Chinese robotics firm UBTech has unveiled the U1, a full-sized, hyper-realistic humanoid robot designed specifically to combat loneliness.

Marketed under the company’s new “UWorld” brand, the U1 is designed to be an “always loyal” companion – though for many the effect is more unsettling than heartwarming.

The U1 is undeniably striking. Featuring soft, lifelike silicone skin, real hair, and manicured nails, the robots are built to mimic human appearance with startling accuracy.  They are equipped with 88 independent sensors and servo joints, allowing for fluid, human-like movement.

However, the technology struggles to shake a lingering sense of unease. With cameras embedded directly into the eyes to track users, and AI designed to mimic human conversation, the overall effect is more like interacting with an overly elaborate pop-star action figure, than a genuine companion.

UBTech is clearly aiming for the luxury market, offering a range of customisation options that allow owners to tailor the robot’s appearance (including hair, face, and outfits) to resemble celebrities, fictional characters or loved ones.

Premium price tag

The price tag for such “unconditional” companionship is steep too. The basic U1 model starts at 119,800 yuan (approximately £12,700 or $17,600), while the “Ultra” version, which boasts more advanced features and deeper customisation, climbs to 990,000 yuan (around £105,000 or $145,700). Recent reports suggest that some early pre-order tiers were positioned around the $30,000 mark.

UBTech is primarily targeting the “colossal market” of single people and the elderly in China, who the company identifies as having a profound need for companionship. Despite the impressive engineering, UBTech has been clear about the robot’s limitations: it cannot cook, clean, or perform domestic chores. The company also states that, for now, the robots are not intended for ‘intimate relationships’.

The U1 is capable of reminding users to take medication, spotting potential health concerns, or even “watching” a sports match with its owner. Privacy concerns (a common anxiety surrounding AI) are addressed by UBTech through local hardware encryption, meaning emotional data and memory logs are stored on the device rather than in a corporate cloud.

With over 13,000 pre-orders already placed, the U1 is set to begin shipping in mid-September. Whether these robots become the essential companions of the future or remain a niche, eerie curiosity remains to be seen. I’m going with the latter though.

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Ford says it has hired back some human engineers

If you own a movie on a Blu-ray, short of someone breaking into your house and running off with it, you own it forever. That’s not the case with digital purchases, of course, and this latest story is a timely reminder of why some PS5 fans are so frustrated with Rockstar’s decision to ship GTA 6 as a code in a box. If you’re in Europe and you bought any of the 550+ movies distributed by Studio Canal, then you’re out of luck. They will be permanently deleted from your account on 1st September, 2026. In a legal notice on its website, the Japanese giant blamed “content licensing agreements” for the removal. Among the movies being removed are Terminator 2 and Total Recall. Push

Polestar has confirmed that the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security has banned it from selling vehicles in the country from the 2027 model year onwards. Yikes. The ban relates to the new ‘Connected Vehicle Rule’ that will restrict the sale of new cars with both hardware and software linked to China or Russia. Polestar is owned by Geely, with the 2, 4 and new 5 saloon all built in China. The 3 SUV is actually built in the US, but still won’t be allowed to remain on sale in 2027. Top Gear

Shell’s tiny Triple 10 Challenge Concept car charges very quickly, has excellent efficiency, and promises to reduce its carbon footprint by half compared to today’s European EVs. However, the really important part is the fluid that makes it work. The big innovation with this one-off study is how it cools its battery, which is completely different from how everybody else does it. It features a cooling system that, unlike in most other EVs, where the battery cells are indirectly cooled, uses a different coolant that can safely come into contact with high-voltage parts. InsideEVs

Hot on the heels of its record IPO, SpaceX’s massive $25 billion bond issuance was met with heavy selling in the secondary market. The aggressive financing pace of the chronically loss-making rocket and artificial intelligence company quickly backfired on investor confidence, causing its bond spreads to widen sharply, pushing them close to speculative-grade (i.e., “junk”) levels. As of Friday, SpaceX corporate bonds went from “red-hot demand” on the books to a full-blown rout within just 48 hours of pricing. PA News 

Sharp has announced its first smartwatch, and it comes with a feature that’s unlike anything offered by Apple, Garmin or Samsung. The new Karada Mate Watch claims to automatically estimate calorie intake using a bioelectrical impedance sensor. Developed with California-based health technology company HEALBE, the system measures changes in the body’s water movement and sugar levels to estimate how much you’ve eaten throughout the day. T3.com

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Image Credit: Tim Gouw from Unsplash.

Everyone wants to live a healthier life, but quite a few people think this has to be a major overhaul to their life. But, that isn’t always the case. More than a few smaller changes can be more manageable while still having a significant impact on your health.

Four of these could be worth starting off with because of the impact they’ll have.

Manage Your Mental Health

While your physical health is vital, it doesn’t mean it’s the only area to focus on. You’ll need to consider your mental health, too. This is directly responsible for how you feel every day. Put the time and effort into this even when you don’t experience any mental health issues. Thankfully, this doesn’t have to be hard.

Spending time with good people, doing activities you enjoy, and similar steps can all be recommended. And there’s plenty of professional help for when you’re experiencing mental health issues, too.

Have a Better Diet

Just like exercising, your diet is another one of the more obvious areas to focus on. But, it doesn’t need to be nearly as much of a change as you’d think. Making a few healthy food swaps or changes could be more than enough to help, and these don’t always need to be large as you would’ve thought.

And then there’s the likes of collagen peptides and similar supplements you can look into. While you’ll need to do your research and find the right ones for you, there’s no reason why these couldn’t help as time goes on.

Control Your Stress Levels

Stress is all-too common for most people, and you could get this from quite a few parts of your life. If you don’t deal with this properly, it could end up having a significant impact on your health. It can lead to cardiovascular issues and can be linked to anxiety and more than a few other areas.

Thankfully, controlling your stress levels doesn’t have to be nearly as hard as you’d think. Even small acts like taking a walk or meditating for a while could be enough to help. It’s just a matter of being consistent with it.

See Your Doctor

While you’ll know how your body feels every day, it doesn’t always mean you know how healthy you are. Instead, you’ll have a general idea or not. That’s why it’s worth going out of your way to see your doctor every once in a while. It helps make sure you’re as healthy as you should be.

If you aren’t, your doctor should be able to catch potential issues early, helping avoid a lot of stress and hassle in time. Since an early diagnosis can be vital for more than a few conditions, it’s always worth getting regular checkups from your doctor.

It doesn’t take a lot to live a healthier life. Focusing on the right areas and being consistent should be more than enough to start off on the right foot. It shouldn’t have to be as hard as you’d think.

The post 4 Essential Tips to Live a Healthier Life (Without Too Much Work) appeared first on ShinyShiny.

Most people, myself included, are far more familiar with seeing Frida Kahlo’s face on everything from tea towels to tote bags than we are with her actual artwork.

The Tate Modern exhibition, Frida: The Making of an Icon, running from 25 June 2026 to 3 January 2027, aims to shift this perception by exploring her artwork and influence since her death. Breaking records as the Tate’s highest-pre-selling exhibition ever, with over 41,000 tickets sold, it reflects an unprecedented level of interest in the artist.

And yet it features just 33 works from the artist herself compared to around 200 from other artists who were inspired by her – including Tracey Emin and Ana Mendieta, both of whom have their own Tate exhibitions this year.

Early life

To understand this enduring icon, the exhibition first explores how her painting career actually began. Kahlo was an aspiring medical student at the elite Preparatoria in Mexico City, where she was one of only a small group of women.

During this time, she was part of an intellectual group of radical students, writers and poets known for causing trouble. Her journey into painting came at the age of 18 when she suffered a horrific accident when a tram she was riding was hit by a bus. Confined to her bed for over eight months, she turned to the canvas to express her reality, ultimately shaping her into the artist she later became.

A pivotal early work from this period of recovery is her 1926 Self-portrait in Velvet Dress (pictured above). Kahlo painted this work as a gift for her then-boyfriend, Alejandro Gómez Arias, who was about to embark on a trip to Europe that would keep him away for nearly a year. Beyond its personal sentiment as a “forget-me-not,” the painting highlights her early ambition. Though self-taught, she produced a sophisticated work that demonstrated her desire to be seen as an intellectual and an avant-garde painter.

Dressed in an open, low-cut velvet robe, she presents herself as a sensual woman while simultaneously signalling her deep knowledge of European art, specifically referencing the styles of Botticelli and Modigliani.

Limited works

However, visitors expecting a comprehensive retrospective may be surprised by the limited number of Kahlo’s own works on display. The exhibition features no more than 33 of her paintings – a notable decrease from the 80 works showcased in the Tate’s 2005 Kahlo exhibition.

Understandably, this has drawn criticism from many reviewers, including Chloë Ashby in The Independent who wrote “it’s hard not to feel cheated” when confronted with secondary reworkings, such as Rosalie Favell’s 2003 interpretation of Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair, in place of the originals.

Co-curator Tobias Ostrander explains that this scarcity is due to the difficulty of securing loans in the current climate. Kahlo is currently the world’s most expensive female artist at auction, with works like her 1940 piece El sueño (La cama) (The Dream) selling for $54.7m last year. Owners are increasingly protective, as evidenced by a collector who withdrew a promised loan upon falling ill because she felt she “couldn’t live without” her Frida.

Furthermore, conservation concerns regarding the delicacy of her works have led to protests against loaning them internationally, as seen with recent disputes in Mexico. Ostrander notes that this protective connection mirrors Kahlo’s own life, where her paintings served as “surrogate selves” to be with friends and lovers when her health prevented her from travelling.

Political convictions

Instead, the exhibition features 200 works by other artists to fill out the narrative, placing Kahlo’s influence in dialogue with her contemporaries and successors as her reputation grew following her death in 1954.

Nor does the exhbition shy away from the political convictions that coloured her life and work. As a committed communist, Kahlo’s home became a sanctuary for political refugees, most notably former Soviet revolutionary Leon Trotsky. Her relationship with the revolutionary, including a brief affair in 1937, adds layers of intrigue to her history, particularly as he lived under her roof before his eventual murder with an ice pick.

The narrative effectively traces her posthumous rise, specifically detailing how the US Chicana/o movement of the late 1960s adopted her as a symbol of cultural pride and political resistance. The exhibition reveals that she is as much a subject as she is a source of inspiration, with sections featuring the work of creators such as Nahúm B. Zenil, Georgina Quintana, Tracey Emin and Ana Mendieta. All of these artists utilised the visual language Kahlo pioneered to interrogate themes such as national ideals, patriarchal structures and gender norms.

Ultimately, Frida: The Making of an Icon asks how we might reframe her story for the modern world. As art historian Katy Hessel notes, Kahlo stands apart from historical female archetypes, such as Venus or the Virgin Mary, by crafting herself into an icon on her own terms.

By pairing her paintings with those of her contemporaries and successors, the exhibition demonstrates that Kahlo’s legacy isn’t just a historical footnote, but a force that continues to shape contemporary art. However, fans who are expecting to see more of her own artwork, and less of those from people she influenced, will be left feeling disappointed. 

RATING: 4/5

Frida: The Making of an Icon, is showing at Tate Modern London from 25 June 2026 to 3 January 2027

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The Met Office has issued an unprecedented Red Extreme Heat Warning for parts of the UK, with temperatures threatening to shatter historical records by climbing toward a blistering 40°C.

To cope, a single fan will no longer suffice. Instead, Brits need a multi-layered strategy. Commuters facing the stifling, subterranean heat of the London Underground require high-tech, personal cooling gear, while those working or sleeping at home need powerful tower and circulation fans to keep air moving. Conveniently, this extreme weather coincides with Amazon Prime Day (running from June 23 to June 26), offering a prime opportunity to grab top-tier cooling tech at a discount.

Below we look at six essential fans to help you survive the heatwave.

1. Sony Reon Pocket 5

• • Type: Wearable Personal Climate Control

  • Price: Around £139–£169

  • Where to Buy: Ebay

For anyone braving public transport or the London Underground during this 40°C furnace, standard handheld fans just push hot air around. The Sony Reon Pocket 5 is a wearable device that sits discreetly at the back of your neck. It operates like a personal air conditioner, using a thermo-module to directly cool the skin. Controlled via a smartphone app, it automatically senses ambient temperature and adjusts its cooling intensity. It is the ultimate commuting hack, ensuring you arrive at your destination dry and comfortable despite the oppressive humidity outside.

2. Dyson HushJet Mini Cool

• Type: Premium Portable Fan

• Price: Around £299

• Where to Buy: Dyson UK Official

Dyson’s latest compact offering, the HushJet Mini Cool scales down the brand’s legendary aerodynamic engineering into a desktop-friendly footprint. Perfect for home offices or bedside tables during brutal tropical nights, as well as for use on public transport, it uses a high-velocity, bladeless design to project a smooth, uninterrupted stream of chilled airflow. It features an incredibly precise sleep timer and an ultra-quiet night mode designed specifically not to disrupt light sleepers. While it represents a premium financial investment, its energy efficiency and targeted high-velocity performance make it a luxurious necessity for home working.

3. Dreo Cruiser Pro T1 Tower Fan

• Type: Bladeless Oscillating Tower Fan

• Price: Around £60–£80 (Look out for Prime Day discounts)

• Where to Buy: Amazon UK

If you need a whole-room cooling solution that doesn’t dominate your living room space, this Dreo bladeless tower fan is an excellent Amazon choice. Boasting a massive 90-degree oscillation angle and a clear LED status display, it distributes a rapid breeze across tight spaces and wider living rooms alike. It features four distinct speed settings and a dedicated night mode that drops noise levels down significantly. It is highly sought after during Amazon Prime Day due to its exceptional balance of smart features, quiet operation and affordable mid-range pricing.

4. MeacoFan Sefte 10-Inch Table Air Circulator

• Type: High-Efficiency Desk/Table Fan

• Price: Around £119

• Where to Buy: Amazon UK

Consistently reviewed as one of the best overall fans for typical British homes, the MeacoFan Sefte is a true air circulator. Rather than simply blowing air at your face, it bounces a deep column of air off walls and ceilings to cool the entire room. Operating at a whisper-quiet 25dB on its lower settings, it won’t interrupt your sleep or TV viewing. Crucially, it consumes a mere 22.5W on maximum power, costing less than 1p per hour to run. This energy efficiency is vital when running a fan continuously during consecutive tropical nights.

5. Honeywell TurboForce HT900E

• Type: Budget Air Circulator

• Price: Around £39 (Regularly discounted on Prime Day)

• Where to Buy: Amazon UK

If you need immediate relief without breaking the bank, the Honeywell TurboForce is a legendary budget workhorse. This compact, heavy-duty floor or table fan features a 90-degree variable tilt head, allowing you to direct the airflow exactly where you need it. Despite its small, unassuming frame, it packs a massive punch and can easily clear out pockets of stagnant, muggy air from small bedrooms or offices. Its simple, robust mechanical design makes it incredibly reliable and an absolute must for bargain hunters during summer sales.

6. Levoit Silent Tower Fan (36-Inch)

• Type: Smart Tower Fan

• Price: Around £70–£90 (currently £66 on Prime Day offer)

• Where to Buy: Amazon UK

The Levoit 36-Inch Silent Tower Fan is a fantastic Prime Day option for those seeking a modern, slimline solution for narrow hallways or bedrooms. It features an advanced internal sensor that tracks ambient temperature and automatically scales the fan speed up or down to save energy. With an impressively quiet sleep mode that dims the display completely, it helps maintain a comfortable environment without waking you up. It provides a steady, powerful airflow while occupying minimal floor space, making it perfect for space-conscious apartments.

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Oracle shed about 21,000 roles globally

Powerful AI models capable of devastating new cyber attacks on governments and businesses are mere months away, intelligence agencies for the Five Eyes have warned in a rare joint statement, urging leaders to “act now”. The surprising public intervention by signals agencies for Australia, the US, the UK, New Zealand and Canada comes after the Trump administration earlier this month decided to block “foreign nationals” from using a much-hyped AI model built by tech company Anthropic, called Fable. The statement, issued late on Monday night, Sydney time, said while AI “would help us improve cyber defence over time, it also accelerates the speed, scale, and sophistication of cyber threats”. The Guardian 

A teenager who paralysed Transport for London (TfL) with a £39m hack is wanted in the US in connection with cyber-scams worth £87m. Thalha Jubair, 19, pleaded guilty on Monday to compromising TfL’s systems in the August 2024 attack that left Tube services suspended. The joint British and Bangladeshi citizen, who has autism and “rarely goes out”, appeared at Woolwich Crown Court alongside Owen Flowers, 18, who also admitted the offence. Jubair, from Bow, east London, was charged in November 2025 in New Jersey over allegations of extorting at least £87m through hacks on 47 American companies and organisations between 2022 and 2025. Telegraph

UK consumer association Which? has been granted permission to proceed with a massive £3 billion opt-out collective lawsuit against Apple, potentially securing payouts for up to 39.7 million UK customers. The Competition Appeal Tribunal issued a Collective Proceedings Order (CPO), officially allowing the landmark competition claim to move forward.

Which? alleges that Apple breached UK competition law by abusing its market dominance to give its own iCloud storage service preferential treatment. Tech Digest

SpaceX shares fell more than 4% in premarket trading on Tuesday, following a $400 billion sell-off on Monday as a post-debut rally fizzled out. The space and AI company saw huge gains after a record-breaking IPO on June 12, briefly surpassing Amazon and Microsoft in market capitalization, before falling back below both as sentiment cooled. The stock tanked 16% on Monday, following drops of 3.6% and 5% the previous two days of trading. SpaceX’s market cap was $2 trillion at close on Monday. CNBC

Sony’s lineup of Reon personal cooling devices is one of the most curious tech initiatives that I can remember seeing from any company of a decent size in recent years. After all, I’d just about get it if the Reon had had one or two versions, but it seems to get an annual update to bring new features and design touches, suggesting that someone at Sony really does value it. Whether that’s an executive with a personal mission, or whether it’s because the cooling devices are selling way more than I might assume in a given year, I won’t likely know anytime soon. T3.com

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Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said that the company could raise the prices of some of its products due to the ongoing memory shortage, which has led to higher memory prices. While Apple hasn’t revealed how much its products will cost, a new report by The Wall Street Journal and research firm TechInsights estimates the price of the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro

TechInsights‘ research suggests Apple had a 47% profit margin on the base iPhone 17 Pro with 256GB of storage, priced at $1,099 in the US. If Apple maintains the same profit margin on the iPhone 18 Pro, it would have to charge $1,371 for the smartphone. However, after standard pricing adjustments, the base iPhone 18 Pro could cost $1,299, yielding a 44% gross profit. GSM Arena

Cassettes are going the way of vinyl, with sales up 53 per cent last year in the UK, hitting 164,000 units. This is not solely a British phenomenon – 446,500 tapes were sold in the US in the same year, an increase of 17.5 per cent year-on-year.Which got me thinking. Could we see the OG portable cassette player, the Walkman, make a comeback? And not as a Walkman-branded phone or digital music player, but as a proper, bona fide tape player? As the proud owner of at least two Walkmans during my childhood, I certainly hope so. WhatHiFi

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Platforms, India’s largest wireless operator and digital service provider, filed draft papers for an initial public offering on Friday. The IPO will see the company issue up to 270 million shares, as per an exchange filing. Jio Platforms said in its draft prospectus that funds raised will be used to pare the debt of the company’s subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm, which is India’s largest wireless operator. CNBC 

Honor has launched the Watch 6, a new smartwatch designed to combine a lightweight design, advanced fitness tracking, and an unusually long battery life of up to 35 days.At the core of the Honor Watch 6 is a design that leans into a more sporty, performance-inspired look – Honor calls it a Racing Dashboard Design. The watch features a lightweight, recyclable aluminium alloy body weighing just 41g, along with bevelled edges and a sandblasted finish to give it a more premium texture. Nevertheless, it remains suitable for everyday wear. Trusted Reviews 

Yann LeCun, one of the scientists credited as a ‘godfather’ of artificial intelligence, has called Elon Musk’s xAI ‘kind of a failure’ and said it will not be able to compete with OpenAI or Anthropic. The French-American researcher, a 2018 Turing Award winner and former chief AI scientist at Meta, made the comments to CNBC. His remarks reignited a long-running feud with Musk and raised questions about the valuations of the sector’s biggest companies. They come days after SpaceX, which now owns xAI, completed the largest stock-market listing on record, with OpenAI and Anthropic also preparing public debuts. IBT

The post GTA6 details released, basic iPhone 18 Pro could cost $1299 appeared first on ShinyShiny.

Most people know their height, weight and shoe size off by heart.

Ask them about their cholesterol, vitamin D level or fasting glucose, though, and you’ll get a shoulder shrug. Bad sign. Those numbers will tell you exactly what’s going on in your body before you even feel symptoms.

The good news?

Most can be detected with just a quick finger-prick/blood test that takes LESS than 10 minutes. No guessing. No waiting weeks for results.

Here’s the thing…

Just a few key numbers can reveal heart disease, hormone imbalances and nutrient deficiencies before you would have noticed yourself.

Here are your 6 numbers to watch, what they mean and why you should care.

What’s inside:

• Why These Numbers Matter
• The 6 Numbers Worth Knowing
• How To Check Them At Home

Why These Numbers Matter

Most chronic diseases develop gradually. You feel great for years before one day one simple test shows you’ve had a silent problem.

Cholesterol is the classic example.

It has no symptoms. None. The CDC states that 11.3% of adults have high total cholesterol. Most don’t know they have it until they have a problem.

This is true for vitamin D. This is true for cortisol, thyroid hormones and blood sugar. A number may not feel like it is out of range, but the repercussions will sure be felt later.

That is why regularly having a vitamin D blood test along with a handful of other essential tests is one of the best things you can do for your long-term health. Which is also why services like One Day Tests are becoming so popular. They allow you to order a vitamin D blood test (along with many others) without needing a doctors referral and get quick results.

Now let’s break down the 6 numbers that actually matter.

The 6 Numbers Worth Knowing

1. Total Cholesterol (And LDL)

Cholesterol is split into two main types:

• LDL — the “bad” kind that can clog up your arteries
• HDL — the “good” kind that helps clear it out

Ideally, your total cholesterol should be below 200 mg/dL. Over 240 mg/dL is high, meaning you’re at risk for heart attack and stroke.

The scary part?

One thing to remember about cholesterol… THERE ARE NO WARNING SIGNS WHATSOEVER. You can only find out your number through a blood test. Your doctor should be checking it every 4-6 years or more often if there’s a history of heart disease in your family.

2. Vitamin D

Vitamin D helps support your bones, immune system, mood and daily energy.

And deficiency is everywhere.

Approximately 35% of US adults suffer from Vitamin D deficiency. This number is even higher for those who spend most of their time indoors or live in colder climates.

A single vitamin D blood test (25-hydroxyvitamin D test) will show you where you stand:

• Below 20 ng/mL — deficient
• 20–30 ng/mL — insufficient
• 30–50 ng/mL — sufficient
• 50–80 ng/mL — optimal

A low number can typically be normalized with a daily intake of 1,000–4,000 IU within a matter of months. Along with 15 minutes of sun exposure daily most folks will notice significant improvements right away.

3. Fasting Blood Glucose (And HbA1c)

This one is all about blood sugar.

Fasting glucose represents your blood sugar after not eating overnight. HbA1c reflects your average blood sugar over the last 3 months. Both fasting glucose and HbA1c are used to identify prediabetes and type 2 diabetes early.

Healthy ranges look like this:

• Fasting glucose: under 100 mg/dL
• HbA1c: under 5.7%

Diagnosing prediabetes early can make all the difference. Changes in lifestyle can completely reverse it. Once diabetes sets in, you’re in for a rude awakening.

4. Cortisol

Cortisol is your main stress hormone.

Its cycle is diurnal — peaks in the morning, dips at night. If that cycle gets disrupted, you know it:

• Tired but wired
• Trouble falling asleep
• Belly fat that won’t budge
• Brain fog and low motivation

Anything that causes chronic stress like lack of sleep or overtraining can cause cortisol imbalance. Having a saliva or blood test done multiple times throughout the day paints the clearest picture.

5. Thyroid (TSH, T3 and T4)

Your thyroid runs your metabolism.

When your thyroid is sluggish (hypothyroid), life comes at you in slow motion. Weight gain, exhaustion, cold hands and flaky skin are just some of the symptoms. An overactive thyroid (hyperthyroid) has the opposite effect – heart palpitations, sudden weight loss, and anxiety.

The first value you want to look at is TSH. If that’s abnormal (typically outside the range of about 0.4-4.0 mIU/L), then typically you will check T3/T4 to determine what’s causing the problem. Women over 40 are particularly susceptible and should get their thyroid tested every few years.

6. Iron And Ferritin

Iron is what your body uses to carry oxygen around in your blood.

Low iron leads to:

• Constant tiredness
• Pale skin
• Shortness of breath when climbing stairs
• Hair loss

Ferritin is your stored form of iron. It tends to be the FIRST number to go down. Especially watch in women, vegetarians and endurance athletes. Get it checked at least yearly.

How To Check Them At Home

You don’t have to miss half of work and sit in a waiting room to get these stats.

Order an at-home blood test kit online these days, prick your finger, mail it back to them, and they’ll send you results within a few days. Most offer the panels listed above — cholesterol, vitamin D blood test, HbA1c, thyroid, cortisol, iron.

A few tips before testing:

• Fast for 8–12 hours before any glucose or cholesterol test
• Test cortisol in the morning (around 8 a.m.) for the most accurate reading
• Re-test every 6–12 months to spot trends and changes over time

It’s not about checking once and never looking again. It’s about establishing your own baseline and monitoring your numbers as they change.

Bringing It All Together

Knowing your numbers puts you in the driver’s seat.

Stop guessing. Stop going on how you “feel” (which is deceptive). And detect issues early when they’re fixable.

To quickly recap, the 6 numbers worth knowing are:

• Total cholesterol (and LDL/HDL)
• Vitamin D (via a vitamin D blood test)
• Fasting glucose and HbA1c
• Cortisol
• Thyroid (TSH, T3, T4)
• Iron and ferritin

Pick one to start with. Get it tested. Then build from there.

Small numbers. Big difference.

The post From Cholesterol To Cortisol: 6 Numbers Worth Knowing About Your Body appeared first on ShinyShiny.

Encouraging Low-Cost Low Emissions Vehicles

Implementing an employee incentive program that encourages them to switch to electric cars will be the best method to decrease emissions from daily commutes. Companies can implement this as a no-net-cost initiative on the company’s balance sheet. The idea of a corporate-administered salary reduction plan allows companies to offer employees a leasing option for clean vehicles utilising their pre-tax pounds, thereby greatly lowering the individual tax liability of each member. To rapidly increase the number of people participating in these types of plans, there are several different platforms, such as The Electric Car Scheme, which handle the administrative burden, manage risk protections, and ensure the entire benefit operates with complete cost neutrality to the employer.

Capitalising On Existing Office Infrastructure

The most commercially viable option to provide electric car charge points at the workplace is to work in conjunction with third-party companies that have the resources and expertise to install and manage charging units as part of their commercial charging network. The employee will be able to view and pay for all the energy consumed using a mobile app, which will create a self-funding environment separate from the organisation’s operating budgets. This model transforms an organisation’s potentially costly capital expense into a self-funded utility.

Promoting Optimal Use Of Working Hours And Hybrid Work Models

Reducing carbon emissions through reduced travel time is the least expensive. Companies should review their internal schedules to maximise remote working days, thus reducing the size of their scope 3 footprint. Once travel to the office is required again, structured route-sharing opportunities can be implemented as a natural follow-up. Grouping employees based on geographic location enables them to easily find others travelling to similar locations and share transportation. Both options help to decrease the number of single-passenger trips taken per day.

Cultivate Long-Term Active Travel Habits

Active transportation options thrive within a supportive environment. Creating safe and dry places to store bikes and showers for employees creates the physical structure needed to enable them to safely cycle or walk to work. Supporting those physical structures with tax-free bike purchase plans empowers employees to choose active transportation options because of their convenience. A long-term sustainable commuting culture develops when these structural elements support each other.

Sustainable Paths To Net-Zero Transportation

Real environmental leadership requires finding efficient structures. Using tax incentives provided by governments, selecting managed infrastructure models and supporting flexible operational scheduling processes can empower businesses to reduce their environmental impact now. True progress requires developing scalable, practical models that preserve capital funds while providing measurable carbon savings across the workforce.

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Snapchat’s parent company, Snap Inc., has unveiled its new augmented reality (AR) smart glasses, a decade after its original hardware push resulted in significant financial losses. Unveiled by chief executive Evan Spiegel at the Augmented World Expo in California, the eyewear, named SPECS, represents a strategic move toward standalone wearable technology. Priced at £1,995 in the UK and $2,195 in the US, pre-orders have opened with a $200 refundable deposit ahead of shipping this autumn. SPECS feature see-through lenses powered by an AI assistant and dual Snapdragon processors, allowing users to play AR games, get directions, watch videos, and overlay digital elements onto the physical world. Tech Digest

SpaceX has overtaken Amazon to become the world’s fifth most valuable company days after its stock market debut. The milestone came as Elon Musk’s company agreed to buy the startup behind the AI-powered coding app Cursor for $60bn (£44bn), in an attempt to capitalise on the technology’s success as a coding tool. SpaceX is the parent of Musk’s AI business, xAI, which will be able to boost its capabilities in an area – AI systems writing code – that has proven to be a strong commercial success for Anthropic, the rival company behind the Claude chatbot. The Guardian 

Roblox has revealed new safety measures, just as the government announces it will ban under-16s from social media and potentially some gaming platforms… like Roblox.  The company insists its new measures are simply a response to feedback that “Roblox was complicated” and are not an attempt to avoid being banned in the UK or elsewhere. The new accounts are rolling out globally today and were first announced in April. But the timing is, for Roblox, a happy coincidence – one we have seen repeatedly of late. Sky News

At last, Sonos is making some real progress fixing its mobile app. A major refresh is due this week, which should make it a lot more intuitive to use. If you’re late to the party, let us fill you in. Back in April 2024, Sonos redesigned its app to coincide with the launch of the Ace, its first pair of wireless headphones. It was a disaster – the new app was buggy, and lacked a lot of the old one’s features. (It didn’t help that the headphones weren’t much cop either.) WhatHiFi

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will keep building petrol-powered Range Rovers and bet big on the US in a further retreat from its plans to roll out electric cars. The British company said it would focus on “propulsion flexibility” as part of a strategy rethink under PB Balaji, its new boss. Mr Balaji stressed there was “no way” JLR would phase out petrol vehicles because they remained popular in the US and the Middle East, although Jaguar would still be an all-electric brand. Telegraph 

Microsoft is launching the new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, now powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 chips. The Surface Pro 13″ comes in Platinum, Black, and Dune colorways, and the company says it “combines the flexibility of a tablet with the capability of full Windows”.

It starts at $1,499 and uses the Snapdragon X2 Plus (10 Core) or Snapdragon X2 Elite (12 Core). It has a 13-inch touchscreen (optionally OLED) with up to 120Hz refresh rate, 16 to 64GB of RAM, 256GB to 1TB of storage, Wi-Fi 7, and battery life is rated at up to 15.5 hours of local video playback. If you max everything out the price reaches an uncanny $3,549. GSM Arena 

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