Life Style

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Garmin's Fenix line has long been the watch to beat in the outdoor GPS category, and the new Fenix 9 Pro checks all the right boxes. You still get excellent mapping, a durable and premium build, and strong battery life, plus a handful of quality-of-life updates that make daily use even better. Here are the five features on Garmin's latest flagship that I suddenlly find I can't live without. Garmin Epic training summaries (aka multi-day activity grouping)Not to be confused with the older Epix product line, Garmin Epic is a new way to tell the story of a trip rather than just log it. Instead of scrolling through a pile of disconnected activities after a multi-day hike or a training block, Epic groups related sessions int...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. October Prime Day is coming up, but early deals are already live on Amazon. Among them is the Anker Prime Foldable MagSafe Charger, now $99.73 (originally $149.99), its lowest price yet according to price-tracking tools. Compatible with iPhone 12 series and above, AirPods, and the Apple Watch, this three-in-one MagSafe charger lets you securely charge all these devices at once. That’s especially convenient when you’re traveling with all three, as the charger is compact enough to bring along: It folds down to 3.74 by 2.38 by 1.22 inches and weighs about eight ounces, roughly the same as an iPhone 17 Pro Max, so it should fit among you...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Apple caught my attention with their claim that the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 have the “most accurate heart rate in a wearable.” It’s hard to make a really accurate heart rate sensor, and in my experience, Apple hasn’t had a great track record in that area. So I tested the Series 12 pretty intensively over the past week or so, and now I have results. I’m picky about accuracy; longtime readers have seen me test watch after watch against my trusty chest strap to find out how good each one really is. That sometimes brings surprises: The Powerbeats Pro 2 are surprisingly bad at heart rate tracking if you have small ears, for example. I also discovered that the Garmin Forerunner 570 is shockingly good at heart rate ...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. One of the big features Apple announced alongside the new Apple Watches is Siri AI—now available on your wrist! You need to join a waitlist to try Apple's new and improved chatbot, and since my turn just came up, I put the new on-wrist Siri through its paces. Here's how it went, and why I don't think the experience lives up to Apple's promises (yet, anyway).What devices have Siri AI? Since Siri AI requires Apple Intelligence, you’ll need a device that supports it. Those include iPhones 15 Pro and newer, and an Apple Watch that is Series 9 or newer. If you want to use Siri AI on the Apple Watch, you need both a supported watch and a supported phone—a new watch and old phone won’t do the trick. With my phone and watch bo...

Apple's latest updates are all about AI—Apple Intelligence, that is. When you update to iOS 27 and macOS 27 Golden Gate, Apple will invite you to try Siri AI and other new Apple Intelligence features. (Assuming your iPhone supports Apple's AI features.) But whether you use the new AI-powered Siri all the time or find yourself frequently scrolling past the AI additions, Apple Intelligence is taking up space on your device—perhaps requiring more storage than you bargained for.I'll admit, I didn't think much of it when I updated my iPhone and Mac to the latest versions. I gave Siri AI a shot, adjusted Liquid Glass, and went back to doing pretty much the same things I was doing before I made the update. But once I saw headlines about how much storage Apple Intelligence actually takes up on the...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When I test smartwatches and fitness trackers, I place a particular emphasis on accuracy. Is my running pace correct? Does the device capture the ups and downs of my heart rate? I even got a VO2max lab test to check a bunch of watches' fitness scores. But one thing I never test for accuracy is calorie burn. None of my devices come close to agreeing on the number of calories they think I'm burning, and I don't expect them to. Even scientists who study the accuracy of wearables can't answer the question in a way that's useful when you're shopping for this year's devices—but we'll get into why that is below. There was a time, before Fitbits, when nobody knew quite how many calories they were burning on a daily basis. Sure...

Homebrew is the package manager you wish your Mac shipped with. Once you set it up, Homebrew lets you install and update apps quickly and securely. It launched as a command-line interface, where you would type commands into the Terminal app on your Mac to install, update, or uninstall your apps. Recently, Homebrew launched its own GUI, which makes it easier than ever to use the service. Here are 10 Homebrew hacks that you should know, great for new and legacy users alike.Try Homebrew's new GUI to discover apps Credit: Pranay Parab Once you update to Homebrew version 7.0.0 or newer, you'll notice that the service has a new GUI-enabled app for you...

A VPN conceals your IP address by routing your internet traffic through a remote server, preventing anyone surveilling the network from tracking your online activity. Theoretically, that means no one should be able to identify you when you connect to a network and browse the internet, even your ISP. In practice, though, there are plenty of gaps that hackers can exploit. A while back, Lifehacker covered browser fingerprinting, which uses hundreds of data points, like your hardware specs, operating system version, web browser, and GPU signature, to establish a shadow profile that follows you around even when your VPN is enabled. There's another way cyberattackers can intercept your data, and it involves exploiting a communication leak right inside your browser. Major browsers like Chrome, Fi...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I now have the Apple Watch Series 12 in my hands—or, rather, on my wrist—and have spent the past 24 hours putting it through as many tests as I can manage. I'm pleased with the step counting and the availability of "recovery HRV" (as opposed to the cardiac-health-focused HRV that the Apple Watch previously used) but I'm not sure if the heart rate accuracy is living up to the hype. I'll be putting this device to more rigorous tests, but here are my first thoughts. ...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Unless you're shopping from a wishlist, buying a book for a big reader is always a fraught prospect. Have they read it? Will they like it? Will they be offended at the mere suggestion that you think it's the kind of book they might like? Will you be crushed when you give them a copy of your favorite book and they never get around to reading it? Buying a gift for someone who prefers to read e-books—whether on a Kindle or one of the many excellent non-Kindle alternatives—can be much less emotionally charged: Instead of risking everything by giving them a book, just get them a cute e-reader accessory (if not a new e-reader) that they will thank you for every time they dive into a good read. A truly pocketable travel e-rea...