All posts tagged: spot

Tell us about your favourite spooky spot in the UK

Tell us about your favourite spooky spot in the UK

Published by Jenni Sidey

For our Halloween edition of readers’ tips, we’d love to hear about spooky spots, haunted houses and ghost tours you’ve experienced around the UK. Perhaps you enjoyed a guided (or self-guided) city ghost walk, visited a haunted castle or wandered around eerie ruins at twilight. Tell us what made it so spook-tacular for the chance to win a holiday voucher. The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in the Guardian Travel section and website. Keep your tip to about 100 words If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words we will be judging for the competition. We’re sorry, but for legal reasons you must be a UK resident to enter this competition. The competition closes on Monday 19 October at 10am BST Have a look at our past winners and other tips Read the terms and conditions here Share …

Fitbit Edge May Be the Sweet Spot for Smartwatch Noncommittals

Fitbit Edge May Be the Sweet Spot for Smartwatch Noncommittals

Published by Miika Tikkanen

If you’re lukewarm on smartwatches but not minimalist enough to go completely screenless, Google may have found your Goldilocks option. The new $179 Fitbit Edge, unveiled Monday, sits between the $100 Fitbit Air and $400 Pixel Watch 5 in price, features and form factor. It gives you a color screen, built-in GPS and many of the health sensors you’d expect from a smartwatch, but in a slimmer, lighter package with up to a week of battery life. The concept isn’t new for Fitbit. Previous trackers like the Inspire and Charge paired a simple screen with Fitbit’s health and fitness tracking while working with both iOS and Android; if anything, the screen-less Fitbit Air was the departure. But it’s been three years since the Charge 6, and Google now has a lot more to pull from across its wearable lineup. The Edge combines some of what I like about the minimalist Air with features that have trickled down from the Pixel Watch 5. Whether that combination hits the sweet spot remains to be seen. The Fitbit …

This new ChatGPT scam tricks you into installing malware – how to spot the trap

This new ChatGPT scam tricks you into installing malware – how to spot the trap

Published by Miika Tikkanen

ZDNET’s key takeaways There’s a new scam involving ChatGPT. The scam starts with a sponsored Google link. The link leads to a custom GPT that gives malicious information. A new scam involving ChatGPT has emerged, and it might lead you to install malware on your computer if you’re not careful.  Over the past several days, reports have surfaced of users encountering a strange interaction when using ChatGPT. “Service Availability Notice,” the message reads. “We’re currently experiencing limited availability on the primary domain. Please choose one of the following options to continue:” Also: This new cyberattack tricks you into hacking yourself. Here’s how to spot it. The chat presents an offer to upgrade to a Plus subscription or a link to a backup domain. Here’s how the scam works, why it’s so convincing, and what you can do to avoid it. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis’ copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) Artie Beaty/ZDNET The custom GPT scam The scam starts …

Why everyone thinks they can spot your OCD or ADHD

Why everyone thinks they can spot your OCD or ADHD

Published by Daniella Wilson

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in At my roommate’s birthday party recently, I noticed a set of tapered dinner candles flickering dangerously in the breeze from an open window. When everyone headed upstairs to the roof, leaving the apartment empty, I suggested we blow them out. My roommate waved me off, but I decided to do it anyway — just to be safe. Later that night, one of her friends pulled me aside. “Do you think you have OCD or something?” she asked. “No,” I replied. “What makes you say that?” “Well… because of the whole candle thing,” she said. If this had been an isolated incident, I probably would have shrugged it off. But over the past year, I’ve been handed a surprising number of armchair diagnoses by friends, family and acquaintances. Reassuringly, it’s not just me: a colleague tells me about her Pilates teacher who enquired if she had ADHD; a friend was asked …

Could you spot a traitor? The sign that could indicate lying – or just nerves

Could you spot a traitor? The sign that could indicate lying – or just nerves

Published by Daniella Wilson

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in This article was originally published on October 28, 2025, and is being republished by The Independent ahead of the release of the second season of Celebrity Traitors. When TV comedian Alan Carr was selected to be a celebrity traitor, his joy quickly turned to anxiety. He proclaimed he had a “sweating problem” – and that he wasn’t able to keep a secret. A less-than-ideal combination for him, but for viewers it’s TV gold. Anyone who has ever been caught in a lie or found themselves in tense circumstances might have related to Carr. But why is it that so many of us sweat when we’re in stressful or uncomfortable situations? Sweating typically happens for two reasons. One is when the body gets too hot. Sweating is our most effective method for reducing the body’s temperature. The other reason is emotionally driven and linked to psychological stimuli caused by anxiety, fear, …

Even as Earth’s oceans warm, one spot has gone cold

Even as Earth’s oceans warm, one spot has gone cold

Published by Miika Tikkanen

agriculture: The growth of plants, animals or fungi for human needs, including food, fuel, chemicals and medicine. Atlantic: One of the world’s five oceans, it is second in size only to the Pacific. It separates Europe and Africa to the east from North and South America to the west. atmosphere: The envelope of gases surrounding Earth, another planet or a moon. circulation: (adj. circulatory) A term that refers to the pumping of some fluid repeatedly throughout a system of vessels or currents. climate: The weather conditions that typically exist in one area, in general, or over a long period. coauthor: One of a group (two or more people) who together had prepared a written work, such as a book, report or research paper. Not all coauthors may have contributed equally. current: A fluid — such as of water or air — that moves in a recognizable direction. data: Facts and/or statistics collected together for analysis but not necessarily organized in a way that gives them meaning. For digital information (the type stored by computers), those data …

Princeton falls from top spot on US News rankings

Princeton falls from top spot on US News rankings

Published by Sam Flores

Princeton University has fallen from the top spot on U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings for the first time in 15 years.  The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) beat the long-time champs, with Princeton dropping to the second spot and Harvard University coming in third.   While MIT did not directly comment on its… Source link

Popular San Diego hiking spot begins months-long closure

Popular San Diego hiking spot begins months-long closure

Published by Sam Flores

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, which includes some of the most dramatic sandstone sea cliffs and oceanfront trails in Southern California, closed Monday for utility upgrades. Reopening is scheduled for March 2027. The closure covers cars, cyclists and walkers. The 1,750-acre Torrey Pines reserve, located north of La Jolla and south of Del Mar in San Diego County, attracts an estimated 4 million visitors yearly. Its population of Torrey pine trees is one of just two spots in the U. S. where that species is found. (The other is Channel Islands National Park’s Santa Rosa Island, where a fire in May killed much of the Torrey pine population.) Meanwhile, next door to the natural reserve, Torrey Pines State Beach remains open. Visitors can still park at the North Beach and South Beach parking lots and walk to that 4.5-mile stretch of sand, much of it at the foot of 300-feet cliffs. State parks officials said in a release that the improvement project includes installation of new gas, water, wastewater and communication lines, along with accessibility …

Why Jersey is the perfect spot for a first-time female solo travel adventure

Why Jersey is the perfect spot for a first-time female solo travel adventure

Published by Daniella Wilson

Ironic, really, that for many Brits, Jersey is synonymous with crime. Back in the 1980s, millions of us tuned in on Sunday nights to watch Jim Bergerac catch the island’s numerous ne’er-do-wells. Over 40 years on, a third series of the new Bergerac reboot has just been confirmed. Ironic, because as I explored the biggest of the Channel Islands – on my own, by bus, bike and on foot – I couldn’t have felt further from danger. Rather, I felt exhilarated, liberated, carefree.  © Getty ImagesGorgeous Jersey is a great spot for a first-time solo getaway A bygone era In fact, with one of the lowest crime rates in the British Isles, speed limits that never exceed 40mph and an appealingly bygone vibe, small, idyllic Jersey – just nine miles by five – is very safe. It also feels abroad – and yet not. Less than 15 miles from France and once part of Normandy, there are Gallic influences aplenty, from the moules marinière on the menus to road signs in local Jèrriais, a language …

Horror update as ferry carrying 240 people vanishes in tourist spot filled with Brits | World | News

Horror update as ferry carrying 240 people vanishes in tourist spot filled with Brits | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

One person has died and 140 people are still missing after a ferry disappeared in the Java Sea, Indonesia. A search and rescue operation has been launched after contact was lost with Virgo Transport 8 ship, which had 243 people on board. The ferry travelling from Surabaya to the southern city of Banjarmasin, had been last reported to be around 150km south of Banjarmasin at around 2am local time on Sunday. Indonesia’s search and rescue agency stated that the vessel had lost contact due to encountering bad weather conditions. All other vessels in the area of the Java Sea have been alerted to report signs of passengers, while search and rescue ships, as well as a helicopter, have been deployed to the scene. The search for remaining passengers is ongoing. I Putu Sudayana, head of the Search and Rescue Office, said authorities were deploying all available personnel and assets because of the large number of crew members and passengers on board. He said the agency was coordinating with maritime authorities and other relevant agencies as …