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Remember that photo which stirred all sorts of talk about Amazon's upcoming God of War TV series? Well, the show won't look like that anymore—the role of Kratos is set to be recast since actor Ryan Hurst tore a bicep on set, according to Deadline . Anonymous sources in that story claim Hurst has had surgery and is recovering.

As Deadline points out, this comes after Hurst "underwent a physical transformation" and put on 40 pounds of muscle specifically to play Kratos. But for such a physical role and with a rapidly aging child actor (who's in every scene with the character, one assumes) to consider, it seems starting over is the simplest way forward for Amazon.

Production paused right after the injury and is planned to restart by mid-October with someone new in the role. In other words, any scenes that have already been shot will have to be redone—with four episodes already wrapped, that's a huge reset. After a mixed reaction to that initial photo, Hurst won't get the chance to prove his naysayers wrong in the end.

Hurst is also in Christopher Nolan's new Odyssey movie as Mentor, and theater-avoidant gamers may know him as Thor in God of War: Ragnarok or Beta in AMC's Walking Dead series. It's not clear who will take his place, but given the reported production schedule, we won't be waiting long to find out.

Setbacks aside, at least the show will be easier to experience on your PC than God of War Laufey, which seems likely to forego the PC .

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If hell is other people, heaven might just be Erenshor—assuming you like old-school MMOs in the style of EverQuest, anyway. It's very much that style of game, but in a simulated solo world where other 'players' are just computer-controlled NPCs called simplayers. You can even party up and form a guild with them, which will come in handy now that raids are live.

They arrived last Monday in the Planar March patch, and solo developer Brian of Burgee Media called it "the biggest day for Erenshor since its launch" in the Steam community release blog .

"When I promised raids I had no idea how the heck I was going to implement it. It sort of hung over my head like an intimidating shadow until I finally dove into it," he wrote. "With the help of the amazing community of testers, all of your feedback, and a few really late nights, it's here!"

There are four raid zones, as well as 21 new bosses to kill in exchange for fat loots. You can create raid teams in the guild menu and they'll automatically join when you start the instance—no stopping to wait for someone to pay the pizza guy or head back to a capital city so they can repair all their broken gear, I imagine.

As a lifelong MMO casual who struggles to make time for raid night, this sounds like a dream come true simply for the convenience factor. I do wonder how Erenshor will retain the difficulty and sense of scale you get in an online raid without making you wrangle several dozen real people's schedules and manually ensure they all know what their class does, but considering this is based on the pre-World of Warcraft world of MMOs, I'm sure there's plenty of glorious grinding and dying in store anyway.

It seems like Erenshor has found a hungry audience for its simulated world. You can buy it on Steam , where it sits at a "very positive" rating with 94% of user reviews recommending the game.

2026 games : All the upcoming games

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Female farm managers are hidden in plain sight in ancient Roman texts, mentioned in laws, literature and grave inscriptions across five centuries. Modern historians have generally assumed they were housekeepers, in charge of domestic tasks and household meals, and segregated from the productive business of the farm.

My new paper , published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology, challenges this assumption.

In fact, there is evidence to suggest that many Roman female farm managers supervised wine production and other processes vital to farming and profits.

A false lead

A farming manual written by the Roman writer Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella in the 1st century CE is a window to the roles of the female manager.

An upper class landowner himself, Columella lists the responsibilities of farm managers, who were probably enslaved. The male manager was termed the vilicus, and the female manager the vilica, terms derived from their roles at the "villa".

But many historians reading this text have been side-tracked by a false lead: Columella begins his section on the vilica with a long quote from the Greek philosopher Xenophon , who wrote in Athens more than four centuries earlier.

A quote from Greek philosophy led many to misunderstand the roles women played in ancient Roman farming. (Image credit: Mahmoud Amer/Pexels ) The "natural" role of women, according to Xenophon, was to work indoors. Therefore in his discussion, the ideal upper-class married woman is depicted staying inside her town house to supervise the domestic work of the slaves.

The Greek writer is not discussing farm workers. In fact, Columella says four times that these ideas are not his own, but those of Xenophon, writing long ago.

Columella lists a completely different set of responsibilities for the vilica on a Roman farm: most importantly, the making of wine and olive oil, which were highly valuable commodities — the backbone of landowners' profits.

In his description of the vilica's duties, Columella includes the extraction of the juice from grapes during the harvest; adding flavorings and preservatives such as salt, wormwood, fennel or boiled grape-juice; and overseeing successful fermentation into wine.

According to Columella, the vilica also managed the processing of other farm products to make them long-lasting and profitable, such as turning inedible olives into olive oil for sale.

From archaeology we know that production of wine or oil, using huge machines in substantial buildings, could reach 50,000 to 100,000 litres per year, or even more. The vilica was therefore responsible for overseeing large-scale work essential to the operation of the estate.

Calling on the gods

Correct sacrifices to the gods were seen as vital to the success of the farm. Archaeology has uncovered altars for offerings in Roman wine-making buildings.

Wine-making in the Roman world was a precarious process, due to uncontrolled temperatures, bacteria or oxygenation. Wine could easily go moldy or turn into vinegar.

A striking element of Columella's account is that he includes carrying out offerings to avert such a disaster in his instructions for the female farm manager.

Looking for more clues

Other texts contain barely more than a mention of the vilica, revealing only her presence.

But we can still put together some clues.

Legal writings on inheritance, quoting the 1st century BCE jurist Trebatius, include her in the instrumentum fundi — whatever (including enslaved personnel) is required for productive work, gathering and preserving produce of the estate.

A mosaic shows Roman farm women at the Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily. (Image credit: Joe Lynch) Another aristocratic landowner and writer, Cato the Elder , living two centuries before Columella, lists both the female and the male farm manager as essential staff for a vineyard or olive farm.

He devotes only one small section to outlining the female farm manager's tasks, but a close look shows these are not predominantly domestic. Cato includes keeping poultry and processing of seasonal farm products. Although he does include supervision of cleaning, this could refer to maintenance of work spaces such as stables and wine making buildings, an integral part of estate management – and also listed by Columella among the vilica's duties.

Cato also gives the vilica the responsibility for making sacrifices to the gods for the success of the farm. She must regularly offer garlands at the altar "for abundance", he writes.

A Roman mosaic showing estate work in different seasons depicts a scene of sacrifices for abundant crops to the god Jupiter (in his Celtic form as a sky and weather god). A woman is shown holding an offering of garlands, just as Cato instructs. Beside her are a jug for wine offerings and a male figure.

A woman is depicted at an altar holding the offering of garlands. Beside her is a jug for wine offerings and a male figure. (Image credit: Carole Raddato/Musée d'Archéologie Nationale, Saint-Germain-en-Laye/Flickr , CC BY ) Related stories

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Perhaps this mosaic shows the vilica and vilicus, both essential to the success of annual harvests. While such images of female figures are rare, one fragmentary wall painting from Rome shows a female overseeing wine-making workers, just as Columella describes.

This combined body of evidence suggests we should expand outdated understandings of the roles that Roman women played in farm production, the dominant sector of ancient economies.

No vilica has left us an account of her work in her own words. But by paying careful attention to the evidence, we can hear an echo of her voice.

This edited article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

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Laifen T1 Pro: two-minute review

On first impressions, the Laifen T1 Pro wows. Open the box and you're greeted with Apple-inspired packaging, while the shaver itself immediately looks the part. Its CNC-machined unibody aluminium body looks and feels genuinely premium and, if you're used to cheaper shavers like the Philips OneBlade – my usual razor – it's impossible not to grin at the magnetically attached shaving head, which somehow manages to feel genuinely futuristic.

Modern conveniences like USB-C charging, an aeroplane mode to stop the power button being pressed in your bag while travelling and IPX7 waterproofing all add to the premium feel. Based on the spec sheet and those first impressions, you'd be forgiven for thinking the Laifen T1 Pro was one of the best electric shavers on the market.

The problem is that, with a shaver, the only thing that really matters is the shave itself, and that's where the Laifen T1 Po disappoints. I shave twice a week and have fairly coarse stubble, and despite repeated attempts the T1 Pro simply couldn't deliver a comfortable shave and often snagged on my hairs, which was painful and left me with patchy stubble. You have to limit your expectations a bit with single-blade razors, but I've been getting an effective shave with my Philips OneBlade for years, and often I found myself reaching for it to finish up and get the hairs that survived the T1 Pro's efforts.

This leaves the Laifen T1 Pro in an awkward position. It's beautifully designed and genuinely pleasant to use in every respect until it comes to shaving, but if I have to reach for a second razor to finish the job, the premium build and thoughtful features become little more than a nice distraction. I'd love to see Laifen revisit the shaving head in a future model because the engineering elsewhere is genuinely impressive, but as it stands I can't recommend the T1 Pro.

(Image credit: Future) Laifen T1 Pro: price and availability

List price: $149 / £149 / AU$246

Launched: September 2025

The Laifen T1 Pro launched in September 2025. Listing prices vary but are consistent with other premium shavers. In the US it's currently selling for around $129, in the UK it's £149 and in Australia it's $239. However, it doesn't come with a case, cleaning materials or anything else so it may feel steep in comparison

Value score: 2/5

Laifen T1 Pro: design

CNC-machined aluminum feels premium

Magnetic head feels futuristic and makes cleaning a breeze

USB-C means you're just taking one cable away with you

The Laifen T1 Pro makes an excellent first impression. Unlike the plastic-bodied shavers that dominate the market, the T1 Pro is built around a CNC-machined unibody aluminium chassis that immediately feels more like a premium gadget than a bathroom appliance. The fit and finish are excellent, while the magnetically-attached shaving head snaps satisfyingly into place and makes cleaning refreshingly simple.

Laifen has also packed in plenty of thoughtful features. USB-C charging means one less proprietary cable to keep track of, an airplane mode prevents the power button from being accidentally pressed in your luggage, and the IPX7 waterproof rating means you can use the shaver wet or dry before simply rinsing it under the tap to clean it up.

(Image credit: Future) The compact dimensions work in the T1 Pro's favour. It's comfortable to hold despite the lack of any rubberized grip, and the aluminum body never felt slippery during my testing, even during a heatwave when I was, perhaps a little sweatier than I'd like to admit. Its low weight, just 3.3oz / 93g, makes it easy to use precise movements in the tricky areas like the jawline and around the mouth — areas that can be difficult with larger, clunkier, shavers.

It's a minor thing, but I found myself squeaking with joy each time I opened the little cap at the bottom of the razor to reveal the USB-C charging port. It's a small thing, but the cap fits so neatly in and comes away so delicately it sparks joy every time I charged it.

In many ways, the T1 Pro feels like the product of a company obsessed with industrial design. From the premium materials to the magnetic shaving head and clean, minimalist aesthetic, there's very little to criticize about the hardware itself.

Design score: 4/5

Laifen T1 Pro: performance

Foil snags on coarse hair, which is painful

The shave is patchy and inconsistent

Long-lasting battery means you'll only need to charge occasionally

Ultimately, the Laifen T1 Pro lives or dies by the quality of its shave, and that's where it struggles. I have fairly coarse facial hair and typically shave twice a week, which proved to be a challenge the T1 Pro never really overcame.

Rather than cutting cleanly through my stubble, the shaver frequently pulled at beard hairs, making each shave less comfortable than it should have been. It also struggled to achieve an even finish. Even after several passes, I was often left with patches of missed stubble that required further attention. The trimmer head was more prone to this snagging, but the shaver head didn't eliminate the problem and also left my skin irritated.

The T1 Pro's light weight makes it easier to use, but its small size means covering your face takes longer than with a larger foil shaver. As a result, multiple passes quickly became the norm, and each additional pass increased the likelihood of the shaver snagging on thicker patches of hair.

(Image credit: Future) I repeatedly found myself reaching for another razor to finish the job. Not only did it clean up the areas the T1 Pro had missed, but it also did so more comfortably. That's difficult to overlook given the T1 Pro's premium price.

The 120-minute battery life is excellent and should last most people several weeks between charges.

Unfortunately, The Laifen T1 Pro looks and feels like a premium electric shaver, but in my experience it simply doesn't deliver the shave the design promises, which makes it impossible to travel with because I also have to toss a second razor into my bag.

Performance score: 1/5

Should you buy the Laifen T1 Pro?

Laifen T1 Pro score card Attribute

Notes

Score

Value

A disappointing shave that is often painful.

2/5

Design

Beautifully designed with some thoughtful choices.

4/5

Performance

A premium price backed up by the design but not the shave.

1/5

Buy it if

You want a premium looking shaver

The Apple comparisons hold up; it really is a great looking shaver that feels good in your hand

You hate carrying extra cables

Charging from a USB-C means you've almost definitely got one with you, wherever you are.

Don't buy it if

You want a good clean shave

I feel like I've gone on about this a lot, but honestly it's really annoying to have a shaver that's doesn't give you a clean shave.

You have delicate skin or coarse hair

The Laifen T1 Pro can be quite a harsh shave. I found it struggled with my coarse stubble, catching on it painfully and often not cutting cleanly through. The shaver attachment left my skin sore and irritated after each use.

Laifen T1 Pro: also consider

Philips OneBlade 360

If you have sensitive skin, you'll likely find this versatile shaver a better option. It doesn't offer the closest shave but it's gentle, suitable for wet and dry shaving, and affordably priced too.

Read our full Philips OneBlade 360 review

Braun Series 9 Pro

At the other end of the price scale, we have this premium model, which our reviewer called "the Bugatti Veyron of shavers". It delivers excellent performance, with an ergonomic design and good battery life, and has a price tag to match.

Read our full Braun Series 9 Pro review

First reviewed July 2026