Life Style

Anna's Archive, a popular website for pirating books and articles, seems to be square in Google's sights, according to copyright and digital rights publication TorrentFreak. The search giant is said to have blocked some 749 million Anna's Archive URLs from showing up in search results, TorrentFreak found, after combing through a recent transparency report.The removal wasn't necessarily targeted, as Google regularly delists content at the request of copyright holders. At time of this writing, has taken down links to 15,125,359,564 pages since 2011. But this is the latest in an ongoing, AI-prompted saga that is seeing copyright holders crack down on so-called "shadow libraries," and it already represents around 5% of Google's overall takedowns.Anna's Archive is a platform for pirated e-books...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. If you have a Fitbit, or if you use the Fitbit app with a compatible device like a Pixel watch, you’ve probably seen “zone minutes” or "active zone minutes" pop up on your screen. So what exactly are active zone minutes, and how do they compare to the other ways we measure exercise, like steps? Zone minutes relate to the U.S. Physical Activity GuidelinesBefore we get into how zone minutes are measured, I think it will be most useful to look at why we’re counting up minutes at all. Fitbit’s purpose here is actually pretty neat: They’re trying to give you an automated way of telling whether you are keeping up with public health guidelines for exercise, like the World Health Organization’s recommendations for exercise, a...

For me, part of the appeal of TikTok is seeing smaller, less polished videos from people who don't fashion themselves as influencers. But what do I know? The company has announced it is holding its first U.S. awards show later this year. It seems the Oscars-ification of short form video is here.In a blog over on the TikTok site, the company said the show, fittingly called the TikTok Awards, will be held in the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on Dec. 18, 2025, and will "honor the creators who have inspired, entertained, and connected communities across the country."To that end, the site also says it will invite users to "vote for their favorite creators" starting on Nov. 18. So, how will all of this go down? Who is nominated for the TikTok Awards?TikTok says it will have announce nominee...

If you've been an iPhone user for a long time, you might remember "slide to unlock." When you wanted to use your iPhone, you had to physically move your finger along the screen to actually unlock the device. It was a clever way of ensuring than your iPhone didn't unlock in your pocket, or due to an accidental touch. With iOS 10, Apple killed slide to unlock in favor of pressing the Home button, then later swiping up on the bottom of the screen. Since then, for the better part of a decade, swiping right on the Lock Screen simply takes you to the "Today View," which contains your widgets. Change is good, and I don't necessarily think Apple should bring back slide to unlock for the Lock Screen, but sometimes, I miss how things worked on my old iPhone 3GS. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. To my ...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. In theory, wireless headphones are great for working out. But in reality, they often fall out, leak sound, or get damaged during heavy sweat sessions. The Anker Soundcore Sport X20 wireless earbuds are true wireless workout earbuds with ANC that are designed to stay put and deliver during exercise. Right now, they’re just $55.99 (originally $79.99), bringing them down to their lowest price ever, according to price-trackers.  These tough sports earbuds are often considered a budget version of the Powerbeats Pro. They combine comfort and durability, with customizable sound and noise cancellation. They have an IP68 rating, meaning they’...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’re trying to set up a simple home security system without drilling holes or wiring a maze of cables, this Blink bundle is about as plug-and-play as it gets. Right now, the Blink Outdoor 4 (2-Cam System) + Blink Video Doorbell (2nd Gen) + Sync Module Core is down to $61.99 on Amazon—its lowest recorded price, according to online price-trackers. Normally $189.98, this three-piece setup is basically everything you’d need to secure a small home: two wireless cameras to cover your spaces, a smart video doorbell for the front, and a sync module that keeps it all connected and running through the Blink app. Both the outdoor cameras a...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Credit: T. Schneider / Shutterstock.com Update 10/31/2025 at 2:00 PM:Disney and YouTube have reached the Oct. 31 deadline without an end to negotiations in sight. As such, more than 20+ Disney owned channels have been pulled from YouTube TV. For more, read on here.Nothing says Halloween quite like an ominous countdown. Right now, subscribers to YouTube TV, the company's live TV service, are waiting to learn if they'll still have access to Disney-operated channels, including ABC and ESPN, come Oct.31. It's the latest conflict in ongoing fee disputes between Google and its various content providers, but even if Disney takes its ball and goes...

If you're in the Apple ecosystem, AirPods Pro are just about the best earbuds you can buy. They sound great, work across your various Apple devices, and ship with features like Adaptive Transparency and a built-in heart rate sensor. They're even FDA-certified hearing aids. Not bad for $249.But all those perks don't mean Apple's AirPods Pro are perfect. In fact, you can ask any of the customers complaining of a static noise coming from their AirPods Pro 3, when nothing is actually playing at all. As reported by MacRumors, it appears this is affecting some AirPods Pro 3 users when using Active Noise Cancellation, Adaptive Transparency, and Transparency modes, but only when there's no active audio playback. (That said, one user claims they can't even use their AirPods when they play music at ...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The holiday season sales have officially started. This year, Best Buy is having a whopping six sales starting on Halloween and leading up to Christmas. The early (very early) Black Friday deals are already live, and they're good. Here are the best ones I've found so far. Great prices on OLED TVsI'm impressed by the price cut on the LG 48" Class B5 Series OLED. You can get it for $529.99 (originally $1,299.99), the lowest price it has ever been, and a great price point to get an OLED TV, most of which easily start in the $1,000s. If you can spend a bit more, the Samsung 65" Class S84F OLED is $949.99 (originally $1999.99)—that's a mi...

Apple might be dead last in the AI race—at least when you consider competition from companies like OpenAI, Google, and Meta—but that doesn't mean the company isn't working on the tech. In fact, it seems most of the work Apple does on AI is behind the scenes: While Apple Intelligence is, well, there, the company's researchers are working on other ways to improve AI models for everyone, not just Apple users. The latest project? Improving AI image editors based on text prompts. In a paper published last week, researchers introduced Pico-Banana-400K, a dataset of 400,000 "text-guided" images selected to improve AI-based image editing. Apple believes its image dataset improves upon existing sets by including higher quality images with more diversity: The researchers found that existing datasets...