They simmer steadily. A low-heat burner that’s capable of maintaining a steady temperature when simmering liquids is ideal, so you don’t need to stir constantly to avoid scorching, say, tomato sauce or chocolate. They bake and broil evenly. Cakes and cookies emerge uniformly baked from multiple racks. And the broiler heats evenly while still getting…
You’ll want to read our extensive guide on How to Choose the Right Laptop, but for the basics, you’ll want to decide what category of laptop you need. Most people should buy a 13-inch or 14-inch laptop, and spending around $750-$1,000 is a good place to start. You should expect a laptop around this price…
The Trump administration may think regulation is crippling the AI industry, but one of the industry’s biggest players doesn’t agree. At WIRED’s Big Interview event on Thursday, Anthropic president and cofounder Daniela Amodei told WIRED editor at large Steven Levy that even though Trump’s AI and crypto czar, David Sacks, may have tweeted that her…
Cannon explains that viruses, in general, are very susceptible to heat. “Viruses come ‘shrink-wrapped’ in a layer of fat that helps them to survive in our bodies by acting as a type of stealthy covering,” she says. Spikes on the outside of this fat layer allow it to latch onto and enter your body’s cells….
An air fryer works by rapidly circulating hot air and a small amount of oil to fry foods. The oil and air work in tandem, transferring heat via conduction (the direct contact of the hot oil) and convection (the heavy rotation of hot air). The air-fry function works the same way in a wall oven…
New Year’s resolution season is in full swing, and you’ve officially made it past Quitter’s Day (the second Friday in January, when many people have given up on their resolutions). Maybe you want to exercise more often, or keep better track of your schedule, or hit a certain step goal, or drink more water. Whatever…
Our experts say that a handheld leaf blower will work well for most people, especially if you’ve got a modest yard with only a few leafy trees. Battery handheld blowers now make up the lion’s share of models that CR tests, and they’re a particularly good choice because they are lighter weight and quieter than…
Signs of this crisis are not merely anecdotal. A 2025 report by the Consumer Federation of America found that the average home insurance premium increased (PDF) by nearly 25 percent from 2021 to 2024. But premiums grew even faster in many regions, and more than half the respondents to CR’s 2024-2025 survey of 23,917 U.S….
If you’ve been keeping up with your Windows software updates, you probably noticed Microsoft’s Copilot AI made an appearance in the Taskbar—and in apps including Word and Excel if you use the Microsoft 365 suite. If you’re unhappy with that, you may be able to disable it. You can disable Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps…
For this year’s project, Consumer Reports tried each antenna in White Plains, NY, about 30 miles north of Manhattan. We attached the flat antennas to a window on clear days and placed one model with a different design on the windowsill. We also put each antenna outside the window on a balcony. Only one model…