Tag: Amazon

🎃 Boo-tiful upgrades under $50

Inside: Color-changing lights, smarter plugs and storage finds make decorating easier now and cleanup less painful later.

‘Kim, which battery brand is safest?’ Here’s the answer for your phone, your iPad and your laptop, with links and the 10-second label check that matters more than the brand.

A listener wants one power bank she can trust for her phone, iPad and laptop, because she’s scared of a fire on her nightstand or on a plane. Fair fear in a year when there have been more than 50 overheating incidents on flights, friend. Three picks, and the label trick that beats any brand name.

For the first time ever, Apple announced new iPhones and made the old ones cost MORE. Here’s what’s driving the bump, and how to buy TVs, laptops and phones before prices climb again.

The iPhone 16 was $699 last Tuesday. The next day, it was $799. Same phone. Nothing changed. This is the first time Apple has raised prices on older iPhones at a launch event, and it’s not really about Apple. It’s about the chips inside everything you own, friend.

They took your kid’s phone this month. Next thing, your boss wants yours. Here’s what he can and can’t legally do.

New Jersey students handed over their phones on Sept. 1 under a new all-day ban. The same company making those locking pouches for schools sells a version for your workplace, and employers are buying. Know the line before the memo lands.

The ads were timed on seven streaming services. Here’s who steals the most from your evening and which ad-free upgrade is worth it.

Prime Video doubled its ad load since launch. HBO Max went up and never announced it. But the service that feels the worst isn’t the one taking most of your time. Here are the stopwatch numbers and the one upgrade worth your $10 a month.

Apple’s biggest launch in years lands September 9. Buy nothing with an Apple logo until then.

Apple’s biggest launch in years lands Sept. 9: the iPhone 18 Pro, the first foldable, new Watches and AirPods. Buy anything Apple before then, friend, and you’re paying the impatience tax. Full wait list below.

August’s MVPs, chosen by you

Your most-loved favorites in one place: home tech, kitchen gear, car helpers and cleaning tools. Up to 62% off.

I have passkeys on Google and my bank. Do I still need a password manager?

Paul in Indiana set up passkeys and wonders why he still needs a password manager. Fair question. Passkeys cover maybe a dozen accounts. The other 150 are still running on “Fluffy2019!” Here’s how the two work together and the one move that ends password chaos for good.

Your $120 copay might be hiding an $8 cash price. Six words at the pharmacy counter unlock it.

USC researchers found you overpay on nearly 1 in 4 prescriptions, because a middleman sets your copay higher than the drug’s real price and pockets the difference. Pharmacists couldn’t tell you until 2018, and still aren’t required to bring it up. The six-word question, price-check apps and no-middleman pharmacies inside.

🤖 Don’t replace it yet: Gadgets make old tech feel new

Inside: 10 add-ons give older TVs, laptops, cars and other tech modern features without a major upgrade.

They live in a convent, pray for hours a day and rack up millions of views on TikTok. The “Media Nuns” figured out something the rest of us haven’t.

A Catholic sister in a full habit has 198,000 TikTok followers, and one convent video pulled 3.4 million views. The twist: Her order has been chasing the newest media for over a century, from printing presses to trending sounds. Meanwhile, monks in the Wyoming mountains run a thriving online coffee business. How the most unplugged people in America mastered the most online thing there is, without letting it master them.

More than half of America watches TV with subtitles on. It’s not your hearing. Here’s the free 2-minute fix and the gadgets that finish the job.

Turn it up, now it’s blasting, turn it down, have to rewind, “what did she SAY?” A survey found over half of Americans keep subtitles on, mostly because the audio is muddled. The real culprits: razor-thin TVs with speakers firing at the wall, theater sound mixes crammed into your living room and streaming compression.

Researchers tested 17,000 apps for secret eavesdropping. What they found instead should change your settings tonight.

It’s America’s most-argued tech question. You mention dog food once, and the ad shows up an hour later. Scientists tested 17,000 apps and found zero secret recordings. But one media firm bragged about “Active Listening” tech, Apple paid $95 million over Siri misfires, and 2,230 companies are quietly feeding Facebook your shopping habits. The way ads REALLY find you is creepier than a hot mic. Plus the 5-minute settings fix.

Amazon has five hidden discount sections, up to 70% off, and none of them are on the home page. Here’s where they hide.

Amazon hides five clearance sections you’ll never see on the home page. Resale, Outlet, Haul, Renewed and a coupon page, with markdowns up to 70% off. Here’s how to find them all.

💧 The weekend hackers came for the water

Hackers hit 30+ Minnesota water systems over two days. Here’s what could’ve happened, along with your 15-minute prep plan.

The always-on gadgets quietly draining your power bill, and the $10 fix

Every blinking clock and standby light is on your electric bill. A $10 gadget stops it and doubles as a burglar deterrent while you travel.

📚 Be head of the class

Save on headphones, a Chromebook, dorm essentials, plus more smart buys for students, parents and working pros. Up to 44% off.

That mystery package isn’t a gift. It’s a warning about your data.

That unordered package on your porch isn’t a shipping error. It’s proof a scammer already has your name and address, and the new ones ship with a QR code the FBI says can plant malware. Keep the item, skip the code, then lock down your passwords.

You bought it. They can still switch it off.

Companies are quietly bricking gadgets you already paid for or locking the features behind a subscription. Here’s how to spot the problem and how to buy around it.

Your phone can translate a conversation in real time

Live translation quietly arrived in phones, earbuds and glasses. Talk to almost anyone, in almost any language. Here’s how to set it up before your next trip.