A group of 20 Snap alumni has come together to launch a fund called Ghost Angels to back the next generation of social media. The fund declined to disclose how much it has raised so far, but says it has backed at least five companies and plans to deploy the remaining capital within the next year into at least 15 companies. 

Max Rivera, who once led global partnerships at Snap, started the fund in 2025 to formalize the already-growing Snap alumni angel-investing community. Though Rivera runs the fund, there are around 20 other founder members and investors, including a small number of those still at Snap, alongside alumni like Alexandra Levitt, who ran Snap’s corporate accelerator, and Will Wu, who was a founding member of Snap’s product and design team. 

“We were intentional about the mix,” Rivera, who currently works at Microsoft’s AI lab, told TechCrunch, noting that Ghost Angels wanted to bring in former senior executives alongside those earlier in their careers, too. “That diversity of thought and experience is core to how we evaluate deals and support founders.” 

Much has changed since he first started at Snap nearly 10 years ago. Today, the people building companies have much leaner teams, while “founders are launching fast and iterating in public.” 

“We’re seeing experimentation of different monetization models beyond ads with subscriptions, token [and] usage-based, or even outcome-based,” he said. “Founders are also more in the forefront, with founder-led GTM as a key pillar.” 

Naturally, the fund is focused on investing in pre-seed to seed AI startups that are building in social media and consumer. Rivera said one of the biggest trends he has noticed about the next generation of social media is how “social” and “media” have actually split. The idea of what consumers know as social media today is a platform that relies heavily on ads, with an algorithm driving content and recommendations. 

“A lot of people are disillusioned with that relative to the original promise of connecting people in your life,” Rivera said. TechCrunch reported last year that the next generation of social media was moving away from building generalized platforms and toward niche communities. 

“On the social side, we’re backing founders that are applying AI in creative ways to finally deliver on that original promise,” Rivera continued. “On the media side, [we’re backing] AI native formats and generative creative tools across different media types, from music to gaming, sports, and fashion, that are dramatically lowering the barrier to creation and distribution.”

Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD, recently accompanied the NBC production crew and Spurs staff for an in-depth look at the tools and people who transform an NBA playoff basketball game into the polished feed that millions watch from home. His tour included camera placements across the arena, specialist rigs designed for dramatic views, audio capture stations strewn throughout the court, and trucks that connect everything together as the action develops.

NBC typically sets up 40 to 50 cameras for key games. Many of their basic broadcast units rely on their trusty Sony P50 cameras, which have a sensor small enough to fit on a fingernail and can shoot 1080p video at 60 frames per second with global shutter capability. Individual units are expensive, costing close to $50,000 each. About six of these cameras work side by side with swiveling seats, and their primary function is to capture clear, isolated pictures of individual players. When the director calls out for a certain player over the headset, the operator has only about 2 seconds to track him down, frequently from behind, as he sprints down the court, and lock in a steady frame before moving on to the next thing. They have a fast reference sheet with images of the players to help them out.

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Many of these cameras now have more than just conventional lenses. One variant has an 8-to-1000 millimeter range, resulting in 122 times optical zoom. The servo controls, however, maintain focus and zoom changes smooth as silk, even while things are going at full speed, and there’s that one famous opening picture, a cable rig that runs along the arena’s ceiling, with a Sony P50 camera dangling from it on a stabilized gimbal. Two operators work together to make the photo just perfect, with one moving the entire apparatus through the air and the other handling framing, zoom, and focus.

Each basket has its own support structure with extra gear on it, such as your RED and Sony cameras providing alternate viewpoints or stills, and Sennheiser shotgun mics dispersed throughout to capture the sounds of sneakers on the floor, the ball bouncing against the rim, and all that other nice things. Then there’s a remote camera sitting right above the rim, giving you those awesome straight-down views of dunks and such. Cameras aren’t the only game in town; you’ve got your wide-angle shots showing the entire court, your low-angle units providing dramatic floor-level perspectives, your dedicated feeds following key players or the bench, and your Steadicam operator moving along the baseline with a stabilized rig for silky smooth sideline coverage. If that isn’t enough, you can also use your remote dome cameras to get rotational views of the entire arena.

Of course, audio receives the same treatment, with microphones positioned all over the court and in the seats, some for capturing on-court sounds and others for layering in crowd excitement from various parts of the arena. The ultimate goal is straightforward: keep the audio in time with what’s happening on the court and make it sound like you’re right there in the action. Brownlee linked to a video by Dallas Taylor that demonstrates what happens with the audio engineer on NBC’s broadcasts.

All of that video and audio is then routed to a cluster of broadcast trucks situated a few hundred yards away from the arena. Teams inside perform their magic to color-grade all of the camera feeds, make the live audio sound clean and clear, prepare fast replays, and decide which shot to air next. The replay specialists then get to work, utilizing their fancy controls with scrubbing wheels and variable-speed levers to quickly locate and slow down critical moments.

If you have the space in a spare room, having your own fitness equipment at home can help. Smart home gym equipment can replace dumbbells and other machines because they’re meant to be an all-in-one machine. I’ve tested many popular smart home gyms on the market, so I know what the experience is like and what to consider when buying one.

With years of experience testing fitness equipment, I’ve narrowed down the best machines based on cost and size and included memberships and overall performance. Below are the best smart home gyms to install in your home this year.

Latest updates

Aug. 1, 2025: We updated this list to reflect equipment that is still available and removed discontinued products. We updated Tonal to Tonal 2 and removed the NordicTrack Commercial 14.9 elliptical because it has been discontinued.

April 2, 2026: We updated the list to replace the NordicTrack Commercial 2450 with the NordicTrack X24. We added the Cross Training Peloton Bike Plus. The Tempo Studio has been discontinued and removed from the list.

What is the best overall smart home gym?

Our roundup includes the best pieces of equipment across various categories: mirrors, bikes, rowing machines, treadmills and the like. These aren’t comparable and there is no winner, but every product listed is the best in its category based on my expertise and rigorous testing.

Buying advice for smart home gyms

A lot of people set improving their overall health as a New Year’s resolution, and building a home gym is a smart way to approach this goal. It makes it easier to fit training into your schedule and stick to your commitment, because consistency will get you the best results. And if you choose to buy smart home gym equipment, you can make this process a lot of fun by accessing different training routines and virtual classes.

With that said, it’s never a bad idea to also compare and see whether an actual gym membership would make more sense. If you’ve found yourself to be self-motivated, have the extra space and don’t mind the added effort of buying and selling equipment, buying smart home gym equipment for your setup will make sense and should see some good use. But if you’ve found yourself feeling better training amongst people and don’t have the space to spare, joining an actual gym will have a more meaningful impact on your goals. Take these factors into account as you shop to improve your health.

Best smart home gyms for 2026

Neat Acoustics will preview its new Vito Classic loudspeaker at HIGH END Vienna 2026, giving the British brand’s latest and most ambitious Classic range model its first public outing. For a company that has been building compact, musically focused loudspeakers in northern England for more than three decades, the Vito Classic feels like a reminder that Neat has flown under the radar in North America for far too long. Much like Cyrus Audio, Graham Slee, and the late Glenn Croft’s wonderfully stubborn corner of British hi-fi, Neat has never needed flashing lights or luxury pricing to make its point.

I still remember hearing a pair of Neat loudspeakers years ago at a Toronto dealer, paired with a mix of Naim and Exposure gear. They were quick, spacious, and far bigger sounding than their footprint suggested. For anyone living with real-world space limits, especially in an apartment where refrigerator-sized loudspeakers are a non-starter unless eviction is the goal, Neat made a lot of sense. I should have bought them. File that one under “audio regrets, British division.”

Slim Cabinet, Big Neat Energy

The new Vito Classic sits at the top of the Classic range and follows that same thinking: a slim 2.5-way floorstanding loudspeaker built around an AMT tweeter, dual bass drivers, a claimed 22Hz to 22kHz frequency response, 6-ohm nominal impedance, and a recommended amplifier range of 25 to 200 watts. At 90 x 19 x 30 cm, it is not trying to dominate the room. It is trying to disappear into one, which has always been part of Neat’s appeal.

That matters because Neat has built much of its reputation on speakers that sound bigger, faster, and more alive than their dimensions suggest. The original Iota, Iota Alpha, Iota II, and Momentum models all leaned into compact cabinets, strong timing, surprising bass output, and an energetic presentation without turning the treble into dental work.

I really enjoyed the Iota Alpha for its open treble and tight bass from a tiny floorstanding cabinet, while the Iota II came across as agile, punchy, energetic, and capable of surprising scale from a very small enclosure. The newer Momentum J-S continued that pattern with an AMT tweeter, deep bass for a standmount, and a clean, articulate presentation.

A lively top end has long been part of the Neat recipe. Not bright. Not etched. Not the kind of thing that makes cymbals sound like someone dropped cutlery down a stairwell. But dull? That word rarely gets anywhere near a Neat loudspeaker, and the Vito Classic does not appear eager to change that. The Vito Classic appears to follow that same path: compact footprint, real bass ambition, and enough top-end life to keep things moving along with some presence.

The Bottom Line

The Neat Vito Classic looks like the company’s most ambitious Classic range loudspeaker yet, but the appeal is not just that it sits at the top of the lineup. What makes it interesting is the combination of a slim 90 cm floorstanding cabinet, AMT tweeter, dual bass drivers, claimed 22Hz bass extension, and Neat’s familiar preference for tuning by ear first and measurement second. That approach has defined the brand for decades, and the Vito Classic appears to be aimed at listeners who want scale, speed, and energy without surrendering half the room.

First customer deliveries are expected in September 2026, but official U.S. pricing has not been announced. It will not be cheap. Based on its position above the Classic Mystique and the reported U.K. pricing around £4,995 per pair, it is hard to imagine the Vito Classic landing under $5,000 USD once import costs, distribution, and dealer margins enter the chat. Nobody should pretend otherwise until Neat or its U.S. distributor confirms the number.

Amplifier matching should be part of the conversation. Based on personal experience with Neat speakers and direct conversations around what works well with them, the usual British suspects make a lot of sense: Naim Uniti models, Exposure integrated amplifiers and power amps, Cyrus Audio, Rega, Roksan, and Quad’s new 3 integrated amplifier. The WiiM Ultra also belongs in the discussion as a flexible streaming front end, especially for systems where budget needs to stay attached to reality.

The Vito Classic is not for someone chasing giant cabinets, luxury jewelry finishes, or audio furniture that announces itself from across the street. It is for listeners who want a compact British floorstander with real bass ambition, a lively but not bright top end, and enough musical momentum to make smaller and medium-sized rooms feel far larger than they are. Neat has been quietly doing this for a long time. The Vito Classic looks like the company finally asking more people to notice.

For more information: neatacoustics.com

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Our testing process varies by grill type, but most models go through three core challenges: a high-heat test like searing steaks or grilling burgers, a medium indirect-heat cook like a whole chicken over an hour, and a low-and-slow session with a full rack of ribs. Across more than 30 grills tested, we’ve refined this into a reliable routine.

Throughout each cook, we track total cooking time, internal grill temperatures, and the temperature inside multiple cuts of meat simultaneously. That data tells us what a grill’s own thermometer might not — where hot spots hide, how evenly heat actually distributes, and whether the readings you’re seeing on the dial match what’s happening on the grates

• High heat test: Cooking 5.3-ounce burger patties until they reach 145 F internally.
• Indirect heat test: Cooking a 5.5-pound chicken off the flames to 160 F.
• Low and slow: Cooking a rack of pork ribs at 225 for 3 hours and taste testing.

Temperature consistency

We use the InfiRay P2 Pro to test how fast the grills heat up and if the heat is even. It only works as the grills heat up because the top temperature is too high, but it gives us a good idea of how well each grill spreads the needed heat. The InfiRay P@ allows us to take temperature readings at multiple points across the heating area to obtain a more accurate average. We also use it to see if there is any major heat loss from other areas of the grill that may indicate poor-quality construction.

We also use a stopwatch to determine how quickly the temperature drops over a one-minute interval when opening the lid. It’s an especially helpful test for smokers, where you may need to check the meat but don’t want to compromise the cooking time. We always suggest using a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of any food you are smoking, rather than opening the lid, as they almost all lose around 100 degrees per minute.

Taste testing

There’s also a fair amount of (read: so much) taste testing, lively debate, and voting among our editors and families, in addition to the data we gather about grilling temperatures and cooking times. You might think it would be more fun than work to eat delicious food while discussing the merits of a grill, and you’d be right.

We don’t just taste test the three specific products in our temperature tests, as that wouldn’t give us a good spread. We choose products that people love to grill, including vegetables like corn, asparagus, and mushrooms, and meats like chicken legs, wings and steaks. When we can, we cook on multiple grills at once and keep a note on which products come from where. Then ask our (lucky) testers which they like the most. This is the least objective of the tests, but it is helpful in a real-world way. If the food just doesn’t taste good, then that grill likely isn’t doing a good job.

If you’re interested in any particular method of testing, we have a dedicated how we test page, plus our recommendations for cooking with kamado grills, portable grills and charcoal grills ready for your perusal. Happy grilling.

A morning walk through East Lawn Cemetery in Ithaca, New York uncovered an immense colony of some 5.5 million subterranean bees. The discovery, which a Cornell University research team published in April in the journal Apidologie, documents one of the largest aggregations of these insects ever recorded in the world. The population, belonging to the species Andrena regularis, occupies an area of about 1.25 acres and is crucial for pollination of the region’s orchards, demonstrating that historic cemeteries can prove unsuspected refuges for urban biodiversity.

The Genesis of the Discovery

It all began in the spring of 2022, when Rachel Fordyce, then a laboratory technician in Cornell University’s entomology department, noticed an anomalous presence of insects during her usual walk to work. After collecting some specimens, she showed them to Bryan Danforth, an entomologist at the same university. Analysis revealed that they were Andrena regularis, commonly called the mining or miner bee. Unlike honey bees, this wild species has a solitary lifestyle and nests by digging tunnels in the ground. Historical records indicate that the insect has been present in the cemetery, established in 1878, since at least the early 1900s.

The Census

To calculate the size of the colony, scientists placed 10 traps placed in the cemetery between late March and mid-May 2023. These small net curtains cover less than one square meter of soil and channel insects coming out of the ground to a glass container. In total, more than 3,000 insects belonging to 16 different species were sampled, including bees, beetles, and flies, with an overwhelming prevalence of Andrena regularis. Extrapolating from the average density found in the traps, the researchers estimated a total population of between 3 and 8 million, with an average value of 5.5 million—the equivalent of more than 200 domestic bee hives.

The research yielded previously unpublished data on the biology of this little-studied insect. The traps revealed that males emerge from the ground a few days earlier than females during the first warm days of April, a strategy that maximizes mating opportunities. Subsequently, females dig nests and lay eggs in cells filled with pollen and nectar. The species has the distinction of wintering at the adult stage underground, which allows it to become active very early in the spring, in perfect synchrony with the flowering of apple trees in the nearby Cornell University orchards. Monitoring also revealed the presence of complex ecological dynamics, such as parasitism by bees of the Nomada imbricata species, which lay their eggs in the nests of the host species at the expense of the original larvae.

A Heritage to Conserve

The discovery highlights the need to protect the nesting sites of wild bees, 75 percent of which are solitary species living underground. Places such as old city cemeteries offer ideal conditions: sandy soils that are easy to dig, no pesticides, and an environment that is not subject to the profound alterations typical of intensive agriculture or housing development. To prevent populations of this magnitude from being accidentally destroyed by concrete pours or road work, the study’s authors have launched a global citizen science initiative. The project invites citizens to report the presence of underground bee aggregations in order to survey and protect these vital pollinators before habitat fragmentation jeopardizes their survival.

This story originally appeared on WIRED Italia and has been translated from Italian.