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Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/owners-long-unused-fenway-mansion-win-approval-remodel-and-expand-five

The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved plans to convert 38 Fenway, which has sat vacant for several decades, from a four-story single-family house into a six-story, five-apartment building with an elevator and a roof deck.

Mark Ehrman and Chee Kwong, who currently live on Beacon Street in the Back Bay, will move into the top two floors of the building once the extensive work is completed, their attorney, John Pulgini, told the board, adding their adult children will also move into the building.

Their architect, David Fried, said the top floors will be recessed, so they won't be visible from the street, although they will from the parkland across the street.

The proposal calls for two parking spaces.

Neighbors expressed concern the couple would rent the other units out as either short-term rentals or to students, but Pulgini said, no, they would not do that. The couple's main goal is to have an ADA-compliant home for themselves - Ehrman has Parkinson's - and "their intent is not to ever rent this out as short-term rentals" or to students, Pulgini said.

He said the couple, who paid $3.2 million for the building in 2022, will be pouring a ton of money into the renovation and expansion, and the last thing they want to do is something that tawdry.

Still, Pulgini resisted a request from Steven Farrell, executive director of Fenway Forward, formerly the Fenway CDC, to sign a "good neighbor" agreement memorializing that commitment. "How do you undo something that was raised when it wasn't your intention to do it?" Pulgini asked.

Ehrman and Kwong needed several variances, including to put in a basement apartment, for a building that would be larger than allowed by zoning on the 3,000-square-foot lot and for not having enough of a rear yard.

Through an aide, City Councilor Sharon Durkan expressed "non opposition" to the proposal, citing neighborhood concerns about less than desirable tenants but also the way the building will mean more housing in a city that needs it.

The board voted unanimously for the required variances.

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Posted by Khamosh Pathak

https://lifehacker.com/tech/hacks-every-iphone-user-should-know?utm_medium=RSS

I'm routinely surprised by just how much technology Apple has managed to pack into the iPhone that I can carry in the palm of my hand. What's even more surprising is that underneath the layers, there's even more than what meets the eye. There's a better, faster way to use the keyboard, there's a faster way to select unread emails to archive, there are better ways to browse the web than just the usual Safari experience, and you can get way better photos out of the iPhone Pro cameras than what the stock Camera app shows you.

The iPhone has become such a default product in all our lives that we just take it for granted. Yes, it's a great way to stay in touch with friends and coworkers, to capture moments, and to doomscroll the night away. But spend some more time, and there's a whole new iPhone experience just waiting for you that will truly transform how your iPhone looks and works.

Automate the small, redundant tasks

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Apple installs the Shortcuts app on every device and even offers pre-built shortcut automations that you can install from the Gallery. But the fun starts when you explore the very active Shortcuts community online and start to integrate Automations into the mix.

Apple’s Shortcuts app lets you create automations that automatically follow pre-defined steps. They can be used to resize images, compress files, convert data, and even control aspects of your smartphone. For example, you can create an automation that automatically enables a VPN when you step out of your home, or sends a message to your partner when you leave work. Looking to get started? We have a list of seven automations that I feel every iPhone user should install.

Add custom widgets to your Home Screen

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

I’m a huge fan of custom widgets. Whenever someone picks up my iPhone, the response is usually something like, "Your iPhone doesn’t look like a regular iPhone." That’s down to custom widgets that show the time, day, my appointments, the weather, my tasks, and more. The world of custom iPhone widgets is huge, and if you just want to dip your toes in, I would suggest you start with the Widgetsmith app, which lets you customize multiple widgets with the same theme and fonts. All together, it looks really aesthetically pleasing. When you’re ready, you can dive in with the Widgy app, where you can import and customize thousands of interactive widgets.

Access features quickly using the hidden Back Tap gesture

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The iPhone has a hidden button, and it’s on the back of your iPhone. It’s an accessibility feature that you can access via Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. You can then assign any app, shortcut, or action to either the Double Tap or Triple Tap gesture. It’s a great way to trigger Shortcuts automations, or to simply bring up the selfie camera. I personally find that the double-tap gesture has a tendency to misfire sometimes, and the triple-tap gesture is a lot more reliable.

Enhance Safari using extensions

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

If you don’t use Safari extensions, you’re sleeping on unrealized potential. Just like on the Mac, the Safari browser on the iPhone also supports extensions. And you can use extensions to do some really cool things, like blocking all ads and trackers (of course), but also to force every website to be in dark mode, all the time. You’ll also find extensions to improve the Reddit browsing experience and to take complete control of all the elements on the websites you use frequently.

Upgrade to a third-party browser

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Using a third-party browser, like Vivaldi, is a very power-user move. All third-party browsers on iOS are technically variations of Safari, as Apple forces developers to build their browsers on Safari's WebKit platform. However, these third-party browsers can include unique features that Safari doesn't. Vivaldi, for example, offers desktop-class tab browsing, including tab groups and pinned tabs. Then there’s Orion, which can run desktop-class extensions from Firefox and Chrome Web Store on your iPhone (something that Safari can’t do). And if you don’t like Safari’s new interface, try out Quiche, which is a completely customizable browser.

Master your Focuses

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Focuses have the potential to transform how your iPhone looks and works, based on your location, time, day, or the task at hand. It’s time to go beyond Do Not Disturb and embrace everything that Apple's Focuses can do.

It would be a good idea for you to set up Focuses for Work, Personal Time, and Sleep. In each Focus, you can decide which apps can send notifications, and which friends or family members can contact you. You can even choose which home screens to show in particular Focus, choosing to hide widgets and apps depending on the Focus (no work stuff at all in Personal Time Focus, for example). Focus also integrates with Shortcuts and Automations, so you can trigger a Focus when you start a video call on your Mac or reach a particular location (like your workplace). Go to Settings > Focus to get started.

Use the hidden swipe gestures everywhere

You’ll be familiar with all the usual iPhone gestures, like swiping up from the Home bar, or tapping the top edge of the iPhone to instantly scroll to the top. But the iPhone has a lot more hidden gestures that can really speed things up. If you see a long list, try to swipe down with two fingers to instantly start selecting items. This works really well in Mail, Phone, and other Apple apps, but is also supported by third-party apps. Next, in iOS 26, Apple added back gesture support that’s arguably better than Android. You can swipe in from anywhere on the left edge to quickly go back.

You can also cut, copy, and paste with a three-finger gesture. To copy something, pinch it with three fingers. To cut, do it twice. To paste something, do a three-finger spread gesture (opposite of the pinch).

Get faster with the iPhone keyboard

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The iPhone keyboard is more than what meets the eye. It has a built-in Slide to Type feature where you can glide your finger over the keys to type words. It works really well, especially when using the phone one-handed. There’s a virtual trackpad built in, too. Just tap and hold the Space bar and move your finger to move the cursor around.

If you find your keyboard too large to type on, you can also enable the one-handed keyboard from the Keyboard Settings button (tap and hold the Globe icon). From here, you can go to Keyboard Settings to enable a multi-lingual keyboard and to try out Text Replacement, where you can create shortcuts for expanding your frequently used text snippets. For example, you can type “adrs” to expand to your full home address.

Scan documents without a third-party app

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

You might not know this, but there’s a really neat document scanner built into the Notes app and the Files app. I prefer to use the Files app for this because I get to save a PDF directly in the folder that I want. Open the Files app, go to any folder, tap the three-dotted Menu icon, and choose the Scan Documents feature. There’s an Auto Shutter feature that’s enabled by default that will automatically scan each new page you put in front of your camera (if you find this annoying, you can disable it as well). Scan as many pages as you want, and tap the Done button. Then, give the document a name. And it’s now stored as a PDF in the folder. You can now send it to where it needs to go, or back it up using iCloud Drive.

Upgrade your photos and videos on iPhone Pro

Credit: Blackmagic

The cameras on the iPhone Pro are truly stellar. But the Camera app is not. The default Camera app does too much computational photography for my taste, and has trouble focusing on elements exactly when I need to capture something small. Plus, the Pro cameras can shoot in Log in ProRes, and to fully take control of the visuals from your iPhone, you’ll need to step out of the Camera app.

For shooting video in the best light, Blackmagic is a great choice. Here, you get full manual control over both photos and videos, with film-grade presets (including the ability to create your own custom ones).

If that feels a bit too Pro, try using a third-party app to capture much better photos. My colleague Pranay has highlighted a couple of great options, with Halide Mark II topping the list (I agree, as well). Halide gives you a lot more control over the look of your photos. There’s also a Process Zero feature that removes all of Apple’s computational processes from the photos.

https://lifehacker.com/tech/hacks-every-iphone-user-should-know?utm_medium=RSS

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Posted by Pranay Parab

https://lifehacker.com/tech/hacks-every-mac-user-should-know?utm_medium=RSS

The term 'Mac power user' is a bit vague and almost sounds exclusionary, but I'm here to tell you that if you regularly use your Mac, you absolutely are a power user. You don't need to exclusively be using command line tools or keyboard shortcuts to be a power user. Even though I use my Mac all day, every single day, I keep discovering new shortcuts, awesome apps I'd never heard of, or just general tips that I hadn't come across until now.

So, if that sounds like you, you absolutely are a Mac power user, and I'm here to share some tips that have helped me optimize my workflow over the past few years. From setting up automation routines to save time, to a faster way to launch apps, there's something in this guide for everyone who uses a Mac.

Spotlight Search is your best friend

Spotlight Search is one of the most underrated tools on the Mac. Even though I've had a fair share of complaints with its occasional sluggishness, it's still my go-to for so many things. You can fire it up by pressing Command-Space on the keyboard, and use it for everything from launching apps to converting currencies. Just open Spotlight and type 100GBP (or any other currency), and you'll see it convert that to your local currency automatically. You can also use it to convert imperial units to metric, create calendar events, search for files, or create shortcut actions.

And if it still doesn't suit your workflow, you can always replace Spotlight with a better alternative such as Alfred or Raycast.

Try advanced Spotlight features

Credit: Pranay Parab

If you've upgraded to macOS 26 Tahoe, you'll notice that Spotlight is slightly better than before. It now allows you to do two things it didn't before—check your clipboard history, and create shortcuts to execute common actions. You can enable clipboard history by going to System Settings > Spotlight > Results from Clipboard, and access it by using the keyboard shortcut Command-Space-4.

As for automation, Spotlight has a new feature that lets you add quick keys to speed up common actions. You can press Command-Space-3 to open the Actions tab in Spotlight, and you'll see a list of supported actions. Next to some, you'll see a button called Add quick keys. Press this button and you can set up a keyboard shortcut to execute it. As an example, I've set up "sm" as the keyboard shortcut to send a message. The moment I type it and select the action via Spotlight, it allows me to type a message and send it to anyone from my contacts without opening the Messages app. Feel free to set up as many quick keys as you want and use Spotlight as your gateway to different actions within apps.

Use an app to control per-app volume

One of the most common annoyances with the Mac is that it doesn't easily let you set a different volume level for each app. If you find that app notifications are too loud and getting in the way of your video viewing experience, the easiest workaround is to use an app to set a custom volume level for different apps. The free Background Music app does a decent job with this, and if you're willing to pay for a much more polished experience, you should get SoundSource ($45).

Optimize your window tiling setups

macOS didn't have any useful window management features for very long, but now it has some good basic options. You can try pressing fn-ctrl-left arrow or right arrow to move windows around, or just drag an app's window to the left or right edge of the screen to see tiling options. You also have the option of hovering your mouse pointer over the green button to the top-left of any app's window, where you'll see lots of options to arrange windows. There are some window tiling settings available under System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Windows, too, so be sure to check them out.

While macOS' built-in window tiling features work just fine, the implementation isn't as polished as that on third-party apps, which also offer lots of advanced features that Apple does not. Free window management apps such as Loop and Rectangle offer many more window positioning and layout options. If you're willing to pay, apps such as Moom ($15) and Rectangle Pro ($10) are even better, as they have support for precise custom layouts, and handling multi-display setups, too.

Make the most of your Mac's display notch

Alcove running in the notch of the MacBook.

Credit: Pranay Parab

Newer MacBooks have a notch in the display, which is a design choice Apple made to give you a larger screen without increasing the size of the MacBook. The notch looks like dead space on your MacBook, but some apps add a ton of useful features to this space. You can have things like music controls, calendars, battery status indicators, AirPods connectivity indicators, and more sitting right in your Mac's display notch. Alcove ($15) is my favorite app for this, as it brings the iPhone's Dynamic Island to your Mac. It shows you when your Mac enters a Focus mode, highlights volume and brightness changes, and when AirPods are connected. It also has gesture-based music playback controls, and much more. But if you just want music controls, you can get Tuneful ($5), which does that job quite well and costs a lot less.

The Option key hides a treasure trove of features

The humble Option key on your Mac's keyboard holds the secret to many hidden features. Hold the Option key and click the clock icon in your Mac's menu bar. You'll notice that this toggles Do Not Disturb mode on your Mac. It also reveals advanced wifi network information, shows more export formats in Preview, and has several more tricks that only appear when you press the Option key while opening menus from the menu bar.

You can customize the dock

Your Mac's dock is a great place to keep the apps that you use the most, so that you can launch them quickly. However, there are lots of fun ways to customize the Mac's dock to make it even more useful. Once you've cleaned up the dock by removing apps you don't use and replacing them with ones you do, you can also add spacers to organize the dock and use folders to group multiple apps in one icon. All these options are built into macOS, but third-party apps let you access even more options. The free TinkerTool app makes it easier to add spacers and has extra dock customization options, while uBar ($30) gives you the freedom to completely change the look and feel of the dock. If you're really missing Windows, uBar lets you replace the dock with something that looks like the Windows 11 taskbar, too.

The screenshot tools are great

Credit: Pranay Parab

Your Mac has some amazing built-in screenshot tools, and you should absolutely make the most of these. Press Command-Shift-5 to see the breadth of the screenshot and screen recording tools you get for free. These tools are great, and have been designed with a lot of thought and care, but for some people, they aren't going to be enough. If you want some neat features like taking scrolling screenshots of entire webpages, repeatedly capturing a specific part of the screen, or showing the keyboard buttons you're pressing during a screen recording, then you should consider replacing your Mac's screenshot tool with something better. My favorite app is CleanShot X ($29) and I've used it for over six years now. It has every screenshot feature you could ask for, and its screen recording tools are quite good, too.

There are easy ways to free up your Mac's storage

If your Mac's storage is full, it'll slow down a lot, and eventually you may experience a system crash. That's why it's important to keep some free space at all times. Your Mac has an easy built-in way to free up storage space now. Go to System Settings > General > Storage to get started. If you just pay attention to the recommendations on this page, you'll find it easy to clear out lots of storage space in just a few clicks. Beyond that, don't hesitate to enable automatically deleting files in Trash on your Mac.

These tools are all really good, but I highly recommend DaisyDisk ($10) for those who want to free up even more space. This app is faster than macOS' built-in methods, has a prettier interface, and lets you see exactly which apps or folders are taking up too much space. Cleaning up also takes just a couple of clicks.

Back up your photos to local storage

Everyone knows about iCloud and uses it to back up photos to the cloud. My only issue with this approach is that iCloud is a sync service and not a true backup option. If you delete iCloud photos from your iPhone, they'll be deleted from all other Apple devices, too. To safeguard against accidental photo deletion or losing your precious memories, I recommend backing up your photos to a second location. Parachute Backup ($5) is an excellent Mac app that backs up your iCloud photos to an external drive . I recently used Parachute Backup to back up over 12,000 photos to a hard drive on my home network, and it did the job flawlessly in around 2 hours.

https://lifehacker.com/tech/hacks-every-mac-user-should-know?utm_medium=RSS

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Posted by Daniel Oropeza

https://lifehacker.com/tech/my-favorite-amazon-deal-of-the-day-samsung-galaxy-watch-8?utm_medium=RSS

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

The new Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 lineup was just released this summer, with the Galaxy Watch 8 and the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic offering two different design options. Surprisingly, Amazon is already offering a discount on both watches.

The Galaxy Watch 8 is $249.99 (originally $349.99) for the Bluetooth version and $299.99 (originally $399.99) for the LTE version. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is $399.99 (originally $499.99) for the Bluetooth version and $449.99 (originally $549.99) for the LTE version.

Bluetooth version

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (2025)

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (2025)

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic

Galaxy Watch 8 Classic

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Daniel Oropeza</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/my-favorite-amazon-deal-of-the-day-samsung-galaxy-watch-8?utm_medium=RSS">https://lifehacker.com/tech/my-favorite-amazon-deal-of-the-day-samsung-galaxy-watch-8?utm_medium=RSS</a></p><p>We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.</p><p>The new Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 lineup was just released this summer, with the <a href="https://zdcs.link/aBgv51?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Galaxy%20Watch%208&short_url=aBgv51&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">Galaxy Watch 8</a> and the <a href="https://zdcs.link/aN8L72?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Galaxy%20Watch%208%20Classic&short_url=aN8L72&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">Galaxy Watch 8 Classic</a> offering two different design options. Surprisingly, Amazon is already offering a discount on both watches. </p><p>The Galaxy Watch 8 is <strong>$249.99</strong> (originally $349.99) for the <a href="https://zdcs.link/QVXoxJ?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Bluetooth%20version&short_url=QVXoxJ&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">Bluetooth version</a> and <strong>$299.99</strong> (originally $399.99) for the <a href="https://zdcs.link/aDrLyW?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=LTE%20version&short_url=aDrLyW&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">LTE version</a>. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is <strong>$399.99</strong> (originally $499.99) for the <a href="https://zdcs.link/QdpG5x?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Bluetooth%20version&short_url=QdpG5x&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">Bluetooth version</a> and <strong>$449.99</strong> (originally $549.99) for the <a href="https://zdcs.link/aM8L7L?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=LTE%20version&short_url=aM8L7L&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">LTE version</a>.</p><div class="shadow-b-2 mb-12 mt-10 rounded-md border-2 border-[#F0F0F0] px-6 py-2 shadow-lg md:px-12" role="region" aria-label="Products List" x-data="{ showMore: false }"> <a href="https://cc.lifehacker.com/v1/otc/06ZVRiLmglGs4QA6plTXzTC?merchant=05kie42h3YvHwjr4G1w80Qq&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fdp%2FB0F7PN7C8Z%3Fth%3D1&template=Deals&module=product-list&element=offer&item=offer-btn&position=1&element_label=Samsung+Galaxy+Watch+8+%282025%29&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss&product_uuid=01i6uFas9lXET3RDFMWoev9&offer_uuid=07xXCnuJuqV8PXstCeMvvoC&pageview_type=RSS&object_type=07xXCnuJuqV8PXstCeMvvoC&object_uuid=01i6uFas9lXET3RDFMWoev9&data-aps-asin=B0F7PN7C8Z&data-aps-asc-tag=lifehack088-20&data-aps-asc-subtag=07xXCnuJuqV8PXstCeMvvoC" data-commerce="1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow sponsored" data-parent-group="affiliate-link" title="(opens in a new window)" class="flex flex-col py-8 gap-5 border-dotted border-[#CFCFCE] cursor-default no-underline md:flex-row md:gap-y-2 md:py-7 border-b-2" data-ga-click="data-ga-click" data-ga-module="product-list" data-ga-element="offer" data-ga-item="offer-btn" data-ga-label="Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (2025)" data-ga-position="1" aria-label="Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (2025) Product Card" x-cloak="x-cloak" x-show="showMore || 0 < 3"> <div class="flex w-full gap-x-5"> <div class="flex w-full flex-col flex-nowrap justify-center gap-2 text-black no-underline md:order-2 md:gap-y-6"> <div class="flex flex-col justify-between gap-y-2 md:w-full md:gap-y-1"> <div class="block font-sans text-xs font-semibold capitalize leading-3 text-gray-900 md:leading-4">Bluetooth version</div> <div class="block w-fit cursor-pointer font-akshar text-lg font-medium leading-5 text-brand-green duration-200 ease-in-out hover:text-brand-green-700 md:text-xl md:leading-6"> Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (2025) </div> </div> <div class="hidden md:flex md:justify-between md:gap-x-4"> <div class="w-full mb-0 md:flex md:flex-col md:justify-center font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $249.99 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$349.99</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $100.00</span> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm hidden self-end h-12 max-w-[10rem] duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:flex md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> </div> </div> <div class="flex aspect-video h-[90px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center self-center md:order-1"> <img class="m-0 max-h-full max-w-full rounded-md" src="https://lifehacker.com/imagery/product/01i6uFas9lXET3RDFMWoev9/hero-image.fill.size_autoxauto.v1763629413.jpg" alt="Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 40mm Bluetooth Smartwatch (Silver)" width="auto" height="auto" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm w-full h-12 duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:hidden md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> <div class="flex flex-col items-center w-full md:hidden font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $249.99 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$349.99</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $100.00</span> </div> </div> </a> <a href="https://cc.lifehacker.com/v1/otc/06ZVRiLmglGs4QA6plTXzTC?merchant=05kie42h3YvHwjr4G1w80Qq&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fdp%2FB0F7QB2WM7%3Fth%3D1&template=Deals&module=product-list&element=offer&item=offer-btn&position=2&element_label=Samsung+Galaxy+Watch+8+%282025%29+&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss&product_uuid=01SaDS8WhrIK7Ar9JnrTqMM&offer_uuid=00dA6d0ojGPh3dQ2mxDuNiB&pageview_type=RSS&object_type=00dA6d0ojGPh3dQ2mxDuNiB&object_uuid=01SaDS8WhrIK7Ar9JnrTqMM&data-aps-asin=B0F7QB2WM7&data-aps-asc-tag=lifehack088-20&data-aps-asc-subtag=00dA6d0ojGPh3dQ2mxDuNiB" data-commerce="1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow sponsored" data-parent-group="affiliate-link" title="(opens in a new window)" class="flex flex-col py-8 gap-5 border-dotted border-[#CFCFCE] cursor-default no-underline md:flex-row md:gap-y-2 md:py-7 border-b-2" data-ga-click="data-ga-click" data-ga-module="product-list" data-ga-element="offer" data-ga-item="offer-btn" data-ga-label="Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (2025)" data-ga-position="2" aria-label="Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (2025) Product Card" x-cloak="x-cloak" x-show="showMore || 1 < 3"> <div class="flex w-full gap-x-5"> <div class="flex w-full flex-col flex-nowrap justify-center gap-2 text-black no-underline md:order-2 md:gap-y-6"> <div class="flex flex-col justify-between gap-y-2 md:w-full md:gap-y-1"> <div class="block font-sans text-xs font-semibold capitalize leading-3 text-gray-900 md:leading-4">LTE version</div> <div class="block w-fit cursor-pointer font-akshar text-lg font-medium leading-5 text-brand-green duration-200 ease-in-out hover:text-brand-green-700 md:text-xl md:leading-6"> Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (2025) </div> </div> <div class="hidden md:flex md:justify-between md:gap-x-4"> <div class="w-full mb-0 md:flex md:flex-col md:justify-center font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $299.99 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$399.99</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $100.00</span> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm hidden self-end h-12 max-w-[10rem] duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:flex md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> </div> </div> <div class="flex aspect-video h-[90px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center self-center md:order-1"> <img class="m-0 max-h-full max-w-full rounded-md" src="https://lifehacker.com/imagery/product/01SaDS8WhrIK7Ar9JnrTqMM/hero-image.fill.size_autoxauto.v1753694578.jpg" alt="Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (2025) 40mm LTE Smartwatch, Cushion Design, Fitness Tracker, Sleep Coaching, Running Coach, Energy Score, Heart Rate Tracking, Silver [US Version, 2 Yr Warranty]" width="auto" height="auto" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm w-full h-12 duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:hidden md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> <div class="flex flex-col items-center w-full md:hidden font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $299.99 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$399.99</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $100.00</span> </div> </div> </a> <a href="https://cc.lifehacker.com/v1/otc/06ZVRiLmglGs4QA6plTXzTC?merchant=05kie42h3YvHwjr4G1w80Qq&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fdp%2FB0F7PXV6LS&template=Deals&module=product-list&element=offer&item=offer-btn&position=3&element_label=Samsung+Galaxy+Watch+8+Classic&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss&product_uuid=04cy5RNghGgKNlRUxBRrg6P&offer_uuid=02W4LLZXjq1uR5vr62WBgZ2&pageview_type=RSS&object_type=02W4LLZXjq1uR5vr62WBgZ2&object_uuid=04cy5RNghGgKNlRUxBRrg6P&data-aps-asin=B0F7PXV6LS&data-aps-asc-tag=lifehack088-20&data-aps-asc-subtag=02W4LLZXjq1uR5vr62WBgZ2" data-commerce="1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow sponsored" data-parent-group="affiliate-link" title="(opens in a new window)" class="flex flex-col py-8 gap-5 border-dotted border-[#CFCFCE] cursor-default no-underline md:flex-row md:gap-y-2 md:py-7 border-b-2" data-ga-click="data-ga-click" data-ga-module="product-list" data-ga-element="offer" data-ga-item="offer-btn" data-ga-label="Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic" data-ga-position="3" aria-label="Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic Product Card" x-cloak="x-cloak" x-show="showMore || 2 < 3"> <div class="flex w-full gap-x-5"> <div class="flex w-full flex-col flex-nowrap justify-center gap-2 text-black no-underline md:order-2 md:gap-y-6"> <div class="flex flex-col justify-between gap-y-2 md:w-full md:gap-y-1"> <div class="block font-sans text-xs font-semibold capitalize leading-3 text-gray-900 md:leading-4">Bluetooth version</div> <div class="block w-fit cursor-pointer font-akshar text-lg font-medium leading-5 text-brand-green duration-200 ease-in-out hover:text-brand-green-700 md:text-xl md:leading-6"> Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic </div> </div> <div class="hidden md:flex md:justify-between md:gap-x-4"> <div class="w-full mb-0 md:flex md:flex-col md:justify-center font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $449.99 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$549.99</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $100.00</span> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm hidden self-end h-12 max-w-[10rem] duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:flex md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> </div> </div> <div class="flex aspect-video h-[90px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center self-center md:order-1"> <img class="m-0 max-h-full max-w-full rounded-md" src="https://lifehacker.com/imagery/product/04cy5RNghGgKNlRUxBRrg6P/hero-image.fill.size_autoxauto.v1764687691.jpg" alt="Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic (46mm, LTE, Black Band)" width="auto" height="auto" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm w-full h-12 duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:hidden md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> <div class="flex flex-col items-center w-full md:hidden font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $449.99 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$549.99</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $100.00</span> </div> </div> </a> <a href="https://cc.lifehacker.com/v1/otc/06ZVRiLmglGs4QA6plTXzTC?merchant=05kie42h3YvHwjr4G1w80Qq&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fdp%2FB0F7PXV6LS&template=Deals&module=product-list&element=offer&item=offer-btn&position=4&element_label=Galaxy+Watch+8+Classic&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss&product_uuid=04cy5RNghGgKNlRUxBRrg6P&offer_uuid=02W4LLZXjq1uR5vr62WBgZ2&pageview_type=RSS&object_type=02W4LLZXjq1uR5vr62WBgZ2&object_uuid=04cy5RNghGgKNlRUxBRrg6P&data-aps-asin=B0F7PXV6LS&data-aps-asc-tag=lifehack088-20&data-aps-asc-subtag=02W4LLZXjq1uR5vr62WBgZ2" data-commerce="1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow sponsored" data-parent-group="affiliate-link" title="(opens in a new window)" class="flex flex-col py-8 gap-5 border-dotted border-[#CFCFCE] cursor-default no-underline md:flex-row md:gap-y-2 md:py-7" data-ga-click="data-ga-click" data-ga-module="product-list" data-ga-element="offer" data-ga-item="offer-btn" data-ga-label="Galaxy Watch 8 Classic" data-ga-position="4" aria-label="Galaxy Watch 8 Classic Product Card" x-cloak="x-cloak" x-show="showMore || 3 < 3"> <div class="flex w-full gap-x-5"> <div class="flex w-full flex-col flex-nowrap justify-center gap-2 text-black no-underline md:order-2 md:gap-y-6"> <div class="flex flex-col justify-between gap-y-2 md:w-full md:gap-y-1"> <div class="block font-sans text-xs font-semibold capitalize leading-3 text-gray-900 md:leading-4">LTE version</div> <div class="block w-fit cursor-pointer font-akshar text-lg font-medium leading-5 text-brand-green duration-200 ease-in-out hover:text-brand-green-700 md:text-xl md:leading-6"> Galaxy Watch 8 Classic </div> </div> <div class="hidden md:flex md:justify-between md:gap-x-4"> <div class="w-full mb-0 md:flex md:flex-col md:justify-center font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $449.99 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$549.99</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $100.00</span> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm hidden self-end h-12 max-w-[10rem] duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:flex md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> </div> </div> <div class="flex aspect-video h-[90px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center self-center md:order-1"> <img class="m-0 max-h-full max-w-full rounded-md" src="https://lifehacker.com/imagery/product/04cy5RNghGgKNlRUxBRrg6P/hero-image.fill.size_autoxauto.v1764687691.jpg" alt="Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic (46mm, LTE, Black Band)" width="auto" height="auto" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm w-full h-12 duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:hidden md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> <div class="flex flex-col items-center w-full md:hidden font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $449.99 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$549.99</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $100.00</span> </div> </div> </a> <button class="mb-4 mt-6 pr-4 font-akshar text-sm font-medium text-gray-900 hover:cursor-pointer hover:text-brand-green md:pr-8" x-cloak="x-cloak" x-show="!showMore && 4 > 3" x-on:click="showMore = !showMore" x-on:keydown.enter.prevent.stop="showMore = !showMore"> SEE 1 MORE <svg class="-mt-[2px] inline-block size-3 fill-current text-brand-green"> <use href="https://lifehacker.com/images/icons/spritemap.svg#sprite-chevron-down"></use> </svg> </button> </div> <p>If you're coming from the Galaxy Watch 7, there are a few improvements to <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/comparisons/galaxy-watch-8-vs-watch-7-whats-new-and-is-it-worth-upgrading" target="_blank" title="open in a new window" rel="noopener">warrant the $50 list price increase</a> for the base model. You get a brighter display, a bigger battery, a thinner design, a redesigned exterior, new health sensors, an AI-powered running coach, more sleep insights, dual-band GPS, one-handed gesture controls, and Google's Gemini voice assistant directly on the watch. Not bad—but if that doesn't inspire you, the <a href="https://zdcs.link/a5woLx?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Galaxy%20Watch%207&short_url=a5woLx&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">Galaxy Watch 7</a> now starts at a crisp <strong>$129.99</strong> (originally $249.99), and it too is getting the Gemini and sleep updates. </p><div class="mx-auto mt-8 w-full max-w-4xl aspect-video"> <div id="video-container-01KC28S6HYCCA9BTFWXF4271WZ"></div> </div> <p>If you're not sure whether to get the regular Galaxy 8 or the Classic, the biggest difference is that the Classic comes with a rotating bezel that helps you navigate the menus. (You can read Lifehacker Senior Health Editor Beth Skwarecki's <a href="https://lifehacker.com/health/galaxy-watch-8-first-impressions" target="_blank">first impressions here</a>.) Also of note, the Classic only comes in the bigger 46mm screen size, while the regular Galaxy 8 comes in 40 and 44mm sizes. For either, you can expect about 30 hours of use from a single charge.</p><p>If you're planning on keeping your phone with you when using the watch, get the Bluetooth version. But if you want to go on runs and leave your phone behind while still listening to music or taking calls, $50 extra for the LTE is worth it. (Read more about the Galaxy 8 Watch in <a href="https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/the-galaxy-watch-8-pissed-me-off-but-id-still-recommend-it/" target="_blank" title="open in a new window" rel="noopener">CNET's review</a>.)</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/my-favorite-amazon-deal-of-the-day-samsung-galaxy-watch-8?utm_medium=RSS">https://lifehacker.com/tech/my-favorite-amazon-deal-of-the-day-samsung-galaxy-watch-8?utm_medium=RSS</a></p>

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/doyles-facade-had-come-down-protect-lives-workers-putting-its

The site on Sunday.

Jamaica Plain News talked to Lee Goodman about why his Watermark Development completely tore down the front section of the fabled Doyle's on Washington Street as it puts up 16 new condos and new restaurant space. Basically, the remaining walls were unsafe and had to come down before they collapsed or fell onto the street, he said.

Also, BWSC required changes in the new building's supports to protect Stony Brook, which runs in a culvert under the site.

Finished look, except Stoked Pizza is now slated to move into the space, not Brassica:

Topics:

Development

Neighborhoods:

Jamaica Plain

Free tagging:

Washington Street

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/doyles-facade-had-come-down-protect-lives-workers-putting-its

lifehacker_feed

Posted by Jake Peterson

https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-will-fix-pixel-broken-display-for-free-if-it-qualifies?utm_medium=RSS

Smartphone display issues are nothing new. Most of us have dropped our phones the wrong way one time or another, and had to deal with the pain (and cost) of getting them fixed. But when your smartphone's screen starts acting up for no particular reason, it's pretty frustrating—especially if the manufacturer still holds you accountable for the repair fees.

If that sounds like your experience with your Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, or Pixel 9 Pro Fold, there's good news: Google is now launching an Extended Repair Program for the Pixel 9 Pro line. According to Google's announcement on Monday, the company has identified a "limited number" of Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL units that might exhibit display issues that impact the user's experience with the device. Should your Pixel 9 Pro's display show these symptoms, Google will fix the display at no cost to you.

What it takes for your Pixel 9 Pro to qualify

That doesn't mean any and all display issues on your Pixel 9 Pro device qualify here. Google has identified two specific problems that this Extended Repair Program actually covers. The first is a vertical line present on the display. The line has to run from the bottom of the screen to the top, so partial lines won't quality. The second is display flicker. If you notice your Pixel 9 Pro's display quickly getting brighter and darker, as if someone was flicking a switch back and forth, you qualify for the repair program.

The Pixel 9 Fold is another story altogether. Like the 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL, Google is offering a free repair program for the 9 Pro Fold. However, unlike the other devices, there are no specific issues identified here. The problems may be display-related, but since the company won't specify, you could bring your 9 Pro Fold in for just about anything that's going wrong with it—as long as you didn't cause the issue yourself. In addition, Google won't actually fix your foldable, but will instead replace it entirely.

The company is also being strict regarding the quality of the display outside of these issues across all Pixel 9 Pro devices. If your Pixel's display or cover-glass is cracked, that may disqualify you from the free repair. If Google finds liquid damage in your device, same story. In any of these cases, the company will still fix the display issues mentioned above, but they might charge you for it.

How to get your Pixel 9 Pro fixed

Affected Pixel 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL, and 9 Pro Fold units qualify for repair as of Dec. 8, and coverage will last for three years after the original purchase date of the device. You will need to have your device inspected at a Google walk-in center, Google-authorized center, or an online repair store before the company can confirm eligibility. You can get started on your claim from Google's official repair site.

This is good news for any Pixel 9 Pro users who have these specific issues—or any issues at all for Pixel 9 Pro Fold users. It joins a host of other Extended Repair Programs for Pixel devices, including the Pixel 4a battery program, the Pixel 6a battery program, the Pixel 7a repair program, and the Pixel 8 repair program,

https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-will-fix-pixel-broken-display-for-free-if-it-qualifies?utm_medium=RSS

lifehacker_feed

Posted by Beth Skwarecki

https://lifehacker.com/health/garmin-year-in-review-connect-plus-feature?utm_medium=RSS

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Garmin has released an end-of-year summary of users’ stats, Spotify Wrapped-style. But it’s only available to people who pay for Garmin Connect+, the new paid subscription that Garmin has offered since March of this year. I’ll show you what’s inside the Year in Review, and give you my thoughts on how the subscription service has weathered its first almost-year. Spoiler: The more things Garmin adds, the less they seem to know what they're doing.

What’s in the Year in Review?

6 screenshots of Garmin Year in Review cards

Credit: Beth Skwarecki/Garmin

Garmin’s Year in Review feature shows you a bunch of cute visuals of your activity throughout the year. For each metric, there is usually a summary or a total, followed by a graph showing that metric for each calendar month (January through December) with the “best” month for that metric highlighted. Sometimes a particular workout was called out for that metric, such as your longest run. The metrics included:

Total steps
Sleep score average
Body Battery average daily high
Number of activities, and your most common types
Total activity time
Total activity distance
Total activity ascent
Total activity calories (put in terms of “slices of chocolate cake” for some reason)
Badges earned
Personal records earned

There are shareable cards for each, so it’s certainly fulfilling the function of a yearly recap, but it’s a bit boring to page through. I’m not sure why I’m supposed to care about my average Body Battery, and it’s not exactly a revelation that I did more gym workouts than bike rides. Perhaps this will get more polished in future years.

Your Year in Review says more about Garmin than about you

More companies than ever are offering an annual summary this year, and it seems like each of them is having a little identity crisis. Is the summary meant to provide free marketing when you share the screenshots with your friends? Engage you more deeply with the algorithm, to encourage you to consume more content? Or is it just a reward for being a loyal customer?

Garmin, by making theirs a premium feature, doesn’t seem to be prioritizing any of the above. I see two things going on here: They're competing with Strava, and grappling with what it means to exist as a hardware company in a subscription-based world.

The Strava part is easiest to understand. Strava offers a premium subscription, and the main draw is that it comes with mapping tools and training analytics. People may gripe about having to pay to see their spot on a leaderboard or build a running route, but this model fundamentally works because people like and want those features. Strava’s “Year in Sport” is a premium feature as well, but people don’t subscribe just to get Year in Sport. It’s a little perk, not the whole point.

Comparing Garmin’s recap to Strava’s, Strava’s feels more cohesive. There are fewer cards in the carousel, and they’re more relevant to things I care about. I get my activities and distance in the same card, find out how long I’ve kept my weekly streak (over a year!), see the days I was active, get reminded of one highlight run (definitely a memorable one), see my PRs for all the major distances, and get a shout-out on the one QOM and couple of Local Legend titles I earned. It’s easier for Strava to do this well because their platform is tailored to people with specific goals: to run or bike more and faster. Garmin tries harder to be everything to everybody.

And then there’s the question of what Garmin is doing here. It’s always been a hardware company, starting out with GPS devices (back when “GPS device” was a standalone product category) and eventually becoming a maker of sports watches as well as gadgets like bike computers and boat navigation systems. The company seems to be having trouble finding its place in today's subscription-based world. I appreciate that it isn't removing features from existing products, but that makes me wonder what the point of Connect+ is supposed to be.

Garmin’s Connect+ subscription doesn’t seem to be the paywall people are afraid of (or the cash cow Garmin is probably hoping for)

Garmin has always been a hardware company at heart, but that model has been harder and harder to fit with the modern wearables market. Now that we all have smartphones, many of the features we expect from a Garmin watch are really features of a phone app. So to keep selling watches in different pricing tiers, Garmin ties specific features to the hardware you’ve bought. You’ll only get a “training status” in the app if you’ve paired a training status-capable watch, for example. (The Forerunner 265 counts, but not the 165.)

I have to imagine Garmin execs wish they could start over, make just a few physical devices, and sell software features as subscription tiers. Everything in 2025 seems to be sold on a subscription basis or with some features paywalled behind a premium tier. So of course Garmin tried to move into that space.

Garmin has long sold subscriptions for some devices, but those were always specific things like satellite messaging or high-definition marine charts, where the purpose and the cost made sense. Garmin Connect+, which launched this year, is basically a subscription for software features of the phone app, not a device.

That’s good for Garmin users—no actual features of the watches get paywalled this way. Whatever features your Forerunner 265 had when you bought it, you get to keep those. New watches don’t seem to be missing any features (yet)—if anything, new releases like the Forerunner 570 and the Venu 4 seem to be adding features to justify their higher prices.

But that leaves the Connect+ subscription without anything vital to offer. I’ve gone through and listed all the features you get, and I think the only one that’s really worthwhile is mirroring data to your phone, which both Apple and Coros will give you for free. The rest are all “huh?” features, like unlocking special badges or gaining access to an AI feature that is surely the least useful of all fitness apps’ AI features (and that’s really saying something).

Garmin seems to be hoping that people will upgrade to the subscription because of its cool amazing attractive features, while carefully avoiding putting anything useful or essential in the subscription. That doesn’t seem to be a tightrope they can actually walk, unless they come up with new app features that don’t fit into their hardware models, but are actually useful and interesting. Features worth paying for are expensive to build, which explains why Garmin Trails is a dud so far—it’s just an empty shell of a service that users are supposed to fill with data, eventually, I guess.

Year in Review must have been easy to build, but it doesn’t give us anything worth paying for. Garmin has been advertising the Year in Review to non-subscribers, suggesting that we pay for a subscription to access it. I just don’t think it’s working, Garmin.

https://lifehacker.com/health/garmin-year-in-review-connect-plus-feature?utm_medium=RSS

lifehacker_feed

Posted by Stephen Johnson

https://lifehacker.com/tech/why-your-tv-will-never-be-better-than-it-is-now?utm_medium=RSS

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We’ve reached the end of television. Since the invention of the technology in the 1920s, TV screens have gradually grown larger, pictures clearer, and sets cheaper, until now: For all intents and purposes, we’re at the end of the road. This "nothing special" 65-inch Samsung unit, is, for most people, as good as a TV ever needs to be. It displays an image more highly detailed than most viewers can perceive from a couch-length viewing distance, its screen is as big as the average American living room can handle, and it costs less than $500. For 100 years, manufacturers and consumers have been chasing screen size and image clarity, so what happens now that the dog has caught the mail truck, and just about everyone has a TV that’s essentially perfect?

A brief history of big-screen TVs

Television has come a long way. If we traveled back in time to 1986 with the equivalent of $500 to buy a TV, we would only be able to afford the cheapest set from that year's Sears catalog. For $159.99, the same relative cost as a 65-inch Samsung today, you could snag a set featuring a 13-inch, 4:3 screen with an equivalent resolution of around 480i. (CRT televisions don't have pixels, but their screens displayed roughly 330–480 lines of usable detail depending on the signal.) By comparison, the Samsung has a 65-inch, 16:9 screen with a 3840×2160 resolution.

Those CRTs originally displayed images by firing electrons at a phosphorescent screen inside a vacuum-sealed glass tube. The cathode ray tube (hence CRT) had to be deep enough for the electron beams to accelerate, with glass thick enough safely contain them. The result: heavy, deep, fragile machines that couldn’t practically support screens much larger than 40 inches without being prohibitively expensive and heavy. The 1981 Sony KV-3000R, a 30-inch model that cost $10,000 ($36,500 in today’s money) and weighed over 500 pounds, was at the top of the big CRT consumer market. It was technically possible to go bigger—Trinitron created a 45-inch CRT in 1989 that sold in Japan for $40,000—but these were not the kind of screens you'd find in anyone's living room.

The projection TVs that followed were able to achieve their unheard-of screen sizes by using internal projectors and mirrors to project the cathode ray image onto a translucent screen, but this came with significant drawbacks. The sets were massive and could weigh up to 500 pounds, and the projected image was blurrier and dimmer than a typical CRT’s already "standard definition" image. Viewing angles were limited—you basically had to sit directly in front of it to see anything clearly—and projector bulbs had a limited lifespan and were expensive to replace.

The limitations and cost of rear projection TVs didn’t dissuade people from adopting the technology, especially as they came down in price. By the 1990s, improvements in rear-projection optics, CRT projectors, and production efficiency made big-screen, rear projection TVs into a status symbol, resulting in 50-, 60-, and even 70-inch behemoths appearing in suburban living rooms. They were still heavy, fuzzy, and crazy expensive—a 61-inch Magnavox rear-projection television cost $2,999.99 in 1993—but everything changed in the late 90s with the release of the first plasma TVs.

The flat screen revolution

Plasma and LCD TVs weren’t just better ways of displaying images, but worked on entirely differently principles altogether. In a plasma TV, each pixel is a tiny gas-filled cell that emits ultraviolet light when charged with electricity, which then excites phosphors on the display to create visible colors that resolve into an episode of Friends. LCD TVs use liquid crystals to control the passage of light sourced from a backlight behind. Each pixel contains a liquid crystal layer that can twist or block light, allowing precise control over color and brightness and thus a much more detailed look at Rachel’s hair. Both technologies supported far brighter and more defined images than rear projection TVs all without weighing 400 pounds, making big screen, high-definition displays obtainable for average consumers.

Both LCD and plasma TVs had advantages and drawbacks—plasmas had faster response times (how quickly a pixel can adjust) and darker blacks than LCDs, but LCD TVs lasted longer (around 50,000 hours vs 30,000 hours), used less power, work better in brighter rooms, and weren't as prone to "burn in" as older plasma and CRT monitors. Ultimately, LCD won out, and plasma TVs became a thing of the past by 2014.

In 2004, Sony introduced the first LED TVs. Where older LCD TVs use cold cathode fluorescent lamps for back lighting, LEDs use light-emitting diodes as backlighting. They're much more energy efficient and produce a brighter image, more accurate colors, and greater contrast than either LCD or Plasma displays. LED and other technical improvements also solved problems like narrow viewing angles, motion blur, and uneven backlighting that plagued earlier generations of flat screens.

Flat panel displays were expensive at first, but prices fell rapidly. A 42-inch plasma cost around $20,000 in 1997, but cost less than $1,000 a decade later. As prices fell, resolution rose, from 720p (1,280 pixels wide by 720 pixels tall) to 1080p (1,920 pixels wide by 1,080 pixels long) to 4K (3,840 pixels wide by 2,160 pixels long), making it feasible for anyone to mount a giant TV on their living room wall and enjoy a level of realism and image quality previously only available in movie theaters.

Fine tuning your television: All about backlighting

As screen size and resolution improved, so too did the qualitative aspects of TV images—contrast, color accuracy, and brightness. Older LCD TVs use fluorescent lamps to shine light through liquid crystals, but the crystals can't block all of the light, so no pixel is ever truly black. That's why you can tell whether an older LCD TV is on, even if there is no picture. LED displays are built with local dimming—backlights that can light up or dim zones of the screen as needed. The result is less light leaking through the pixels, and thus darker blacks. Mini-LED displays have many more backlighting "zones," sometimes thousands, further refining the darkness. QLED displays slide a film of "quantum dots" between the LED lights and the LCD front that dilate to improve color saturation and brightness.

Organic light-emitting diode TVs (OLED) take it even further. Many OLED televisions don't have a backlight at all. Instead, each pixel in the display contains an organic material that lights up individually when electricity is applied. So when a pixel is black, it's off, which means it's totally black. OLED televisions aren't perfect—they tend to be less bright than LED or mini-LED displays—and the emerging technology of microLED TVs promises to solve that problem, but current six-figure price tags make them prohibitively expensive.

We may have achieved peak television

The difference between a color image and a black-and-white one were immediately obvious when the first color TVs hit the market in the 1950s, as was the difference between high-definition and standard definition in late 1990s, but the distinction between an OLED and a QLED display are fine enough to be almost indistinguishable to the average consumer. I'm sure some people are passionately devoted to OLED over mini-LED, or feel you haven't really experienced Breaking Bad if you haven't seen it on a $100,000 microLED TV, but for the rest of us, midrange TVs are so close to "as good as they can possibly be" that granular technological improvements are meaningless.

Now, no technology is perfect for everyone. CRT TVs, for instance, are better than the best LED TVs for old school gaming, and a 4K TV might not be detailed enough for some technical uses, but if you're just talking about the needs and desires of standard, living-room-dwelling watchers, current TV technology is all but perfect. Here are some reasons why:

The limits of vision

A standard 65-inch 4K television delivers a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels, a density high enough to create an image that is pixel-invisible to a typical viewer sitting at reasonable distance from a television. You can buy an 8K TV (7,680 pixels wide by 4,320 pixels tall), but those extra pixels won’t make the picture look clearer or more highly defined in a practical way; they’ll only add more detail than you can physically see from your couch. For reasonable viewing, even 4K screens are overkill.

Then, there's the question of size. TVs always could get bigger, but there’s a point where it doesn’t add value to the experience of watching. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers has determined that the best screen viewing experience for most people is achieved when sitting at a distance where your display screen is taking up 30 degrees of your vision. That’s about 8.5 feet away for a 65-inch TV, more than adequate for most living rooms, and even if it isn’t, commercially available televisions go up to 115-inches, which is big enough for all but a cathedral-sized rec room.

The limits of light, color, and comfort

Contrast, the difference in brightness between the darkest blacks and the brightest whites that a screen can display, helps determine how vivid and detailed an image looks. OLED TVs don't have contrast ratios, because the contrast is infinite. Each pixel in an OLED TV is its own light source, so when a pixel is told to be black, it is literally off, and it doesn’t get blacker than that. In terms of color, modern OLED TVs can reproduce 98 to 100% of the colors used in movies and TV shows, so what you see on screen is all the color there is in source material. While other display types don't have OLED's infinite contrast ratio, they get pretty close: Some mini-LED TVs have a contrast ratio as high as 10,000,000:1.

TVs are also brighter than ever. Displays designed for use outside are bright enough to be watchable in full sunlight, and their peak HDR brightness of 1,400 or so nits is far brighter than then the 250 nits of typical screen viewed indoors, which is already more than bright enough to be comfortable for your living room.

The limits of content

As far as what we watch on TV, if you define perfect TV as “the ability to watch anything I want, whenever I want,” we’re practically there. Viewers used to have a scarcity problem; you'd watch whatever happened to be on one of three channels and you'd like it. Now, our problem now is abundance. We’re overwhelmed with content to watch—there are millions of instantly available things to stream on your TV, from shows to movies to YouTube videos. While programming spread over thousands of channels and across dozens of pay and free streaming services is messy, almost every film or TV show ever produced is available somewhere, although it might take a little work (and monthly subscription fees) to find it.

What’s next for TV?

Consumer demand for bigger-screened televisions with higher quality displays has essentially driven the industry for the last 80 years, so what happens now that the race is almost over and we can all watch whatever we want on an all but-perfect TV? A marketing person might answer that TV makers will create reasons for people to want new TVs by expanding what TV actually is. You can see this happening with things Samsung’s The Wall or Sony’s Crystal LED—systems that let you cover an entire wall with seamless TV panels (if you have a spare $100,000 sitting around).

But do people really want a TV wall enough to buy one, assuming they become more affordable? Some people would, sure, but a wall screen wouldn’t really make sitting on the couch watching TV better for most of us. A more down-to-earth potential future for TVs is represented by Samsung’s Frame, a “a lifestyle TV” designed to turn your screen into a gallery of digital art when you’re not watching Netflix. It’s cool, but if it doesn’t improve the experience of watching Pluribus, I’m not rushing out to replace my TV.

When “big TV” tries to create a desire for TVs that do something other than just work like TVs, the results haven’t always worked. Back 2010, perhaps sensing the need for a “gotta have it” feature, the industry rolled out the first 3D TVs. Despite years of hyping the technology as the next big thing, consumers didn’t bite, and by 2017, 3D TV was a dead technology. It was cool, but not cool enough to justify buying a new TV when people just wanted to watch Game of Thrones. Another example: the “screenless screen” represented by AR/VR devices like the Apple VisionPro or Meta Quest 3. It’s too early to say for sure, but these much-hyped devices seem to be meeting with lukewarm consumer response as well.

The one way your TV isn’t perfect

Don’t get too smug about your perfect TV, though, as it's probably going to break soon. The profitability of the TV industry requires a lot of people buy new TVs every few years, so your 65-inch Samsung isn't designed to last as long as the clunky CRTs of yore. Older sets were fairly simple machines that could last for decades (if Elvis didn't shoot them), but modern flat-panels are packed with LEDs that dim and LCDs that flicker out. Maybe more importantly, almost all new TVs are smart TVs, which introduces new ways of adding obsolescence—manufacturers could stop updating your TV's operating system and streaming services could drop support too. Even if the display still works, you might find navigating your TV to be such a slow, cumbersome, and useless experience that you'll go out and pick up a new one, far earlier than you otherwise would.

There's also the matter of privacy: These TVs are constantly watching what we do, and collect our data when connected to the internet. It's part of why TVs don't cost as much up front: You are subsidizing the price with your data. Disconnecting these TVs from the internet helps, but many streaming devices aren't much better, so you need to choose wisely. Choosing the right one, however, can expand the life of an old, otherwise functioning TV—until the hardware gives out, of course.

The TVs we have today are brilliant, cheap, and enormous, but they’re also designed for a world where replacing your screen every five-seven years is normal, even if a “better” set doesn’t necessarily exist.

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Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/death-inmate-suffolk-house-correction-under-investigation

WFXT reports the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department and Boston Police are investigating the death of Shacoby Jenny, 32, following a confrontation with guards at the Suffolk County House of Correction Sunday night.

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Posted by Khamosh Pathak

https://lifehacker.com/tech/iphone-alarm-for-reminders?utm_medium=RSS

Apple’s various apps and utilities are finally starting to talk to each other, and it’s great news for iPhone users. Last year, Apple added the ability to sync Reminders with Calendar, which added time-based reminders directly into your Calendar view—a feature I now regularly use. Now, with iOS 26.2, Apple is finally integrating Reminders with the Alarms app; you'll be able to set an accompanying alarm for any reminder.

If, like me, you tend to be forgetful—if you need a reminder for your reminder—this will be a handy feature. The alarm will sound, taking up your entire screen until you dismiss it. And yes, you can snooze it.

How to add an alarm to any reminder on your iPhone

To get started, open the Reminder app, navigate to a task list, and either create a new reminder, or edit it. When you’re adding a date and time, you’ll see a new Urgent toggle. When you enable the Urgent mode, it will turn on an alarm that will go off when the reminder is due. The alarm will trigger even when your iPhone is in silent mode or in a Do Not Disturb Focus mode, so be careful when setting it up.

Urgent setting in Reminders app for alarm.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

When you enable this for the first time, you’ll get a connection request for integrating Reminders with Alarms. Here, tap Allow. If you don’t see this popup, or if you’ve dismissed it before, go to Settings > Apps > Reminders, and in the "Allow Reminders to Access" section, enable the Alarms toggle.

When the reminder is due, you’ll see a full-screen reminder interface, with the reminder up top, and an option to slide to stop (using Apple’s new sliding interface for dismissing alarms, which you can disable if you want). You’ll also see a big blue Snooze button. This will snooze the reminder for nine minutes.

Whether you hit the Snooze button or you use the slider to stop the alarm, Apple will add the Reminder to the top of the notifications list, as a Live Activity. You’ll see the reminder, with the snooze duration (if enabled), and the task. To actually complete the task, you’ll have to check it off from the Live Activity or the Reminders app.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Unlike in the new alarm feature, there’s no way to edit the Snooze duration for reminders, or to disable the slider. If you don’t like the Snooze feature or the two-tap approach to completing reminders, you can switch it out for a Complete button instead. Go to Settings > Apps > Reminders and in the "Urgent Reminders" section, enable the Complete from Alarm feature. Now, when the alarm goes off, you’ll see two buttons instead: Slide to Stop and Complete. When you tap Complete, the alarm will disappear, and the task will be marked as Complete.

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Posted by Meredith Dietz

https://lifehacker.com/health/fitness-digital-health-divide?utm_medium=RSS

The latest Apple Watch costs $429. A basic Peloton Bike is $1,395, plus a $49.99 monthly subscription. Throw in a WHOOP membership at $149 annually, maybe an Oura Ring for another $349, and suddenly you're looking at thousands of dollars to participate in what's become the standard way many Americans approach their health. For some, that price tag is steep. For others, it's a non-starter.

I'm no stranger to the appeal of the latest, greatest wearables and smart health devices. But as all this wellness technology become the norm, what does this mean for people who don't strap a smartwatch onto their wrists? If comprehensive health data—and the insights it provides—becomes a luxury good, the existing digital health divide will only get worse.

The digital health divide

The issue starts well before anyone considers buying a fitness tracker. Digital equity in healthcare is already a fundamental access issue. "In many ways, access to healthcare means access to technology," says Amy Gonzales, an associate professor in UC Santa Barbara's Department of Communication. "Especially since [the COVID-19 pandemic], the healthcare industry relies heavily on technology for their services. Text reminders about your appointment, scanning a QR code to check in, needing an e-health account to see your test results, or some providers only being available via telehealth, and so on."

The basic infrastructure of modern healthcare—patient portals, appointment scheduling apps, prescription management systems—demands a level of digital literacy and access that not everyone can meet. Seniors may struggle with smartphone interfaces. Low-income families might rely on limited mobile data or shared devices. People with certain disabilities may find standard health apps difficult or impossible to navigate. And the problem compounds: Gonzales notes the populations most likely to face barriers with technology are often the same groups who may need that healthcare the most.

Fitness trackers are becoming the norm—for some

Against this backdrop of baseline digital inequity, fitness trackers and wearables have gotten more and more popular. These aren't essential medical devices in the traditional sense—nobody's life support depends on their Fitbit—but they've become cultural markers of health optimization. More concerning, they're increasingly becoming tools that provide genuinely useful health information that simply isn't available to people without the resources to buy in. Heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, sleep stages, stress levels, and more: We're living in a time of unprecedented insight into what our bodies are doing, if you can afford it.

IN some circles, these devices have become simply how health-conscious people approach their wellbeing. Studies have shown that wearables can help detect abnormal heart rhythms, encourage increased physical activity, and provide early warning signs of illness. Some insurance companies offer discounts for users who share their fitness tracking data. Employers incorporate wearables into wellness programs.

While this is promising for those who can afford it, others get left behind. "The digital divide is even more problematic with 'bonus devices,' or health 'accoutrements,' like smart wearables," says Gonzales. If at-risk health populations are already at-risk for digital access, it tracks that this access gap is only getting wider.

The problem with ubquitous fitness tech

The creation of a two-tiered information system is perhaps the most insidious aspect of fitness tech inequality. A person with an Apple Watch receives detailed daily reports about their cardiovascular health, activity levels, and sleep quality. They get alerts when their heart rate becomes irregular, or they can share comprehensive data with their physician that provides context for symptoms and conditions. Someone without these devices? They're left with subjective assessments and whatever gets captured during periodic doctor visits.

"If you don't have the same resources to track your blood pressure, blood pressure, or physical activity," says Gonzales, "you are certainly being left behind on useful healthcare." Consider two people with similar cardiovascular risk factors. The one with a wearable device might receive an alert and seek immediate treatment, potentially preventing a stroke. The other person might not notice symptoms until a serious cardiac event occurs. Both deserved that potentially life-saving alert, but only one could afford the device that provided it.

As more people in higher-income brackets adopt these technologies and share data with healthcare providers, medical understanding itself may become skewed toward populations who can afford comprehensive self-monitoring. If research studies increasingly incorporate wearable data, but if that data predominantly comes from affluent, educated users, the resulting insights may not apply equally across all demographics.

Another perspective

Access isn't the only lens through which to view this fitness tech. "There's this implicit assumption that wearables are inherently good," says Gonzales. "What about privacy risks?" After all, if you think you own all your health data, think again.

Think of the history of the healthcare industry's relationship with marginalized communities. The Tuskegee syphilis study, forced sterilizations, and ongoing disparities in pain management and maternal mortality have created a pretty understandable skepticism toward giving up data, to say the least. "Given the history of experimentation and exploitation of certain low-income populations, there's a natural distrust in these sub-groups," Gonzales says. "Maybe these demographics intentionally avoid third parties collecting their data."

So, the same communities that might benefit most from health monitoring technology may also have the most legitimate reasons to be wary of it. As I've previously covered, data privacy protections remain inconsistent, and the long-term implications of sharing detailed biometric data with corporations are still unclear. For populations that have historically been surveilled, exploited, or discriminated against, choosing not to participate in constant data collection might be a rational decision, rather than simply a matter of access. There's something to be said for health approaches that don't involve third-party corporations accumulating detailed records of your body's functions.

Finding solutions

Naturally, budget options for fitness tech do exist, and these options can help some people access these technologies. But even "affordable" options still cost money that many families simply don't have for what remains, technically speaking, optional equipment. When you're choosing between a $50 fitness tracker and groceries, the choice isn't really a choice at all.

All of this is to say that the fitness tech inequality problem can't be solved by individual purchasing decisions or corporate discount programs. It's embedded in broader questions about healthcare access, digital equity, and what we consider essential versus optional in maintaining health. Glucose monitors, fertility trackers, or blood pressure cuffs could more easily qualify as medical equipment, where an Oura ring is still a luxury good. Addressing the gap requires reimagining what counts as necessary healthcare technology. Otherwise, we could be approaching a future where your ability to detect health problems early, track chronic conditions, and optimize your fitness depends on whether you can afford a monthly subscription.

The bottom line

Healthcare has become digitized, creating new opportunities for monitoring and intervention, but also new mechanisms for inequality. As fitness technology continues advancing, offering more sophisticated monitoring and more actionable insights, that fundamental inequality will only get worse. Because at the intersection of healthcare and technology, "the people who struggle with one are often the same people who need the other," Gonzales says.

The Apple Watch on your wrist may feel like a personal choice, a small investment in your personal wellness. But scale that up across millions of people and billions of data points, and individual choices become structural inequalities. Technology that was supposed to democratize health information may instead be creating new hierarchies of who gets to know what about their own bodies. And those who need that knowledge most may be the least likely to access it.

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Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/those-puffy-jackets-really-work

Red-tailed hawk looking down at photographer from a tree

Mary Ellen looked up during a walk through Millennium Park and saw this puffed-up red-tailed hawk looking down at her.

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Posted by Michelle Ehrhardt

https://lifehacker.com/tech/how-to-game-on-your-retro-gaming-handheld?utm_medium=RSS

I recently put together a list of the best small portable gaming handhelds for people who are tired of how big the Nintendo Switch 2 and handheld gaming PCs like the Steam Deck are. In an era of gaming devices that often feel like laptops with grips and buttons added to them, these retro gaming handhelds (as I call them) can be a great solution for people who miss the days of the PSP and Nintendo DS. But since they come from smaller companies, and run either Linux or Android, actually getting games on these devices is not quite so straightforward. After all, it's not like the people making these handhelds are publishing cartridges for them.

While that's true, there are plenty of ways to play games both new and old on these devices, even if they were originally made for other consoles. And despite a reputation to the contrary, if you do them right, they're all legal.

Retro gaming handhelds and emulation

Credit: Libetro

Emulation is a common use for retro gaming handhelds, to the point where some people just call them emulators. It isn’t the only thing you can do with these devices, but it’s definitely a popular way to put games on them, especially the weaker ones.

Through emulation, your system can mimic older devices like the Game Boy, Super Nintendo, and PlayStation 1, to play games originally released for those platforms. This works by using your modern device’s more powerful hardware to run software that virtually recreates all the processes of old consoles, making older games think they’re running on the real thing. This is in comparison to games that “run natively,” meaning they’re running on the system they were built for. Emulators developed by fans are well-known, but even large companies like Nintendo use emulation. In fact, the games you play on Nintendo Switch Online are technically all emulated.

This can come with downsides. You might run into minor inaccuracies in sound or graphics, but typically, the more powerful your device’s chip and the weaker the system you’re emulating, the less common these will be. You could also experience input lag, although I’ve never once been able to actually feel it across most of the devices I’ve used to emulate. (I say this as someone who has beaten all three of the original Ninja Gaiden games using emulation.)

And there are upsides to emulation, too. Games can be upscaled to push out higher resolutions than ever intended natively, which can make for homebrew HD remasters if played on a nice enough screen. And most emulation programs support save states, which let you save your progress anywhere, anytime, separate from a specific game’s built-in save system. Save states can be a lifesaver for especially difficult games, or while playing on the go.

The biggest hurdle, then, is setup. Some devices come with emulators built in, although you'll probably want to configure them to your specifications, and if you're on a Linux-based handheld, possibly run them alongside a custom, third-party firmware (more on that later).

Specifics will vary from device to device, so for help, I suggest YouTuber Russ Crandall's guides on emulation. Crandall runs the channel Retro Game Corps, and has been a big help in my own emulation journey. He's also exhaustively catalogued the steps you'll need to go through for various handhelds.

Truth be told, though, you'll probably be using similar programs across your handhelds. RetroArch is popular for emulating older systems, while newer ones require specific apps like Dolphin (for GameCube and Wii) or PPSSPP (for PSP). After you've set these up once, doing it for other handhelds is kind of like riding a bike. The biggest difficulty you’ll probably encounter will be providing ROM files for your emulators, which leads me to the elephant in the room.

How legal is emulation?

Emulation is convenient, and a great way to experience games that haven’t been re-released for modern consoles. But it also has a bit of a reputation for being shady. For comment, I reached out to YouTube Bob Wulff of Wulff Den, another mainstay in guides and reviews for retro gaming handhelds. Ultimately, Wulff thinks this reputation is undeserved.

“I don’t like this stigma that Emulation [equals] Piracy,” he told me. “There are plenty of ways to acquire your ROMs legally.”

And therein lies the rub. When people think that emulation is illegal, they’re usually conflating emulator programs with pirated game files, or ROMs. The process of writing original software to mimic a console’s function is actually perfectly legal, to the point where Apple now allows emulators on the App Store, but distributing copyrighted software to run on those emulators is where you get into legal issues. That’s why handheld companies like Anbernic have a bit of a bad reputation for including ROMs with their devices, as I highlight in my list of the best retro gaming handhelds. But theoretically, if you legally own a game, U.S. law allows you to make your own backup of it, which you could then play on an emulator without issue. Unless you’re downloading your games off pirate sites or buying SD cards with pirated ROMs pre-loaded onto them, playing games using an emulator shouldn't be any different in the eyes of the law than playing games on original hardware.

As for how you can actually get your own legal backups of games you own, there are a number of devices that will read your cartridges and back up their ROM files for you, as well as PC programs that will do the same thing for disc-based games. Also note that you can emulate on phones and PCs, too, although there is a certain magic in emulating using a small handheld with controls built-in.

You can also play Android and PC games

Credit: PCMag

But as much as some fans like to call retro gaming handhelds “emulators” and leave it at that, these devices can do more than mimic old consoles. The hardware for these devices is usually versatile enough to support playing modern games natively, streaming games from the cloud, or in some cases, even playing games originally meant for PC. You can play new games on these handhelds, too. Let's start with Android and cloud gaming, as they're among the simplest ways to get games on these devices.

Android games

This is the obvious one. If your retro gaming handheld runs Android, then it stands to reason that it can run Android apps. This means that in addition to emulation, you can play phone games like Genshin Impact or Call of Duty Mobile. Your device's built-in controller will work with the game like any standard phone controller, and you’ll be able to play just as well as anyone on a phone could. Android-based gaming handhelds also come with touchscreens, so you shouldn’t run into problems if your game needs one. The only catch is that some devices with a square-ish aspect ratio might use a lot of letterboxing to actually show anything other than retro games on-screen, which could make for a tiny image (they'll be great for old, 4:3 games, though). Otherwise, know that the Play Store is your oyster.

Cloud gaming

If your retro gaming handheld has Android installed on it, then you can also use it to stream games from the cloud. That means you could connect it to either your own home console, your PC, or a subscription service to play games that your device isn’t able to run on its own, or that you don’t want to install to it. The only issues you’ll face will be potential input lag and video compression, plus the need for a constant internet connection. But given that Sony sells a whole handheld built entirely around Remote Play, it’s great to have it as an option on these devices, while knowing that they can also play games on their own power, too. It’s an especially great choice for turn-based games, or other titles that don’t require twitchy, fast-paced inputs.

How to play PC games on Linux and Android handhelds

'Undertale' running on the authors Anbernic RG35XXSP

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

This is a more recent innovation, but there are currently two ways to play PC games on your retro gaming handheld without relying on the cloud. One runs them natively, and one uses technology similar to the Steam Deck’s.

Portmaster

The first method is for retro gaming handhelds that run Linux. These are usually the cheaper devices, the type you’ll get from companies like Anbernic or Miyoo. The version of Linux on these isn’t the same as on handhelds like the Steam Deck, so don’t expect to just be able to log into your Steam account with these and go off to the races. But thanks to the fan-made program Portmaster, you can still play some of your Steam games on these handhelds.

Portmaster connects you with fan-made ports of PC games built to run natively on your retro gaming handheld. Some of these are freeware, and some will need you to plug in files from your own Steam installs to avoid violating copyright. But both types of games can be up-and-running in just a few steps, and like with emulation, Crandall has a guide to help get you started on your particular device.

The big caveat here is that, to get Portmaster, you'll probably need to install a third-party firmware, also fan-made, to your device, rather than using what comes with it out of the box. I use muOS, but if you want something with a different style, there are other options, depending on your device. Since there's so much variation, I haven't personally tested all options, but Crandall again has you covered.

You’ll also mostly be stuck with retro and lightweight games using this method, but there's an upside to that, too. I’ve already used it to help get through the indie darlings in my Steam back catalog, like Undertale.

GameHub, GameHub Lite, and GameNative

The second method is for devices that run Android. Much like the Steam Deck uses real-time compatibility layers to convert Windows games to run on its version of Linux, there are now Android apps that can help you run your Steam games on either your phone or your retro gaming handheld.

The three popular ones are called GameHub, GameHub Lite, and GameNative. These programs add extra configuration and user friendliness on top of an existing app called WinLator, a compatibility layer that allows Windows programs to run on Android. You can log right into your Steam account using these apps, then download your games and play them on your Android handheld, complete with cloud saves. You’ll still be limited in what you can play, based on what’s had the most compatibility work put into it, but it’s great for lightweight games, older AAA games, and if your handheld is powerful enough (think the AYN Odin 3), even more recent AAA games from the PS4 era.

“These Windows containers are really exciting,” Crandall told me when I reached out for comment. “I don’t think they are anywhere close to replacing a PC, but it’s exciting to get a lightweight PC game running nicely on a smaller handheld.”

The problems with playing Steam games on Android

That said, there are a few concerns with using these apps. While Gamenative is open source, and GameHub Lite is an independent fork of GameHub that tries to fix its issues, GameHub will likely be the easiest app for most people to use, as it has the simplest interface and the most compatibility updates for various games. Unfortunately, it comes with a number of privacy concerns.

Gamehub is made by controller company GameSir, which has made reputable products in the past, but it does want you to log into a GameSir account to use it, and some users might be uncomfortable linking their Steam data to that. It also includes, in Crandall’s words, “some fairly intrusive telemetry permissions.”

However, both Crandall and Wulff are ultimately positive enough on GameHub.

“It’s frankly no more nosy than any of the various social media apps we already have on our phones,” Crandall told me, also saying that if you’re uncomfortable logging in with a GameSir account, you can use “a Steam login token via QR code,” which should be more secure.

Wulff, meanwhile, said “I don’t personally think there are any potential security issues with GameHub,” citing GameSir’s reputation and saying “I also just don’t think our Steam data is worth a damn.”

The future of PC games on Android

I see where both creators are coming from, but I have been a bit more cautious on this front. Still, it’s an enticing option if you’re willing to try it out, and it actually points to things to come. Recently, Valve announced its Steam Frame VR headset, which runs on the same type of framework that Android phones do. With that, retro gaming handheld enthusiasts are hopeful Valve will soon release an official way to play Steam games on these devices (and phones). That's something the company recently hinted at in an interview with The Verge, saying it has been quietly bankrolling much of the development on the compatibility layers that apps like WinLator and its derivatives use.

On that note, if you’re brave, you could also just play your PC games on these devices using WinLator itself, or other alternatives like Pluvia. However, these have been too complex for me to fiddle with, and I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone but the most hardcore tinkerers. I think I’m with Crandall in saying that “I’d much rather have a proper Steam-derived solution.” Fingers-crossed.

https://lifehacker.com/tech/how-to-game-on-your-retro-gaming-handheld?utm_medium=RSS

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Posted by Lindsey Ellefson

https://lifehacker.com/work/best-productivity-advice-from-books?utm_medium=RSS

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Many of us with professions that center on writing once toiled in a book shop to make ends meet, including me. When I worked at Barnes & Noble in college, I was dumbfounded by how many books there were on productivity and self-betterment. Surely, they couldn't all contain nuggets of wisdom. Certainly, they must be money-grabs aiming to profit off people's self-doubt. In many cases, that's true; but, I learned, some of them do have serious value to share. The catch is that if you spend all your time reading about some author's productivity, you won't have much time for enhancing your own. Smartly choosing which to read is a major first step toward productivity and better time management, but I went ahead and did a little of the legwork for you. Here are the best tidbits on productivity and the books they come from.

The best productivity tips from books

Getting Things Done (GTD)

GTD is a method that comes from David Allen's infamous 2001 book, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, which was updated in 2015. GTD has been popular for a long time and is all about organizing your to-do lists, priorities, and schedule in a way that keeps it all manageable. You use five pillars—capture everything in a notebook, app, or planner; clarify what you need to do by breaking it all down into actionable steps; organize the steps by category and priority; reflect on the to-do list; and get to work—to streamline your planning, thinking, and action. It's stuck around this long because it's effective, but that means it's now also recognizable. This is a solid entry-level productivity plan that has been written about a lot, has plenty of adherents, and makes sense in the real world.

The action method

The action method comes from Scott Belsky's 2010 book, Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality. Like GTD, it aims to organize your ideas and priorities, giving you a path to more action than deliberation. You write down your to-dos, then organize them into action steps (the specific tasks you need to get done and the ones with actions behind them), references (extra info you need to accomplish those tasks), and back-burners (more nebulous goals that don't need to be accomplished right now). Use a planner or spreadsheet to create the three columns, bearing in mind that references and back-burners are typically things that supplement the action steps, so you should always be checking those while you tackle the action steps. And never forget that, if left unattended, a back-burner can escalate into an actionable item quickly, so take this one on if you need guidance but are serious about sticking with it.

Zen to Done

At the heart of Zen to Done is the idea that your sense of wellbeing is integral to your overall productivity. It comes from Leo Babauta, who has written books like Essential Zen Habits: Mastering the Art of Change, Briefly and The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential... in Business and in Life. Reading his work, you start to see the value of changing your habits and building new ones incrementally and peacefully. Because you're changing your habits over time and in a chill way, you can focus on the actual work you need to get done. ZTD contains 10 habits total, but Babauta says you can focus on the first four to get started: "Collect" by always taking notes about what you need to do and ideas you have, "process" by making quick decisions on tasks that are in front of you at the moment, "plan" by setting goals every Monday, and "do" by selecting a task and focusing on it and only it.

Deep work

I talk about deep work a lot because it's an important concept that impacts a lot of other productivity techniques. Deep work is the ability to focus completely on a demanding task without allowing any distraction get in your way, according to Cal Newport's Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. His work focuses on drawing the distinction between deep work and shallow work, or the kind of work that you can still get done while distracted, then building time into your schedule to take care of the deeper tasks. Mastering the art of slipping into a flow state and getting into deep work is foundational to basically any other productivity approach, so this full book might be worth the read.

Eat the frog

This approach to productivity calls for you to tackle your biggest, most demanding task first during the course of your day, so everything after that feels easier by comparison. The evocative phrase, "eat the frog," comes from a quote that's usually attributed to Mark Twain, but it was Brian Tracy's Eat That Frog book series that made it catch on. Per Tracy, your "frog" is whatever task "you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don't do something about it." In workbooks and quick-tip books, he helps you figure out your frogs, then come up with strategies to get the motivation to tackle them. Committing to eating the frog is a big part of other productivity approaches and scheduling techniques, like the 1-3-5 list and the pickle jar theory, so the more familiar you are with the idea, the better off you'll be.

Power Hour

Power Hour is a productivity technique that aims to empower you to reclaim part of your daily time and devote it to something intentional, whether that's a passion project or a major task that needs completing. It comes from Adrienne Herbert's book, Power Hour: How to Focus on Your Goals and Create a Life You Love, and is complementary to Newport's deep work concept. Herbert suggests you find an hour in each day that you can use for a completely focused, intentional project. During that hour you'll use deep work, but Herbert's strategy focuses more on finding and defining that critical hour in your schedule more than training yourself to sink into the zone and avoid distractions.

The 168-hour method

You may not think that having 24 hours in a day is enough, but what about 168 hours in a week? Laura Vanderkam wrote 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think to encourage people to stop thinking about your time in terms of days and start thinking about how much you can accomplish in a week. Spend a week tracking your time using time-tracking software or a spreadsheet, keeping your entries as detailed as possible. At the end of the week, look at your data and figure out when you wasted time, spent too long on something, or could have been doing something else. Using Vanderkam's method, you can make more time for the things you want to do by getting a solid grasp of how you allot your existing time over seven days.

Flow theory

You've probably heard of flow theory, the brainchild of psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, who came up with it in 1970 and then wrote a number of books on it. According to him, a flow state is similar to when someone is floating along, being carried by water. The person is working so efficiently that they're just gliding ahead with no problems and the state is practically propelling them. (It's quite similar to deep work, mentioned above, so this would be a good one to read along with Newport's book.) There are eight characteristics of being in flow, ranging from complete concentration on the task to finding intrinsic rewards in the work and feeling confident in possessing the necessary skills to complete it, and these offer almost a step-by-step guide for getting into deep work, the method mentioned above.

The best book combo for busy folks

Having a hard time narrowing down which books to grab? I'd suggest one of Csíkszentmihályi's books on flow theory, Newport's book on deep work, and Herbert's book on power hours, as these all describe similar practices, but offer complementary, supplemental advice that all adds up to help you pick a specific time of day to get work done easily and efficiently. It's important to remember that motivation can—and does—come from a variety of sources, including break time, having a purpose, and actually getting things done. The combination of these three authors' approaches makes plenty of space for all of that, which will leave you actually wanting to get to work.

https://lifehacker.com/work/best-productivity-advice-from-books?utm_medium=RSS

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Posted by Lindsey Ellefson

https://lifehacker.com/work/what-is-the-pareto-principle?utm_medium=RSS

It’s likely you’ve heard of the Pareto principle (maybe even while reading my tips on how to be more productive at work or study more effectively). But do you really know what the Pareto principle is?

To be honest, I only just started to get a grip on it fairly recently, because it's a lot easier to read about than put into practice. Also known as the 80/20 rule or the law of the vital few, it can be little confusing at first, but understanding and implementing it can truly transformative, helping you to better manage your time and get more done with less effort. Who doesn't want that?

What is the Pareto principle?

Basically, the Pareto principle states that 80% of your outcomes result from just 20% of your effort. The principle was coined by consultant Joseph M. Juran in the 1940s and he named it after a sociologist and economist named Vilfredo Pareto, who was famous for pointing out that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the total amount of people. You’ll hear it described a number of ways: 80% of results come from 20% of the work, or 80% of effects come from 20% of the causes. No matter the wording, it all means the same thing; just focus on that 80/20 split.

An often-cited example of how this works for everyday people is learning the piano or guitar. You study individual notes, keys, time signatures, tempos, chords, rhythms, styles and so much else, including music theory. But when it’s time to jam, you’re probably falling back on a handful of the most common chords—and it sounds fine. In that way, a huge chunk of your actual playing is dependent on just a few small things you've mastered (although you do need that knowledge of keys and styles to make it come together).

For another example, consider how a few truly excellent players tend to be responsible for the majority of points scored by your favorite sports team during a given game. Now think of how much you do in a day: You go to your job, work any side gigs you might have, do household chores, and devote time to hobbies, child-rearing, studying for classes, going to the gym, and seeing friends. You do a lot, but you only get paid for a small fraction of that work, which is why you might prioritize your job over some of the other things on the list—even side hustles, which typically generate less money. That's where the 80/20 rule comes in: It helps you prioritize your to-do list.

How to use the Pareto principle to maximize your results

You can identify ways the general principle manifests in your work. For instance, if you work for a retail company, you might notice a major chunk of profits comes from a small but dedicated group of consistent buyers. It would make sense, then, to focus a majority of your work on appealing to them, or to bringing others into that group—maybe by strategic, data-based advertising. If the majority of would-be consumers ignore your email marketing, don't keep doing what you're doing. Instead, zero in on how you can add more people to that core group, or just go all-in on the core group itself. The real trick to using this principle is figuring out how it applies to your own day-to-day tasks.

When you make your daily to-do list, use a prioritization technique, like the 1-3-5 list, Kanban, or Eisenhower Matrix. Right off the bat, this helps you figure out which of your necessary tasks for the day are important and which can be pushed off or delegated. Spend about two weeks working on your to-do lists every day as normal, but at the end of the day, write down what the direct results of each activity were. So, if you spent half an hour responding to emails and netted 10 new clients from that, write it down. If you dedicated an hour to compiling the data for a big meeting that got your project greenlit, mark it down. Over time, the basic functions that yield the biggest results will become apparent and you can start making those activities—the 20%-of-your-effort activities—a bigger priority, so you waste less time on the tasks that don’t produce as many results.

Working backward and considering the effects, then identifying their causes, will help you prioritize and get more done, but it can also help you with non-work tasks. In a more abstract sense, a relatively small amount of effort is required to grab a coffee with a friend or help your kid with homework, but the 80% yield might be reenforcing and maintaining a friendship or helping your child feel safe and accomplished, which have longer-lasting impacts than the 30 minutes those tasks take. When you free up your working time through prioritization and an understanding of the Pareto principle, you have more opportunities to spread it around in other areas of your life and keep reaping the benefits.

https://lifehacker.com/work/what-is-the-pareto-principle?utm_medium=RSS

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/crime/2025/woman-charged-pushing-another-woman-green-line-tracks-north

Nyleamah Tinnell Kinsey, 50, was ordered held in lieu of $15,000 bail today on charges she pushed another woman onto Green Line tracks at North Station around 1 p.m. on Thursday, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Kinsey was arraigned on charges of assault and battery on a person over 60 and disorderly conduct.

The victim suffered "numerous injuries," but was pulled from the pit by bystanders before any trolleys arrived, the DA's office says.

Innocent, etc.

Neighborhoods:

Topics:

Free tagging:

https://www.universalhub.com/crime/2025/woman-charged-pushing-another-woman-green-line-tracks-north

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3178/

Our models fall apart where the three theories overlap; we're unable to predict what happens when a nanometer-sized squirrel eats a grapefruit with the mass of the sun.

https://xkcd.com/3178/

sovay

It feels like cheating for the air to taste so much like the sharp tin tacks of snow when the sky is so clear that even through the white noise of the streetlights Cassiopeia comes in like pointillism and Polaris as bright as a planet. I saw none of the phi Cassiopeids, but the Geminids peak at the end of the week, with any luck on a night that cloudlessly doesn't make my teeth feel about to explode in my mouth. On that front, may I commend the attention of people in frozen boat fandom to this early twentieth century hand-painted stained glass window depicting Shackleton's Endurance? I spent my afternoon on the phone making sure of our health insurance in the bankrupt year to come: the customer service representative was a very nice science fiction person who agreed that it was time to reset this worldline on account of stupidity and for whom I apparently made a pleasant change from all the screaming and breaking down in tears, even more so than usual this year that never need have happened. I've been sent photographs of some really neat letters. Two cards arrived in the mail. My digital camera is showing further signs of deterioration, but a few evenings ago I caught one of those scratch-fired sunsets it's hard to wreck. I am aware of the collapses in the world, but I don't know what else to love.

Current Music: Big Thief, "Incomprehensible"

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/judge-orders-regime-restore-tufts-grad-students-entry-federal-student

ICE is still trying to kick Rümeysa Öztürk out of the country for the perfidy of writing an op-ed in a student newspaper it didn't like, but a judge ruled today that as long as she's here, it has to restore her listing in the national database that determines whether foreign students can participate in American college and work programs.

In a ruling today, US District Court Judge Denise Casper said that not only does ICE have to restore Öztürk listing in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), it has to give her and her lawyer at least a week's notice if it's thinking of purging her again.

Casper said Öztürk - dragooned by hooded men outside her Somerville apartment on March 25, then driven around New England before being flown to Louisiana - met all the requirements for the preliminary injunction that remains in effect as long as her case against removal remains active in court: She showed irreparable harm without it - she cannot get jobs and positions related to her educational work while she's not in the database - that an injunction is in the public interest and that she has a strong likelihood of winning based on the fact the government so obviously broke the law in the way it tried to strip her of her ability to continue as a student in the US.

The government contends that an injunction is not in the public interest, because of the government's interest in immigration control. The Court does not question that the government has multiple legitimate interests in the realm of immigration enforcement. ... The government, however, directs the Court to no case recognizing an interest in enforcing immigration policy through unlawful means.

Neighborhoods:

Free tagging:

Preliminary injunction

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/judge-orders-regime-restore-tufts-grad-students-entry-federal-student

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Posted by Jake Peterson

https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-and-apple-are-making-it-easier-to-switch-between-iphone-and-android?utm_medium=RSS

When it's time to buy a new car, you don't necessarily need to stick with the one you had before. You don't lose your cloud-based photos by switching from Toyota to Subaru, nor will your friends yell at you for ruining the group chat by buying a Kia. That's not the case with smartphones: When you buy an iPhone, it's tough to switch away from it. The same goes for Android: While it's easy enough to switch within the Android ecosystem, such as between Pixel or Galaxy, moving from Android to iPhone can also be a pain. Tech companies tend to make it tempting to stick with their platform, and introduce friction when you try to leave.

That, of course, is entirely business-based. Apple hasn't traditionally made it easy to move to Android, because, well, you might actually do it. It doesn't have to be this way, either. There's nothing inherent to smartphones that should make it so challenging to break out of any particular ecosystem. All it takes is some intentional design: If smartphones were made to be traded, you could migrate from one to another, without worrying about losing pictures, messages, or any other important data or processes.

As it happens, that intentional design may be on the horizon. As reported by 9to5Google, Apple and Google are actually working together to make it easier to transfer data between iPhone and Androids, which would make switching between the two platforms more seamless. This isn't theoretical, either: Google has already released some of this progress as part of the latest Android Canary, the company's earliest pre-release software. All compatible Pixel devices can currently access this latest build, though it doesn't seem there are any user-facing features available to test. 9to5Google says that similar features will roll out to testers in a future iOS 26 beta. Perhaps at that time, Google will roll out its features to the Android beta as well, which has a much larger user base than Canary.

While details are slim here, any cooperation between Apple and Google on this front is huge. Current migration tools do exist, but they can be problematic. By actually working together on a native transfer solution, it might actually be seamless to move between platforms. Apple and Google might not be motivated by charity, of course, as the EU has been cracking down on restrictive practices by tech companies in recent years. But while both companies may see this as a way to lose customers, it's also a way to gain them: Sure, some iPhone users may switch to Android if it's easier to do so, but some Android users may do the reverse for the same reasons.

More choice is good for everyone—even if it doesn't guarantee exponential growth to shareholders.

https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-and-apple-are-making-it-easier-to-switch-between-iphone-and-android?utm_medium=RSS

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/jury-concludes-man-used-his-moms-mattapan-apartment-strangle-and-beat

A Suffolk Superior Court judge today sentenced Anthony Dew, 43, of Dorchester to 7 1/2 to 9 years in state prison for a brutal attack on a woman who thought she was just going to share some drugs with him early on Sept. 8, 2024, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

A Suffolk jury convicted Dew last week of assault and battery, assault and battery causing serious bodily injury and strangulation for the attack in his mother's Evelyn Street apartment. However, a mistrial was declared for the remaining charges of attempted murder, rape and assault to murder. Dew will return to court January 21 for a status hearing on those charges, the DA's office reports.

Prosecutors told the jury that on September 8, 2024, Dew approached a 51-year-old homeless woman and invited her to do drugs. Dew brought her to his mother's house on Evelyn Street, where he raped, strangled, and beat her before fleeing and leaving her bloodied, undressed, and screaming for help in the driveway.

Upon arrival, officers observed a woman with her jeans pulled down to her ankles and a T-shirt soaked in what appeared to officers to be blood, pulled up. As officers approached the victim, she screamed “he raped me” and pointed to an apartment. The victim told police the man who attacked her lived there and had raped and beat her as she “went in and out” of consciousness. Officers observed the victim to be spitting up blood and her face to be covered in blood. Officers also saw what appeared to be the victim’s hair on the stairs leading out of the apartment.

The victim sustained contusions and abrasions all over her body and had swelling and bruising to her mouth, jaw, and both eyes. First responders transported her to a local hospital for treatment.

Prosecutors said Dew made his arrest easy: Although he fled the scene, he returned as first responders were still treating the woman "and became verbally combative with officers."

This was not Dew's first time in Suffolk Superior Court. In 2016, he pleaded guilty in 2016 to five counts of human trafficking and was sentenced to eight to ten years in state prison, under a deal in which rape charges against him were dropped.

In 2023, however, after he completed his prison time, however, the Supreme Judicial Court vacated his sentence.

The state's highest court concluded that Dew, both Black and Muslim, could not have gotten the best possible representation because his lawyer, court-appointed Richard Doyle, was, in fact, a virulent hater of both Blacks and Muslims, somebody who spent several years posting anti-Muslim and anti-Black images and rants on his Facebook page - sometimes while he was in court.

Innocent, etc.

Topics:

Crime

Neighborhoods:

Mattapan

Free tagging:

Evelyn Street

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/jury-concludes-man-used-his-moms-mattapan-apartment-strangle-and-beat

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Posted by Daniel Oropeza

https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-pixel-10-deal?utm_medium=RSS

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Google phones keep offering great value for the money, dropping in price very quickly after their release, including the latest Pixel. The Google Pixel 10, with the 128GB going for $599 (originally $799) and the 256GB for $699 (originally $899), are both at record low prices right now, according to price-tracking tools.

Google Pixel 10 - Unlocked Android Smartphone with Gemini, Your AI Assistant - Advanced Triple Rear Camera, Fast-Charging 24+ Hour Battery, and 6.3" Actua Display - Frost - 128 GB

Google Pixel 10 - Unlocked Android Smartphone - Gemini AI Assistant - Advanced Triple Rear Camera, Fast-Charging 24+ Hour Battery, and 6.3" Actua Display - Frost - 256 GB (2025 Model)

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Daniel Oropeza</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-pixel-10-deal?utm_medium=RSS">https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-pixel-10-deal?utm_medium=RSS</a></p><p>We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.</p><p>Google phones keep offering great value for the money, dropping in price very quickly after their release, including the latest Pixel. The <a href="https://zdcs.link/zEJBXG?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Google%20Pixel%2010&short_url=zEJBXG&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">Google Pixel 10</a>, with the <a href="https://zdcs.link/zEJBXG?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=128GB&short_url=zEJBXG&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">128GB</a> going for <strong>$599</strong> (originally $799) and the <a href="https://zdcs.link/9216XL?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=256GB&short_url=9216XL&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">256GB</a> for <strong>$699</strong> (originally $899), are both at record low prices right now, according to <a href="https://lifehacker.com/best-price-tracking-tools-1692745053" target="_blank">price-tracking tools</a>.</p><div class="shadow-b-2 mb-12 mt-10 rounded-md border-2 border-[#F0F0F0] px-6 py-2 shadow-lg md:px-12" role="region" aria-label="Products List" x-data="{ showMore: false }"> <a href="https://cc.lifehacker.com/v1/otc/06ZVRiLmglGs4QA6plTXzTC?merchant=05kie42h3YvHwjr4G1w80Qq&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FGoogle-Pixel-10-Frost-Amazon%2Fdp%2FB0FFTRNTDD%2F&template=Deals&module=product-list&element=offer&item=offer-btn&position=1&element_label=Google+Pixel+10+-+Unlocked+Android+Smartphone+with+Gemini%2C+Your+AI+Assistant+-+Advanced+Triple+Rear+Camera%2C+Fast-Charging+24%2B+Hour+Battery%2C+and+6.3%22+Actua+Display+-+Frost+-+128+GB&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss&product_uuid=06XFgKqD8F9eqYrF7AFE61M&offer_uuid=02ikDQwZRZ4o71KrhIXnxZC&pageview_type=RSS&object_type=02ikDQwZRZ4o71KrhIXnxZC&object_uuid=06XFgKqD8F9eqYrF7AFE61M&data-aps-asin=B0FFTRNTDD&data-aps-asc-tag=lifehack088-20&data-aps-asc-subtag=02ikDQwZRZ4o71KrhIXnxZC" data-commerce="1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow sponsored" data-parent-group="affiliate-link" title="(opens in a new window)" class="flex flex-col py-8 gap-5 border-dotted border-[#CFCFCE] cursor-default no-underline md:flex-row md:gap-y-2 md:py-7 border-b-2" data-ga-click="data-ga-click" data-ga-module="product-list" data-ga-element="offer" data-ga-item="offer-btn" data-ga-label="Google Pixel 10 - Unlocked Android Smartphone with Gemini, Your AI Assistant - Advanced Triple Rear Camera, Fast-Charging 24+ Hour Battery, and 6.3" Actua Display - Frost - 128 GB" data-ga-position="1" aria-label="Google Pixel 10 - Unlocked Android Smartphone with Gemini, Your AI Assistant - Advanced Triple Rear Camera, Fast-Charging 24+ Hour Battery, and 6.3" Actua Display - Frost - 128 GB Product Card" x-cloak="x-cloak" x-show="showMore || 0 < 3"> <div class="flex w-full gap-x-5"> <div class="flex w-full flex-col flex-nowrap justify-center gap-2 text-black no-underline md:order-2 md:gap-y-6"> <div class="flex flex-col justify-between gap-y-2 md:w-full md:gap-y-1"> <div class="block w-fit cursor-pointer font-akshar text-lg font-medium leading-5 text-brand-green duration-200 ease-in-out hover:text-brand-green-700 md:text-xl md:leading-6"> Google Pixel 10 - Unlocked Android Smartphone with Gemini, Your AI Assistant - Advanced Triple Rear Camera, Fast-Charging 24+ Hour Battery, and 6.3" Actua Display - Frost - 128 GB </div> </div> <div class="hidden md:flex md:justify-between md:gap-x-4"> <div class="w-full mb-0 md:flex md:flex-col md:justify-center font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $599.00 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$799.00</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $200.00</span> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm hidden self-end h-12 max-w-[10rem] duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:flex md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> </div> </div> <div class="flex aspect-video h-[90px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center self-center md:order-1"> <img class="m-0 max-h-full max-w-full rounded-md" src="https://lifehacker.com/imagery/product/06XFgKqD8F9eqYrF7AFE61M/hero-image.fill.size_autoxauto.v1755712439.jpg" alt="Google Pixel 10 - Unlocked Android Smartphone with Gemini, Your AI Assistant - Advanced Triple Rear Camera, Fast-Charging 24+ Hour Battery, and 6.3" Actua Display - Frost - 128 GB" width="auto" height="auto" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm w-full h-12 duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:hidden md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> <div class="flex flex-col items-center w-full md:hidden font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $599.00 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$799.00</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $200.00</span> </div> </div> </a> <a href="https://cc.lifehacker.com/v1/otc/06ZVRiLmglGs4QA6plTXzTC?merchant=05kie42h3YvHwjr4G1w80Qq&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FGoogle-Pixel-Smartphone-Assistant-Fast-Charging%2Fdp%2FB0FFTQF4Q6%3Fth%3D1&template=Deals&module=product-list&element=offer&item=offer-btn&position=2&element_label=Google+Pixel+10+-+Unlocked+Android+Smartphone+-+Gemini+AI+Assistant+-+Advanced+Triple+Rear+Camera%2C+Fast-Charging+24%2B+Hour+Battery%2C+and+6.3%22+Actua+Display+-+Frost+-+256+GB+%282025+Model%29&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss&product_uuid=03RI5vYlclm45IClMZeKeSV&offer_uuid=00W38YRRNdf28vXL3jsaO5y&pageview_type=RSS&object_type=00W38YRRNdf28vXL3jsaO5y&object_uuid=03RI5vYlclm45IClMZeKeSV&data-aps-asin=B0FFTQF4Q6&data-aps-asc-tag=lifehack088-20&data-aps-asc-subtag=00W38YRRNdf28vXL3jsaO5y" data-commerce="1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow sponsored" data-parent-group="affiliate-link" title="(opens in a new window)" class="flex flex-col py-8 gap-5 border-dotted border-[#CFCFCE] cursor-default no-underline md:flex-row md:gap-y-2 md:py-7" data-ga-click="data-ga-click" data-ga-module="product-list" data-ga-element="offer" data-ga-item="offer-btn" data-ga-label="Google Pixel 10 - Unlocked Android Smartphone - Gemini AI Assistant - Advanced Triple Rear Camera, Fast-Charging 24+ Hour Battery, and 6.3" Actua Display - Frost - 256 GB (2025 Model)" data-ga-position="2" aria-label="Google Pixel 10 - Unlocked Android Smartphone - Gemini AI Assistant - Advanced Triple Rear Camera, Fast-Charging 24+ Hour Battery, and 6.3" Actua Display - Frost - 256 GB (2025 Model) Product Card" x-cloak="x-cloak" x-show="showMore || 1 < 3"> <div class="flex w-full gap-x-5"> <div class="flex w-full flex-col flex-nowrap justify-center gap-2 text-black no-underline md:order-2 md:gap-y-6"> <div class="flex flex-col justify-between gap-y-2 md:w-full md:gap-y-1"> <div class="block w-fit cursor-pointer font-akshar text-lg font-medium leading-5 text-brand-green duration-200 ease-in-out hover:text-brand-green-700 md:text-xl md:leading-6"> Google Pixel 10 - Unlocked Android Smartphone - Gemini AI Assistant - Advanced Triple Rear Camera, Fast-Charging 24+ Hour Battery, and 6.3" Actua Display - Frost - 256 GB (2025 Model) </div> </div> <div class="hidden md:flex md:justify-between md:gap-x-4"> <div class="w-full mb-0 md:flex md:flex-col md:justify-center font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $699.00 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$899.00</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $200.00</span> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm hidden self-end h-12 max-w-[10rem] duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:flex md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> </div> </div> <div class="flex aspect-video h-[90px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center self-center md:order-1"> <img class="m-0 max-h-full max-w-full rounded-md" src="https://lifehacker.com/imagery/product/03RI5vYlclm45IClMZeKeSV/hero-image.fill.size_autoxauto.v1759855144.jpg" alt="Google Pixel 10 - Unlocked Android Smartphone - Gemini AI Assistant - Advanced Triple Rear Camera, Fast-Charging 24+ Hour Battery, and 6.3" Actua Display - Frost - 256 GB (2025 Model)" width="auto" height="auto" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm w-full h-12 duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:hidden md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> <div class="flex flex-col items-center w-full md:hidden font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $699.00 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$899.00</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $200.00</span> </div> </div> </a> <button class="mb-4 mt-6 pr-4 font-akshar text-sm font-medium text-gray-900 hover:cursor-pointer hover:text-brand-green md:pr-8" x-cloak="x-cloak" x-show="!showMore && 2 > 3" x-on:click="showMore = !showMore" x-on:keydown.enter.prevent.stop="showMore = !showMore"> SEE -1 MORE <svg class="-mt-[2px] inline-block size-3 fill-current text-brand-green"> <use href="https://lifehacker.com/images/icons/spritemap.svg#sprite-chevron-down"></use> </svg> </button> </div> <p>The Google Pixel 10 is the latest in the series to be released this year, back in September. It's the model under the <a href="https://zdcs.link/Qp45LR?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Pixel%2010%20Pro&short_url=Qp45LR&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">Pixel 10 Pro</a>, which is also at its lowest price right now and has a <a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/what-we-know-about-the-pixel-10-and-pixel-10-pro-made-by-google-2025?test_uuid=02DN02BmbRCcASIX6xMQtY9&test_variant=A" target="_blank">much faster chip</a>. As Lifehacker's Associate Tech Editor Michelle Ehrhardt says <a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/pixel-10-review?test_uuid=02DN02BmbRCcASIX6xMQtY9&test_variant=A" target="_blank">in her review</a>, the Pixel 10 features a telephoto lens, brings the Pixelsnap (Google's version of MagSafe), and has <a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/biggest-new-ai-features-coming-to-google-pixel-10-series?test_uuid=02DN02BmbRCcASIX6xMQtY9&test_variant=A" target="_blank">new AI features</a>. However, the <a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/made-by-google-2025-pixel-10-camera-is-worse-than-pixel-9?test_uuid=02DN02BmbRCcASIX6xMQtY9&test_variant=A" target="_blank">ultrawide lens gets weaker</a>, and there are some problems with the chip for third-party apps (but it <a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/how-to-fix-randomly-crashing-apps-on-pixel-10?test_uuid=02DN02BmbRCcASIX6xMQtY9&test_variant=A" target="_blank">can be fixed</a>).</p><p>This Pixel 10 has a lot of the same features you'll find in the Pixel Pro for $150 less, making it a great budget option for those who don't want or need all the fancy specs and features. It comes with a Google Tensor G5 chip, and the camera resolutions are 48MP, 13MP, and 10.8MP for the rear and 10.5MP for the front-facing one. You can expect about 24 hours of battery life, depending on your use. </p><p>One of my favorite things about Pixel phones is the ongoing support for many years. My Pixel 6A still gets all of the updates and <a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/all-the-new-ai-features-coming-to-google-pixel-devices" target="_blank"><u>tons of AI features</u></a> that make the phone feel fresh many years later, with the latest ones <a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/three-new-features-google-september-pixel-drop?test_uuid=02DN02BmbRCcASIX6xMQtY9&test_variant=A" target="_blank"><u>dropping in September</u></a>. With the Pixel 10, you'll be getting a quality phone with software updates for a while (as long as <a href="https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705?hl=en" target="_blank" title="open in a new window" rel="noopener"><u>seven years</u></a>).</p><hr><div class=" relative flex justify-center py-16 md:left-1/2 md:w-[780px] md:max-w-max md:-translate-x-1/2" x-data="{ showAll: false }"> <div class="w-max text-center sm:text-left"> <div class="custom-gradient-background mb-6 rounded-md p-[2px] sm:rounded-tl-none"> <div class="flex flex-col rounded bg-white sm:rounded-tl-none"> <span class="-mt-4 block w-fit max-w-[calc(100%-1rem)] self-center bg-white px-3 text-center font-akshar text-xl font-medium capitalize text-gray-800 sm:max-w-[calc(100%-2.5rem)] sm:self-start sm:px-10 sm:text-left sm:text-2xl">Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now</span> <div class="flex flex-col gap-3 p-3 pb-4 text-sm sm:p-10 sm:pt-6 sm:text-justify sm:text-base"> <div x-show="1 || showAll"> <a 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href="https://cc.lifehacker.com/v1/otc/06ZVRiLmglGs4QA6plTXzTC?merchant=05kie42h3YvHwjr4G1w80Qq&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fdp%2FB0FQF5BZ8Z&template=article&module=offer-group&element=offer&item=offer-group-item&position=5&element_label=Apple+Watch+Series+11+%28GPS%2C+46mm%2C+M%2FL+Black+Sport+Band%29&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss&offer_uuid=00PyZJBQsCOacx2TvaXLLQZ&pageview_type=RSS&object_type=00PyZJBQsCOacx2TvaXLLQZ&object_uuid=06Jiu1idzpE3nectoqKmziO&data-aps-asin=B0FQF5BZ8Z&data-aps-asc-tag=lifehack088-20&data-aps-asc-subtag=00PyZJBQsCOacx2TvaXLLQZ" data-commerce="1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow sponsored" data-parent-group="affiliate-link" title="(opens in a new window)" class="font-semibold text-brand-green no-underline hover:text-brand-green-700" data-ga-click="data-ga-click" data-ga-item="offer-group-item" data-ga-label="Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 46mm, M/L Black Sport Band)" data-ga-element="offer" data-ga-module="offer-group" data-ga-position="5"> Apple Watch Series 11 [GPS 46mm] Smartwatch with Jet Black Aluminum Case with Black Sport Band - M/L. Sleep Score, Fitness Tracker, Health Monitoring, Always-On Display, Water Resistant </a> <span class="text-black"> — <span class="font-bold">$329.00</span> <span class="!text-xs italic sm:!text-sm"> (List Price $429.00) </span> </span> </div> <div x-show="1 || showAll"> <a href="https://cc.lifehacker.com/v1/otc/06ZVRiLmglGs4QA6plTXzTC?merchant=05kie42h3YvHwjr4G1w80Qq&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fdp%2FB0DHLQT3CG&template=article&module=offer-group&element=offer&item=offer-group-item&position=6&element_label=Blink+Outdoor+4+1080p+3-Camera+Kit+With+Sync+Module+Core&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss&offer_uuid=06b16ZTW43cRdUCAAeOZxd4&pageview_type=RSS&object_type=06b16ZTW43cRdUCAAeOZxd4&object_uuid=03cC7BB9t7U6UUeDaZP99go&data-aps-asin=B0DHLQT3CG&data-aps-asc-tag=lifehack088-20&data-aps-asc-subtag=06b16ZTW43cRdUCAAeOZxd4" data-commerce="1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow sponsored" data-parent-group="affiliate-link" title="(opens in a new window)" class="font-semibold text-brand-green no-underline hover:text-brand-green-700" data-ga-click="data-ga-click" data-ga-item="offer-group-item" data-ga-label="Blink Outdoor 4 1080p 3-Camera Kit With Sync Module Core" data-ga-element="offer" data-ga-module="offer-group" data-ga-position="6"> Blink Outdoor 4 1080p 3-Camera Kit With Sync Module Core </a> <span class="text-black"> — <span class="font-bold">$74.99</span> <span class="!text-xs italic sm:!text-sm"> (List Price $189.99) </span> </span> </div> <div x-show="1 || showAll"> <a href="https://cc.lifehacker.com/v1/otc/06ZVRiLmglGs4QA6plTXzTC?merchant=05kie42h3YvHwjr4G1w80Qq&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fdp%2FB0BP9MDCQZ&template=article&module=offer-group&element=offer&item=offer-group-item&position=7&element_label=Fire+TV+Stick+4K+Streaming+Device+With+Remote+%282023+Model%29&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss&offer_uuid=065GaTKHL5w9JJcc6n7tN6g&pageview_type=RSS&object_type=065GaTKHL5w9JJcc6n7tN6g&object_uuid=01B3fOeCgZQXYnclwwyEeYC&data-aps-asin=B0BP9MDCQZ&data-aps-asc-tag=lifehack088-20&data-aps-asc-subtag=065GaTKHL5w9JJcc6n7tN6g" data-commerce="1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow sponsored" data-parent-group="affiliate-link" title="(opens in a new window)" class="font-semibold text-brand-green no-underline hover:text-brand-green-700" data-ga-click="data-ga-click" data-ga-item="offer-group-item" data-ga-label="Fire TV Stick 4K Streaming Device With Remote (2023 Model)" data-ga-element="offer" data-ga-module="offer-group" data-ga-position="7"> Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus </a> <span class="text-black"> — <span class="font-bold">$29.99</span> <span class="!text-xs italic sm:!text-sm"> (List Price $49.99) </span> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="flex flex-col items-center justify-between text-black sm:flex-row sm:px-6"> <span class="text-xs italic sm:ml-7 sm:text-sm">Deals are selected by our commerce team</span> </div> </div> </div><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-pixel-10-deal?utm_medium=RSS">https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-pixel-10-deal?utm_medium=RSS</a></p>

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Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/rightwing-dc-group-very-concerned-about-presence-mariachi-band-wu

Watch on YouTube

Watch the mariachi band at the press conference.

Judicial Watch, which has used public-records lawsuits to go after Hillary Clinton's e-mail and climate scientists, today filed a public-records lawsuit demanding City Hall turn over all of its records related to the performance of the Veronica Robles mariachi band at an Aug. 19 City Hall Plaza press conference and rally at which Mayor Wu, Sen. Ed Markey and others denounced regime demands that the city turn brown people over to ICE.

In its suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, the group, which was also active in spreading claims about voter fraud across the country, says City Hall has illegally refused to turn over the information it's demanding, specifically, "all emails sent between Boston Mayor's Office officials related to the appearance of a mariachi band at a rally/press conference on August 19, 2025" as well as "all budgetary records, including invoices, cancelled check, purchase orders, contracts, agreements and financial entries" related to the band's hiring.

But, of course, the group is also seeking "all internal emails among Mayor Wu's immediate staff, including Wu herself, related to an August 13, 2025 letter from US Attorney General Pam Bondi that Mayor Wu have a plan established to work with federal immigration authorities on deportation matters."

In the suit, the group avers it filed the required public-records request on Aug. 20 - the day after the press conference - and that after City Hall responded the next day that the request was "overly broad and vague," agreed to narrow its request to Wu and eight other top City Hall officials, including Chief of Streets Jascha Franklin-Hodge, not previously known for his involvement in immigration matters, and to limit specific search terms to "Bondi," "deportation," "sanctuary," and "mariachi."

The group says the city has yet to respond with any of the requested documents or to explain how they would be exempt from a public-records request.

The suit asks a judge to order the city to search its emails for the requested terms, hand over copies of any matches - or explanations why they're exempt - and not charge the group any fees, but pay it attorneys fees.

Neighborhoods:

Free tagging:

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/rightwing-dc-group-very-concerned-about-presence-mariachi-band-wu

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Posted by Beth Skwarecki

https://lifehacker.com/health/coross-new-beta-update-adds-everything-its-watches-have-been-missing?utm_medium=RSS

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I like Coros running because they do nearly everything Garmins do, at a lower cost. But there have always been a few areas where they fall short, which I’ve noted in my reviews. Now, that seems to be changing—the most recent beta firmware update adds a critical new feature while fixing some of my pet peeves.

I tried out the new features through a public beta from Coros. You can sign up for beta access with these instructions Coros posted on Reddit. (On iOS, you'll install a Testflight version of the Coros app, which can then give you access to the firmware update. On Android, you'll need to download the beta app, then go here to access the new beta firmware.) I tested these features out on a Pace 4, and I'm mostly happy with them.

Coros watches can now control music playing on your phone

I have not loaded any media onto this watch, but here it's playing a podcast from my phone. Credit: Beth Skwarecki

In my reviews of Coros watches, I’ve always docked a few points for how they handle music. Until recently, the watch could only play music files that you downloaded directly to it. That’s fine if you want to run without your phone, but for me (and many others) it’s an unnecessary annoyance—a smartwatch really should be able to display and control what’s playing on your phone. Garmin and Suunto have long had this capability, and Coros was the only major brand missing it.

But now it’s here. When you long-press the lap button to view your toolbox, you'll see two different apps. The familiar “music” plays downloaded music, and the new “media control” option does exactly what you’d expect: It shows the track information for whatever is playing on your phone, and it gives you buttons to play, pause, skip, or adjust volume. Was that so hard?

Workouts no longer end themselves while you’re cooling down

When I swapped my Garmin for a Coros this summer, one of my biggest complaints was that Coros watches pause your workout once you’ve completed all the steps. So if you have a 4.5-mile run programmed, but want to total five miles for the day, you have to remember to hit "resume workout" after the 4.5-mile run ends. I tend jog through that beep, thinking nothing of it, and then swear at my watch when I realize at the end that the last half-mile never got recorded.

I prefer the way Garmin does it: After you complete a Garmin workout, the activity continues until you decide to manually stop it. Coros has apparently adopted that philosophy, as workouts now roll over into an open segment automatically.

You can now undo a lap button press

Hit the button in the lower right to undo this lap segment. Credit: Beth Skwarecki

During an activity, pressing the lap button starts a new segment of the workout (or advances you to the next segment if you’re following a pre-written workout). I know I’m not the only one who sometimes presses this button by accident, so an “undo” option is nice. Garmin watches added this feature about a year ago. Coros adds it with this update.

Unfortunately the undo isn’t available for every lap button press. I do see it if I’m doing an unstructured workout and mark a lap—hitting the lap button again takes me back to the original lap in progress. But I don’t see an undo function if I’m following a workout that already has lap segments built in, or if I’m doing a strength workout (where the lap button switches between work and rest).

You can time your rests in strength workouts without choosing exercises ahead of time

My most common way of using the strength feature is to start an unstructured workout, then use the lap button to mark the end of each set and the start of my rest time. This way, I can keep track of rests during the workout and I know how many sets I’m doing. I might follow a pre-planned workout, but I never enter exercises from the watch during a workout.

This is simple enough on Garmin, but on Coros, the watch used to ask me to enter at least a body part for each exercise. So if I’m doing five sets of bench press, I have to select “chest” each time I begin a set. This drove me up the wall, and I stopped using the rest timer at all—which makes the strength feature nearly useless.

After the update, I can select a body part at the beginning of the workout, and that remains the active body part while I stop and start my sets. (“Full body” is an option, so I usually choose that one.) During the workout, hitting the start/stop button brings up a menu where I can switch body parts should I care to do so. Suddenly,. using the watch during my strength workouts seems like a viable option, instead of annoying.

https://lifehacker.com/health/coross-new-beta-update-adds-everything-its-watches-have-been-missing?utm_medium=RSS

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Posted by Lauren Passell

https://lifehacker.com/entertainment/essential-podcasts-of-2025?utm_medium=RSS

If 2024 was the year podcasts scrambled to find their footing after the massive wave of acquisitions and consolidation during the pandemic, 2025 is the year the medium truly hit its stride (and I should know...I not only write a podcast newsletter and run a podcast company, I also listen to literally thousands of hours of podcasts every year).

Whatever kind of show you're seeking—from a scripted story about demon possession, to a deeply reported investigation into outlaws at sea, to a brilliantly improvised comedy series—my guide to the best podcasts of 2025 has you covered. I've divided the list into categories to help you find exactly what you’re in the mood for—and because some episodes are just too good to get buried in your queue, I’ve also highlighted two standout episodes of past favorite shows that you shouldn’t miss. Let’s get listening.

The best fiction podcasts of 2025

Two Thousand and Late

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This year, Lauren Shippen, the master of audio fiction and creator of The Bright Sessions, brought us Two Thousand and Late, a scripted fiction show about a woman who, on her 36th birthday, gets possessed by a demon who was supposed to visit her when she turned 16. This is a clever, tightly written, expertly produced, and endlessly fun adventure that blends corporate satire with time-travel chaos.

The Harbingers

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The new audio drama from Gabriel Urbina (best known as the creator and head writer of Wolf 359), The Harbingers introduces us to two different-in-every-way grad students who eventually become the first people with genuine magical powers, making them the most powerful people in the world. This sweeping, sound-rich show is smart, unpredictable, and gripping from minute one.

The best comedy podcasts of 2025

Next We Have

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I love a podcast with good segments, so of course I’m going to be drawn to a podcast that is only segments. Next We Have, hosted by Gareth Reynolds (of The Dollop and We’re Here to Help), brings on the best improvisers to create segments that can be completely ridiculous because the point isn’t to make them sustainable, but to see how far a bunch of comedians can stretch the medium. (Segment examples: penning a negative Yelp review for a chain hotel on behalf of a listener, calling Gareth’s childhood friend to see if he remembers a gross sleepover incident from their past, etc.)

Text Me Back

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If you have been listening to podcasts long enough to remember Call Your Girlfriend, you will appreciate the tried but true format of eavesdropping on a best friend catch-up. Text Me Back co-hosts Lindy West and Meagan Hatcher-Mays have been besties since middle school, and listening to them brings back the flavor of that beloved show. While Call Your Girlfriend leaned heavily into everyday chatter, Text Me Back feels like non-stop standup. Lindy is an author and TV writer and Meagan is a democracy policy expert, but together they are an unstoppable comedy duo. They can spin mundane moments, like ordering salad for takeout, into listening gold. This is the perfect show to binge when you need a laugh (and some validation for your own awkward moments).

The best internet culture podcasts of 2025

The Last Invention

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If you knew that aliens were going to take over the world in 50 years, would you be worried? The Last Invention argues that this is our reality, if you replace “aliens” with “AI.” The AI revolution, host Gregory Warner says, is already here, and The Last Invention begins with the history of machine learning and provides a thoughtful exploration of how it is being used now, before looking into the future to see what's coming, what we could gain, what we could lose, and how best to prepare ourselves. It’s fact-based rather than fear-mongering, yet it might be the most unsettling thing I listened to all year.

Suspicious Minds

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Joel and Ian Gold are brothers (Joel’s a psychiatrist; Ian’s a philosopher) and co-authors of the book Suspicious Minds: How Culture Shapes Madness, which they've spun into this show (co-hosted with Sean O’Grady). It's a documentary series that tackles issues around AI-fueled delusions, and aims to understand where they fit into humanity’s history of delusional thinking in general. Using real patients’ riveting stories, it plunges listeners deep into their disturbed mental states, then follows their journeys toward managing the illness. We've read the headlines—the person who was gaslit by ChatGPT into thinking he was digital Jesus, or the man who was convinced he was a piece of software—but we don’t always get the context. Sean interviews these people with empathy to get that crucial context—and finds a troubling universality to their stories.

The best culture podcasts of 2025

Diabolical Lies

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Diabolical Lies is a culture and politics podcast hosted by Katie Gatti Tassin and Caro Claire Burke. Think of it as a deep dive into the ideas shaping modern America, from algorithmic media, to late-stage capitalism, to identity politics. But it's really funny. And skeptical. And backed by tons and tons of research. Because it’s listener-supported and free from corporate pressures, the hosts have the freedom to question mainstream narratives. (Every dollar earned is split between Caro, Katie, and organizations that support mutual aid in Gaza, legal representation to immigrant kids ensnared in the legal system, and other worthy causes.)

Pablo Torre Finds Out

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Pablo Torre is a veteran journalist and former ESPN commentator turned podcast powerhouse, and he now hosts Pablo Torre Finds Out, which uses sports as a lens through which to examine issues of culture and power. Blending investigative journalism, commentary, and personal curiosity, he goes beyond the surface to find the deeper meaning behind the headlines. His delve into a major scandal involving LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was named one of Apple Podcast’s best podcasts episodes of the year, and that's just one of dozens of compelling stories you'll explore.

The best long form investigative podcasts of 2025

In the Dark: Blood Relatives

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In earlier seasons, In The Dark has won awards, gotten a man released from jail, and uncovered a horrifying military conspiracy. The latest season, Blood Relatives, explores one of Britain's most notorious family massacres, revealing huge problems in the prosecution’s case against Jeremy Bamber, who is currently siting in prison for killing his parents, sister, and nephews back in 1985. Host Heidi Blake has access to sprawling case files and has talked to seemingly everyone even tangentially related to the case. What she found is astonishing, and infuriating.

The Outlaw Ocean

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Season one of The Outlaw Ocean, which exposed true crimes committed at sea, was some of the most dangerous audio I have ever heard. Yet in the first episode of season two, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and host Ian Urbina says that this season includes the most dangerous investigative reporting of his career. There’s a three-part series about seafaring migrants getting thrown in secret prisons (his team got jailed for reporting on that one), an exclusive profile on a guy who is either a pirate or a nautical James Bond, an expose on a massive Indian shrimp-processing plant, and an unprecedented deep dive into China’s secretive fishing practices. This is real investigative journalism, beautifully beautifully packaged but no less dangerous for it.

The best true crime podcsts of 2025

Beth’s Dead

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Beth’s Dead isn’t a murder investigation show. It’s a story about what happens when parasocial relationships go dangerously wrong. It all began when Monica Padman (of Armchair Expert) started looking into why her favorite podcast, hosted by Elizabeth Laime and Andy Rosen, ended years ago. For Beth’s Dead, she gets on mic with Elizabeth and Andy to explore a chilling story involving obsessive listeners, manipulation, and what happens when one super fan turns into something much darker.

Wisecrack

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You don’t often see stand-up comedy blended with true crime, but that's what you get with Wisecrack. The story centers on comedian Edd Hedges, who returns to his hometown for a charity comedy gig. That night, someone he went to school with murders his family, and Edd has reason to believe that this guy almost tried to murder Edd, too. Or did he? Hosted by TV crime producer Jodi Tovay, Wisecrack is about memory and trauma more than it is about a specific crime. If you liked Netflix’s Baby Reindeer, this expertly produced, genre-bending psychological puzzle is for you.

The best interview podcasts of 2025

Good Hang

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Amy Poehler’s Good Hang is the best hang and one of the best celebrity-hosted podcasts ever. Poehler brings on superstar comedians to talk about what makes them laugh, share stories from their lives and careers, and just generally shoot the breeze. Conversations with people like Kristin Wiig, Idris Elba, and Ina Garten swing from gut-bustingly hilarious to raw and vulnerable, offering us an inside look into the entertainment industry. The production is as casual as the vibe: Amy leaves in “mistakes” that a different show might edit out, like a guest jumping into the zoom late, or what feels like minutes of laughter, and the result is a comfort-listen that will leave you feeling like you've just been hugged.

Strangers on a Bench

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Strangers on a Bench isn’t your typical interview podcast. Musician/host Tom Rosenthal goes around parks, approaches random strangers on benches, and asks to sit down with them for completely open-ended conversations that feel like meditations. The strangers are always anonymous—we don’t get names or occupations or any other specifics. This means the strangers can get real, and they do. You never know what will happen when you hit play. Some episodes are light, ordinary “slice-of-life” chats, while others dive into issues of grief, trauma, loss, longing, mental-health struggles, or life transitions.

The best personal podcasts of 2025

Stop Rewind: The Lost Boy

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Stop Rewind: The Lost Boy tells a true story so unbelievable I literally did not believe it—at first I assumed it was fictional. It’s the story of Taj, a child who was born in India and adopted by a family in the U.S. He had an abusive childhood, was raised in complete poverty, and had only hazy memories of that time—including some that suggested he was brought to America via a kidnapping. He spent his life trying to forget this, purposely or not, and carve his own path, until the day he found an old cassette tape filled with recordings of himself as a child that his mom recorded when he first arrived in the country, knowing he would eventually forget his native language. As an adult, long after he stopped being able to understand what his own voice was saying, Taj met someone who spoke the language, and the transcription of those tapes revealed what really happened to him. The results is a jaw-dropping story especially perfect for a podcast: it's “told through rare original recordings, immersive sound design and unforgettable first-person testimony.” You’re already dying to hear the tape, right?

Alternate Realities

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Zach Mack’s Alternate Realities series, located on the Embedded feed, starts off with a bet between Zach and his dad, who each believed the other had been lost to conspiracy theories. Zach’s father had started to believe in chemtrails, that the government controls the weather, that ANTIFA staged January 6, that a cabal called the globalists is controlling the world. Zach…did not believe those things. So in early 2024 Zach’s dad made a list of 10 prophesies (such as: a bunch of democrats would be convicted of treason and/or murder, the U.S. would come under marshal law) that he was 100% sure would happen, and by Jan. 1, 2025, Zach would have to give his father $1,000 for every one that did. For every one that didn’t, Zach would get the $1,000. What starts as a strange bet develops in a beautifully depicted family tragedy that forces you to consider the depths of your own mortality.

The best independent podcasts of 2025

Cramped

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Kate Downey has been having debilitating period pain every month since she was 14 years old. The affliction is common, yet something nobody seems to want to talk about or research—and certainly nobody is trying to have fun with it. But Kate is doing all of the above with Cramped, which is somehow boisterous and dead serious at the same time. It's full of fascinating interviews, illuminating info, and helpful tips for anyone with a uterus. She gets smart, funny people on the mic to talk about their that-time-of-the-month experiences, what is really going on in their bodies and why nobody cares, and why Kate hasn’t been able to get answers from a doctor after 20 years of asking questions.

Debt Heads

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When I heard the first episode of Debt Heads I felt like a thirsty person who had just discovered water in the desert—I don’t like talking about money, yet this show has a lot of things I didn't know I’ve been craving. Jamie Feldman and Rachel Webster approach money matters from an angle we’re not used to hearing. They joke that it’s a “true crime investigation into the murder of our bank accounts,” and the show is made with the care of one as it considers the deeply human factors that can drive people into debt.

The best podcast series of 2025

Clotheshorse: I'm With the Brand

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Clotheshorse’s Amanda Lee McCarty spent years working in retail and fashion as a buyer for huge brands like Urban Outfitters, before a quasi-spokesperson for debunking the glamour that obscures the real truths about the clothing we buy. Amanda’s multi-part series “I’m With the Brand” helps us begin to untangle our relationship with brands, built on both extensive research and her personal experience. You explore the history of brands, with shout-outs to several that are now just licensed zombie versions of themselves; an exposé of cause marketing; and a breakdown of the ten commandments of emotional branding, paired with specific stories about how they’ve been applied. (Careful, once you see them you cannot unsee them.) Repeat after Amanda: Brands are not your friends.

Camp Swamp Road

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The Wall Street Journal's “Camp Swamp Road” is about a story that started as a road rage incident and ended up being either a stand your ground case, or a murder, depending who you ask. In 2023 on Camp Swamp Road in South Carolina, Weldon Boyd and Bradley Williams killed Scott Spivey, who they said was driving erratically and shooting his gun out his car window. Scott Spivey’s sister, who is for some reason going through all the audio of the incident, as well as audio of Weldon Boyd interacting with his family, friends, cop buddies, feels differently. The reporting here tries to get to the truth of the matter.

Two must-listen podcast episodes from 2025

“The Auralyn” (with Blair Braverman), You’re Wrong About

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Adventurer Blair Braverman is building a mini-survival podcast on the You’re Wrong About feed. (If stories about the lives of Baby Jessica, Chris McCandless, or the 1972 Uruguayan plane crash interest you, search her name in the archive.) “The Auralyn” is one of her best: Blair’s telling of the story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey, a couple who in 1972 miraculously survived 118 days adrift on a tiny rubber liferaft in the Pacific Ocean after their yacht was destroyed. Obviously this is a story about survival, but more importantly, it's about what buoys us, and what gives us the strength to survive, whether that be on a raft adrift at sea, or just through the course of a regular bad day.

“Kevin,” Heavyweight

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On Heavyweight, Jonathan Goldstein acts as a detective who helps people resolve issues from their past. In this episode we meet “Kevin,” who had a cinematically terrible childhood. He had two friends who kind of saved his life, or at least his sanity, during these hard years, but one day they disappeared, so Jonathan set out to find them. Are they OK? Do they even remember Kevin? This episode has all the pieces of a compelling podcast: a wonderful storyteller in Kevin, a heart-wrenching narrative, a real chance at closure, and a resolution that isn’t easy to explain.

https://lifehacker.com/entertainment/essential-podcasts-of-2025?utm_medium=RSS

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Posted by Stephen Johnson

https://lifehacker.com/entertainment/planet-of-the-apes-franchise-explained-in-infographics?utm_medium=RSS

For more than half a century, audiences have been captivated by the Planet of the Apes—a sprawling sci-fi epic that spans at least three timelines, 3,000 years of history, and a franchise that includes 10 feature films, two TV series, three video games, and dozens of comics and novels. Whether you're a long-time fan trying to make sense of the lore or a newcomer wondering how a talking chimpanzee led to a post-apocalyptic planet dominated by primates, I’ve laid out the Planet of the Apes series by release order, chronological continuity, critical and commercial reception, the technological milestones of ape civilizations, and more.

This is your illustrated guide to the rise (and fall... and rise again, and fall, etc.) of the Planet of the Apes.

What is the Planet of the Apes?

Planet of the Apes is one of the strangest, most ambitious, and longest-running film franchises in cinema history. Films in the series vary wildly in quality, ambition, competence, and style, but all Apes movies, from the 1968 original to 2024’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, share a narrative focus: a world-shaking conflict between humans and intelligent apes.

Every Planet of the Apes movie, in chronological order

The original saga (1968–1973)

Planet of the Apes (1968): Based on Pierre Boulle’s 1963 sci-fi novel La Planète des Singes, 1968’s Planet of the Apes tells the story of astronaut George Taylor, who crash lands on what he thinks is a distant planet where apes are intelligent and in charge, and the people are dumb slaves.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970): While star Charlton Heston appears in the film briefly, Beneath the Planet of the Apes is really the story of Brent, an astronaut who’s been sent to rescue Taylor.

Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971): You’d think the annihilation of the entire planet would end the Planet of the Apes series, but no: In Escape, Cornelius, Zira, and Dr. Milo manage to flee the planet on Taylor’s ship before the doomsday bomb explodes; the trio time-travel to 1973.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972): The last two old-school Planet of the Apes movies had lower budgets than their predecessors, and it definitely shows. Lore-wise, Conquest presents a divergent narrative path to explain the development of ape intelligence and other events.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973): In the years since the Ape rebellion in Conquest, a nuclear war has killed most humans; humans and ape relations are good enough, but the fragile detente is broken by human-hating gorilla Aldo.

The Burton reboot (2001)

Planet of the Apes (2001): After a nearly 30-year hiatus, 2001’s Apes is a thematically and tonally uneven summer blockbuster featuring a by-the-numbers plot, mid-tier action, and an ending that confuses everyone. (The makeup and production design are top-notch, though.)

The modern quadrilogy (2011–2024)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011): This movie blows the dust off the hoary old apes and breathes fresh creative life into a moribund franchise; Rise is a film packed with both action and dignity.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014): Dawn takes place about a decade after the events of the last movie, and apes are definitely on the come-up: It features the most nuanced (and most depressing) take on the conflict between species.

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017): If the message of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is “war is inevitable…,” the message of War for the Planet of the Apes is “..and war is hell.” It's a grim movie.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024): Kingdom explores an ape-dominated world where the few humans left are brainless scavengers (or so it seems). It doesn’t break new ground the way Rise did, but Kingdom opens the way for more Planet of the Apes sequels in the future.

Geographic location of each Planet of the Apes movie

Over more than five decades of films, Planet of the Apes has taken audiences from the shattered ruins of New York City to the tranquil redwood forests of Northern California, and even to entirely different worlds (maybe). This map tracks the primary settings of each movie, showing how the saga’s conflicts play out across Earth.

Who traveled where in time?

From astronauts overshooting the present by millennia, to apes hurtling back to the 20th century’s hippy era, time travel is integral to the Planet of the Apes, so lets take a look at the franchise’s major temporal tourists, charting when they left, when they arrived, and just how far they jumped.

The complicated chronology of the Planet of the Apes

If you’re considering a watch order for the Planet of the Apes, "in order by chronology" is the worst option—the Apes timeline is simply all over the place. While there are a few moments in the modern quadrilogy (2011–2024) that suggest the films are prequels to the original pentalogy (1968–1973), these are ultimately fan-service Easter eggs; the two series just don’t connect unless you get very creative with time-travel loops and offscreen assumptions. Hell, the first five films don’t connect with themselves unless you get creative with time-travel. So, I got creative with time travel to break down the major historical milestones in the Planet of the Apes Universe, across three timelines. (Four, if you count the self-contained 2001 Planet.)

Here are the Planet of the Apes movies listed in order of the year that each one takes place:

Critical reception of Planet of the Apes movies

Critics have a love-hate relationship with Planet of the Apes movies. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the “best” Apes movie is War for the Planet of the Apes, which was praised by 94% of critics. The “worst” is Battle for the Planet of the Apes, with only 33% positivity. That’s a big spread!

How much money did each Planet of the Apes movie make?

Critical acceptance is great; but in cynical Hollywood terms, the only measure of a good movie is how much money it makes. By that metric, the “best” Apes movie is the 2001 reboot, Planet of the Apes. Despite mixed review, the movie made $328,049,530.32 in domestic ticket sales (adjusted for inflation), which is even more than the original and the 2014 blockbuster Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

A who’s-who of ape leadership

Any society is defined by its leaders, including ape society, so here is a breakdown of the doctors, generals, and tribal chiefs who have ruled the apes over the last 50 years.

Dr. Zaius (Planet of the Apes, Beneath the Planet of the Apes): An orangutan Minister of Science and Defender of the Faith who balances political control with the fear of humanity’s return.

General Ursus (Beneath the Planet of the Apes): This violent gorilla warlord never encountered a problem he couldn’t meet with violence.

Dr. Zira (Escape from the Planet of the Apes, 1970): A compassionate and sharp-witted chimpanzee thrust into the role of cultural ambassador between societies on the verge of war, Dr. Zira is the defacto leader of a small band of ape time-travelers.

Caesar (Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Battle for the Planet of the Apes): The original Caesar is a fiery revolutionary who transforms ape resentment into a successful uprising against humanity.

General Thade (Planet of the Apes, 2001): A sadistic and cunning chimpanzee general obsessed with wiping out humanity.

Caesar (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, War for the Planet of the Apes): A hyper-intelligent chimp raised by humans, Caesar’s combination of tactical brilliance, political savvy, raw charisma, and genuine compassion for both apes and humans make him the best overall ape leader.

Koba (2014, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes): A bitter, scarred veteran of human torture and hero of the ape revolution, Koba has been through some shit.

Proximus Caesar (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes): An iron-fisted militarist who twists the past to justify authoritarian rule, Proximus Caesar rules through fear and historical revisionism.

Ape technological and intellectual milestones by movie

Across the Planet of the Apes films, the ever-shifting balance of power between apes and humans often comes down to brains as much as brawn. Each installment shows apes using technologies, social systems, and tactics that they’ve either developed or borrowed from humans. From crude tools and simple rules to heavy artillery and complex political structures, these milestones mark the evolving capabilities of ape society over the decades (and timelines) of the franchise. Here's a breakdown of the technological highlights of ape society in each movie.

Ape-adjacent TV shows, video games, comic books and movies

If ten feature films isn't enough Apes for you, there's plenty more material out there. The Ape-verse began with a novel, and has grown to include a live-action TV series, a cartoon series, three video games, and dozens of novelizations and comic books.

https://lifehacker.com/entertainment/planet-of-the-apes-franchise-explained-in-infographics?utm_medium=RSS

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https://lifehacker.com/tech/apple-m4-ipad-pro-deal-december-2025?utm_medium=RSS

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Apple has been top dog in the premium tablet space for years, and the iPad Pro with an M4 chip released last year solidified their dominance. If you've been waiting for a discount on the best-performing tablet you can get, the decked out 1TB M4 iPad Pro is $600 off and a great deal compared to the other variations. You can get the 13-inch 1TB wifi and cellular version for $1,499.97 (originally $2,099.99), the lowest price it has been since, according to price-tracking tools. To put this deal into perspective, the 256GB cellular version is $1,299 (originally $1,499), making the upgrade to four times the storage just $200. The smaller 11-inch sizes are also discounted, but not as much as the 13-inch 1TB cellular version.

Apple iPad Pro 11-Inch (M4, Wifi)

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Apple iPad Pro 11-Inch (M4, Wifi + Cellular)

$999.00 at Amazon

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Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch (M4, Wifi)

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Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch (M4, Wifi + Cellular, 256GB)

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$1,499.00 Save $200.00

Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch (M4): Built for Apple Intelligence, Ultra Retina XDR Display, 256GB, 12MP Front/Back Camera, LiDAR Scanner, Wi-Fi 6E + 5G Cellular, All-Day Battery Life — Space Black

$1,299.00 at Amazon

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Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch (M4, Wifi + Cellular, 1TB)

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Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch (M4): Built for Apple Intelligence, Ultra Retina XDR Display, 1TB, 12MP Front/Back Camera, LiDAR Scanner, Wi-Fi 6E + 5G Cellular, Face ID, All-Day Battery Life — Silver

$1,499.97 at Amazon

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<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Daniel Oropeza</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/apple-m4-ipad-pro-deal-december-2025?utm_medium=RSS">https://lifehacker.com/tech/apple-m4-ipad-pro-deal-december-2025?utm_medium=RSS</a></p><p>We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.</p><p>Apple has been top dog in the premium tablet space for years, and the iPad Pro with an <a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/apple-just-surprised-everyone-with-the-m4-chip" target="_blank">M4 chip</a> released last year solidified their dominance. If you've been waiting for a discount on the <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/apple-ipad-pro-2024" target="_blank" title="open in a new window" rel="noopener">best-performing tablet</a> you can get, the decked out 1TB M4 iPad Pro is $600 off and a great deal compared to the other variations. 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To put this deal into perspective, the <a href="https://zdcs.link/9Z56dP?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=256GB%20cellular%20version&short_url=9Z56dP&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">256GB cellular version</a> is <strong>$1,299</strong> (originally $1,499), making the upgrade to four times the storage just $200. 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data-ga-element="offer" data-ga-item="offer-btn" data-ga-label="Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch (M4, Wifi + Cellular, 256GB)" data-ga-position="4" aria-label="Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch (M4, Wifi + Cellular, 256GB) Product Card" x-cloak="x-cloak" x-show="showMore || 3 < 3"> <div class="flex w-full gap-x-5"> <div class="flex w-full flex-col flex-nowrap justify-center gap-2 text-black no-underline md:order-2 md:gap-y-6"> <div class="flex flex-col justify-between gap-y-2 md:w-full md:gap-y-1"> <div class="block w-fit cursor-pointer font-akshar text-lg font-medium leading-5 text-brand-green duration-200 ease-in-out hover:text-brand-green-700 md:text-xl md:leading-6"> Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch (M4, Wifi + Cellular, 256GB) </div> </div> <div class="hidden md:flex md:justify-between md:gap-x-4"> <div class="w-full mb-0 md:flex md:flex-col md:justify-center font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $1,299.00 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$1,499.00</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $200.00</span> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm hidden self-end h-12 max-w-[10rem] duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:flex md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> </div> </div> <div class="flex aspect-video h-[90px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center self-center md:order-1"> <img class="m-0 max-h-full max-w-full rounded-md" src="https://lifehacker.com/imagery/product/07ajNN5sUGjF0kAahwprMig/hero-image.fill.size_autoxauto.v1723663309.jpg" alt="Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch (M4): Built for Apple Intelligence, Ultra Retina XDR Display, 256GB, 12MP Front/Back Camera, LiDAR Scanner, Wi-Fi 6E + 5G Cellular, All-Day Battery Life — Space Black" width="auto" height="auto" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm w-full h-12 duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:hidden md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> <div class="flex flex-col items-center w-full md:hidden font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $1,299.00 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$1,499.00</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $200.00</span> </div> </div> </a> <a href="https://cc.lifehacker.com/v1/otc/06ZVRiLmglGs4QA6plTXzTC?merchant=05kie42h3YvHwjr4G1w80Qq&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2FB0D3J8YGJP&template=Deals&module=product-list&element=offer&item=offer-btn&position=5&element_label=Apple+iPad+Pro+13-Inch+%28M4%2C+Wifi+%2B+Cellular%2C+1TB%29&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss&product_uuid=072JALhtCED4j93QjxKbPs4&offer_uuid=03Ho99geudgJYGkHSAUPrZB&pageview_type=RSS&object_type=03Ho99geudgJYGkHSAUPrZB&object_uuid=072JALhtCED4j93QjxKbPs4&data-aps-asin=B0D3J8YGJP&data-aps-asc-tag=lifehack088-20&data-aps-asc-subtag=03Ho99geudgJYGkHSAUPrZB" data-commerce="1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow sponsored" data-parent-group="affiliate-link" title="(opens in a new window)" class="flex flex-col py-8 gap-5 border-dotted border-[#CFCFCE] cursor-default no-underline md:flex-row md:gap-y-2 md:py-7" data-ga-click="data-ga-click" data-ga-module="product-list" data-ga-element="offer" data-ga-item="offer-btn" data-ga-label="Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch (M4, Wifi + Cellular, 1TB)" data-ga-position="5" aria-label="Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch (M4, Wifi + Cellular, 1TB) Product Card" x-cloak="x-cloak" x-show="showMore || 4 < 3"> <div class="flex w-full gap-x-5"> <div class="flex w-full flex-col flex-nowrap justify-center gap-2 text-black no-underline md:order-2 md:gap-y-6"> <div class="flex flex-col justify-between gap-y-2 md:w-full md:gap-y-1"> <div class="block w-fit cursor-pointer font-akshar text-lg font-medium leading-5 text-brand-green duration-200 ease-in-out hover:text-brand-green-700 md:text-xl md:leading-6"> Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch (M4, Wifi + Cellular, 1TB) </div> </div> <div class="hidden md:flex md:justify-between md:gap-x-4"> <div class="w-full mb-0 md:flex md:flex-col md:justify-center font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $1,499.97 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$2,099.00</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $599.03</span> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm hidden self-end h-12 max-w-[10rem] duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:flex md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> </div> </div> <div class="flex aspect-video h-[90px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center self-center md:order-1"> <img class="m-0 max-h-full max-w-full rounded-md" src="https://lifehacker.com/imagery/product/072JALhtCED4j93QjxKbPs4/hero-image.fill.size_autoxauto.v1765203285.jpg" alt="Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch (M4): Built for Apple Intelligence, Ultra Retina XDR Display, 1TB, 12MP Front/Back Camera, LiDAR Scanner, Wi-Fi 6E + 5G Cellular, Face ID, All-Day Battery Life — Silver" width="auto" height="auto" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <button class="flex justify-center items-center w-full bg-brand-green text-white text-base font-sans font-medium rounded-md hover:bg-brand-green-700 hover:cursor-pointer md:text-sm w-full h-12 duration-200 ease-in-out hover:bg-brand-green-700 md:hidden md:h-10"> Get Deal </button> <div class="flex flex-col items-center w-full md:hidden font-sans leading-4 text-black"> <div class="flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-1 md:justify-start"> <span class="font-bold"> $1,499.97 <span class="font-medium">at Amazon</span> </span> </div> <div class="flex items-center justify-center gap-x-1 font-bold md:justify-start"> <span class="text-sm line-through">$2,099.00</span> <span class="text-sm text-brand-green">Save $599.03</span> </div> </div> </a> <button class="mb-4 mt-6 pr-4 font-akshar text-sm font-medium text-gray-900 hover:cursor-pointer hover:text-brand-green md:pr-8" x-cloak="x-cloak" x-show="!showMore && 5 > 3" x-on:click="showMore = !showMore" x-on:keydown.enter.prevent.stop="showMore = !showMore"> SEE 2 MORE <svg class="-mt-[2px] inline-block size-3 fill-current text-brand-green"> <use href="https://lifehacker.com/images/icons/spritemap.svg#sprite-chevron-down"></use> </svg> </button> </div> <p>The M4 is about <a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/we-already-know-how-well-apples-m4-chip-performs" target="_blank">1.5 times faster</a> than the M2, the chip used in the previous generation of iPads. That's a big difference for anyone looking to use their iPad for more than just navigating the web and streaming media apps. The 11-inch screen is an OLED display with a maximum brightness of 1,600 nits and a contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1, making it ideal for creators who need to see accurate colors for pictures or videos. The processing power can easily handle heavy-duty apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, or Photoshop. A 120Hz refresh rate also means games will look smooth.</p><p>As far as battery life, you can expect about 10 hours depending on your use, and a charge that takes about two hours to get to full. Keep in mind Apple switched to USB-C charging, and this iPad does not support wireless charging. If you don't get <a href="https://zdcs.link/QV70q1?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=the%20cellular%20version&short_url=QV70q1&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">the cellular version</a>, you'll be limited to wifi signal. You can get the <a href="https://zdcs.link/zEjyBM?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Apple%20Pencil%20Pro&short_url=zEjyBM&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">Apple Pencil Pro</a> and the <a href="https://zdcs.link/QqXkY6?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Magic%20Keyboard&short_url=QqXkY6&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">Magic Keyboard</a> if you want to complete the set, but of course, they're not necessary. </p><p>If you're not going to be doing heavy work, the <a href="https://zdcs.link/916v53?pageview_type=RSS&template=content&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=iPad%20Air&short_url=916v53&u=https%3A%2F%2Flifehacker.com%2Ffeed%2Frss" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="open in a new window">iPad Air</a> will do just fine. But if you're looking for the best tablet to perform professional tasks, the iPad Pro M4 is at a great price right now. </p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://lifehacker.com/tech/apple-m4-ipad-pro-deal-december-2025?utm_medium=RSS">https://lifehacker.com/tech/apple-m4-ipad-pro-deal-december-2025?utm_medium=RSS</a></p>

lifehacker_feed

Posted by Jake Peterson

https://lifehacker.com/tech/samsung-galaxy-one-ui-85-beta?utm_medium=RSS

If you're getting bored with your Galaxy phone, there are changes on the horizon. Samsung announced One UI 8.5 on Monday, Dec. 8, the latest update for Galaxy devices. At present, this new update is only out in beta, but select Galaxy users can try it out right now. Here's what's new, according to Samsung.

Proactive Quick Share

With One UI 8.5, Quick Share can automatically identify people in photos. While that sounds a bit creepy, the idea is to proactively offer sharing recommendations to the people who are featured in any given photo. Say you hit Quick Share on a family photo you took over the weekend. Rather than manually enter all of the contacts you'd like to share that image with, the feature can identify each, and automatically suggest sending the image to those contacts. It should speed up sharing pictures with groups of people after you take them, but, again, a little unsettling.

Photo Assist updates

Credit: Samsung

The Gallery app's Photo Assist feature is getting some upgrades in One UI 8.5. As of this version, Photo Assist now supports "uninterrupted editing." That means you can make your AI-generated edits without needing to save in between each change. Previously, each edit would produce an entirely new image, so this makes the feature a bit more like a traditional photo editor. In addition, you'll be able to view all of the AI images you made in your edit history, and choose the one you like the most.

Side note: Samsung says Photo Assist's Generate Edit feature requires an internet connection as well as a Samsung Account login. The feature also places a watermark on the image, so other people will know it was manipulated or generated with AI.

Audio Broadcast

Credit: Samsung

One UI 8.5 now supports sharing audio to other devices via Auracast, following Google's wider support for the standard back in September. If you have any LE Audio-supported devices, like headphones or speakers, you can use Audio Broadcast to share media from your Galaxy. This isn't limited to music, podcasts, or audio from videos, either, as Samsung says you can also broadcast your Galaxy's microphone to LE Audio devices, too.

This feature is limited to Galaxy S25 devices, even after One UI 8.5 rolls out to other Galaxy phones.

Storage Share

Credit: Samsung

If you have a number of Samsung Galaxy devices, you might find Storage Share useful. This One UI 8.5 feature lets you manage your files across other devices, including tablets, PCs and even TVs, in the My Files app on your smartphone.

Enhanced Security Controls

Samsung is also expanding One UI's security features with this latest beta. The company is rolling out updates to Theft Protection with One UI 8.5, an existing feature that can lock your device if it's lost or stolen. That way, whoever picks it up won't have access to your data, or won't be able to erase the device and set it up as their own. In that same vein, Samsung is also launching Failed Authentication Lock, which locks the display after too many failed verification attempts. If a thief tries too many PIN combinations, or the fingerprint scanner fails too many times, your screen will lock them out.

How to try the beta on your Galaxy

While you can apply for the beta program today, first, consider the risks. Like all beta software, this version of One UI is currently in testing, which means there may be bugs and glitches that could interrupt your experience using your smartphone. If you understand these risks (and back up all important information ahead of time), here's what you need to know.

First, this beta is only open for Galaxy S25 users in the U.S., Germany, India, Korea, Poland, and the UK. If you have an S24 or older, you'll need to wait for Samsung to roll out the One UI 8.5 beta more widely, or for the full release down the line.

Next, you'll need to apply to join the beta from the Samsung Members app. If you don't have the app yet, download it from the Play Store, then follow the instructions to enroll in the beta.

https://lifehacker.com/tech/samsung-galaxy-one-ui-85-beta?utm_medium=RSS

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/he-wont-rest-until-los-angeles-art-museum-returns-bust-stolen-our

Chris Faraone explains why it's important for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to return the bust of early education reformer Charles Brooks by Thomas Crawford that somebody stole. The bust wound up auctioned off, some rich couple somehow obtained it, then donated it to LACMA.

Topics:

Crime

Neighborhoods:

Beacon Hill

Free tagging:

art

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/he-wont-rest-until-los-angeles-art-museum-returns-bust-stolen-our

lifehacker_feed

Posted by Emily Long

https://lifehacker.com/tech/spot-sleeper-browser-malware-extensions?utm_medium=RSS

Malicious extensions do occasionally find their way into the Chrome Web Store (and similar libraries in other browsers) by posing as legitimate add-ons. They are particularly difficult to catch when they are benign to begin with, only morphing into malware after gaining user trust.

That's what happened with a number of extensions on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge: researchers at Koi Security identified add-ons across both browsers that operated legitimately for several years before receiving malicious updates that allow hackers to surveil users and collect and exfiltrate sensitive data. The scheme, known as ShadyPanda, reached four million downloads and is still active on Edge.

Threat actors ran a similar campaign targeting Firefox earlier this year: They gained approval for benign extensions mimicking popular crypto wallets, accumulated downloads and positive reviews, and then injected the add-ons with malicious code capable of logging form field inputs, which they used to access and steal crypto assets.

Browser extensions can turn bad

As Koi Security outlines, ShadyPanda started out as an affiliate scam, with 145 extensions masquerading as wallpaper and productivity apps across the two browsers. The initial phase injected affiliate tracking codes and paid commissions with clicks to eBay, Amazon, and Booking.com and then evolved to hijack and manipulate search results before launching the five extensions in 2018 that would later be converted to malware.

Those add-ons were marked as Featured and Verified in Chrome—one, a cache cleaner known as Clean Master, accrued a 4.8 rating from thousands of reviews. The extensions were updated in 2024 to run malware that could check hourly for new instructions and maintain full browser access, feeding information to ShadyPanda's servers. (These have since been removed from Chrome.)

Hackers launched an additional five extensions, including WeTab, to Edge in 2023. Two are comprehensive spyware, and all were still active as of Koi's report.

How to find malicious extensions in Chrome and Edge

Unfortunately, malicious extensions are usually pretending to be something else, so a quick visual check of your installed extensions may not reveal a problem. In this case, Koi Security has a list of the extension IDs associated with the ShadyPanda campaign, and you'll have to search for them one by one.

In Chrome, type chrome://extensions/ into your address bar and hit Enter. Toggle on Developer mode in the top-right corner to reveal the IDs for installed extensions. From here, you can copy and paste each ID into the search bar (Ctrl+F on your PC or Cmd+F on your Mac). If there are no results, your browser is safe. If you do find a malicious add-on, click the Remove button. In Edge, follow the same process from edge://extensions/.

While this campaign shows that extensions can be weaponized long after they've been installed, you should still follow best practices for vetting browser add-ons just as you would apps for your device. Check the name carefully, as fraudulent extensions often have names that are nearly identical to trustworthy ones. Review the description for any red flags, such as misspellings and unrelated images. If you see a lot of positive reviews in a short amount of time on a new extension, or if they seem to be reviewing something else entirely, proceed with caution. You can also do additional research, such as a search on Google or Reddit, to see if the extension is legit.

https://lifehacker.com/tech/spot-sleeper-browser-malware-extensions?utm_medium=RSS

lifehacker_feed

Posted by Lindsey Ellefson

https://lifehacker.com/work/how-to-use-the-mit-productivity-method?utm_medium=RSS

So many productivity methods ask you to prioritize your daily tasks by considering how much time or effort they'll require, then tackling the resource-heavy ones first. For some people, that's a solid strategy, since you can definitely get some motivation from getting your toughest, most demanding responsibilities out of the way. There's even a weird name for doing that: "Eating the frog." But you can also find motivation in working toward a bigger goal, so what if you prioritized your tasks based on importance and impact, no matter how big or small they are?

That's what the Most Important Task (MIT) method involves: rather than thinking of specific tasks and how long they'll take, the MIT method asks you to look more broadly at the overall goal you're trying to accomplish. Reframing your approach to productivity by focusing on your goal instead can motivate you to get more done and achieve better results.

How to use the MIT method

First, you'll need to nail down your goals. You can set SMART goals or combine the MIT method with the Results Planning Method (RPM), which asks you to consider your purpose when planning your day. Take some time to write down your goals—the big ones, the ones that all your daily tasks are ostensibly supposed to move you toward. Think of weekly goals, monthly goals, and annual goals, as well as ongoing, long-term ones. Write these down or just keep them in mind, but always think about the broader, bigger picture. An easy example is school: You're not just studying so you can pass the test, but because your overall goal is to graduate, to do so with a solid GPA, and to get a quality job offer. Taking time to reaffirm that broader goal reframes how you view studying for one boring old test.

Every morning, make a list of two or three Most Important Tasks for the day. These are critical tasks that will have an impact on your goals, but they don't have to be huge or resource-draining. If answering emails from a potential client will move you toward a monthly sales goal, that is more of an MIT goal than building a presentation for your boss, even though creating the presentation seems like the more demanding, large-scale project. Consider the results of your tasks and prioritize those that have fast or meaningful ones. You want to focus on the two or three tasks that will actually make a difference in moving you toward your goal.

Take care of those two or three tasks first, then handle other, less important tasks from your to-do list for the rest of the day. You can use a scheduling technique like the 1-3-5 list or the pickle jar method to figure out which those are and how much time and energy you'll have for them. When using the MIT technique, you should also use a productivity journal to write down your daily to-dos in the morning and reflections on how it all went at night. If you're not familiar, learn how to conduct an after-action review so you have some structure to follow while reflecting and you can efficiently build on whatever takeaways you find. That nighttime reflection is key: You need to be able to identify and see how taking on those critical tasks impacts your progress toward your goal, plus what you did well and what you could do better as you keep striving. That will keep you motivated and moving forward.

https://lifehacker.com/work/how-to-use-the-mit-productivity-method?utm_medium=RSS

lifehacker_feed

Posted by Lindsey Ellefson

https://lifehacker.com/work/two-productivity-techniques-that-help-you-get-more-done?utm_medium=RSS

Not every productivity method works for every person. That's why there are so many out there, and it's also why you need to spend time figuring out which ones might work for you, even if you have to alter or adapt them a little bit. When you're facing down an unusually big or overwhelming task, the traditional methods that you usually rely on may not be helpful. Why not try a one-two punch, combining two I like a lot to make it easier?

The "one bite" technique

First, let's try the one-bite technique. This takes a little pre-planning, but can help you out when a task feels daunting. Grab a piece of paper (or use a digital document) and write down your task. Let's say it's leading a quarterly meeting at work. Next, break it down into the smaller tasks that make it up, which could be coordinating the attendees, setting an agenda, making sure the tech and meeting space are order, and keeping track of what is said during the meeting.

From there, keep breaking it all down. Coordinating attendees means not only sending out calendar invites, but determining who should get one and staying on top of the lists of who accepted and declined, as well as sending out or scheduling meeting reminders for everyone. Determining the agenda means checking in with presenters and managers on what they're able to present as well as simply writing down a list of topics to go over and allotting the right amount of time to each. Checking on the tech and meeting space mean coordinating with IT, renting the meeting room, checking that your digital meeting space subscription is paid up, and ensuring you'll have enough seats for all attendees. Keeping track of what is said involves designating a note-taker, making sure the AI transcription service is paid for and functioning, setting up a recording system, and creating a timeline and work flow to make sure minutes are distributed to necessary parties in a timely, efficient way when the meeting ends.

Obviously, when you take on the responsibility of setting up a meeting, you know these are all the things you'll need to do, but if you look at the task as one big thing—"run the meeting"—instead of consciously breaking it down into smaller duties, you're more likely to get overwhelmed. This is true for everything, from planning a vacation to cleaning the house. Training yourself to break tasks down into smaller "bites" instead of just launching into work on the larger product will not only help you keep everything running smoothly, but will motivate you, too: As you see smaller tasks getting done, you'll feel accomplished and prepared to keep going.

This is similar to the "one more" trick, which asks you to consider whether you can do "one more" thing every time you mark off a small accomplishment. I use "one more" when I'm cleaning now that I have consistently failed for years to follow a stricter cleaning schedule—and it works fabulously. Acquainting yourself with the various ways tasks can be broken down and approached can help you in your personal, professional, academic, and social lives. Below is another way you can do that if you're focusing on "bites" and need a touch of structure for your next steps.

The "reverse Pomodoro" technique

Breaking down the "bites" of your task isn't enough. You do have to actually complete the bites. When there's a lot to do, it can be hard to make yourself do it or know where to start.

You have to start by determining the order in which you'll tackle your bites. There are a few easy ways to do this with the easiest being the ABCDE method (where you assign subjective grades to each duty quickly, then start working), and a more complex, but objective, option being the Eisenhower matrix. Pick one and just get it done because you have to get started on the bites.

If you were using a traditional productivity technique, like the Pomodoro method, you'd start off by working for 25 minutes straight and then taking a five-minute break. That can be daunting, though. Frankly, 25 minutes is a lot of time when you're stressed, even if you've figured out a loose gameplan with one of the prioritization techniques above.

Instead, try the "reverse Pomodoro" method, which is just like its namesake, except switched around. Instead of working for 25 minutes and getting a tiny break, you work for five, then get a big break. It might seem counterproductive since working for five minutes and relaxing for 20 or 25 means you have a lot of downtime, but it's helpful if you're truly having a hard time getting into the flow of working. People who've tried this method praise it for helping them take the anxiety out of working on a big project because even though there's a lot of chilling out, work is getting done in those five minutes. Eventually, once you have a few tasks completed, you'll be feeling better about the project overall. Don't be surprised if you suddenly feel like you can slog it out for longer than five minutes at a time and slowly move into a more traditional Pomodoro framework to finish up the task. To be honest with you, it's a bit of a mental trick and is similar to the "one more" rule mentioned above. Whenever I tell myself I'll just do one thing, then chill, I always end up doing much more just because I feel more accomplished after the first few minutes. If you have to bamboozle your brain a little, so be it.

You can reap maximum benefits here by first breaking down your task into those small bites, then completing one bite per reverse-Pomodoro work slot. It's five minutes to email the meeting invitation, then a break. Five minutes to have IT check out the tech connections in the meeting room, then a break. Five minutes to draw up a schedule and pass it around, then a break. It's not cheating to focus on your downtime, especially if you're not being productive enough when you try to work for 25 minutes straight. In fact, breaks and downtime are essential to productivity overall. It's better to get something done than nothing and once you start racking up those somethings, you'll feel motivated to sprint to the finish line.

https://lifehacker.com/work/two-productivity-techniques-that-help-you-get-more-done?utm_medium=RSS

sovay

After years of not even being able to pirate it,

spatch and I have finally just finished the first series of BBC Ghosts (2019–23), during which he pointed out to me the half of the cast that had been on Taskmaster. I recognized a guest-starring Sophie Thompson.

This article on the megaliths of Orkney got Dave Goulder stuck in my head, especially once one of the archaeologists interviewed compared the Ring of Brodgar to sandstone pages. "They may not have been intended to last millennia, but, now that they have, they are stone doors through which the living try to touch the dead."

I wish a cult image of fish-tailed Artemis had existed at Phigalia, hunting pack of seals and all.

Any year now some part of my health could just fix itself a little, as a treat.

Current Music: MGMT, "Electric Feel"

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/boston-loses-artist-napoleon-jones-henderson

Napoleon Jones-Henderson during during Roxbury Open Studios, Oct. 7, 2023. Photo by Greg Cook.

Greg Cook reports the death of Napoleon Jones-Henderson, who helped start the AfriCOBRA artists collective in Chicago in the 1960s before moving to Boston, where he taught art and worked in a variety of media to chronicle and portray the Black and African experience.

"He was an eminence," Cook writes of Henderson, 82. "He was so cool."

Among his more public works is "Roxbury Rhapsody," a tile celebration of life in the neighborhood that is installed in the Bolling Building in Nubian Square. Video about the mural's creation by Clennon L. King.

More examples of his work and his biography.

Neighborhoods:

Roxbury

Free tagging:

art

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/boston-loses-artist-napoleon-jones-henderson

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/crime/2025/three-sought-knifepoint-holdup-market-marcella-street-roxbury

Surveillance photos of three suspects, all in dark jackets or hoodies, save one in a dark jacket and a light hoodie

Surveillance photos of suspects via BPD.

Boston Police report they are looking for three guys, possibly from the Heath Street area, who held up the Marcella Market, 80 Marcella St. in Roxbury at knifepoint around 4:40 p.m. on Friday.

Preliminary information indicates that three suspects entered the store, and one suspect brandished a knife. Two of the suspects then went behind the counter and stole various smoking items and vapes. All three suspects fled on foot on Marcella Street toward Centre Street.

If any of them look familiar, you can call detectives at 617-343-4275 or contact the anonymous tip line by calling 800-494-TIPS or by texting TIP to CRIME (27463).

Neighborhoods:

Topics:

Free tagging:

https://www.universalhub.com/crime/2025/three-sought-knifepoint-holdup-market-marcella-street-roxbury

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/reach-out-and-touch-someone

Missing pay phone replaced with simulacrum in Roslindale

There's been this empty payphone stand at the Roslindale Village train station for years. For awhile, somebody filled the forlorn assemblage with bouquets of fake flowers. More recently, somebody mounted a wall-mounted push-button phone. The intrepid UHub Mobile Action News Unit picked up the handset this afternoon, but didn't get a dial tone.

When reaching out and touching someone was a thing.

Via Keep Roslindale Quirky.

Topics:

Neighborhoods:

Free tagging:

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/reach-out-and-touch-someone

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/wu-turns-reddit-explain-property-tax-proposal

Mayor Wu is in the middle of an Ask Me Anything session on Boston Reddit - she explained the Boston's request to the legislature to let it temporarily change a higher than otherwise allowed tax rate on large commercial properties to help homeowners, people asked questions, she says she'll post answers on Monday.

Topics:

Neighborhoods:

Free tagging:

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/wu-turns-reddit-explain-property-tax-proposal

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/ten-tables-jamaica-plain-close-end-month-owner-planning-something-new

Krista Kranyak Chalfin, who opened the pioneering farm-to-table Ten Tables on Centre Street 25 years ago, writes today that "it's time to turn the page" and that restaurant's last service will be Dec. 31 - but that then she'll be getting the space ready for a new dining concept:

I’m closing this chapter with immense gratitude - for every guest who squeezed into one of our tiny table tops, every farmer who showed up at the back door, and every member of our team who poured their heart into this restaurant.

In this same beloved space, I’ll be reimagining what comes next: a new concept that honors the intentional, crafted, and change-making purpose that is my passion. I can’t wait to share more soon.

Topics:

Dining

Neighborhoods:

Jamaica Plain

Free tagging:

Centre Street

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/ten-tables-jamaica-plain-close-end-month-owner-planning-something-new

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/riders-brace-green-line-bustitution

Allstonia sums up the two weeks of Green Line disruption that start tomorrow for no doubt much needed repairs that just couldn't wait until after the Christmas shopping season.

Topics:

Neighborhoods:

Free tagging:

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/riders-brace-green-line-bustitution

jennycrusie_feed

Posted by Jenny

https://arghink.com/2025/12/happiness-sunday-finding-a-book-you-once-loved-all-over-again/

https://arghink.com/?p=32324

People I trust have been telling me I need serious help mentally, and who am I to argue? But it made me think about Jane Wagner’s marvelous book from the 80’s, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe which has what might be my favorite quote of all time (although it has serious competition for “All right then, I’ll go to hell”).

““I made some studies, and reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it. I can take it in small doses, but as a lifestyle, I found it too confining. It was just too needful; it expected me to be there for it all the time, and with all I have to do–I had to let something go.”

And that’s pretty much where I am now. I think that’s where a lot of authors are. It’s not like we’re good at reality. If we were, we wouldn’t have to make up new ones to live in for awhile.

Jane Wagner made me happy again after all these years.

What made you happy this week?

https://arghink.com/2025/12/happiness-sunday-finding-a-book-you-once-loved-all-over-again/

https://arghink.com/?p=32324

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/311-complaint-day-does-owning-bmw-make-you-entitled-jerk

A disgusted resident files a 311 complaint about an out-of-state luxury car parked in a resident-only space on Joy Street at Myrtle Street on Beacon Hill on Saturday afternoon:

Car brazenly parked in dwindling resident parking in Beacon Hill with CT plate and no sticker. Is it owning the BMW, or perhaps something else, that is responsible for the driver not thinking about anyone else and deciding the rules don’t apply to them? Uncertain but perhaps a rare consequence would be instructive.

Neighborhoods:

Free tagging:

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/311-complaint-day-does-owning-bmw-make-you-entitled-jerk

sovay

Crossing recent streams, tonight I participated with

rushthatspeaks in a reading of The Invention of Love (1997) in memoriam Tom Stoppard with a Discord group that does a different play every week. I was assigned Moses Jackson, the straightest himbo ever to play a sport. I consider it a triumph for the profession that I did not catch on fire enthusing about field athletics.

When I read in passing that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966) had begun life as a one-act comedy entitled Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Meet King Lear, I went to fact-check this assertion immediately because it sounded like a joke, you know, like one of the great tragedies of the English stage starting out as the farcical Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter and then a ringing sound in my ears indicated that the penny had dropped.

Speaking of, I have seen going around the quotation from Arcadia (1993) on the destruction and endurance of history:

We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march. But there is nothing outside the march so nothing can be lost to it. The missing plays of Sophocles will turn up piece by piece, or be written again in another language. Ancient cures for diseases will reveal themselves once more. Mathematical discoveries glimpsed and lost to view will have their time again. You do not suppose, my lady, that if all of Archimedes had been hiding in the great library of Alexandria, we would be at a loss for a corkscrew?

Stoppard was not supposed to have known the full extent of his Jewishness until midlife, but it is such a diasporic way of thinking, the convergent echo of Emeric Pressburger is difficult for me not to hear. I keep writing of the coins in the field, everything that time gives back, if not always to those who lost it.

Current Music: Annie Bartholomew, "Mountain Dove Song"

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/lack-redblue-connector-didnt-stop-man-perving-out-both-lines-less-hour

Wanted for exposing himsself on the Red and Blue lines

Photos via Transit PD.

Transit Police report they are looking for a guy they say undid his pants on both the Red and the Blue lines over a 45-minute period on Monday.

If Mr. Alleged Open and Gross looks familiar, contact detectives, anonymously if you prefer, at 617-222-1050.

Topics:

Neighborhoods:

Free tagging:

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/lack-redblue-connector-didnt-stop-man-perving-out-both-lines-less-hour

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/if-state-police-want-way-make-money-they-should-sell-tickets-when-they

Truck that would not have made it very far at all into the Callahan Tunnel

Jpshipley was among the people caught in a traffic jam caused by the driver of an 18-wheeler who realized in time early this afternoon that his rig was not going to fit in the Callahan Tunnel.

Typically, when that happens, State Police arrive, open up the Backup of Shame ramp up from the tunnel entrance and then slowly direct the driver to back up to the surface.

Neighborhoods:

North End

Free tagging:

Callahan Tunnel

Storrowed

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/if-state-police-want-way-make-money-they-should-sell-tickets-when-they

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/it-probably-wasnt-flight-33-buzzing-parts-boston-and-brookline-early

Watch on YouTube

Between midnight and 1 a.m., people in Roslindale, Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury and South Brookline couldn't get to sleep - or were jolted out of their sleep - because of a low-flying plane that just kept circling, circling, circling.

What appeared to be a small propeller plane first circled Medford, Belmont and Somerville after doing the same over the North End and Charlestown a couple times, starting around 11:30 p.m. The pilot then headed south for an hour's worth of flying in circles over people who started calling 911 - which had no idea - and wondering what the hell was going on.

In the Keep Roslindale Quirky Facebook group, speculation ranged from somebody practicing night flying to State Police running a Stingray phone device to tap into somebody's phone calls. The State Police have a Cessna in their air wing.

One odd thing about the plane is that it wasn't showing up on a couple of the more popular flight-tracker sites, although it did make appearances on one called ADS-B Exchange.

Topics:

Neighborhoods:

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/it-probably-wasnt-flight-33-buzzing-parts-boston-and-brookline-early

jennycrusie_feed

Posted by Jenny

https://arghink.com/2025/12/argh-author-carrie-nichols/

https://arghink.com/?p=32331

Our own Carrie Nichols had a book out in August, right before I broke my butt and I am trying to catch up now, so huge apologies to Carrie.

About the book:
He knows how to be brave on a battlefield
Now he has to be brave with his heart

Years of military service taught decorated veteran Braden Sullivan how to be strong. It didn’t teach him how to be vulnerable. Back in his Oregon hometown, with a job as a helicopter pilot and a two-family home to renovate, he’s not at all prepared for his heart to take flight after meeting his tenant, Cassie Donovan. The widowed single mom is beautiful, charming…and terrified of loving another pilot after losing her husband in a crash. Overcoming her fears and his own uncertainties will take courage—but isn’t that what a hero soldier is for?

Learn more at https://carrienichols.com

The buy links are:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Heros-Return-Widowed-Finding-Forever-ebook/dp/B0DP2YR5CF

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-heros-return-carrie-nichols/1146592438?ean=9780369773173

https://arghink.com/2025/12/argh-author-carrie-nichols/

https://arghink.com/?p=32331

sovay

Realizing last night that I have for decades thought of myself as a full year older than I chronologically can have been for my first real job—I was fifteen—led into a crumble-to-dust reminiscence about the number of bookstores once to be found in Lexington Center, which gave me some serious future shock when we walked into Maxima while waiting to collect our order from Il Casale and it occupied the exact same storefront as my second job, also as a bookseller; it was perhaps the one form of retail to which I was natively suited. My third job was assistant-teaching Latin, but my fourth I accidentally talked my way into by recommending some titles to a fellow browser.

spatch's anniversary gift to me was a paperback of Satoshi Yagisawa's Days at the Morisaki Bookshop (trans. Eric Ozawa, 2010/2023). It was teeth-shockingly cold and we all but ran with our spoils back to the car.

( Twenty-four hours every day. )

We had set out in search of resplendent food and found it in polpette that reminded us of the North End, a richly smoky rigatoni with ragù of deep-braised lamb, and a basil-decorated, fanciest eggplant parmesan I have encountered in my life, capped with panna cotta in a tumble of wintrily apt pomegranate seeds. Hestia investigated delicately but dangerously. After we had recovered, Rob showed me Powwow Highway (1989) right before it expired from the unreliable buffer of TCM because he thought and was right that I would love its anger and gentleness and hereness, plus its '64 Buick which has already gone on beyond Bluesmobile by the time it is discovered in a field of clunkers and a vision of ponies. It has no budget and so much of the world. As long as we're in it, we might as well be real.

Current Music: David Byrne, "What Is the Reason for It? (feat. Hayley Williams)"

universalhub_feed

Posted by adamg

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/some-people-scheduled-citizenship-pulled-out-line-faneuil-hall

GBH reports on what happened at Faneuil Hall on Thursday.

She showed up as scheduled, and when she arrived, officers were asking everyone what country they were from, and if they said a certain country, they were told to step out of line and that their oath ceremonies were canceled.

Neighborhoods:

Free tagging:

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/some-people-scheduled-citizenship-pulled-out-line-faneuil-hall

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3177/

Luckily, the range is limited by the fact that the square boundary lines follow great circles.

https://xkcd.com/3177/

lifehacker_feed

Posted by Naima Karp

https://lifehacker.com/tech/jbl-tune-770nc-wireless-headphones-december-2025?utm_medium=RSS

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

If you missed out on all the best headphone deals during Black Friday, there are still some bargains to be found, including on these JBL Tune 770NC wireless headphones, currently $80 from Amazon, 47% off the usual $150 price tag. They’re a solid choice for anyone seeking over-ear headphones with decent noise cancellation and that signature JBL sound.

JBL Tune 770NC Wireless Headphones

According PCMag's review, these headphones offer a “sculpted sound signature with palpable bass,” which you can tweak using the adjustable in-app EQ. Long battery life is a major perk: They should last up to 70 hours with ANC off, letting you go at least a week of heavy use between charges. They also have Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity and multipoint pairing, as well as three different ambient modes and a built-in mic for calls.

The 770NCs come in three colors, and the design is lightweight and foldable, with generous cushioning and a padded headband. While control buttons are responsive, they can be tricky to distinguish by feel, and PCMag notes that controls can be sensitive to misfires. The adaptive noise cancellation likewise isn’t top-tier; while it will reduce outside sound, it doesn’t do much against low-frequency noise.

Those caveats aside, if you want comfortable, long-lasting over-ear headphones with bass-y sound for a budget price (and you don’t need best-in-class noise cancellation), the JBL Tune 770NC wireless headphones land firmly in the “good enough” category, and deliver strong value at the current 47% discount.

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https://lifehacker.com/tech/jbl-tune-770nc-wireless-headphones-december-2025?utm_medium=RSS