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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query what. Sort by date Show all posts

IMDb's New App Helps You Decide What To Watch


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IMDb's New App Helps You Decide What to Watch


IMDb's New App Helps You Decide What to Watch

Tired from a long day? Want to relax on the couch in front of the TV, but don't want to endlessly scroll through shows to find something to watch? IMDb has an app for that. What To Watch is a new, free app meant to help Fire TV users decide -- you guessed it -- what to watch.

The app uses a series of mini games to help make that decision fun instead of stressful. Once you've finished a game, the app generates a list of recommendations, along with IMDb user ratings and runtimes for each title, to help you decide.

You can play Quick Draw, a game that shuffles through virtual "playing cards" with TV series and movie options. Or you can play This or That, where you'll answer questions to help narrow down recommendations. IMDb plans to launch more mini games in the app, too.

"The new IMDb What to Watch app for Fire TV makes it easy, fun, and fast for customers to discover trending titles and hidden gems," Nikki Santoro, IMDb chief operating officer said in a release on Thursday. 

imdb-mini-games

Some of the mini games available through the What to Watch app.

IMDb

IMDb, which is owned by Amazon, recently rebranded its IMDb TV streaming service as Amazon Freevee. The streaming service plans to add 70% more original content this year to its platform. 

"Customers are increasingly shifting to streaming ad-supported premium content, and we have developed Freevee to deliver them highly sought content with half the commercials of traditional TV," Freevee director Ashraf Alkarmi said.


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What Happened At Zillow? How A Prized Real Estate Site Lost At IBuying


What happened at Zillow? How a prized real estate site lost at iBuying


What happened at Zillow? How a prized real estate site lost at iBuying

Zillow, the popular online real estate marketplace and daydream fuel throughout the pandemic, is having a tough time. 

The company turned heads earlier this month when it announced it would be shutting down Zillow Offers, the algorithm-fueled home-flipping arm of its company. It also said it would try to offload more than 7,000 homes and exit the iBuying -- or "instant buying" -- business completely. That's $2.8 billion worth of homes. 

The announcement came as a major surprise, especially given the scale of Zillow's massive investments in its iBuying efforts in recent years. Its exit was precipitated by a series of missteps, including an overbuying fiasco that resulted in a glut of overpriced inventory. 

Now, according to an Insider analysis, more than half of the homes Zillow owns are listed for prices below what the company paid for them. In Phoenix, 93% percent of the homes Zillow purchased are listed for less than the original purchase price, and in Dallas, 81% are less. 

What is iBuying anyway?

To do iBuying, tech companies rely on algorithms to determine if it would be profitable to purchase a home to then resell. Using specific data -- the home's age, condition and ZIP code -- algorithms can predict which homes will rise in value, allowing the tech company to get into an emerging market early. Think of it like large-scale, automated home-flipping. 

If you're a homeowner, there may be a benefit to using an iBuyer to sell your home. For one, the process is streamlined over the traditional method: You don't have the stress of dealing with a real estate agent, showings or the uncertainty of the market. You'll get an immediate all-cash offer based simply on the algorithm's assessment of your home's data, though the tradeoff is a smaller profit margin. 

What went wrong at Zillow?

As an iBuyer, Zillow relied on these computer calculations to buy houses in decent condition on the cheap, spend minimal capital fixing them up and quickly resell them for a profit. Sound too good to be true? For Zillow, it was. The company ended up making thousands of above-market offers to homeowners. 

Zillow attributed the mishap to its technology, blaming its iBuying algorithms -- called "Zestimates" -- for inaccurately predicting the values of homes. Given surging prices and high real estate volatility in the last 18 months, it was a tricky undertaking in the first place. 

As homes appreciated at a rapid pace during the COVID-19 pandemic, Zillow's iBuying algorithms consistently and significantly underestimated market changes. That's what eventually led the company to shut down its instant-buying business for good. The real estate giant is set to lose an estimated $380 million on Zillow Offers, according to the LA Times.

"The challenge we faced in Zillow Offers was the ability to accurately forecast the future price of inventory three to six months out, in a market where there were larger and more rapid changes in home values than ever before," said Viet Shelton, a spokesperson for the company.

The company also said it will write off $569 million worth of homes and lay off 25% of its staff. Though the future is unclear for some of Zillow's languishing inventory across the country, there's reason to believe that institutional investors could win out in snatching it up. The company has agreed to sell 2,000 units to New York City-based investment firm Pretium Partners.

Zillow has said it intends to honor all existing deals for homes under contract. 

What do Zillow's problems mean for iBuying? 

Other competitors seem to have figured out the iBuying formula's secret sauce and are going strong. Two of Zillow's rivals, Opendoor and Offerpad, both posted new revenue highs for the third quarter, though neither company is profitable yet. Private equity firms like Blackrock have made headlines for their investments in instant buying. 

Though Zillow is no longer in the game, iBuying seems to be here to stay. 


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What The Future Of Health Looks Like For Apple


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What the Future of Health Looks Like for Apple


What the Future of Health Looks Like for Apple

Apple's Health app keeps evolving, with aspirations to be a complete combination personal data archive, medical liaison and insight engine. But the goals, while ambitious, aren't fully realized yet. iOS 16 and WatchOS 9 are adding medication management and multistage sleep tracking to a growing list of features. But what comes next, and will it start to become a tool that interfaces with doctors even more than it has?

Apple just published a multipage health report (PDF), which aims to detail where the company sees its health focus heading on the iPhone and the Apple Watch. The report covers the app, research studies and initiatives with medical organizations.

As Google prepares to release a Pixel Watch that will connect to Fitbit's features and services, Apple looks to be strengthening its position by expanding beyond the watch to a larger spectrum of health services. Already, Apple Health and Fitness Plus are evolving into services you don't need an Apple Watch to use.

When will Health start to become an extension of how I connect with my own doctors? Will sleep tracking offer a doorway to other health insights? And why doesn't Apple have its own equivalent of the "readiness score" used by Fitbit and Oura?

Apple's vice president of health, Dr. Sumbul Desai, spoke with CNET about the goals of Apple Health and where goals are being set next. She sees the blend of lifestyle with clinical data, medication data and an increasing number of metrics in one place as helping future insights in other health measurements over time. 

"You have to do it in a really thoughtful and meaningful way," Desai said. "Because there are also correlations you can make that are incorrect. That's where the work is, making sure that when you make those connections that they are correct, grounded in the science and make sense to the user."

Apple's Medication tracker on the iPhone and Apple Watch.

Medication tracking on iOS 16 looks like another step to bring medical histories onto Health.

Apple

Where does Apple Health meet your doctor?

As I've found over the last few months, over several surgeries and doctor visits, my own medical care doesn't often connect with my wearable and phone apps. Apple's been aiming to make strides to connect Apple Health with medical providers, but the framework isn't fully there yet for digital health platforms. A lot of Apple's promised benefits are in identifying long-term data patterns and insights.

"I do think how they interact with each other is really important," said Desai, who points to the new tracking of atrial fibrillation patterns over time in Watch OS 9. "We are actually taking how much time you're in AFib and correlating it to your lifestyle. How much you're sleeping. How much you're moving, you'll see the changes in AFib. If you're using Mindful Minutes, do you see a change."

Apple has tried making data sharing easier with doctors, but right now it still doesn't go far enough. At the medical group where I'm a patient, for instance, there's no obvious way to share the data I'm collecting in Apple Health through the patient portal.

Sleep tracking on the iPhone and Apple Watch

Sleep tracking is gaining sleep stages in WatchOS 9. Will that bring a wave of other health insights down the road?

Apple

Sleep as the next frontier?

Apple's addition of sleep stage-based sleep tracking in the upcoming Watch OS 9 looks to close the gap on other fitness trackers like those from Fitbit, Samsung and Oura. Apple's been pulling new features for the Apple Watch from work in some of the company's ongoing heart research studies, and sleep could end up being a place that evolves next.

"What I'm really excited to learn from a scientific standpoint is, does the amount of sleep that you're getting in certain stages, like core [replenishing sleep], does that actually translate to benefit during the day when you're moving?" Desai said. "Are there certain phenotypes of certain people who have more benefit versus others? There's so much to tackle from a research standpoint there. We would never put anything out until we knew we kind of had some scientific grounding. The whole causation-correlation thing can get very tricky."

Desai suggested future research combining sleep stage data with Apple's ongoing heart and move data from its ongoing study will possibly provide more insights, "but we're still a ways away from that."

Could Apple ever develop its own readiness score?

One thing Apple's evolving and elaborate set of Health insights currently doesn't have is any sort of attempt at a distilled score, or personal health rating. Fitbit, Oura, and a number of other wearables have daily personal scores derived from a variety of individual metrics. I asked Desai whether Apple might pursue a similar idea anytime soon. While it sounds like a direction Apple Health could head in, it also seems like Apple is still trying to lock down the best path to get there.

"It's a really good question. I think the answer is, to be honest, is we don't have a firm POV yet," Desai said. "We want to understand the science behind that, and what can we understand and glean from a scientific standpoint."

Desai suggests that the health measurements, and their meanings, can vary. "HRV [heart rate variability] is a great metric. I'm super fascinated by HRV. But HRV can be changed based on multiple reasons." She suggested that Apple's eventual evolution of its insights will need to come with clear guidance, too.

"I think for us, we want to be able to provide actionable information. So to understand to do that, you actually have to be able to draw it back to, what we think is actually causing that? We are really trying to understand the science behind all of these different metrics and focus on how we provide insights that we know we can back up."

On whether Apple Health could come to other non-Apple devices

Apple's aiming for Health to be a comprehensive, secure system for anyone to use, but it still flows through Apple hardware, which means a portion of the population will always be left out. I asked Desai whether Apple Health might ever be available beyond iPhones.

"We're always looking at ways to support the ecosystem. We just want to make sure we can support that in a private and secure way. That's fundamentally what drives our decision making," Desai said. "We have a ton of things in the App Store ecosystem that are super interesting that people are doing, and we're very supportive of supporting that work.

"Honestly, we make a lot of decisions driven by privacy. And there's a lot of things we choose not to do and choose to do, based upon that."

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.


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What Determines Hydrangea Bloom Color? An Expert Breaks Down The Science


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What Determines Hydrangea Bloom Color? An Expert Breaks Down the Science


What Determines Hydrangea Bloom Color? An Expert Breaks Down the Science

This story is part of Home Tips, CNET's collection of practical advice for getting the most out of your home, inside and out.

Growing up in Eastern North Carolina, the cloud-like blooms of hydrangea shrubs became synonymous with the spring and summer months. I have vivid memories of driving around my neighborhood and seeing the vibrant pink, white and lilac blooms in almost every front lawn. 

My family even had a few bushes in the back lawn where the hydrangeas could enjoy a lot of direct sunlight with pockets of shades scattered throughout the day. And while I loved the soft pink blooms on our hydrangeas, my mom would remark how they never bloomed bright blue like she intended them to.

This is a common mistake made by novice and seasoned gardeners alike. You probably assume that the blooms will surely look the same planted in your yard as they did at the nursery, right? Well, not necessarily when it comes to hydrangeas. There's a particularly scientific explanation as to why your hydrangeas might not achieve the color you want. 

To get the lowdown on hydrangea colors, I spoke to expert Mal Condon, curator of hydrangeas at Heritage Museums and Gardens -- or more aptly known as "the Hydrangea Guy" -- to find out what make hydrangeas change color and get a few tips on how to actually get the color bloom you want. 

Read also: This Sweet Flower Is a Secret Garden Killer. Here's How to Get Rid Of It

What colors are possible?

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Hydrangea blooms come in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes. While the most common colors are pink, blue and purple, hydrangea blooms can also be red, white and green. 

Over his 50 years of working with hydrangeas, Condon gets asked all the time about why hydrangeas aren't blooming in the colors intended. Here's what he has to say. 

What changes the colors?

While you might desire a specific color hydrangea -- a raspberry red or a brilliant blue -- it actually isn't up to you. Condon said it depends on the makeup of the soil. Specifically, it depends on the aluminum available in the soil. 

Many resources will say the hydrangea colors depend on soil pH, which isn't quite true. 

"Many talk about pH, and that is important, but the first requirement in the soil is you have to have aluminum," Condon said. "It's a strange thing because aluminum is toxic to most plants, but hydrangeas, particularly the macrophyllas and serratas, tolerate a small amount of it and that's what gives us blue." 

Hydrangeas act as a sort of mood ring to tell you the soil conditions of your garden. Generally speaking, more aluminum will give you blue blooms, while soil with little to no aluminum will bloom more pink or red. Condon explains that to achieve blue blooms, you must have soil that is decidedly more acidic with a pH lower than 5.5. 

Alkaline soil -- with a pH of 7.0 or above -- generates pink and red blooms, while white hydrangeas will bloom in soils with a neutral pH between 6.0 and 6.2.

Can you change the color of your hydrangea?

Hydrangeas are unique in that, unlike most other plant or flower varieties, the color of their blooms can change with a little chemistry. 

The easiest way to acidify your soil and turn those blooms blue is with aluminum sulfate, which can be found at almost any garden center. Condon explained the best way to add aluminum sulfate to soil is to apply it as a drench, using a watering can with one tablespoon per one gallon of water. 

"The reason to do this is because you can subject the plant to over-acidification," Condon said. "If we gave it dry aluminum sulfate or sulfur -- another good acidifier -- you can deter the plant's growth process, even kill the plant." 

To get pink blooms, you can apply a high-phosphorus fertilizer to discourage the uptake of aluminum, or Garden Lime, an all-natural plant supplement formulated to raise pH in soils to turn hydrangeas more pink. 

Condon did say the best practice when altering hydrangea color is to be patient -- don't be overzealous. He recommends adding materials to the soil only twice a year. "It's not something you want to go nuts about," he said. 

For more hydrangea information, you can check out Condon's hydrangea care tips here. 

More hacks for your yard and garden


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What Is Home Equity?


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What Is Home Equity?


Most homeowners now have more equity in their homes than they did two years ago, thanks to surging home values during the pandemic. That means right now is a good time to consider tapping into your home equity if you're looking to borrow money at a lower interest rate than you might get with other types of loans such as personal loans. Home equity is the difference between what you owe on your mortgage and the current market value of your home.

You build equity in your home by consistently making mortgage payments over the years. Equity is valuable because it allows you to borrow money against your home at lower interest rates than other types of financing. Once you have enough equity built up in your home, lenders and banks will allow you to borrow against it. Some of the most common reasons to borrow against your equity are to pay for life expenses such as home improvements, higher education costs such as tuition, or to pay off high-interest credit card debt.

Most lenders want to see that you've built up at least 15% to 20% in equity in order to let you borrow money against your house in the form of refinancing or other kinds of home equity loans. One of the simplest ways to ensure you have a good chunk of equity in your home is to make a large down payment if you are able to. 

For a typical homeowner with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, building up 15% to 20% usually takes about 5 to 10 years. Even if you paid less for your home when you bought it years ago, your equity is based on the present-day value of your house. If, for example, your home is currently worth $500,000 and you have $400,000 left to pay on your mortgage, you would have $100,000 of equity in your home.

Here's what you need to know about home equity, what it is, how to calculate it and why it's important to homeowners. 

How do you calculate home equity?

To calculate your home equity, simply subtract your remaining mortgage balance from the current market value of your home. So if you owe $400,000 on your mortgage and your house is worth $500,000, you have $100,000, or 20% equity in your home. You may need to work with an appraiser or real estate agent in order to get an accurate evaluation of your home's fair market value, especially since home values have risen by record-breaking amounts since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Ways to borrow against home equity 

There are various ways to access the equity in your home. Some of the most common equity financing options are home equity loans, home equity lines of credit (or HELOCs) and reverse mortgages. It's important, however, to keep in mind that all of these options require you to put up your home as collateral to secure the loan, so it's critical to understand that there's a risk of losing your home to foreclosure if you miss payments or default on your loan for any reason. 

Home equity loan

A home equity loan lets you borrow money against the equity you've built in your home and provides you with a lump sum of cash at a fixed interest rate. Lenders typically want to see that you have at least 15% to 20% in your home to approve you for a home equity loan. A home equity loan doesn't replace your mortgage like a refinance, rather, it's an entirely new loan that you'll repay monthly along with your existing mortgage payment. But just like a mortgage, with a home equity loan, your interest rate never changes and your monthly payments are fixed, too.

HELOCs

A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is a type of loan that lets you borrow against the equity you've built up in your home and functions like a credit card. It provides you with an open line of credit that you can access for a certain amount of time, typically 10 years, followed by a set repayment period, which is usually 20 years. Lenders also generally want you to have at least 15% to 20% in your home for HELOC approval. With a HELOC, you don't have to take all of your funds out at once, and you can withdraw money repeatedly from your HELOC over the 10-year period, once previously borrowed sums are paid back.

"A HELOC offers more flexibility than a home equity loan -- you can't withdraw money from a home equity loan like you can with a HELOC, and a HELOC allows you to receive replenished funds as you pay your outstanding balance," said Robert Heck, VP of Mortgage at Morty, an online mortgage marketplace.

HELOCs have variable interest rates however, so it's important to make sure you can afford higher monthly payments if your rate goes up once your introductory interest rate expires, especially in the current economic climate. 

Reverse mortgage  

You must be 62 years or older to access a reverse mortgage and have either paid off your home or have significant equity accumulated, usually at least 50%. With a reverse mortgage, you do not have to make monthly mortgage payments and the bank or lender actually makes payments to you. You must still pay your property taxes and homeowners insurance and continue to live in the house, however. A reverse mortgage allows you to access the equity in your home and not pay back the funds for an extended period of time while using them for other expenses during retirement. It's important to keep in mind that you are building a mortgage balance back up as you borrow against your equity, and your estate will eventually have to pay off your loan. A common way to repay this loan is to sell your house. 

The bottom line

Unlocking the equity in your home can be a valuable way to access financing to cover other life expenses. It's important to understand the differences between the kinds of equity loans available to secure the best one for your particular financial situation. When comparing ways to access equity, always take into account the interest rate, additional lender costs and fees, and the size of the loan and how it will be disbursed to you, as well as the amount of time you have to pay it back, before you enter into an agreement to borrow against the equity in your home. 


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Windows 11 Looks A Little Different. Here's What's Changing


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Windows 11 looks a little different. Here's what's changing


Windows 11 looks a little different. Here's what's changing

Windows 11 is the next version of Microsoft's operating system, and it comes with a brand new design and some updated features. The company unveiled the new PC-powering software at a virtual event last week (here's everything Microsoft announced). The Windows 11 beta download will be here in July, but for right now, the new operating system is only available as an Insider Preview build -- here's how to download it.

Windows 11 features a streamlined new design, with pastel-like colors and rounded corners, and overall a more Mac-like look. The Windows Start menu has moved from the bottom left of the screen to the middle, with app icons arranged in the center next to it. You'll also find widgets that give you information on the weather, stocks, news and more. 

For the first time, Android apps will run natively on Windows, through Amazon's app store (here's everything we know about that). 

The new system also includes a feature called Snap Groups -- collections of the apps you're using at once that sit in the taskbar, and can come up or be minimized at the same time for easier task switching. You can also set up virtual desktops in a way that's more similar to Macs, toggling between multiple desktops at once for personal, work, school or gaming use. Microsoft Teams will also be built directly into Windows 11, becoming a more FaceTime-like chat app. 

windows-11-1

A new Windows 11 feature called Snap Groups will let you group apps together and bring them up at the same time.

Microsoft

Windows 11 marks the first major update to Microsoft's OS since Windows 10 launched back in 2015. Rumors about a major Windows redesign have been circulating for the past year. At the Microsoft Build developers conference on May 25, CEO Satya Nadella said Microsoft was planning "one of the most significant updates of Windows of the past decade," confirming that a major change was on the horizon for the 1.3 billion users of the OS in 2021. And in mid-June, Microsoft quietly announced that it would end support for Windows 10 in 2025 as leaked images of Windows 11 spread (here's what that means for Windows 10 users). 

Microsoft's decision to upgrade Windows now is no accident. PC sales have exploded over the past year as the pandemic upended billions of lives, forcing many people into lockdowns and sudden mass experiments in remote work. While those efforts largely worked out, and productivity across the US actually rose while people worked from home, it turned out many people needed new computers to do it. As a result, PC sales growth has roared back so much that many computer parts are hard to come by nowadays. If it weren't for supply shortages across the tech industry, analysts believe desktop and notebook computers would notch their highest-ever sales this year.

CNET Editor at Large Ian Sherr contributed to this report.


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What Are Nvidia G-Sync And AMD FreeSync And Which Do I Need?


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What are Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync and which do I need?


What are Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync and which do I need?

There are many ways to compensate for the disconnect between screen updates and gameplay frame rate, ranging from the brute force method of simply capping your game's frame rate to match your monitor's refresh rate to the more intelligent realm of variable refresh rate. VRR enables the two to sync to prevent artifacts like tearing (where it looks like parts of different screens are mixed together) and stutter (where the screen updates at perceptibly irregular intervals). These efforts range from basic in-game frame rate control to pricey hardware-based implementations like Nvidia G-Sync Ultimate and AMD FreeSync Premium.

Which do you want?

When picking a monitor, which VRR system to look for comes down to which graphics card you own -- especially now when you can't really buy a new GPU -- and which games you play, plus the monitor specs and choices available. G-Sync and G-Sync Ultimate and FreeSync Premium and Pro are mutually exclusive; you'll rarely (if ever) see variations of the same monitor with options for both. In other words, every other decision you make pretty much determines which VRR scheme you get.

Basic VRR

Basic VRR enables games to use their own methods of syncing the two rates, which on the PC frequently means the game just caps the frame rate it will allow. One step up from that is generic adaptive refresh rate, which uses extended system-level technologies to vary the screen update rate based on the frame rate coming out of the game. This can deliver a better result than plain VRR as long as your frame rates aren't all over the place within a short span of time.

G-Sync Compatible and FreeSync

In the bottom tier of Nvidia and AMD's VRR technologies you'll find improved versions of adaptive refresh, branded G-Sync Compatible and FreeSync. They use the GPU's hardware to improve VRR performance, but they're hardware technologies that are common to both Nvidia and AMD GPUs, which means you can use either supported by the monitor, provided one manufacturer's graphics card driver allows you to enable it for the other manufacturer's cards. Unlike FreeSync, though, G-Sync Compatible implies Nvidia has tested the monitor for an "approved" level of artifact reduction.

G-Sync and FreeSync Premium

The first serious levels of hardware-based adaptive refresh are G-Sync and FreeSync Premium. They both require manufacturer-specific hardware in the monitor that works in conjunction with their respective GPUs in order to apply more advanced algorithms, such as low-frame rate compensation (AMD) or variable overdrive (Nvidia) for better results with less performance overhead. They also have base thresholds for monitor specs that meet appropriate criteria. G-Sync still only works over a DisplayPort connection for monitors because it uses DisplayPort's Adaptive Sync, however, which is frustrating because it does work over HDMI for some TVs.

At CES 2022, Nvidia launched its next-generation 1440p G-sync Esports standard with Reflex Latency Analyzer (Nvidia's technology for minimizing lag of the combined keyboard, mouse and display)  and a 25-inch mode that can simulate that size display on a larger monitor. Normalizing high-quality 1440p 27-inch displays for esports is a great step up from 1080p and 25 inches. The initial monitors which will be supporting it (the ViewSonic Elite XG271QG, AOC Agon Pro AG274QGM, MSI MEG 271Q, all with a 300Hz refresh rate, and the Asus ROG Swift 360Hz PG27AQN) haven't shipped yet.

(Mini rant: This name scheme would make a monitor "G-Sync Compatible-compatible," so you'll see the base capability referred to as a "G-Sync Compatible monitor." That's seriously misleading, because that means you're frequently called on to distinguish between uppercase and lowercase: G-Sync Compatible is not the same as G-Sync-compatible.)

G-Sync Ultimate and FreeSync Premium Pro

At the top of the VRR food chain are G-Sync Ultimate and FreeSync Premium Pro. They both require a complete ecosystem of support -- game and monitor in addition to the GPU -- and primarily add HDR optimization in addition to further VRR-based compensation algorithms.

The hardware-based options tend to add to the price of a monitor, and whether or not you need or want them really depends upon the games you play -- if your games don't support these technologies it's kind of pointless to pay extra for them -- how sensitive you are to artifacts and how bad the disconnect is between your display and the gameplay. 


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Hey, Gen Z: Here's What Millennials Say About Riding Out A Recession


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Hey, Gen Z: Here's What Millennials Say About Riding Out a Recession


Hey, Gen Z: Here's What Millennials Say About Riding Out a Recession

This story is part of Recession Help Desk, CNET's coverage of how to make smart money moves in an uncertain economy.

I'm officially one year away from graduating college, and I have no idea what comes next. A job, hopefully. Grad school, maybe? For me, college has been about preparing to enter the workforce, armed with all the skills I need to succeed. Now that it's time to start actually applying for jobs and planning for long-term financial stability, it's pretty scary.

Entering the job market comes with endless challenges, even in a healthy economy. And regardless of the debate over whether we're in an official recession, the past few months have demonstrated how difficult it can be to remain financially stable during a shaky economy. Inflation is at a historic high, and wages are not keeping up with the cost of living. Higher interest rates are also making homes, cars and other big-ticket items more expensive and inaccessible.

And that makes the idea of entering the job market all the more terrifying.

Older generations who have already lived through recessions may be more prepared. Millennials, those born roughly between 1981 and 1996, are feeling some dĆ©jĆ  vu. Many in this cohort entered the job market just as the Great Recession was taking place, and the years that followed altered the course of their career and financial trajectory in major ways. 

I caught up with five millennials who completed their undergraduate studies between late 2007 and 2009 and managed to navigate the last economic downturn. I wanted to learn how they were impacted, from layoffs and tightening budgets to career pivots, and what skills they developed that were most important for staying afloat. Each had a unique experience that affected their approach to finances today. Now, as they reflect on that time, they see the hard-won lessons and share their best advice with the next generation. 

What stood out was the power of investing for the future, such as taking advantage of employee-match programs and routinely contributing to 401(k)s and Roth IRAs. The millennials I spoke with all encouraged Gen Zers to invest early in their careers. And they each had more nuggets of wisdom to hand down to us -- including how to make the most of the first few years out of college, how to talk money with employers, discuss finances with partners and build successful careers in unexpected ways. 

Here's what they shared via email. 


Embrace career uncertainty and be flexible 

Katie Oelker, St. Paul, Minnesota

Katie Oelker worked in the auditing department of a bank after college while living with her parents, mainly to build some savings and pay off private student loans. That ultimately allowed her to afford going back to school to get her master's in education. 

Since Oelker didn't want to have a career in banking or auditing, she always took advantage of different learning opportunities, like training sessions or conferences, that were offered through her job. "If you don't like what you're doing post-graduation or even if you do, there are always educational opportunities to pursue that can help you further your career down the line," she told me by email. 

That career-building focus came in handy when she decided to pivot once again, this time to become a certified Business Education instructor. After teaching courses ranging from personal finance to marketing at two different high schools, she now runs her own business as a freelance writer and money coach. Having flexibility in her vision allowed her to navigate the recessionary job market and explore new industries.

"I've never been afraid to open new doors and try new things when it comes to career and educational opportunities, and it has paid off," she said. 


Talk about money with your partner, even if it's hard

Jared and Katie Pogue, Atlanta, Georgia

Before getting married, Jared and Katie Pogue learned that they needed to find productive ways to talk about money, especially how to afford building a family. The two had radically different outlooks on financial planning, which caused anxiety. Katie said she had many long-term goals, while Jared described his approach as "ignorant optimism."

They developed a routine to talk about money. They set a time limit for one day a week and slowly worked through their finances. They were eventually able to align their goals, which helped them make big financial decisions, including how to finance a house, when to have children and if they should go back to school. They came up with a division of labor, with Jared taking care of the daily and monthly payments, and Katie overseeing more long-term planning. Neither one could do their part alone.

"Once we started making tangible progress and got on the same page, our financial conversations were much more fruitful," said Jared. 


Negotiate for more, despite your doubts

Sara Gifford, Hyattsville, Maryland

Sara Gifford's first full-time job out of college wasn't her ideal choice. But with the tightening labor market, she felt compelled to accept an offer from the company she had interned with. 

"I settled for a job where I was expected to work 60-plus hours a week for laughably low pay, and I didn't negotiate my salary or benefits because I felt the employer held all the power," she said. Accepting such low compensation at her first job made it harder to move her salary benchmark forward in future negotiations.

Though recessions put more pressure on workers to avoid asking for higher pay, Gifford said that shouldn't discourage you from negotiating other benefits, such as commuting stipends, paid vacation and flexible or remote working hours. If the employer's not agreeable to any perks, it might be a sign to keep looking. "If the company pulls the offer, that's such a red flag."

Though she regrets not asking for better pay, she's proud that she took advantage of opportunities to network and learn new skills. It all came in handy when she decided to leave and build her career. Today Gifford runs her own marketing strategy company.


Identify your money priorities 

Adam Eisenberg, Huntington Woods, Michigan

Adam Eisenberg is still working at the company that offered him his first job in sales logistics. After college, he got his money goals in order, which for him meant immediately prioritizing payments toward his student loans -- instead of moving out of his parents' house. 

"I put my commission checks toward paying off my debt. It took four years to do it, and the first three I was living at my parents house, but it was worth it." While everyone's priorities are different, identifying them early on can help you better decide where your money should go.

In fact, Eisenberg originally had a second job offer he was considering, and took a similar approach when comparing his options -- he prioritized what mattered most to him. A higher commission rate, he decided, would ultimately be more beneficial for him, even if the base salary was lower. Another appealing component was the company's potential for growth. 

Eisenberg said that those entering the job market should expand beyond their normal job research to "make sure the foundation is there for future success." 


Budgets can be your calm in the storm

Jonathan Schrull, Indianapolis, Indiana

At the end of 2008, Jonathan Schrull was laid off from his second job after graduating. He was unemployed for six months before securing a new job and felt as though he had to put off beginning his long-term career and delay savings and investing. That, according to him, cost "a lot of money in the long run." 

Looking back, he found that maintaining a budget helped alleviate some of the stress. "Seeing the figures in front of me made the situation more tangible and easy to understand," he said. Having a way to track his spending, even without any income, helped him find new opportunities to reduce his expenses. Looking at his whole financial picture, not just income, was important, because "the numbers don't lie."


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What Are Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna And PayPal Pay In 4? How 'Buy Now, Pay Later' Plans Work


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What Are Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna and PayPal Pay in 4? How 'Buy Now, Pay Later' Plans Work


What Are Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna and PayPal Pay in 4? How 'Buy Now, Pay Later' Plans Work

How many times have you added items to your online shopping cart only to balk at the total? While staying within your budget is wise, if you need to make a purchase that you're considering charging or borrowing money for, a "buy now, pay later" service might be a smarter option.

BNPL companies like Affirm, AfterPay, Klarna and PayPal Pay in 4 work by offering you micro installment loans. This loan covers the cost of your purchase right away, and lets you repay the balance over time. These services have gained traction since the pandemic and today AfterPay has more than 16 million active users, followed by Affirm's 8.7 million, most of whom are millennials and Gen Z shoppers.

But what exactly are these installment plans and how are they different from credit cards and personal loans? Here's the breakdown of these alternative financing options and how to use them.

What are installment services?

If you've ever bought a car, a home or an education, you've probably used an installment loan. Installment loans are lump-sum loans that you pay off over a set amount of months or years. For products like cars and homes, they're often funded by well-known banks, like Chase or Wells Fargo. 

Mini installment plans from companies like AfterPay and Affirm act like microloans for everyday purchases, like clothes, makeup, electronics and gym equipment (like Peloton). Affirm, for example, also supports unexpected purchases, like car repairs through YourMechanic. But unlike new car or home purchase loans, which you typically pay off over the course of many years, products and services financed through these services are typically paid off in a few weeks or months. 

How do they work?

Each online installment plan offers different setups, but the gist is: You buy your item now, select the plan at checkout with a qualifying retailer, create an account and complete your purchase. With Klarna and AfterPay, you get your goods right away and then pay for them over four installment payments: one when you check out and typically every other week or once a month thereafter. Affirm has payment options that usually range from three to 12 months, although some plans have terms as high as 48 months.

For AfterPay, as long as you make your four payments, you won't get charged late fees. Klarna has different payment options and some of them charge interest. Affirm charges 0 to 30% interest depending on your payment plan.

To take advantage of an interest-free installment plan, you need to shop with retailers that support it. Anthropologie, DSW and Fenty Beauty are AfterPay partners, for example. You might see the installment service's logo when you're viewing a product, letting you know the partnership exists and you can select a payment plan at checkout. From there, you'll usually pay the first installment and the next one will come out about two weeks later. Otherwise, the product or service will arrive on time, just like it would if you paid in full at checkout.

You can also shop through each company's app. Affirm, AfterPay, PayPal and Klarna all have apps in the App Store and Google Play that let you shop, monitor your orders and make payments. 

While they aren't like traditional loans, they're different from other types of alternative payment methods. For instance:

  • They aren't credit cards. A credit card is a revolving credit line that you get approved for. You use your card to pay for your purchase in full and then at the end of the billing period you'll pay off your bill or make payments until you pay it off in full. Typically, if you don't pay your balance off at the end of the billing period, interest will accrue, which can be 20% or more. CNET always recommends paying off your credit in full
  • They aren't the same as layaway. Layaway is when you agree to pay off an item over the course of a few months and once you've paid it off, you can take it home. Layaway usually requires an upfront deposit and a service fee, and you don't get your goods until you've paid for them in full. Some installment plan companies require an upfront deposit, but you don't have to wait to get your item; you get it right away.

How does an installment service affect my credit score?

When you apply for a loan or a credit card, that hard credit check looks at your credit history to see if you're responsible enough with credit to lend to. With BNPL apps, there's no hard credit inquiry. If the app checks your credit, it'll be a soft credit check, which won't hurt your credit score. The services don't specify the credit score you need to shop with them.

If you aren't diligent with payments, your credit score might be affected. For most micro installment loans, you're required to make payments about every two weeks and in four total installments. So if you don't pay your bill on time, that triggers a late payment for some companies. The three major credit bureaus will get notified and you could see your credit score take a dip. Late payments are one of the biggest factors in determining your credit score, and a drop in that could hurt your chances of borrowing money in the future.

Penalties and fees vary by company. Affirm and PayPal do not charge late fees. AfterPay does, though these fees will not exceed 25% of the purchase amount. Klarna doesn't charge a late fee but if you don't make a payment when it's due, you can be blocked from using the site and app in the future. None of these services charge prepayment fees, so you won't get penalized for repaying your balance sooner.

Should I use BNPL services?

It depends on what kind of shopper you are and your mentality about money. Here are some pros and cons to consider:

Pros

  • You can buy items and services, even if you can't afford them right away:If you have things you need or want to buy, you're not obligated to pay full price at checkout. Micro installment loans let you pay out your purchase over a few weeks.
  • You don't need great credit to get approved:Most services do a soft credit check, which won't hurt your credit score . If you don't have great credit or a long credit history, this is a good alternative payment option.
  • It's simpler than a loan or credit card:If you've had trouble with credit cards or don't like using them, this is an easier method than applying for a credit card or personal loan. You can apply at checkout, whereas if you want a credit card or loan, you'll need to wait a few days before you can use those funds.

Cons

  • You might believe you're spending less:If you cringe at a $1,000 couch, seeing payments broken up into $250 every other week, for example, tricks you into believing you're paying less for an item. In reality, you're still paying the same amount and you're borrowing money to do it.
  • You may be charged interest or other fees: Depending on the service you choose and the repayment plan you select, you could be charged interest. Affirm, for instance, offers interest rates between 0% and 30%. While this interest does not compound like a credit card, spreading payments for that $1,000 couch over 12 months at a 30% interest rate could end up costing you $169.76 in interest alone. 
  • You might not get approved for the full amount: Your credit score may not preclude you from getting approved for a BNPL loan, but it's still a factor when determining your loan amount and interest rate (if applicable). That means, there's a chance you might not get approved for the full amount you're requesting. 
  • It's still a loan:Remember you're still taking out a loan, even if you pay it off sooner than you would a traditional loan. Not paying on time could result in interest fees, late payment fees or not being able to use the service in the future.

While the convenience of delayed payment sounds appealing as a way to get something now, you're still on the hook for paying your bill in full. If you need something now but can't afford it, micro installment loans might be a good idea. But if you don't think you'll be able to afford payments, you may want to consider another payment method or waiting until you have cash on hand to make your purchase.

Correction, April 30: Affirm has 8.7 million users, more than we previously quoted. It also has repayment options ranging from three to 12 months, a shorter period than previously listed. Clarified that AfterPay does not charge late fees as long as you make four payments.


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What The Future Of Health Looks Like For Apple


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What the Future of Health Looks Like for Apple


What the Future of Health Looks Like for Apple

Apple's Health app keeps evolving, with aspirations to be a complete combination personal data archive, medical liaison and insight engine. But the goals, while ambitious, aren't fully realized yet. iOS 16 and WatchOS 9 are adding medication management and multistage sleep tracking to a growing list of features. But what comes next, and will it start to become a tool that interfaces with doctors even more than it has?

Apple just published a multipage health report (PDF), which aims to detail where the company sees its health focus heading on the iPhone and the Apple Watch. The report covers the app, research studies and initiatives with medical organizations.

As Google prepares to release a Pixel Watch that will connect to Fitbit's features and services, Apple looks to be strengthening its position by expanding beyond the watch to a larger spectrum of health services. Already, Apple Health and Fitness Plus are evolving into services you don't need an Apple Watch to use.

When will Health start to become an extension of how I connect with my own doctors? Will sleep tracking offer a doorway to other health insights? And why doesn't Apple have its own equivalent of the "readiness score" used by Fitbit and Oura?

Apple's vice president of health, Dr. Sumbul Desai, spoke with CNET about the goals of Apple Health and where goals are being set next. She sees the blend of lifestyle with clinical data, medication data and an increasing number of metrics in one place as helping future insights in other health measurements over time. 

"You have to do it in a really thoughtful and meaningful way," Desai said. "Because there are also correlations you can make that are incorrect. That's where the work is, making sure that when you make those connections that they are correct, grounded in the science and make sense to the user."

Apple's Medication tracker on the iPhone and Apple Watch.

Medication tracking on iOS 16 looks like another step to bring medical histories onto Health.

Apple

Where does Apple Health meet your doctor?

As I've found over the last few months, over several surgeries and doctor visits, my own medical care doesn't often connect with my wearable and phone apps. Apple's been aiming to make strides to connect Apple Health with medical providers, but the framework isn't fully there yet for digital health platforms. A lot of Apple's promised benefits are in identifying long-term data patterns and insights.

"I do think how they interact with each other is really important," said Desai, who points to the new tracking of atrial fibrillation patterns over time in Watch OS 9. "We are actually taking how much time you're in AFib and correlating it to your lifestyle. How much you're sleeping. How much you're moving, you'll see the changes in AFib. If you're using Mindful Minutes, do you see a change."

Apple has tried making data sharing easier with doctors, but right now it still doesn't go far enough. At the medical group where I'm a patient, for instance, there's no obvious way to share the data I'm collecting in Apple Health through the patient portal.

Sleep tracking on the iPhone and Apple Watch

Sleep tracking is gaining sleep stages in WatchOS 9. Will that bring a wave of other health insights down the road?

Apple

Sleep as the next frontier?

Apple's addition of sleep stage-based sleep tracking in the upcoming Watch OS 9 looks to close the gap on other fitness trackers like those from Fitbit, Samsung and Oura. Apple's been pulling new features for the Apple Watch from work in some of the company's ongoing heart research studies, and sleep could end up being a place that evolves next.

"What I'm really excited to learn from a scientific standpoint is, does the amount of sleep that you're getting in certain stages, like core [replenishing sleep], does that actually translate to benefit during the day when you're moving?" Desai said. "Are there certain phenotypes of certain people who have more benefit versus others? There's so much to tackle from a research standpoint there. We would never put anything out until we knew we kind of had some scientific grounding. The whole causation-correlation thing can get very tricky."

Desai suggested future research combining sleep stage data with Apple's ongoing heart and move data from its ongoing study will possibly provide more insights, "but we're still a ways away from that."

Could Apple ever develop its own readiness score?

One thing Apple's evolving and elaborate set of Health insights currently doesn't have is any sort of attempt at a distilled score, or personal health rating. Fitbit, Oura, and a number of other wearables have daily personal scores derived from a variety of individual metrics. I asked Desai whether Apple might pursue a similar idea anytime soon. While it sounds like a direction Apple Health could head in, it also seems like Apple is still trying to lock down the best path to get there.

"It's a really good question. I think the answer is, to be honest, is we don't have a firm POV yet," Desai said. "We want to understand the science behind that, and what can we understand and glean from a scientific standpoint."

Desai suggests that the health measurements, and their meanings, can vary. "HRV [heart rate variability] is a great metric. I'm super fascinated by HRV. But HRV can be changed based on multiple reasons." She suggested that Apple's eventual evolution of its insights will need to come with clear guidance, too.

"I think for us, we want to be able to provide actionable information. So to understand to do that, you actually have to be able to draw it back to, what we think is actually causing that? We are really trying to understand the science behind all of these different metrics and focus on how we provide insights that we know we can back up."

On whether Apple Health could come to other non-Apple devices

Apple's aiming for Health to be a comprehensive, secure system for anyone to use, but it still flows through Apple hardware, which means a portion of the population will always be left out. I asked Desai whether Apple Health might ever be available beyond iPhones.

"We're always looking at ways to support the ecosystem. We just want to make sure we can support that in a private and secure way. That's fundamentally what drives our decision making," Desai said. "We have a ton of things in the App Store ecosystem that are super interesting that people are doing, and we're very supportive of supporting that work.

"Honestly, we make a lot of decisions driven by privacy. And there's a lot of things we choose not to do and choose to do, based upon that."

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.


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