A fridge that’s too cold or too warm will struggle to keep your food fresh. Produce is particularly susceptible to errant temps, but nearly everything you stick inside benefits from keeping your icebox set to a magic number, 

Not one to waste, I set out to find out how cool my fridge was since there’s no built-in thermometer. The ultimate goal was to ensure it’s set to that Goldilocks zone: the recommended temperature to keep most items as fresh as possible without freezing. 

Here’s how it went down and what I learned after testing nearly every temp setting on my fridge.

What temperature should your fridge be?

The scientific consensus puts the ideal fridge temperature at 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) or below — cold enough to keep bacteria in check, but not so cold that it freezes delicate foods.

Your freezer should be set to 0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius) or lower. It might seem like anything below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) would do the job, but the colder target exists for good reason: it keeps food solidly frozen even when you open the door, add fresh items, or ride out a brief power outage. As a bonus, lower temperatures also speed up freezing, which means smaller ice crystals and better preservation.

I ran tests using real-world conditions

When testing the fridge temp settings, I didn’t unload all of my food, though I did move more sensitive items — fresh produce, eggs, and some glass jars — into temporary coolers for colder tests. Likewise, I couldn’t keep items outside the fridge or at warmer temperatures for longer than two hours.

This all required me to keep my tests short. Every time I opened the door, checked the temperature or changed a setting, I affected the test. These inconsistencies, while distressing to my scientific mind, yielded findings that align more closely with real-world conditions in which you might open a packed fridge multiple times an hour.

Fridge thermometers make these tests possible

As with any test, I needed a way to measure and track temperatures over time. For this test, I used three different kinds of temperature sensors: ThermoPro Refrigerator Thermometers, Hatusoku Digital Thermometer with External Sensor and the recently announced Ikea Timmerflotte smart temperature and humidity sensor.

ThermoPro is the most suitable option for most people because it can be hung from shelves or flipped back into a helpful stand. The built-in light also helps you see the LCD in low lighting — like my freezer, which has no interior light.

Hatusoku’s long temperature probe makes it a great option for a thermometer that you can stick on the outside of the fridge for at-a-glance checks. Still, the probe is extremely sensitive and almost always reacts when I open the door.

Because it’s so sensitive, the min/max setting isn’t as useful. Consider waiting a few minutes after a cooling cycle before checking the temperature. You also need to contend with an additional wire when placing the probe.

Timmerflotte made my testing arsenal after I floated the idea to a company representative. They were just as curious to see how the sensor performed in the fridge as I was. Still, a developer with the company said the sensors could handle the internal temperature of my fridge, but that the metal might interfere with its connection to the Dirigera smart hub. (Fortunately, I had no connection issues during my test.)

Because it’s a smart temperature sensor, Timmerflotte provided me with real-time temperature measurements without requiring me to open the fridge. Ikea sent enough sensors so that I could track the temperature in both the front and back of the fridge, which was incredibly helpful for finding the perfect setting. The Ikea Home Smart app didn’t have a way to track temperature over time — I couldn’t spot trends beyond my manual checks.

However, I should note that the minimum temperature for Timmerflotte was around 14 degrees F (minus 10 degrees C), so it was unable to track the temperature of my freezer. It also turned off after about 12 hours because freezing temperatures and Alkaline batteries don’t get along.

How I tested my fridge temps: Limitations and caveats

My refrigerator uses a simple dial thermostat to control both the fridge and freezer. The dial lists numbers 1 through 9, with 9 being the coldest setting. Starting with 1, I measured the temperature for at least 20 minutes (often longer with colder settings) to allow it to stabilize after each compressor cycle. 

Here’s the rub: My results are unique to my home and fridge. 

• Although GE still makes my fridge (Model GTR15BBMRWW), it’s an old model with a likely manufacture date of April 2001. The owner’s manual even recommends setting the temperature control dial to 5 and adjusting from there.
• I have a lot of food in my fridge due to Thanksgiving preparations. With such a large thermal load, it takes considerable time for the temperature to stabilize after adjustments are made. A high food load also blocks airflow during cooling, resulting in cold and hot spots.
• The average temperature of my kitchen during these November tests was about 64 degrees Fahrenheit, which affects how long the fridge runs.
• Frequently opening the door during testing certainly affected the results.
• I usually use a slightly colder setting in the summer to keep foods in the safe zone, and GE’s advice reflects this. Even then, I only put items that are safe to freeze in the back of the fridge, just in case.

Finally, my measurements were more consistent and reliable in the fridge than in the freezer, which fortunately stayed below 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius) throughout the test. (I mostly chalk this up to forgetting to photograph refrigerator thermometer readings for Levels 2, 3 and 4.) However, the freezer thermometer wasn’t consistently at 0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius) or below until I reached Level 4.

My test results and takeaways

Ultimately, Level 5 (actually slightly below this) was the only one that kept all of my food within the target range. The front, back and freezer all met the aforementioned food safety guidelines. The other settings either froze items in the back or kept front items too warm.

You can see why I canceled the test after Level 8, which put the entire fridge at or below freezing. This level also caused the compressor to run continuously for almost an hour before shutting off. 

So, I couldn’t risk spending at least as much time trying to hit Level 9, which I suspect could turn my entire fridge into a freezer — even if the fridge compartment doesn’t quite hit 0 degrees Fahrenheit. (I don’t have enough cooler space to hold a fridge’s worth of food.)

For my fridge, Level 5 is right in the middle, which is likely what the manufacturer intended when curating the various settings. From a user standpoint, I found that impressive. My biggest takeaway from the results is that setting the fridge to a colder temperature isn’t necessarily better, which is sometimes my instinct when I perceive that food is spoiling too quickly. 

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Should you test the temperature of your own fridge?

If your food is consistently spoiling or freezing without explanation, it could be because your settings aren’t calibrated properly. You may not even know which setting is intended to hit the target fridge temp of 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) or below. If that’s the case, running a similar test on your own fridge would be wise. 

I recommend getting a set of fridge thermometers as I did. I consider them essential for simple fridges like mine, which use a dial thermostat that doesn’t display the actual temperature.

While many fridges have a digital thermostat with your target temperature, an independent fridge thermometer’s flexibility can help you learn more about your fridge. For example, you’ll be able to move the thermometer around to find cold spots or track temperatures during a power outage.

from the whoops dept

It’s a tale as old as time, assuming time began a decade or two ago. A music artist who just wants to make and perform their craft gets on the internet and performs the song he or she created, only to receive some version of a copyright notice or warning, confusing the hell out of them. Sometimes this happens due to fraud. More often it’s due to some mistake with some automated bot that trolls for rights violations on behest of some massive company.

The latter is likely the case when it comes to OPM performer Jireh Lim, who recently performed one of his songs from over a decade ago on Facebook, only to be notified that his reel was being demonetized.

OPM singer Jireh Lim appeared amused and puzzled at the same time after he got a copyright notice for singing his 2013 song “Buko” in one of his social media posts. Lim shared a video of himself singing his song along with a band, through his Facebook page on Saturday, Feb. 21.

Lim shared a screenshot of the notice that reads, “Your reel’s earnings are being claimed by music rights holders. Multiple rights owners requested changes to your video because a large amount of their music was detected.”

Lim included a response in the caption of the screenshot in what I believe is Tagalog. I’m sure the translation isn’t perfect, but he essentially says, “Guys, this is me. It’s my song.”

So, what’s going on here? Well, the details are somewhat lacking, so I’m left to speculate a bit. Here’s what I know for sure. Lim is currently signed with Warner Music Philippines. Warner definitely has the rights to Lin’s album Love and Soul, which he made in 2015 while with Warner. Before Warner, and in 2013 when Buko was recorded, he was an independent artist. His pre-Warner catalog, however, made its way onto streaming platforms also in 2015.

And now for the speculation. I am guessing that Warner also acquired the rights to his older music, at least for streaming distribution and the like. Warner is not only extremely protectionist on copyright matters, but also employs copyright bots that automatically look for infringing content on the internet, particularly on YouTube and social media sites. So, I would guess that Lim’s reel performing “his” song got flagged by whatever automated setup Warner Music has going.

None of which changes the fact that’s it’s crazy-pants that a musical artist can’t perform his own song on the internet unmolested, nor the fact that copyright laws are obviously so stupidly insane that even these artists can’t figure out how to navigate them properly.

Filed Under: automated copyright notice, copyright, demonetization, jireh lim

Companies: warner music group

Hackers are abusing the legitimate OAuth redirection mechanism to bypass phishing protections in email and browsers to take users to malicious pages.

The attacks target government and public-sector organizations with phishing links that prompt users to authenticate to a malicious application, Microsoft Defender researchers say.

with e-signature requests, Social Security notices, meeting invitations, password resets, or various financial and political topics that contain OAuth redirect URLs. Sometimes, the URLs are embedded in PDF files to evade detection.

Forcing risky redirections

OAuth applications are registered with an identity provider, such as Microsoft Entra ID, and leverage the OAuth 2.0 protocol to obtain delegated or application-level access to user data and resources.

In the campaigns observed by Microsoft, the attackers create malicious OAuth applications in a tenant they control and configure them with a redirect URI pointing to their infrastructure.

The researchers say that even if the URLs for Entra ID look like legitimate authorization requests, the endpoint is invoked with parameters for silent authentication without an interactive login and an invalid scope that triggers authentication errors. This forces the identity provider to redirect users to the redirect URI configured by the attacker.

In some cases, the victims are redirected to phishing pages powered by attacker-in-the-middle frameworks such as EvilProxy, which can intercept valid session cookies to bypass multi-factor authentication (MFA) protections.

Microsoft found that the ‘state’ parameter was misused to auto-fill the victim’s email address in the credentials box on the phishing page, increasing the perceived sense of legitimacy.

In other instances, the victims are redirected to a ‘/download’ path that automatically delivers a ZIP file with malicious shortcut (.LNK) files and HTML smuggling tools.

Opening the .LNK launches PowerShell, which performs reconnaissance on the compromised host and extracts the components required for the next step, DLL side-loading.

A malicious DLL (crashhandler.dll) decrypts and loads the final payload (crashlog.dat) into memory, while a legitimate executable (stream_monitor.exe) loads a decoy to distract the victim.

Microsoft suggests that organizations should tighten permissions for OAuth applications, enforce strong identity protections and Conditional Access policies, and use cross-domain detection across email, identity, and endpoints.

The company highlights that the observed attacks are identity-based threats that abuse an intended behavior in the OAuth framework that behaves as specified by the standard defining how authorization errors are managed through redirects.

The researchers warn that threat actors are now triggering OAuth errors through invalid parameters, such as scope or prompt=none, to force silent error redirects as part of real-world attacks.

Malware is getting smarter. The Red Report 2026 reveals how new threats use math to detect sandboxes and hide in plain sight.

Download our analysis of 1.1 million malicious samples to uncover the top 10 techniques and see if your security stack is blinded.

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The wellness club was founded by GJ Wee, son of UOB CEO Wee Ee Cheong

Homegrown wellness club Trapeze Rec. Club (TRC), opened by GJ Wee, son of billionaire UOB CEO Wee Ee Cheong, is set to close by Mar 22.

In a post on its Instagram page yesterday (Mar 3), the business said “rising costs” made continuing at its current location unsustainable. The decision was reportedly made last week.

TRC said its team is individually reaching out to members, processing refunds, and supporting its coaches, though the post did not clarify what would happen to the coaching staff and encouraged the community to contact them directly.

The club added that it is also “closing the chapter right” with suppliers, vendors, and partners.

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Classes and private training will continue until the closure date.

As of Mar 4, TRC’s website is still open for bookings until Mar 18, while there are classes still scheduled until Mar 22.

Launched in 2021, TRC is a four-storey fitness club spanning 8,000 square feet that’s located in a pre-war shophouse at Tanjong Pagar. It offers group classes covering fitness, wellness, and more, alongside personal training.

The club operates under the wellness-focused lifestyle company Trapeze Group, also founded by GJ Wee. Other brands under the group include Hideaway, a massage and bathhouse-style recovery concept in New Bahru, which appears to be operating as usual.

A “surprising closure”

A day prior to TRC’s official Instagram announcement on Mar 2, a netizen going by @swiftologist was already seeking answers about the club’s “imminent (and surprising) closure” from both TRC and its founder.

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He called the closure sudden and “disruptive,” while lauding TRC’s trainers “who did everything they could to keep Trapeze going, despite clear indifference to the well-being of members and staff from upper management.”

In response to the official announcement on Mar 3, the netizen added that members were “given less than a month’s notice,” after seeking clarification on Mar 2 and only “finally” getting an official address on Mar 3.

He further questioned if TRC’s closure was “truly unavoidable due to rising costs,” and that “the community deserves a direct explanation from the founder itself—not just a message via the brand account.”

@swiftologist also went on to question the founder’s priorities “when other projects appear to continue while this space (the one with a real, invested community) is deemed ‘unsustainable’.”

Other members have echoed similar concerns, describing the closure as given on “very short notice.” One netizen noted that members were informed of a possible relocation “just last month,” only to now be told that operations are shutting down entirely, which they said “feels abrupt, poorly handled and communicated.”

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That said, some members have also expressed support amid the discussion.

When Vulcan Post approached @swiftologist and TRC for additional comments, both said that they had nothing to add.

• Read more stories we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.

Featured Image Credit: Trapeze Rec. Club

Initially, Gorham used his brain-computer interface for single clicks, Oxley says. Then he moved on to multi-clicks and eventually sliding control, which is akin to turning up a volume knob. Now he can move a computer cursor, an example of 2D control—horizontal and vertical movements within a two-dimensional plane.

Over the years, Gorham has gotten to try out different devices using his implant. Zafar Faraz, a field clinical engineer for Synchron, says Gorham directly contributed to the development of Switch Control, a new accessibility feature Apple announced last year that allows brain-computer interface users the ability to control iPhones, iPads, and the Vision Pro with their thoughts.

In a video demonstration shown at an Nvidia conference last year in San Jose, California, Gorham demonstrates using his implant to play music from a smart speaker, turn on a fan, adjust his lights, activate an automatic pet feeder, and run a robotic vacuum in his home in Melbourne, Australia.

“Rodney has been pushing the boundaries of what is possible,” Faraz says.

As a field clinical engineer, Faraz visits Gorham in his home twice a week to lead sessions on his brain-computer interface. It’s Faraz’s job to monitor the performance of the device, troubleshoot problems, and also learn the range of things that Gorham can and can’t do with it. Synchron relies on this data to improve the reliability and user-friendliness of its system.

In the years he’s been working with Gorham, the two have done a lot of experimenting to see what’s possible with the implant. Once, Faraz says, he had Gorham using two iPads side by side, switching between playing a game on one and listening to music on the other. Another time, Gorham played a computer game in which he had to grab blocks on a shelf. The game was tied to an actual robotic arm at the University of Melbourne, about six miles from Gorham’s home, that remotely moved real blocks in a lab.

Gorham, who was an IBM software salesman before he was diagnosed with ALS in 2016, has relished being such a key part of the development of the technology, his wife Caroline says.

“It fits Rodney’s set of life skills,” she says. “He spent 30 years in IT, talking to customers, finding out what they needed from their software, and then going back to the techos to actually develop what the customer needed. Now it’s sort of flipped around the other way.” After a session with Faraz, Gorham will often be smiling ear to ear.

Through field visits, the Synchron team realized it needed to change the setup of its system. Currently, a wire cable with a paddle on one end needs to sit on top of the user’s chest. The paddle collects the brain signals that are beamed through the chest and transmits them via the wire to an external unit that translates those signals into commands. In its second generation system, Synchron is removing that wire.

“If you have a wearable component where there’s a delicate communication layer, we learned that that’s a problem,” Oxley says. “With a paralyzed population, you have to depend on someone to come and modify the wearable components and make sure the link is working. That was a huge learning piece for us.”

Apple recently announced a new iPad Air and there’s already a great way to save on preorders. From 9:15am ET on March 4, you will be able to preorder the Apple iPad Air (M4) at Best Buy from as little as $249 when trading in.

To grab the best discount, you need to trade in a fairly new device. For instance, if you trade in the iPad Air (M3) 11-inch model or an iPad Pro 12.9 (4th Gen), you get $350 trade-in towards the iPad Air (M4). If you trade in the iPad mini (6th Gen), you get $200 off.

It’s worth playing around with the trade-in system to see how you can save while getting rid of unwanted older tech. Bear in mind that how cheap that makes the Apple iPad Air (M4) depends on which model you’re aiming for.

The Apple iPad Air (M4) provides the same design as previous models, but it now uses Apple’s much more powerful M4 chip. There’s also Wi-Fi 7 support, and LTE or 5G for relevant models. Think of this all as a small but important upgrade if you want the fastest iPad Air around. It’s sleek enough to carry around easily, too.

iPad Air preorder deal at Best Buy

As the Apple iPad Air (M4) has only just been announced, we haven’t had any hands-on time with it yet. However, we gave the iPad Air (M3) a highly respectable 4.5 stars out of five. We appreciated the power that the M3 chip offers, its “vibrant screen”, and “strong battery life and audio.”

That seems almost certain to carry over to this M4 model, so we’re counting on it riding high in our look at the best iPads soon.

For Apple enthusiasts, it’ll be one of the best tablets to upgrade to, even if it’s a relatively subtle improvement over the previous model. If you need something more powerful than your phone but more portable than your laptop, this is a great way to bridge the gap.

If you can’t wait for the latest model or you want to buy something a little cheaper, take a look at the other iPad deals currently going on. There are some good tablet deals around for every budget and need.

Amid the backlash, the business—touted as S’pore’s largest 24-hour spa—closes its pools

When House+ Bubble announced its arrival in Singapore, it quickly became one of the most talked-about spa openings here.

Touted as Singapore’s largest 24-hour spa—it will span nearly 100,000 sqft once completed—the new S$45 million wellness destination in Jurong East promised an all-in-one experience: soaking pools, therapy rooms, a cinema, an e-sports room, and round-the-clock access.

But that hype appears to have been short-lived.

Just a week into its soft-opening, during which guests could access the spa, massage services, pools, and dining areas for S$49, House+ Bubble closed its bathing pools in both the male and female sections indefinitely, citing “internal facility adjustments.”

This move comes amid mounting complaints online. Google Reviews and visitor feedback have flagged hygiene concerns, inconsistent pool temperatures, and other operational issues, raising questions about whether the spa can live up to its lofty promises.

A slew of negative reviews

When Vulcan Post combed through House+ Bubble’s Google Reviews, bathrooms and toilets were described as “dirty,” and shared amenities raised concerns: combs reportedly had visible dandruff, while communal skincare bottles contained stray hairs.

Others pointed out that, despite being marketed as a 24-hour spa, not all facilities actually operate around the clock. The on-site restaurant closes at 12:30 AM, while massage services end at 10:30PM.

In response to one reviewer, the management of House+ Bubble said that it “is taking action to address these issues” and would elevate its cleaning standards.

Some visitors also highlighted hidden costs and misleading advertising. Despite claims of “unlimited massages,” the S$49 soft-opening fee only covered the massage chairs. A proper massage would reportedly cost between S$150 and S$250 per hour.

Alleged staffing issues

Allegedly, staffing issues may be compounding the spa’s operational problems.

A Reddit post claims that several employees left after short stints due to “poor management” and “poor staff treatment.”

Staff reportedly received only a 30-minute unpaid meal break for a nine-hour shift, despite being told they would get an hour. The post adds that the spa is now facing manpower shortages as a result.

Vulcan Post has reached out to House+ Bubble for comment on these claims but has yet to receive a response.

A S$45 million spa ambition

House+ Bubble is a S$45 million project.

Its first opening phase, spanning approximately 49,000 sqft, was slated for an official launch on Mar 14, though it remains unclear if this will proceed as planned.

The second phase will look to add about 50,000 sqft, and is targeted for completion at the end of the year, subject to regulatory approvals.

Currently, visitors can still access House+ Bubble, but following the closure of the bathing pools, the trial operating fee has been reduced from S$49 to S$39 for three hours, excluding pool access.

• Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here. 

Featured Image Credit: House+ Bubble/ Screengrab from Google Reviews