The Latest

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

While there are plenty of new speaker releases to get excited about this summer, there’s nothing like a tried-and-true, well-rounded option from a reliable brand. The JBL Charge 6 is exactly that. Designed to survive everything from pool parties to camping trips and beach adventures, a brand-new unit is currently 35% off on Woot, bringing it to an all-time low of $129.95 (originally $199.95), according to price trackers.

With an IP68 rating, it’s fully waterproof, dust-proof, and drop-proof (surviving up to three feet), making it nearly invincible for all kinds of shenanigans. The 34-watt-hour battery lasts up to 24 hours, and you get an extra 4 hours with its Boost mode on, though you will sacrifice a bit of bass in exchange. It also acts as a power bank for other devices, letting you charge a phone or tablet. The speaker weighs 3 pounds and has a convenient handle looped through either end for carrying, 

Controls are located on the top, and the companion app is relatively simple, with a few EQ presets and a seven-band custom EQ. PCMag, which gave the Charge 6 an "Excellent" rating, calls the sound “surprisingly punchy” with “substantial bass, even at low volume.” The review notes that it delivers booming volume while maintaining clarity and balance, and that the sound holds up well outdoors.

If you want a loud, portable speaker that doubles as a charger and delivers superior sound despite its relatively compact size, the JBL Charge 6 speaker is your best bet, and at a record-low price, it’s worthy of your attention. Keep in mind that on Woot, shipping is free for Amazon Prime members and $6 for non-members, and products come with a limited 90-day warranty.

Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now
Deals are selected by our commerce team

from Lifehacker https://ift.tt/Fn3CYra

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Futurama has been one of the smartest and funniest TV shows for so long, it’s managed to get canceled and brought back several times. It’s easy to see why: Every single episode is jam-packed with jokes, and those jokes range from the incredibly stupid to jokes based on science that about four people in the world understand (and they all work in the Futurama writer’s room, apparently). Its bent vision of the future of the universe is always a delightfully deranged adventure, and if you’re looking to bring a little more of that vibe into your life (and you’ve already binged the hilarious TV shows in that category), you should absolutely watch Idiocracy immediately.

Why you should watch Idiocracy after Futurama

Idiocracy and Futurama share a fundamental premise: A man of average intelligence is frozen, wakes up in the far future, and has adventures. In Futurama, Philip J. Fry (Billy West) fits right in with the ludicrous sci-fi universe he finds himself in; but in Idiocracy, Soldier Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson) emerges from hibernation five centuries later to discover that humanity has regressed so drastically he is now the smartest man on Earth—by a long shot. And if you’re thinking that Futurama played around very specifically with that premise, you’d be right—in season 3, episode 7, “The Day the Earth Stood Stupid,” floating alien brains use a beam of energy to turn humanity stupid—but the beam doesn’t affect Fry, because—stay with me here—he is his own grandfather and thus lacks a crucial “delta wave” in his brain function, leaving him briefly the smartest human on the planet.

Idiocracy is more a tightly focused satire than Futurama, using its premise to mock modern problems and behaviors, but it’s very much on the same wavelength as the show. Just like the show, Idiocracy has loads of hilarious jokes about consumerism and how we’re all manipulated by advertising and marketing tricks, and the film is populated by the kinds of ridiculous characters fans of the show will recognize and love—like Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho (Terry Crews), the deeply stupid and incredibly violent President of the United States (whose hair is a character unto itself in this movie).

Like Fry often does, Joe finds himself responsible for saving the day despite being, well, pretty average in most ways. Exasperated by the dumbness all around him (this is a future America where the death penalty involves monster truck demolition derbies, the Supreme Court has been renamed the Extreme Court, and an energy drink called Brawndo is used for literally everything from medicine to crop irrigation), Joe plods along, doing his best, and (again, just like Fry) eventually scores a win.

For fans of Futurama, there’s no better choice for movie night. Rent Idiocracy on Prime Video.

More movies that fans of Futurama should watch

Need more to watch? The obvious choice would be the actual Futurama films that were released—Bender’s Big Score (2007), The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008), Bender's Game (2008), and Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009). You can find them on Hulu as part of their Futurama collection, but the movies have been cut into episode-length slices. You can also buy each movie individually on Prime Video.

But if you’ve already watched the Futurama movies (and you probably have), here are a few more movies that aren’t Futurama but offer a similarly wacky sci-fi experience.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

As a sci-fi series, Futurama has played around with actual time travel several times, so Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is the perfect movie for fans of the show. In San Dimas, California, in 1989, Bill Preston (Alex Winter) and Ted Logan (Keanu Reeves) are slacker high school students in danger of failing history—which would have dire consequences for the rather utopian future of humanity. A man named Rufus (George Carlin) is sent back in time to help by giving them access to a time machine—and hilarious shenanigans ensue. Stream Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure on Tubi or rent it on Prime Video.

Spaceballs (1987)

Futurama’s writers love a good movie parody—they’ve hit Willy Wonka, Armageddon, Animal House, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest among many others. So one of the best parodies of one of our most cherished sci-fi franchises is the perfect follow-up to the show. It’s a Mel Brooks joint, so obviously this send-up of all things Star Wars (original trilogy only) can lean into the juvenile side, but it remains a demented takedown of a foundational science fiction universe. Plus, the long-awaited sequel is due in 2027, so a refresher is in order. Stream Spaceballs on Fubo or rent it on Prime Video.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

In a lot of ways, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy crawled so Futurama could walk. While this film, based on Douglas Adams’ original book, isn’t as pop-culture focused as Futurama, it has the same spirit of dizzy sci-fi craziness, from poetry as a torture device to an Infinite Improbability Drive that warps and bends reality every time it’s used. There are bizarre aliens, smart observations about the nature of our existence, and a rumination on the fundamental importance of towels. Rent The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on Prime Video.

WALL-E (2008)

Futurama is funny, but it’s also very sweet-natured—Philip J. Fry may not be the brightest guy, but he means well, and the Planet Express crew almost always does the right thing. WALL-E has that same spirit while also hilariously lampooning modern life, giving us both an adorable, lonely robot marooned on an environmentally ruined Earth and a vision of humanity’s very fleshy, lazy, and kind of dumb future if we don’t change our ways. Stream WALL-E on Disney+ or rent it on Prime Video.

Megamind (2010)

If you love the rapid-fire gags in Futurama and enjoy the absurdity of wildly impractical technology, you’ll love Megamind. A parody of superhero stories, the film follows two alien babies who are sent ot Earth, Superman-style, when their worlds are destroyed. One becomes arch-villain Megamind (Will Ferrell), the other hero Metro Man (Brad Pitt), who battle each other until Megamind finally gets the drop on his rival, killing Metro Man—and deleting all meaning from his life in the process. With stuff like dehydration guns and realistic holographic disguises, Megamind riffs on sci-fi tropes in ways that Futurama fans will love. Stream Megamind on Peacock or rent it on Prime Video.


from Lifehacker https://ift.tt/VNPiJof

There are 8.3 billion people on this planet, and roughly an eighth of them use ChatGPT. OpenAI confirmed that its infamous AI chatbot now has over one billion weekly active users, a staggering number given that ChatGPT is only three and a half years old. (For reference, that's on par with global Windows users.) Love it or hate it, there's no denying that ChatGPT—and generative AI as a whole—is firmly a part of modern life.

While there are surely many paying ChatGPT customers, the vast majority are using it for free. Though it may be exciting for paid users to try out the company's latest and greatest models, the biggest impact happens whenever OpenAI makes features available free of charge. As it happens, next week, free users are getting perhaps the biggest ChatGPT update in years.

Free ChatGPT users are getting unlimited text chats

Starting next week, you'll no longer hit a wall when simply texting with ChatGPT. OpenAI says that both free and Go users now have unlimited text chats, which should mean you can send as many text-based messages as you want without running into cooldown periods. Of course, the emphasis here is on "texts." There are absolutely still limits on other ChatGPT features, including messages with files and images, as well as Voice mode and image generation. But for users who primarily use ChatGPT with text-based messages, this update should be more than welcome.

In addition, OpenAI is switching free and Go users to the company's new GPT-5.6 Luna model, which is designed for "cost-sensitive, high-volume workloads." As such, this model likely won't be as capable as OpenAI's more powerful models available to Pro users, but free users aren't totally left in the lurch: OpenAI says there's a new "Think" button that lets you push Luna further for more complex requests. The experience is much changed from the days when users could jump between different models for free, but perhaps the unlimited text chats will make up for it for most users.

ChatGPT Pro users are getting some new perks too

OpenAI says that Plus and Pro users are also getting some updates. The company says that its GPT-5.6 Sol model now delivers "more focused" responses, and may issue corrections instead of simply agreeing with the user when they're wrong. It also does away with some of the formatting we've come to expect from AI: Your answer may be more succinct in paragraph form, rather than expansive with bullet points. OpenAI says that Sol makes "fewer mistakes" too, but remember: all AI models hallucinate.

There's also a new slider to push the model from "Instant" to higher effort. The idea is to give users a sliding scale of power, rather than have them switch from distinct models. The more intense you push the model, the longer the responses may take, so OpenAI positions the slider as an option for users to tailor the model to their needs: If you need a quick answer, keep the slider towards the less intense side.


from Lifehacker https://ift.tt/TRI2q7X

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

I always feel tougher after running in the summer heat—until I look at my Garmin Forerunner and see it thinks my fitness has suddenly gotten worse. If you, too, watch your Garmin VO2max number slide down as the temperatures climb, you're not imagining it, and you're definitely not alone. Every summer, comment sections and Reddit threads fill up with people convinced their fitness is falling apart, or their expensive watch is broken, or generally panicking about a stat that's supposed to reflect their aerobic capacity. But there’s no need to panic. Your fitness almost certainly isn't going anywhere. What's actually happening is that your body is adapting to heat, and Garmin's algorithm is struggling to separate "hot weather effort" from "declining fitness."

Why it looks like your VO2max drops during the summer

VO2max estimates are built from your pace, heart rate, and effort during a run. In hot weather, your heart rate rises faster and stays higher for the same pace, because your body is diverting blood flow to your skin to help you cool down, and you're likely sweating more and dealing with some degree of dehydration. To Garmin's algorithm, a higher heart rate at a given pace looks like reduced efficiency, which it interprets as lower fitness. In reality, you're doing the same physical work; your cardiovascular system is just working harder to keep you cool at the same time.

This is why every year, so many runners see their VO2max estimate creep down every summer, only to bounce back once the weather cools off in the fall.

Some Garmin watches account for the heat

Newer Garmin models, including the Forerunner 970, do attempt to factor heat (and humidity) into the VO2max calculation, adjusting the estimate to account for the extra cardiovascular strain. Of the Forerunners, the 745, 945, 955, and 965 all have heat acclimation, along with the 245 and 255 with software updates. And if Garmin's numbering system confuses you, my colleague Beth Skwarecki has got you covered.

If you have one of these newer devices, you may notice the swings are less dramatic than what older models produce. Older Garmins generally don't make this adjustment, which is a big part of why the phenomenon is so widely discussed among long-time Garmin users.

How to fix your VO2max trend

If you understand what's happening and you're fine ignoring the number for a few months, that's my recommendation. Your training is still working, whatever Garmin’s algorithm seems to suggest. But if you'd rather stop the swings altogether, you do have a few practical options.

The most direct fix is to change your activity profile settings so that specific activities don't contribute to VO2 max at all. In the Garmin Connect app, you can go into an activity profile and turn off VO2max calculation for it entirely. A popular approach here is to let your road running profile keep contributing to VO2max, since road paces tend to be more consistent and comparable, while turning it off for trail running, where elevation, terrain, and effort variability already make VO2 max less reliable.

You can even take this a step further by creating a dedicated "hot run" activity profile. Simply copy your existing Run profile, rename it something like "Hot Run," and disable VO2max calculation on that copy. Then, on brutally hot or humid days, switch to that profile before you head out. Your run still gets logged normally with pace, heart rate, and all your usual data, but now it won't skew your overall VO2max trend.

Finally, if you really want to keep your VO2 max estimate clean and consistent year-round, you might have to stick to a treadmill in an air-conditioned gym. Controlled temperature and humidity mean your heart rate response will better reflect your actual fitness rather than heat strain, giving you a more stable number to track over time. However, in pursuit of a perfect number, you'll be sacrificing all the mental and physical gains that come from training in the heat. Don't let your VO2max cause you to lose the plot here.

The bottom line

A dropping VO2 max number in the summer is one of the most common false alarms in the running world. It's always troubling to see a fitness score drop, especially for Garmin fanatics like myself. But during the summer, your body is spending energy adapting to the heat, which is its own form of fitness. Whether you decide to ignore the dip, tweak your activity settings, or move your key efforts indoors, the most important thing is not to let a single algorithm-generated number convince you that months of hard training have suddenly vanished.


from Lifehacker https://ift.tt/lg8fYTh

As one of the biggest tech companies in the world, Google is putting its AI features and platforms into each and every one of its products. As such, it’s no surprise that its wildly popular navigation app, Google Maps, is getting the same treatment. While it's easy to use the app without encountering much AI, if you so choose, you can use Google’s latest AI features to find new restaurants, accommodations, or hot spots in your area. And now, Google is boasting that it is launching new "agentic" features that will even allow the app to order food for you—sort of.

Ask Maps gets an agentic upgrade

Back in March, the company rolled out “Ask Maps,” a chatbot-like interface in Google Maps that taps into Gemini to help you find relevant places on the map. For example, Google says you can “Ask Maps” to find you a restaurant with availability for six at a specific date and time, keeping in mind strict dietary requirements. It’s about what you’d expect from the combination of Gemini and Google Maps: You “chat” with the map to find what you need. 

Now, Google is expanding on these features, introducing new agentic options to reduce the work you actually have to do to pick up lunch (if not by all that much). Starting today, Google says Ask Maps can handle “complex, multi-step tasks," including functions it can handle on your behalf, and the flagship feature is ordering food for you—or, at least, starting an order.

Ask Maps can't actually order food for you

Google says you can launch Ask Maps and type something like “order spicy pad kee mao with seafood for me to pick up on my way home." While you might think such a feature would handle the entire request for you, Ask Maps doesn't quite get there. It will, according to Google, look for open restaurants on your route home, and it can even take into consideration your previous orders and dietary needs. But once it floats options, you still need to choose the restaurant you want to order from. Once you do, the agentic features kick in: Google says that Ask Maps will remember your original request and will begin adding the appropriate items to your cart through services like Square and Toast (with Uber Eats support coming soon). However, Ask Maps won't actually order the food for you. You still need to manually review what's been placed in your cart and approve the order before the restaurant will receive it.

Other agentic features in Ask Maps

As part of this Ask Maps update, you can also ask about hotels and local events. Google suggests asking the feature something like “For next week’s conference in downtown Miami, find me a decently priced, top-rated hotel with an artsy vibe, within walking distance from a gym and restaurants.” That's certainly a complex request, and, according to Google, Ask Maps will be able to compare prices and availability to find an appropriate hotel. The same goes for things like concerts and comedy shows: Ask Maps will surface results based on your request, but you'll need to click through to actually buy tickets yourself.

This isn't yet the agentic future we were promised

I don't have these options on my Google Maps app yet, so I can't personally attest to how well they work, but I'm not sure I'm seeing the vision here. Companies like Google have been promising that agentic features will save us time and rescue us from having to perform tedious or menial tasks. And while this feature does save the 30 seconds or so it takes to building a restaurant order, that's about all it does. Not only do you still have to intervene in multiple aspects of the process (including the actual ordering of the food), it seems like the whole ordeal takes longer than it should. In my view, heading to the restaurant's site, building the order myself, then placing the order (as I'd have to do anyway) is likely more efficient than asking Google's AI to find a restaurant with a specific dish, have it build the order, then have me review it.

Maybe I'll feel differently once I can try it out, and maybe this is just one step into a future where you really can have Google Maps complete a whole order for you. But I'm not sure I'd ever want it to, especially when dealing with ordering multiple items for various people with potential dietary restrictions. Not only would it likely be faster to do it myself, but I'm not sure I'd trust an AI with all those complications. The last thing anyone needs is for an AI to hallucinate and forget to order something with an allergy label.

Other new Ask Maps features

This update also incorporates Google's "Personal Intelligence," which pulls info from your various Google apps to return more personalized results. As such, you could Ask Maps to find you things to do before your afternoon flight. Google Maps should be able to access Gmail and Google Calendar, where it should find that flight's time and location, in order to fulfill your request with more individualized results than a simple search would. This feature is off by default.

There's also a new live data widget for transit instructions, so you can keep tabs on public transit information in real time. You can also suggest Google Maps edits conversationally through Ask Maps, including adding photo attachments.


from Lifehacker https://ift.tt/AOndEhW

If you use iCloud Private Relay, Apple's paid IP address masking service, your internet browsing activity may not actually be private. As 404 Media reports, flaws in Apple’s web browser engine allow IP addresses to be revealed, either maliciously or incidentally, even when they're supposed to be hidden.

How Private Relay is exposing IP addresses

iCloud Private Relay, which is part of Apple's iCloud+ subscription, is supposed to keep both who you are and what sites you visit hidden when you are browsing in Safari. Without it, your network provider and the websites you view can see your IP address and DNS records, which can be used to track your location and browsing history over time. Private Relay is supposed to encrypt DNS records and generate a temporary IP address, keeping any single party, including Apple, from obtaining both.

The issue, discovered by security researchers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk, is related to how passkeys work. Web requests are made outside of the browser and the protections of Private Relay, meaning that websites that support passkeys can see users' real IP addresses. Obviously, this impacts Safari traffic, but researchers found the issue in Onion Browser, an iOS app that encrypts traffic through the Tor network. Both 404 Media and TechCrunch verified the issue in their own tests.

The researchers stated that they informed Apple but haven't been given a timeline for when the vulnerability will be addressed. Apple is generally pretty good on privacy issues, but this isn't the first to arise in recent months. In July, "Hide My Email," the company's email masking service, was revealed to have a vulnerability that actually exposed users' real email addresses. Apple reportedly knew about it for over a year and claimed to have patched it—but it hadn't.

While Private Relay can be a useful privacy tool—if it works as intended—it's not a true VPN (Virtual Private Network) because it only provides protection when browsing in Safari. If you want to keep your IP address hidden and your data encrypted across all apps and browsers on your device, you may want to consider a separate VPN service.


from Lifehacker https://ift.tt/CpL0ynr

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

As much as Hollywood has been wringing its hands over franchise fatigue, consider this: In July, a Spider-Man movie made $168 million at the box office in one day, and the top streaming series was a Game of Thrones spinoff.

Fortunately, if you are hungering for something original, you can still catch innovative comedy series like The Bear and Widow's Bay, or tense thrillers like FROM and Cape Fear (well, OK, that last one is a remake of a 1990 Martin Scorsese movie that was a remake of a 1962 Gregory Peck movie that was an adaptation of a book, but the point stands). Here are all of July's most-watched series, according to data from streaming information repository JustWatch.

House of the Dragon

Seems we still aren't sick of dragons and incomprehensible political intrigue: The third season of House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel based on a fake history tome by George R.R. Martin, came roaring back to the top of the streaming charts. With the season finale landing this weekend, fantasy fans will have to wait until the arrival of season two of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms for their next Westeros fix. You can stream House of the Dragon on HBO Max.

Silo

Another book adaptation returning for a third season, Apple TV's Silo continues to track the downward spiral of the dregs of humanity, living together underground in a cavernous edifice that goes all the way down. If you've been wondering how things got so bad, this season goes back in time to reveal the source of humanity's downfall. (Unsurprisingly, humans are to blame.) You can stream Silo on Apple TV.

The Bear

Across four seasons, we've watched neurotic chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) flame out as an elite chef, return to his humble beginnings in his family's Chicago sandwich shop, try to turn said sandwich shop into a fine dining establishment, experience ups and downs in his business and personal life, and finally, at the end of season four, quit the food industry altogether. Taking place mostly over the course of a single day, the fifth and final season explores the immediate aftermath of that monumental decision—on Carmy, and the rest of the restaurant's partners and kitchen staff. It's a fitting goodbye for one of the most lauded TV series ever. You can stream the final season of The Bear on Hulu.

Widow's Bay

This series from Apple TV has won nearly unanimous praise from both critics and audiences. It's a rare horror-comedy that manages to be genuinely scary and really funny. In the island town of Widow's Bay, literally everything is haunted, cursed, and otherwise beset with unspeakable evil, but Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) still really wants to bring tourism to the island. Mayor Tom is so married to his vision of Widow's Bay as the next Martha's Vineyard, he ignores the sea hags, fog monsters, and serial-killer ghosts surrounding him. The great Stephen Root plays Wyck, an old-timer who's always there to remind everyone that time is short and everyone is doomed. You can stream Widow's Bay on Apple TV+.

Lucky

Based on the bestselling novel by Marissa Stapley, Apple TV's latest hit stars Anya Taylor-Joy as the titular con artist. Her name proves to be a tad ironic after her latest job goes wrong and she finds herself the prime target of both the cops and the dangerous crime boss—who also happens to be her mother-in-law. Annette Bening is clearly having a grand time playing the ruthless Priscilla Masterson, who blames Lucky for the loss of $10 million she and Priscilla's son Cary (Drew Masterson) stole—never mind that Cary eventually ran away with it. With a supporting cast that includes Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Timothy Olyphant, it's a fast-moving thriller with a sense of humor and an irresistible lead character. You can stream Lucky on Apple TV.

Ride or Die

This London-set series stars the ultimate odd couple. Octavia Spencer plays Debbie, the American wife of a British politician, and Hannah Waddingham plays her good friend Judith, who happens to be a master assassin. After a hit gone wrong, Judith must go on the run to stay ahead of another assassin working against her, and to avoid running afoul of the ruthless agency (literally called The Agency) that employs her. Obviously, Debbie gets pulled along for the ride. It's a fast, tense, and funny thriller series. You can stream Ride or Die on Prime Video.

I Will Find You

Like Max Cady in Cape Fear, the main character in I Will Find You has been imprisoned for a murder he did not commit. But unlike Max Cady, David Burroughs (Sam Worthington) doesn't set out to murder his lawyer. He was accused of killing his own son, and when he sees evidence that the boy is alive, he escapes prison to find his child. It's a modern take on The Fugitive: with the authorities on his trail, David must unravel a twisting conspiracy to clear his name and bring his child home. I Will Find You is a perfect summertime thriller. You can stream I Will Find You on Netflix.

FROM

The residents of the unnamed town at the center of FROM cannot catch a break. If it's not worms crawling around under their skin, it's the mysterious Man in Yellow stealing people's souls. Season four of this mystery-heavy show from the executive producers of Lost sees the survivors pushed to their limits as the veil between the strange town and the real world gets thinner. You can stream FROM on MGM+.

Cape Fear

Executive-produced by Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, Cape Fear is a 10-episode reimagining of a classic novel that has previously been adapted into two celebrated films. In this extended version, Amy Adams plays Anna Bowden, a defense attorney who unsuccessfully defended murder suspect Max Cady 17 years previously. Turns out he wasn't guilty, and Cady has had nearly two decades to plan his revenge against the woman he blames for putting him behind bars. Javier Bardem brings unsettling energy to the role of Cady, previously played by Robert Mitchum, Robert De Niro, and Sideshow Bob. If you like slow-burn suspense that gradually ratchets up tension, you'll like Cape Fear. You can stream Cape Fear on Apple TV+.

The Agency

The spy thriller returns for its second season. Michael Fassbender plays Brandon Colby (code name Martian), a former CIA field agent who now runs operations for London Station, the agency's home office in the U.K. This season, the spy action grows more intricate, as Martian works to clear the name of his lover (Jodie Turner-Smith) while also going head-to-head with a possible double agent within the Agency's own ranks. You can stream The Agency on Paramount+ With Showtime.


from Lifehacker https://ift.tt/2sMl8EU