Pinwheel Sandwich Recipe

Pinwheel sandwiches are a fun, colorful and easy finger food snack. I often make them when I want something light but filling, especially on warm days. These small rolls look impressive but come together with simple ingredients. You can customize the Pinwheel Sandwich fillings based on what you have at home. Kids also enjoy them...

READ: Pinwheel Sandwich Recipe

Bjarke Smith-Meyer / Politico:
Nikita Bier accuses the European Commission of trying to deceptively amplify the reach of its post about the €120M fine on X; X terminates the EC's ad account  —  Nikita Bier, X's head of product, accused the EU executive of trying to amplify its own social media post about the fine on X by trying …

There are plenty of well-known models among the 8-bit machines of the 1980s, and most readers could rattle them off without a thought. They were merely the stars among a plethora of others, and even for a seasoned follower of the retrocomputing world, there are fresh models from foreign markets that continue to surprise and delight. [Dave Collins] is treating us to an in-depth look at the VTech VZ-200, a budget machine that did particularly well in Asian markets. On the way, we learn a lot about a very cleverly designed machine.

The meat of the design centres not around the Z80 microprocessor or the 6847 video chip, but the three 74LS chips handling both address decoding and timing for video RAM access. That they managed this with only three devices is the exceptionally clever part. While there are some compromises similar to other minimalist machines in what memory ranges can be addressed, they are not sufficient to derail the experience.

Perhaps the most ingenuity comes in using not just the logic functions of the chips, but their timings. The designers of this circuit really knew the devices and used them to their full potential. Here in 2025, this is something novice designers using FPGAs have to learn; back then, it was learned the hard way on the breadboard.

All in all, it’s a fascinating read from a digital logic perspective as much as a retrocomputing one. If you want more, it seems this isn’t the only hacker-friendly VTech machine.

John Dalton, CC BY-SA 3.0.

We answer questions about replacing long HDMI runs with wireless extender options, diagnosing YouTube TV lag on a TCL set, and whether plasma TVs still make sense today.

The post You Asked: Wireless HDMI ideas and a surprisingly old-school TV question appeared first on Digital Trends.

Streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music give you access to hundreds of millions of songs, but they're quite restrictive in how you can use them. They may not include some of the music you want to listen to, and you may not be able to play those streaming services through some of your speakers. Music Assistant allows you to play music from a wide range of sources on almost any speaker in your home.

Driving today is all about balancing focusing on the road while trying to handle all the other things that happen when you are navigating busy streets. Waze understands that the best way to make roads safer and get the most efficiency is by letting drivers chat with the app.

2025 is the year I bought both a Nintendo Switch 2 and a Samsung Galaxy XR headset, but my favorite tech purchase isn’t either of those things. That would, surprisingly, be a night light. But this isn’t just any night light.

The latest market conditions have pushed hopes of an altcoin season even further out of reach. Bitcoin continues to dominate the market with a 59.6% share, and its recent struggle to hold bullish momentum has not translated into any meaningful boost for altcoins. 

Broader sentiment has weakened as well, with the CMC Altcoin Season Index registering just 20, which still places the entire market in a Bitcoin-favored phase. Meanwhile, a critical indication has been detected from on-chain data that suggests this may be a rare moment to accumulate strong altcoin positions before conditions eventually turn.

Altcoins Stay Subdued As Market Sentiment Worsens

Altcoin performance has really been lagging behind Bitcoin throughout this year, and the persistent weakness is now being reflected across multiple market indicators. Bitcoin’s dominance has only increased, meaning the capital rotation that typically sparks an altcoin season has yet to begin. 

The wait for an altcoin breakout has now stretched far longer than many anticipated. Even as the Bitcoin price is struggling, traders have not redirected liquidity toward altcoins. The leading cryptocurrency is now down by 28.9% from its October all-time high of $126,080. Instead, altcoins have also stayed muted, and their combined market cap shows no signs of outperforming the leading cryptocurrency. 

Data from CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index shows the reading is currently at 20. The low reading shows that altcoins are still losing ground relative to Bitcoin. To put this into context, the index was at a reading of 83 this time last year. 

The sentiment is also evident in CoinMarketCap’s Fear and Greed Index, which is now at 22. Readings this low signal hesitation across the market, as investors shy away from taking new positions, and this environment makes an altcoin season much harder to materialize.

CryptoQuant Data Signals A High-Value Accumulation Window

Technical analysis using data from on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant shows that altcoin traders may be entering another window that has frequently been favorable for accumulation. The data compares the 30-day trading volume of altcoins against their yearly average and finds that current volumes have slipped back below that long-term line. 

Each time this pattern has appeared in past cycles, it marked a period when activity was unusually quiet and traders were hesitant, but it also tended to show up just before the market picked up again.

According to the analysis, this drop in volume can be called a “buying zone,” which is a phase where dollar-cost averaging into selective altcoins has often paid off over time. These low-volume stretches can last for weeks or even months, giving investors enough room to build their positions gradually.

The message from the data is that this calmer part of the cycle may offer one of the better chances to position ahead of the next broader market move.

Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView

The long-running question about whether another cryptocurrency can truly match what Bitcoin represents has resurfaced, and Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz has stepped forward to offer his opinion. 

His comments were based on an argument claiming that Bitcoin’s properties could be copied by simply recreating its code. This, in turn, was based on comments regarding a debate between Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff.

Inside The Zhao-Schiff Debate On Bitcoin’s Value

During their discussion at the Binance Blockchain Week, Schiff stated that a token backed by gold is grounded in physical utility because the token merely represents ownership of a scarce commodity used by industries across the world. He contrasted this with Bitcoin, which he claimed derives its value from faith and has no practical use. 

Zhao countered by pointing out that even physical gold is difficult to divide or verify without additional processes, noting that he once received a gold bar as a gift but could not break it or confirm its purity without specialized tools. He contrasted this directly with Bitcoin, which can be transferred and verified instantly through the blockchain.

Again, Schiff responded by insisting that Bitcoin remains worthless to him because you can’t do anything with it, while gold carries intrinsic industrial demand. Zhao pushed back by highlighting that Bitcoin’s utility is tied to its transparent network, fixed supply, and verifiable ownership. He argued that unlike gold, whose total global reserves are uncertain, Bitcoin offers perfect clarity about supply and movement. 

The debate eventually escalated into a broader argument over value, with Schiff insisting Bitcoin has only speculative worth, while Zhao maintained that its network and transparency serve as the foundation for its trillion-dollar market capitalization.

“We’ll agree to disagree,” Zhao said.

Comment Raises Question: Can Bitcoin Be Replicated?

Following the debate, a viewer commented that Bitcoin’s uniqueness is overstated because someone could simply replicate it. The comment noted, “How long would it take to replicate Bitcoin? Create a new one, exactly the same. How much would it cost?”

It was this claim, rooted in Schiff’s argument that Bitcoin lacks intrinsic qualities, that led to David Schwartz entering the conversation.

Schwartz responded with a rhetorical question that cuts through the idea entirely. He asked how the new Bitcoin could be new and exactly the same as the original one. He continued, “And how would the existence of replicas of Bitcoin affect Bitcoin?” 

His point echoed Zhao’s argument about verifiability. A replica may copy Bitcoin’s code, but it cannot copy the network of users, miners, institutions, and real-time validation that give Bitcoin its identity. 

The existence of another chain does not dilute Bitcoin’s legitimacy any more than counterfeit gold reduces the value of real gold when proper verification exists. It also goes back to the comment by Changpeng Zhao that Bitcoin can be easily verified in multiple ways, unlike gold.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Bitcoin saw snap downside toward the weekly close with $87,000 back on the radar ahead of an important Federal Reserve interest-rate decision.

Colin Jost's Pete Hegseth returned to Saturday Night Live this week to kick off the Melissa McCarthy-hosted episode, featuring Dane Cook jokes, 6-7, and the ongoing conflict with Venezuela.

The Defense Secretary sauntered into the White House press room like a WWE superstar, crushing cans and berating journalists with insults like a particularly annoying middle school bully as he answered questions about what he dubbed "Operation Kill Everybody."

"As you probably read in some gay newspaper, we're now at war with Venezuela," the government leader told the press pool.

Hegseth was joined by "reporter" Matt Gaetz (Sarah Squirm) and "high-energy Alpha" President Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson), with the latter nodding off in the corner while dreaming about NYC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.