Casio is making more automatic watches.

 

CMK-100

The CMK-100 is the first Non-Edifice automatic watch Casio has release. 

While "Edifice" is dropped from the naming, this new watch (CMK100TC) is not any more affordable but thankfully still appears up to par on paper in terms of specs.

Some interesting design points:
- Non-integrated bracelet for flexible strap options
- Titanium case = light!

- No exhibition caseback. Is this just a limitation of titanium watches?

Casio release many watches. Call it capitalism or simply an army of restless designers. They won't stop thinking of new products that you throw on your wrist to tell time.

You could previously tag their entire lineup in a 4 ways previously: analog, digital, solar, battery. Their newest segment of watches is automatic movement (power completely by the motion of a swining rotor) and it appears Casio is doing more than just dipping their toes in this large market that is occupied by other players like Seiko, Citizen, Timex, and others.

If you will recall, Casio has released multiple automatic watches under the Edifice line. The first watch was the EFK-100. It has a Seiko NH35 movement and is 39mm. The EFK-110, which was released less than a year shrank the design slightly to 38mm and employes a Miyota 8215 movement. These two watches look about the same. The EFK-200 offers a sporty forged carbon body combined with a butterfly clasp.

The EFK-100

The EFK-110

EFK-200

Soup and Salad Bar Buffets (2026 Remix)

I have a lot of great memories of Souplantation. I used to go to the Porter Ranch location a lot. It was a guaranteed way to celebrate holidays like Mother's day or a flexible option when my family got together because it something for everyone: salad lovers have plenty of veggies to load up on and basic carb lovers had pizza and pasta to munch.

The location I frequented was also a staple among a mega church across the street. There was no problem in filling seats on Sunday as hundreds of people came across the street to be physically nourished after being spiritually fed.

Decades earlier, we would go to Fresh Choice. It was basically the same thing.

Like many restaurants, Souplantation was hit hard during the pandemic and closed. A lot of people felt the loss as the beloved salad bar buffet had nearly 100 locations nationwide.

Fans have been mourning and one of the reasons many haven't moved on is simply because their locations have not been replaced by other businesses. In fact, the signage remains for these empty buildings that are now surrounded by thriving businesses that have settled or continued to thrive during and after Covid peaked.

Fast forward to today and there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. Not only is Souplantation (aka Sweet Tomatoes) making a comeback, there are also dupes:

Soup 'n Fresh

Souper Green

I think competition is good. There is space for multiple salad bars even if they all offer pretty much the same items.

As Spooky Foodie once noted “I really think it’s the feeling of cheating the system” that people love.

Apple should keep refining features. Example: Message History

Apple just announced some new hardware recently. Phones are mostly boring these days. We can confidently predict that features continue to be refined and the experience gets faster but what if Apple dedicated a little more resources into fixing things that just don't make sense?

The first iPhone came out in 2007. While I was not an original iPhone user, I did join much later and have remained loyal to their ecosystem. My circle of friends with iOS has grown and like many people, texting has become my main form of communication to keep in touch and express myself.

Apple added the feature to delete old messages in iOS 8 (2014). It's over a decade later and this feature has not evolved. The limitation with this feature is that it is global. That's not how communication works when you consider your spectrum of contacts: close friends, acquaintances, businesses, and service messages (2 factor).

The options are limited to keeping messages for 30 days, 1 year, or forever. For all messages.

If you have a significant other, you might consider ever message received a precious artifact of your relationship. I'm guessing you have people you chat with regularly for years and sometimes you want to review past messages for any number of reasons: when you announced news, a pic of something exciting, a moment some hot gossip was sent, etc.

You might also have a group text where nothing super intimate is ever shared but there is plenty of media being sent for the purposes of entertainment. A family chat might include pictures of your niece sent by your sister. We know your sister probably has these pics and can always reshare them later.

I suspect if your family group chat is like one of mine, you also have a person who shares 50 pictures while traveling for no matter how ordinary the trip may seem. These pictures are lovely updates but not necessarily something we need to hold onto on our phones.

Yet another possibility: you have a group of friends who doesn't chat often. Once a month, once a quarter, or maybe just some quick updates around everyone's birthdays. This isn't the kind of chat that takes up much storage. Why rush to delete it?

If you're following my illustration, you'll probably see the connection. I might never want to delete messages from my spouse's chat. I might not care to keep anything from my family's chat more than a month. For my friends I keep in touch with casually, I think a year is just fine.

We need this granularity from Apple. Different settings for different chats!

Marco's Pizza Bowl

I love pizza. They feel like the perfect combination of different food groups and the options are styles are endless. You never go to a pizza parlor (in the US) and find out they only sell one kind of pizza. 

Pizzas are so popular, they are often sold at venues other than restaurants like stadiums and big box stores like Costco. 

I don’t know much about Marco’s Pizza but one way they have decided to differentiate from competition is the Pizza Bowl. 

The pizza bowl employs almost the required ingredients for a pizza minus dough. 

Is it fair to call this item a “pizza” bowl? It’s more like a bowl of sauce, cheese, and in my son’s case pepperoni and sausage.

This pizza bowl was 13 dollars. 

It was piping hot. This should not have come as a surprise because it runs through the same conveyor oven system as a pizza but does not have dough to cook. Every ounce of heat energy used yields a nearly boiling dish to patiently consume once served. 

If you’re trying to dodge carbs, this could be an ideal treat. Personally, I was left craving pizza crust to balance out the saltiness of the all the other ingredients.

From a value perspective, I think the pizza bowl serves more than one person. It’s hard to imagine one person not getting full before consuming even half of it.

You work hard for your money. Is the pizza bowl something you'll be willing to try? Will you love it? Will you hate it? This can only be answered by trying it yourself.

YouTube Premium subscribers will get Peacock

Beginning in early 2027, Peacock Premium will be included in a bundle with YouTube Premium, making it immediately available to millions of existing YouTube Premium subscribers, substantially expanding Peacock’s reach and making it one of the most broadly distributed premium streaming services in the U.S. Subscribers will receive seamless access to Peacock within the YouTube experience, featuring marquee live sports including the NFL, Olympics, NBA, MLB, Big Ten and Notre Dame Football, Big 12, Big East and Big Ten College Basketball, Premier League, WNBA, Kentucky Derby, golf and more, hit series such as Love Island USA, The Real Housewives franchise, Law & Order: SVU, Saturday Night Live, The Traitors, All Her Fault and The Office; and award-winning and blockbuster films. 

On the surface this seems like a win for YouTube Premium subscribers like myself. I guess I'll be able to watch the entire catalog of The Office, Traitors, and Housewives on YouTube?

I manage a YouTube Premium Family Plan. Does this mean everyone in my household will have access?

I can only imagine this will drive up YouTube Premium costs. The service has become somewhat unnegotiable for me though as YouTube is such a valuable resource for information. I also use the music streaming service, though it really is not up to par with Spotify in terms of features.

On a technical level, I think YouTube has lower bitrates than most services. Hopefully the deal includes all their 4K (movies and shows) content is as well.

I'm guessing there will also be some interesting implications for the 2028 Olympics.

Source: https://www.nbcuniversal.com/article/nbcuniversal-and-youtube-announce-global-strategic-partnership-expanding-reach-peacock-and

Facebook introduces Seller even though it's Marketplace is not very good

Facebook is all about the algorithm. This means you really have no idea what content will pop up on the top. It could be the latest, it could be something popular, it could be something old, and unfortunately it could be something that seems completely irrelevant. Another key aspect any Facebook product: you're never done. 

Buying things should not work this way! The goal is to refine your results and discover the options you have. There should not be an endless list of things.

Here's an example: I searched for "Canon". After a little bit of scrolling, these are the results:

Notice how a projector is listed? What about the Meta glasses? These are not relevant to my search. They are noise making the search experience frustrating.

The more specific you are in your search, the more likely you'll see the algorithm at play. Here's a search for "Canon 6D II". This is a specific camera model. Notice in the second row of results a Sony camera comes up.

When it comes to shopping, it's perfectly fine and expected that there should be a finite listing of matches within your search criteria. 

Think about cars. If you were shopping for a brand new Toyota Camry you could easily find which Toyota dealers are closest to you and limit your research to those dealers (probably just a handful at most).

Facebook ignores this convention and simply wants to keep you curious for things completely irrelevant to your search.

Here's another example where I searched for "cactus"

After a modest amount of scrolling I just start seeing listings for barrels for some reason. I did some more scrolling and eventually hit a listing for tomatoes. I guess Facebook thinks I might eventually start craving tomatoes while searching for cacti.

Source: https://about.fb.com/news/2026/07/introducing-seller-app-facebook-marketplace/

Google Home should be a lot better (or just be free)

When I load Google Home on my desktop browser I just get this loading animation... for a very long time.

 

I have a very good internet connection!

So why is it that Google Home, a service I pay $200 a year for, is so terrible? Google OWNS YouTube and videos load perfectly fine. I have YouTube Premium but I imagine YouTube is able to load ads without any problem.

It seems like Google Home is one of the best examples of enshittification. I used to have service through Dropcam back in the day when Tony Fadell ran things. It was a solid service. It wasn't a constant test of patience just to load videos.

I know security video may not be as sexy as vibecoding the latest hot app with Gemini or generating slop articles but I'd really love for someone at Google to understand how frustrating using Google Home is. The whole point of a service like Google Home is being able to review things immediately while the question about what just happened is fresh in my mind.

It's time for the slot machine makers to embrace diversity

I was recently in Las Vegas and noticed a stark lack of diversity in slot machine themes. There are plenty of slot machines that cover settings like the gold rush, 15-20th century Chinese characters, dragons, fishing, Lotería imagery, and Greek mythology.

Thousands of tourists visit Las Vegas every day from all over the world and I think that it might be time to add more themes that can entice visitors of all persuasions. Here are just a few themes that would surely help people from all over the world feel seen.

Afrofuturism
Black Panther showed the world a fun and futuristic take on Afrofuturism. I think a slot machine that used imagery of advanced technology with the vibrant landscapes a highly evolved African landscape like Wakanda could truly resonate with many gamblers. 

Imagine a cyber lion appears when you hit the feature. What if the 3 pots were gourds that were colored green, red, black, or yellow? 

If anyone needs a consultant, I'm sure Janelle Monae might have some amazing ideas

Middle East Riches
The middle east exports a ton of oil. Have you ever seen cities like Dubai? It would be impossible to build giant sky scrapers like the Burj Khalifa if you didn't have a huge GDP. Why shouldn't slot players be able to cosplay as a crude oil baron.

India
India has enriched the lives of so many countries. I think everyone knows how colorful Bollywood movies are. Bollywood not only includes lavish choreography but also over the top action movies. Imagine hitting a feature where your screen is flooded with people dancing.

If the culinary offerings are more visually appealing, there are definitely some iconic dishes that could be used as icons in slots: butter chicken, biriyani, dosas, samosas. Players would instantly recognize these items as they furiously spin down the columns. Unfortunately, the visuals might work up an appetite for any player that's been grinding for awhile.

Russia
There many more things that came out of Russia besides Tetris. Why don't we have a slot machine that includes the famous Russia matryoshka doll? They're cute and perfectly shaped to anthropomorphize in a slot machine.

Modern Japanese
Slot machines tend to romanticize particular eras for different cultures. When you see a slot machine that includes any Japanese culture, there's often samurai, ninjas, geishas, or dragons. I'd love to see a modern take on the Japanese culture that includes things like business men doing karaoke, car manufacturing, or a magnificent bullet train zooming by the screen.

Recommendation: 10 Lionsgate Movies to add to your Movies Anywhere

Lionsgate finally joined Movies Anywhere. It honestly feels like hell froze over but maybe this is a competitive move against the looking Paramount / Warner Brothers merger.

For the uninitiated, Movies Anywhere is a locker system that was preceded by Ultraviolet. The benefit of a studio being in Movies Anywhere is mainly for consumers. If you purchase a movie on any of the following participating retailers like Fandango Now, you can watch that same movie on a different retailer's service like iTunes. This is really great when one service has a movie on sale. It means you don't need to lock your digital movie collection in one retailer. 

Example: If you bought "Marty Supreme" (A24) on iTunes, you would NOT be able to watch it from your Amazon Prime Video library. If you bought Pixar's "Hoppers" on Fandango No, you'd be able to watch it on Google Play Movies.

Paramount and MGM are the largest holdout now but there are still some smaller studios like A24 and Neon that I would gladly welcome to the party.

Here are 10 Lionsgate movies that should go into your Movies Anywhere collection.

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair
Yes this movie is very long but if you haven't seen the uncensored Crazy 88 fight scene, you really should.

Wind River
Before Taylor Sheridan became a huge part of Paramount's TV universe, he was making very good movies like Wind River. This is such a solid thriller.

Hell or High Water
This is another Taylor Sheridan written movie that really showcases a good story and layered characters.

The Gift
If you enjoy a solid punch to the stomach twist at the end of a movie, this one might be for you. It feels like a Korean revenge movie.

Sicario

There really was not a need for a sequel. This one gets better with every watch.

Paddington

Paddington is pure joy. This is movie is the antidote to dread in life.

Django Unchained

This is a very good Tarantino movie. Who doesn't love a racist getting their comeuppance?

Dredd

Is it like the Raid? Sure. Is it still a great action movie with amazing visuals? Absolutely

The Cabin in the Woods
I revisited this one after quite a bit of time passed and its clear to me why it was loved by critics.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

One of the best examples that a sequel can actually be better than the original. This movie still holds up with solid themes about AI and how self-destructive humans are.

Review: Panda Express Cantonese BBQ Brisket

I go to Panda Express regularly, especially when the Dodgers win a home game. What do I usually get? Orange Chicken. It's packed with flavor, has a great texture, and very filling. 

I generally don't vary my order much but I decided to try the new Brisket item. While I generally don't eat that much beef, I make an occasional exception when it comes to brisket. I've never gotten excited for cuts of steak the way I do for brisket. There's something about a slow cooked and smoked piece of beef that really appeals to me. In my opinion the best ones fall apart very easily and have a good balance of fat.

Brisket comes in many shapes and forms. I particularly love the Texas BBQ style but we can't forget about other styles like the Jewish Ashkenazi dish.

Panda Express's spin claims set some boundaries right away using by naming this a Cantonese item. 

I will be avoiding the temptation to discuss whether this dish is authentic. I can only tell you that I enjoyed it quite a bit. There portion of pieces was generous (much more than any dish I've ever had at places that market themselves as BBQ focused like Lucille's).

The beef was tender and well sauced up. I order greens for my side so having a little extra sauce to season my kale/cabbage is not a problem but you might find this item a bit overwhelming if you had other side items like Chow Mein. I don't think there's any reason you would need to add soy sauce or any other condiment. You COULD add some chili sauce if you're really unable to enjoy foods that aren't spicy.

The flavor of the brisket feels like it is perfect for the Panda Express crowd. You get some American tang but also a little heat from Asian spices.

Visually, the brisket has a good amount of character. It carries some darkness around the edges which reflects a BBQ style cooking versus a longer braise method. A few pieces were a little drier but still had tons of flavor.

I'm not sure what level of work is involved to make the brisket but it does bump up your bill reasonably. If you get a two item combo and only get brisket for your main item, expect to pay similar to what I did ($3.90). I'm not sure when I'll get Panda again as there won't be any home games for awhile but I have zero regrets on trying their Cantonese BBQ Brisket.

I don't know if this should be a permanent item or if it carries the spirit of a limited regular item like the McRib. Panda Express seems to be doing just fine a week ago when it didn't have the Cantonese Brisket and I'm confident they'll be fine if they decide to end its run.

Receipt:

For reference, here's a promo video from Panda Express:

 

The Odyssey: Gatekeeping the best picture format is ridiculous

The Odyssey is coming out soon and I'm excited to see it but I really hate how complicated movie watching has become because of an artificial problem the studios created. I think studios should just do away with reserving the largest image for only a small amount of theaters and screens (some people prefer to wait for streaming!).

There are barely any theaters that are of showing The Odyssey in the largest format (1.43:1).

Rather than having conversions that begin with "what format did you watch it in?", people can actually just discuss the movie.

Do you know anyone that watches movies on a screen that isn't 16:9? It's fine if I see black bars on the side. Just format the movie for home video (digital or disc) consistently with the biggest format. It's really that simple.

Why are we creating a problem and changing the experience for so many people when it can simply be formatted the same for everyone?

Reminder: altering the original aspect ratio can even remove context

Source: https://www.odysseymovie.com/explore-formats/

Suffs on PBS

 

I saw this a few months ago and it is so good! Do enjoy it before this is no longer available on YouTube.

The real star of the 2026 Lexus ES is its camera system

I don't plan on getting a Tesla but I have to give the company credit for its camera system which really set the bar on features cars should include for safety.

Having cameras on cars is now a normal thing for all kinds of features and safety technology. Why not use them to record so we can don't have to setup dash cams that don't clutter visibility?

The Lexus ES also just seems like a great car for those that like hybrids. The all electric model seems pretty nice too if you can manage the range with your lifestyle.

source: Kelley Blue Book 

Ferrari Luce

This car is probably a ton of fun to drive but I don't think this really embodies the spirit of Ferrari. If you took off the badge, it would definitely be debatable who made this car. Does this mean a car designer should some day be offered the opportunity to design a phone? I don't think so.

When you look at cars like the VW ID. Buzz and the Dodge Challenger EV it is impossible to mistake the cars for who make them.

I'm sure Jony Ive worked on this very hard but I don't think it looks very good.

source: theverge.com

Instagram Instants

 Instagram created a new feature called Instants. It's another ephemeral feature because

"we also know that a lot of people don’t really share a lot to their profile grids anymore"

I still use the grid because it lets anyone catch up with me whenever they want. No one should feel pressured to open an app every day just to see pictures from friends. If you want to double check something I posted, all you have to do is revisit my profile.

It's still really annoying how algorithm driven the feed is. It doesn't seem like we're ever going back to chronological order on Instagram.

MapTag

MapTag is a fun daily game that you can add to your routine.

Geography has always been a blind spot for me and I'm hoping this game helps. I'm embarrassed to say I couldn't even tell you where exactly every state is in the USA!

Give yourself some grace though. The USA is definitely a large country. Imagine if state lines were like country borders!

Ideas for new shows like "The Pitt"

I have started watching "The Pitt" and it is very entertaining and also thought provoking. It touches on things like family, mental illness, motherhood, aging, racism, and probably more aspects of life. I'm not even caught up but I have some ideas for other shows that could take place in real time and highlight the intriguing machinations of other industries:

The last operating day for USPS before Christmas
I'd love to see how stressful work is for postal workings rushing to beat the clock and deliver gifts to people around the country

Presidential election day
Have you ever watched Steve Kornacki on an election night? It's truly fascinating but imagine being able see the world of ballot counters as well as candidates. I realize this happens every 4 years but I think the should could work for scripted television.

A day at In-N-Out
The menu is pretty limited but the stress levels of trying to take orders and dish out burgers are through the roof.

A high capacity music venue
Imagine all the work that's involved in setting up a major stage production. The Lights, audio, choreography, and people. Everyone's going through something in their personal life and they have to leave the baggage at home and focus on the performance.

The case for using a background on video calls

I used to be a purist about video call backgrounds. The effect sometimes looks obvious. I know most computers couldn't possibly handle the processing power to perfectly detect people vs backgrounds but it always felt distracting seeing body parts of callers getting cut off. If this happened on a TV show or movie, you'd be completely taken out of the story.

I told myself some day I'd just hook up a nice camera with a proper shallow depth of field lens to hide my cluttered background. That will probably never happen. I don't have the money and space for such a long term setup.

Then it clicked. Maybe backgrounds aren't really about hiding a cluttered background. I don't think I would ever use a fake background at the office but what if using a background while working at home was a nice barrier to help keep work life and personal life separate.

I come from a company that prides itself on being a family company but why should I have access into the homes of other people. For all I know the corporate overlords are also peaking into video calls as well. Should they be given access to my home?

I've come up with a middle ground that's kind of silly but also feels like nothing's changed. I took a picture of my space and added digital noise.

It's the same image you'd normally but I don't have to worry about my cat walking by or reflections in the mirror. The noise obscures the room a bit but I might have to tweak this or take a new picture 6 months from now when the sun starts rising from a different angle and the exposure of my face looks very off.

Re: YouTube Premium price hike

It is true. I've given up Netflix and Disney Plus. There's just no way I'm giving up YouTube.

I use YouTube for entertainment and research.

The other day I was putting together some furniture from Ikea. The paper instructions aren't great but lo and behold someone had already done the hard work of demonstrating how to assembly this furniture and documented the process on YouTube.

It is unfortunate that YouTube is basically a monopoly for everything. Vlogging, movie trailers, recipes, tutorials. Twitch is a strong competitor for gaming live streaming though.

source: https://9to5google.com/2026/04/12/youtube-premium-price-hike-2/

Company Retreat

I can't believe they did it again.

The show really hit home for me. I know exactly what it means to be in a family company that is on the verge of being acquired.

I wasn't sure if the finale was going to be as emotional as the first season's but once Stephanie Hodge spoke about the challenges of being an older actor, I really lost it. It wasn't a messy sobbing but I did realize how much I had become engaged in the characters in this story.

It's short and worth the journey. What more can I say?

Also, the name isn't Work Retreat! I've been saying that this whole time.

trailer