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Below, Corinne Low shares five key insights from her new book, Having It All: What Data Tells Us About Women’s Lives and Getting the Most Out of Yours. Corinne is an economist and professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her research has been published in journals such as the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Political Economy. She also regularly speaks to and advises companies on their practices. What’s the big idea? Women face unequal demands at home and in the workplace, making “having it all” costly. Research shows how hidden factors shape choices and offers a way to reclaim time, energy, and joy. Listen to the audio version of this Book Bite—read by Corinne herself—below, or in the Next Big Idea App. 1. It’s not in your head; it’s in the data In 2017, I gave birth to my son—and had a midlife crisis. Things that used to work, like commuting two and a half hours to my job, just didn’t add up anymore. I was constantly stressed, angry, depleted, and so tired all the time. Pumping in the Amtrak bathroom, crying that I would miss my son’s bedtime because of a train delay, I wondered, Is it just me? I started studying women’s time use, and the data told me I was far from alone. Women are getting squeezed from all sides. As our time in the labor market has increased, our time on home responsibilities hasn’t declined accordingly. This is for two reasons: Men’s time spent cooking and cleaning has stayed fixed since the 1970s. The way we parent has become much more intensive than a generation ago. Mothers in the ’80s were not babywearing and pumping at work or driving to a million activities. I grew up in the ’80s, and we were out riding bikes with no snacks and no water bottles—we must have been very dehydrated! The parenting game has changed. Some changes are great and have to do with our greater understanding of child development, but we spend almost twice as much time with our kids as compared to mothers only a generation ago. Without getting sufficient help from our partners, there just aren’t enough hours in the day. The amount our partners do also doesn’t change when women are the primary breadwinners at home. Women who are the breadwinners still do twice as much cooking and cleaning as their lower-earning male partners—winning the bread and baking it too. If you look at time usage over a lifecycle, you see women’s time use on kids and housework swells to a mountain in our thirties (a period I call “the squeeze”), and the mirror image of that is our time on leisure and career investments, which goes down like a valley. During that period, time inequality with men is also at its peak. They do less childcare and housework and have more work and leisure time. We need to figure out a different way forward. 2. Your goal in life is utility, not career success The problems facing women in the workplace are structural. We’re trying to be a Frankenstein of a super career woman at the office and an Instagram mom at home. We feel like we’re falling behind because we’re trying to do more (succeed in a world built by and for men) with less. But economists model human beings as maximizing not career success, not prestige, but their utility function. “Your utility function is unique to you.” Utility is like a firm’s profit function. Your personal profit function is made up of all the things that bring you joy, meaning, and fulfillment over the course of your lifetime. If you were to look back at your life when you’re 85 years old, what would make you say, That was a life well lived? Your career is part of that, but it’s not the whole thing. Your utility function is unique to you. Only you know what brings you the deepest feelings of satisfaction. So, you can’t compare yourself to someone else in terms of accomplishment because they’ve accomplished different things—their utility function is different! Meaning, they’re maximizing something else. 3. A job is a tool to turn time into money Let’s talk about where your career fits into your utility function. Your job converts time (the natural resource you’re endowed with to maximize utility) into money. Your job is like an ATM; you put time into it and get money out of it. Ideally, it does this with minimal hassle and maybe some enjoyment, potentially adding to your utility rather than subtracting from it. But when I ask people what they would do with their time if money were no object, almost no one says they’d try to file more reports or climb higher on the corporate ladder. That’s because we recognize that a job is a means to utility, not an end. If we didn’t need the money that comes from employment, we’d spend most of our time on things we really enjoy: being with loved ones, hobbies, nature, and taking care of ourselves. We need to think of our careers a little more transactionally than the business books at airports press us to. Exactly how much money do I need at each phase of my life, and how do I plot a career that gets me that while eating up as little of my precious time as possible? This means thinking hard about the lifecycle of your job. Investing lots of time in your twenties can make sense because you’re not as squeezed by home responsibilities, and it can buy you a better time-to-money conversion rate from your job later in life. But you want to make sure you’re in a field where you are working toward the ability to take your foot off the gas at some point—like during the squeeze—and use more of that time making utility directly. Otherwise, the prize for the pie-eating contest is more pie! Your investment in your career should be proportional to the role money plays in maximizing your utility. Everything else is just chasing “success” at the expense of true happiness. 4. You can work like a girl and get paid There is no evidence that male traits are actually more productive, and there certainly isn’t any evidence that women will be rewarded for mimicking them. When I got to Wharton, a male colleague told me that students respect you more when you are tough, saying that I needed to show them who was boss right from the start. So, I marked them tardy if they were a minute late, and guess what? They hated it coming from me. A female professor told me that she’d found her students expected her to be really nice, and she had to fulfill their social expectations to receive good reviews. Research backs up this anecdote: Women are often penalized for failing to exhibit expected traits like “niceness” and community-mindedness. “I want women to view their gendered traits as superpowers.” While it’s also true that the evidence shows that men are, on average, more competitive, more risk-loving, tougher negotiators, and greater self-promoters, it does not say that those things lead to more productivity or higher profits. In a study on competitiveness, men were overcompetitive. Subjects performed a task and had to decide whether they wanted to receive payment for their efforts or participate in a tournament, where they would only be paid if they scored the highest. Of the worst-performing men (the men certain to lose the tournament), 60% still chose to enter rather than take the guaranteed payoff. In my own research on negotiation, I found that male-male pairs were more than twice as likely to fail to reach an agreement and therefore walk away from a negotiation with nothing. I want women to view their gendered traits as superpowers, and find workplaces where they can get ahead by being themselves—not by pretending to be a man and getting punished for it anyway. 5. We must radically prioritize what contributes to our happiness When the deck is stacked against us, we can’t keep trying to “play fair”—meeting everyone else’s needs, and never our own. We have to become ruthless in aligning our time with what gives us utility. Take these three steps: Renegotiate how time and money are allocated in your household. Throw out your houseplants and make other hard choices. Pay yourself first with leisure time. First, to renegotiate the deal in your household, I want you and your partner to track your time. Often, men think they’re doing about half the household work, but that’s only because they do half of the things they know about. While they’re doing half the school drop-offs, you’re the one making sure there are clothes in the right size, lunches packed, after-school care, and playdates are scheduled—half of which you multitask during work. If you track your time, you might realize there’s a lot more inequality than you think, and you can start reallocating. Once you reallocate the household’s joint time budget, if there’s still inequality in work and leisure time, see if reallocating money can help. Not outsourcing a task is hiring yourself to do it. We rarely do this with male-coded tasks (like car repair and plumbing), but somehow, for female-coded tasks, we forget that doing something in-house has an opportunity cost of where else you could invest that time. If you’re a lawyer who bills at a certain rate, or a nurse who could pick up an extra shift, can you really afford that much of your own time for laundry? “We have to become ruthless in aligning our time with what gives us utility.” Second, throw out your houseplants is my pithy phrase for decluttering your time of anything that’s an obligation rather than a calling. For me, it was wilting houseplants that I didn’t have time to care for and made me feel like a failure. For you, it might be volunteering at your kid’s school, making homemade baby food, or planning the office retreat. Understanding how we’re being squeezed from all sides gives you the freedom to say, “Nope, this doesn’t add up for me right now.” Importantly, you can always say yes later when you’re in a different, and easier, chapter of your life. Lastly, pay yourself first with leisure time. We do get some time to ourselves, but often it’s just little crumbles of time left over at the end of the day. By then, we’re so depleted we end up just zoning out on our phones. If we block out time for the things that bring us the most joy and meaning, everything else can claim the scraps! It’s like how we can suddenly get a project done in an hour before the deadline—things expand to fill the available space in our calendars. Block your leisure time like an important meeting, and let yourself be your own top priority. Enjoy our full library of Book Bites—read by the authors!—in the Next Big Idea app. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission. View the full article

With millennials and Gen Z opting for fur babies over actual babies, a new workplace benefit is starting to take over. Enter the era of pawternity leave, where pets are dictating benefits, as companies scramble to keep up with shifting priorities. The reality is: without pet perks, companies are risking losing top talent. Sixty percent of pet parents say they would quit their job if it interfered with their ability to care for their pet and almost 10% already have. With the growing number of people placing such a high value on their pets, companies are beginning to recognize pet parenthood as more than just a lifestyle choice. It’s a reflection of today’s priorities, and it’s reshaping how employers approach workplace inclusion. Younger generations are replacing kids with pets Generational differences are driving the need for modernized workplace benefits. Twenty years ago, two-thirds of women at age 30 had at least one child. Today, half of American women at that age do not. This comes as 67% of millennials and Gen Z say they would rather have a dog than a kid. As the workforce transitions from parents to pet owners, traditional benefits like paid parental leave are not resonating with newer generations in the same way more flexible, lifestyle-oriented perks like pet care do. According to a study from Vetster, 48% of Gen Z see no difference between their pet and an actual human child compared to past generations, a powerful indicator of how deeply pets are integrated into their emotional lives. These new family priorities present an opportunity for companies to recognize pet parenthood as a legitimate caregiving role. Offering benefits like pawternity leave, free or discounted pet health care, or pet-friendly office policies allows companies to meet employees where they are in today’s age. Supporting mental health through pet-inclusive policies Amid economic uncertainty and looming layoffs within many industries, 80% of people cite work as their primary source of stress. Knowing that heightened stress negatively impacts productivity, companies are turning to pet-friendly policies as a part of their overall well-being strategy to ensure employees feel cared for. Pets such as dogs have been shown to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Beyond physical health, their presence in the workplace also directly impacts employee’s mental well-being with 73% of people saying having pets in the office reduces stress levels. For remote workers, the impact is significant, too—51% of pet owners working from home report lower stress levels because of the ability to easily care for their pet. By recognizing the emotional needs of employees and integrating pets into workplace culture, companies are helping to alleviate stress while fostering a more compassionate and inclusive environment that supports employees. Companies are seeing high engagement with pet benefits Fifty-three percent of workplaces are pet-friendly to some degree and those that are implementing pet benefits are seeing high engagement with the benefits. For example, Samsung’s pet benefits program saved employees $20,000 on vet bills and over 800 hours that would have otherwise been lost to time spent on vet appointments. These types of programs not only reduce logistical and financial burdens for employees, but also demonstrate that the company values their employees’ needs beyond traditional healthcare. As a result, pet benefits are emerging as a meaningful component of inclusive workplace culture A more inclusive workplace starts with recognizing pets as family Seventy percent of the workforce are pet owners. Neglecting to acknowledge and support the role pets play in employees’ lives means overlooking a key part of what drives employees’ personal well-being. At its core, inclusion means creating a workplace where people feel seen and supported. As definitions of family evolve, so should benefits and policies. In recognizing pets not just as companions, but as central figures in many employees’ lives, companies who recognize this dynamic when considering benefits packages are experiencing a much happier, healthier company culture. View the full article

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Circa 1450, the creative community was jolted. The printing press had just been invented in Europe. Scribes, typically monks who had spent lifetimes perfecting the spiritual art of hand-copying manuscripts, saw their specialized skills suddenly rendered obsolete. Yet in short order, the disruptive innovation democratized knowledge, enabled the Renaissance, and created entirely new creative roles for editors, typesetters, printmakers, and illustrators. More than five centuries later, Photoshop sparked similar concerns about devaluing traditional skills and compromising image integrity. Artists worried it would cheapen the craft. Instead, it became foundational to modern graphic design, opening new creative possibilities while making visual expression accessible to wider audiences. New tools that initially seem threatening often become indispensable partners in creative work. People in creative fields are, by nature, creative. They tend to think beyond what currently exists and adopt emerging technologies to accelerate their process, embolden their output, and make their medium more accessible. ENTER: AI Artificial intelligence’s threats to the creative community are well documented. At the same time, we are also seeing myriad ways the technology can quickly deliver valuable information, patterns, and research that can liberate the creative community to spend more time actually creating. When it comes to my area of expertise—empowering the design community to leverage the full emotional, narrative, and commercial power of color—AI can be a valuable partner in the creative process. Pantone just introduced a new tool, in fact, that employs conversational AI technology to help creatives expedite design’s research and inspiration phases. The tool helps users explore color palettes, leverage trend forecasting data, and generate design concepts. But while AI can process data and identify patterns, the forward-looking trend insights themselves remain uniquely human, rooted in cultural analysis and nuanced insight, intuition, and imagination. A creative process that uses artificial intelligence also demands human intelligence. AI tools trained on human-identified trends help designers respond with greater speed, depth, and nuance, but the trends themselves must first be recognized by human experts attuned to cultural shifts. REQUIRED: THE HUMAN IMAGINATION When Pantone selected Mocha Mousse as Color of the Year 2025—an evocative brown leaning into our desire for everyday pleasures—no machine learning model could have sensed the burgeoning cultural ethos it spoke to. Human forecasters recognized a global appetite for thoughtful indulgence, harmonious comfort, and personal luxury, all expressed by this rich, deep brown. Trend forecasting demands humans—people who sense subtle undercurrents of collective emotion before they surface, who understand when comfort becomes more important than adventure, when personal expression pushes back against homogenization , when nostalgia begins to feel fresh again. Color scientists track films in production, new artists, fashion movements, emerging lifestyles, socioeconomic shifts, evolving technologies and materials—building a comprehensive view of where culture is headed. After all, humans are animals, and animals have always used color as a multifaceted and sentient signal system: attracting mates, establishing identity, communicating mood, warning of danger. Just as a vermilion flycatcher uses red feathers to attract females while a kingsnake’s bright red bands warn predators away, we use color to send messages about who we are and what we desire. These messages shift with our cultural moment in ways no algorithm or technology can anticipate. The insights require the unique ability to sense what’s emerging before it fully arrives. From the printing press to Photoshop to AI, new technologies amplify what creatives can do. It makes processes swifter, bolder, more affordable, and more accessible. AI can help creatives tap into powerful color stories and trend insights. But the creative vision, the cultural fluency, and the ability to sense what will move people remains distinctly, irreplaceably human. AI is another powerful tool in the creative arsenal, most potent when it augments rather than attempts to replace human insight and imagination. Sky Kelley is president of Pantone. View the full article

If cumulative loss or a delinquency trigger event is in effect, then the deal will distribute principal among the class A notes before any principal allocation the class M1 or class B certificates. View the full article

We’re living through a seismic workforce disruption. Business leaders are poised to have a significant impact on the way our economy is shaped over the next decade. You already see it with the big company CEOs creating a cult of celebrity far beyond anything we’ve seen historically, but this phenomenon cascades down to all leaders across companies. Today, however, your personal brand is built in authentic micro-moments—how you lead meetings, navigate change, and bring others along. What story are you telling? Earlier this month, I sat down with Marissa Andrada and Al Dea at Guild’s Opportunity Summit to discuss why personal brand building is no longer optional for leaders who want to drive meaningful impact. DOES “PERSONAL BRAND” NEED A REBRAND? The concept of a personal brand can sound like a marketing buzzword. But if you write it off as such, you’re going to fall behind. We aren’t advocating for leaders to break out their tripods at a conference and do the latest Taylor Swift TikTok dance (but if that’s authentic to you, go for it). Your personal brand—or “leadership signature” if you really want to avoid the “b” word—is built through micro-moments: the tone you bring to a meeting, the decisions you make, and how you develop and support people during times of transformation. As Al put it, “Every stakeholder conversation is a chance to show people what you’re about.” That starts with understanding the beliefs and motivations that drive others. “People can only see things from their seat,” he added. “If you want them to see things from yours, you first need to see things from theirs.” ELEVATE YOUR WORK THROUGH STRATEGIC STORYTELLING Personal brand can—and should—coexist with humility. For the introverts among us, this isn’t about self-promotion. It’s about translating your team’s impact into stories that resonate with the business. Strategic storytelling connects people to purpose. It transforms complex initiatives into narratives that inspire action and resonate with the business. As leaders, we can help our teams do this by focusing on what I call the three C’s: clarity, commitment, and consistency. Clarity: Clear really is kind. Strip out jargon and acronyms. Ask yourself: Would the average employee understand what I’m trying to say? If not, simplify. Commitment: Audiences can sense when you’re reciting a script versus speaking from conviction. Belief can’t be faked—and when leaders try, trust erodes fast. Consistency: Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your leadership signature won’t be either. Words and action, over a sustained period of time, reinforce your stated values. The small, unseen moments—how you respond to challenges, how you show up when no one’s watching—create the foundation of your credibility. 2 SHIFTS TO BUILD YOUR PERSONAL BRAND FOUNDATION Mindfully consider your personal style and how you want your brand to show up. Gut-check that with others. Ask yourself: What do you want others to say about your leadership? Does that align with the feedback I receive? If not, where are there gaps and how can I work toward reconciling them? Here are two shifts you can make today to create that foundation. 1) Ground in outcomes Too often, leaders fall into the same traps we coach early-career workers to avoid on their resumes. Shift away from the activity, into the outcome. Activity: “We led a large-scale software integration this quarter.” Outcome: “We transformed how our company connects people strategy to business results.” Leading with outcomes helps to contextualize the weight and the why behind your team’s work, building credibility with the listener. 2) Mind your language On our San Diego panel, Marissa shared a story of her time at Universal Studios. Early on, she introduced herself to business leads with HR-speak: “I’m here to help develop a new performance management and talent planning process.” She received clear, actionable feedback that the corporate jargon—what she jokingly called “corponics”—was not resonating. The very colleagues she was trying to rally did not know what she was saying. Taking their feedback, she dropped the lingo, and recalibrated to human-first language. Instead of “succession planning,” she said, “We’re growing fast. When you’re ready for your next role, how do you ensure someone’s ready to step into your seat?” AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP IN AN ERA OF ERODED TRUST Personal brands can no longer be “crafted” in a conference room with a team of external consultants. Today’s workforce is skeptical, discerning, and exhausted. Decades of information overload, polarization, and change have left employees craving authenticity and wary of anything that feels performative. People are drawn to leaders who reflect their stated values through daily interactions. If you think your leadership brand only lives on LinkedIn, you’re tracking the wrong KPIs. Do your public posts reflect the experiences your customers and teams are having privately? The leaders who will define the next decade are those whose public narratives match their private behaviors. When leaders clarify their values, master storytelling, and lead with authenticity, they don’t just strengthen their own brands—they rebuild trust in business itself. One example Marissa shared in San Diego, was her time as chief people officer at Chipotle and the experience of partnering with Guild to transform their employee tuition reimbursement program into an initiative that reinforced the company’s belief in people’s potential. The result? Measurable business outcomes. Chipotle saw stronger retention and greater internal mobility made possible by the new skills through education. THE BIGGER PICTURE Building a personal brand isn’t about self-promotion. It’s about creating alignment between who you are, how you lead, and the impact you create. By cultivating clarity of values, mastering the art of strategic storytelling, and leading with authenticity, today’s executives can build personal brands that elevate their voices and strengthen trust in their organizations. In doing so, leaders transform branding from an exercise in visibility into a discipline of influence anchored in purpose. Rebecca Biestman is CMO of Guild. View the full article

Enterprises across the globe are pouring an estimated $1.5 trillion into artificial intelligence, and the results are already significant: AI has added more than $400 billion to the U.S. economy alone. Yet beneath these headline numbers lies a less celebrated truth. Most GenAI projects (95%) are failing to deliver a return on investment. This disconnect isn’t a technology problem. It’s a transformation problem. And the fix is not coming from the boardroom or the IT department. It’s coming from the cubicles, the customer service desks, and the HR teams—the employees who know firsthand where bottlenecks and opportunities exist. THE BOTTOM-UP AI MOVEMENT New data, based on a survey of 200 IT executives at billion-dollar U.S. companies that we conducted, reveals a quiet but historic shift in how innovation happens. For the first time, non-technical employees are driving the adoption of agentic AI, systems that can act on their own, make decisions, and automate complex workflows, at a scale we’ve never seen before. A staggering 91% of executives say that non-technical staff are playing a larger role in AI projects than they did in any previous wave of technology adoption. These aren’t hypothetical use cases or innovation theater projects. The majority (78%) of these initiatives are laser-focused on solving real, persistent, everyday challenges. From automating repetitive workflows to surfacing insights buried in mountains of data across numerous systems, employees are using AI to reduce their digital friction and return their focus to projects they are passionate about and drive the business forward. The results of our research—78% of leaders reported that agentic AI has already caused a significant transformation in at least one part of their operations. This isn’t about incremental change; it’s about reimagining how work gets done. A CHANGING CORPORATE POWER STRUCTURE This shift isn’t just technical. It’s changing the structure of organizations. For decades, IT departments have been the gatekeepers of new technology, often operating as the “tallest tower” in the enterprise. But the data shows that it is changing fast. Only 38% of executives now believe IT will be the department most responsible for AI innovation in the next three years, based on our survey results. The old notion of shadow IT, where teams bypass official channels to use their own tools, has long been viewed as risky or even reckless. But now, this approach is being recognized for what it really is: A sign that employees across the business are hungry for solutions, and they are willing to take the initiative to get them. Other business teams, such as operations, human resources, and customer service, are stepping up as leaders in AI-driven change. This redistribution of power is making organizations more agile and responsive, and it’s opening new avenues for career advancement. Four in ten executives expect AI to create upward mobility for all employees, not just technical specialists. THE HUMAN SIDE OF AI TRANSFORMATION This bottom-up shift presents new cultural complexities. While 89% of employees are receptive to AI tools, there’s a strong preference for integration into existing workflows. Our survey reveals that 65% favor AI enhancing current processes over forcing a complete overhaul. This approach highlights a key tension: incremental improvement versus bold transformation. The most forward-thinking companies are designing AI around people, not the other way around, and as one IT executive put it in their response to our survey, “[Agentic AI is] going to challenge the way we work today, but also open a new front door to smarter, faster, and more collaborative ways of working.” Leaders must recognize the cultural and structural impact of agentic AI, and the companies that succeed will be those that embrace these shifts while keeping people and purpose firmly at the center. Balancing immediate adoption with the potential for true innovation requires a delicate touch. Leaders need to meet employees where they are while inspiring them to envision a future in which AI amplifies their capabilities, enabling them to focus on supervising systems and applying judgments in complex scenarios. WHAT COMES NEXT First, leaders should recognize that the most successful AI initiatives aren’t handed down from the top, they bubble up from the front lines. Organizations that empower employees to identify problems and experiment with solutions will outpace those that rely on mandates and one-size-fits-all platforms. Second, the IT department’s role must evolve. Rather than acting as a gatekeeper, IT can become an enabler, providing guardrails, tools, and support while giving other departments the freedom to innovate. Finally, leaders must address the cultural hurdles that come with any major change. That means investing in education, building trust in new tools, and ensuring that every employee, regardless of technical background, has a chance to participate in the AI future. AI’s real promise isn’t in algorithms or hardware. It’s in unleashing the creativity, expertise, and ambition of every person in the organization. The future of enterprise AI is bottom-up, not top-down. And the companies that embrace this shift will be the ones that truly transform. Bhavin Shah is the CEO of Moveworks. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. It happens every year at my house: I wake up one morning, and as though a switch was flicked overnight, it’s suddenly cold and I have to hunt down my cozy slippers. And that’s usually when I realize I haven’t really taken any steps to winterize my house. If that also describes you, the good news is that winterizing your home isn’t a terribly complicated process. With a few affordable products and a little effort, you can button your home up and ensure that it’s going to be as comfortable as possible when those frigid winds start blowing. Holikme 2 Pack Door Draft Stopper $7.58 at Amazon $9.99 Save $2.41 Get Deal Get Deal $7.58 at Amazon $9.99 Save $2.41 Weather Stripping Door Seal Tape $7.99 at Amazon $9.99 Save $2.00 Get Deal Get Deal $7.99 at Amazon $9.99 Save $2.00 Outdoor Faucet Covers $29.99 at Amazon Get Deal Get Deal $29.99 at Amazon 3M Window Insulation Kit $12.91 at Amazon $25.99 Save $13.08 Get Deal Get Deal $12.91 at Amazon $25.99 Save $13.08 Inflatable Chimney Balloon $46.99 at Amazon Get Deal Get Deal $46.99 at Amazon Insulated Blackout Curtains $22.94 at Amazon $26.99 Save $4.05 Get Deal Get Deal $22.94 at Amazon $26.99 Save $4.05 SEE 3 MORE Generally speaking, your goals are to reduce cold air infiltrating into the interior and increase the efficiency of your heating system. There are some straightforward, cheap, and easy ways to do that: Change the direction of your ceiling fans. If you have ceiling fans in your house, you should already know that the direction they spin matters. For the winter, set your fans to spin clockwise and run them at low speed. This will help push warm air back down toward the floor without causing a chilly breeze in the process. Clean the gutters. If your gutters are clogged, water won’t be able to drain efficiently from your roof, ice dams will form, and your roof (and interior of your home) can be damaged as a result. Before it’s zero degrees out, break out the ladder and clean those suckers. Uncover/cover vents. Your heating vents push warm air into rooms, but they can also allow chilly drafts to circulate or warm air to dribble out of a room if they’re not in active use. A few magnetic vent covers allow you to block off vents that are doing more harm than good, helping to hold warm air longer. Install door stoppers. No exterior door is going to have a perfect seal, which means cold air will leak in and warm air will leak out. A door stopper is a simple, easy addition to any door that will stop those drafts cold. Install some weather stripping tape. Adhesive rubber weather stripping applied around door frames and windows can eliminate tiny gaps that let air leak in and out. If that’s not going to work for you, there’s also weather sealing tape like this, which can be applied directly onto windows and door frames to block those drafts, and can be removed when the weather warms up again. Install outdoor faucet covers. If you have any exterior faucets or spigots, they need to be protected with faucet covers to prevent them from freezing—and potentially freezing and bursting the pipes that feed them, which probably run inside the house, ready to cause expensive damage. Install window film. It’s the simplest idea in the world, but it actually works: Cover your windows with plastic, use heat to tighten the plastic into a drum-like sheet, and voila—you’ve added very effective insulation to what are essentially holes in your house. These window kits are pretty easy to install and require just a hair dryer to finish. Install a chimney balloon. Chimneys and fireplaces can be draft central during the winter. An inexpensive chimney balloon is an easy and effective way to block those drafts. If you have a fireplace you don’t use often, a fireplace plug is also a great idea. Add some pipe insulation tubes. Frozen pipes are no fun. In fact, they’re potentially expensive and damaging—so now is the time to invest a little time and money into insulating your exposed pipes, wherever they might be. Insulating foam tubes are super easy to install (they’re slit, so they just slide on, seal with adhesive edges, and they’re easy to cut) and will spare you the nightmare of frozen pipes. Put on the air conditioner covers. If you have window air conditioner units that you’ve chosen to leave installed over the winter, a simple, inexpensive A/C cover will prevent cold air from migrating into your house through them, especially if combined with some weather stripping or sealant tape around the window. Hang up thermal curtains. If you’ve applied weather stripping and/or plastic films and your windows are still drafty, heavy thermal curtains can stop drafts from penetrating into the room and hold warm air back from the cold windows, keeping everything toasty. Plus, they look nice—and can hide all that plastic film. Use an attic stair insulation cover. If you have an attic that you access via pull-down stairs or a ladder, that’s a huge weak spot in your home insulation game because there can be significant heat transfer at that opening. An attic stairway cover will seal that weak spot off and eliminate one more place where you lose heat during the winter. Put on a water heater blanket. Insulating your water heater is a good idea in general, as it can save a significant amount in energy costs. But a water heater blanket becomes even more important in winter, because your water heater is probably located in a pretty cold area of your house. Keeping it insulated will keep you in hot water for less money. View the full article

Let’s be honest: When we talk about workplace equity, menopause rarely makes the agenda. But it should. This life stage impacts half the workforce, often right when women are at the peak of their careers, influence, and leadership. As a CEO and advocate for women’s health, I’ve seen firsthand how menopause becomes an invisible career barrier. And now the data backs it up: Ignoring menopause in the workplace isn’t just a health oversight, it’s a systemic equity issue. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, full-time, year-round working women earn only 81 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2024, a gap that’s actually widening. The year before, women earned almost 83 cents for every dollar. That should stop us in our tracks. Menopause often coincides with a critical phase in a woman’s career, when experience, insight, and leadership potential are at their highest. But symptoms like brain fog, fatigue, hot flashes, and mood swings can disrupt work and energy levels. The issue isn’t the symptoms, it’s the silence surrounding them. Women are expected to “power through.” Some do, but for many it turns into what is known as the midcareer cliff. Women begin quietly stepping back, missing promotions, or leaving leadership roles altogether. This isn’t just personal loss, it’s organizational erosion. When experienced women exit, we lose innovation, mentorship, and momentum across the pipeline. THE BUSINESS IMPERATIVE Let’s be clear: Supporting women through menopause isn’t a favor. It’s a business imperative. If we want strong, competitive, resilient organizations, we need more women in leadership roles at every age, including midlife and beyond. Here’s how companies can show up: 1. Make menopause part of the conversation Start normalizing it, openly, not awkwardly. Include menopause in DEI and wellness conversations just like we do with maternity or mental health. Train managers. Create employee resource groups. Let women share experiences, not suffer in silence. 2. Back words with policy Talking is great, but action matters. Promote flexible work options, access to hormone therapy or menopause specialists, and comprehensive benefit programs—like what we did recently at Beacon Wellness Brands in partnership with Midi Health. These aren’t perks, they’re proof points. 3. Measure what matters If you’re not tracking retention and promotion by age and gender, you’re missing the story. Look at your data. If mid-career women are quietly disappearing, menopause might be a hidden factor. At Beacon Wellness, we believe real equity means meeting women where they are. That includes menopause. When we normalize and support this stage, women can keep leading, innovating, mentoring—and building the future of work. Equity isn’t a box to check off, it’s something you nurture over decades. And if we’re serious about closing the wage gap, we have to support the years that define a woman’s legacy, not just her entry. Workplaces that support women ultimately strengthen their entire organization. Maria Warrington is the CEO of Beacon Wellness Brands. 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. The key to any successful DIY job is having the right tools—which can be a problem when you're away from your toolbox. While the handy folks on your holiday shopping list probably already have all the tools they need, they probably only have the full-sized or powered-up versions. Instead, go small and gift them one (or more) of these awesome, pocket-sized tools designed to be carried around everywhere. Snowflake multitool $11.89 at Amazon $15.99 Save $4.10 Shop Now Shop Now $11.89 at Amazon $15.99 Save $4.10 Pocket Leatherman $49.95 at Amazon $54.95 Save $5.00 Shop Now Shop Now $49.95 at Amazon $54.95 Save $5.00 Hoto Snapbloq Pocket Drill and Electric Screwdriver $191.99 at Amazon $299.97 Save $107.98 Shop Now Shop Now $191.99 at Amazon $299.97 Save $107.98 Palmer Clear Utility Knife $39.00 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $39.00 at Amazon Acebeam Keychain Flashlight $29.74 at Amazon $34.99 Save $5.25 Shop Now Shop Now $29.74 at Amazon $34.99 Save $5.25 RAK Multitool Pen $17.99 at Amazon $25.99 Save $8.00 Shop Now Shop Now $17.99 at Amazon $25.99 Save $8.00 9-in-1 Pocket Adjustable Wrench $23.75 at Amazon $32.99 Save $9.24 Shop Now Shop Now $23.75 at Amazon $32.99 Save $9.24 RoverTac Camping Multitool $19.99 at Amazon $23.99 Save $4.00 Shop Now Shop Now $19.99 at Amazon $23.99 Save $4.00 Folding Hex Key Set $7.99 at Amazon $24.99 Save $17.00 Shop Now Shop Now $7.99 at Amazon $24.99 Save $17.00 Mini Ratchet Set $16.98 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $16.98 at Amazon SEE 7 MORE The Snowflake multitool does it allMost pocket multi-tools are a little bulky, making the snowflake multitool an awesome little gift for anyone who can’t resist a little light DIYing wherever they go. It’s a wrench, an Allen wrench, a Phillips and flathead screwdriver, a box opener, and bottle opener all in one, and it will slip into your pocket easily. Bonus: It can hang on the tree like an ornament, and it’s currently 26% off for Black Friday. A keychain version of the famous LeathermanYou can’t discuss pocket tools without mentioning the Leatherman, one of the most reliable and useful multitool brands out there. The Micra is a keychain-friendly version of this classic, offering a knife, tweezers, screwdrivers, scissors, bottle opener, file, and a ruler in a tiny, compact build that feels hefty and reliable. It’s also almost 10% off right now. The Hoto Snapbloq is a miniature power screwdriverAt more than a third off, this is a steal that will change your entire approach to DIY on the run. Imagine having a drill, rotary tool, and power screwdriver in your pocket at all times—that’s the Hoto Snapbloq. Sure, you’re not going to be hanging drywall with this, but you can make repairs to electronics and effect quick repairs to just about anything without having to run home for your toolbox. It’s also ideal for hobbyists, as the rotary tool can be a polisher, engraver, etcher, or spot sander. The Palmer is a super useful pocket razorA utility knife is one of the most useful things you can have in your pocket. From opening boxes to cutting straps, having the Palmer in your pocket means you’ll never be reduced to trying to break something with your teeth, or cut something with a steak knife lifted from the kitchen. The Acebeam Rider is a great keychain flashlightSo many DIY jobs require a flashlight, you absolutely need to have one in your pocket or on your keychain. The Acebeam Rider is light, compact, and powerful, offering five brightness levels and running off of a rechargeable AA battery. Next time you’re bent over a tiny project in a dim room, you’ll have all the light you need—and it’s 15% for Black Friday. The RAK multitool pen hides five mini-toolsAlmost every DIY project requires a writing implement, and this nifty pen is also a multitool. It includes a ruler, a bubble level, a bottle opener, a screwdriver, and an LED light—and it’s the size of a standard pen, so you can slip it into a shirt or jacket pocket and not even notice it’s there until you suddenly need a quick tool to get something done. And it’s a tick over 30% off right now. This multitool wrench is as tiny as it is usefulNothing stymies an impromptu DIY repair like a bolt—unless you’re abnormally strong, the chances of getting a bolt loose without a tool are grim, so this tiny multitool wrench will likely be one of the most useful things you have in your pockets at any given time. Not only is it an adjustable wrench, it’s also a ruler, a caliper, a bottle opener, a nail remover, and even a tiny prybar for getting in-between and under small, tight spaces. At nearly 30% off for Black Friday, it’s a must-have stocking stuffer. The RoverTac is a camping tool you'll want to carry everywhereThis is more of a survival or camping tool than an everyday DIY carry, but the idea of having a small hammer that slips into a jacket pocket or glove compartment is compelling. But this thing is also a hatchet, a pair of pliers, and a multitool with a knife, bottle opener, saw, screwdriver, and file. At almost 20% off, it’s a great little gift for the DIYer in your life. A metric hex tool will to replace all those IKEA wrenchesCarrying 15 random Allen wrenches in your pockets isn’t practical, so this tiny pocket-sized hex key set will make any spot tightening an easy job. Whether it’s a loose bit of furniture or a bike repair, you’ll never be caught out when an Allen screw presents itself. Plus, at 20% off, this little tool will actually replace all those loose Allen wrenches you’ve been collecting since you bought your first IKEA product. A mini ratchet set to give you torque on the goAny DIYer will be absolutely delighted to have an entire ratchet set in their pockets. Not only is it small enough to carry around with you while being strong enough to tackle any job, it’s also going to be useful in any situation where you need torque in a tight spot where a standard-sized ratchet won’t be able to fit. View the full article

Hundreds of firefighters are working to control the huge blaze in city’s northern Tai Po districtView the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over. Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find. Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more. Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change. If you're anything like me, you probably spend your whole workday looking at screens, only to go home and immediately turn on more screens to relax. I get it, but by the end of the day, that can be pretty hard on your eyes. That's why I recommend getting an e-reader. These devices have the same instant access to content as more traditional screens, but use special e-ink displays with actual ink instead of LEDs, for a more relaxing and paper-like experience. You're probably familiar with Kindles, but these days, there are plenty of e-readers out there, and Amazon's may not be the best for you. Here are the best e-reader deals this Black Friday, across black-and-white devices, color devices, Androids, and even e-readers that are shaped like phones. Best Kindles and Kobos Amazon Kindle with ads (16GB) $79.99 at Amazon $109.99 Save $30.00 Get Deal Get Deal $79.99 at Amazon $109.99 Save $30.00 Kindle Paperwhite with ads (16GB) $124.99 at Amazon $159.99 Save $35.00 Get Deal Get Deal $124.99 at Amazon $159.99 Save $35.00 Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition $149.99 at Amazon $199.99 Save $50.00 Get Deal Get Deal $149.99 at Amazon $199.99 Save $50.00 Kobo Eclipsa 2E $349.99 at Amazon $399.98 Save $49.99 Get Deal Get Deal $349.99 at Amazon $399.98 Save $49.99 SEE 1 MORE If you want an e-reader with a snappy interface that will just take you directly to either a storefront or your books, then Amazon's black-and-white Kindles and Rakuten's black-and-white Kobos are probably your best bet. You can still read your own files and even library books on these devices, but they don't have the same varied library of apps that you might expect from a phone or iPad. Still, they're probably the simplest option for most people, and the best for reading more traditional content like novels. There are a few different varieties of Kindle, with the base model now discounted down to $80 for Black Friday. This model has a 6-inch screen, an adjustable light, and 16GB of storage, but cuts out some bonuses like waterproofing or an adjustable color temperature. It also displays ads on the lockscreen, or you can opt for this $100 deal instead to remove them. If you want to snag those extra bonuses, you can get the Kindle Paperwhite instead. Currently starting at $125, it bumps the screen up to 7 inches and adds in that adjustable color temperature and waterproofing. Like with the base Kindle, if you don't want ads on your lockscreen, you'll need to get this $145 deal instead. For Amazon's most premium black-and-white e-reader, you'll want the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition. This is $150 and has all the same benefits as the standard Paperwhite, but increases the storage to 32GB, adds in support for wireless charging, and has a sensor for adjusting the brightness automatically. It also doesn't include ads by default, and for $5 more than a regular ad-free Paperwhite, is probably worth the upgrade. There are also kids versions of both the standard Kindle and the Paperwhite, with identical hardware. The difference is that these come with six free months of Amazon Kids+, and cost somewhere in between the regular version and an adult ad-free version ($95 for the base Kindle Kids and $135 for the Paperwhite Kids). They also don't have ads when using a kids' profile, although some users have complained about ads on adult profiles. Finally, for Rakuten devices, only one black-and-white e-reader is on sale right now. That's the Kobo Elipsa 2E. At $350 and 10.3-inches large, it's somewhere between an e-reader and a digital notebook. It has 32GB of storage and a front light with adjustable color temperature, plus comes with a stylus and a few templates to make simple notes that you can upload to Google Drive. The note-taking experience here isn't quite as robust as you'll find on Android devices or on devices like the Remarkable Paper Pro, which is why I feel comfortable calling it more of an e-reader than a digital notebook, but you can sync your notes to the cloud if you'd like, including either Kobo's own cloud storage or your Dropbox or Google Drive. Personally, I find this device is best used for reading large-format books and occasionally marking them up in the margins, which could justify the higher price tag for some users. The flip side is that, if you just want to use it to read, it'll be just as intuitive as any Kindle. Best color e-readers Kindle Colorsoft (16GB) $169.99 at Amazon $249.99 Save $80.00 Get Deal Get Deal $169.99 at Amazon $249.99 Save $80.00 Kobo Libra Colour $199.99 at Amazon $219.99 Save $20.00 Get Deal Get Deal $199.99 at Amazon $219.99 Save $20.00 SEE -1 MORE Color e-readers are a bit more of a recent invention. They might sound like a simple upgrade, but truth be told, they're not for everyone. That's because the color filter they use to achieve their effect can make text look a bit less sharp, and can add a distracting sparkle to even black-and-white content. They also aren't too vibrant when displaying color content. But if you want to read the occasional picture book or comic, they can be a fun way to get a more paper-like experience digitally than you would get on a tablet like an iPad. Just know that they may not be the best choice for dedicated novel readers. The best color image on the market right now probably belongs to the Kindle Colorsoft, and while it used to be pretty expensive, it now comes in two different models. The standard version is currently selling for $170, and comes with 16GB of storage and all the same benefits as the base Kindle Paperwhite (a 7-inch screen, waterproofing, and a front light with an adjustable color temperature). It's also ad-free by default. The Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, meanwhile, will run you $230. It increases the storage to 32GB, adds in wireless charging, and gives the front light the ability to adjust brightness automatically. That's a pretty heavy premium on features some users will probably ignore entirely, but since color content can be a bit larger than black-and-white content (especially comics), it might be worth it depending on what you read. In testing, I found the Kindle Colorsoft had higher contrast than other color e-readers I've tried, generally producing a more paper-like image. The high price initially threw me off recommending it to most readers, but the new, cheaper model and these Black Friday deals help to make it a more attractive buy. That said, if you'd like a color reader that isn't from Amazon, the Kobo Libra Colour is also on sale this Black Friday. It'll run you $200, which is somewhere between the base Kindle Colorsoft and the Signature Edition. For that price, you'll get a 7-inch screen, a front light with an adjustable color temperature, 32GB of storage, waterproofing, and a built-in grip with page turn buttons. You could even buy a stylus to use with the same note-taking apps as on the Elipsa 2E, although they might be a little less useful on such a small screen. I generally found the Libra Colour's image quality was a bit worse than the Colorsoft's, but that extra storage and those page turn buttons are nice for the cost, and it doesn't look too much worse. Best Android e-readers Bigme B7 Color E-Reader $279.00 at Amazon $309.00 Save $30.00 Get Deal Get Deal $279.00 at Amazon $309.00 Save $30.00 Bigme B751C Color E-Reader $245.00 at Amazon $279.00 Save $34.00 Get Deal Get Deal $245.00 at Amazon $279.00 Save $34.00 SEE -1 MORE Android E-Readers tend to come from smaller companies, and are great for their versatility. Because they have access to the same kind of apps you'd use on a smartphone, you can use them to read Kindle books, browse the internet, load up PDFs on their own, or even log into comic apps from the likes of Marvel and DC. The downside is that they can be a little slower to use than Kindle or Kobo devices, because Android is a heavier operating system, and because these apps typically expect you to have a more responsive screen than you'll get on an e-reader. This Black Friday, I've found two book-sized Android e-readers on sale, both of which are in color and come from a company called Bigme. The more affordable one is the Bigme B751C, which is currently $245. It has a 7-inch screen with an adjustable color temperature and a grip with page turn buttons on the left-hand side. Storage is an impressive 64GB, and RAM is 4GB, which will be important for navigating Android. You'll be on a slightly older version of Android here—Android 11—which my colleague Joel Cunningham said was "jammed with bloatware" in his review of this device. Still, he appreciated that you can actually adjust the refresh rate to make the e-ink screen work a little better with Android apps, and the openness of Android meant he'd still choose it over a Kindle Colorsoft. For $279, you could instead upgrade to the more recent Bigme B7, which increases the RAM to 8GB and the storage to 128GB. It also comes with Android 14, and overall, should give you a snappier experience. There's also a 5MP camera, which could be useful for scanning in PDFs, and an included stylus that charges wireless when magnetically attached to the right side of the device. Best phone-sized e-readers Boox Palma 2 $269.99 at Amazon $299.99 Save $30.00 Get Deal Get Deal $269.99 at Amazon $299.99 Save $30.00 ViWoods AiPaper Reader $237.99 at Amazon $279.99 Save $42.00 Get Deal Get Deal $237.99 at Amazon $279.99 Save $42.00 SEE -1 MORE Finally, there are e-readers that are shaped like smartphones. These also run Android, and aim for a more pocketable form factor. They're great for one-handed reading, and could be useful for scrolling social media more intently. I wouldn't use them for a whole book, but they could be a good alternative to endlessly doomscrolling on your phone. The Boox Palma 2 is the favorite in this field, and will currently run you $270. It's got a 6.13-inch black-and-white screen in a smartphone-like aspect ratio, and its front light supports both warm and cool color temperatures. You'll get 6GB of RAM here, plus 128GB of storage and Android 13 pre-installed. There is a 16MP camera for scanning documents, a fingerprint sensor, and even a light sensor like on Amazon's more expensive Kindles. Alternatively, if you're big on AI, you could opt for the Viwoods AiPaper Reader, which is currently selling for $238. This also has a 6.13-inch black-and-white screen, but has a bit less RAM than the Boox Palma, at 4GB rather than 6GB. It also lacks a camera, but does support 4G if you insert a SIM card. Probably the biggest missing feature here is a color adjustable light, but there's still a fingerprint reader. The big selling point is the built-in AI for answering questions about whatever you're reading on the fly, although I can't help but feel that goes against the more intentional, less connected selling point of an e-reader. Best digital notebooksWhile a few of the devices in this article could be used as digital notebooks on the fly, only the Elipsa 2E is really intended as one, and even then, I do feel like its features are lacking compared to other options. Luckily, if you want to use an e-ink screen for writing in addition to reading, my colleague Joel Cunningham's list of the best Black Friday deals on digital notebooks has you covered. Does Amazon have Black Friday deals?Yes, Amazon has Black Friday sales, but prices aren’t always what they seem. Use a price tracker to make sure you’re getting the best deal, or refer to guides like our live blog that use price trackers for you. And if you have an Amazon Prime membership, make the most of it. What stores have the best sales on Black Friday?Nowadays, both large retailers and small businesses compete for Black Friday shoppers, so you can expect practically every store to run sales through Monday, December 1, 2025. The “best” sales depend on your needs, but in general, the biggest discounts tend to come from larger retailers that can afford lower prices: think places like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Home Depot. You can find all the best sales from major retailers on our live blog. How long do Black Friday deals really last?Black Friday sales officially begin Friday, November 28, 2025, and run throughout “Cyber Week,” the five-day period that runs from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, December 1, 2025. But Black Friday and Cyber Monday dates have expanded as retailers compete for customers. You can get the same Black Friday sales early, and we expect sales to wind down by December 3, 2025. Our Best Editor-Vetted Early Black Friday Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $219.99 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $274.00 (List Price $349.00) Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) — $69.99 (List Price $139.99) Sony WH-1000XM5 — $248.00 (List Price $399.99) Blink Outdoor 4 1080p Wireless Security Camera (5-Pack) — $159.99 (List Price $399.99) Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $24.99 (List Price $49.99) NEW Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones — $298.00 (List Price $429.00) Shark AI Ultra Matrix Clean Mapping Voice Control Robot Vacuum with XL Self-Empty Base — $249.99 (List Price $599.00) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $339.00 (List Price $399.00) WD 6TB My Passport USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive — $138.65 (List Price $179.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team 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. Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over. Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find. Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more. Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change. Whoop and Oura make great fitness trackers, but they also require that you pay them every month (or annually) to keep the data flowing. Other devices are tied to an optional subscription, but you may find yourself annoyed at paywalled features or frequent nudges to upgrade. If you don't want to sweat an extra monthly charge while you're getting fit, here are some fitness trackers that, refreshingly, require none of that—and they're all discounted for Black Friday. RingConn Gen 2RingConn makes smart rings, similar to Oura's or Ultrahuman's. The RingConn Gen 2 model impressed Nina Raemont at ZDNet with its battery life of 10 to 12 days, and solid health tracking. It comes in sizes 6 to 14, and has a charging case. The app seems like it's a bit less sophisticated than Oura's, but the pricing model may be well worth the tradeoff. The Gen 2 is normally $299.99, but with this deal it's on sale for $209. RingConn Gen 2 $209.00 at Amazon $299.00 Save $90.00 Get Deal Get Deal $209.00 at Amazon $299.00 Save $90.00 Apple WatchWe're going to set aside Apple's Fitness+ subscription service, since that provides workout videos but doesn't interfere with the watch's functionality in the least. (If you didn't tap into the Fitness+ tab of the Fitness app, you'd never know it was there.) All of the current Apple Watches have a wealth of fitness features that you can access through the Fitness app and the Health app. While you can pay extra for third-party subscription apps, you don't need to spend a dime to log your workouts, close your rings, or get sleep scores or heart health notifications. There are deals going on multiple Apple Watches right now: The Series 11 (the current middle-of-the-road model) starts at $339.99, which is 15% off the regular price of $399. The Series 10 (one year old) starts at $279.99, 30% off the original price of $399.99 The SE 3 starts at $199.99, 20% off the original price of $249.99. Apple Watch Series 11, 42 mm, GPS $339.99 at Amazon $399.00 Save $59.01 Get Deal Get Deal $339.99 at Amazon $399.00 Save $59.01 Coros Pace ProCoros makes excellent fitness and outdoor watches that rival the features of Garmins but at a much lower price. I've written about their Pace line of watches, and today I'd like to highlight the Pace Pro, which I've reviewed here. (Coros doesn't offer subscription features, so really any of their watches could make this list.) The Pace Pro is a 46 millimeter watch with full color maps. Mapping is a premium feature that other brands charge a lot more for—but Coros puts maps in the Pace Pro for $349 normally, and only $299 with the current deal. Coros Pace Pro $299.00 at Amazon $349.00 Save $50.00 Get Deal Get Deal $299.00 at Amazon $349.00 Save $50.00 How long do Black Friday deals really last?Black Friday sales officially begin Friday, November 28, 2025, and run throughout “Cyber Week,” the five-day period that runs from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, December 1, 2025. But Black Friday and Cyber Monday dates have expanded as retailers compete for customers. You can get the same Black Friday sales early, and we expect sales to wind down by December 3, 2025. Are Black Friday deals worth it?In short, yes, Black Friday still offers discounts that can be rare throughout the rest of the year. If there’s something you want to buy, or you’re shopping for gifts, it’s a good time to look for discounts on what you need, especially tech sales, home improvement supplies, and fitness tech. Of course, if you need to save money, the best way to save is to not buy anything. Are Cyber Monday deals better than Black Friday?Black Friday used to be bigger for major retailers and more expensive tech and appliances, while Cyber Monday was for cheaper tech and gave smaller businesses a chance to compete online. Nowadays, though, distinction is almost meaningless. Every major retailer will offer sales on both days, and the smart move is to know what you want, use price trackers or refer to guides like our live blog that use price trackers for you, and don’t stress over finding the perfect timing. Our Best Editor-Vetted Early Black Friday Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $219.99 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $274.00 (List Price $349.00) Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) — $69.99 (List Price $139.99) Sony WH-1000XM5 — $248.00 (List Price $399.99) Blink Outdoor 4 1080p Wireless Security Camera (5-Pack) — $159.99 (List Price $399.99) Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $24.99 (List Price $49.99) NEW Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones — $298.00 (List Price $429.00) Shark AI Ultra Matrix Clean Mapping Voice Control Robot Vacuum with XL Self-Empty Base — $249.99 (List Price $599.00) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $339.00 (List Price $399.00) WD 6TB My Passport USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive — $138.65 (List Price $179.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team 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. Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over. Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find. Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more. Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change. The perfect gift for a college student can be hard to suss out. They're adults, but not really, and what they need at school swings between "serious academic tools" and "things that make dorm life more bearable" wildly. Whether you're prepping a freshman to return for the spring semester at a state school or you're upgrading the gear of a senior at Yale, the right tech, accessories, and comfort items can make a huge difference in their daily routines. Here’s a curated list of tech-focused gifts that any student would like, covering productivity boosters, dorm upgrades, and a fun splurges—many of which are on sale right now. Academic and productivity essentials Good grades require good gear. These items are all designed to aid in the "studying" part of going to college, because education is the whole point. Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3i Chromebook Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3i Chromebook $282.16 at Amazon $350.50 Save $68.34 Get Deal Get Deal $282.16 at Amazon $350.50 Save $68.34 A reliable laptop is the most important piece of tech for most students. The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3i Chromebook is powerful enough to handle note-taking, Google Docs, and streaming, and, at less than three pounds, it's light enough to carry all over campus. Power Strip with USB, 2100J Surge Protector Power Strip with USB, 2100J Surge Protector $20.89 at Amazon $29.99 Save $9.10 Get Deal Get Deal $20.89 at Amazon $29.99 Save $9.10 No dorm room has enough outlets, and few surge protectors have enough USB ports. This power strip solves both problems at once by cramming 12(!) outlets and 6 USB ports—both C and B—into one compact unit. It's infinitely practical. Urbanista noise cancelling headphones Urbanista Los Angeles $98.16 at Amazon Get Deal Get Deal $98.16 at Amazon These Urbanista over-ear headphones are great for drowning out loud roommates, hallway traffic, and the general chaos of college housing. Plus, they can be used to get, like, really into Pink Floyd. They're very solid headphones at a very good price. Ipepul scientific calculator IPepul Scientific Calculator $15.19 at Amazon $23.99 Save $8.80 Get Deal Get Deal $15.19 at Amazon $23.99 Save $8.80 A phone calculator won’t cut it on exams. Obviously math, science, business, and engineering students are going to need a reliable scientific calculator, but even liberal arts majors are likely to need one for that damn statistics class they have to take. Kindle Paperwhite Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024) $124.99 at Amazon $159.99 Save $35.00 Get Deal Get Deal $124.99 at Amazon $159.99 Save $35.00 Just as English majors need calculators, STEM students are going to have to take at least on literature class, and a Kindle will make all that reading as painless as possible with its bright screen and go-anywhere size and weight. Amazon Fire Max Tablet Amazon Fire Max 11 128GB Wi-Fi Tablet (2023 Model) $189.99 at Amazon $279.99 Save $90.00 Get Deal Get Deal $189.99 at Amazon $279.99 Save $90.00 An Amazon Fire tablet is the perfect item to have with you when a laptop isn't needed. This flexible entertainment (and study) device lets you stream lectures, take notes, watch movies, and browse the web, and it costs way less than an iPad. It's just a much cleaner option than a pile of notebooks. Amazon Fire Max stylus Amazon Fire Max Stylus $29.99 at Amazon $36.99 Save $7.00 Get Deal Get Deal $29.99 at Amazon $36.99 Save $7.00 If you want to take their tablet to the next level, don't forget the stylus. It's great for note-taking, sketching, highlighting, and annotating PDFs. Dorm life and entertainmentCollege isn't all lectures, reading, studying, and exams. There's also navigating being away from home for the first time, figuring our how to live comfortably, and making friends, and that extracurricular activity can be as much of an education as classes. Keurig K-Express Single Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker Keurig K-Express Coffee Maker $59.99 at Amazon $109.99 Save $50.00 Get Deal Get Deal $59.99 at Amazon $109.99 Save $50.00 For many students, caffeine is vital for productivity, wellness, and entertainment. There may be coffee at the cafeteria, but it's all the way across campus. This dorm-size, single serving coffee maker from Keurig will be greatly appreciated. A year's subscription to a streaming serviceWhether you sign them up for Amazon Prime, Netflix, or The Criterion Collection, a subscription is one of the most appreciated gifts you can give, and it's something they'll definitely use. It's also super-easy to sign up. Just make sure you check for student discounts so you don't over pay. JBL Charge 6 Bluetooth speaker JBL Charge 6 Bluetooth Speaker $128.00 at Walmart $199.95 Save $71.95 Get Deal Get Deal $128.00 at Walmart $199.95 Save $71.95 Portable and loud enough for dorm hangouts, study playlists, and small outdoor gatherings, the JBL Charge 6 sounds great, and it's tough enough to deal with spilled drinks, drops on the ground, and more. This is a great Bluetooth speaker for college life. Govee LED lights Govee LED Strip Lights $42.99 at Amazon $72.99 Save $30.00 Get Deal Get Deal $42.99 at Amazon $72.99 Save $30.00 These LED strips will turn an impersonal dorm room into a customized den instantly. Plus, the effortless installation isn't likely to run afoul of the dorm's rules about making room alterations. Electactic beverage cooler Electactic Refrigerator $118.97 at Amazon $139.97 Save $21.00 Get Deal Get Deal $118.97 at Amazon $139.97 Save $21.00 A dorm room with a mini fridge packed with midnight snacks and cans of "sodas" is the kind of dorm room everyone wants to hang out in, but before you buy this, make sure setting up a fridge isn't breaking any rules. Dyson Hot+Cool AM09 Jet Focus heater and fan Dyson AM09 Jet Focus Hot + Cool Fan Heater $299.99 at Amazon $499.99 Save $200.00 Get Deal Get Deal $299.99 at Amazon $499.99 Save $200.00 Controlling the temperature in a dorm room can be hard, but this Dyson heater/cooler is perfect for the limited square footage of a typical dorm room. It's quiet, unobtrusive, and can be used to cool or heat a person or a whole room. Echo Glow lamp Amazon Echo Glow $19.99 at Amazon $29.99 Save $10.00 Get Deal Get Deal $19.99 at Amazon $29.99 Save $10.00 A color-changing light can makes any dorm room feel calmer and more comfortable, but this attractive Echo lamp has a secret: It's Alexa compatible so it can be controlled with spoken commands and it also works as an alarm clock. Meta Quest 3S A popular pick for VR gaming, fitness, and immersive study breaks, the Meta Quest 3S is also great for virtual hangouts with the friends they left behind when they graduated high school. Personal Wellness and lifestyleCollege life can be stressful, so staying physically and mentally fit is vital. These wellness and style focused gifts might help build good habits and take better care of themselves while they’re juggling classes, work, and social life. Chamelo Music Shield smart glasses Chamelo Music Shield Smart Glasses $199.99 at Amazon $259.99 Save $60.00 Get Deal Get Deal $199.99 at Amazon $259.99 Save $60.00 The color-changing gimmick at the heart of these music-playing glasses is perfect for someone who exercises outside a lot, and Music Shields are also perfect for someone who wants to make a fashion impression in a unique way. Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 $159.99 at Amazon $279.99 Save $120.00 Get Deal Get Deal $159.99 at Amazon $279.99 Save $120.00 This all-in-one device is great for managing notifications, tracking fitness, and maintaining healthy sleep habits, all things that can make a huge difference in college. Plus, a Galaxy Watch will help them get to class on time and look stylish doing it. Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 headphones Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 Headphones $124.95 at Amazon $179.95 Save $55.00 Get Deal Get Deal $124.95 at Amazon $179.95 Save $55.00 These Shokz headphones are perfect for a student who likes to listen to music or podcast while walking, running, or cycling. The open-ear design allows you to hear your surrounding, but they still sound great. Oral-B iO rechargeable electric toothbrush Oral-B iO Electric Toothbrush $59.99 at Amazon $109.99 Save $50.00 Get Deal Get Deal $59.99 at Amazon $109.99 Save $50.00 A really solid, high-end toothbrush like this Oral-B iO is the kind of thing a cash-strapped student is unlikely to buy for themselves, but will make a huge difference in their daily life. In other words, even though it's "just" a toothbrush, it's a perfect Christmas gift. Oura Ring 4This unobtrusive finger ring is amazing: it tracks sleep, stress, exercise, and recovery. An Oura Ring 4 is great for students trying to balance classes, work, fitness and social life while avoiding burnout; in other words, every college student. Does Apple do Black Friday?Yes, Apple participates in Black Friday, though you may want to compare their sales with other retailers like Best Buy and Walmart. Apple is offering an exclusive $250 gift card for eligible purchases, but so far, the best Black Friday sale on an Apple product is the M4 MacBook on sale for cheaper than ever. Does Amazon have Black Friday deals?Yes, Amazon has Black Friday sales, but prices aren’t always what they seem. Use a price tracker to make sure you’re getting the best deal, or refer to guides like our live blog that use price trackers for you. And if you have an Amazon Prime membership, make the most of it. What stores have the best sales on Black Friday?Nowadays, both large retailers and small businesses compete for Black Friday shoppers, so you can expect practically every store to run sales through Monday, December 1, 2025. The “best” sales depend on your needs, but in general, the biggest discounts tend to come from larger retailers that can afford lower prices: think places like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Home Depot. You can find all the best sales from major retailers on our live blog. Are Black Friday deals worth it?In short, yes, Black Friday still offers discounts that can be rare throughout the rest of the year. If there’s something you want to buy, or you’re shopping for gifts, it’s a good time to look for discounts on what you need, especially tech sales, home improvement supplies, and fitness tech. Of course, if you need to save money, the best way to save is to not buy anything. Are Cyber Monday deals better than Black Friday?Black Friday used to be bigger for major retailers and more expensive tech and appliances, while Cyber Monday was for cheaper tech and gave smaller businesses a chance to compete online. Nowadays, though, the distinction is almost meaningless. Every major retailer will offer sales on both days, and the smart move is to know what you want, use price trackers or refer to guides like our live blog that use price trackers for you, and don’t stress over finding the perfect timing. Our Best Editor-Vetted Early Black Friday Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $219.99 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $274.00 (List Price $349.00) Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) — $69.99 (List Price $139.99) Sony WH-1000XM5 — $248.00 (List Price $399.99) Blink Outdoor 4 1080p Wireless Security Camera (5-Pack) — $159.99 (List Price $399.99) Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $24.99 (List Price $49.99) NEW Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones — $298.00 (List Price $429.00) Shark AI Ultra Matrix Clean Mapping Voice Control Robot Vacuum with XL Self-Empty Base — $249.99 (List Price $599.00) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $339.00 (List Price $399.00) WD 6TB My Passport USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive — $138.65 (List Price $179.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team 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. Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over. Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find. Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more. Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change. Right now, the Fitbit Charge 6 is available for $99.95 on Amazon during its Black Friday sales event—that's a 38% discount off its usual $159.95 price. If you've been eyeing a fitness tracker but don't want to spend a fortune, this deal is worth jumping on. Fitbit Charge 6 $99.95 at Amazon $159.95 Save $60.00 Get Deal Get Deal $99.95 at Amazon $159.95 Save $60.00 The Charge 6 is a solid choice if you're looking for a straightforward device that handles the essentials without overwhelming you with unnecessary features. It tracks steps, monitors sleep, and records activities—all without forcing you to navigate through endless menus and bells and whistles you'll never use. Sometimes simple is exactly what you need. Other Fitbit options on sale for Black FridayIf you want something with a bit more functionality, the Fitbit Versa 4 is currently $119.95, down from $199.95. It offers a larger screen and additional smartwatch features if you're looking to go beyond basic fitness tracking. On the flip side, if you want an even more budget-friendly option, check out the Fitbit Inspire 3 at $69.95, down from $99.95. It doesn't have built-in GPS and the screen is smaller than the one on the Charge 6, but if all you need is a barebones fitness tracker to keep tabs on your daily activity and sleep patterns, it's a solid pick. At under $100, the Fitbit Charge 6 hits the sweet spot between affordability and functionality. It's ideal for anyone who wants reliable fitness tracking without the complexity (or price tag) of fancier smartwatches. For more deals on fitness trackers and smartwatches, check out more of the top picks on sale now. How long do Black Friday deals really last?Black Friday sales officially begin Friday, November 28, 2025, and run throughout “Cyber Week,” the five-day period that runs from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, December 1, 2025. But Black Friday and Cyber Monday dates have expanded as retailers compete for customers. You can get the same Black Friday sales early, and we expect sales to wind down by December 3, 2025. Are Black Friday deals worth it?In short, yes, Black Friday still offers discounts that can be rare throughout the rest of the year. If there’s something you want to buy, or you’re shopping for gifts, it’s a good time to look for discounts on what you need, especially tech sales, home improvement supplies, and fitness tech. Of course, if you need to save money, the best way to save is to not buy anything. Are Cyber Monday deals better than Black Friday?Black Friday used to be bigger for major retailers and more expensive tech and appliances, while Cyber Monday was for cheaper tech and gave smaller businesses a chance to compete online. Nowadays, though, distinction is almost meaningless. Every major retailer will offer sales on both days, and the smart move is to know what you want, use price trackers or refer to guides like our live blog that use price trackers for you, and don’t stress over finding the perfect timing. Our Best Editor-Vetted Early Black Friday Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $219.99 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $274.00 (List Price $349.00) Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) — $69.99 (List Price $139.99) Sony WH-1000XM5 — $248.00 (List Price $399.99) Blink Outdoor 4 1080p Wireless Security Camera (5-Pack) — $159.99 (List Price $399.99) Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $24.99 (List Price $49.99) NEW Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones — $298.00 (List Price $429.00) Shark AI Ultra Matrix Clean Mapping Voice Control Robot Vacuum with XL Self-Empty Base — $249.99 (List Price $599.00) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $339.00 (List Price $399.00) WD 6TB My Passport USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive — $138.65 (List Price $179.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

I may be home all the time, but I'm enjoying Nest's Gemini-aided summaries, even if they're not always on the mark. The new summaries let me easily glance at a notification to see if it's worth getting up for. They've become a metronome of my day, as I see that the local feral cat is on its rounds of mouse hunting in my backyard. And the daily Home Brief is good at summarizing the relative chaos coming in and out of my house. I'm not even using the latest Nest hardware. I have a mix of first- and second-generation cameras, including two 2012-era indoor Nest cameras and a blend of 2021-era releases. It's been interesting to see how the Gemini infusion has revived the aging hardware, though it's still far from being the future-facing smart home tech it's been billed it to be—especially at this price. There's still work to be done before it becomes the trustworthy, contextual assistant Google wants it to be. Here's what to expect as Gemini becomes a core part of the Nest camera experience, and what you can do to make it work better for you. Where Gemini excels with Nest I've been actively testing Gemini in the new Google Home app since it launched last month. It's available after a significant, years-long overhaul of the app. However, most of the features discussed in this piece are only available with the Advanced tier of the Google Home Premium subscription, which costs $200 per year. That tier unlocks Gemini's Home Brief, the Ask Home video history search, detailed event descriptions and notifications, and 60 days of scrubbable event history. You can choose to pay only for the Google Home Premium Standard plan, which includes 30 days of event history and costs $100 per year, but it does not include the Home Brief and other AI-led features mentioned here. Gemini's smart home features are an additional cost on top of using the regular Gemini chatbot, unless you pay for the Google One AI Pro tier (so many subscriptions). The summary and search capabilities have been time-savers when they work, though they've yet to justify their cost. Right now, the price is only worth it if you're after the colorful, detailed AI-generated notifications and 60-day event history. You can ask Gemini to tell you more about the Home Brief and bring up specific events. Credit: Florence Ion/Lifehacker On both Android and iOS devices, the app has been consolidated into three main tabs: Home, Activity, and Automations. The Gemini summaries live in the Activity tab and are refreshed every morning with the lowdown of the day's prior events. You can filter notifications by device, if you're more interested in what the doorbell camera caught than in the one facing the backyard, or read all the summaries at once. Summaries are generally a variation of the same thing each time. They're simple and succinct, often reading like dispatches of what's happening rather than alerts that a device has detected motion. Reports read like, "a person and a child walked by the front, followed by another person approaching the door." Package notifications will include whether FedEx or UPS is specifically making the drop, and if it can't figure it out, it simplifies it to "delivery person." In most cases, if it's properly labeled, Gemini will mention the camera that caught the action. "Two different people walked by the Front Door, and a cat was seen walking by the Side Door camera." If it identifies people it knows through Familiar Faces, the Home Brief's summaries can be even more dynamic, bordering on narrative. "Flo was seen interacting with a child, lifting them, and later sitting with them on the couch." Gemini summaries can be very plain or they can be extremely colorful, like this one. Credit: Florence Ion/Lifehacker While it can get repetitive reading the same thing over and over again, that familiarity makes it possible to scroll through and find a standout event. Typically, I check the summary before I delve further. If there's something of note—"an unrecognized person approached the porch, looked at the camera, and shined a flashlight before leaving"—I tap on the Gemini icon to start a chat about the day's events. It'll pull up the camera clips associated with the devices I selected to review, along with events from that day, and then I can type or dictate my concerns. A detailed, Gemini-led notification on the Pixel Watch 4. Credit: Florence Ion/Lifehacker There's no granular control over the Home Brief in its current implementation and you can't decide whether Gemini flourishes the narrative or keeps it simple. You can ask Gemini to focus on "certain things," broadly speaking, like whether you want it to ignore vehicles or animals. You cannot get more specific than that, like asking for it to hone in on cats over opossums. Push notifications are managed the standard route, through the Google Home app and each individual camera. Customization for the Home Brief is currently very limited. Credit: Florence Ion/Lifehacker Gemini has a people problemWhile Gemini excels at differentiating an opossum from a cat, and a dog from a raccoon, it's still tripping up on arguably one of the most important recognition tasks and a core part of the paid Google Home Premium features: identifying the humans who actually live here. Gemini isn't always aware of who is at the door or inside the house. It's only named my husband and me twice since I started testing everything. It's been pretty good at pointing out that my kid is a child, though a few times it's identified her as "children," plural, which creeped me out the first time I saw the notification. It's never referred to her by her name, though she's a registered Familiar Face. Even when Gemini does provide detail—"a person departing, followed shortly by a person and a child"—it fails to note that it's the same person walking in and out of the house in succession. I've read through Reddit threads in the last month complaining of similar woes. A quick look at Google's support pages shows Familiar Faces wasn't always consistent, even before Gemini. We know that AI generally has a history of hallucinations, and there are even instances of Gemini's Nest camera summaries making stuff up. But it's even more obvious now that it's part of a daily summary. And while I appreciate the responsible way the AI generally refers to unknown people as just "persons," Gemini's failure to signal that it's the same face, one after the other, makes the Nest cameras feel more like overactive motion detectors. The other problem is that the Gemini summaries' descriptions are not always correct. The Google Home activity summary brought up a person with a flashlight looking into the front doorbell camera. Naturally, I was struck by the description when I read it. After some scrubbing in the timeline and talking to my husband, it turns out we'd had a nighttime Amazon delivery—common now that daylight savings time is over where I live—and the person leaving the package was using a flashlight to ensure the address matched the house. While I don't expect Gemini to handle that level of detail quite yet, leaving out the delivery person's role only added to the confusion. Gemini noticed a person approaching porch, but failed to mention it was a delivery person. And so, my heart skipped a beat that I'd missed something. Credit: Florence Ion/Lifehacker Perhaps most egregious of all, Gemini missed someone stealing all our candy on Halloween night. It didn't even alert me to the fact that people were in the frame. A little less than an hour before the incident, the first-gen Nest doorbell picked up my family and me returning from trick-or-treating, down to the colors of our costumes. But when two adults and a kid walked up to the edge of the walkway outside my front door, it didn't even register as an event. The Google Home app had only denoted it as a "sound." I scanned the timeline many times before I saw the moment the candy theft occurred. The lack of an incident report tied to a clip made it hard to pinpoint exactly when it happened. Eventually, I took a screen recording of a several-minute video stream around the time the "sound" had been detected. That's when I saw one of the adults in the group stand in front of the candy bowl, I assume to hide the dumping of its entire contents into the bag. Were it not for the physical blockade, the first-generation Nest doorbell camera might have caught the whole thing. Still, it failed to tell me there were people outside my door for a prolonged period, which is the essential information that should have been summarized. How to set up a Nest camera for successWhile Gemini still requires significant refinement on Google's part, you can do a couple of things on your end to optimize the Nest cameras so that the AI summaries aren't consistently off base. The Gemini summaries rely on the quality of data the cameras collect, so refining the Familiar Faces library can help immensely. This helps improve Gemini's "confidence," so to speak, so it's not simply defaulting to "a person." When I went in to curate Familiar Faces, I noticed that Nest has been bundling my face in with our sitter's, and my husband's face with our daughter's. It's neat that the AI can pick up on subtle similarities here, but it's not super helpful for revealing exactly who is at the door. If the camera mistakenly included the wrong picture, or even a blurry photo, you can delete it from the Familiar Faces library. While you're here, check if the camera has created multiple profiles for the same person. You can merge them to make the data more comprehensive and reduce Gemini's risk of faltering. The best way to fix Gemini's faux pas is to edit you Familiar Faces library. Credit: Florence Ion/Lifehacker If you've got a Google Home full of aging Nest devices, ensuring the camera lenses are clean and the hardware itself is properly mounted can do wonders. Google support says doorbell cameras should be about four feet off the ground, while general cameras can be mounted six to eight feet. Most people are captured within 10 feet of the camera. You'll also want to pay attention to light and shadows. Pop in to learn what the cameras see at varying times of day. You're supposed to avoid placing the camera where the sun or bright external lights can backlight a face, but unfortunately, my front door faces west, and the sun loves to hover on that side for the better part of the afternoon. Activity zones are also crucial to getting Gemini to tell you what's going on. If a camera faces a wide area with lots of irrelevant motion, like trees swaying in the wind, use Activity Zones to specify exactly where packages are dropped in the camera preview. The AI will skip over plants and focus more on the area highlighted. If I had this engaged to look off in the distance, maybe the doorbell camera would have caught the Halloween candy heist. Gemini is still learningWhile aging Nest hardware is getting a tiny boost in utility now that Gemini summaries are a core part of the experience, it still struggles with context. The Nest cameras are good at general motion detection, but Gemini struggles to distinguish people and determine when a human-driven event needs to be addressed. I reached out to Google with the very specific case of my Halloween candy escapade to figure out what criteria were needed to get the AI to catch on. I received a response with tips on what I could do on my end to improve Gemini's chances of getting summaries. Unsurprisingly, I didn't get a more specific answer than that. The new Gemini infusion is in its nascent stages, which means it's still just the beginning of the road for it. Google wants you to send feedback so it can learn what to tweak to improve the integrated Gemini experience over time. The Gemini-led Nest summaries in the Google Home app are a valuable tool for reducing notification fatigue and checking quickly on what's happening at the door. But until AI can reliably distinguish between a family member, a delivery person with the right intentions, and an unusual human action as a high-priority event, you'll need to continue to perform your own due diligence. That's not to say the foundation isn't there. But for now, Gemini is still learning. View the full article

A new study from MIT that shows that AI might be poised to replace a lot more jobs than what initial estimates might predict. According to researchers, a hidden mass of data reveals that AI is currently capable of taking over 11.7% of the labor market. The new estimate comes courtesy of a project called The Iceberg Index, which was made through a partnership between MIT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a federally funded research center in Tennessee. According to its website, the Iceberg Index “simulates an agentic U.S.—a human-AI workforce where 151M+ human workers coordinate with thousands of AI agents.” In simpler terms, the tool is designed to simulate precisely how AI is poised to disrupt the current workforce, down to specific local zip codes. The Iceberg Index model treats America’s 151 million workers as individual agents, each categorized by their skills, tasks, occupation, and location. In total, it maps more than 32,000 skills and 923 occupations across 3,000 counties. In an interview with CNBC, Prasanna Balaprakash, ORNL director and co-leader of the research, described this as a “digital twin for the U.S. labor market.” Using that base of data, the index analyzes to what extent digital AI tools can already perform certain technical and cognitive tasks, and then produces an estimate of what AI exposure in each area looks like. Already, state governments in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Utah are using the index to prepare for AI-driven workforce changes. Here are three main takeaways from the study: AI is more pervasive in the workforce than we think Perhaps the biggest finding from the study is the discovery of what it calls a “substantial measurement gap” in how we typically think about AI replacing jobs. According to the report, if analysts only observe current AI adoption, which is mainly concentrated in computing and technology, they’ll find that AI exposure accounts for only about 2.2% of the workforce, or around $211 billion in wage value (the report refers to this as “Surface Index”). But, it says, that’s “only the tip of the iceberg.” By factoring in variables like AI’s potential for automation in administrative, financial, and professional services, the numbers rise to 11.7% of the workforce and about $1.2 trillion in wages (this calculation is referred to as “Iceberg Index”). The study’s authors emphasize that these results only represent technical AI exposure, not actual future displacement outcomes. Those depend on how companies, workers, and local governments adapt over time. The AI takeover is not limited to the coasts It’s fairly common to assume that the most AI job exposure is concentrated in coastal hubs, where tech companies predominantly gather. But the Iceberg Index shows that AI’s ability to take over work force tasks is distributed much more widely. Many states across the U.S., the study shows, register small AI impacts when accounting solely for current AI adoption in computing and tech, but much higher values when other variables are taken into consideration. “Rust Belt states such as Ohio, Michigan, and Tennessee register modest Surface Index values but substantial Iceberg Index values driven by cognitive work—financial analysis, administrative coordination, and professional services—that supports manufacturing operations,” the study reads. How this data can actually make a difference Now that MIT and ORNL have successfully established the Iceberg Index, they’re hoping it can be used by local governments to protect workers and economies. Local lawmakers can use the map to source fine-grain insights, like examining a certain city block to see which skill sets are most in use and the likelihood of their automation. Per CNBC, MIT and ORNL have also built an interactive tool that lets states experiment with different policy levers—like adjusting training programs or shifting workforce dollars—to predict how those changes might affect local employment and gross domestic product. “The Iceberg Index provides measurable intelligence for critical workforce decisions: where to invest in training, which skills to prioritize, how to balance infrastructure with human capital,” the report reads. “It reveals not only visible disruption in technology sectors but the larger transformation beneath the surface. By measuring exposure before adoption reshapes work, the Index enables states to prepare rather than react—turning AI into a navigable transition.” View the full article

Police say a suspect is in custody after incident in Washington View the full article