ResidentialBusiness

March is kind of a wild month — it’s got a little bit of everything. At first glance, Women’s History Month and March Madness might feel like an odd pairing, but lately, they actually go hand in hand. Thanks to the Caitlin Clark effect (you know the one), women’s college basketball has been booming. In fact, in 2024, the women’s NCAA championship game drew more viewers than the men’s for the first time ever. Will that momentum keep going this year? We’re about to find out. The Final Four is here, and UCLA, South Carolina, Texas, and UConn are all ready to bring it. Here’s what you need to know — and how to catch every minute of the action. When and where is the Women’s Final Four? The action is taking place at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Friday, April 4 is game day. First, the South Carolina Gamecocks and Texas Longhorns will battle it out at 7 p.m. ET. Then the UCLA Bruin will face the UConn Huskies for the remaining spot in the championship game at 9:30 p.m. ET. Players and coaches to watch As the defending champion, South Carolina, wants back-to-back titles. Head coach Dawn Staley’s roster is a mix of developmental talent and experienced players which may prove to be a deadly weapon. Joyce Edwards, Chloe Kitts and MiLaysia Fulwiley are eager to prove themselves on the national stage. Sometimes you don’t need a household-name superstar to win it all. Madison Booker and the Texas Longhorns want to stop this crew. The team hasn’t seen the Final Four since 2003. The organization only has a single championship under its belt. Lauren Betts started her college basketball career at Stanford but left to become a Bruin after freshman year. She’s an imposing figure to guard at six feet seven inches. Led by coach Cori Close, this is the first time UCLA has been in the Final Four since 1979 which was before the NCAA sponsored women’s basketball. The team is hopeful the party doesn’t stop here but not if Paige Bueckers has anything to say about it. One could argue Bueckers has filled the void left by Clark at the collegiate level. If she’s successful in the Final Four she will have the opportunity to surpass her predecessor by winning a national championship. This UConn Guard wants to help her team go all the way especially since the organization has not accomplished this feat since 2016. How to tune in Traditional cable subscribers can tune into ESPN to watch all the free throws and three-pointers. Those who cut the cord can turn to a live television streaming service that carries ESPN such as Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, Fubo, YouTube TV, or DirecTV Stream. Both Final Four games are evenly matched with no clear front-runners so the competition is sure to be fierce. View the full article

Banks ask clients to stump up additional money as global market sell-off knocks value of holdingsView the full article

The Department of Justice said in a court filing Friday that a February stop-work order from acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Russell Vought did not entail stopping statutorily-mandated work by the bureau, defying earlier testimony. View the full article

For all of the risks and potential dangers associated with crypto, it is still becoming an increasingly mainstream asset. That’s according to the latest data from the National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA), a non-profit aimed at helping Americans better understand cryptocurrency and digital assets. One in five Americans currently owns cryptocurrency in some shape or form, according to the NCA’s 2025 State of Crypto Holders Report. The report, which was produced with The Harris Poll, also finds that nearly 40% use crypto to pay for goods or services, and that two-thirds say that crypto “has a positive impact on their lives.” The data was sourced from a Harris Poll survey conducted in January and February this year, from a pool of 54,000 respondents that was winnowed down to 10,000 crypto holders. It’s the largest survey conducted to date of crypto holders. A couple of other interesting findings include that nearly 40% of American crypto holders live in the South—more than double the amount that live in the Midwest (17%) or the Northeast (18%). Twenty-six percent live in the West. Also, while 14% of crypto holders work in the tech sector, 12% work in construction. And only 7%, a perhaps surprisingly low number, work in finance. The report also notes that crypto owners are a fairly diverse set, and that one reason is that “crypto has a surprisingly low bar for entry.” That is true—in many cases, all that’s needed to start purchasing crypto is a brokerage account and a few dollars, as many cryptocurrencies have low values. But that also makes it a fairly risky field. In 2023, for instance, the amount lost to crypto scams added up to more than $5.6 billion, according to FBI data. Early estimates seem to indicate that the total lost to crypto scams during 2024 will be at least double that amount. Either way, the report points to a rather obvious conclusion: Crypto seems to be growing, and even becoming more mainstream. Of course, that’s as the NCA is also pushing for more mainstream adoption of crypto itself. The organization launched just one month ago. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. This post is part of Find Your Fit Tech, Lifehacker's fitness wearables buying guide. I'm asking the tough questions about whether wearables can really improve your health, how to find the right one for you, and how to make the most of the data wearables can offer. A fitness tracker’s job isn’t done when you finish your workout, or even when you take your last steps of the day. There are devices that excel at tracking how long and how well you slept, and devices that attempt to tell you when you’re well-recovered and ready for your next challenge. Here are my picks for the best of this category. What to look for in a sleep/recovery trackerWhere our other buyers’ guides are almost entirely about which smartwatch to pick, the recovery-oriented devices are different. Some come in the form of a watch, but the two standouts in this category—the Oura ring and the Whoop band—aren’t watches at all. Neither has a screen for you to look at. They merely gather data and present their conclusions in a smartphone app. They also aren’t (necessarily) worn on the wrist. That’s great news for people who want something minimalist and distraction-free. But that’s not everyone. Here are the questions to ask yourself when you’re shopping around. Do you want a sleep tracker, or a smartwatch that can track sleep? Before you start looking at sleep-specific devices, it’s important to ask yourself whether you want sleep tracking as a feature of a device that does other stuff, or if you truly want a device that’s dedicated to sleep and recovery tracking. Most general-purpose smartwatches can do adequate sleep tracking. They’ll give you a decent idea of how late you went to bed, how many hours of sleep you tend to get, and they’ll often report some recovery metrics as well, like your resting heart rate. Here are a few smartwatches and fitness watches that can track your sleep well: Apple Watch Series 10 (with Apple Health and the new Vitals app—or install a recovery tracking app of your choice for advanced metrics, like Bevel or Athlytic) Garmin Forerunner 265/265S, which will even roll sleep data into your training readiness score for the day Pixel Watch 3, an Android-friendly smartwatch that uses the Fitbit app for sleep tracking If you want sleep tracking in addition to other features, check out our other guides for health tracking and for running. You may find the watch you really want in one of those categories. Are you OK with paying for a subscription? My two top picks both require a subscription to make the most of your data. Whoop sells the subscription as its primary product, with the band as a thing thrown in to go with it. Oura, meanwhile, will sell you a ring and give you sleep and recovery scores for free; but to get the detailed information you probably came for, you’ll need to pay up. Do you need accurate activity tracking? All of these wearables say they can track your heart rate during exercise, but that doesn’t mean they do it well. Oura’s niche use as a sleep tracker evolved from the fact that it’s really hard to get accurate heart rate data from a ring while you’re moving. (Longtime readers will recall that I reviewed the Motiv ring in 2018, and found that it was useless for exercise, but great as a sleep tracker.) Oura turned its ring’s weakness into a strength: Since it needs you to be very still and quiet to take readings, it's now positioned as a sleep tracker, which needs to do that exact thing really well. But that means that when it added activity tracking later on…well, it’s not great. It’s better than I would have expected, to be sure. But it would definitely not be my choice for tracking exercise. I wear an Oura ring every day, but I’ll actually strap on a watch when it’s time to go for a run. Whoop does a better job than Oura, but it still has its issues. I’ve found it can easily get confused about my actual heart rate; the numbers will seem low, and then I’ll wiggle the band, and suddenly I’m seeing a 160 heart rate instead of 140. That’s a pretty big margin of error. Many people find that the Whoop is good enough, most of the time, but if you need really accurate exercise metrics you’ll probably be happier with a more traditional fitness tracker instead. Best for minimalists: the Oura ring This one is my personal favorite; I fell in love with the Oura ring when I reviewed it years ago. If you hate wearing wristwatches and don’t really care about activity tracking, this is the device for you. (You can also read my four-year retrospective on what I've learned using it daily over the years.) The Oura gives accurate resting heart rate (RHR) and heart rate variability (HRV), two metrics that come more or less directly from its sensors, with minimal layers of interpretation. Both can tell you something about your stress and fatigue levels. Generally, if you’re well-rested and not under too much stress, your RHR will be low and your HRV will be high. I routinely see an elevated RHR if I’m sick, if I’ve been drinking or staying up late, or if my weightlifting training has been putting a lot of stress on me. On the flip side, RHR can lower over time as you improve your cardio fitness. Oura’s app then uses those metrics, and other data it’s collected about you, to give you sleep scores, readiness scores, and gentle recommendations for supporting your health. The sleep score gives you an idea of how long and how well you slept. The readiness score is highest when you’re under the least stress (low RHR, high HRV). But I find these scores less useful than the raw data they’re built on. An Oura ring without a subscription only provides these scores in the app, without the raw data. The hardware alone is not worth it. Oura is supposed to be the best wearable for tracking sleep stages, and that may be true, but no wearable is actually tracking your sleep stages accurately. Pay more attention to your total sleep time, which it’s relatively good at detecting, not the time in each stage or the overall sleep quality. One more, important note about activity tracking: you will not want to wear this during workouts where you’re lifting weights or hanging from a pull-up bar. The ring is chunky enough to interfere with your grip and dig into your skin. You won’t be able to do your best lifts while you’re wearing it. And if you care about the ring’s appearance, lifting weights will definitely scratch it up. I lift a lot, so I leave my ring on the charger when I head to the gym. So if you can’t lift in it, and it’s not great at activity tracking or sleep staging, why wear one? Honestly, because I can forget that it exists and still get all the benefits of knowing what my RHR and HRV have been, pretty much every night, for the last three and a half years. (I never stick with a wearable that long.) The metrics help me to understand whether I’m recovering well enough from my daily training, and remind me to pay a little extra attention to my sleep and stress when training gets tough. Two generations of the Oura ring are currently being sold. The newer gen 4 ring has a wider range of sizes, a more comfortable fit, and a more accurate sensor setup. The older gen 3 has all the same core features, but is available at a significant discount. I have a comparison of the gen 3 and gen 4 rings here, if you'd like to consider your options. Oura rings start at $199 (gen 3) or $349 (gen 4), plus a $5.99/month subscription. Oura Ring 4 $349.00 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg Shop Now Shop Now $349.00 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg Best for athletes: Whoop band If you want something that can track activities, but works with an app that is recovery-focused rather than exercise-focused, you probably want a Whoop band. If you’re happy to strap a gadget to your wrist, great—that’s the easiest way to wear a Whoop. It will look like a watch, except with no screen (the fabric band covers the spot where the screen would be). If you don’t want a wristband, the Whoop device can also be strapped to your arm, between your deltoid and bicep (they call it a “bicep band”). This was my favorite way to wear it, since it doesn't interfere with wrist wraps while I'm lifting. You can also buy clothing, including sports bras and branded boxer shorts, that have a little pocket to hold the device against your skin without a strap. One of Whoop’s characteristic features is that you can wear it 24/7. Instead of plugging it in to charge, there is a little detachable battery that you plug in. Then, for an hour or so every couple of days, you slide this battery onto your Whoop band like a tiny backpack. When it’s fully charged, the indicator light will change colors and you can slide it off. Besides tracking your sleep, the Whoop can also track activity—although, as I noted above, it’s not as accurate as some of the more traditional gadgets. (If you really want the most accurate heart rate, you’ll want to get a chest strap anyway.) The app models sleep and activity—which it calls Strain—as two sides of the same coin. If you did a long or hard workout, your Strain will be high, and the app will recommend an amount of sleep that will help you to recover. In the morning, it will tell you where your Recovery stands and recommend an appropriate amount of Strain for the day’s workouts. As I’ve written before, I don’t think it’s very smart to adjust your long-term training plan based on short-term fluctuations in recovery, but how you use the data is up to you. The Whoop app also has some really excellent features for tracking your "sleep debt" and planning when to go to bed and wake up for various levels of restedness. Whoop doesn't sell the band as a product, exactly; it sells a subscription that runs $30/month or $239/year, and you get the device with a plain black wristband for free. Other colors and styles cost extra, and you get free hardware upgrades when a new model comes out. Whoop 4.0 With a 12-Month Subscription $239.00 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg Shop Now Shop Now $239.00 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg Best smartwatch option: Garmin Venu 3 All of Garmin’s running watches include recovery metrics, including my fave, the Forerunner 265. These include resting heart rate, HRV, training readiness, "body battery," and calculated recovery times for each workout. The non-athletes I know tend to love the Body Battery. Like Whoop’s approach, this sees exercise and sleep as sort of opposite forces. Your Body Battery will be closer to 100% if you’ve been sleeping well and haven’t done much strenuous exercise lately. It will drain as you exercise, or if you’re under a lot of stress. Sleeping fills it back up again. You can get some or all of these features on almost any Garmin watch. But if you’d like to buy a new smartwatch just for sleep tracking, I’d suggest the Garmin Venu 3. The Venu 3 has the Body Battery feature, as well as a Sleep Coach that will tell you how long you slept compared to how much you needed, and it will recommend how much you should try to sleep tonight. The recommendations are based mainly on your HRV (one of those recovery metrics it can read from its sensors) and your recent sleep and activity history. The Venu 3 also has nap detection, by the way, so you’ll still get credit for falling asleep watching a movie—but it also won’t confuse that with your regular night’s sleep. I'm choosing the Venu 3 (or the 3S, which is the same thing in the smaller size) for a few reasons. It has the newest generation of Garmin's Elevate heart rate sensor, making it potentially a smidge more accurate than other great watches like the Forerunner or Vivoactive lines. It also has skin temperature sensing, which not all Garmins do. But if you'd like a more budget-friendly watch that's still great for tracking sleep, the new Vivoactive 6 ($299) has most of the same sleep-tracking features, and also has a smart wake alarm that aims to buzz you awake during a lighter stage of sleep. Garmin Venu 3 $439.83 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg Get Deal Get Deal $439.83 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg View the full article

Washington’s two biggest trade partners still face a host of levies from their neighbourView the full article

The FBI intervened in the incident, which a lawyer for the company's CEO said was a response to another man's actions. View the full article

Republican lawmakers, mulling a new partial claim proposal, slammed the expiring program that has purchased thousands of mortgages as Biden-era overreach. View the full article

If you're reading this, chances are you've used ChatGPT. But have you paid for ChatGPT? OpenAI offers a number of ways to do so, but the cheapest plan is $20 per month. It's pretty steep, especially since the company continues to offer premium features for free users. However, there are still plenty of features and perks exclusive to paying customers. If you're interested in these options, and you happen to be a college student in the United States or Canada, good news: ChatGPT Plus is now free for you, for a very limited time. Who is eligible? You can only take advantage of this offer if you are a full or part-time student at a degree-granting school in either the U.S. or Canada. Don't be dissuaded if you don't see your school when attempting to sign up for the offer: OpenAI has a support link to help find or add your school to the list. This tool may also confirmed whether your school is ineligible. You need to be physically present in the U.S. (and its territories) or Canada to sign up for this offer, too—VPNs will not work, unless its a whitelisted educational VPN. OpenAI says it'll confirm your student credentials through a service called SheerID. If the service is unable to verify you through your school's registrar office, or via your school's single sign-on service, you may need to provide SheerID with extra documents to prove your eligibility. SheerID says it only uses this data to authenticate your eligibility for this promotion, and does not sell or share your data with third parties. While you are eligible if you have an existing ChatGPT Pro account, you are not eligible if that account is through Google Play or Apple's App Store. You'll need to make a new account in order to get ChatGPT Plus for free. ChatGPT Pro users are also not eligible. What do you get?If you are indeed eligible for the promotion, you can claim ChatGPT Plus from now through May 31, 2025. Once you make your claim, you get two months of ChatGPT Plus for free. So, if you sign up on May 31, you'll have free access through July 31. Once that period is up, OpenAI will charge you the typical $20 per month rate. As said above, this applies to existing ChatGPT Plus subscribers, too. If you verify that you are a student, OpenAI will credit your account for the two month promotional period. This promotion includes the full ChatGPT Plus service. That comes with all of the features of the free plan, including GPT-4o mini access, GPT-4o and o3-mini access, web search, file uploads, data analysis, image generation, and voice mode. In addition, Plus offers extended limits on things like messages, file uploads, analysis, and image creation, advanced voice mode with video and the ability to share your screen, deep research for more analytical queries, GPT-4.5 preview access, custom GPTs, tasks, and limited access to OpenAI's Sora video generator. How to get ChatGPT Plus for freeIf you think you're eligible, head to OpenAI's official promotional site here. Once it loads, click either "Claim offer" button you see. Log into your account, then follow the on-screen instructions to verify your identity as an eligible student. View the full article

Executive order gives video app’s Chinese owner another 75 days to find buyer before US ban hitsView the full article

The US president wants to unwind decades of economic integration. The risk of a 1930s-style global trade war is causing markets to panicView the full article

Italy will effectively have casting vote on whether to support use of anti-coercion instrument to hit US services exports View the full article

Despite inflation concerns, slowing growth raises expectations of rate cutsView the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Air travel may be fast, but it’s also often a source of stress and discomfort. Aside from tight seats, delays, and generally uncomfortable accommodations, airlines have been nickel-and-diming us with fees for just about everything, including luggage. Checked bag fees range around $30 to $40 to start, so it’s not surprising that more and more people are trying to travel with just their carry-on. Restricting yourself to a single carry-on is liberating—no more waiting at the luggage carousel, no more dragging a bulky, heavy roller behind you everywhere—but also limiting in terms of space. Clever packing, like rolling your clothes, can help get the most out of a carry-on, but eventually, you run up against the laws of physics. If you really want to stretch that carry-on’s capacity to the limit, here are a few clever items you can buy that will help you with that project. Packing cubesAs our own Beth Skwarecki will tell you, packing cubes are life-changing. They contain all your loose items—like those rolled-up shirts—so they stay in their pristine, efficient configuration instead of getting disorganized and chaotic. Compression cubes can also shrink down many of your items so they take up as little space as possible. They also make it a lot easier to use the space inside your carry-on efficiently, transforming a bunch of oddly-shaped stuff into neat cubes that can be quickly arranged and re-arranged. Finally, they can be used to separate out your stuff by use case, so you can keep stuff neatly packed away when you access the stuff you need right now. Vacuum bagsIf compression packing cubes can shrink down some of your stuff, imagine an entire carry-on that compresses itself. Vacuum seal carry-on backpacks have a built-in vacuum that compresses everything inside all at once with the touch of a button, making the bag as small and easily stowed as possible. The two downsides to a vacuum-sealed carry-on are access and security. If you need to grab something from your carry-on, you’ll have to decompress it first. In terms of getting these bags through security at the airport, the TSA says they are “discouraged” but allowed, so you can get them through. But the TSA agents may force you to decompress them so they can inspect the contents—especially if the compression makes it difficult to make out what’s in there. Because of the built-in vacuum, you should be able to re-seal the bag after you grab your stuff or have it inspected, but it’s still a downside. Stuffable neck pillowsIf you’re going to use a neck pillow on the plane, why not buy one that lets you easily stuff it full of rolled-up clothing or other soft items? Every shirt you get into a neck pillow is a shirt you don’t have to fit into your carry-on, opening up space for other items or making your packing job just a little bit easier, and you still get the benefit of a neck pillow. It’s a win-win! Belt bagsBelt bags (or fanny packs, as the unwashed call them) are a great way to get just a little extra room in your carry-on. It’s true that many airlines will consider a visible belt bag to be a personal item and demand that you stuff it into your carry-on when boarding. But that can only happen if they see it—choosing a slim, compressed belt bag like this one will allow you to wear it under your clothes while boarding, and no one will be the wiser. Stackable containers for toiletriesThese hexagonal, magnetic capsules are designed to be the perfect way to bring liquid stuff with you on the plane. They hold 1.32 ounces of stuff, snap together to make packing them very easy, and are pre-labeled so you know exactly what’s in them. It’s a much more efficient way to bring some basics like shampoo, conditioner, or lotion with you than trying to manage tiny plastic bottles or even a lumpy bag of tiny plastic bottles. Solid toiletriesIf you’re going to be packing your own shampoo and other toiletries, consider bringing solid versions—shampoo bars, conditioner, or lotion—instead of their harder-to-manage liquid versions. You could replace your toothpaste with a tooth powder as well, which can be transferred to any appropriately-sized container. These options are not only easier to pack, with less chance of a mess—they also won’t get you into any trouble at the security line, since they’re not liquid. View the full article

Duncan announced the launch of a new company in a social media post in early April after retiring from the government-sponsored enterprise at the end of 2024. View the full article

America’s tariff onslaught will drive upheaval well beyond tradeView the full article

The GOP side of the Banking Committee, led by Sen. Tim Scott, asks FHFA head Bill Pulte to "aggressively" reduce waste at the government-sponsored enterprises. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Google released the Pixel 9 smartphones along with the Pixel Watch 3, and the Pixel Buds Pro 2 late last summer. Their second generation earbuds brought some great upgrades, and make them a great value for any Pixel user (although they're compatible with any Android and have limited iOS support). Right now, you can get the Pixel Buds Pro 2 for $179 (originally $229), matching the lowest price they've ever been according to price-tracking tools. Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 Brand: Google, Color: Hazel, Ear Placement: In Ear, Noise Control: Active Noise Cancellation $259.00 at Amazon Get Deal Get Deal $259.00 at Amazon The list price for the new Pixel Buds Pro 2 is $29 more than the original Pixel Buds Pro, which have since dropped to $111. Some of the improvements Google has made to the new earbuds to justify the price include a new twisting mechanism that secures to the ear better for more intense workouts, better active noise-cancelling (ANC) thanks to the more snug fit, better audio processing with the new Tensor A1 chip, longer battery life of about eight hours with ANC on and 31 hours from the charging case, and the inclusion og Gemini Live, Android's AI voice assistant. Some things that were not improved this time around: the drivers, wireless charging, and the equalizer options are all the same as the previous generation. The earbuds have an IP54 rating for water resistance and the charging case is also water resistant, with an IPX4 rating. With a full charge, you can expect eight hours of continuous listening with ANC on (12 hours with ANC off) plus an additional 22 hours (36 hours with ANC off) from the charging case. As CNET's review explains, the audio and ANC quality the earbuds will offer you depends on how good of a snug fit you'll get from them. If you're looking for the latest pair of ANC Pixel earbuds with Gemini virtual AI assistant, a smaller design, better ANC, audio and mic quality, these are a good option at this price. View the full article

Most of us know the general (albeit simplified) story: Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov used a stimulus—like a metronome—around the dogs he was studying, and soon, the hounds would start to salivate. They had learned that the sound meant food was coming. The phenomenon, now known as classical conditioning, became one of modern psychology’s foundational discoveries. It’s an unconscious process where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a naturally occurring stimulus, eventually leading to a connection between the two. The dogs, seeing the researcher who often brings them food or hearing the noise of the cart on its way, would immediately know they were about to have a meal. Flash forward 120 years: my dog and I are riding through San Francisco in a self-driving car. I’ve taken Waymo’s autonomous vehicles dozens of times, often with my 9-year-old chiweenie, Poppy, nestled on my lap. She usually naps peacefully, facing inward, oblivious to the world outside. Near the end of each ride, the car makes a familiar “ding-dong” chime, followed by a woman’s voice reminding me to take my phone, keys, and wallet. Poppy, unfazed, would remain in a deep sleep until the car stopped, I unbuckled my seatbelt, and picked her up to get out. Back to the world of smells and fresh air! Lately, I’ve noticed something strange: As soon as the ding sounds, Poppy wakes up, turns around, and readies herself at the door without my help—every single time. Is this . . . Pavlov’s Waymo? As a serious journalist in pursuit of all the hard-hitting truths, I emailed the veterinary team at Bond Vet. The short answer to my not-so-serious question? Yes. “In practical terms, the sound acts as a cue, prompting her anticipation to leave. This behavior develops because the sound repeatedly coincides with the end of the ride, and the reward of getting out reinforces her response,” Dr. Lisa Lippman, director of virtual medicine at Bond Vet, said in an email. “Dogs are incredibly perceptive and often pick up on routines and environmental cues like this, it’s a great example of how they learn and adapt!” Researchers at the University of California, Davis, found in 2021 that common household noises, like a microwave beep or the chirp of a smoke detector, can cause a dog anxiety. Thankfully, Poppy doesn’t seem very anxious about the car’s noise (although humans are notoriously bad at sensing a dog’s stress or real emotions). But it made me think of the constant notifications and dings of our world. At the same time as our pets, we as humans are being classically conditioned. The microwave beep alerts us that we’re about to be rewarded with food, the “tudum” sound when you open the Netflix app prepares us for entertainment, the Waymo chime let’s us know it’s almost time to get out. Brands especially have utilized classical conditioning to associate their product with an emotion. “When we play sound feedback for Waymo riders, our guiding philosophy is to be friendly and helpful,” Waymo’s Head of Design and Customer Research Ryan Powell said over email. “That means playing sounds that feel connected and familiar, but not intrusive. We want to be thoughtful about how and when we play sound, so that riders can rely on these signals for their safety and comfort. Sometimes we’ll play sound followed by a voice explanation for more detail.” View the full article

Swedish ‘buy now, pay later’ fintech was set to launch its so-called IPO roadshow to investors next weekView the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. HBO was, for at least a couple of generations, the home of movies on cable—no one else could compete. For a while, it seemed like Max could well be the ultimate streaming destination for movie lovers, but the jury is still out there. Even still, Max maintains a collaboration with TCM, giving it a broad range of classic American and foreign films. It's also the primary streaming home for Studio Ghibli and A24, so even though Max hasn't been in the business of making as many originals as it used to, it still has a solid assortment of films you won't find anywhere else. Here are 23 of the best of Max's recent and/or exclusive offerings. Flow (2024) A gorgeous, wordless animated film that follows a cat through a post-apocalyptic world following a devastating flood. The Latvian import, about finding friends and searching for home in uncertain times, won a well-deserved Best Animated Picture Oscar. It's also, allegedly, very popular with pets—though my dog slept right through it. You can stream Flow here. Heretic (2024) Two young Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) show up at the home of a charming, reclusive man (a deeply creepy Hugh Grant) who invites them in because, he says, he wants to explore different faiths. Which turns out to be true—except that he has ideas that go well beyond anything his two guests have in their pamphlets. It soon becomes clear that they're not going to be able to leave without participating in Mr. Reed's games, and this clever, cheeky thriller doesn't always go where you think it's going. You can stream Heretic here. Queer (2024) Director Luca Guadagnino followed up his vaguely bisexual tennis movie Challengers with this less subtle (it's in the title) William S. Burroughs adaptation. Daniel Craig plays William Lee (a fictionalized version of Burroughs himself), a drug-addicted American expat living in Mexico City during the 1950s. He soon becomes infatuated with Drew Starkey's Eugene Allerton, and the two take a gorgeous journey through Mexico, through ayahuasca, and through their own sexualities. You can stream Queer here. The Parenting (2025) Rohan (Nik Dodani) and Josh (Brandon Flynn) invite both their sets of parents to a remote country rental so that everyone can meet, which sounds like plenty of horror for this horror-comedy. But wait! There's more: A demon conjured from the wifi router enters the body of Rohan's dad (Brian Cox), an event further complicated by the arrival of the house's owner (Parker Posey). It's wildly uneven, but there's a lot of fun to be had. The supporting cast includes Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, and Dean Norris. You can stream The Parenting here. Juror #2 (2024) Clint Eastwood's latest (last?) is a high-concept legal drama that boasts a few impressive performances highlighted by his straightforward directorial style. Nicholas Hoult stars as Justin Kemp, a journalist and recovering alcoholic assigned to jury duty in Savannah, Georgia. The case involves the death of a woman a year earlier, presumably killed by the defendant, her boyfriend at the time. But as the case progresses,Kemp slowly comes to realize that he knows more about the death than anyone else in the courtroom, and has to find a way to work to acquit the defendant without implicating himself. You can stream Juror #2 here. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) While Godzilla Minus One proved that Japanese filmmakers remain adept at wringing genuine drama out of tales of the city-destroying kaiju, the American branch of the franchise is offering up deft counter-programming. That is to say, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is every bit as ridiculous as its title suggests, with Godzilla and Kong teaming up to battle a tribe of Kong's distant relatives—they live in the other dimensional Hollow Earth and have harnessed the power of an ice Titan, you see. It's nothing more, nor less, than a good time with giant monsters. You can stream Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire here. We Live in Time (2024) Director John Crowley had a massive critical success with 2015's Brooklyn, but 2019's The Goldfinch was a disappointment in almost every regard. Nonlinear romantic drama We Live in Time, then, feels like a bit of a return to form, with Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield displaying impressive chemistry as the couple at the film's center. The two meet when she hits him with her car on the night he's finalizing his divorce, and the movie jumps about in their relationship from the early days, to a difficult pregnancy, to a cancer diagnosis, without ever feeling excessively gimmicky. You can stream We Live in Time here. Trap (2024) Cooper (Josh Hartnett) is a pretty cool dad in M. Night Shyamalan’s latest, taking his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to see a very cool Billie Eilish-ish pop star in concert. But we soon learn that Cooper is also a notorious serial killer (this is not the patented Shyamalan twist, in case you were worried about spoilers). The FBI knows that "The Butcher" will be at the concert, even if they don't know exactly who it is, and the whole thing is a, yes, trap that Cooper must escape. Of such premises are fun thrillers made, and Hartnett has fun with the central role, his performance growing increasingly tic-y and unhinged even as Cooper tries to make sure his daughter gets to enjoy the show. You can stream Trap here. Caddo Lake (2024) While we're on the subject of M. Night Shyamalan, he produced this trippy thriller that spends a big chunk of its runtime looking like a working-class drama before going full whackadoo in ways best not spoiled. Eliza Scanlen stars as Ellie, who lives near the title lake with her family, and where it appears that her 8-year-old stepsister has vanished. Dylan O'Brien plays Paris, who works dredging the lake while dealing with survivor's guilt and the trauma of his mother's slightly mysterious death. Their stories (and backstories) merge when they discover that one doesn't always leave the lake the same as they went in. You can stream Caddo Lake here. Dune: Part Two (2024) Denis Villeneuve stuck the landing on his adaptation of the latter part of Frank Herbert's epic novel, so much so that Dune zealots are already looking ahead to a third film, adapting the second book in the series. The chilly (metaphorically) and cerebral sequel was a critical as well as a box office success—surprising on both counts, especially considering that the beloved book was once seen as more or less unadaptable (with the deeply weird David Lynch version serving as Exhibit A in support of that assertion). If you're playing catch-up, Max also has the first Dune, and the rather excellent spin-off series (Dune: Prophecy). You can stream Dune: Part Two here. Problemista (2024) Julio Torres (creator of Los Espookys and Fantasmas, also available on Max) wrote, produced, directed, and stars in this surreal comedy about a toy designer from El Salvador working in the United States under a visa that's about to expire. What to do but take a desperation job with quirky, volatile artist Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton)? The extremely offbeat and humane comedy has been earning raves since it debuted at South by Southwest last year. RZA, Greta Lee, and Isabella Rossellini also star. You can stream Problemista here. MaXXXine (2024) The final (for now, anyway) film in Ti West's X trilogy once again stars Mia Goth as fame-obsessed Maxine Minx. Moving on from adult films, Maxine gets a lead role in a horror movie, only to find herself watched by a leather-clad assailant. This film-industry take-down includes Michelle Monaghan, Kevin Bacon, and Giancarlo Esposito in its solid cast. You can stream MaXXXine here. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024) An anime-infused take on Tolkien's world, The War of the Rohirrim boats the return of co-writer Philippa Boyens, who helped to write each of the six previous LOTR movies. In this animated installment, we're taken back 200 years before Peter Jackson's films, to when the king of Rohan (Brian Cox) accidentally kills the leader of the neighboring Dunlendings during marriage negotiations, kicking off a full-scale war. Miranda Otto reprises her role of Éowyn, who narrates. You can stream War of the Rohirrim here. A Different Man (2024) Though it was all but shut out at the Oscars (getting only a nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling), A Different Man made several of 2024's top ten lists, and earned Sebastian Stan a Golden Globe (he got an Oscar nomination for an entirely different movie, so the erstwhile Winter Soldier had a pretty good year). Here he plays Edward, an actor with neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that manifests in his body as a disfiguring facial condition. An experimental procedure cures him, and Edward assumes a new identity—which does nothing to tame his deep-rooted insecurities, especially when he learns of a new play that's been written about is life. It's a surprisingly funny look into a damaged psyche. You can stream A Different Man here. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024) Alternating between Christopher Reeve's life before and after the horse riding accident that paralyzed him, this heartfelt and heart wrenching documentary follows the Superman actor as he becomes an activist for disability rights. Archival footage of Christopher and wife Dana blends with new interviews with their children, as well as with actors and politicians who knew and worked with them both. You can stream Super/Man here. Sing Sing (2024) A fictional story based on the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, this Best Picture nominee follows Diving G (Colman Domingo), an inmate who emerges as a star performer in the group. The movie celebrates the redemptive power of art and play with a tremendous central performance from Domingo, who was also Oscar-nominated. You can stream Sing Sing here. Am I OK? (2024) Real-life married couple Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne directed this comedy based, loosely, on Allyne's own life. Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, a directionless 32-year-old woman in Los Angeles who finds that her unsatisfying romantic life might have something to do with her being other than straight. She navigates her journey of self-discovery and coming out with the help of her best friend Jane (House of the Dragon's Sonoya Mizuno). You can stream Am I OK? here. Love Lies Bleeding (2024) In a world of movies that are very carefully calibrated to be as inoffensive as possible, it's nice to see something as muscular, frenetic, and uncompromising as Love Lies Bleeding. Kristen Stewart plays small-town gym manager Lou; she's the daughter of the local crime boss (Ed Harris), with a sister (Jena Malone) suffering from the abuse of her no-good husband (Dave Franco). It's all quietly tolerated until bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian) stops off in town. She's 'roided up and ready for action, falling hard for Lou before the two of them get caught up in an act of violence that sends everything spiraling toward a truly wild final act. You can stream Love Lies Bleeding here. Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. (2024) A provocative title for a provocative documentary film, Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play. sees playwright Jeremy O. Harris exploring the creative process behind the title work, a play that earned a record number of Tony nominations, won none, and that is equally loved and hated (it's about interracial couples having sex therapy at an antebellum-era plantation house). The narrative here is entirely non-linear, and the rules of a traditional making-of are out the window, with Harris instead taking a nearly train-of-thought approach to examining the process of creating the play, and in understanding reactions to it. You can stream Slave Play here. Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Parts One, Two, and Three (2024) While the live-action DC slate went out with a whimper (at least until next year's Superman reboot), the animated series of films has been chugging along more quietly, but also with more success. This trilogy adapts the altogether biggest story in DC history, as heroes from across the multiverse are brought together to prevent an antimatter wave that's wiping out entire universes. Darren Criss, Stana Katic, Jensen Ackles, and Matt Bomer are among the voice cast. You can stream Crisis on Infinite Earths, starting with Part One, here. The Front Room (2024) Adapted from a short story by Susan Hill (The Woman in Black), The Front Room gets a fair bit of mileage out of its in-law-from-hell premise. Brandy plays Belinda, a pregnant anthropology professor forced to quit her job by hostile working conditions. Her deeply weird mother-in-law Solange (a scene-stealing Kathryn Hunter) makes Brandy and husband Norman an offer that could solve the resulting financial problems: if they'll take care of her in her dying days, she'll leave them everything. Of course, the psychic religious fanatic has no interest in making any of that easy. It's more silly than scary, but perfectly entertaining if that's the kind of mood you're in. You can stream The Front Room here. Quad Gods (2024) We spend a lot of time fearing new technology, often with good reason, but Quad Gods offers a brighter view: for people with quadriplegia, for whom spots like football are out of the question, esports offer a means of competing and socializing among not only other people with physical restrictions, but in the broader world of what's become a major industry. While exploring the contrast between day-to-day life for the Quad Gods team and their online gaming talents, the documentary is an impressively upbeat look at the ways in which technology can put us all on a similar playing field. You can stream Quad Gods here. Elevation (2024) There's not much new in this Anthony Mackie-lad post-apocalyptic thriller, but Elevation is nonetheless a well-executed action movie that never feels dumb. Just a few years before the film opens, predatory Reapers rose from deep underground and wiped out 95% of humanity. Now, single dad Will (Mackie) is forced to leave his sanctuary to travel to Boulder, Colorado, the closest place he can get air filters to help with his son's lung disease. On the way, he's joined, reluctantly, by scientist Nina (Morena Baccarin), whose lab may contain a way to kill the Reapers. You can stream Elevation here. View the full article

Back in the summer of 2024, Boar’s Head recalled seven million pounds of deli meat that had been linked to a deadly listeria outbreak that spanned numerous U.S. states. That outbreak led to the deaths of multiple people and caused the company to shutter one of its processing facilities, which was located in Virginia. The recall led to a brand crisis for Boar’s Head, and by November 2024, when the outbreak was declared over, a total of 10 people had died, and 61 became sick. The event led to class action lawsuits against the company, one of which has now been settled. Here’s what to know about the settlement and whether you can claim any compensation. Class action settlement Boar’s Head Provisions Co., Inc. has now agreed to settle a class action lawsuit related to the recall. The case, Pompilio, et al. v. Boar’s Head Provisions Co., Inc., was filed in the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York. According to the official settlement website, the class action suit alleged that the recall economically harmed the plaintiffs. It’s important to note that as part of the settlement, Boar’s Head has not admitted to any wrongdoing, as is common with most class action settlements. As part of the settlement, Boar’s Head Provisions Co., Inc. has agreed to pay claimants $3.1 million, minus court costs and other fees. Am I included in the settlement? You are included in the settlement—and can make a claim—if you meet the court’s “Settlement Class Member” description. The court says a Settlement Class Member is “All natural persons who purchased in the United States any Covered Products between the earliest date of manufacture of any Covered Product (May 10, 2024) and August 12, 2024 for personal, family or household use, and not for resale, except for any Excluded Persons.” “Excluded Persons” are defined on the settlement website. How much can I get from the settlement? You are eligible to receive a portion of the settlement if you meet one of the following two criteria: You have proof of purchase for a product covered under the settlement. If you have proof of purchase for a covered product, you are eligible to “receive the full purchase price for each unit of Covered Product listed on the Proof of Purchase, subject to adjustment as set forth below.” You do not have proof of purchase for a product covered under the settlement. In this case, you can “receive the average retail price for up to two (2) Covered Products claimed per Household, subject to adjustment as set forth below.” The “adjustments” listed above can be found here in the settlement’s FAQ. How can I file a claim? The easiest way to file a claim is by using the claim form on the settlement website. The FAQ lists additional methods to file a claim. When do I need to file a claim by? Claims must be filed by May 16, 2025. That is also the date that class action members have until to exclude themselves from the class action lawsuit or object to it. The class action settlement is conditional upon the approval of the court. That hearing is expected to take place on August 13, 2025. Full details of the class action settlement can be found on the settlement website here. View the full article

The megaservicer is fending off a class-action lawsuit while suing its insurers for allegedly failing to indemnify it following its breach in 2023. View the full article

Even with 4,000 public sector cuts, total employment numbers were surprisingly high, which raises questions about whether financing costs will keep falling. View the full article

April is when gardeners need to start being mathematicians and professional organizers, trying to find space for all the seedlings that need to get into trays on time. It’s also the first time this year you’ll start succession seeding, both indoors and out. Succession seeding is one of the real benefits of growing your own seeds: It means you can grow one or two of a variety instead of needing the space for a whole six pack you’d pick up at the nursery. Grow a mixed tray of vegetables or herbs now, and start another one in a few weeks. This will also help alleviate some strain on square footage in your growing space. Even if you haven’t started your seed growing yet, there’s still time. And remember: There’s no shame in just buying starts or waiting for giveaways. If you are going to start your own seeds, though, you want to use seedling mix, not potting soil. Tomatos, eggplant, and peppers Credit: Amanda Blum Peppers generally get started in March, so consider this your last call on getting your own started. Tomatoes and eggplant are more forgiving, but peppers need a long runway; get tomatoes and eggplant seeds sowed by April 15. As they grow, be brutal in thinning seedlings and tossing starts with any signs of distress or disease; you can’t afford to lose all your plants, and sickness spreads quickly in a growing space. Start succession seeding peas and other vegetables outside Credit: Amanda Blum By now, you should be sowing peas outside. Schedule a calendar alert for every two weeks, and ensure you’re getting radishes, carrots, beets, green onions, and lettuce in the ground. Remember, you’re succession planting, so you don’t need a ton to go in every week. Consider how many radishes you’ll really eat every few weeks, and get a few different varieties in. Carrots are a longer-term investment, but planting them now, in succession, takes advantage of the rain you are likely getting for easier germination rates. I make short rows of these seeds so I have plenty of room for them. You should see those peas come up quickly, and planting every two weeks through April will ensure you have peas until the weather gets too hot for them. Cucumbers, squash, and melon Back inside, look to the end of the month to start cucurbits and squash. There are so many cucumbers to consider—for pickling, for slicing—and there are cucamelons, a small sour gherkin that has become quite popular. I’ve found the pickling cucumbers benefit from succession planting, so I plant a series of seeds in late April and then again at the beginning of May. This allows me to have one continuous harvest all summer. Pumpkins don’t require the same succession; they tend to be prolific on their own, but late April is the time to get them planted inside. Melons, cucumbers, and squash are all easy seedlings; they come up quick and grow to a transplantable size quickly, so you want to seed them close to the date you can transplant into the garden. As you are planting seeds, it’s easy to dismiss the conservatism of just a few zucchini plants. Remember that one zucchini plant feeds a nation, and save yourself a lot of work giving away gigantic squash this July. Onions and leeks come in a few flavors Credit: Amanda Blum There are three kinds of onions to consider this time of year. First, there are keeping onions, which are the ones you can use all winter if you store them right. These will come in sets, which you can get at the nursery right now. You can grow these from seed, but you’re late to them this year, so for a few dollars, grab a set and share them with friends. For placement, consider that tomatoes do well interplanted with onions. These bundled starts will go in the ground now, and you want to be sure to give each of them enough room, so don’t overcrowd. Each onion should have about six to eight inches between them so they can really flush out the bulb over the summer. You also have scallions, or green onions, and those can be seeded directly in the ground every few weeks as an easy garden item to grow. The last item is leeks, which have a very long, protracted growing season, but are really rewarding as a winter and fall harvest. Leeks are easily grown from seed, so get them started in early April. You don’t grow leeks one per cell, but rather they can be grown together in a bunch in a four-inch pot or any tray you have. Once they have reached six inches in height, start cutting them back to three inches and let them grow back. When they’re ready to plant, you’ll carefully separate them and plant them as deep as you can, outside. It’s time for all the flowers Credit: Amanda Blum While it’s too late for snapdragons, it’s the right time to get marigolds, nasturtium, and sweet alyssum started. I mention these three together specifically because these are the building blocks of your pest prevention program in a garden, and you’ll want them everywhere, so overseed them, inside, now. You can tuck nasturtium and sweet alyssum almost anywhere. At this point, I start the first succession of all my annual flowers except sunflowers. That’s zinnia, stock, poet flower, foxglove, delphinium, echinacea, cosmos, scabiosa, yarrow, calendula, blanket flower, salvia, agastache, and whatever else you’re planning. If you’re doing a second succession, you’ll start that in the third week of April. Growing herbs from seed saves moneyGrowing herbs from seed is one of the best ways to save money, as they’re expensive starts at the nursery and expensive to buy at the grocery store. Most seed easily, too. Make sure you’re getting the cilantro, basil, and dill in the seed trays now. Remember that dill is a pest deterrent, so grow more of it than you need to use alongside the marigolds and sweet alyssum. Dill, cilantro, and parsley bolt, so you’ll want to succession seed them in mid-April. This is a good time to consider herbs you might not have before, like chamomile, lemongrass, lemon verbena, and chives. View the full article