Microsoft Excel, the 40-year-old spreadsheet application that helped establish personal computers as essential workplace tools and contributed to Microsoft's current valuation of nearly $4 trillion, has weathered both the rise of cloud computing and the current AI boom largely unscathed. In its most recent quarter, commercial revenue for Microsoft 365 -- the bundle including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint -- increased 17% year over year, and consumer revenue rose 28%.

The software traces its origins to a 1983 Microsoft offsite under the code name Odyssey, where engineers set out to clone Lotus 1-2-3. That program had itself cloned VisiCalc, the first computerized spreadsheet, created by Dan Bricklin for the Apple II in the late 1970s. Bricklin never patented VisiCalc. "Financially it would have been great if we'd have been able to patent it," he told Bloomberg. "And there would be a Bricklin Building at MIT, instead of a Gates Building."

Excel now counts an estimated 500 million paying users. The Pentagon pays for 2 million Microsoft 365 licenses. Google's free Sheets product, launched in 2006, captured casual use cases like potluck sign-ups but failed to dislodge Excel from enterprise work. AI chatbots present the latest challenge, but venture capitalists say nearly every AI spreadsheet startup they meet builds on top of Excel rather than replacing it.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

India's dominant airline IndiGo has cancelled roughly 3,000 flights since last week after new pilot fatigue regulations collided with technical issues and the seasonal schedule shift, stranding more than half a million passengers and forcing aviation authorities to reverse course on the safety rules they had just implemented.

InterGlobe Aviation, IndiGo's parent company, told regulators that stricter requirements for night flying and weekly rest periods created an acute crew shortage. The Airline Pilots Association of India called the regulatory rollback a "dangerous precedent," noting that management had known about the requirements since early last year.

IndiGo controls 65.6% of India's domestic aviation market as of October 2025 and briefly became the world's most valuable airline in April. The crisis arrives as India's second-largest carrier, Air India, remains under investigation following a June crash that killed 241 passengers and crew. Authorities have imposed temporary price caps to prevent gouging.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix closed out the 2025 season in unforgettable style, with Lando Norris sealing his first World Championship finish by crossing the line in third, while Max Verstappen just missed out on the title despite clinching his eighth victory of the campaign. But who else impressed our Power Rankings judges at the Yas Marina Circuit?

The Austrian is set to depart Red Bull after 20 years, having overseen six Teams' titles and eight Drivers' titles.

Lost & Found is a series of releases pulling from the archives of Obey Giant Art. This week, we are excited to announce the release of a limited number of Cold Chillin screenprints from 2008 in red or blue, which will be available on Thursday, December 11th at 10 AM PT in the Obey Giant Store. A limited number of screenprints will be available as matching numbered sets.

*Price Note: These highly sought-after limited edition prints are priced according to the increased value of the print over time.

The “Cold Chillin” print was created when I was working regularly on my series of faux 12” LP sleeves that were a tribute to album covers and the influence music has had on my aesthetics and philosophy. While working on a hip hop penguin for one of the album cover tribute pieces, I decided that the “Cold Chillin” penguin worked well enough as a two color image to make print editions in two color ways. I found it amusing to take the metaphor of “cold chillin” and present it very literally with the penguin on a floating bit of ice with a fan that doubles as a turntable literally and metaphorically blowing cool air on him. The frame is inspired by the hip hop/graffiti device of making tag stickers out of “Hello My Name Is” labels. Track suit and dookie rope chain are also tributes to the gear of hip hop pioneers like RUN DMC, LL Cool J, etc… if you speak the lingo you get it!
-Shepard

PRINT DETAILS: Cold Chillin (Blue). 24H x 18W inches. Screen print on 80# cream Speckletone paper. Signed by Shepard Fairey in 2008. Numbered edition of 350. Comes with a Digital Certificate of Authenticity provided by Verisart. $200. Available on Thursday, December 11th @ 10 AM PDT at https://store.obeygiant.com. Max order: 1 per customer/household. International customers are responsible for import fees due upon delivery (Except UK orders under $160).⁣ ALL SALES FINAL.

PRINT DETAILS: Cold Chillin (Red). 24H x 18W inches. Screen print on 80# cream Speckletone paper. Signed by Shepard Fairey in 2008. Numbered edition of 350. Comes with a Digital Certificate of Authenticity provided by Verisart. $200. Available on Thursday, December 11th @ 10 AM PDT at https://store.obeygiant.com. Max order: 1 per customer/household. International customers are responsible for import fees due upon delivery (Except UK orders under $160).⁣ ALL SALES FINAL.

The post LOST AND FOUND: Cold Chillin’ from 2008 Available Thurs, Dec. 11th at 10AM PT! appeared first on Obey Giant.

Since 2013, I’ve done a holiday gift guide that’s basically a curated roundup of stuff from the best gift guides I can find. I always do it a little bit differently from year to year, and last year I went with a simple list and it worked well. So I’m doing that again this year. Also: this is a little more spare than I’d like, but I wanted to get something up pronto. I will be updating this every few days for the next week-ish, so check back. Ok, let’s a-go!

1. The guide always starts with charitable giving and so should you. If you can, give cash to your local food bank (and kick in extra around the holiday time). Volunteer. Start with GiveWell’s list of “high-impact, cost-effective charities”. Here are Vox’s 10 guidelines for giving effectively. I personally give to the National Network of Abortion Funds.

2. The Kid Should See This Gift Guide is my #1 source for kids’ gifts. What caught my eye this year: The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World (Bookshop, Amazon), Kinderfeets multi-use balance board, this portable 1080p video projector for under $90, Teenage Engineering’s pocket operators (Amazon), a set of French, hand-painted, space-themed marbles, and a graphic novel adaptation of The Hidden Life of Trees (Bookshop, Amazon). [via The Kid Should See This Gift Guide]

3. You can give the gift of Kottke! *cringe* There’s The Kottke Hypertext Tee and The Process Tee in light & dark colors. There are kottke.org gift memberships as well starting at $30/yr; check the FAQ on the membership page for more options and details.

π. I love this one: gift audiobooks from Libro.fm (my audiobook store of choice). “You choose the number of credits and your recipient picks their audiobook — all in support of local bookstores.” (And they’re 10% off until Dec 11.)

4. The most popular item by far from the past two gift guides: this Japanese nail clipper. I have one of these and it’s *great*. A significant upgrade from even the Tweezerman ones. Good stocking stuffer!

5. The staples. I upgraded to the 3rd-gen Apple AirPods Pro this year and I use them almost daily; they are comfier with better noise-cancelling than the 2nd-gen ones, which I loved. Almost every book I read, I read on the Kindle Paperwhite — it’s light, waterproof, and very travel-friendly. (Though I am still eyeing the Colorsoft Kindle.)

6. My friend Caroline hiked Vermont’s Long Trail last summer and compiled a small list of outdoors supplies for the gift guide: ThermoDrop Zipper-Pull Thermometer, Opinel wood-handled stainless steel folding knives, Kahtoola MICROspikes, and Smartwool’s Thermal Merino Reversible Cuffed Beanie. And the Cotopaxi Bataan fanny pack, about which she said: “The MVP of my hiking trip. No more fiddling around with side pockets or opening your pack any time you need a snack, to find your your phone or to look at the map.”

7. For the last few years, The Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel has recommended the same printer as the printer of the year: whatever HL-L2xxx-series Brother laser printer is on sale. So, here you go: Brother HL-L2405W Wireless Compact Monochrome Laser Printer. (Technically not on sale right now, but at $135 for a rock-solid laser printer, it doesn’t really need to be.)

8. Kelli Anderson’s new popup book, Alphabet in Motion, is completely and utterly ridiculously amazing. When I opened my copy, my jaw dropped lower and lower to the floor as I looked & played through it and that’s been pretty much the reaction of everyone else who has a copy of this. The must-give gift of the season for book, type, and design nerds. (Bookshop, Amazon)

IX. My daughter got me this jar of truffle butter as a gift a few years ago and it’s so good (and it lasts forever in the fridge). Perfect for putting into white, creamy pasta sauces or as a finishing element for a grilled cheese. (Also, you can buy white truffles on Amazon but I wouldn’t?)

10. Richard Scarry-themed temporary tattoos from Tattly. Lowly Worm, Huckle Cat, the Apple Car, Goldbug, and many more of your favorites. (Tattly is shutting down, so get ‘em while you can…)

10.5. Let’s destigmatize the gift card: there is no shame in not knowing what to get someone for a gift, even if you know them really well. This is actually the gift of getting someone exactly what they want. There’s the obvious Amazon gift card but you can also get cards for Apple (use it for Fitness+ or Apple TV+?), Audible, Fortnite, Snapchat, Airbnb, Disney+, Netflix, and Roblox.

10.6. Sometimes people ask me where to buy art online and I always direct them to 20x200. For instance, just take a look at Harold Fisk’s Mississippi River meander maps.

11. kottke.org guest editor Aaron Cohen owns an ice cream shop in the Boston area and they take their merch very seriously. So many t-shirts! Oh and you can find pints of Gracie’s ice cream all over the Boston metro area…as far away as Concord and Beverly.

12. The Colossal Shop is full of “fun things for creative people”, including this beaver embroidery kit, a buttons puzzle, and a ceramic toast candle holder. [via The Colossal Shop’s 2025 Gift Guide]

14. I like getting The Giant Jam Sandwich (Bookshop) as a gift for the little readers in my life.

15. Friends & readers of the site who sell cool shit: Simplebits (shirts, fonts, and more), Wondermade marshmallows, Hella Cocktail Co. (bitters, mixers, canned margs), This is a MomBod (feminist apparel), Jodi Ettenberg’s Legal Nomads shop (food art, totes, shirts) and gluten free translation cards and celiac travel guides, Yen Ha (prints), Spoon & Tamago (Family Mart socks!), Fitz (custom fitted eyeglasses), Field Notes, Pink Tiger Games (“sweet, kind” tabletop games), Storyworth (keepsake books), Christoph Niemann (prints & books), Noah Kalina (photographic prints & books), Jessica Hische (prints, apparel, fonts, etc.), Mike Monteiro (paintings), and Cotton Bureau (t-shirts and more).

16. Twelve South AirFly Duo is a Bluetooth transmitter that you can plug into the jack on your seatback TV on the airplane and then use your Bluetooth headphones to listen to your movie. I have one of these; it works great. Apple AirTags are essential travel infrastructure these days.

Q. Pal Robin Sloan and his partner Kathryn Tomajan run a tiny olive oil producer called Fat Gold. This year they’re offering a Fat Gold Gift Set of two different extra virgin olive oils and a copy of a “32-page zine that provides a brisk introduction to extra virgin olive oil alongside a stockpile of delicious applications”. Fun! He also recommends Daybreak’s seaweed salt (for extra umami!) and these gorgeous tidelogs. [via Robin’s 2025 Gift Guide]

18. Another great gift list for kids’ stuff: Purdue University’s 2025 Engineering Gift Guide, which is focused on microelectronics gifts (circuitry, robotics, coding & programming) this year. [via Purdue University’s 2025 Engineering Gift Guide]

19. Food/kitchen things that I can vouch for: Xi’an Famous Foods meal kits, pastrami from Katz’s Delicatessen, Ernest Wright’s kitchen scissors, the Ooni Volt electric pizza oven, Headley & Bennett’s crossback apron, and this Zojirushi rice cooker (Neuro Fuzzy!).

20. The end of an era! Almost every year since I started doing a gift guide, I’ve featured this 55-gallon drum of personal lubricant. But Amazon doesn’t sell it anymore. I blame all of you for never buying one!

Twenty one. You know her, you love her: Edith Zimmerman. Her Etsy shop is chock full of prints, cards, and apparel.

22. Stuff from past gift guides: the Keap Wood Cabin candle is my favorite candle, Crayola Palm-Grip Crayons, this cute whale butter dish, and a leather floppy disk wallet.

23. Made right here in VT, Darn Tough socks (Amazon) are the best socks. For one thing, they have an Unconditional Lifetime Guarantee.

24. Tinned fish! I have my eye on the Fishwife Smoky Trio 3-Pack (Smoked Rainbow Trout, Smoked Salmon, Smoked Mackerel).

67. Teens are impossible to shop for. The Strategist always has good gift guides: The Best Gifts for Teenage Girls, According to Teenage Girls; The Best Gifts for Teenage Boys, According to Teenage Boys. The Spikeball set, disco ball, and this Brooklinen robe look promising. And I can recommend the tortilla blanket for ages 0 to 120…everyone loves this thing.

26. Last year, I asked readers for gift suggestions and IMO the resulting thread is even better than the gift guide I put together. There’s some great stuff here: wooden puzzles; colorful, design-y charging stands for Apple things; leather bound notebooks; box cutters; and this vintage shop on Etsy. Go check out the rest here.

This is a living document — I’ll be updating this list with more stuff over the next few days, and I’ll let you know when to check back! To be continued…

When you buy through links on kottke.org, I may earn an affiliate commission. Thanks for supporting the site!

Tags: kottke.org

Colin Furze built a full-suspension bike using powerful magnets instead of shocks or springs.

💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

As Trump gives green light to ship Nvidia H200s to China and boost US

Three US-based businessmen face potential prison sentences after authorities dismantled a smuggling network accused of funneling hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Nvidia GPUs to China.…

Have we learned nothing from sci-fi films and TV shows?

Interview  Imagine botnets in physical form and you've got a pretty good idea of what could go wrong with the influx of AI-infused humanoid robots expected to integrate into society over the next few decades.…

Abortion is not officially banned in Russia, but Altai is among more than two dozen Russian regions where new laws ban the “coercion” of pregnant women into terminating a pregnancy.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin did not say whether there were any casualties or damage on the ground.

De waardering van ondernemers voor het Nederlandse ondernemingsklimaat is dit jaar, voor het eerst na jaren van daling, stabiel gebleven. De voorspelbaarheid van beleid, politieke stabiliteit, personeels- en energieschaarste en regeldruk blijven thema’s waar ondernemers graag verbetering zien. Bedrijven waarderen het ondernemingsklimaat in 2025 met een 6,1, een lichte stijging ten opzichte van 2024 (6,0). Dat blijkt uit de jaarlijkse Monitor Ondernemingsklimaat in opdracht van het ministerie van Economische Zaken.

Radicalisering is steeds vaker een individueel proces. Ook het plegen van een aanslag is meer dan eerder een individuele aangelegenheid. Hierdoor is het lastiger om te voorspellen wie, wanneer en waarom iemand overgaat tot een geweldsdaad. Dat zegt de Nationaal Coördinator Terrorismebestrijding en Veiligheid (NCTV) in het halfjaarlijkse Dreigingsbeeld Terrorisme Nederland. De kans op een terroristische aanslag in Nederland is reëel, daarom blijft het dreigingsniveau op 4 (substantieel).

dckellyphoto has added a photo to the pool:

Kimonos in Harajuku. (8/26/2025)

DEN HAAG (ANP) - Het kabinet werkt nog steeds aan een "politiek besluit" om Lelystad Airport al dan niet te openen voor burgerluchtvaart. Dat zei demissionair minister Robert Tieman (Infrastructuur en Waterstaat, BBB) in het wekelijkse vragenuur in de Tweede Kamer. Het "voornemen" is om het besluit nog dit jaar te nemen, maar zeker is dat niet.

Kamerleden van beide flanken drongen er bij Tieman op aan om het vliegveld zowel wel als niet te openen voor het zogeheten groothandelsverkeer. Tieman hield zich op de vlakte, maar sprak ook niet tegen dat hij het vliegveld wil openen. Dat was ook de wens van zijn voorganger Barry Madlener (PVV).

De Kamer heeft bijna twee jaar geleden een motie aangenomen om Lelystad Airport "definitief" niet te openen. In september kwam daar nog een motie bij die opriep om de eventuele stationering van F-35-jachtvliegtuigen niet te koppelen aan het openen van de luchthaven voor vakantievluchten. Tieman beloofde dat hij bij zijn besluit op de moties ingaat, maar zei niet dat hij de twee wensen ook daadwerkelijk gaat vervullen.

Obstakels

Het kabinet is "dubbel demissionair", zei GroenLinks-PvdA-Kamerlid Suzanne Kröger meermaals. Dat de minister de mogelijkheid openhoudt om twee moties in de wind te slaan, vond ze "ongepast".

"Ik strijd met een open vizier", zei Tieman. Hij erkende dat er nog obstakels zijn voor een opening van de luchthaven, zoals de omgang met boeren die in de stikstofcrisis zijn gedupeerd. Daarover is het woord volgens de minister aan het landbouwministerie.

Nieuwe geopolitieke situatie

Tieman: "Ik weeg alles mee. Ook de dubbel demissionaire status. Ook de moties die uw Kamer heeft aangenomen. Ook de nieuwe geopolitieke situatie waarin we verkeren."

De zaak ligt ook moeilijk in de coalitie. Dat komt omdat de VVD voor opening van de luchthaven voor vakantievluchten is, terwijl de BBB zich ertegen verzet. Die laatste partij wil onder meer eerst dat de PAS-melders worden gelegaliseerd. Dat zijn boeren die buiten hun schuld om geen stikstofvergunning hebben. De BBB stemde in september ook voor de motie van de ChristenUnie om de komst van de F-35 niet te koppelen aan vakantievluchten.

NEW YORK (ANP) - Nvidia behoorde dinsdag tot de dalers op de aandelenbeurzen in New York. De Amerikaanse regering heeft het chipconcern toestemming gegeven om zijn H200-chips voor kunstmatige intelligentie naar China te exporteren. Volgens president Donald Trump ontvangt de Amerikaanse regering in ruil daarvoor 25 procent van de verkoopopbrengst. Het aandeel Nvidia zakte 0,6 procent.

Volgens Trump geldt de toestemming voor Nvidia alleen voor de H200-chips uit de vorige generatie en niet voor de huidige, geavanceerdere Blackwell-generatie. Maandag steeg de grootste AI-chipverkoper ter wereld nog 1,7 procent nadat nieuwssite Semafor een mogelijke goedkeuring had gemeld.

De algehele stemming op Wall Street was terughoudend. De Dow-Jonesindex noteerde kort na opening van de markt 0,2 procent hoger op 47.849 punten. De brede S&P 500-index steeg 0,1 procent tot 6851 punten en techgraadmeter Nasdaq zakte 0,1 procent tot 23.530 punten.

DEN HAAG (ANP) - Het kabinet maakt zich zorgen over de mentale gezondheid van Nederlanders. De Tweede Kamer ontvangt daarom vóór de kerst een brief van demissionair staatssecretaris Judith Tielen (Volksgezondheid) over welke maatregelen het kabinet wil nemen. Dat beloofde de VVD'er tijdens het wekelijkse vragenuur in de Tweede Kamer.

Dinsdagochtend publiceerden het RIVM en het Trimbos-instituut een monitorrapport over de mentale gezondheid. Daarin wordt geconcludeerd dat de mentale gezondheid van Nederlanders verslechtert.

"De cijfers over de mentale gezondheid doen ons somber aan en moeten ons alert maken", reageerde Tielen op vragen van ChristenUnie-kamerlid Don Ceder naar aanleiding van het rapport. In de brief zal ze onder andere ingaan op wat het kabinet gaat doen tegen lange wachttijden bij de GGZ. "Specifiek ook op de geestelijke gezondheid van vrouwen, sinds we zien dat er grote verschillen zijn hierin tussen vrouwen en mannen."

Brede oorzaak

Tielen benadrukte dat het probleem een brede oorzaak heeft, van zorgen over bestaanszekerheid tot de invloed van social media. "Als staatssecretaris kan ik niet als enige naar een oplossing zoeken." Volgens haar hebben ook ouders en andere ministeries hierin een belangrijke taak.

De aangekondigde brief van Tielen is een vervolg op het Actieprogramma mentale gezondheid & ggz.

Wat onthult Chinese sciencefiction over het moderne China? In deze aflevering duiken Eva Peek en China-correspondent Tabitha Speelman in dystopische verhalen over technologische…

Twee tot drie jaar lang kunnen fietsers en voetgangers in Groningen-stad niet over een brug die het centrum met de wijken en dorpen aan de noordoostkant verbindt. Omwonenden en de gemeente pleiten voor een tijdelijke oversteek. „Het is al heel druk op de omleidingsroutes.”

Candles have been in use in some way, shape, or form for thousands of years. It’s believed that both the ancient Egyptians and the Romans created a kind of wicked candle using rolled papyrus that was repeatedly dipped in melted beeswax or tallow. For centuries, until the advent electricity, they were an essential part of daily life.

Today, the tapers, votives, and pillars we decorate our homes with are mostly just that—decoration—but that means they’re ripe for creativity, and designers certainly take notice. Gustavo da Mata, who’s behind Brazilian design studio Estúdio Capim, has created a concept called “ÓST,” a series of geometric candles with flutes, half-circles, and trapezoids that merge the arcane and the contemporary.

Óst in Portuguese means “host,” speaking to the use of candles for hospitality and also, perhaps, a nod to the word’s alternate meaning as a vessel holding a spirit. Evoking a cross between mid-20th-century computer controls and esoteric motifs like eyes and stars, the chunky, ephemeral decor strikes a past-meets-present note.

See more of de Mata’s designs on Behance and Estúdio Capim’s website.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article For ‘ÓST,’ Estúdio Capim Conjures a Retrofuturistic Candle Concept appeared first on Colossal.