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Businesses operating in Santa Cruz County must register with the county clerk. Lookout Santa Cruz reviews the public filings from local businesses to report on new businesses starting in the area.

Here is what’s new in local business recently.

New businesses

• EL DORADO CREATIVE was registered at 1401 El Dorado Ave., Santa Cruz, by Jonas Davidson as an individual business on May 26.
• ELEPHANT SEAL SPORTS was registered at 1150 El Solyo Heights Dr., Felton, by Applied Emergence LLC as a limited liability company on May 26.
• HUTCH’S HOME IMPROVEMENTS was registered at 1198 Pine Flat Rd., Santa Cruz, by Joshua Matthew Hutchison as an individual business on May 26.
• SWIFT FITNESS was registered at 2351 Mission St., Santa Cruz, by SCG Fitness LLC as a limited liability company on May 26.
• BLUSH BEAUTY CO. was registered at 46 Brennan St., Watsonville, by Julie Ponce as an individual business on May 27.
• CARNE LLC, POINT BUTCHER SHOP LLC was registered at 21511 E. Cliff Dr., Santa Cruz, by Carne LLC as a limited liability company on May 27.
• SCRATCH STUDIO was registered at 303 Potrero St., #02b, Santa Cruz, by Sara Josephine Czarnecki on May 27.
• 3 DOT was registered at 105 Winterwind Way, Watsonville, by Brynn Taylor Mitchell as an individual business on May 28.
• HOT ELEVATION STUDIOS was registered at 1440 41st Ave., Suite E, Capitola, by Stillhaven LLC as a limited liability company on May 28.
• SOQUEL CREEK REDWOOD was registered at 200 7th Ave., Suite 190, Santa Cruz, by Aden Dahar Cury as a general partnership on May 28.
• CESAR AUTO REPAIR was registered at 40 Linden Rd., Watsonville, by Julio Cesar Flores Sandoval as an individual business on May 28.
• RESILIENCE was registered at 67 Charles Dr., Santa Cruz, by Nathan Lindsay as an individual business on May 28.
• ReturnToMe LLC was registered at 9 Ortalon Ave., Santa Cruz, by Returntome LLC as a limited liability company on May 29.
• BIG BITE SC was registered at 119 Laguna St., Santa Cruz, by Grace Wong St. Clair as an individual business on May 29.
• PACIFIC PERFORMANCE PEPTIDES was registered at 5000 Scotts Valley Dr., #2, Scotts Valley, by Pacific Performance Holdings LLC as a limited liability company on May 29.
• TALLIE’S TAILORING, TRUE CRUZ was registered at 875 Monterey Ave., Capitola, by Tallie Adair Crawford as an individual business on May 29.
• SONS’ PIZZA CO. was registered at 1255 38th Ave., Spc. 58, Santa Cruz, by Jason Anstey as an individual business on May 29.
• PRETTY USEFUL ART was registered at 455 Hillview Dr., Felton, by Margaret Rochelle Vieira as an individual business on June 1.
• CRITICAL HIT CONSULTING, HYPERTHREAD CONSULTING was registered at 86 Montebello Dr., Watsonville, by Box To Beautiful, LLC, as a limited liability company on June 1.
• WESTMONT LIVING BUS FLEET was registered at 5630 Soquel Dr., Soquel, by Rsf Viii Soquel Opco, LLC, as a limited liability company on June 2.
• RODRIGUEZ CLINICAL CONSULTING was registered at 711 Seabright Ave., Apt. 1, Santa Cruz, by Anthony Edward Rodriguez as an individual business on June 2.
• TREJOS CARNITAS was registered at 370 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville, by Trejo-Arias Cristobal as an individual business on June 2.
• CENTRAL COAST FLOORING LLC was registered at 416 Airport Blvd., Watsonville, by Central Coast Flooring LLC as a limited liability company on June 2.
• RUIZ BOOKEEPING & TAX SERVICE was registered at 105 Jefferson St., #B, Watsonville, by Sofia Samano Ruiz as an individual business on June 2.
• ARCADE FOUNDRY was registered at 339 Park Dr., Aptos, by David Pryor as an individual business on June 2.
• J.M.4U INC. was registered at 223 Morrissey Blvd., Santa Cruz, by J.M.4U Inc. as a corporation on June 3.
• LAUDEN INTEGRATIVE PHARMACY was registered at 1820-f 41st Ave., Capitola, by Lauden Pharmacy, Inc. as a corporation on June 3.
• CARNE was registered at 21511 E. Cliff Dr., Santa Cruz, by Point Butcher Shop LLC as a limited liability company on June 3.
• MONARCA BEAUTY GLAM was registered at 3230 Cunnision Lane, #A, Soquel, by Catalina Vargas Valdovinos as an individual business on June 3.
• OPEN DOOR SPANISH was registered at 1730 15th Ave., Santa Cruz, by Kristen Lansdale as an individual business on June 4.
• SIDEWALK STUDIO was registered at 4637 Scotts Valley Dr., Scotts Valley, by Patricia Pollock as an individual business on June 4.
• TOM SHIELDS AQUATICS was registered at 184 Harbor Oaks Circle, Santa Cruz, by Dolphin Kick Lab LLC as a limited liability company on June 4.
• SONNE was registered at 1316 30th Ave., Santa Cruz, by Jessica Yuchin Hebestreit as an individual business on June 4.
• ANXIETY TREATMENT SERVICES was registered at 5905 Soquel Dr., Suite 400, Soquel, by Amoreena Juarez as an individual business on June 4.
• GUZMAN TAX PRO was registered at 416 Center St., Watsonville, by Luis A. Guzman as a co-partnership on June 4.
• SIGNATUREPLUS was registered at 2627 Mattison Lane, Spc. 11, Santa Cruz, by Daisy A. Montesinos as an individual business on June 5.
• PRISM N HUES was registered at 134 Blaine St., #C, Santa Cruz, by Stephanie P. Silviera Barrientos as an individual business on June 5.
• BLUE MOON ESTATE SALES SAN MATEO AND SAN JOSE was registered at 137 Margaret Dr., Boulder Creek, by Servicesmith Estate Sales as a corporation on June 5.

Have news that should be in Lookout Briefs? Send your news releases, including contact information, to news@lookoutlocal.com.

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The post Santa Cruz County business filings: Week of June 9 appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Before 2023, Danielle was the “workhorse” at her job in the front office of a large dental practice in Puyallup, Washington. “I was only given positive reviews,” she told me. But after doctors found a mass in her uterus and recommended a preventive hysterectomy at age 35, everything changed.

The procedure sent her into early menopause. Caused by a drop in hormones that typically occurs after a ­woman’s last menstrual cycle, the shift to menopause can cause a variety of symptoms. Danielle was engulfed by intense mood swings. Hormone replacement therapy helped, but not for the cognitive effects that came on later, like brain fog. “I renamed box fans into ‘air boxes’ because I just couldn’t remember what a box fan was,” Danielle said. Her work suffered and she had problems getting tasks done. The more she struggled, the more stress she felt.

Danielle, who requested a pseudonym for this story because she is pursuing a legal claim against her former employer, is not alone. Each year, about 1.3 million American women transition into menopause. About 13 percent experience at least one adverse employment outcome, such as missing work or getting fired, thanks to things like uncontrollable hot flashes or intense mood swings that impede their jobs.

Danielle told her supervisor she needed support, and because the practice had been accommodating in the past, she assumed it would be “a cake walk,” she recalled. But, as she found out the hard way, workplace laws regarding disability and medical leave don’t always apply to menopause. “Sometimes existing federal laws can provide support,” Deborah Widiss, a professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, told me, “but it’s very confusing to both employees and employers—and there are still gaps.”

The gap between law and real life is where Danielle ended up. In August, she gave her employer a letter from her doctor outlining changes she needed at work, such as written directions, a quieter workspace to minimize distractions, and flexible breaks to help her manage sudden symptoms. The practice said it would try, but “there was no follow-through,” she said, which brought about a “complete breakdown anxiety attack.” On the advice of her doctor, she went on leave in October and hasn’t returned, despite wanting to do her job. Danielle is convinced that the failure of labor laws to define employers’ responsibilities regarding menopause let her bosses ignore her needs. “There was nothing saying, ‘You have to do this because otherwise, it’s illegal,’” she said. “There was so much gray area.”

Pregnant women faced similar gaps until 2023, when the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act began requiring employers to grant them accommodations unless the employer could prove it would create an undue hardship. No ­explicit federal protection exists for menopause; only one state officially grants such rights: Rhode Island.

For Rhode Island state Sen. Lori Urso, it was a personal cause. About a half-dozen years ago, she was dealing with a range of perimenopausal symptoms: heart palpitations, brain fog, lack of sleep, irritability. Things got so bad that she wasn’t sure she could continue her job as executive director of a museum; she worried that if she asked the mostly male executive council for changes, they were going to “be laughing at me behind my back,” she told me.

In 2024, when Urso was elected to the Statehouse, mandating workplace accommodations for menopause was among the first issues she tackled, speaking to the current Senate president before she was even sworn in. She didn’t expect her bill to pass easily—a veteran female senator told her she’d never heard the word “menopause” uttered in the chamber.

But Urso’s fears were unfounded. A House sponsor, Karen Alzate, soon agreed to sign on. The law “didn’t cost any money,” and though it made her male colleagues uncomfortable, Alzate said, they didn’t push back. There was also, surprisingly, no opposition from the business community. The bill passed unanimously in June, and Urso started getting calls from interested lawmakers all over the country. “We’re really seeing this movement happening now,” she said. “I guess it took the one.”

Philadelphia, this past November, became the first city to pass such a law. Statutes that grant explicit rights, the way Philadelphia’s and Rhode Island’s do, are “the gold standard,” noted Marcy Karin, a professor at Rutgers Law School.

Other states may soon follow. In New York, Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal has introduced a suite of bills related to menopause, one of which makes it illegal for an employer to refuse a reasonable accommodation for menstruation- or menopause-­related needs. Rosenthal ­expects “a lot of enthusiastic support,” she said, and has yet to face any opposition. Virginia lawmakers passed a similar bill this session, but the governor didn’t sign it. The California Legislature is pondering its own bill, while New Jersey lawmakers may require remote work options and paid leave for perimenopause and menopause. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts have proposed commissions to look into the issue. “Menopause is having a moment,” Karin told me.

But even when there are statutes on the books to protect them, workers may hesitate to ask for what they need, Widiss said. “Until the stigma is decreased and it’s clear that you can’t harass or retaliate or bully based on these bodily [needs],” Karin added, the laws will be “chipping away at a much broader problem.”

As if the Miasma situation weren't bad enough, now this weapon is spreading like wildfire. Someone open sourced the entire Miasma worm supply-chain attack toolkit, likely using previously compromised developers' accounts to publish GitHub repositories containing the self-spreading malware’s source code over the last 24 hours. SafeDep, a company focused on open source supply chain security that developed Package Management Guard (PMG), spotted the malicious repos, named “Miasma-Open-Source-Release,” and said that they started appearing on Monday. Its researchers analyzed one of these before GitHub nixed it, and described the code as more than just a supply chain worm. “It is a full supply chain attack toolkit that allows the operator to execute various attacks via stolen credentials against arbitrary or targeted packages on public registries (PyPI, npm, RubyGems), JFrog Artifactory, GitHub repositories and GitHub Actions, AI coding tools config poisoning, SSH based lateral movement and other attack vectors,” the SafeDep team said. While we don’t know who is behind this publicly released worm, it follows in the footsteps of TeamPCP, which developed and then open sourced the mini Shai-Hulud worm last month, announcing a supply-chain attack contest on BreachForums and spawning copycat open source package poisonings. One of these copycat worms, Miasma, first hit upwards of 100 Red Hat and Microsoft open source projects before spreading to other victims, with app-security firm Socket tracking 473 affected package artifacts as of Tuesday. “The Miasma repository is an evolution of the Mini Shai-Hulud toolkit, and was open-sourced June 8 via four previously compromised users,” Rami McCarthy, principal threat researcher at Wiz, told The Register. “Since we had already reversed the payload, this public release isn’t particularly useful for sophisticated defenders, and we haven't observed any opportunistic adoption of it yet.” This, he added, mimics what happened when TeamPCP open sourced mini Shai-Hulud last month. “We didn't see attackers weaponize it either,” McCarthy said. “It's not clear [whether] attackers benefit from adopting this out-of-the-box toolkit versus vibe coding their own. And while it raises concerns about muddying attribution, attackers tend to continue developing their private fork of the malware, providing a clear payload progression to track and deconflict from anyone utilizing the open-source version.” An interesting aspect of both of these worms and other recent attacks like this one dubbed “Comment-and-Control” by AI bug hunter Aonan Guan is that they run entirely in GitHub - they don’t require any custom command-and-control (C2) infrastructure - and use the code-hosting platform for all stages of the attack including remote command execution, configuration, and data exfiltration. “This is a key behavioural shift because traditional network based detection and protection tools rely on baselining and anomaly detection,” SafeDep researchers noted. “Defenders now have to operate closer to application protocol to identify behavioural anomaly instead of network based anomalies.” The Miasma worm uses three independent GitHub commit search channels for C2, and each has a different search string and purpose. One of these, "DontRevokeOrItGoesBoom," discovers attacker-controlled personal access tokens (PATs) to exfiltrate credentials and other sensitive data. These PATs are AES-256-CBC encrypted in the commit message. The second, "TheBeautifulSandsOfTime," delivers JavaScript for immediate command execution. It’s checked once at startup, and, after validation, it passes the payload to eval() to execute at runtime. Finally, “firedalazer” delivers Python script URLs for the persistent monitor. All three are unauthenticated by default, use GitHub’s public commit search API, and use a different validation or decryption key, which means compromising one doesn’t automatically compromise the other two.®

The latest full closure of the Murray Street Bridge will begin Wednesday, meaning another few months of detours around the key artery over the Santa Cruz Harbor.

This closure will mirror the bridge’s previous full closure, which ran from late June 2025 until late January 2026. Once again, both lanes of the bridge will be shut down to cars, bicycles and pedestrians. The closure is expected to last through September.

Per a media release from the City of Santa Cruz, the closure is necessary for the next phase of construction on the east (Live Oak) side of the bridge, which includes pile driving and work on the foundation in order to strengthen the structure and allow it to better withstand earthquakes. The previous full closure allowed crews to install new piles and conduct similar work on the west (Seabright) end of the bridge. The work has to happen during the summer, as it is within the in-water construction period that environmental permits have specified in order to protect sensitive species and habitats.

Credit: City of Santa Cruz

Detours will be implemented throughout the full closure. Vehicles will be directed to Seabright Avenue, Soquel Avenue, Capitola Road and 7th Avenue. Cyclists will be detoured through Arana Gulch and Broadway via Seabright Avenue and 7th Avenue. Pedestrians will be detoured around the north harbor toward Eaton Street, 7th Avenue and Brommer Street. 

Although the project began only in early 2025, it had been in the works for decades. The previous full closure disrupted a major east-west thoroughfare and significantly affected the surrounding Seabright neighborhood in various ways, including traffic congestion and major losses for many of the nearby businesses from Seabright to the Santa Cruz Harbor. Once the previous full closure reopened in late January, the city attempted to allow vehicles to travel both directions with a one-way alternating traffic signal, but promptly reverted back to only eastbound traffic about a week later after both sides of the bridge saw severe gridlock that spilled into the neighborhood streets and city staff observed dangerous driving.

This time, commuters, business owners and Seabright residents can take solace in the fact that the upcoming closure is expected to be the bridge’s final long-term shutdown. There are two final full closures planned before the anticipated January 2028 completion date: one scheduled to last one week in February 2027 and another scheduled to last two weeks in December 2027.

The annual Wharf to Wharf Race will also be rerouted for the second time due to a full bridge closure. It will start on Portola Drive in Live Oak, head west toward the harbor and then turn left at the Eaton Street-Lake Avenue intersection to rejoin its usual course along East Cliff Drive toward Capitola Village. 

The project is currently still on pace to wrap up in January 2028.

Have news that should be in Lookout Briefs? Send your news releases, including contact information, to news@lookoutlocal.com.

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The post Latest full Murray Street Bridge closure to begin Wednesday appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

ALT

D-list reality TV personality Spencer Pratt officially lost his bid for mayor of Los Angeles on Monday. But rather than accept that a conspiratorial, pro-MAGA grifter was not a good fit for the overwhelmingly Democratic city, President Donald Trump and other GOP lawmakers baselessly cried fraud—the same strategy they’re likely to employ when they lose in the midterms.

Source

The University of California Board of Regents approved a new housing project on the west side of the UC Santa Cruz campus, endorsing a plan to significantly expand on-campus housing for upper-division students.

Heller Student Housing South is the first phase of a two-part project that will redevelop a 13-acre site that is the current location of Family Student Housing. After the new community for students with families opens in the 2026-27 academic year, the existing buildings will be removed for the new construction. Heller Student South will provide housing for nearly 1,300 upper-division undergraduate students.

The goal is to open the new housing for fall 2029, marking a significant step in the campus’s ambitious plan to increase student housing by 40 percent within the decade. 

“This project is crucial for our campus,” Chancellor Cynthia Larive said. “Support for students begins with on-campus housing and we are looking forward to being able to provide even more students with the opportunity to live and study on campus.”

UC Santa Cruz currently provides housing for 9,300 students, about 50 percent of its undergraduate community and one of the highest percentages within the UC system. With a mix of new construction and college renewal  projects, the campus is working toward adding thousands more units in the coming years. 

Heller Student Housing South will include four buildings, ranging from five to seven stories, built south of the existing pedestrian bridge at Rachel Carson College. 

(Rendering courtesy of McCarthy / WRNS Studio)

In order to support a range of student preferences, units will be available in a mix of singles, triple studios, two- and four-bedroom apartments, and co-living suites. 

Features in the first phase include a market, multi-purpose space, mailroom, and laundry facilities. The recently expanded dining hall at Rachel Carson and Oakes colleges will provide additional dining opportunities for students. 

Consistent with the university’s commitment to sustainability and other new housing on campus, Heller is expected to earn Gold Certification or higher in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™). The project is fully electric, with no fossil fuels used for space or water heating, and each building will include solar panels. The campus has designed the project to capture stormwater for non-potable uses such as toilet flushing and irrigation to reduce water consumption. 

UC Santa Cruz has plans for the second phase on the north end of the site to be advanced at a later date. The north project will provide up to 1,650 beds, giving UC Santa Cruz a combined total of 2,940 beds on the Heller site.

The post More student housing on the horizon as UC Regents approve new housing complex appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Check Point said hackers broke into dozens of organizations by exploiting a VPN bug in several of its products used across the government.

This summer, the Seabright and Santa Cruz Harbor neighborhoods are leaning into what they do best: bringing people together outdoors. From vintage markets and movie nights to a family play festival, a new lineup of community-focused events aims to turn the waterfront districts into lively gathering spaces throughout the season. Help buoy the Seabright and Santa Cruz Harbor businesses by exploring the shops and restaurants, enjoying these free events all summer long.

The Saltwater Market Brings Vintage Culture to the Beach

At the center of the summer lineup is The Saltwater Market, a curated outdoor thrift and vintage market designed to attract younger shoppers and creative audiences to the district.

The market will feature local vintage resellers, clothing vendors, artists, and makers, transforming Murray Street and the Santa Cruz Harbor into an open-air shopping experience with a distinctly coastal feel. Come take a stroll through the markets, explore the neighborhood, and spend the day moving between shops, restaurants, and vendor booths.

Two markets are currently scheduled:

• Sunday, July 12 in Seabright
• Saturday, August 15 in Santa Cruz Harbor area

Thursday Nights Become a Weekly Neighborhood Tradition

Another major piece of the summer programming is the launch of Thursday Night Family Movie Nights, a six-week outdoor film series taking place on Murray Street from July 9 through August 13. Grab your spot starting at 8pm for the 8:30pm showtimes. 

Each week, families are invited to bring lawn chairs and blankets and gather outdoors for a free community movie night. Families and neighbors are encouraged to dine, grab dessert or a beverage, or shop locally before the screenings. 

The events are free to attend and centered around family-friendly programming, creating an accessible option for local residents looking for low-cost summer activities. Check out the lineup:

• July 9: The SpongeBob Movie 
• July 16: Legally Blonde  
• July 23: Minecraft Movie  
• July 30: Shrek  
• August 6: Hoppers  
• August 13: Goat  

Harbor Family Play Day Focuses on Kids and Community

Rounding out the lineup is the Santa Cruz Harbor Family Play Day, a daytime festival planned for July that will focus on hands-on activities and interactive entertainment for kids.

The event will feature simple carnival-style games, family activities, and kid-focused programming designed to create an easygoing daytime experience for local families. While details and the final July date are still being finalized, the goal of the event is to be playful neighborhood gathering centered on accessibility and community participation.

Support the Seabright and Santa Cruz Habor Businesses All Summer Long

The City of Santa Cruz recognizes that summer is an important season for Seabright and the Santa Cruz Harbor area businesses. To help mitigate impacts of the full bridge closure from June to September, the City is working to ensure the neighborhood remains a vibrant destination all summer long through events, expanded business support, and the early launch of the free summer water taxi service. 

Whether its families gathering for outdoor movies, shoppers hunting for vintage finds, or kids playing carnival games by the beach, the season’s programming is built around a simple idea: Spend your summer in Seabright and the Santa Cruz Harbor and support our local businesses during the Murray Street Bridge Seismic Retrofit project. 

The post Summer by the water: Seabright and the Santa Cruz Harbor roll out a season of community events appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

The process for producing triple-layer drug-delivery particles and materials for tissue regeneration could get easier, thanks to a new advance in creating the electrospray nozzles used to make them. A team of MIT researchers has now used a 3D resin printer to output tiny electrospray nozzles without the expensive cleanrooms they normally require. A team led by MIT principal research scientist Dr. Luis Fernando Velásquez-García detailed its work developing tiny arrays of triaxial electrospray emitters in a recent paper. Before jumping into what they actually did, it might be worth explaining exactly what we’re talking about and why it’s such a potential breakthrough. Electrospraying is a process that relies on tiny nozzles - we’re talking fractions of a millimeter, here - that are subjected to an electric field to atomize liquids into droplets smaller than what can be achieved through purely physical methods. Electrospraying can be done with lots of different liquid materials, and has a variety of uses, from ionizing liquids for mass spectrometry, to space propulsion. Such cutting-edge applications traditionally require expensive equipment, and electrospray nozzles have classically been no different. “Despite electrospray’s versatility, its applicability has been limited by scalability issues caused by challenges in fabricating with high precision and at a low cost arrays of miniaturised emitters that operate uniformly in parallel,” the paper explains. Fabrication of such miniaturized, high-precision emitter arrays is done in semiconductor-level cleanrooms, which Velásquez-García told The Register can take months to make at quite a high cost. Velásquez-García’s team isn’t just working on any old electrospray nozzle array, though: They’re working on triaxial electrospray emitters that are specifically designed to create three-layered microdroplets made of a trio of liquids that don’t mix. “There are no coaxial electrospray arrays or triaxial electrospray emitters made in the semiconductor cleanroom—they just don't exist because of the huge complexity of their design,” Velásquez-García told us in response to questions. Getting the level of precision and complexity that Velásquez-García and his team needed required an advanced 3D resin printer from Asiga with a 27 µm pixel size. It’s no wonder such precise printing was needed when you look at the design of the final product and all the intricate channels necessary to spray three different materials into such tiny droplets. Tiny design, big potential Velásquez-García and his colleagues produced a working version of their emitter array that contained 16 nozzles in a space that’s just one square centimeter, but there’s no reason to stop there. “The design is modular, so you can tile it and produce very large arrays,” Velásquez-García told us. Were one to tile his design to a square foot in size, it would have around 15,000 emitters, for example. “The key issue is that we demonstrated that we attained emitter densities of 16 emitters per square centimeter,” the MIT researcher added. “It cannot be denser because the bottleneck is the resolution of the 3D printers.” Once that engineering limit is overcome, however, the things could be incredibly dense, provided their intricate network of microchannels can be maintained. As it stands now, Velásquez-García said his team’s innovation could be readily commercialized, as the researchers believe they’ve cracked a key problem in cleanroom-free electrospray array construction. “The ‘secret sauce’ is the designs of the tube network and the support structures,” Velásquez-García explained. So, what can one do with triaxial electrospray arrays? Lots of things that’d benefit from cheaper, quickly-produced equipment to make manufacturing them less costly. There are three-layer drug-delivery particles, for instance, that could dispense medicines to specific parts of the digestive tract, self-healing materials, and even artificial cells designed to aid tissue regeneration. “The outer layer can be a protection layer that dissolves, the middle layer can contain a medicine that promotes tissue growth and regeneration, and the core layer can contain an antibiotic to protect the new tissue,” Velásquez-García told us of the potential application. “There is great flexibility on the materials that you use to create the three layers and tailor their application.” Velásquez-García said that the practicality of commercializing his design comes down to material choices, as the resin feedstock used to create the nozzles may vary significantly based on the chemical composition of the material an interested partner would want to use. MIT employees aren't allowed to form their own startups to commercialize university research, but can advise those who license it, which Velásquez-García said he’s ready to do when asked. “If anybody wants to commercialize it, they should contact us and we will work with them,” the MIT researcher told us. ®

⚡ Quick Take

• A whale eats a guy, like we see the whole thing, in the teaser trailer for Whalefall, a movie about a whale eating a guy. And it’s not a comedy.

Move over, Jonah and Pinocchio, there’s a whole new “whale eats guy story.” And that’s exactly what we get in the the trailer for Whalefall. This teaser gives us the whole thing. We see the entire “whale eats guy” scene… in the trailer for a movie about a whale eating a guy. He just….the whale swims up and eats him. And that’s the trailer. It’s so exactly what the movie is about that the Whalefall trailer is nearly entirely just that. Nearly two minutes of a whale eating a guy. Swallows him whole. Have I lost my mind? Yes, absolutely, but it will make sense when you see the trailer for this film, which somehow includes Josh Brolin. And now… here’s the Whalefall trailer.

That’s the most “whale eats guy” trailer possible for a story about a whale eating a guy. (It’s called “truth in advertising,” people. Look it up!) But it turns out there’s other stuff, too. There’s a reason that guy is scuba diving. There’s also gonna be stuff post “whale eats guy.” Here’s Whalefall‘s official synopsis from 20th Century Studios and Imagine Entertainment to go along with its trailer:

Following the death of his father (Brolin), Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) goes diving off the central Coast of California in search of his remains, but is swallowed by a massive sperm whale. While trapped inside its belly with only one hour of oxygen left, Jay comes to realize that the hard-earned lessons his father imparted may be the key to his escape.

Isn’t that always the way? We can only appreciate the hard-earned lessons of our fathers inside a whale’s belly….after we go scuba diving to find his remains.

20th Century Studios

For the record, I lost my mind before I saw that synopsis. Reading it only made things worse.

I can only imagine what will happen when I see this “survivor thriller” from director Brian Duffield. He co-wrote it with Daniel Kraus and it’s based on Kraus’ book by the same. It also stars Elisabeth Shue, John Ortiz, Jane Levy, and Emily Rudd.

Presumably, the whale won’t eat any of them when the film debuts on October 16, 2026. If it did, they probably would have put it in the Whalefall trailer. The trailer that is mostly just a whale eating the guy.

The post A Whale Eats Guy in WHALEFALL Trailer, a Movie About a Whale Eating a Guy appeared first on Nerdist.

“No way this could have happened,” President Donald Trump wrote on TruthSocial early Monday morning. “Rigged Election!” 

While he could reasonably have been referring to any number of elections he’s deemed “rigged” over the last decade, in this instance, Trump had turned his bleary eyes to the Los Angeles mayoral race, where a progressive challenger, city council member Nithya Raman, has pulled ahead of reality TV heel-turned-crystal-enthusiast-turned Republican candidate Spencer Pratt. Raman is now set to face incumbent Karen Bass in the general election; her lead over Pratt came from mail-in ballots, which always take a long time to count in California, in part because of stringent verification processes.

But Trump, naturally, smelled something foul. A few hours later on Monday, he posted that it was “Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had. 3rd World Nation. Rigged Elections! Now they’ll be working on great guy Steve Hilton. Won’t have results for, possibly, TWO WEEKS.” (Trump has, of course, regularly waged attacks on voting by mail, even though he’s done so himself.) 

As the president indicated, votes in the California governor’s race are also still being counted; the Republican candidate, conservative commentator Steve Hilton, is still ahead of Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer in a battle for second place. Whoever wins it will face former Biden HHS secretary Xavier Becerra, the top finisher.

Apart from his ongoing fulminating on TruthSocial, Trump also stormed out of an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press that aired on Sunday after Kristen Welker pushed him to substantiate his claims that the California gubernatorial elections were “rigged.” 

“You’re either crooked or you’re stupid,” he told her, shortly before walking off set. “You play right into their hands with this crap. You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they’re rigged.”

Ever since California’s June 2 primary election, the president and his supporters have pushed conspiracies about the still-unfolding results. “The level of fraud here is mind-blowing,” Elon Musk tweeted, linking to supposedly suspicious results in the mayoral race proffered by an X user calling himself “Gays for Trump.” 

“We don’t trust your elections… Deal with it.”

“This is blatant fraud,” echoed the account End Wokeness, which has nearly 4 million followers. “The Democrats Have Publicly Stolen The LA Mayoral Race From Spencer Pratt!,” blared a headline on Alex Jones’ post-Infowars website. In a demonstration of how loud the fraud allegations have become, the X account for the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk was compelled to publicly reprimand a MAGA content creator who posted chaotic photos from Detroit’s 2020 ballot count, sarcastically misrepresenting them as current pictures of “L.A. polling centers.” 

“This is deceptive and feeds misinformation,” the RR/CC account replied.

While pro-Trump forces decrying an election result they don’t like as fraudulent is nothing new, this time, key members of the federal government made it immediately clear that they would turn those suspicions into action. On Friday, Bilal Essayli, the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, claimed on X that there “is evidence of election fraud in California,” adding that “more investigations are underway.”

He also linked to a tweet about his office’s case from earlier this year against Brenda Lee Armstrong, an LA County woman who recently agreed to plead guilty to charges related to paying homeless people to vote.  According to her plea agreement, Armstrong, 64, had worked intermittently for the past 20 years collecting voter signatures for ballots and referendums. She began paying unhoused people in L.A.’s Skid Row neighborhood between $2 and $3 to both register to vote and sign petitions, sometimes listing her own home as their address. Far-right video maker James O’Keefe has boasted that his company’s sting of Armstrong led to her being charged. Essayli quoted O’Keefe’s tweet when he announced Armstrong’s indictment on May 18, adding, “California’s lax attitude towards voter registration endangers our democracy. We won’t stand by when ballot box corruption threatens the foundations of our republic.”

It’s not just rehashing the Armstrong case—over the weekend, Essayli also fueled an atmosphere of suspicion in the wake of Election Day by accusing the state of “blocking a federal audit” of voting rolls, adding, “If California genuinely wants voters to trust its elections, it should open its records, not fight to keep them closed. What are they afraid of?” (The Department of Justice previously sued California to compel the state to turn over its voter rolls, a case that was dismissed; the federal government is now appealing before the Ninth Circuit.)

One candidate joined in the conspiracy theorizing themselves. Pratt posted a tweet on Sunday night that read, referring to Rahman’s lead: “A net swing of more than 43,000 votes since Tuesday..43,000, huh? Where have I seen that number before…? Probably nothing.” Below, he included a screenshot of an article saying that there are about 43,000 homeless people in Los Angeles, seemingly implying that homeless people were paid to vote for Rahman. “Remember everyone…we are still in the lead, and we’ve got allllllll the way til July 6th to keep counting,” he wrote earlier in the day. “They’re not the only ones who know where to find votes.” Alongside those words he attached an image of Rahman in tears on election night. 

For his part, Hilton, the conservative candidate for governor, has yet to allege voter fraud, but instead went on Fox News to trash California voting officials for a lack of pace, saying that there are “millions” of uncounted ballots “sitting there right now in boxes not being counted because the people in charge have no energy and no pride in getting this done quickly. It’s typical of California under Democrat rule.”

Essayli was also far from the only pro-Trump officeholder to announce they were ready to distort election law to get the president’s preferred results. Other right-wing elected officials responded to the California elections by renewing calls to “federalize” state elections; that is, allow the federal government to administer voting and impose the standards they believe guarantee a fair outcome. This combination—persistent, baseless fraud allegations and Trump loyalists in power willing to act on them—would seem to be a combustible one.

“It’s clear, California is incapable of running free and fair elections consistent with our Constitution that guarantees a republican form of government for states,” Arizona Congressman Abe Hamadeh tweeted, linking to voting results that showed Raman pulling ahead of Pratt in Los Angeles. “Federalize the election.”

A glimpse of what could happen after November’s midterm elections emerged from a conversation between Trump cheerleader Benny Johnson and Will Chamberlain, editor in chief of the far-right publication Human Events. Chamberlain is also a senior counsel at an outfit called the Article III Project, a conservative legal advocacy group that says it fights “lawfare” against President Trump and promotes “constitutionalist” judges. In their conversation, Johnson and Chamberlain suggested that in the future, the Republican controlled-House could simply decline to seat members from California who the majority decides were fraudulently elected. 

“The way these elections matter the most federally is in the House,” Chamberlain told Johnson. For “contested House races” that are “close-ish,” he added, “Mike Johnson and the Republican House Caucus in November should look at the results and say, ‘If you’re a California representative and you weren’t ahead on Election Day, we’re not going to seat you until we do a full investigation of your specific election and you prove you won.’ I think that’s the simple way.” That would, Chamberlain added, “wake up California.” 

“We have the right to say to Democrats, we don’t trust your elections,” Chamberlain added. “And so we’re not going to trust the results of your elections… Deal with it.” 

On June 9, Nintendo dropped a ton of exciting gaming news for fans. While there are far more announcements than we’d be able to squeeze in one post, we are super excited about this news that takes us back to Hyrule. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the 1998 classic Nintendo 64 game, is getting a remake and coming to the Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo

There’s no official release date yet, but it is happening sometime in 2026. Considering we are nearly halfway through the year, that’s not long to have to wait. We can easily envision the Nintendo Switch 2 version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time becoming available just in time for the holidays. The trailer for this announcement doesn’t give away much but we do get the gift of an adorable sleeping Link. 

This makes a ton of sense considering that the franchise turns 40 years old this year. And, if you are looking for the right mood music to accompany your journey through Hyrule, this jazz version of Ocarina of Time’s soundtrack will get you in the mood. We love when good rumors turn out to actually be true.

The post THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME Gets Switch 2 Remake appeared first on Nerdist.

On Monday night, President Donald Trump added to his constantly growing promises about an agreement to end the war he started with Iran. Speaking to reporters after he was loudly booed while attending an NBA Finals game, Trump said an agreement should be signed in “two or three days”—a claim he has made for weeks now, with no agreement in sight. “I don’t think there are any sticking points.

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Anthropic is releasing Claude Fable 5, its first Mythos-class model available to the public. The model comes with guardrails that block responses in high-risk areas like cybersecurity and biology.

A cartoon by Pedro Molina. Related | Fired CBS reporter reveals MAGA bosses pressured him to skew news…

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Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe has called it "maybe the most important thing we've launched to date."

The iOS 27 developer beta includes code that references the fold state and screen angle of a device.

Apple says that its next-gen operating system will allow users to update their weak and compromised passwords with a single tap. Upgrades coming to iOS 27, announced at Tim Cook’s last Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this week, introduce a significant change to the way users manage their passwords. “Building on its ability to alert users about weak and compromised passwords, Passwords can now automatically fix these for users with just a tap,” Apple said on Monday. “Using Apple Intelligence and Safari to agentically take action on a user’s behalf, Passwords securely navigates through websites to sign in and upgrade their accounts to strong passwords.” The iGadget-maker’s existing password manager already flags passwords that are known to be included in prior data breaches, checking whether they appear in known data leaks. However, current Passwords still requires users to update affected accounts themselves and does not offer a way to change multiple compromised credentials at once. Selecting one of those alerts typically takes users to the relevant account page, where they must complete the password change manually. The new update is designed to remove much of that legwork, with iOS 27 automatically navigating supported websites and updating eligible accounts to stronger passwords after user approval. Of course, in the very brief section of the video in which the new capability was announced, the feature worked flawlessly. In practice, however, it remains to be seen how effective Passwords is at agentically navigating different websites’ login processes on behalf of users, especially if MFA is also set up on the account. And for those of you who remember a story The Register covered earlier this year about the (in)security of AI-generated passwords, fret not. Apple’s Passwords app generates solid passwords by default – strings that, according to NordPass’ online password checker, are “strong” and would take centuries to crack. Security company Irregular’s research from February looked at scenarios where users were querying LLM chatbots for password ideas, rather than looking at those generated by purpose-built password managers. Siri state of affairs As predicted by many, this year’s WWDC put Siri, now known as Siri AI, front and center as Apple looks to deliver on its promises made two years ago. It announced Apple Intelligence in 2024, but the offering has underdelivered on pretty much every count. Analysts who spoke to The Register after the event on Monday were optimistic about what they saw on the AI front, but described Apple’s ability to deliver value for developers and users on its second roll of the dice as a credibility test. The company announced a wide range of small AI-enabled upgrades coming soon to iOS 27, powered by Apple's Foundation Models, developed in collaboration with Google and its Gemini technology, in addition to the agentic password-fixing tease. Individually, these features, such as enabling users to create shortcuts or Safari extensions by prompting Apple Intelligence using natural language, and Safari’s Notify Me, which allows users to monitor specific web pages for updates, are not revolutionary. They’re also not the type of features that are poised to set the AI industry alight. But for some, winning the AI race is less about being first to market with the biggest, baddest model; it’s about using AI in the most useful way. "Rebuilt from the ground up, Apple is trying to make AI feel native, useful, and invisible across the devices people already use every day," said Francisco Jeronimo, IDC VP of client devices. "This matters because the winning AI experience for consumers will not be the loudest or most technically complex. It will be the one that understands context, respects privacy, works reliably across apps, and reduces friction without forcing users to change behaviour." Apple’s iOS 27 will launch to the wider public in the fall, while devs can get their hands on the beta version now. This won’t come with the new dedicated Siri AI app, though. You’ll have to join a waiting list for that one. ®

With SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI all eyeing massive public debuts, the tech industry may soon have a new class of corporate overlords — and a new acronym to match. Say goodbye to FAANG and hello to MANGOS.