Life Style

Scam texts are out of control. Texts from the "DMV" about unpaid traffic violations, your state's "transportation authority" about unpaid tolls, or from "wrong numbers" are all phony. Their goal is to get you talking or to click links to malicious sites so you share sensitive information about yourself. As scammers and phishers find new ways to plague our smartphones with these texts, companies are starting to fight back. Take Apple, for instance: With iOS 26, your iPhone's Messages app is getting two key tools to help keep you from falling for scams—even if they can't block these texts completely. iOS 26's spam prevention featuresThe new update, which is currently in public beta testing, lets you sort your messages into a number of categories, including "Unknown Sender" and "Spam." When ...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Right now, a refurbished Sony SRS‑XB100 portable speaker is just $34.99 on Woot, a 42% discount off the price of a new unit ($59.99). Whether you choose to use it as a shower speaker, a travel companion for adventures, or just a tiny powerhouse that takes up minimal space at home, this compact Bluetooth speaker is a cheap but effective option with free shipping for those who have Amazon Prime. If you don't have prime, it will cost $6 to ship. Rated “Excellent” by PCMag, this durable speaker features an IP67 rating, ensuring it's dust-tight and fully waterproof. While a Bluetooth signal won’t travel underwater, the speaker can be subm...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Credit: Illustration by Ian Moore and product image courtesy of Amazon. You've probably heard of the upstart tech brand Nothing by now, but if you haven't, here's a quick TLDR: The UK-based tech startup aims to make products like cellphones and headphones that incorporate innovative features and designs that are an incredible value for the money. The company just released their new smartwatch this month, the CMF Watch 3 Pro, and it's already discounted by 20%. Originally $99, you can now grab one for $79, unsurprisingly the lowest price since the recent...

New devices are getting harder and harder for tech companies to keep under wraps, and after the base Pixel 10 saw new render leaks drop yesterday, followed by Pixel 10 Pro leaks this morning (both via Android Headlines), Google seems to have given up and decided to published a video of the Pixel 10 itself.On a Google Store page for the Pixel 10, the company now shows a short sequence with the number 10 transforming into a Pixel camera bar, before zooming out to reveal the phone in its full glory. While the company didn’t say whether this is the base model or the pro model, the store page and URL only mentions “Pixel 10.” Still, the phone in the video does look a lot more like how the Pixel 10 Pro is rumored to look.That’s a bit disappointing, since the base Pixel 10 is the one that’s set t...

Apple has been beta testing iOS 26 since announcing the update at WWDC, so the tech world has had plenty of chances to see what changes the company is cooking up for the fall. The thing is, this beta is only supposedly to be for iOS developers—though that hasn't stopped the general public from installing the update. While I've strongly discouraged non-developers from running these betas, I have good news: The public beta is nearly here. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who has a track record for accurate Apple reporting, Apple is planning iOS 26's public beta "around the 23rd" of July. Gurman's reporting is followed up by a MacRumors source, a private account on X, who shared leaked build numbers for Apple's upcoming round of updates on Monday—including the fourth developer beta for i...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Woot is an Amazon-owned website that specializes in daily discounts on some of the best tech brands in the market. Right now, they’re offering the matte black refurbished 2024 Beats Pill speaker for $90. If you’re looking for a sleek and durable Bluetooth speaker that packs a punch, this is a great option. Combining a rugged build with a sleek cylindrical design, this speaker excels in outdoor settings. While it’s not as lightweight as some portable speakers, the sound quality is impressive for a model that weighs just 1.5 pounds, with PCMag vetting it as having a “bright sound with rich bass.” While it lacks flashy features like LED...

The hype train for Christopher Nolan's movie The Odyssey is already screaming down the tracks. Despite a release date of July 17, 2026, some movie theaters are already selling tickets to the first IMAX screenings of the film. The pre-sales are for select showings of the 70mm IMAX version of the movie in a handful of cities in the U.S. and Canada. While this might seem like a mere marketing gimmick (who needs to buy tickets a year out?), many showings have already sold out. As of this writing, 13 of the 16 U.S. theaters offering pre-sale tickets are fully booked. You're probably thinking that the only people eager to buy movie tickets a year early are people who plan to sell them later, and you're probably right: Many of the tickets seem to have been sold to scalpers. A quick check of eBay ...

I used to be a big believer in distracting myself while I was working out, especially when doing cardio, which can last a long time and feel tedious. Even though I've recommended such an approach a few times, I've changed my viewpoint after looking a little bit at my output and refining my goals. I'm not above admitting the old way wasn't working or that I was wrong. Here's why I'm no longer trying to distract myself during cardio—and why you should consider stopping, too. Why I'm done with exercise distractionsMultitasking does not work. It really doesn't: Any time you're trying to do two things at once, you're splitting the energy and brainpower you can devote to both, essentially half-assing them at the same time instead of, forgive me, whole-assing them one at a time. It's tempting, of...

The writing's been on the wall for a while. Unless you haven't seen a movie for the past decade or more, you know how important VFX has become to the creation of TV shows and movies. Those VFX come at a very high cost, and take a lot of man hours to produce. With generative AI video getting so good that most people have probably already been fooled by it at least once, it was only a matter of time before big studios started incorporating it into their workflows.Netflix, in fact, just bragged about doing so, months after a show came out and nobody spotted its use of AI. Yep, it seems that AI art is finally starting to become indistinguishable from human-made art, but that doesn't mean the issue is cut-and-dry.In an earnings call on Thursday, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos discussed how the tea...

If you are looking for some art—and I'm talking fine Art, with a capital "A"—The Metropolitan Museum is the spot to find it. And not only can you visit the museum when you are in New York (to look at the Art), you can also download almost half a million digital images of genuine, snob-approved works from the museum's online archives—for free. The Met hosts 492,000 high-resolution images, most of which are public domain, so you can use them for any non-commercial purpose—anything from printing a t-shirt with James Johnston of Straiton on it, to hanging a poster of The Penitence of Saint Jerome on your wall to remind you of the importance of self-mortification (I don't kink-shame).How to download Art from the Metropolitan's online collection Getting your mitts on that sweet, sweet art couldn...