Latest news with #Cricut
Evening Standard
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Evening Standard
Cricut Explore 4: What's different about the brand-new die cutter?
Don't be fooled by that glorious, sleek and sophisticated exterior, for the Cricut is an absolute demon to get to grips with. It requires you to sacrifice your sanity for approximately three hours in exchange for a ticket down to the deep, dark underbelly of crafting. Like any deal with the devil, it's sunshine and roses for a little while until the demonic entity returns for its ultimate prize; your soul, which sucked away slowly through multiple 'critical error' pop-ups and consistent connectivity failures mid-cut.
The Age
18-05-2025
- The Age
Five home gadgets you think you don't need but are secretly great
Creative papercraft with no scissors needed Cricut cutting machines are the kind of home gadgets that are a bit tricky to explain. Like 3D printers or soldering irons, they can be very handy for many different projects, but most people have never felt the need to own one, and wouldn't know what to do with it. Looking like some kind of high-tech sewing machine, they're used for cutting textiles – paper, vinyl, stickers and so on – with extraordinary precision. I tested the $700 Cricut Maker 4, but there are a few different lower-end models too. I threw myself into the deep end making cards, decorations and activity pieces for my son's birthday party, and it was a lot more straightforward than I expected. You create the shapes in Photoshop, mask them, sent them to the Cricut software (it works on PC or mobile and connects to the machine via Bluetooth), load some card and that's it. The machine zooms the material up and down while a blade dances back and forth, cutting your desired shape in seconds. You can make shapes entirely on the software as well, but it's a bit fiddly. You can also pay for a subscription that gets you thousands of pre-made patterns, or you can buy them individually on the app or on Etsy. Cricut sells materials that let you cut custom stickers, decals or iron-ons, and it's easy enough to cut paper you've printed onto, or put together multi-cut projects and 3D objects. I also made bits and pieces for Book Week costumes, and decals for my wife's business. The only difficulty is that non-Cricut material needs to be stuck to a sticky mat, and if you cut too finely you may need sharp tweezing skills to rescue your project. Every wall and roof is a theatre now I don't test many projectors, but in my mind the idea was that they allowed for huge screens, provided you had a very dark space, never needed to move it and also owned a bunch of other equipment to make for a full at-home cinema. So I was a bit shocked to fire up the Hisense C2 Ultra and find that it's practically as easy as a TV, without the TV. It does cost as much as a very nice TV, at $4500, but it also provides anywhere from a 65-inch screen to a 300-inch one. This is a 'portable' projector (i.e. doesn't necessarily need mounting) that you sit a few metres away from a wall or screen, and unless you're putting it quite far away it's plenty bright enough to watch during the day with the blinds drawn. The 4K HDR image was just as clear and vibrant as on my TV, but with that slightly soft cinematic laser projector edge. It automatically adjusts focus, keystone and colour (based on your wall) when you set it up or move it, though I found a little manual keystone tweak was usually necessary. Most impressively the unit has a full sound system and sub built in, and while it won't beat a big soundbar it did a better job than plenty of TVs on their own. It also runs Hisense's full smart-TV software so you can run streaming apps from it directly, or you can attach a player via HDMI. It's great for games too, with support for 4K and 1440p resolution, 240Hz refresh and auto low-latency mode thanks to its HDMI 2.1 port, meaning it also supports eARC for connecting to external sound. How much AI do you need in the bathroom? Teeth brushing is one of the long list of activities I don't think needs AI intruding on it. And yet, here is Oclean's X Ultra S toothbrush, arriving at my desk with a box so emblazoned with the term 'AI' that I initially wasn't sure what it was. Thankfully this is the useful analysis type of AI we've had for a long time, and not the snarky and constantly wrong kind of language AI. It does talk though, a feature I do not want in a toothbrush. The thing is, this is an appreciably better sonic toothbrush than others I've used. It looks good, has a cool charger, a very nice travel case and a sticky wall magnet you can hang it from — all of which is bare minimum when you're paying $450 for a toothbrush — but importantly it's also smooth and comfortable, and the tracking is both useful and doesn't require brushing with my phone out. A small display on the handle times the session and colour-codes a map of your mouth in real time, so you can glance at it to see which bits you've missed. A clearly translated-into-English app makes setting up the toothbrush a bit of a head-scratcher, but once done I found I haven't needed to consult the app much, except to turn off the function that yells at you for brushing too hard. Even silenced, the end of the brush lights up red if too much pressure is detected. Smart fridge no, clear fridge yes If you've been in the market for new whitegoods recently, I'm sure you've noticed how much the terms 'smart' and 'AI' get thrown around. Of course, appliances that connect to the internet for dubiously useful purposes or have big honking touchscreens on them have been around for a long time. But now it appears that dishwashers also have some sort of AI that's difficult to discern, and absolutely everything has integration with its own proprietary app. I've never really been impressed with a smart appliance, and the more complex they are, the less I tend to like them. What am I going to do with a smart hub in a fridge when the rest of my (far more often upgraded) tech makes it obsolete? But lately, I've been using a fridge that I actually like, a lot, thanks to its much less space-age tech. Loading It's an LG Instaview with a glass front, so you can knock on it like a door and the internal light illuminates so you can see what's inside. Yes, it does require a bit of a rethink in stocking (anything that you tend to check before shopping should be in the door!) but it cuts down on opening for any reason other than grabbing stuff. Now it is 2025, so of course there are more smarts than that. The fridge is Wi-Fi connected and lets you set the fridge and freezer temperature via app from anywhere in the world (why would I ever need this?), and also lets you activate a short-term 'express freeze' to really blast your stuff cold.
Sydney Morning Herald
18-05-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Five home gadgets you think you don't need but are secretly great
Creative papercraft with no scissors needed Cricut cutting machines are the kind of home gadgets that are a bit tricky to explain. Like 3D printers or soldering irons, they can be very handy for many different projects, but most people have never felt the need to own one, and wouldn't know what to do with it. Looking like some kind of high-tech sewing machine, they're used for cutting textiles – paper, vinyl, stickers and so on – with extraordinary precision. I tested the $700 Cricut Maker 4, but there are a few different lower-end models too. I threw myself into the deep end making cards, decorations and activity pieces for my son's birthday party, and it was a lot more straightforward than I expected. You create the shapes in Photoshop, mask them, sent them to the Cricut software (it works on PC or mobile and connects to the machine via Bluetooth), load some card and that's it. The machine zooms the material up and down while a blade dances back and forth, cutting your desired shape in seconds. You can make shapes entirely on the software as well, but it's a bit fiddly. You can also pay for a subscription that gets you thousands of pre-made patterns, or you can buy them individually on the app or on Etsy. Cricut sells materials that let you cut custom stickers, decals or iron-ons, and it's easy enough to cut paper you've printed onto, or put together multi-cut projects and 3D objects. I also made bits and pieces for Book Week costumes, and decals for my wife's business. The only difficulty is that non-Cricut material needs to be stuck to a sticky mat, and if you cut too finely you may need sharp tweezing skills to rescue your project. Every wall and roof is a theatre now I don't test many projectors, but in my mind the idea was that they allowed for huge screens, provided you had a very dark space, never needed to move it and also owned a bunch of other equipment to make for a full at-home cinema. So I was a bit shocked to fire up the Hisense C2 Ultra and find that it's practically as easy as a TV, without the TV. It does cost as much as a very nice TV, at $4500, but it also provides anywhere from a 65-inch screen to a 300-inch one. This is a 'portable' projector (i.e. doesn't necessarily need mounting) that you sit a few metres away from a wall or screen, and unless you're putting it quite far away it's plenty bright enough to watch during the day with the blinds drawn. The 4K HDR image was just as clear and vibrant as on my TV, but with that slightly soft cinematic laser projector edge. It automatically adjusts focus, keystone and colour (based on your wall) when you set it up or move it, though I found a little manual keystone tweak was usually necessary. Most impressively the unit has a full sound system and sub built in, and while it won't beat a big soundbar it did a better job than plenty of TVs on their own. It also runs Hisense's full smart-TV software so you can run streaming apps from it directly, or you can attach a player via HDMI. It's great for games too, with support for 4K and 1440p resolution, 240Hz refresh and auto low-latency mode thanks to its HDMI 2.1 port, meaning it also supports eARC for connecting to external sound. How much AI do you need in the bathroom? Teeth brushing is one of the long list of activities I don't think needs AI intruding on it. And yet, here is Oclean's X Ultra S toothbrush, arriving at my desk with a box so emblazoned with the term 'AI' that I initially wasn't sure what it was. Thankfully this is the useful analysis type of AI we've had for a long time, and not the snarky and constantly wrong kind of language AI. It does talk though, a feature I do not want in a toothbrush. The thing is, this is an appreciably better sonic toothbrush than others I've used. It looks good, has a cool charger, a very nice travel case and a sticky wall magnet you can hang it from — all of which is bare minimum when you're paying $450 for a toothbrush — but importantly it's also smooth and comfortable, and the tracking is both useful and doesn't require brushing with my phone out. A small display on the handle times the session and colour-codes a map of your mouth in real time, so you can glance at it to see which bits you've missed. A clearly translated-into-English app makes setting up the toothbrush a bit of a head-scratcher, but once done I found I haven't needed to consult the app much, except to turn off the function that yells at you for brushing too hard. Even silenced, the end of the brush lights up red if too much pressure is detected. Smart fridge no, clear fridge yes If you've been in the market for new whitegoods recently, I'm sure you've noticed how much the terms 'smart' and 'AI' get thrown around. Of course, appliances that connect to the internet for dubiously useful purposes or have big honking touchscreens on them have been around for a long time. But now it appears that dishwashers also have some sort of AI that's difficult to discern, and absolutely everything has integration with its own proprietary app. I've never really been impressed with a smart appliance, and the more complex they are, the less I tend to like them. What am I going to do with a smart hub in a fridge when the rest of my (far more often upgraded) tech makes it obsolete? But lately, I've been using a fridge that I actually like, a lot, thanks to its much less space-age tech. Loading It's an LG Instaview with a glass front, so you can knock on it like a door and the internal light illuminates so you can see what's inside. Yes, it does require a bit of a rethink in stocking (anything that you tend to check before shopping should be in the door!) but it cuts down on opening for any reason other than grabbing stuff. Now it is 2025, so of course there are more smarts than that. The fridge is Wi-Fi connected and lets you set the fridge and freezer temperature via app from anywhere in the world (why would I ever need this?), and also lets you activate a short-term 'express freeze' to really blast your stuff cold.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US Market's Hidden Opportunities In May 2025
Over the last 7 days, the United States market has remained flat, yet it is up 8.0% over the past year with earnings forecast to grow by 14% annually. In this environment, identifying stocks that are not only resilient but also poised for growth can uncover hidden opportunities within the market. Name Debt To Equity Revenue Growth Earnings Growth Health Rating Wilson Bank Holding NA 7.87% 8.22% ★★★★★★ Morris State Bancshares 9.62% 4.26% 5.10% ★★★★★★ Teekay NA -0.89% 62.53% ★★★★★★ FineMark Holdings 122.25% 2.34% -26.34% ★★★★★★ Valhi 43.01% 1.55% -2.64% ★★★★★☆ Innovex International 1.49% 42.69% 44.34% ★★★★★☆ Pure Cycle 5.11% 1.07% -4.05% ★★★★★☆ Reitar Logtech Holdings 31.39% 231.46% 41.38% ★★★★☆☆ Solesence 82.42% 23.41% -1.04% ★★★★☆☆ Qudian 6.38% -68.48% -57.47% ★★★★☆☆ Click here to see the full list of 280 stocks from our US Undiscovered Gems With Strong Fundamentals screener. We're going to check out a few of the best picks from our screener tool. Simply Wall St Value Rating: ★★★★★★ Overview: Next Technology Holding Inc. offers software development services across the United States, Hong Kong, and Singapore, with a market cap of $1.03 billion. Operations: Next Technology Holding generates revenue primarily from software development services in the United States, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The company has a market cap of approximately $1.03 billion. Next Technology Holding, a small player in the software industry, has seen a remarkable earnings growth of 1081.6% over the past year, outpacing the industry's 24.9%. Despite this impressive performance, it faces challenges such as substantial shareholder dilution and volatile share prices recently. The firm's price-to-earnings ratio stands at an attractive 5.3x compared to the US market average of 17.5x, suggesting potential value for investors. However, with net income jumping to US$193 million from US$19 million year-on-year and recent compliance issues with Nasdaq's minimum bid price requirement looming large, its path forward remains uncertain yet intriguing. Navigate through the intricacies of Next Technology Holding with our comprehensive health report here. Examine Next Technology Holding's past performance report to understand how it has performed in the past. Simply Wall St Value Rating: ★★★★★★ Overview: Cricut, Inc. is a company that designs, markets, and distributes a creativity platform allowing users to create professional-looking handmade goods across various regions including the United States, Canada, and several other global markets; it has a market cap of approximately $1.30 billion. Operations: Cricut generates revenue primarily through its platform segment, which accounts for $314.68 million, with an additional segment adjustment of $393.10 million. Cricut, a nimble player in the crafting industry, has shown resilience with its debt-free status compared to five years ago when it had a 27.3% debt-to-equity ratio. The company trades at 78% below its estimated fair value, indicating potential for investors. Despite earnings declining by 29.2% annually over the past five years, recent growth of 4.5% outpaced the Consumer Durables sector's -1.7%. Cricut reported Q1 revenue of US$162 million and net income of US$23 million, up from US$20 million last year. A special dividend of $0.75 per share underscores confidence in future prospects amidst executive transitions and product innovations like the faster Cricut Explore® 4 and Maker® 4 machines. Click here and access our complete health analysis report to understand the dynamics of Cricut. Gain insights into Cricut's past trends and performance with our Past report. Simply Wall St Value Rating: ★★★★★★ Overview: Interface, Inc. designs, produces, and sells modular carpet products across multiple continents with a market capitalization of approximately $1.21 billion. Operations: Interface generates revenue primarily from the Americas, contributing $810.83 million, while Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia collectively add $512.50 million. Interface, a modestly sized player in the modular carpet industry, is making strides with its innovative and sustainable product lines. The company recently reported first-quarter sales of US$297 million, up from US$290 million last year, though net income slightly dipped to US$13 million. Interface's earnings growth of 45.6% over the past year surpasses industry averages, showcasing strong performance. Its debt-to-equity ratio has impressively decreased from 259% to 59% over five years, reflecting improved financial health. With a focus on carbon-negative products and expanded market reach through new collections like Terra Nova and Trina Turk X FLOR, Interface is positioning itself for future growth despite potential challenges such as macroeconomic uncertainties and currency fluctuations. Interface's commitment to innovation and sustainability, including its carbon negativity goal by 2040, strengthens its competitive differentiation; click here to explore the full narrative on the company's strategic initiatives. Navigate through the entire inventory of 280 US Undiscovered Gems With Strong Fundamentals here. Got skin in the game with these stocks? Elevate how you manage them by using Simply Wall St's portfolio, where intuitive tools await to help optimize your investment outcomes. Enhance your investing ability with the Simply Wall St app and enjoy free access to essential market intelligence spanning every continent. Explore high-performing small cap companies that haven't yet garnered significant analyst attention. Fuel your portfolio with companies showing strong growth potential, backed by optimistic outlooks both from analysts and management. Find companies with promising cash flow potential yet trading below their fair value. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include NasdaqCM:NXTT NasdaqGS:CRCT and NasdaqGS:TILE. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sam's DTF Transfers Emerges as a Leading Force in U.S. Custom Apparel Printing with Premium In-House DTF Transfer Services
Sam's DTF Transfers announces premium in-house DTF services, launching fast, no-minimum custom printing solutions for brands of all sizes Richardson, Texas, May 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the demand for custom apparel soars across e-commerce and small businesses, Sam's DTF Transfers ( ) stands at the forefront as one of the earliest and most trusted Direct-to-Film (DTF) heat transfer providers in the United States. With over five years of in-house printing expertise, the Texas-based company is revolutionizing how t-shirt sellers, boutique owners, and startup brands produce high-quality, durable apparel. Founded on the principles of accessibility, speed, and uncompromising quality, Sam's DTF Transfers has built its reputation through cutting-edge, same-day printing and shipping services, true-to-color reproduction, and long-lasting, easy hot peel transfers that are compatible with Cricut machines, heat presses, and even household irons. 'We started printing in-house long before DTF became an industry buzzword,' says the founder of Sam's DTF Transfers. 'Today, we're proud to support everyone from major screen printers to home-based entrepreneurs who are building their dreams one t-shirt at a time.' With no minimum order requirements and fastest turnaround times in the industry, Sam's DTF Transfers caters to a wide customer base, including: Custom t-shirt sellers and online brands Local boutiques and screen print shops Home office businesses and startup clothing lines Hobbyists and DIY crafters with only an iron or Cricut The company also proudly offers bulk and wholesale pricing, making it the ideal partner for businesses of all sizes looking to scale up without the traditional barriers of equipment, inventory, or logistics. What sets Sam's DTF Transfers apart is not just product quality, but also its dedicated customer support and in-house design team that helps clients turn rough ideas into production-ready designs—eliminating the need for costly investments in machinery, ink, or warehousing. 'We make it possible for anyone to start a clothing brand without the burden of upfront capital,' the founder adds. 'With our ready-to-press designs and full-service support, you just focus on selling. We take care of the rest.' Backed by five-star customer satisfaction, repeat clients across the country continue to choose Sam's DTF Transfers for their apparel needs, trusting in the brand's consistency, fast turnaround, and collaborative service model.
