENN Entertainment has opened a new US$100 million, 203-room hotel tower at Hollywood Casino Columbus and is preparing to shift Hollywood Casino Aurora from its longtime riverboat site to a new US$360 million land-based complex opening on June 24, 2026, pending regulatory approvals. These twin property projects highlight PENN’s ongoing push to upgrade its brick-and-mortar footprint with larger gaming floors, upscale hotels, and expanded non-gaming amenities that could influence how its...
Club Science: Pride
School may be out for summer, but the Science Museum of Minnesota in Saint Paul is keeping the curiosity alive with something exciting for grown-ups. Caillean Kapoor, visitor experience manager at the Science Museum, joined Minnesota Live to share details about Club Science: Pride, a vibrant 21-plus night happening Saturday, June 13 starting at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are still available and include museum admission, an Omnitheater show and a drink ticket.
NC 'Momnibus' bill gains support as lawmakers push to improve Black maternal health
Advocates rallied at the General Assembly to support the "Momnibus" bill, aimed at closing gaps and improving outcomes for Black mothers and babies.
Reward or threat? Omnisend offers quarterly raises for employees who use AI to drive business impact—and says those who don’t will get left behind
For Q1, the first quarter with the initiative in place, just over half of the company’s 246 employees qualified and received raises between 2% and 4% so far.
NCAA Men’s Golf: Arizona falls to UCLA in semifinals
Arizona men’s golf’s best postseason in decades ended just short of competing for a national championship. The Wildcats fell to UCLA in the NCAA semifinals Tuesday at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, Calif. after knocking off Vanderbilt earlier in the day in quarterfinals action. Arizona’s run to the semifinals marks the program’s best finish […]
The New 'Marvel's Wolverine' Trailer Unleashes the Weapon
Insomniac Games used the latest State of Play to show 'Marvel's Wolverine' in all its brutal, mutant glory.