Honorable Mentions Photograph: Kat Merck Shark FlexBreeze HydroGo for $100: I love the original Shark FlexBreeze (above), so I was very excited to see Shark had released a rechargeable portable fan in seven colors, including ones not normally seen in fans, like Lilac and Honeydew. Shark says it can run 30 minutes with the mister…
Photograph: Matt Kamen Boot up the C64U, and you’re greeted by a re-creation of the C64’s menu. Here, you can type in operation commands just as you would back in the day, using the BASIC programming language. Problem: I don’t have the first clue about BASIC. However, in what is possibly the greatest throwback of…
Main theme: Consumer Reports has been the destination for unbiased car reviews since 1936. But did you know that we anonymously buy every vehicle we test—some 50 cars, trucks, and SUVs each year? In this episode, hosts Tanya Christian and Brian Vines get a crash course in car buying from our senior autos reporter, Keith…
Whether you shop now or wait for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you’ll find that many of those deals masquerading as fantastic bargains aren’t always as good as they look, and it’s easy to be fooled if you’re not careful. No worries—Consumer Reports has been tracking Black Friday deals for years, and we know all…
Main theme: BMW redesigned one of its most controversial vehicles, and we just bought one for our test program. It’s called the Gran Coupe, but it has four doors. And it’s called a 2 Series, but it’s a front-wheel drive, unlike the 2 Series coupe. Where does it fit in the BMW lineup, and who is…
If you were trying to learn how to get other people to do what you want, you might use some of the techniques found in a book like Influence: The Power of Persuasion. Now, a preprint study out of the University of Pennsylvania suggests that those same psychological persuasion techniques can frequently “convince” some LLMs…
Zoë Schiffer: I think also it’s a good moment to bring in the IP angle. You might be asking yourself, why did ClawdBot change its very cute name to MoltBot? And that’s a great question. Apparently it’s because Anthropic, which makes many products named Claude, said, “No, no, no, this is not OK. This person…
The models below (listed alphabetically within each segment) are the ones we’d recommend to our friends and family. Each has standard electronic stability control, an important safety feature. Some were also available with active safety features such as forward collision warning (FCW), automatic emergency braking (AEB), blind spot warning (BSW), and/or rear cross traffic warning (RCTW) as optional or standard equipment when they…
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and former daytime talk show star, has recently been emailing all federal workers in his agency weekly tips on “Crushing Cubicle Cravings” and how to avoid snacking in the office. “We all love a fun cookie swap and potluck this time…
How to Sit Properly at a Desk AccordionItemContainerButton LargeChevron It’s not just about finding a chair you like. We’ve rounded up several tips on how to set up your desk properly here, and how to avoid tech neck, but here are a few highlights. Sitting for too long in a day is not good for…