Pixel Watch updates its ‘always on’ display for media controls and timers | Mashable

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Google’s Pixel watches are rolling out an improved always-on display.

Tech site 9to5Google spotted that with Wear OS 6, the Pixel Watch has added always-on capabilities for media controls (such as controlling your music) as well as the timer app. Previously, these sorts of tools would blur after a certain amount of time. Now, they remain on the screen, with the display having been slightly changed from its previous iteration.

That could mark a major improvement for people who use their watch to, say, time a workout or track what they’re cooking. Mashable named the Google Pixel Watch 4 the best Android smartwatch of 2025 — so it’s an improvement on an already good product. Tech Editor Timothy Beck Werth wrote it was “elegant enough to wear to the office, but comfortable and smart enough to monitor workouts.” Senior reporter Christianna Silva, meanwhile, wrote in their review that the “Pixel Watch 4 is a true runners’ watch, and it’s gorgeous too.”

Read More

7 tips to get the best sound quality out of your Samsung TV | Mashable

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Samsung is undoubtedly one of the best TV brands out there. It sells a variety of budget, mid-range, and luxury models that deliver excellent performance across multiple verticals. These include design, low-latency gaming, picture quality, and smart home integration. One area that doesn’t receive much attention is sound.

The average consumer will be satisfied with their TV’s default sound settings. Those who value detail and nuance — not so much. Don’t get me wrong now. Samsung TVs are fine for enjoying music performances, movies, and video games. But many critics agree that their sound quality could be improved. Well, let’s change that.

Whether you already own a Samsung TV or plan to buy one, know that you can tweak the audio output on these devices for optimal listening. Numerous upscaling sound features are sitting on the backend waiting to be discovered. You just need to know what they are and where to find them. We assembled this guide to help you get started.

Read More

When it makes sense to help your adult kids financially — and when it doesn’t | CNN Business

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Spending the holidays with your adult children and the grandkids?

If so, their futures may be on your mind, especially if you sense – or they just flat-out say – they’re not flush enough to buy a home, put their own kids through school, or pay off big debts they’ve acquired.

As a parent, you may wonder if you should help them or if it makes more sense to stay out of it and leave them money after you die, if that’s an option.

To figure out what is right for you, here are four questions to consider:

Read More

Airbus finds another issue affecting its best-selling A320 passenger planes | CNN Business

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Airbus has identified an issue affecting “a limited number” of metal panels in its A320 passenger planes, a spokesperson for the company said Monday, just days after warning of another technical problem in its aircraft.

The plane manufacturer is inspecting all aircraft that are potentially impacted by what it calls a “supplier quality issue,” but expects that only some of them will require further action to be taken, the spokesperson told CNN.

“The source of the (metal panels) issue has been identified, contained, and all newly produced panels conform to all requirements,” the spokesperson said, noting that the number of planes in service affected by the problem is “very limited.”

Read More

Are biodegradable plastics really worth the hype? | Live Science

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

We constantly see images of unsightly plastic pollution — rivers clogged with floating rafts of debris so dense you can’t see the water, beaches piled with plastic trash rendering them unfit for even walking on, plastic bags fluttering from roadside vegetation. Aesthetics alone make a compelling case that something must be done.

But unsightliness is the least of many problems with plastic pollution.

In a paper published July 2025 in the journal Nature, scientists presented an inventory of 16,325 known plastic chemicals and identified more than 4,200 as chemicals of concern — meaning they’re toxic, do not naturally break down in the environment, or accumulate in organisms. Released throughout the plastic life cycle, these chemicals constantly expose people and environments, often with serious consequences.

Read More

An extra solar system planet once orbited next to Earth — and it may be the reason we have a moon | Live Science

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The catastrophic collision that forged the moon, and marked one of the most consequential events in Earth’s early history, may have been triggered not by a distant interloper, but by a sibling world that grew up right next door, according to a new study.

About 4.5 billion years ago, a Mars-size world slammed into the young Earth with such tremendous force that it melted huge swaths of our planet’s mantle and blasted a disk of molten debris into orbit. That wreckage eventually clumped together to form the moon we know today. Scientists have long favored this “giant impact” origin story, but where the long-lost world, nicknamed Theia, came from and what it was made of remain a mystery.

Read More

Businesses Are Collecting Data. How Are They Using It? | Business News Daily

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Modern businesses run on data. Companies regularly capture, store, and analyze large amounts of quantitative and qualitative data on consumer behavior, to which they can apply predictive analytics to make better strategic decisions. Some companies have built an entire business model around consumer data, whether they sell personal information to a third party or create targeted ads to promote their products and services. Here’s a look at some of the ways companies capture consumer data, what they do with that information, and how you can use the same techniques for your own business purposes.

Types of consumer data businesses collect

The consumer data that businesses collect break down into four categories:

  1. Personal data. This category includes personally identifiable information such as Social Security numbers, date of birth, and gender, as well as non-personally identifiable information like browser fingerprints, IP addresses, web browser cookies, and device IDs (which both your laptop and mobile device have).
  2. Engagement data. This type of data details how consumers interact with a business’s website, mobile apps, text messages, social media pages, emails, paid ads, and customer service routes.
  3. Behavioral data. This category encompasses transactional details such as purchase histories, browsing patterns, product usage information (e.g., repeated actions), session recordings, and qualitative data (e.g., mouse movement information and heat mapping).
  4. Attitudinal data. This data type includes metrics on customer satisfaction, purchase criteria, product desirability, brand perception, and customer feedback scores.

Read More

Direct Costs vs. Indirect Costs: What’s the Difference? | Business News Daily

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As the owner of a startup or small business, understanding the distinction between direct and indirect costs is essential when pricing your products or services. When you know the true costs involved in producing and providing your goods or services, you can price them competitively and accurately. Additionally, many costs are tax-deductible according to current IRS guidance, so properly tracking both direct and indirect costs can help maximize your deductions.

What are direct costs?

Direct costs are expenses that a company can easily trace to a specific “cost object,” which may be a product, department, or project. Examples include software, equipment, and raw materials. Direct labor is also included, as long as it relates to a product, department, or project.

For example, when an employee is hired for a project either exclusively or for a set number of hours, their labor is a direct cost. If your company develops software and needs specific assets, such as purchased frameworks or development applications, those are direct costs.

Read More

Labor Department cancels full October jobs report over shutdown | Fast Company

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The Labor Department said Wednesday that it will not be releasing a full jobs report for October because the 43-day federal government shutdown meant it couldn’t calculate the unemployment rate and some other key numbers.

Instead, it will release some of the October jobs data—most importantly, the number of jobs that employers created last month—along with the full November jobs report, now due a couple of weeks late on December 16.

The department’s “employment situation” report usually comes out on the first Friday of the month. But the government shutdown disrupted data collection and delayed the release of the reports. For example, the September jobs report, now coming out Thursday, was originally due October 3.

Read More

Nvidia forecasts fourth-quarter revenue above estimates | Fast Company

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Nvidia forecast fourth-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, betting on booming demand for its AI chips from cloud providers against the backdrop of widespread concerns of an artificial intelligence bubble.

The results from the AI chip leader mark a defining moment for Wall Street, as global markets looked to the chip designer to determine if investing billions of dollars in AI infrastructure expansion had resulted in towering valuations that potentially outpaced fundamentals.

The world’s most valuable company expects fiscal fourth-quarter sales of $65 billion, plus or minus 2%, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $61.66 billion, according to data compiled by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).

Read More