Wednesday is tired, and nursing a bum knee
Dec. 10th, 2025 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat( Read more... )
***
Watched Buffy S5 episode 5, "No Place Like Home", which oddly, I liked better than Episode 4. (Hmm,as an aside, television writers seem to like annoying characters, and somewhat whiny characters, don't they?)
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Off to bed. I hope.
Why RAM Prices Are Going Way, Way Up (and Why You Should Care)
Dec. 10th, 2025 11:00 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
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RAM, also known as random-access memory (or just memory for short), is an important part of most electronics these days. It essentially allows programs to keep key information at the ready so they don't have to dig through your storage (like your hard drive or solid state drive) to find it. RAM is in laptops, phones, tablets, gaming consoles, and even cars, and all apps rely on it at least a little bit.
Essentially, if your device has a computer in it, it probably comes with RAM equipped, or it'll want you to install some before it'll boot up. But that dependency has become a big problem recently. While RAM has historically been one of the cheaper components for home techies to buy, over the past few months, RAM has gotten much more expensive, going from an afterthought on many people's budgets to something you have to save for.
There are a few reasons for that, but even if you're not a hardcore PC builder and you're not buying RAM outright, these price jumps could still affect you in the long term.
What happened?
Like with most tech shakeups these days, the big reason for the sudden explosion in RAM pricing is AI. Citing trade research firm TrendForce and Korean publication The Chosun Daily, Lifehacker sister site PCMag started reporting on shifting RAM prices in October, and it's only gotten worse since.
According to these analysts and industry insiders, manufacturers have slowly been focusing more of their attention on RAM specifically meant for AI data centers, with Samsung and SK Hynix in particular prioritizing production of high bandwidth memory that consumer goods don't use. Tom's Hardware backed this up with its own reporting in October, saying that these companies have devoted what may be around 40% of global RAM output to a single AI project—OpenAI's Stargate project. Those are two out of the three biggest RAM makers right now, and while all this was followed by a bombshell last week, the situation already didn't look good as we entered fall, with a shortage beginning to affect consumer prices.
"This is insanity," wrote one Reddit user in October, with more pessimism coming around Black Friday, when other users and even publications like other Lifehacker sister site Mashable noticed that some RAM was selling for as high as four-figures, during what was supposedly a sales season.
But the largest RAM price hikes hit at the start of December, following an announcement from the last remaining major RAM producer—Micron. The company, long known for its consumer-focused Crucial series, said it would be leaving the consumer RAM business in 2026 to focus on AI, bringing an end to Crucial's 30-year history in the process. Since then, RAM prices across several products have jumped even higher, even as RAM producers report doubled profits over last year.
Essentially, as Gartner analyst Shrish Plant told The Verge, "If you are not a server customer, you will be considered a second priority for memory vendors."
How expensive is RAM now?
While all computer component prices fluctuate, RAM has usually been among the cheaper ones, generally coming in under $100 for a respectable amount from a good brand, or closer to $150 for an upgrade. Those days, it seems, have gone out the window.
A streamer and TikToker I follow, Christian Divyne, recently posted that a RAM kit he bought in April for $90 is now over $400, and he's not alone. I've seen this sentiment all over social media lately, so to check it myself, I went through PCMag's list of the best RAM for gaming in 2025, and here are the price differences I found from August of 2025 to now.
G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB DDR5-7200, was $110 in August, $360 now.
G.Skill Trident Z5 64 GB DDR5-6400 CL32, was $170 in August, $640 now.
G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB DDR4-3600, was $46 in August, $105 now.
While this is a small selection of RAM, it's clear these higher prices are present across the whole industry. PCPartPicker, a popular site where PC building enthusiasts rate parts for their machines, currently says its highest rated RAM is $407, with competing memory often hitting similar highs. Essentially, it's now difficult to find any RAM below $100, and most likely, you'll need to pay two or three times more than you might have earlier in the year.
These price jumps are most apparent when buying RAM directly, which mostly affects PC builders, but others will likely feel the crunch soon.
How is more expensive RAM going to affect me?
So far, I've only focused on higher prices for people buying RAM outright, which mostly affects PC builders. But if you prefer to buy your tech pre-built, don't assume that means you won't end up paying more, too. Laptop, tablet, and phone makers all need to get RAM from somewhere, and as prices increase, they'll also be affected.
Already, prices at companies like CyberPowerPC, which offers pre-built desktops, have gone up, and modular laptop maker Framework has announced that it will soon follow suit. Even Raspberry Pi, known for making cheap single board computers for home projects, was forced to raise prices on its most recent flagship, while calling out memory costs as the reason.
All of those products are aimed more at enthusiasts, sure, but consider them the canary in the coal mine. Leaker Moore's Law is Dead recently suggested RAM prices could lead to another price hike for the Xbox, while Dell COO Jeff Clarke said in a recent earnings call that "the fact is, the cost basis is going up across all products."
Some companies are doing their best to keep consumers from feeling the effects of the shortage. Bloomberg recently reported that Lenovo is currently stockpiling RAM to try to "strike a balance between price and availability" for consumers in 2026, while HP said it might limit the memory inside its devices, but could still end up having to raise prices.
In short, it's a tough time to be buying tech, even if you're more casual with your devices. And it might affect more than RAM, too—speaking to The Verge, Research VP at IDC Jeff Janukowicz suggested some companies might skimp on other components, like battery or display, to help avoid raising prices due to increased memory costs. He also suggested that more affordable devices, where corners have already been cut as much as possible, could end up seeing more price increases than others.
Will RAM prices go back to normal?
As Dell COO Jeff Clarke mentioned in that earnings call, this isn't the first time RAM prices have fluctuated, but he did admit this particular bump is "unprecedented." While I'd agree that's true for memory, it does remind me of the graphics card price hikes that happened around the early 2020s.
Graphics card demand is still not a solved problem, as those components are also very useful for AI, but towards the start of the decade, it became very difficult for gamers to get their hands on GPUs, especially for close to MSRP. That was thanks to demand from cryptocurrency miners, which was high enough that Nvidia actually started making its cards worse at mining. Manufacturers reported thereafter that demand was drying up, largely in response to changes in how cryptocurrency works and lowered interest in cryptocurrency overall.
While the AI bubble hasn't popped (yet), it's possible RAM could follow a similar cycle if interest in AI starts to cool. Otherwise, it'll be up to manufacturers to balance supply and demand.
Going back to Clarke's comments, he said "I'd categorize it as demand is way ahead of supply." On that note, while Micron is supposedly getting out of the consumer RAM game, Samsung and SK Hynix haven't stayed silent on the issue.
As reported by Korean outlet Seoul Economic Daily, SK Hynix is planning to spend $500 billion to build new production plants, with the first set to open in 2027. The company also told The Verge that, concerning consumer products, it "is not considering to discontinue the related business." So, supply could see a boost in coming years.
At the same time, it's difficult to know for sure when the RAM shortage will clear up. Contrasting SK Hynix, Samsung recently said during an investor relations call (as translated by PCGamer and originally reported on by Tech Insight) that it won't be "rapidly expanding facilities," and will instead pursue a much harder to define plan of "maintaining long-term profitability." Tech Insight took the opportunity to speculate that RAM prices could remain high through 2028.
In short, it's clear that the market is still volatile, and that companies are still figuring out ways to address pricing. I can't say for certain when RAM prices will drop again, but going on what those in the industry are saying, as well as similar issues with GPUs in the past, it seems like the key indicators here would be a reduced interest in AI, or increased production capacity.
What if I need to buy RAM now?
In the meantime, because so many electronics need RAM, you may find yourself needing to bite the bullet and buy during the shortage. If that's the case, here are the best ways to buy RAM right now.
Buy prebuilt. While smaller prebuilt device manufacturers are already increasing prices, it's clear that larger device makers like Lenovo are doing their best to keep their customers from feeling the shortage. Right now, Apple has yet to raise prices on MacBooks or the iPhone 17, and devices like the Pixel 10 and Microsoft Surface Laptop are actually on sale. Historically, buying a computer prebuilt instead of building it yourself has come at a premium, but during a component shortage, a large company is going to have more avenues to mitigate costs than you.
Use less RAM. While I wouldn't suggest going for less than 8GB of RAM, most users shouldn't need more than 16GB, even if they want to game. More headroom is good when you can get it, and while it's been a good suggestion to err on the side of caution in the past, as prices get higher, it might be better to figure out the bare minimum you can skate by with for now.
Buy now, or choose to wait. This one sounds a bit contradictory, but basically, I wouldn't expect RAM prices to normalize anytime soon. Take a look at your needs and figure out whether you need a new laptop, PC, phone, tablet, or game console anytime soon. If so, it might be worth going in on one now, before manufacturers like Dell, HP, or even Xbox have a chance to raise prices. If you think you can hold out for a few more years, though, it might be better off waiting to see how the situation plays out rather than trying to build during a shortage. Either way, make your decision soon, because you probably won't want to be buying RAM as supply starts to shrink even further through 2026.
The M5 MacBook Pro Just Got Its Biggest Discount Ever
Dec. 10th, 2025 10:30 pmlifehacker_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Apple released the latest 14-inch MacBook Pro with the powerful M5 chip this October, and ever since then, it has been steadily dropping in price—right now, it's down to $1,349 (originally $1,599) for the base model. This new price is $50 cheaper than it was during Black Friday, when Lifehacker's Senior Tech Editor Jake Peterson called it "a ridiculously good value." At the time of this writing, Amazon is sold out of the base model, but it's still available at Best Buy.
To be honest, this laptop is overkill for most people. The M4 MacBook Air is a more than capable laptop and will get the job done for under $800, but for those who need that extra oomph, like those who do media editing or complex programming, the MacBook Pro will be worth every penny. This is the first laptop Apple makes with the latest M5 chip, which offers significant upgrades in many aspects, like graphics performance compared to the M4.
In addition to performance improvements over the MacBook Air, the Pro model also has a fan, which the MacBook Airs don't. This should help keep the machine's temperature down and prevent performance hiccups.
This base model starts with a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU M5 chip, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. PCMag says this laptop is so powerful that you can play most games without issues in its "outstanding" review. If you're looking for the one of the best laptops Apple has to offer, this is likely the best price you'll see on it for some time.
side-tracks off side-tracks
Dec. 10th, 2025 11:08 pmkaberettOne of the things I found yesterday, while getting distracted from transcription by regretting not having taken History and Philosophy of Science (or, more accurately, not having shown up to the lectures to just listen), was some tantalising notes on the existence of a four-lecture series entitled Visual Culture in Science and Medicine:
Science today is supremely visual – in its experiments, observations and communication, images have become integral to the scientific enterprise. These four lectures examine the role of images in anatomy, natural history and astronomy between the 15th and the 18th centuries. Rather than assessing images against a yardstick of increasing empiricism or an onward march towards accurate observation, these lectures draw attention to the myriad, ingenious ways in which images were deployed to create scientific objects, aid scientific arguments and simulate instrumental observations. Naturalistic styles of depictions are often mistaken for evidence of first-hand observation, but in this period, they were deployed as a visual rhetoric of persuasion rather than proof of an observed object. By examining the production and uses of imagery in this period, these lectures will offer ways to understand more generally what was entailed in scientific visualisation in early modern Europe.
I've managed to track down a one-hour video (that I've obviously not consumed yet, because audiovisual processing augh). Infuriatingly Kusukawa's book on the topic only covers the sixteenth century, not the full timespan of the lectures, and also it's fifty quid for the PDF. I have located a sample of the thing, consisting of the front matter and the first fifteen pages of the introduction (it cuts off IN MID SENTENCE).
Now daydreaming idly about comparative study of this + Tufte, which I also haven't got around to reading...
How (and Why) I Use My Garmin Running Watch to Track Rests During Strength Workouts
Dec. 10th, 2025 10:00 pmlifehacker_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page.
The strength training mode in Garmin watches like the Forerunner 570 is a little confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's incredibly useful in the gym. Garmin handles rest timers better than any other wearable I've tried, and when combined with a third-party app called LiftTrack, you can even track your volume and PRs. I'll lead you through how I use this workout mode, and how it's helped me do more work in less time in the gym.
How to find strength workouts in Garmin Connect
I’ll get into how to create workouts in a minute, but first I just want to let you know that there are some strength workouts already available for download, if you’d like to just select one and start doing it right now. Go to either your Garmin Connect app or to Garmin Connect on the web, tap Training & Planning, then Workouts, then Find a Workout.
You’ll be able to choose workouts from a library, and you can search by type (including weights, yoga, and bodyweight cardio). Most of the workouts are short, simple, and don’t use much equipment. If you’re experienced at strength training, you’ll probably want to create your own workouts or use the coach feature, but these will get you started in the meantime.
As for that coach feature, it works much like the adaptive running coach plans. You can read more here from Garmin, but basically you set it up by selecting Garmin Coach and telling it your goals and schedule. Workouts will then appear for you each day. The image above shows a Push/Pull/Legs workout programmed by Garmin Coach. It let me choose which workout happens on which day, had me set my max lifts as benchmarks (this program uses percentages), and even let me edit the workouts to swap exercises before finally putting them on my calendar.
How to create strength workouts in Garmin Connect
I’m going to walk you through this step-by-step, because I was so confused the first time I tried to build a workout. Again, you can do this either on your phone or on the web. I usually end up creating my workouts on the phone, and it’s not hard once you get the hang of it. One tip, though: you can skip this whole process if you're willing to install a third-party app. LiftTrack takes care of workout planning and syncs to your Garmin account, and you can read more about how to use that app here.
Go to the “More” menu on your phone (or the sidebar on web) and select Training & Planning, then Workouts, and then Create a Workout. From here, select Strength, and you’ll be given a skeleton of a workout with a warmup, cooldown, and one slot for an exercise.
To start adding exercises, tap Add Round, which will give you a workout card and a recovery card, both in a little box that says “2 Rounds” at the top. Here’s what you do to turn this into a traditional sets-and-reps format (in this example, we want to do four sets of five deadlifts at 200 pounds):
Tap the card that says workout.
Select an exercise (deadlift), a weight (200 pounds), and a target type. In this case, the target type will be Reps (five). Hit the arrow on the top left of the screen to return to the main workout editing page.
For the recovery card, you’ll want to change that to Rest rather than Recovery. For that one, the target type should be Time. Let’s set it to three minutes. Return to the main workout screen again.
Now, tap the dropdown at the top of the round and set it to the number of sets you want to do (four). If your watch supports it, you can select Skip Last Recovery to avoid the final rest period.
Before you add another set, go to the bottom of the screen and tap Add Step. Change this new step to Rest (it will be outside of the repeat) and set the target to Lap Button Press.
Now you have a repeat that will give you four sets of five deadlifts with a three-minute rest timer in between. After you finish that, there will be a rest period that lasts until you press the lap button. This is to give you as much time as you need to find your equipment and set up for the next exercise. Continue adding repeats and steps as desired, and make sure to save the workout when you’re done.
How to send Garmin workouts to your watch
After creating a workout, it doesn’t automatically show up on your watch. You need to tap the “send to watch” icon that you’ll see on the top right of your screen when you’re looking at the workout.
You can also schedule a workout (which will automatically send it to your watch for the scheduled day) by using the three dots menu to add it to your calendar.
How to use a Garmin strength workout from your watch
There are a few ways to access the strength workouts, but here’s the easiest: When it’s gym time, hit the button that starts an activity, and rather than selecting Strength, scroll down until you find Workouts. Tap the one you want to do.
Pay attention here: You’ll need to select the workout, tell it you want to do the workout, and start the workout. (Just keep pressing the select button until the workout actually begins.)
The exact details of which buttons do what will vary from watch to watch, but on a Forerunner, your top right button starts and stops the workout, and your bottom right button is a lap button. (During a timed rest, you can press the lap button to skip to the end of that rest and start the next set.) From the top right button, you can also skip a group of sets (say, if the squat rack was busy, you can skip squats) and then use the same menu later to View Skipped and add it back in.
Why I like the strength training feature
I love using the strength workout feature for one main reason: the customizable timed rests. Rest is important in the gym because you'll be able to lift more if you dial in the perfect rest time for each exercise. It’s easy to sit around scrolling on your phone between sets and realize too late that it’s been 10 minutes since you did your last deadlift. But when I program the workout as above, all I have to do is hit the lap button after my set. Three minutes later, my watch will buzz to let me know it’s time to do the next set.
Pro tip: Set your rest timer for the longest time you might want to rest between sets. If you’re aiming for three to five minutes, set it for five minutes. If you’re ready to go after three, just hit the lap button to skip the remainder of that rest.
You can also program exercises in other ways besides the traditional sets and reps. For example, set the Target Type to Time to do a five-minute density set. Or do EMOMs (every-minute-on-the-minute intervals) by putting just one card inside a repeat, and setting that card to a one-minute target time. You’ll get a beep at the top of each minute.
The Garmin strength features I don’t use
I don’t worry too much about the weights or reps in the app, to be honest. By default, the watch will ask you after each set how many reps you did and how heavy the weight was. I’ve turned that feature off, and I don’t even bother to set rep or weight targets in the app. I use the workouts for timing, not to log the details of my workout. (I have a notebook for that.)
I also haven’t found the automatic set detection or rep counting to be very useful. The watch is impressively good sometimes—how did it know I was doing pullups?!—but it’s just not good enough to be generally useful. It also doesn’t recognize a lot of the Olympic weightlifting exercises I do. And the rep counting? Sometimes OK, but more often useless. Again, I’d rather jot down my reps in that notebook than fiddle with selecting a number on my watch screen after each set.
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Yep, Apple Music and Apple TV Are Down
Dec. 10th, 2025 09:36 pmlifehacker_feedIf you picked up your iPhone to round out your Apple Music Replay for the year, or turned on your TV to watch a show like Pluribus, you might have noticed something odd: Neither service is working. It's not just you: Apple Music, Apple TV, and Game Center are currently down.
That's directly from Apple's "System Status" website, which tracks all of Apple's web-based services and identifies which ones may be experiencing problems. While most of Apple's services, like the App Store, Find My, and iMessage, are all "Available," four of these services are experiencing an outage: Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple TV Channels, and Game Center.
If you click on each, you can see the service's full status report:
Apple Music - Outage
Today, 2:53 PM - ongoing
Some users are affected
Users may be experiencing intermittent issues with this service.
Apple TV Channels - Outage
Today, 2:53 PM - ongoing
Some users are affected
Users may be experiencing intermittent issues with this service.
Apple TV - Outage
Today, 2:53 PM - ongoing
Some users are affected
Users may be experiencing intermittent issues with this service.
Game Center - 1 Outage, 1 Resolved Issue
Outage: Today, 2:53 PM - ongoing
Some users are affected
Users may be experiencing a problem with this service.
Resolved Issue: Today, 8:43 AM - 9:14 AM
Some users were affected
Users may have experienced a problem with this service.
It's not clear what is causing the outages, though they all went down at 2:53 p.m.. (Apple doesn't specify, but I imagine that's ET.) This isn't the first time this has happened, of course. In fact, Apple Music was down earlier this year, though it was actually still working for me when Apple said the outage was active.
That appears to be the situation today, as well. Each report says "some users are affected," not all. As it happens, Apple Music is working on my Mac, and I'm able to stream the free pilot episode of Pluribus without issue.
Apple will likely get these services back up and running for affected users. In the meantime, if your Apple Music or Apple TV won't cooperate, this is likely the cause.
Instagram Is Finally Letting You Control the Reels You See
Dec. 10th, 2025 09:30 pmlifehacker_feedAfter years of suffering from a crippling TikTok addiction, I decided enough was enough: I quit the app cold turkey and deleted it from my phone. Then, I discovered Instagram Reels, and my attention span hasn't been the same since.
TikTok's algorithm is infamous, but we don't give Instagram's enough credit. This platform is addicting. I hardly use the app to keep up with friends and family anymore: Reels grabs my attention and doesn't let go, and before I know it, it's midnight, and I've done nothing with my evening. How many videos did I watch? What did I even watch? Whatever Meta has going on in that algorithm is dangerous stuff.
You can influence the algorithm, of course: The decisions you make in the app—likes, comments, watch time, sharing—tell the algorithm which videos you like, which you don't, and inform its fraction-of-a-second decisions about what to show you next. But until now, you haven't been able to see what's driving those decisions. You're kind of flying blind—you can try to steer the algorithm in a new direction, but you'll never know exactly what direction you're really going in.
That's now changing. As reported by Wired, Meta is rolling out a new tab for Reels viewers that will let us see why the algorithm is delivering us these particular videos. This tab, called, appropriately, "Your Algorithm," is now rolling out, first in the U.S., but soon to the rest of the world—at least, only to English speakers. It seems reminiscent of TikTok's "Manage Topics" feed, which lets you adjust the content types that appear in your For You feed.
How "Your Algorithm" works on Instagram
When "Your Algorithm" hits your phone, you'll find it in the top right corner of the Reels feed: two lines with heart icons placed on each. (I had to update the app and force quit it a couple times to get it to appear.) Once you open this tab, you'll see a short summary of the type of content the algorithm says you've liked recently. In Meta's example, it says, "Lately you've been into creativity, sports hype, fitness motivation, [and] skateboarding." Mine says, "Lately you've been into classic video games, laughing at comedy clubs, and making beats in the studio."
Beneath this summary, you'll find the "What you want to see more of" section. Here, you can choose specific content categories you'd like to appear in your feed more often. Instagram will populate some choices here based on your past interests—Meta's example from above shows things like "Sports," "GRWM," "Thrifting," and "Horror movies"—but you can tap an "Add" button to contribute your own requests. You can tap any of these content types to find the option to watch Reels in that category, in case you want to test drive any before locking in your choices.
Beneath this, you'll find "What you want to see less of." This is the same concept, but the reverse: You can choose any content types you don't want in your feed anymore. If you're sick of seeing hiking videos, but Instagram continues to show them to you, here's your chance to directly tell the algorithm to cut it out.
If you tap the three dots in the top right, you'll find some shortcuts to existing content controls, too, like whether to suggest political content on your feed, "sensitive" content controls, and specific words and phrase filters, to name a few. You can also tap the share button to share your algorithm summary to your story. I'm not sure who would want to do that, but I guess I shared my summary here, so who am I to judge.
Meta's changing content controls
Wired highlights how these changes come as the European Commission is pushing Meta to present more data controls to EU users: These users have so far been able to pay to not see ads, but since the European Commission didn't think that was enough, Meta will allow users to choose whether to allow all their data to be used for personalized ads, or only a small percentage.
That's not happening here in the U.S., but that doesn't mean Meta is staying the same, either. "Your Algorithm" is launching as Meta is facing criticism over how it handles younger users on its platforms. Reports suggest Meta understands how addictive its apps are, especially to teens, and the company's internal policies for chatbot interactions with minors was, frankly, appalling. The company has rolled out Teen Accounts across apps like Instagram and Facebook, which offer limits on communications and interactions, and new AI parental controls are also on their way. "Your Algorithm" seems to be the latest in a string of efforts to make it easier for users to control the experience on Meta platforms. Theoretically, you could even use these controls to make your Reels experience less addicting.
Those are all good developments as far as I'm concerned, but I fear there's still quite a lot of work to do to make Meta's products—as well as many other social media products—less addictive, and, overall, better for us. Case in point: I opened the app to test out "Your Algorithm," and not only did I not find it at first, I ended up losing five minutes of my life watching the first video that appeared in my feed. I need to delete Instagram from my phone.
The Newest Amazon Echo Show Is Almost $50 Off
Dec. 10th, 2025 09:00 pmlifehacker_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
The wall-mounted Amazon Echo Show 15 has built-in Fire TV, but it also functions as a customizable family hub that keeps you on track with calendars, lists, and more. Right now, it’s $254.99 (originally $299.99), its lowest price on Amazon to date, according to price-tracking tools.
The newest generation Amazon Echo Show features a bright 15.6-inch display and a remote control that lets you navigate the Fire TV interface and control media playback. It’s well-suited for mounting in an office, kitchen, or living room where you need a home-organization hub that hangs easily like a picture (it also doubles as a digital picture frame). It also makes for a helpful alternative to a laptop or tablet for comfortable video calling with a wide field of view, 3.3x zoom, and a 13 MP camera.
Like all Echo Show devices, the experience is centered around Amazon’s Alexa, so it’s better for those already in the Amazon ecosystem. It comes complete with smart home controls and widgets that make it more capable as a shared household device. It also supports multiple profiles, recognizing users by voice or face using the camera. This PCMag review notes that although the Fire TV interface is capable and the speakers are louder than the previous generation, they could be clearer and more dynamic.
Still, even though sound quality isn’t perfect, the Amazon Echo Show 15 performs well as a productivity-forward, centralized smart display rather than a smart TV used solely for entertainment (unless you want to add an external speaker to the larger screen model, which is 13% off right now).
Lifehacker Deals Live Blog: The Best Tech Sales, All in One Place
Dec. 10th, 2025 09:09 pmlifehacker_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
With this live blog, you can keep up with the best deals the Lifehacker team finds every day—all in one place. Bookmark this page to keep an eye on what we're finding. As always, we use price-tracking tools to suss out the deals that are actually worth paying attention to, not just hype designed to instill a false sense of urgency.
Google Maps Will Now Automatically Save Your Parking Spot on iPhone
Dec. 10th, 2025 08:30 pmlifehacker_feedForgetting where you parked your car isn't just a sitcom trope—though it does make for classic TV. Even in the age of the smartphone, it's all too easy to walk away from your car and retain zero memory of where you left it. As it happens, Google Maps has a solution—provided you have an iPhone.
So long as you're running the app on an Apple device, Google Maps can automatically remember where you parked and display that information on the map. There's no need to mark the location yourself, tell the app to save your spot, or take a picture of the cross streets in case you forget: You can simply glance at the screen to find a "You parked here" label.
The thing is, while some are reporting this feature is relatively new to them, others suggest it's been out for a while. What gives?
How Google Maps automatically saves your parking location on iOS
This feature works if you connect your iPhone to your car, whether via Bluetooth, CarPlay, or a USB cable. When you disconnect your iPhone from your car, Google Maps will assume you've parked, and will automatically mark that location on the map. The feature will also work if you give Google Maps permission to access your Motion & Fitness data, which allows the app to tell when you've started and stopped driving. (You can check on this setting from Google Maps' in-app settings: Head to Navigation, then, under "Automatically save parking," tap Let maps use your motion to save your parking.)
You can also choose to set Google Maps' location permissions to "Always," which gives the app persistent access to your location data, and also lets it figure out when you've stopped your car. You can change this option on your iPhone by navigating t0 Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Google Maps.
Is this feature actually new?
This feature is genuinely great, and I'm happy Google Maps supports it—even if Android users are inexplicably being excluded for now. But you might also be wondering to yourself, wasn't this already a feature? It doesn't sound all that new. Yet you might have even seen a flurry articles like this one today, all reporting on this "new" Google Maps parking feature.
As it turns out, the answer is a bit complicated. The coverage today all references this announcement on LinkedIn from Google Maps senior product manager Rio Akasaka—only that post is, according to LinkedIn, a month old. Some of the comments are more recent, but others appear to be from the original posting date.
Potentially adding to the confusion, other navigation apps, like Apple Maps, already support automatically saving your parking spot, and while Google Maps has also had an option to save your parking spot for some time, it previously wasn't automatic. If you wanted the app to remember where you stopped, you needed to tap your blue dot on the map and choose "Save your parking." That's how it still is on Android, since the automatic feature only works on iOS.
Looking through the comment sections on articles from outlets like The Verge or MacRumors, some users insist they've had this feature for some time—well before that month-old LinkedIn announcement. This commenter says they've had the feature for years, while this one claims they've had it for "ages." So what gives? Have at least some iPhone users have had this feature for years? It is possible Google has been testing out the feature with smaller subsets of users and only recently rolled it out en masse, but whether or not that actually happened is unclear at this time.
I've reached out to Google for clarification about the timeline of this feature's implementation, and I will update this article if I get an answer. Until then, I can only hope Google is actively working on rolling out the feature to Android, as that really would be something new.
10 Ways to Use Your Hand Tools and Power Tools Together to Do More
Dec. 10th, 2025 08:00 pmlifehacker_feedOne of the best lessons I've learned across years of DIY projects is the fact that, whether powered by hand or by electricity, your tools can can serve more than the purpose for which you purchased them—provided you get creative with how you put them to use. Often, you can use two tools together to improve their performance, make them more versatile, make them easier to use, or even to to replace a tool you’re missing.
Here are 10 unexpected ways to combine your hand tools and power tools to make DIY work a little easier.
Stick an Allen wrench into your drill
Eye hooks serve a wide range of uses, but if you’ve ever had to drive a bunch of them into wood, you know how frustrating they can be. The usual move is to either slip a screwdriver through the hook and twist, which is slow and awkward, or to clamp a wrench or pair of pliers on top and twist, which is...also slow and awkward.
This works better: Place an Allen wrench in your power drill’s chuck, slide the end of the wrench into the eyehook, and let the drill do the work. It's faster, it saves your elbows and wrists the strain, and you’ll wonder why you never thought of it before.
Use a shop vac to inject wood glue
Wood glue can be a lifesaver when you have a damaged piece of lumber—but only if you can actually get the glue inside the crack. If you’ve ever tried, you know that you wind up with glue smeared everywhere, but only a small amount seeps into the crack, leading to a pretty quick failure.
By combining a shop vac with your gluing efforts, you can make this much more effective. Position the shop vac up close against one end of the crack and turn it on. Then apply the glue from the other end, moving toward the shop vac. The suction will pull the glue into the crack, filling it up and resulting in a stronger bond.
Use a sander to clean your putty knives
Drywall knives and putty knives can develop a thick, lumpy buildup of drywall mud, paint, and anything else they’re used to scrape. Eventually, they’re almost useless because their flat surface has developed its own topography.
You can try cleaning them, but water will rust them and it’s often a laborious process, especially if they’re covered in cement or thinset. If you’ve got an orbital sander, however, cleaning your putty knives and drywall knives is pretty easy. Using a moderate grit (120 works well) pad, just sand down your blade with gentle pressure—don’t overdo it; just let the sandpaper do its work. You’ll have shiny, clean blades in no time.
Use a carpenter’s square and a chalk line as a makeshift level
Getting things level is surprisingly challenging—at least for me. I can measure things five times and still somehow wind up slightly off. That makes a spirit level an essential part of my toolbox for any project (and even then, I am level-challenged, somehow).
If I forget my level, I’m in trouble—unless I happen to have a carpenter’s square and a chalk line. Place the bottom of the square on the surface you’re checking, and loop your chalk line over the top at the 90° mark so it dangles down. Then adjust until the line is directly over the 45° mark on the bottom. That’s means it's level.
Use a screwdriver and hammer to remove stubborn nails
Trying to remove a stuck nail can be an entire project in itself. Your progress freezes while you sweat and strain, and eventually you start to damage the surface as your attempts to pull that nail get wilder and more violent.
To protect a surface you don’t want to damage and give yourself a little extra leverage on the nail, place a screwdriver under your hammer. This will give your pull a little more oomph while stopping your hammer from gouging the surface beneath.
Use a vise grip with a putty knife to remove a headless nail
Got a stubborn nail and don’t have your hammer or prybar? Or dealing with a nail that’s lost its head? You can get it free with the help of a vise grip and a putty knife. Lock the vise grip onto the nail and slide a putty knife onto the surface behind the nail. Rotate the vise grips like a lever, and the nail will slowly pull free, while the putty knife blade protects the surface underneath from damage.
Combine a wrench or pliers and a screwdriver for more torque
When dealing with a screw that seems to be frozen in place, your hand screwdriver often can’t deliver enough torque, and using a power drill with a screwdriver bit is often overkill, stripping the screw in no time. To increase the torque your screwdriver can provide, combine it with a wrench or pair of adjustable pliers. Lock the pliers onto the screwdriver at a 90° angle, push down, and turn with the plier handles. Even the most stubborn screws will work themselves free.
Use locking pliers and a flat prybar to remove nails
Another way to tackle a nail that just won’t work itself free (or that’s lost its head) is to combine a vise grip and a flat prybar. Lock the grips onto the top of the nail to act as the head, then angle the prybar underneath and apply pressure. You can also slide a putty knife under the prybar blade if you want to protect the surface you’re extracting the nail from.
Use a hammer and driver bit to remove painted over screws
When I used to rent, I was always infuriated by the “landlord special” repairs that covered screw heads with multiple layers of paint, often to the extent that I couldn’t get a screwdriver or bit to bite. That meant a lot of slow effort scraping paint out of the grooves until I got them clean enough to extract.
Instead of doing that, combine a hammer and a screwdriver bit: position the bit on the screw head and give it some solid taps with the hammer. The crusted paint will fall right out, and you can get on with your work.
Use an adjustable wrench to find the right drill bit
How much time do you think you’ve wasted trying to eyeball a drill bit when driving bolts? You estimate the bit size, you drill the hole—nope, too small. So you grab the next-largest bit and do it again. Or, worse, you estimate the drill bit and the hole is too big, and now you’ve got a problem.
If you’ve got an adjustable wrench, spare yourself the drama. Tighten the jaws of the wrench onto the bolt, then see which drill bit matches the wrench’s opening. You’ll never have to drill three times for one bolt ever again.
10 Hacks Every Android User Should Know
Dec. 10th, 2025 07:30 pmlifehacker_feedAndroid remains one of the most customizable mobile operating systems out there, despite Google's recent efforts to rein it in. You don't necessarily have to root your Android device to get it to do something off script, either. The fix you need might be hidden behind a system menu or Developer Options. You can personalize Android to address common frustrations with speed, battery life, privacy, and the interface as a whole. I've compiled ten helpful Android hacks that require no third-party apps, no ADB commands, and no rooting. All you need is the patience to dig through the operating system and tap as required.
Please note that many of these hacks require you to enable Developer Options, Android's hidden menu of settings. To do so, head to the Settings menu, scroll to About phone, then tap Build number. Tap it seven times to unlock developer mode. (You'll see a countdown pop-up if you did it correctly.)
Eliminate battery hogging apps
Have you ever looked at your battery usage stats and wondered what to do about a specific app that's draining your battery? Android needs apps to run in the background, sync with the cloud, and check for updates by default. As it does this, it wakes the device and consumes battery in the background.
Android introduced a battery optimization feature in version 6.0 that's supposed to help with apps that drain too much battery. While it's helped shut down unused apps, it can be either too aggressive or not aggressive enough at identifying bad apps. And while you can force-close an app to kill it when you notice it's causing issues, it will likely start up again the next time you reboot your device.
You can manually set an app's background privileges to the most restrictive setting without deleting or disabling it. In Settings, under Apps, scroll down and tap to view all your apps in a list. Then, tap App battery usage. Here, you will find details about the last time the app was accessed. Tap on the app to adjust its background usage. You can choose to have it optimized by the Android system or unrestricted—something you might use on a wearable to ensure it works properly, for instance. If you want it restricted completely, use the master switch to toggle off background usage. On Samsung devices, this same option is called "sleeping apps" or "deep sleeping apps."
Optionally, you can turn to Developer Options to get more robust control over background processes. Head back to Developer Options, then scroll or search for Background process limit, and from here, you can decide how many background apps fire off at a time.
Block ads and trackers without VPN
Even with an ad blocker, background apps can still track your phone use, where you shop, and which ads to show you. You could easily circumvent this by installing a VPN app to route traffic, but that relies on a third party app, and slows down performance. You are better off configuring your phone's Private DNS settings to filter web traffic through a service of your choosing.
Private DNS seals the request your device makes to look up a website's IP address, so your carrier can't see the website you're visiting. Since that browser data stays hidden, third parties don't have the data they need to track your habits and, subsequently, target you with ads.
Navigate back to the Settings panel and select Network & Internet > Private DNS. Change the setting to Private DNS provider hostname. You will need to find the URL of a filtering service to link here. Options include Ad Guard, Control D, and Mullvad, which is what I use to block ads in Chrome.
Once you save, this will redirect all DNS requests from every app and browser on your Android device through this specific block list. It should help cut down on ads and tracking servers watching you without cutting down on performance or battery life. This is also a great hack if you're a parent and your kid has access to an Android device. Use Private DNS to route them away from unsafe sites and adult content.
Unearth long-lost notifications
Sometimes, we accidentally dismiss a notification on Android. If you're always snoozing and missing out on important pings, you can turn on notification history.
In Settings, under Notifications, tap to turn on Notification history. Now, when you swipe to dismiss your alerts, you can peek in here to see what you forgot or accidentally swiped away. This feature is also helpful for tracking any apps that might be quietly running in the background.
Maximize (or minimize) screen real estate
I don't know what it is about these latest versions of Android, but the text feels either too small or too big when adjusted with the built-in display size settings. You could go into the Accessibility settings to make the text smaller or larger, though it doesn't affect the rest of the interface much. Or you could deploy Android's display density (DPI) scaling hack.
This is where the developer options come in handy again. You can use the Smallest Width setting to control the DPI precisely, which scales every interface element up and down. Change the value to a higher number if you want fonts and images to shrink down within the resolution—if it starts in the 400s, for instance, try 500 and work backwards until you like what you see. To make fonts and graphics even larger, start around 300.
Adjust what happens when you plug your device in
When you plug an Android phone into a PC, it defaults to charging the device rather than turning on file transfer. You can change the option from the notification shade, though it adds a few extra steps to something that should be straightforward. Fortunately, you can tweak the USB default behavior to prioritize file transfers when the device is plugged in via USB-C.
In the Developer Options, look for Default USB configuration. Change the setting to File Transfer/Android Auto. Test it by plugging a USB-C cable into a PC to ensure it defaults to file transfer mode.
Get the best audio quality
When you stream music or podcasts through headphones or another external source, the audio isn't at its best. And while you could adjust the equalizer settings in the app that's streaming media, it won't fix much. Your phone and the audio device default to standard codecs rather than high-fidelity ones, which is why it doesn't sound as crisp and loud as it could.
You can force Android to use the highest-quality codecs whenever the audio device connects in Developer Options. Search for a Bluetooth audio codec and select the highest-quality option supported by your wireless device. Note that you must be connected to the device when you look for this option, or it will appear grayed out. While you're in the Developer Options, look for Bluetooth Audio Sample Rate and Bits Per Sample. You can adjust these to higher sampling rates if your hardware supports it.
Make Android look smooth
Even on the latest Android flagships, the interface can feel sluggish as you're moving between screens. That's because Android deliberately animates between every swipe and flick. But you can eliminate or shorten these animations to make the interface feel more fluid.
In Developer Options, look for Window animation scale, Transition animation scale, and Animator duration scale. You can adjust their defaults; the lower the number, the faster the animation. You can also choose to turn the animation off completely if it's just too much.
Force dark mode
I suffer from migraines, and the brightest background can trigger the pain. I figured out how to force every Android app into dark mode, regardless of whether the developer coded it in.
First, ensure "Dark Theme" is on in your main display settings. Then, navigate to Developer Options and search for Override force-dark. Toggle it on to save your eyes. This feature is also super helpful if you prefer to stare at the screen at night to read. Note that it may cause some apps not to display text properly, in which case, you might want to reserve this ability for when it's most necessary.
Keep the screen on forever
Sometimes you need the display to stay on without timing out. Most Android devices tap out at 30 minutes. But in the developer settings, there is an option to keep the screen "awake" as long as the device is plugged into a power source. I've had this feature enabled since I started covering Android phones. It's the best way to run benchmarks without being affected by random variables.
In Developer Options, search for Stay awake, then switch it on. Note that you will need to turn off the screen when charging the device overnight. Your phone could get hot from being connected and having the screen on for too long.
Get the right device to answer the phone
This has happened to me so many times: my phone rings, I answer it, but the call is routed to my smartwatch instead of my buds. While you could manually go into the phone and select the appropriate Bluetooth device, make it easier on yourself by eliminating the devices that you never want to answer the phone.
In the Settings panel, under Bluetooth, select the offending device. The easiest way to keep it from rearing its ugly head is to find the switch that completely disables phone calls. You should see an option for it at the bottom of the device's Bluetooth settings. I've disabled the Pixel Watch 4 from answering any calls because there's no instance I'd ever want to take a call from my watch. It's too public!
My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones
Dec. 10th, 2025 07:00 pmlifehacker_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
When it comes to buying the best headphones at the best price, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra is at the top of the list for active noise-cancelling (ANC) right now, while also excelling in other important categories. Right now, the Bose QuietComfort Ultras (in the "deep plum" color) are $279 (originally $429), a record low price, according to price-tracking tools. The other colors are also discounted but not quite as steeply—for example, you can get "white smoke" for $299 or "sandstone" for $329.
Few other brands can compete with Bose's QuietComfort Ultra lineup when it comes to ANC. Apart from the headphone model, they also make some of the best ANC earbuds, both using the same tech. PCMag's "outstanding" review goes into detail on how the headphones do the best job at dialing back low-frequency rumbles, as well as lows and mids.
Despite those plaudits, they're not perfect: Some high-frequency sounds still make it through the ANC technology (that's the case for all ANC headphones, though). But these headphones performed better at ANC than their other two main competitors at the time of their respective release, Apple AirPods Max and the Sony WH-1000XM5. Of course, the new Sony WH-1000XM6 has new ANC technology that outshines the QuietComfort Ultra, but you'd be paying a premium for those.
The Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones launched in the fall of 2023 with many reviewers praising their overall quality, but earning complaints for their pricing, at almost half a grand. At their current discounted price, there is no better value for your money if you value top-tier ANC. Another great feature of the headphones is their transparency mode, meant to be used to allow you to better hear your surroundings (cars, bikes, or people around you) while wearing them.
You can expect about 24 hours of juice with a full charge, or about 18 hours if you're using ANC. The accompanying app has a well-designed, customizable EQ.
10 Hacks Every Chromebook Power User Should Know
Dec. 10th, 2025 06:30 pmlifehacker_feedIf you've chosen a Chromebook as a laptop, then you know the main benefits that it brings: namely, speed, ease of use, and affordability. Despite the simplicity of ChromeOS, however, there's more that you can do with it than you might realize. You can use it offline, and you can sync files to and from local storage, for example. The operating system is a lot more powerful and versatile than it often gets credit for.
These hacks are for power users who want to level up their Chromebook capabilities, and get extra value out of their laptop, beyond the standard use cases that everyone knows about. No matter how you use ChromeOS, there should be something here to help.
Use your Chromebook offline
Chromebooks are often criticized for being useless without wifi, but that's not actually the case: All of the Docs, Sheets, and Slides tools can be used offline, with changes syncing back when your internet connection is restored: From Google Drive, click the gear icon (top right), then choose Settings > General and check the option under the Offline heading.
You can use Gmail offline, too. You can't send or receive emails, obviously, but you can read through and organize your inbox, and draft emails ready to go once you get your internet back. From Gmail, click on the gear icon (top right), then pick See all settings > Offline. Check the Enable offline mail box and choose how much of your email you want to sync.
Sync media offline
This offline functionality extends to third-party streaming apps too, as ChromeOS supports Android apps. With apps such as Netflix and Spotify, you can sync content to your Chromebook to watch when you don't have a reliable internet connection—when you're on a long flight, for example, or traveling between countries.
Talk to your Chromebook
Typing is all well and good, but sometimes talking is faster. Launch Settings, then choose Accessibility > Keyboard and text input > Dictation to enable the feature. You can then press the Launcher (G) button and D to start dictating in any app—whether you're composing emails or writing essays.
Move local files to Google Drive
One of the pros of using a Chromebook is that everything is synced online pretty much instantly, if you're using one of Google's own online apps or something similar. However, there may be local files that accumulate on the laptop, including screenshots and downloads, and sometimes you'll want to get those synced to the cloud as well.
You can see these files via the Files app that comes built into ChromeOS, and upload them manually via the Google Drive web interface. There's an easier way to get them into Google Drive, though: From the Files app, select all the local files you want to upload in the pane on the right, then drag them into My Drive under Google Drive in the left-hand menu bar.
Set up virtual desktops
Chromebooks don't always have the biggest or highest-resolution screens, but you can give yourself more room by managing multiple virtual desktops (which ChromeOS calls "desks"). Press the "show windows" key (it's the one with little rectangles on it, usually also labeled F3) to view open desks, switch between them, and create new ones.
Enable guest access
As ChromeOS is so tightly tied to your Google account, you don't necessarily want other people borrowing your laptop and being able to get into your Google apps. The solution is guest mode: Restart your Chromebook or sign out of your current user account, then click Browse as Guest to launch a Chrome window without any Google account attached.
Make full use of the clipboard
ChromeOS can sometimes feel limiting in that you can't quickly drag files to the desktop or to a temporary folder in the same way that you can on Windows or macOS. You might also see that as a benefit—it means less junk will be cluttering your system—but there could well be times that you just need to store something temporarily for transfer.
That's where the ChromeOS clipboard comes in: It actually stores five items rather than one, so it's a useful (if rather hidden) way of moving images, text, and links between websites and apps. Use the usual Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, and Ctrl+V shortcuts to copy, cut, and paste, then hold down the Launcher (G) button and V to see all the clipboard items.
Open the ChromeOS Task Manager
The ChromeOS Task Manager is useful for everything from shutting down crashed apps to seeing exactly where all your RAM is going, and it can be a key tool in the power user's belt. Open it by pressing the Launcher (G) key and Esc: You'll see you can browse between individual tabs and system processes, or search for something specific on ChromeOS.
Save an older laptop
ChromeOS isn't just for Chromebooks: You can give an older, struggling laptop a new lease of life by installing ChromeOS Flex on it (even old laptops can usually handle Chrome). Google has full instructions for what you need to do to get this working, and will guide you through the process of creating a bootable USB drive with the ChromeOS software on.
Explore beta and dev channels
As with a lot of software, there are beta and dev channels of ChromeOS available as well as the stable one. If you want to get the newest Chromebook features before everyone else, and don't mind a few bugs along the way, then you can make the switch. It doesn't take long, and you can always switch back again, though a system reset is sometimes required.
To change between ChromeOS channels, click on the time panel (bottom right), then click the gear icon to get to the main Settings page. Choose About ChromeOS > Additional details > Change channel, then choose whichever one you want to use. You'll keep getting over-the-air updates for your selected channel until you switch to a different one.
Wednesday went for the annual eye-test
Dec. 10th, 2025 07:10 pmoursinWhat I read
Finished Saving Suzy Sweetchild, which has our protag not only dealing with the usual movie hassle but being called in to deal with the papers of a suddenly deceased in possibly suspicious circumstances academic, as well as (with the usual cohorts) trying to work out what exactly the game is with the apparent kidnapping for ransom of child star, who is beginning to age out of cuteness. We observe that the classic sleuths may sometimes have had two mysteries on their hands but very seldom had to multitask like this.
Some while ago I read an essay by Ursula Le Guin on the novels of Kent Haruf: I fairly recently picked up Our Souls at Night (2015), which is more or less novella length, as a Kobo deal, and it was well-written, and unusual if very low-key, and I daresay I might venture on more Haruf but am in no great rush to do so.
Then on to Upton Sinclair, The Return of Lanny Budd (1953) - perhaps not quite as good as the earlier entries in the series - some of it felt a bit info-dumpy - Lanny and his friends who are promoting peace face the problem of Soviet Stalinist Communism in the Cold War era. I can't help contemplating them and thinking that they are probably going to be sitting targets for HUAC in a few years' time, because they are coming at the issue from a democratic socialist perspective and I suspect their Peace Program is going to be considered deeply sus by McCarthyism. Also, Lanny jnr is going to be of draft age come the 1960s....
On the go
To lighten the mood, Alexis Hall, Audrey Lane Stirs the Pot (Winner Bakes All #3) arrived yesterday.
Up next
The new (double-issue) Literary Review
Also (what was in the straying parcel last week) Dickon Edwards (whom some of you may remember from LJ days?) Diary at the Centre of the Earth: Vol. 1.
This Rugged Soundcore Bluetooth Speaker Is Nearly 40% Off Right Now
Dec. 10th, 2025 05:30 pmlifehacker_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
The Soundcore Boom 2 is built for people who don’t want to baby their speakers. With an IPX7 rating and a floatable design, it’s something you can toss in the pool, hose off after a beach trip, or take out on a boat without much worry. And right now, the black model is $89.99, down from $139.99, its lowest price ever according to price trackers.
Note: While the Boom 2 floats, Bluetooth doesn’t work underwater. So your playlist cuts off as soon as it dips below the surface. Still, for outdoor parties where someone will eventually knock the speaker over, that floatability is peace of mind.
The Boom 2 pumps out 80 watts of sound thanks to two 15W tweeters and a 50W woofer. Turn off BassUp mode, though, and output drops to 60W, so if you’re into room-shaking bass, you’ll want to leave it on. And while you can link a second Boom 2 for stereo sound, you’ll be working with Bluetooth only, since there’s no wifi support. The speaker’s LED lights sync to your music, which is fun at night but does drain the battery faster. On that note: Expect around 24 hours of playback with lights and bass boost off, but less if you’re maxing out the volume. It takes about 5.5 hours to charge fully via USB-C. That might be a long wait if you're in a rush, but decent for overnight charging.
There’s a companion app where you can tweak the sound profile and control the light settings. That adds a level of customization some speakers skip. But this isn’t a speaker for someone who wants elegant design or deep audio fidelity, notes this PCMag review. The JBL Flip 6 might feel nicer in the hand, and the Sony SRS-XB23 offers slightly better balance across mids and highs. What the Boom 2 does well is give you bold sound, big volume, and enough durability to handle messy environments.
And they won't thank you, they don't make awards for that
Dec. 10th, 2025 10:54 amsovay( We know by now that time does not take sides. )
With this one example to go by, he was a better playwright than poet, but except for the self-deprecation which should definitely have hit the cutting room floor, it's hard to want to edit much out of a poem with so much anger at the injustice of a country that wastes its artists in scapegoating xenophobia, besides which there's at least one good line per actor and sometimes more. He wouldn't even have been living in the United States by the time of its writing, having burned off the last of his contract with Columbia by the end of 1951. He hadn't burned off his anger. No reason he should have. I may be confused by the existence of his Hollywood career, but I'm still pissed about the politics that snapped it short. The twentieth century could stop coming around on the guitar any measure now. On Sunday, I'll be at the HFA.