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‘Hyper-rational’ CEO secured important deals with Blackstone and Microsoft to create a cloud computing giant ahead of IPOView the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. This comment section is open for any non-work-related discussion you’d like to have with other readers, by popular demand. Here are the rules for the weekend posts. Book recommendation of the week: Show Don’t Tell, by Curtis Sittenfeld. I will read anything Curtis Sittenfeld writes, including short stories, which normal frustrate me for being … short. As she has moved into middle age, so have many of her characters, including one story that revisits the protagonist from her novel Prep. (Amazon, Bookshop) * I earn a commission if you use that link. View the full article

Billionaire entrepreneur says social media platform and AI group will share data and computational powerView the full article

Google concluded a 14-year legal battle over advertising billing practices, agreeing to a substantial settlement without admitting any wrongdoing. The resolution marks a significant moment in the company’s complex history of digital advertising regulations. The big picture. The lawsuit centered on allegations that Google manipulated its AdWords platform between 2004 and 2012, specifically targeting two key issues: artificially reducing advertiser discounts through Smart Pricing and distributing ads beyond advertisers’ designated geographic location. Context. Advertisers accused Google of violating California’s unfair competition law, claiming the tech giant misled participants in its advertising program. The legal process was extraordinarily complex, involving the production of over 910,000 pages of documents and multiple terabytes of click data. Why we care. The case highlights the importance of holding platforms accountable for how ad campaigns are billed and targeted. This outcome may encourage stricter regulations and increased scrutiny on ad platforms, prompting companies to demand clearer, more reliable ad practices. For those who used AdWords from 2004 to 2012, the settlement could mean direct financial compensation. More broadly, it reinforces the need for advertisers to carefully monitor ad performance and billing practices to ensure fair value for their investments. Financial details. The settlement totals $100 million, covering advertisers who used AdWords during the specified period. Lawyers for the plaintiffs may receive up to 33% of the settlement fund, with an additional $4.2 million allocated for legal expenses. What’s next. The settlement requires judicial approval, potentially closing a contentious chapter in digital advertising’s regulatory landscape. Google maintains its stance of resolving a dispute about “ad product features changed over a decade ago.” View the full article

(Reuters) – Elon Musk said on Friday that his xAI has acquired X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter, in an all-stock transaction for $45 billion, including $12 billion debt. “xAI and X’s futures are intertwined. Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent,” Musk said in a post on X, adding that the combined company would be valued at $80 billion. Neither X nor xAI immediately responded to a request for comment. The billionaire’s AI startup, which was launched in 2023, recently raised $6 billion from investors in a funding round that valued the company at $40 billion, sources told Reuters earlier. Musk in February made a $97.4 billion bid with a consortium for the ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which was rejected, with OpenAI saying that the startup was not for sale. As competition in AI intensifies, xAI has been ramping up its data center capacity to train more advanced models, and its supercomputer cluster in Memphis, Tennessee, called “Colossus,” is touted as the largest in the world. xAI introduced Grok-3, the latest iteration of its chatbot, in February, as it tries to compete with Chinese AI firm DeepSeek and Microsoft-backed OpenAI. Musk clinched a deal in 2022 to buy X for $44 billion, ending its run as a public company since its 2013 initial public offering, declaring that “the bird is freed” once the acquisition closed. (Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Sandra Maler) View the full article

Google's John Mueller's overview of the quality raters and the guidelines they use carries a subtext that's valuable for SEO The post Google Shares Valuable SEO Takeaway About Quality Raters Guidelines appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

While artificial intelligence can quickly analyze and compare products for consumers, social media and other online tools still serve to educate them. View the full article

The federal district court order in Mississippi allows allegations of servicer responsibility for insurance shortcomings and excessive costs to proceed. View the full article

Betty White is making her mark on the nation’s snail mail. The beloved actor of “The Golden Girls” fame was celebrated with a new U.S. Postal Service stamp at a first-day-of-issue ceremony at the Los Angeles Zoo on Thursday. Fans that were crowded behind barricades cheered as a blue curtain dropped to reveal the stamp featuring a portrait of White against a violet-colored background with lighter shades of bubbly spots in a nod to her sparkling personality. She wears a blue polka-dot blouse and peeking out of her blond curls is an earring shaped like a pawprint. “When I was working on the stamp surrounding myself with Betty White videos and pictures, I felt like I was working on a portrait of a family member,” Boston-based artist Dale Stephanos said. “I wanted Betty’s huge personality to take center stage.” The illustration is based on a photo taken by Kwaku Alston in 2010. At the celebration, singer-songwriter Ellis Hall performed a snippet of “Thank You for Being a Friend,” the theme song to “The Golden Girls.” A laughing kookaburra and other squawking birds occasionally interrupted the speakers, which surely would have delighted the animal-loving White. “Animals were her kids and she loved them all — any shape, size and kind,” said Richard Lichtenstein, a board member of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association. White had worked with the zoo since its opening in 1966 until her death in December 2021, a couple weeks shy of her 100th birthday. “Who didn’t love Betty White?” Lichtenstein said. “Her smile, her sense of humor, her basic decency. Our country, our city and yes, even our Los Angeles Zoo, would be much better if more people followed her example. Betty White put her stamp on everyone and anyone she came in contact with.” He said White’s financial support and advocacy helped make possible exhibits featuring chimps, gorillas and elephants, among others. Lichtenstein said White set up a private foundation before her death that funds various zoo programs. “This zoo, its inhabitants and this community meant so much to Betty White just as she meant so much to all of us,” said Amber McReynolds, chair of the USPS board of governors. “Betty White was an American treasure.” People lined up to purchase panes of 20 forever stamps, pins and notecards before getting first-day cancellations near a churro snack stand while schoolchildren walked by. “This stamp is special because let’s face it, everybody loves Betty White,” Stephanos said. —Beth Harris, Associated Press View the full article

Move signals push by the American president to widen his ideological campaign abroadView the full article

A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction that preserves the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's existence, reinstates fired employees, contracts, data and operational capacity. View the full article

There’s a reason Haliey Welch seemingly vanished from the internet overnight: she’s the focus of an upcoming documentary exploring her meteoric rise—and dramatic fall—from viral fame. The 22-year-old influencer will be the subject of an upcoming documentary from Emmy-winning production company Bungalow Media + Entertainment, according to Deadline. “The documentary will chronicle how Welch, a young woman from a small-town with no active social media presence, unknowingly created a viral moment that gave way into a global phenomenon,” per a press release shared with the outlet. The documentary will focus on Welch’s “unexpected rise to fame, the scrutiny that followed,” and will expose “the incredible power social media has to crown and crucify its internet darlings,” the press release continued. Welch became a viral sensation after her video interview was uploaded by the Tim & Dee TV YouTube channel, where she responded to one of their questions with the now-iconic “hawk tuah” catchphrase. “With only a single sentence, Haliey Welch went from an unknown young woman having a night out on the town to ‘enjoying’ 15 minutes of fame to global phenomenon who cemented her status in the pop culture lexicon. There are very few people who know what it is like to achieve this level of fame and live under the 24/7 microscope known as social media,” Bob Friedman, producer and CEO at Bungalow Media + Entertainment, said in a statement to Deadline. He adds that the documentary will chronicle Welch’s journey as well as explore the highs and lows of living in the public eye. After her viral moment, Welch parlayed her 15 minutes of fame into a business empire, launching merchandise, the Talk Tuah podcast, and a Gen Z-targeted dating app called Pookie Tools. In early December, Welch announced she would be releasing her own cryptocurrency memecoin called $HAWK, which quickly tanked and caused Welch to disappear from the internet in a cloud of controversy. “I hope y’all been enjoying the crazy stories about ‘my life’ unfold on social media,” Welch said in a statement about the upcoming documentary. “First, I was dead. Then pregnant. Now I’m wanted by Interpol and in jail! Luckily, we’ve been working with Bungalow to start spilling the tea and the truth is actually even more bizarre than you think.” To get the full story, fans will have to be patient. Release details for the documentary will be announced at a later date. View the full article

Athleisure group’s shares sink as it warns on darkening sentiment among American customersView the full article

Google's John Mueller discussed why the '15% of queries unseen' statistic remains the same despite AI search changes The post Google Revisits 15% Unseen Queries Statistic In Context Of AI Search appeared first on Search Engine Journal. 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. Amazon's Big Spring Sale is almost over, but there are still deals you can take advantage of, including this comprehensive list of tech deals from Lifehacker's associate tech editor Michelle Ehrhardt. If you're looking for a portable speaker, consider this one from Ultimate Ears, the Megaboom 4, currently $129.99 (originally $199.99)—that's the lowest price it has reached, according to price-tracking tools. Ultimate Ears Megaboom 4 360-degree sound, is water and dust proof, and has 20-hour battery life. $129.99 at Amazon $199.99 Save $70.00 Get Deal Get Deal $129.99 at Amazon $199.99 Save $70.00 UE is well-known in the portable speaker market for making some of the best outdoor speakers. Its Megaboom series is the brand's flagship speaker, and the fourth reiteration of the speaker was long overdue. The upgrade brings USB-C fast charging, a longer battery life of up to 20 hours, a skip-back media control on its physical buttons, more sub-bass range, and a better sound with more balance. Because of the way UE designs its speakers, you get 360-degree sound, which is ideal for outdoor use (but it sounds great indoors as well). This speaker, and like many in its lineup, floats on water and has a water- and dust-proof IP67 rating. The companion app lets you fully customize the EQ, connect your speaker to other UE speakers to create a stereo sound, set up alarms with your music, and control it remotely with the app. Despite the upgrades, the Megaboom 4 doesn't get as loud as its predecessor, maxing out around 83 dBs, and the audio quality will sound a bit compressed at those levels, but unless you like to blast your music, this won't be much of an issue. If you're looking for a great portable speaker with modern tech, the Megaboom 4 will not disappoint, especially at this price. Shopping for tech? Lifehacker can help you make the right decision. Browse our tech reviews and head-to-head comparisons for everything from laptops and smartwatches to e-bikes and home gyms. Subscribe to our deals newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox, or browse our best-of lists directly on Amazon, including: The Best Over-Ear Headphones The Best Wireless Earbuds The Best Adjustable Dumbbell Sets The Best Projectors View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. One of the biggest considerations when shopping for a new place to live is whether to buy a new-build home or an older home. Surprisingly, only about 25% of home buyers are looking for new-build homes, and more than half of Generation Z-age homebuyers are more than willing to buy a fixer-upper home. The cost of buying a house has a lot to do with that, of course. And that means a lot of folks can’t afford to immediately renovate that fixer-upper to their liking and will have to wait until their bank account recovers from the home-buying process. But that doesn’t mean you have to live in a shabby house designed by strangers—there are a lot of small, cheap upgrades you can make to your new house immediately that will make it feel fresh, new, and truly yours. PaintingIt almost goes without saying: The most obvious move is to paint. Paint everything, every room, the exterior, the front door—a fresh coat of paint inside and out will make the place feel brand new and give you the opportunity to put your stamp on it and make it feel like yours. The average cost to paint the exterior of your home is just $500-$600, and the interior will run you just over $1,000 on average, so there’s no reason not to start with a blank slate. Upgrade the cabinetsIf a kitchen or bathroom renovation isn’t in the cards, work with what you have. You can do some cheap, simple upgrades that will make even the oldest cabinets look new: Paint or wrap the cabinets. A fresh coat of paint or a layer of high-quality vinyl wrap can turn tired, old, builder-basic cabinets into real showstoppers for very little money. Painting your cabinets yourself can cost less than $300, and vinyl wrapping the cabinets yourself can be done for about $100. Add soft-close hinges to your cabinet doors and pulls. You can’t overestimate the luxurious feeling these lend to any kitchen, and you can install them throughout a standard-sized kitchen for a hundred bucks or so. If that’s too much money or work, put some cabinet bumpers in to get a similar effect for about $20. New hardware. Changing the pulls on your cabinets will transform their look. If you don’t want to splash out for new hardware, you could just paint them. That would take about an hour and would cost just a can of spray paint. Update interiors. If your kitchen cabinets are just empty boxes, you can make them into sleek, efficient storage units with some affordable additions like a pots and pans organizer, shelf pull-outs, Lazy Susans, and storage baskets. Switch out the shower fixturesIf the bathroom you just bought has an open shower with curtain rod, swap out the old-style straight curtain with a curved model. It’s a small, inexpensive upgrade that will immediately make your shower feel larger and stop the curtain from wrapping around you like a shawl every time you take a shower. You can change the showerhead in your bathroom(s) in about five minutes, for less than you think: a high-quality showerhead can be had in a variety of finishes for about $50 a pop). Doing so will improve the showering experience, make the shower look newer, and give you an invigorating start to every day. Upgrade your lightingLight has a huge impact on your mood and physical health. While sunlight might be the best, having a bright, well-lit home is a safer and more welcoming space. Swapping in new light fixtures is an easy way to give the place a new look while getting your taste into the picture, but if that adds up to a budget-buster, you can transform the existing features in a variety of easy ways. Additionally, adding motion-triggered lighting under kitchen cabinets, in closets, and along stairs will brighten the place, make it more functional, and make it safer to walk around at night, contributing to a sense of comfort and security in a new space. Speaking of light—one way a house can feel cold and uncomfortable is with harsh, single-intensity light. Adding dimmer switches will cost you about $20 to $30 per switch, and should take less than 10 minutes each. The result is a home where you can set the ambiance for each room depending on your mood, the time of day, or your activities, and that sense of control will definitely help you feel more at home in your new house. Update wall platesOne of the easiest things to do is to replace all the light switch and outlet plates on the walls, especially if they’re the standard cheap plastic kind. Decorative wall plates come in a huge range of colors and styles, so you can really calibrate them to enhance the overall look of the place. This is especially useful if you just painted, as you can choose the color and finish of the plates to complement the fresh wall colors. If you don’t want to spend money on new plates, you can paint them pretty easily. Get a smart thermostatIf the house has old, faded thermostats that don’t do much aside from trigger the furnace, for less than $400 you can install a smart thermostat that will let you tailor your climate experience while making your HVAC system a lot more efficient. Plus, a new smart thermostat will look nicer than that old hunk of plastic, and give the house a modern touch even if it hasn’t been properly remodeled in decades. Upgrade the door hardwareJust like kitchen and bathroom cabinets, the doors in your house can be transformed inexpensively with paint and new hardware. Changing the door handles is the easiest and most obvious way to make your doors a design feature instead of just a necessary convenience, but don’t forget the hinges, too—it’s not difficult to pop a door off, swap the hinges, and pop it back up again. Having your hinges match the handles and lock hardware will make the door look new with a cohesive style. Upgrade the toiletWant to feel like you’re living in a swanky hotel? Install a soft-close toilet seat. For about $30-$50, you will never have to hear the sound of a toilet seat slamming onto porcelain ever again. If you’ve never had a soft-close lid before you might not realize just how much difference this sort of peace and quiet can make. While you’re making your toilet experience better, consider adding a bidet. A soft-close toilet seat with a built-in bidet is easy to install but can be a bit pricey. Luckily, there are plenty of seat attachments that will more than get the job done for less than $30. Either way, a bidet will not only make your bathroom feel more luxurious, it’ll make you feel cleaner (and happier, probably). Floor vent coversYou might not think about the vents in your floor, but you should, because they’re an easy way to bring a modern, clean look to your home even if you can’t redo the flooring right away. New decorative vent covers usually cost less than $20 each and install very easily (usually without any tools). If you don’t want to bother swapping them out, there are a lot of creative ways to upgrade the ones you have to make the place feel more “yours.” Refresh carpetsIf your new home has carpeting and it’s looking a little worn-out, with stains, wrinkles, and loose spots, you can bring them back to something close to new in two steps: Deep clean. You can clean and disinfect your carpets easily and cheaply (and you should—carpets are gross, especially when it’s someone else’s grossness trapped in there). You can use a technique known as Dry Steam Cleaning, which combines powdered cleaning agents, high heat, and low moisture to get your carpets super clean. And you can always rent carpet cleaning machines from a variety of places (my local supermarket rents them) for a classic clean. Stretch. One of the easiest and most affordable ways to get it looking new(er) is to have it stretched. While you can DIY carpet stretching, you’ll definitely get better results hiring someone to do it professionally (at a cost of about $100-$300 depending on the size and state of your carpet). Combined with a thorough cleaning, stretching the carpet will bring it closer to its newly-installed look. Dress the outdoorsIf your new home has an outdoor space that isn’t very fancy, you don’t have to spend a lot of time and money on landscaping and other projects to make a comfy spot for grilling, outdoor gatherings, or warm-weather napping. Adding some simple solar lights, inexpensive outdoor seating options, and a fire pit can turn even the saddest concrete slab into a chill place for outdoor enjoyment. Don’t even have a patio? You can make one for less than $300. And if your outdoor area is an overgrown mess but you don’t have the time or budget for a landscaping project, don’t forget that cutting everything back is free. View the full article

Entertainment group says it looks ‘forward to engaging with Federal Communications Commission to answer its questions’View the full article

The chancellor has made herself a prisoner of market movements, while the party’s MPs fret over how cuts will go downView the full article

The use of a group chat to discuss military attacks has called into question the competency of senior officials, despite their brazen defiance View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. This post is part of Find Your Fit Tech, Lifehacker's fitness wearables buying guide. I'm asking the tough questions about whether wearables can really improve your health, how to find the right one for you, and how to make the most of the data wearables can offer. Runners were some of the first people to embrace smartwatches. I remember back when a “running watch” was a brick-like GPS device strapped to your wrist, and it was a game-changer when those bricks started tracking heart rate as well. These days, every smartwatch can track your heart rate, not to mention your location and potentially a half-dozen other things. For a running watch to be special, it needs tons of extra fitness-centric features—and some critical small details, like physical buttons. Read on for my picks. What to look for in a running watchIt’s easy to get lost in spec sheets and marketing claims, but at the end of the day, what matters in a watch is whether it can do what you want a watch to do. Think of it like hiring an employee: you don’t want the person who can do the most things, you want the person who can do the job that you need done. So here are some things to think about when crafting the “job description” for your running watch. Some might be critical to you; some might be irrelevant. Does it have physical buttons? For most everyday functions, it may not matter if you’re clicking a physical button or booping an icon on a screen. But when you’re running laps at the track, your shaky, sweaty fingers are going to have a hard time with a touchscreen. For that reason, runners often prefer a watch with real buttons. All of my picks below have physical buttons. How good is the GPS? All running smartwatches track your location with GPS—that’s the main reason they exist. (To be pedantic about it, GPS is just one type of global navigation satellite system, or GNSS, which is what we really mean when we talk about location tracking.) But some location systems are more accurate than others. The least accurate watches are the ones that rely on your phone's GPS rather than having their own built in. (Whoop and some Fitbits, for example.) The most accurate smartwatches use multiple bands of GPS, plus other location systems like GLONASS and Galileo. Pay attention to which systems a watch uses and whether there are settings to know about. Most watches allow you to switch between higher accuracy modes that use more battery and lower accuracy modes that save battery life. All of my picks below use multiple satellite systems (with one obvious exception, as you’ll see). It’s worth noting that GNSS keeps getting better over the years, so newer models outperform older ones as a general rule. What is the battery life? While phone-based smartwatches like the Apple Watch usually need to be charged every day, running and fitness watches typically have a battery life that will last at least a few days between charges. Many will last a week or more, and some Garmins can make it a whole month. But if you do very long runs—you’re training for a marathon, perhaps—you’ll also want to know how long you can run. Playing music and tracking your location use more power than just wearing a watch in its regular timekeeping mode, so check how many hours of active use the watch provides. I’ll note battery life for my picks below. Does it help you navigate, or just track where you’ve been? Some running watches contain a full navigation system, with pre-loaded maps and turn-by-turn directions. Others can lay a trail of digital breadcrumbs for you, letting you see the path you've taken and retrace your steps, but without any extra information or help about where exactly you are in the world. All running watches can track your route in a way that lets you see a map when you get home. I'll note which watches include maps. Does it tell you what to do, or just track what you’ve done?Fancier running watches can track your fatigue and readiness, suggest workouts for you, and even guide you along a customized training plan. Meanwhile, the more basic watches will trust that you’re planning your own training; their job is just to be a tool to track what you’ve done. Do you want a running watch, or a general purpose smartwatch? Before we get into the specs of the best running watches, an important question to ask yourself is whether you want a running-specific watch with general features, or a general watch that you can bring on a run. The models below are for running first, everyday life second. Check out my guide on trackers for general health and fitness if you want something that’s more of a “smartwatch I can run with.” With those features in mind, I have picks for a variety of budgets and needs. The sweet spot: Garmin Forerunner 265 Credit: Beth Skwarecki The 2xx line of Forerunner has been the most popular for years. Strava's end-of-year reports have consistently found four- and five-year-old Forerunners among the most popular devices for serious runners. I personally run with a Forerunner 265S, and I've written here about why this is my favorite running watch out there. I don't need maps, so I didn't opt for the fancier 965; but I do appreciate the training status and upgraded GPS that the 265 series has and the 165 doesn't. The "S" at the end indicates that it's the smaller size; I also have a breakdown here of every difference between the 265 and 265S. (Bottom line: pick the one that fits you better.) The 265 has a bright, sharp AMOLED screen, where previous generations like the 255 had a MIP screen. I have a breakdown of the differences here; I prefer AMOLED, but MIP also has its die-hard fans. You can often catch a good sale on the older Forerunner 255, so it's worth considering if you want a good watch on a budget. Why the Forerunner 265S? Battery life: 13 to 14 days in smartwatch mode, 16 hours of running with GNSS, and 6 hours with GNSS and music. Provides suggested workouts and Garmin Coach training plans. Has a variety of training and recovery metrics, including VO2max, Body Battery, training load, recovery time, and intensity minutes. Location tracking: includes multi-band GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo. Garmin Forerunner 265 $390.00 at Amazon $449.99 Save $59.99 Shop Now Shop Now $390.00 at Amazon $449.99 Save $59.99 The best budget pick: Garmin Forerunner 165I previously called the Forerunner 55 my budget pick, but I'm changing my mind. This past Christmas, I bought a Forerunner 55 for my husband, since he said he wanted a lower-end watch. After spending a week with its low-resolution screen and clunky features, which looked positively archaic next to my 265, I asked him if he might be happier with a 165. We ended up returning the 55 and getting a 165 instead, and he's so much happier. That said, the 55 is fine. Don't let me talk you out of it, especially if you're able to get one on sale. (It's an aging model, so the price will likely continue to drop). The Forerunner 55 can track your runs just fine and provide some extras like sleep tracking. But the 165 has a nicer screen, better GPS, an altimeter, compass, Garmin Share (one of the best hidden features, in my opinion), HRV status, more workout modes, more ways to set your heart rate targets—just so much more good stuff, for only $50 more. Honestly, it may be best to think of the Forerunner 165 as a pared-down version of the 265. For $200 less than my favorite watch, you get most of the same features. It's only really missing multi-band GPS and a few analytics like training readiness and training status. Do note that it comes in Music and non-Music versions, charging a premium if you want to be able to play music directly from the watch. Garmin Forerunner 165 Music $295.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg Shop Now Shop Now $295.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg The best-kept secret: Coros Pace Pro Credit: Beth Skwarecki Garmin has long been the unquestionable leader in the running watch biz, but I’m seeing more and more runners move to Coros watches. They may not be as common, but their owners love them, citing the lower price for similar features compared to a Garmin. The Pace 3 model is a lightweight MIP screen device that I found couldn't quite beat out the Garmin on features, but put up a heck of a fight in my head-to-head comparison. The watch I'd like to spotlight here, though, is the newer Coros Pace Pro. It has an AMOLED screen and features onboard maps, making it pretty comparable to a Forerunner 965 for hundreds of dollars less. When it comes to personal favorites, I still prefer the Garmin ecosystem and the smaller sizes that are available in Garmin watches (the Pace Pro is only available in a 46 millimeter size). But I can't deny that, when it comes to features and price, the Coros Pace Pro outperforms the Garmin Forerunner 265. Coros Pace Pro $349.00 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg Get Deal Get Deal $349.00 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg The fancy watch for fancy runners: Garmin Fenix 8 Solar SapphireIf you’ve got a generous budget for a running watch and you want the best one out there, it’s hard to go wrong with the Fenix line. This one comes in three sizes and several different feature sets, but I'd like to highlight this one. It has a sapphire screen, meaning it's literally made of sapphire mineral for scratch resistance. It also features solar charging, so you can extend your battery life outdoors without needing to stop to charge on long outings. Garmin also introduced an AMOLED screen on the Fenix 8, but AMOLED and solar charging don't go together, so you'll have to choose one or the other. Fenix watches, generally, have all of Garmin’s best bells and whistles, with an incredible battery life. In smartwatch mode you’re looking at a couple of weeks, not days (four weeks with solar charging is the official estimate), and the watch will last 13 hours of active use with all-systems GPS and music playing. Garmin Fenix 8 Solar Sapphire $1,099.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $1,099.99 at Amazon The barebones option that elite runners use: Timex IronmanYes, this is a "dumb" watch. No, I’m not including it as a joke. A lot of runners—including, and I might say, especially the pros—find the fancy features of smartwatches to be more of a distraction than a help. The Timex Ironman is a watch with physical buttons, a stopwatch, and a backlight that you can turn on when needed, and it retails for $60. It can remember your split times for a whole workout, and your average and best splits for past workouts. Timex Ironman $33.50 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $63.00 Save $29.50 Shop Now Shop Now $33.50 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $63.00 Save $29.50 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. I love my (admittedly last-gen) Kindle Paperwhite, but even though I know its 6.8-inch screen isn't actually that much smaller than most paperback pages, I still sometimes feel like I have to squint to read it. Maybe it's my fault for seeing it as more of a tablet than an out-and-out digital book, but I do sometimes feel tempted to read on my iPad instead and just put up with the glare. Luckily, Amazon does make a bigger Kindle, and now it's on sale. Amazon Kindle Scribe $324.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $399.99 Save $75.00 Get Deal Get Deal $324.99 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $399.99 Save $75.00 The Kindle Scribe is Amazon's only e-note, meaning it's intended more for writing on than reading with, but it will work for both. It can access your entire Kindle library, and thanks to its 10.3-inch screen, text and images do feel like they have more room to breathe on it. This can be especially good for comics (although, the black-and-white screen might make you want to stick to manga) and articles, and I've been tempted to upgrade for that reason alone before. The problem was the price, which is normally a little steep at $400. Starting at $325 with this sale, though, it's suddenly a much more attractive prospect. And that goes double when you take into account the Kindle Scribe's intended use case. It comes with a stylus that lets you mark up PDFs and jot down notes in either your own documents or in dedicated boxes in existing books, and Amazon says it's retuned this model to have a more paper-like feel when writing on it. Yes, there is AI here too, although it's fairly unobtrusive—when you're done handwriting a note, you can have the Scribe quickly summarize it, "refine" it, or reconfigure it into a digital font, if you like. There are arguments to be made for other e-notes despite all this functionality—my colleague, Joel Cunningham, recently reviewed a similar device, the Boox Note Air 4C, that has a color screen and can run Android—but if you're already in the Kindle ecosystem, this Scribe sale could make for a handy little upgrade. Shopping for tech? Lifehacker can help you make the right decision. Browse our tech reviews and head-to-head comparisons for everything from laptops and smartwatches to e-bikes and home gyms. Subscribe to our deals newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox, or browse our best-of lists directly on Amazon, including: The Best Over-Ear Headphones The Best Wireless Earbuds The Best Adjustable Dumbbell Sets The Best Projectors View the full article

Phone call comes following Washington’s announcement of additional 25% levies on imports of foreign-made carsView the full article

The Federal Reserve governor said it is healthy to examine the regulatory architecture, but stressed the importance of the central bank having insight into the banking system. View the full article

Comments increase pressure on Nato ally Denmark as vice-president JD Vance tours military base on islandView the full article

This week has brought cave-ins to the White House but also signs of a fightbackView the full article