Millions of people around the world struggle with anxiety and fear when it comes to their finances.
This fear can manifest itself in many different ways, like overspending, refusing to open bills, or panicking at the sight of your bank account balance. It can cause a lot of stress and can even lead to depression.
Are you afraid of not having enough money? Are you afraid of losing what money you have? Are you afraid of not being able to provide for yourself or your family?
These are all valid fears. But dealing with them can be difficult and sometimes overwhelming.
If you're struggling to deal with your financial stress, there are some things you can do to overcome it.
This article will provide you with some of the best ways to deal with fears around money and how to conquer them for good.
There are many reasons why you might want to try to overcome your fear of finances.
For one, money is a big part of our lives. It's something that we have to deal with on a daily basis, whether we like it or not.
Secondly, fear can be very debilitating. It can hold us back from achieving our goals and living the life we want to live.
Lastly, dealing with your fear of finances can be empowering. It can help you take control of your life and feel more confident and capable.
The first step to overcoming your fear is acknowledging that you have a fear in the first place.
This may seem like an obvious solution, but oftentimes people try to ignore their fear or act like it doesn't exist.
If you can't acknowledge that you have a fear, you can't begin to deal with it. Acknowledging your fear is the first step to taking control of your finances.
Some ways to do this are by identifying your fear, writing it down, and talking to someone about it.
Identify your fear
This fear can manifest itself in many different ways.
For example, you may be afraid of not having enough money, of losing money, of not being able to save money, or of never being able to retire.
These are all valid fears that can hold you back from taking control of your finances.
Writing it down
Once you've identified your fear, the next step is to write it down.
This can help you to better understand your fear and what's causing it.
Writing it down will also help you to see your fear in a different light.
Sometimes, seeing your fear in black and white can help you to realize that it's not as big or as bad as you thought it was.
Talking to someone about it
If you're still struggling to overcome your fear, talking to someone about it can be a big help.
This can be a friend, family member, financial advisor, or therapist.
Talking to someone about your fear can help you to understand it better and can also give you some great tips on how to overcome it.
Once you've acknowledged your fear, you can begin to understand what's causing it.
There are many different things that can cause a fear of finances. After all, money is a very emotional topic and it can be scary to think about not having enough money or losing what you already have.
If you've always avoided dealing with your finances, it can be very hard to break that habit. It can also be tough to know when this fear started or what's causing it.
Some common reasons for a fear of money are:
These are all valid reasons for having a fear of finances.
The important thing is to understand what's causing your fear. By understanding the root of your fear, you can begin to deal with it at the source.
Once you understand what's causing your fear, you can begin to take steps to overcome it.
The best way to overcome a fear is to face it head on.
At this point in the process, you should have a good understanding of your fear and what's causing it.
Now, it's time to take action. This may seem like a scary prospect, but it's the best way to deal with your fear.
Some examples of how to face your fear of money are:
These are all great steps to take to face your fear of money. But it the best options for you will depend on your specific fear and situation.
The important thing is to start a productive habit in the right direction.
Remember, the goal is to take small steps at first. You don't have to do all of these things at once. Just pick one or two and start working on them.
If you're struggling with a fear of money, know that you're not alone. Many people have this fear and it can be tough to overcome. It can also stunt your financial growth and keep you from reaching your financial goals.
I've found that fears surrounding money typically stem from an anxiety about the future or bad experience in the past. Whatever the reason for your fear, the best way to deal with it is to face it head on.
Start by acknowledging your fear and understanding what's causing it. Then, take action to actively address it. This may seem difficult at first, but it's the best way to make real progress with your finances.
By following these steps, you can begin to take control of your fear and start dealing with your finances in a healthy way. Just remember to go at your own pace and to take small steps at first. Over time, you'll be able to overcome your fear of money for good.
Stephen Rozo is the founder of MoneyPeoples.com, a blog about how to start a profitable rental property. He knows firsthand the challenges and rewards that come with owning a rental property and now dedicates his time to providing tips to new real estate investors. His goal is to give readers the best information on how to grow their monthly income with real estate.
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By Margot Machol Bisnow, author of Raising an Entrepreneur- How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dreams; 99 S%tories From Families Who Did
Entrepreneurs are often asked, aWhatas your secret to success?a Answers range from risk-taking and a self-starter mindset to curiosity and imagination. But where did these traits come from, and what conditions enabled the entrepreneurs to develop them to their full potential?
This is the question I set out to answer in writing my book Raising an Entrepreneur- How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dreams; 99 S%tories From Families Who Did. I interviewed a very diverse group of seventy successful entrepreneurs including Jon Chu, director of Crazy Rich Asians; Paige Mycoskie, founder and owner of clothing company Aviator Nation; Thomas Vu, lead producer on League of Legends; Dhani Jones, former NFL linebacker who went on to host a TV show, co-found a creative agency, and chair an investment fund; and superstar chef and sustainability advocate Nyesha Arrington.
The group was made up of half men, half women, from every race and religion. Every socioeconomic background was represented; there were big families and small families; they came from big cities and small towns; and they had parents who hadnat gone to college to parents with advanced degrees. Some were born in the U.S., others were born overseas or had immigrant parents.
They went into very diverse fields: They started big companies with a wide range of products and services; they started innovative non-profits and profit-for-purpose that are changing the world; they became artists like movie directors and songwriters writers; and they became activists, fighting for causes they believe in. They fit my definition of an entrepreneur: They are all people who started something.
While I made dozens of eye-opening and heart-warming discoveries about their lives and backgrounds, I also learned a to my surprise a that they all shared three underlying experiences shaped by their families from the time they were children.
They pursued and mastered a passion when young.
As children, they found a passion and were encouraged by their parents to pursue it a regardless of what it was. The key word in that sentence is atheya a it wasnat something their parents loved, or their parents thought their kids would love. Itas something the kids chose themselves. And because they loved it, they worked really hard at it. And because they worked really hard, they got really good. They were praised for their effort, not their results. So they worked really hard and they learned the trade-off between hard work and results. They developed grit, defined by Angela Duckworth as apassion plus perseverance toward long-term goals.a And that led to their becoming supremely confident.
People often say, aOf course entrepreneurs are confident; itas because they are successful.a But I strongly believe it is the reverse: They are successful because they are confident. And their confidence stems from having mastered their chosen passion when they were young. Their passions included computers, music, acting, student government, chess, and for many, sports. Their intense pursuit of success in these activities taught them grit, determination, and resilience, which led to developing their confidence.
Simon Isaac was an All-American skier on the Olympic development team. He co-founded Fatherly, a popular daily on-line newsletter, and today, heas the CEO of TaskForce, one of the worldas top content creators, with over forty-five billion views during the election.
ElizabethMcGee Gore was the national equestrian champion. Sheas the co-founder of Hello Alice, a free artificial intelligence platform to help businesses launch and grow.
Eric Ryan raced on the sailing team at the University of Rhode Island. Heas the co-founder of Method products, which makes environmental cleaning products; Olly, which makes healthy vitamins and supplements; and Welly Health, which makes fun bandaids.
Radha and Miki Agrawal were known as the legendary soccer twins when they played at Cornell. The twins are serial social entrepreneurs who have co-founded five disruptive companies (including Daybreaker, Thinx, Tushy) worth half a billion dollars.
They became risk takers because they were not punished for failure or mistakes.
As Billie Jean King says, aWe donat call it failure; we call it feedback.a The entrepreneurs I interviewed were never punished for failing; the parents said, aWhat did you learn? What would you do differently?a Nor were they punished for making mistakes. They had to fix what they had broken or the problem they created, but they werenat made to feel bad that it had happened. They learned that when they worked hard at something and failed, and kept trying new approaches, eventually they would succeed. They learned that when they failed, they could work harder and smarter and keep trying, because eventually they would figure it out.
Fast forward to today: because they arenat afraid to fail, they arenat afraid to take risks a both of which are key to successful entrepreneurship.
My son Elliott Bisnow fell in love with tennis when he was twelve, long after other serious tennis players were already competing in tournaments. He lost most of his matches for years, but eventually fought his way to thirty-five in the country in the juniors. He started Summit, a global company for entrepreneurs and creatives that has produced over two hundred fifty events in the last decade.
Nia Batts and her best friend, actress Sophia Bush, co-founded Detroit Blows, an inclusive non-toxic hair salon in Detroit, helping to revitalize the downtown. It was a huge success, but during the pandemic it was forced to close. When Nia read that only two percent of venture capital dollars went to women, and the amount going to women of color was astatistically significanta she decided to pivot and became Chief Marketing Officer of Union Heritage Capital, the nationas leading minority-owned diversified financial services firm.
They were trusted and supported by their familiesaleading them to treat their employees like family.
The unconditional support from their families while they were growing up is reflected in their businesses today. They honor the differences among their employees. And whether the jobs are remote or in the office, they try to create situations where their employees want to spend time. The founders donat arbitrarily order around their employees. Just as in the homes where they grew up, the entrepreneurs take care of the people they work with. Even before stakeholder capitalism became popular, these entrepreneurs valued the interests of their employees and their community.
Blake Mycoskie founded TOMS Shoes, the first one-for-one company, providing a pair of shoes to someone in need for every pair purchased. Blake says he called his approach to his job as the companyas leader, aservant leadership.a He told his top people to serve everyone in their group. And he willingly admitted his mistakes to show his employees that failure was acceptable. He says that aif you extend more trust than you might be comfortable witha|and even though those mistakes will come with a price, over the long term youall be paid back with interest.a
Deena and Jess Robertson co-founded Modo Yoga, a community of independent hot yoga studios in the U.S. and Canada. They are committed to promoting ethical, compassionate living and a more sustainable, environmentally conscious world through their studios. Their motto is acalm mind, fit body, inspired life.a Modo Yoga was the first one-for-one yoga program, where every membership bought became a free membership for someone in an underserved community. The employees love that they are helping create more equality and diversity in the yoga community.
Itas never too early a or too late a to start. Even if you donat become an entrepreneur, becoming more entrepreneurial will help in whatever you do: It will help if you become more confident because youave mastered something you worked really hard at. It will help if you become more risk taking because youave learned not to fear failure.It will help if you become more considerate of people you work with. Above all, itall help you become more successful at whatever you do.
***
Margot Machol Bisnow is a writer, wife, and mom from Washington, DC who speaks on raising fearless, creative, entrepreneurial kids who are filled with joy and purpose. She is the author of Raising an Entrepreneur: How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dreams a 99 Stories From Families Who Did. Margot has a BA in English and an MBA, both from Northwestern, and spent 20 years in government, including as an FTC Commissioner and staff director of the Presidentas Council of Economic Advisers. Both her kids are now grown: Austin started a popular band, Magic Giant; Elliott founded Summit, a noted international conference series for Millennial entrepreneurs and creatives, and led the purchase and development of Powder Mountain ski resort in Utah as a permanent home for the Summit community. Her husband Mark was a late-blooming entrepreneur, and wishes his parents had read her book when he was growing up, so he might have started his company before he was 50. Margot is on the Board of Capital Partners for Education that mentors low-income DC-area high school kids.
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If youare anything like the vast majority of the population, you started this year with one of these goals as a top priority: aget in shapea, alose weighta, aget fita or aget healthya.
I get it. For the longest time my Januarys started with a rigid healthy eating plan to get back in shape and lose the holiday bulge.
Having tried almost every diet imaginable, itas clear that most diets we follow do one of two things, they either restrict calories or restrict food groups. Even so-called itas not a diet but a lifestyles are still a diet because you cut the amount of food, or food groups (despite the marketing suggesting they arenat diets).
Diets aworka in the short term because in one way or another you are reducing the amount you eat. Whether thatas through counting calories or macros, limiting the time period in which you can eat, cutting out carbs or sugar, or aeliminationa diets. When you are eating less, the idea is that you will lose weight.
And for the most part we do, at least to begin with... Research shows that during the first six months of any diet (be it calorie counting or cutting carbs), the vast majority of people lose around 5-10% of their body weight.
So far so gooda| but thereas a dark side that people just donat talk about. In the long-run, restrictive diets actually do you more harm than good and hereas five reasons why...
#1 Diets donat work.
I know, I literally just told you that diets aworka in the first six months. But what about afterwards? What about after 2 years or 5 years? After all, if you start every January wanting to get back in shape and lose the holiday bulge, surely it would make sense to find a diet that works - for good - so that you never have to start again the following January.
The stats vary from study to study, but we can pretty confidently say that diets fail in about 80-95% of cases when participants are followed on their diets for longer than 6 months.
Thatas a pretty high failure rate when you think about it - imagine popping into a shop to buy an appliance and the store owner telling you that thereas a high chance (80-95%) that the appliance will fail after 6 months? You just wouldnat buy it, would you?
#2 Diets are the biggest predictor of weight gain.
Seriously. Going on a diet is the biggest predictor of gaining weight in the long run. Itas wild to think that we go on diets to lose weight, but actually weare more likely to put on weight over time.
The same research I shared above also shows that within 2-5 years, the vast majority of dieters have put weight back on, and in two thirds of cases are heavier than when they started. Thereas a lot of other research that corroborates this finding - yoyo dieting is also implicated in several negative health outcomes, including increased levels of cortisol and stress.
Maybe restrictive diets should come with some sort of health warning?
#3 The diet industry wants you to fail - over and over
Whatas the best way to make money? Repeat customers!
Howas this for a great money-making exercise? Offer your customers something that fails 80-95% of the time, and when it doesnat work you blame the customer (yes, itas your fault, your willpower is the reason it didnat work). Then, you make the customer feel so bad that they try a slightly different product, but this has an equally high failure rate and so your customer starts the diet-fail-repeat cycle over again. All the while you blame the customer when they fail, over and over again.
Itas a GREAT way to make money (hence, multi-billion dollar industry), but terrible for your self-esteem, self-worth and feelings of failure.
#4 Diets mess with your biology
Diets mess with your hunger hormones. When humans face a famine (i.e. diet), they are biologically programmed to stay within a certain weight range (thatas called set-point theory), so your body does everything in its power to prevent you from losing too much weight.
One of the cleverest things your body does during a famine/diet, is make you feel more hungry by stimulating hunger hormones, and also makes it harder for you to feel full by down-regulating your fullness hormones. Itas exactly why you have an insatiable appetite when you are on a diet.
#5 Diets are a big predictor of eating disorders.
You may have been on several diets and itas never messed with your relationship with food. Thatas awesome and Iam so glad thatas the case. However, in many instances, diets create a very negative relationship with food.
Thereas a very fine line between diets and disordered eating. If you examine diets closely youall see that many of the recommendations are disordered - such as low calorie diets (1200 calories is less than the calorie needs of a toddler) and intermittent fasting which is really just skipping meals.
In fact, the National Eating Disorders Association suggests that diets are a precursor to eating disorders.
So, you may be wondering then, if restrictive diets donat work and are bad for your health, what can we do instead to aget healthya?
If you are officially ready to give up dieting, you can focus instead on health promoting behaviours that are related to long-term positive health outcomes (weight isnat a behaviour). These include:
Bottom line is, diets donat work. They can be considered disordered and the precursor to eating disorders. You are much better off focusing on eating a good variety of fruits and vegetables, ensuring you get 7-8 hours of sleep per night and moving your body regularly.
Dr. Lara Zibarras is a psychologist and food freedom coach, helping clients create a healthy and happy relationship with food. You can learn more about Laraas approach to food freedom here, or find her on Instagram and YouTube.A
The post Five Reasons Why Restrictive Diets Do More Harm Than Good appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.
By Sonya Jensen
a
Of all the hard emotions aanxiety, anger, regret, etc.-- guilt can be one of the most difficult to overcome.
Guilt tells us that what we think, want to do or have done is wrong.
Weave hurt someone or weave screwed up a chance at something. We just plain blew it! Thatas what guilt tells us but does that really mean weave screwed up?
Our emotions can be what we define them to be. For many of us when we first ask for what we need or set boundaries we often feel guilta|but it could also be growth.
When we ask for what we need or say no to something, weare outgrowing our fear of being too needy. We may be outgrowing our fear of setting boundaries. We may be outgrowing everything weave done our whole lives to keep us feeling included, liked or even loved.
Guilt is a healthy emotion to experience when weave done something wrong thatas hurt other people. Itas not that weare bad and will never recover like shame wants us to believe.
However, guilt can be both a sign youare growing and an opportunity to step back and reflect. If we always assume that guilt is right and weave done something wrong weare likely to repeat old patterns of behavior that keep us locked in cycles that arenat healthy for us anymore.
To know the difference, we have to ask ourselves:
Is what I did aasking for what I need or setting a boundarya really wrong?
Or does it feel wrong because itas different from what I usually do?
The hard truth is, people around us benefit from us having no boundaries and no needs.
We need to learn to question what guilt is saying and change the meaning to be a sign of growth.
Guilt may never go away but you can lessen its intensity and even meet yourself on the other side.
But your needs are important and sharing them clearly and positively helps teach people how to love you and be in a healthy relationship with you.
What does it mean to state your needs positively?
It means sharing them from the perspective of what you would like to see instead of what you donat want to see.
For example, letas say you have a need for more time together with your partner.
You could say, aWe donat spend any time together because weare so busy and I want you to plan date nights, too.a
You could also say, aI feel really close, connected and important to you when we each plan date nights and surprise one another.a
Guilt is an emotion that youall have to deal with as you continue to evolve, grow and change.
Guilt is our bodyas way of keeping us safe and sometimes asafea means staying in patterns of behavior you know, whether or not you like it.
You have to decide that having needs and sharing those needs are important and should be important to the people in your life who love you. There will be adjustments and feelings from others as you change and itas important to validate those feelings without necessarily making you feel like your change was wrong.
Here is an example of validation vs agreeing with someone:
Hereas what it looks like when we validate someone elseas feelings:
aI can see that me saying no to this activity hurt your feelings.a
On the flipside, hereas what it looks like to simply agree with someone (and bypass your own needs or boundaries):
aI feel so bad! Iave hurt your feelings. If it makes you feel better Iall do this activity with you because I hate to see you upset.a
Validation doesnat mean I agree but that Iam a human being who understands that when something doesnat go the way I want it to, that feelings get involved.
You can overcome guilt by remembering that everyone deserves to have needs but that not all people can or should meet all of my needs. Weare each responsible for communicating our needs effectively.
By stating your needs and boundaries while still validating others feelings, the people in your life will work with you in honoring your needsa and vice versa.
a
Sonya Jensen is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and certified Gottman Method Couples and Sex Therapist. In addition to working on the ground with couples for nearly 10 years Sonya is an author, speaker and sought-after trainer. A candid voice for relationship health, Sonya believes all people are worthy of a healthy, loving partnership and sheas here to be their guide.
www.sonyajensen.com
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Years ago, I co-created a show on Youtube called The Wellness Experiment for my old company LEAFtv. In each episode we would try out a new, and sometimes controversial, (hello V-steams!) wellness treatments. I remember, vividly, one of my favorite episodes, by far, was the cold plunge followed by an infrared sauna, episode. In fact, of all the varying practices we tried out, the way I felt after this treatment stuck out as the most impactful - my body just felt different. More alive? energetic? Iam not sure what, but I just felt good.
Despite promises to myself to keep up with this practice, as life does, I let other things get in the way - plus the cost was pretty high for each session, and so the dream of having this practice as a regular part of my wellness routine faded into the background. It was only after a friend of mine, who was going through Chemotherapy, talked about using an infrared sauna as part of her recovery treatment, and how valuable she was finding it, that my curiosity was peaked once more. The difference this time around is that my friend had an at-home infrared sauna built at her house. That wasnat in my budget but I began to look around. Enter: Sun Home Saunas.
Sun Home Saunas was put on my radar via my blog (this one, the one youare reading right now!) and it felt like an answer to my search. Sun Home Saunas have created an infrared sauna BLANKET, that is portable and potent. It has the same benefits as an actual infrared sauna structure, but it is more convenient and best of all, more affordable. They sent me one to try and I couldnat have been more excited. When it arrived it was just as simple as promised - all one piece, you simply need a flat surface (I used the top of my bed - my husband laid out on the floor with a pillow under his head, and the blanket). I started with 20 minutes and then after a couple of sessions graduated up to 30 minutes. I tried going to 40 but started to get fidgety so I knew I had found my comfort zone at 30. My husband, now consistently does 45 minutes. Despite the heat, I found it so relaxing. Gradually, you get to a point where the sweat is REAL but it is so gradual it didnat feel panic inducing, but actually kind of calming. When done, I simply wiped down the interior of the blanket with a damp, water and vinegar, cloth. Easy.
Due to my schedule, I do a session once a week - I try to do every monday, post work out, to start my week off with a nod to wellness and I have been super happy with the results. (My husband uses it 3-4 times/week post work out). There are so many benefits to this infrared sauna blanket - here are just a few: natural detoxification, natural production of happy chemicals - dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, yeehaw!!, total stress relief while passively burning calories, reduction of joint pain and muscle soreness - great post workout, all while boosting immunity support. Thatas a lot of benefit for something that requires you to just lie there and chill (or heat?). But by far one of the most noticeable benefits is how incredible my skin looks - tighter, glowier, and just generally more radiant.
I am thrilled with the results, so much so, that I asked Sun Home Saunas if they could provide a discount code to my PTB audience and they happily agreed. So if you are interested to try this amazing, inventive new product, now you can add the Promo code: PTB50 for a $50 discount if you purchase a blanket.
Get yours today and i would love to hear about your experience - comment below and letas get the conversation started! Also you can follow my Infrared Sauna blanket journey for play by play of how I use it over on instagram!
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Failure. Humiliation. These are the anxious feelings that creep up the spine of many of us when considering starting a business.
Triumph. Pride. These are the feelings we need to focus on instead!
Itas easy to say just flip the switch from fear to courage. So letas turn those words into practical actions!
As someone who has started businesses that have resulted in alearning momentsa as well as successes, Iall give you the exact keys to unlock your self-confidence to get started!
No afake it atil you make ita mumbo-jumbo here. Think of what youare actually confident in. Itas in the activities where you have experienced success!
Ideally, your business or side hustle will incorporate some aspect where you feel truly confident in your abilities.
As a wise person once proclaimed, askills pay the bills.a Where are you skilled?
If you wanted to open your own restaurant, Iad recommend you feel confident in some aspect of the restaurant industry. You might be a terrific chef, always getting compliments on your vegan lasagna and gluten-free sugar-free fat-free key lime pie. Or perhaps youare outstanding in marketing, or at interior design, or managing teams.
You want to know that one aspect of your business is going to shine!
For instance, Iave known writers who went from making the website owners who employed them rich to opening their own site as a business!
Sure they had to learn along the way, but they always knew their writing would be excellent.
So think about where you are special. That thing you currently do as a hobby that generates lots of positive feedback could be your new business!
For me, itas making candles that smell like food. My pepperoni pizza candle will be coming to a store near you!
Confidence is built up over time as you reach milestones.
Thereas rarely a need to jump into your new business with both feet. Sure youall make a big splash, but thataas also how you drown. Dip your toe in.
If your little toe isnat bitten off by a shark in a snazzy business suit, youall feel confident enough to put one foot in.
Did you know that many successful businesses start out as a side hustle? I worked for a married couple who started a travel website while they both had full-time jobs as accountants.
It wasnat until it was clear that their fun travel site was generating good money that they felt confident enough to quit their jobs to completely focus on their new business.
Donat put so much pressure on yourself! Itas OK to afail.a Itas OK to make mistakes. This is how you learn.
In fact, you want to fail faster! That means youare going outside your comfort zone, being brave, and learning. Youall pick yourself up and march on, this time armed with more knowledge.
I learned that people donat want a candle that smells like boiled asparagus. They want a bacon-scented candle.
Whatas failure anyway? Imagine your best friend or a loved one. Her or his dream is to make romantic guitar music. This is your loved oneas true passion.
Would you be disappointed if they gave it their best effort and it just didnat work out? Or would you be proud that they gave it their best shot? And along the way they did fun shows, were smiling all the time, and lived their best life!
Or would you really be disappointed if your best friend or loved one constantly talked about following their dream but never did? There was always an excuse. There was always a areasona to procrastinate.
Be your own best friend. Treat yourself as well as you treat your loved ones.
Letas be real. Starting a business is tough! So make sure to start and end your day with positive talk.
And talk with the most supportive people in your life. You need optimists to help you focus on the good stuff.
You should absolutely be aware of the reality of your business, even when itas struggling. But that doesnat mean negativity will help you.
You neeaad cheerleaders.
Your friends and family should be your trampoline. You fall down; they bounce you back up. And when you make a strained metaphor, they say, aHey that trampoline visual wasnat great but I really liked the pizza candle.a
I admit it. I used to feel silly or even ashamed to celebrate the alittlea wins along the way. I was like, aI have a big goal. Big deal if I accomplished step 1 out of 10.a
But that was wrong! Thereas a reason baseball players get a high-five and clap when they get a single. Sure, itas not a home run. But it sets up the next play. Itas positive momentum!
Again, would you diminish your best friendas milestones? If your best friend had a goal to lose 20 pounds and he lost his first 2 pounds Iam sure you wouldnat say, aWhatever, tubby. Youave got a long way to go. Maybe youad be slimmer if your house wasnat decorated with bacon-scented candles!a
No! Youad say great job! You can do it!
Speak to yourself like youad speak to your good friend. Never belittle yourself. Donat be your own worst enemy!
Stand tall and focus on two things when you speak: your REASON for starting the business and your customers.
aToday I will get another step closer to the freedom to work on something Iam passionate about. Today I will delight my customers who are counting on me!a
A shortcut to feeling confident is to get someone who has had success on your side. This could be a mentor, a business coach, or even reading or watching content from a person with a track record you admire.
When I was a kid learning how to ride a bike, I felt better knowing my dad knew how to ride a bicycle and was there to teach me and encourage me.
When I wanted to learn how to hit a baseball, my dad wasnat as skilled but he pointed me to books and videos from the best hitters. I felt more confident knowing I was modeling the masters rather than making it all up myself.
The people Iave been around who do NOT have confidence tend to do the following:
If you want to build the self-confidence to start a business, do the exact opposite!
Now go kick butt and build your business!
Scott Lieberman is an online business expert. He teaches entrepreneurs how to make money online. Scott reviews business tools from the best web hosting services to email marketing software. Scott has worked with multi-billion dollar corporations, as well as with small businesses to double their profits to millions of dollars.
The post How to Build Self-Confidence to Start a Business or Side Hustle appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.
Sugar tastes amazing and is in so many products that most people arenat even aware of how much they are consuming daily.
Most people are aware that sugar isnat a healthy food, but may not realize how detrimental sugar is to your overall health.
More recent research is showing a strong link between mental health and diet, suggesting that there is a two-way street between our bellies and our brains.
When people talk about sugar, the first thing that comes to mind is the white, granulated stuff that the Brits pour into their tea.
However, there are many forms of sugar that all have similar effects on the body and brain including brown sugar, honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, corn syrup, fructose, sucrose, glucose, and juice.
The primary way that people consume sugar is through sweetened beverages such as Pepsi and in many processed foods. Most pre-packaged foods have large quantities of sugar in them.
Breakfast cereals, energy bars, flavored yogurt, and even bread all have some form of sugar in them. 74% of all packaged food at supermarkets contains some version of sugar, making it hard to avoid the stuff.
When you look at all the sugar-containing food you eat in a day it adds up, even before dessert is even considered!
The World Health Association recommends limiting sugar to 5% of your daily caloric intake, which works out to around 6-9 teaspoons a day. The average US American consumes 22 teaspoons per day, and the average child has 32 teaspoons a day.
That means most of us are consuming 2-6 times more sugar than recommended. Many nutritionists advise eating less than 6 teaspoons a day and advise not eating anything that has added sugar in any form.
While this might seem extreme, the effects that sugar has on our bodies and our brains may cause some to reconsider their current eating habits.
Sugar is contained in so many foods for a variety of reasons. Sugar improves taste and is a natural preservative. What people do not typically know is that sugar is also highly addictive. Research shows that sugar is more addictive than cocaine.
It causes a release of hormones in the brain, including dopamine, creating the same effect as addictive drugs. A brief asugar higha is followed by a crash of low energy and mood, leading people to want to consume more sugar to get that good feeling again.
Like any addictive substance, the more sugar we eat, the more we crave it. Furthermore, eating a high-sugar diet for a prolonged period can fundamentally alter our brain chemistry.
Sugar addiction resides in the neural pathways for reward-seeking behavior, which can make other addictive substances harder to resist. So as silly as it may sound, sugars are among the most readily available gateway drug.
Sugar has also been linked to mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, and decreased cognitive abilities.
An interesting study on the connection between diet and mental health found that an increase in refined sugar consumption correlated to more depression and worse schizophrenia. The same study found that eating more seafood and fish reduced the prevalence of depression.
Eating more starchy root vegetables was also connected to a lower incidence of depression.
Many other studies and anecdotes continue to emerge, connecting diet to mood and mental health. The trend seems to be increasingly damning of sugar in all its disguises.
Youave probably already considered eating less sugar, but chances are your efforts havenat stuck yet. I know from personal experience how hard it is to give up or limit sugar intake.
Despite my best intentions I continue to eat more sweets than I know is good for me. Here are some recommendations for successfully and sustainably cutting down on sugar:
The internet is full of cleanses, diets, and tips for reducing or eliminating sugar from your diet.
Michael Pollan, the author of several books on food, has the most simple dietary recommendation I have come across: aEat food, not too much, mostly plants.a
He qualifies afooda as something that our great grandparents would recognize (meaning not canned or highly processed).
Eating food is such a basic element of survival, yet it has become such a struggle to find and eat the food that sustains our bodies and minds. However, if you start to form habits around healthy eating, it will pay off quickly and for a long time to come.
Clint Mally is the director of marketing atA Sandstone CareA which provides teen and young adult specific mental health and substance use treatment.
The post Sugar and Mental Health appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.
Dr. Beau A. Nelson, DBH, LCSW
Some people seem to deal with difficult situations better than others. Maybe theyare the only one in the room who keeps a cool head when everyone else gets upset, or the person who seems able to focus on solutions rather than getting mired in the problems. Sometimes theyare the people we go to in a crisis: We trust them to give us wise and level-headed advice when we most need it.
Whatas different about these people? Are they super-human? What about them allows them to succeed in times of stress and even thrive under pressure?
One answer might be personalityaand to be sure, personality can affect a personas stress responseabut mindset matters a lot. Some ways of thinking in dealing with an unexpected situation or crisis are more helpful than others. We know this to be true from studies in the field of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Certain acognitive distortionsa can reduce the ability to cope in pressured situations. In direct contrast, these five mental habits tend to describe people who thrive under pressure.
Staying present in the moment a Rather than getting caught up in the fear of the moment or projecting a negative outcome, people who thrive under pressure can be present with the task at hand. They stay focused on what theyare doing in that moment and stay on track working towards an outcome.
Being flexible with options and solutions a Rather than thinking in either-or or black-and-white terms, a person who thrives under pressure understands there are many different options in a situation and determines a course of action after considering multiple inputs and available choices. Being flexible means thinking creatively and being able to perceive multiple approaches to a problem or challenge.
De-catastrophizing a People who thrive under pressure take situations at face value, address them, and stay clear of getting caught up in their emotions. To de-catastrophize is to take a step back and assess a situation as realistically as possible, without over-exaggerating the negatives. When we catastrophize, we relate to a stressful scenario as if itas the end of the world or a life-or-death situation. This soon leads to self-defeating thoughts like aI canat possibly get through this.a Being thoughtful and clearheaded allows you to function at your best and solve problems without a high degree of stress, anger, frustration, or other emotions.
Accepting a situation for what it is a Instead of focusing on past failures, getting caught up with other peopleas emotions, or blaming others and not taking responsibility, people who thrive under pressure are able to see the present situation for what it is and acknowledge their role in it. Theyare also able to approach it with a realistic sense of context and see that it is one task among many, as opposed to an earth-shattering, make-or-break event that theyall never recover from.
Trusting oneas judgment a You may not always be right, but inaction is paralyzing. People who thrive under pressure are good at addressing the situation at hand or delegating or getting the resources that they need. A measure of confidence is very helpful when youare dealing with a stressful situation that demands quick thought and immediate action. Self-doubt or people pleasing is generally not going to be effective in a critical situation.
While skills for thriving under pressure are as varied as the people who practice them, these straightforward and centered approaches may help you navigate high-stress situations more effectively. Theyare also mental habits that, when practiced, can build confidence and self-assurance, increase competence, and improve decision-making abilities. Anyone can develop skills to be better at dealing with pressured situations. It takes effort, focus, and learning the best ways to deal with our emotions and other people.
Dr. Beau A. Nelson is Chief Clinical Officer at the national behavioral health provider FHE Health.
The post 5 Mental Habits of People Who Thrive Under Pressure appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.
Are you feeling a bit bored at work? Are you missing the growth and challenge you felt when you first started your role?
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If you have been in the same role or industry for a while, these surges of lethargy are completely understandable. Your connection with your work is similar to your personal relationships. Both require energy to keep the relationship exciting and stimulating.A
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How can you fall back in love with your job and your work? Lead with curiosity to invigorate what excites you most. Here are three questions to initiate your discovery of falling back in love.A A
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Question #1: What interested you about your role or industry in the first place?A
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Many times, we get caught in our routines and forget what initially attracted us to our job. Make a list of the items that originally interested you about your role. Highlight areas you no longer are experiencing. If these areas bring you joy and excitement, create an action plan to integrate them back into your work.A
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Question #2: Where can you become an expert in your field?A
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Once you understand your responsibilities and how to effectively execute your projects, itas easy to stay complacent. Becoming an expert takes work, dedication, and concentration. What more can you learn about your role? Are there courses that can provide you a deeper knowledge? Take this opportunity to celebrate your accomplishments, then ask yourself what else you can learn to continue to grow.
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Question #3: How does your role give you purpose?A
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In every job you take, itas important to ensure you understand how your responsibilities tie to your overall mission or purpose. This exercise might appear to be easy for some roles compared to others. For example, letas look at a teacheras purpose. Their purpose could be to increase emotional wellbeing for future generations. What if your job is to deliver packages? Amazon does a great job of sharing their employeesa purpose, from the moment a package is ordered to delivered.
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No matter what role you are in, ensure you see how your actions impact your final consumer and highlight each impact you create that energizes your passion and purpose.A
How Collaboration Creates Competitive & Cohesive Teams
I spoke at a Human Resources Leader Conference in Las Vegas last week. Pre-Covid 19, these events were overflowing. People polled said they liked the live events because it gave them an opportunity to network, helped them professional development, and gave access to new tools and technologies in the exhibition hall.
But this week, when the organizers polled the attendees, hands down, the number one reason stated was to connect with others.
Was this just a reaction to quarantine and zoom fatigue? It turns out that the leaders were looking to cross- collaborate with a diverse population. Collaboration was the goal.
When I was new to the airline industry, I got hired byA AllegiantA . They were expanding their fleet and bases daily, and my team needed to grow exponentially. Rather than panic, I leaned into what I knew. I leveraged my expertise in Talent Acquisition to recruit a team from various industries, including hospitality, entertainment, engineering, and customer service. My boss actually called my team, athe island of misfit toys!a
I grew the team from seven to seventeen quite quickly. We amisfitsa from outside the industry learned from those with experience inside. But the opposite was also true. People familiar with hospitality and customer service standards brought their expertise to our talent acquisition strategy; the people from engineering brought industry insights to help us differentiate ourselves from our competitors, and the entertainment industry professionals provided recommendations on process to enhance our interview experience. The company grew to become cohesive and highly competitive. Within one year, Allegiant went from a poor rating on Glassdoor to receiving an award for being one of the best places to interview.
The challenges we faced, our diverse perspectives, and our ability to collaborate created a winning team, or what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defines as an aoptimal experiencea in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. We achieved flow as a team.
How has collaboration brought out the best in you and your teams? Challenges will keep on coming. Rather than having to figure out each answer on your own, collaborate to create. Your best solution might just be one misfit idea away!
Rebecca Ahmed is an award-winning speaker, business consultant, and an Energy Leadership Index™ Master Practitioner (ELI-MP), which is an exclusive training in human energy and how we can experience, express, and expand it in ourselves and others. Rebecca is also a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation (ICF),A
The post How To Lead with Curiosity To Fall Back In Love With Your Job appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.
aI have a book within me just waiting to be born.a
aI keep notes of these phrases that come to me.a
aIave tried over and over and haven't been able to write it.a
As a book-writing coach, I hear these types of comments a lot. There are so many talented, smart individuals who have a book living inside them, but for myriad reasons a time management, writer's block, fear of failure a they have trouble getting it onto the page.
The process of writing a book is complex, time-intensive, and filled with obstacles, some mental and some physical. Every journey starts differently, yet the path always looks and feels the same.
You begin with an idea or image a something within, like a seed germinating beneath the surface. You tinker with this seed, collecting scraps of paper and notes on your phone. You finally take the leap and jot those notes down in a document on your computer. Then, the first touch of paralysis occurs. Now what? Youave got some disconnected thoughts and feelings written down but nothing that resembles a story. Or you know exactly what you want to write but the way it comes out feels wrong.
Thereas nothing like having a book feel so alive inside your soul and then meet reality on the page: a jumbled mess that wouldn't entice a single reader.
Obstacles in Telling Your Story
Every story is alive, its own being with its own heartbeat and shape, which is why the initial stages can seem overwhelming. You know the book is meant to be birthed, but itas formless inside you. That lack of shape is hard to hold. Writing a book from an evocative place, one of memory and emotion, can relieve feelings of paralysis. You can shape your story around the crux of this emotion and figure out where the beginning, climax, and end are.
One of the hardest obstacles in theA process of writing a bookA is often what to eliminate from our stories. Every part feels crucial to who we are and how we came to be. The best way to begin to organize it is to figure out what story you want to tell. Is it a love story, a story of loss, a story of hope or triumph? Then, eliminate the parts that would invite too many doors to open for the reader. Let them walk through the door that feels most heavy for you a a door that you would need readers' help to open.
For me, thatas the door of grief. Thatas the door of my childhood. Of yellow hair curlers, hymns played on the piano, buttery grits, the smell of honeysuckle, my grandmotheras loving hand as she tucked me in for a nap. The same hand I held before she passed.
There, a heartbeat. The story is alive.
Another obstacle is often the structure of the story. Sometimes our memories are malleable. We donat know the exact dates an experience happened, or perhaps we donat know whether it's more important to be accurate or true. When we're accurate, we give over to the logical part of our brains, writing down the facts. When we're true, we lean into the emotions we feel throughout the story.
Emotions fuel our memories. It makes perfect sense to tell a story about anger and move from your parentsa anger to a moment when you expressed anger the same way they did. Twenty years could have passed between those moments, but the reader will understand why you organized it that way a you were showing them a story connected by emotion, by what feels true.
How to Begin Writing a Book
When we look back on our lives, we're looking for patterns to connect experiences. One way to do this is by making a shape with the dots along our lifetime. Like constellations in the sky, we can make meaning out of experiences that shine brightest to us. The most common pattern of telling a story is an arc or wave. It begins as a calm surface until the tension rises and rises, escalating to form the shape of a giant wave whose energetic body has nothing to do but crash and break until equilibrium returns.
Although the wave is the most common storytelling form, your book can take on many shapes. In her book about storytelling structure, "Meander, Spiral, Explode," Jane Alison argues that as human beings, we observe the day-to-day always "alert to patterns," the ways in which our experiences shape themselves, the "ways we can replicate [the experience's] shape with words." A brilliant notion, we can shape moments in our lives to create texture, vibrancy, emotion, and meaning.
The most important thing when sitting down to write your book is to recognize the patterns throughout your life and corral them onto the page. Recognizing patterns, however, is not easy. Thereas so much freedom in organizing your story, depending on how you want it shaped, which is why the act itself can be difficult. Here's where to start writing a book:
Writing a book is excavating meaning from the deep recesses of the mind, and the process of telling your story reshapes how you see yourself. Writing out your story is so humbling; itas like holding up a mirror and meeting yourself for the first time. You get the opportunity to be gentler to your past and to claim victory over your present. A truly great story has the power to impact its audience in a radical way, but no one will ever be as changed as when a writer births a story that was always destined to be.
Kelsey Schurer is an executive editor atA Round Table Companies, where she works on projects such as book coaching, business storytelling, and childrenas illustrated books. She played an integral role in creatingA The Story Hero, RTCas educational storytelling course.
The post 3 Tips to Start theA Process of Writing a Book appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.
The five best and five worst things that happened to the Angels during the first half of the season.
Angels closer Raisel Iglesias started June with an epic blown save against the Phillies, but followed that up with dominant performances the rest of the month.
Mike Trout of the Angels and Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox share their memories of the MLB draft in commercials that will begin airing Friday.
Shohei Ohtani extended his scoreless streak to 21 2/3 innings while recording 11 strikeouts in the Angels' 4-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
Angels reliever Archie Bradley sustained a broken elbow after falling over the dugout railing during the Angels-Mariners on-field brawl Sunday.
A total of 12 players and coaches have been disciplined for their roles in the brawl Sunday between the Angels and Mariners.
An Orange County grand jury blasts the Anaheim City Council, not just the former mayor, for rushing to approve the now-defunct Angel Stadium deal.
Benches clear for the Angels and Mariners after pitcher Andrew Wantz hits Seattle's Jesse Winker with a pitch during the Angels' 2-1 win Sunday.
Shohei Ohtani hits a 462-foot home run, but leaves two runners stranded on a game-ending lineout in the Angels' 5-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners.
Mike Trout went deep for his record 53rd career home run against the Seattle Mariners, but the rest of the offense sputtered and the Angels lost 4-3.
After a 27-17 start, the Angels have slipped under .500 because of issues with their hitting and pitching that even Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani can't overcome.
If the Angels are looking for manager after the season, they should consider former center fielder Darin Erstad for a lot of reasons.
Shohei Ohtani struck out a career-high 13 over eight innings of two-hit ball in the Angels' 5-0 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday at Angel Stadium.
Reid Detmers was optioned to triple-A Salt Lake on Wednesday just six weeks after the Angels left-hander threw a no-hitter against Tampa Bay.
Shohei Ohtani had a big night, but the Angels' comeback fell short in the wild 12-11 extra innings loss to the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday at Angel Stadium.
The Angels, who were unhappy with the slickness of the baseballs during a series in Seattle, were happy to hear MLB is standardizing its procedures.
In the same year Disney was looking to part ways with the Angels, the team put up its most memorable season, defeating the Giants in the 2002 World Series.
Stepping into the gym can be a massive ordeal for some people. Not only is it painful while you are there, but have left you in agony for days afterward. This can be a considerable deterrent for individuals who are out of shape. It prevents many of them from ever going to the gym in [â¦]
The post Getting Rid of Muscle Soreness After Working Out appeared first on Fitness Health Zone.
The Cardea A440 Pro is arguably the fastest NVMe SSD weâve tested. Itâs also priced as such.
Iâll just cut to the chase: The Teamgroup Cardea A440 Pro (TM8FPR002) ripped though our test suite in fine fashion, besting such fast drives as Seagateâs FireCuda 530 and SK Hynixâs Platinum P41âour current pick for best NVMe PCIe 4.0. Letâs take a look at how it compares in all other respects.
This review is part of our ongoing roundup of the best SSDs. Go there for information on competing products and how we tested them.
There are two choices in heat dissipation available for the A440 Pro: the thin graphene type shown in the images, and a rather large aluminum heatsink. Most users will be fine with the graphene, and itâs obviously the choice for laptop upgrades, but gamers or pros putting continuous stress on the drive can keep the temps down and avoid thermal throttling by using the larger heatsink.
The 1TB flavor of the A440 Pro costs $136ânot bad for an SSD this fast. The 2TB is $280, and the 4TB is $790âagain not bad for a pro-level SSD, but quite a bit more than than the entry-level competition. Adding the aluminum heatsink at purchase costs only $5 to $10, a bargain when it comes to such extras.
Do the math on the price per terabyte, and unless you really need maximum capacity in a single slot, youâll save money by buying four 1TB, or two 2TB A440 Pros. Not a lot of motherboards have four M.2 slots, but four-slot x16 PCIe adapters are available for under $50. If your computer supports PCIe bifurcation and RAID, there you go.
The 22mm wide, 88mm long PCIe 4.0 x4 A440 Pro sports nothing but top-notch components, including: a Phison Phison PS5018-e18-41 controller, 1GB of DRAM per 1TB of capacity for primary caching duties, and 176-layer TLC NAND. Most PCIe 4.0 drives, especially those with DRAM, are among your pricier options.
Teamgroup backs the Cardea A440 Pro with a five-year warranty and 700TBW (1TB model), 1,400TBW (2TB), and 3,000TBW (4TB) ratings. Those are average, not enterprise- or FireCuda 530-level TBWâi.e., terabytes the drive can write. Think of it like the mileage in a car warranty. When the time period or the TBW is exceeded, the warranty ceases to apply.
Though it didnât win every race, the Cardea A440 Pro won enough of them that we could arguably call it the fastest NVMe SSD weâve tested. The first evidence of this is in the CrystalDiskMark 8 sequential throughput numbers shown below.
Note that the Seagate 530âs numbers are new and may not match those in our previous review.
The A440 Pro was only a couple of seconds off the all-time non-RAID record for our 48GB transfers. That means itâs real good in the real world. These results are all within the margin of statistical error for this test, but 21 and 22 seconds reading/writing our 48GB single file is still impressive.
The test that the Cardea A440 Pro really aced was our long 450GB write. This was the 2TB version of the A440 Pro. You might not get quite as impressive a performance with the 1TB version due to less NAND for use as secondary cache.
Overall, the Teamgroup Cardea A440 Pro is a very, very fast drive. Possibly the fastest thing out there. A nice debut in our labs for Teamgroup.
Internal drive tests currently utilize Windows 11 64-bit running on an MSI MEG X570/AMD Ryzen 3700X combo with four 16GB Kingston 2666MHz DDR4 modules, a Zotac (Nvidia) GT 710 1GB x2 PCIe graphics card, and an Asmedia ASM3242 USB 3.2Ã2 card. Copy tests utilize an ImDisk RAM disk using 58GB of the 64GB total memory.
Each test is performed on a newly formatted and TRIMâd drive so the results are optimal. Over time, as a drive fills up, performance will decrease due to less NAND for caching and other factors. The performance numbers shown apply only to the drive of the capacity tested. SSD performance can vary by capacity due to more or fewer chips to shotgun reads/writes across and the amount of NAND available for secondary caching.
The best generally costs more, and the Cardea A440 Pro is arguably that, so Iâll cut it some slack on the pricing. (Iâd love to have this SSD in my system.) But prices change rapidly these days, and the drives weâve compared it to are very fast. Check them out and shop carefully.
Feeling confident that your Facebook messages are safe from all prying eyes? Donât be so sure. Locking down your Facebook account with a strong password and two-factor authentication is only the first step in protecting your conversations.
Never sharing your devices with anyone and always logging out whenever youâre done chatting still wonât fully cover you, either. Even deleting message threads isnât a guarantee that what you say will stay between you and the other party.
For the most privacy possible in Messenger, you want end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) conversations. Starting at a device level (i.e., one end of the chat), the conversation is locked with a set of keys. Only you and whomever else is in your convo knows what they are. (More specifically, your devices do.) As the messages transmit back and forth between everyone, they remain locked down.
On Facebook, end-to-end encryption is only available via Secret Conversations, which you have to start independently of any existing message threads or groups youâre already part of. If youâre part of a Secret Conversation, itâll bear the label âEnd-to-end encrypted.âÂ
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If none of your chats have this label, it means all your communication is not encrypted. Youâll need to start a Secret Conversation to keep your messages private. Or at leastâmore private than standard. Thereâs a catch.
In theory, no one else outside a Secret Conversation should be able to decipher whatâs been said. But Facebook has the ability to review messages that are reported. Also, the other person[s] in your chat can still share or screenshot what you say.
If that makes you uncomfortable, you can move to a different encrypted messaging app for more protection. Signal, for example, says it stays hands off with user data. Instead, you can block a harassing user, and for spammers, it waits for multiple users to flag a problematic account, and then issues a test to get âproof of humanityâ before the account in question can send further messages.
But currently, no app can protect you from someone on the other end getting screenshots and sharing what youâve written. You still have to be careful about whom you trust.
Everyone wants to be their best. But creating good habits isnât easy. And what works for some people, wonât always work for others. Which is why, for a more personalized approach, people have begun turning to the Ultiself biohacker routine planner app.
Ultiself is an AI powered app that determines your best habits and then creates a personalized daily routine to help you become the best person you can be. With it, you can increase your productivity by as much as ten times, youâll feel more focused, and improve your confidence too.
To get started, you just purchase and install the app on your compatible mobile device. Then select the routines you want to improve upon, take a couple of minutes a day to track your habits, and the app will create a personalized plan thatâs designed to work especially for you.
Itâs kind of like having a personal coach at your disposal 24/7. Ultiself has received impressive scores of 4.5 out of 5 stars from users on the App Store and 4.1 out of 5 on AppGrooves. And since a lifetime subscription is on sale this week for just $19 â 88 percent off the regular price â itâll fit within practically anyoneâs budget.Â
Ultiself Biohacker Routine Planner App: Lifetime Subscription â $19
See Deal
Prices subject to change.
Amazon Prime built its popularity by offering subscribers faster free shipping, access to streaming movies and TV shows, and exclusive deals (most noticeably during the companyâs annual Prime Day dealfest). But Prime membership includes other perks, too: Everything from free ebook offerings to free photo storage and even grocery delivery.
The list of benefits has grown considerably since the programâs launch, so weâve highlighted the best of the bunch, the ones that make Amazon Prime worth having. Some of these youâll already know, but the others youâre likely not taking advantage of.
Amazon Primeâs upgraded shipping is the feature that started it all. These days, you get free two-day delivery on most items, plus free one-day delivery on over 10 million items, with no minimum purchase. In select areas, free same-day delivery on over 3 million items for qualifying orders over $35 is available as well.
Free shipping benefits also extend to several other businesses Amazon owns: Woot, Zappos, and shopbop.
Standard Amazon Prime memberships can be shared with one other adult and up to four teens in a household. All household accounts can take advantage of Prime shipping benefits, Prime Video, Prime Reading, Amazon Photos, First Reads, unlimited listening on Audible Channels, and early access to Lighting Deals.
Child profiles associated with the same household can access digital content thatâs been approved by the adult account(s).
You can stream thousands of movies and TV shows through Amazon Prime Video for free, including original content produced by Amazonâsome of which is quite good, as our sister site TechHive noted a few years ago. Like Netflix and other streaming sites, the catalog changes often, so if youâre interested in a show or movie, watch it while you can. Weâre still sad that Babylon 5 rotated off the list.
Prime members in select areas get free two-hour delivery on Amazon Fresh purchasesâavailable groceries include produce, snacks, and meat.
Speaking of food delivery, Amazon Prime subscribers can now cash in on a free year to GrubHub+, the restaurant delivery serviceâs premium membership. It normally costs $10 per month by its lonesome, so this is a spectacular benefit, though be aware that youâll automatically start being charged that monthly fee after your free year is up.
Amazonâs photo storage service lets you skip an Apple or Google subscription for photo and video backupâor set up a secondary backup for your existing backup service. Prime members get unlimited, full-resolution storage for photos and up to 5GB of space for video, with the ability to view your files across all devices. You can also easily share files, just as with rival services.
Amazonâs acquisition of Twitch resulted in further diversification of Amazon Prime perksâif you link your accounts, you can get free games and in-game content monthly, one free Twitch channel subscription to use on your favorite streamer, and special promotions on pre-order video games.
Not interested in paying for streaming music? No need. Amazon Prime subscribers get access to a couple million songs, plus millions of podcast episodes, as part of their membership. (For access to a wider catalog, youâll have to shell out for an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription.)
Feed your inner bookworm with the library of titles available through Prime Reading, which gives unlimited access to several thousand ebooks, magazines, comics, and more. While only a handful of books are recognizable bestsellers, you can find interesting reading with some digging. (We managed to find a few Lonely Planet guidebooks to use for vacation planning.)
Interested in reading material that you can keep even if your Prime subscription lapses? Be sure to choose a free Kindle book from the Amazon First Reads collection each month. Prime members get early access to these editorsâ picks before the official publication date, with genres spanning suspense, romance, fantasy, historical fiction, childrenâs books, and more.
In addition to getting two-day delivery on purchases from Amazon Pharmacy, Prime members can get a discount on prescriptions when paying for them without health insurance.
PCWorld
If youâre interested in getting in on Amazon Primeâs range of benefits and services, you can first try before you buyâa 30-day trial membership is free.
Afterward, a standard Amazon Prime membership costs $15 per month or $139 per year (plus taxes). Students and people on qualified government assistance qualify for a 50 percent discount on a yearly subscription. First-time Amazon Prime Student subscribers also currently qualify for six free months of service, after which the student rate kicks in.
Have you been perusing the world wide web for a new high refresh rate monitor? If so, now is a great time to buy. Amazon Prime Day 2022 is next week, which means thereâs a ton of epic deals on monitors popping up ahead of the annual event. If youâre not sure where to start your search, donât worry. Weâre here to help.
Prime Day is a two-day event where Amazon offers deals on just about everything. In order to get access to those sweet deals, you have to be a Prime member. If youâre not a member, donât sweat it. Signing up is fairly easy. By signing up for the 30-day trial, you can actually get Amazon Prime for free.
In this article, weâll highlight the best monitor deals money can buy. The team here at PCWorld also has personal experience with these specific models. So, whether you need a high refresh monitor for games or something for your home office setup, weâve got you covered.
Last year, we saw some amazing prices monitors, including a 49-inch Samsung with a resolution of 5120Ã1440. Youâll probably see similar deals this year from Samsung. However, Amazon wonât be the only retailer with the good deals. Other retailers like Best Buy and Walmart are having their own summer sales as well. Weâll make sure we include those ones in this round-upâand please note that deals come and go. Weâll do our best to keep this article as up-to-date as possible.
From: Best Buy
Was: $799.99
Now: $742.99 (6% off)
The Asus TUF VG28UQL1A is an awesome 4K gaming monitor with plenty of ports for video connectivity. It has a resolution of 3840Ã2160 and a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz, making it suitable for gamers.
From: Amazon
Was: $529.99
Now: $449.99 (15% off)
The Gigabyte M27Q X has a blazing fast refresh rate of 240Hz and phenomenal color accuracy. It measures 27-inches and has a resolution of 2560Ã1440 as well as a one millisecond response time.
From: Dell
Was: $1,099.99
Now: $824.99 (25% off)
The Dell G3223Q has awesome SDR image quality, a 144Hz refresh rate, and is compatible with the latest consoles. The resolution is 3840Ã2160 with a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz. It even has FreeSync, too.
From: Amazon
Was: $1,099.99
Now: $999.99 (9% off)
The BenQ Mobiuz EX3210U measures 32-inches and has a resolution of 3840Ã2160 as well as a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz. It also has loads of ports and awesome built-in audio.
From: Dell
Was: $619.99
Now: $464.99 (25% off)
The Dell S2722QC has good color accuracy, integrated speakers, and a 4K resolution with optional HDR. This 27-inch monitor also features a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz and USB-C connectivity.
Amazon Prime has a lot of benefits that donât have anything to do with free shipping or streaming The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Today, Amazon is adding yet another perk: a year of free GrubHub+ for all subscribers. That means free deliveries on food orders over $12 (which should be pretty much anything that includes a full meal). According to Amazonâs announcement, GrubHub+ delivery is available from âhundreds of thousands of restaurantsâ in more than 4,000 cities in the United States. Itâs a $10 a month value.
To activate the add-on service, youâll need to head to amazon.com/grubhub. In addition to free deliveries for most orders, Prime members will also get periodic discounts and free food offers from GrubHub. Note that one year after activation youâll be automatically enrolled in the $9.99 a month service, and that the service will end if you prematurely cancel Amazon Prime.
Tech lovers have a particular reason to sign up for Prime at the moment: Amazonâs Prime Day deal extravaganza is next week, July 12th and 13th. (Yes, Prime Day is two days, deal with it.) Be sure to check out PCWorldâs early coverage of the lead-up deals, and weâll have the best discounts available in all major categories when they land on the retailerâs site. Not a subscriber yet? Hereâs how to get Amazon Prime for free to see what all the hub-bub is about.
Prime Day, Amazonâs summer shopping event, is upon us. This eighth annual blowout of nonstop deals will start at midnight Pacific Time on July 12 and end on July 13. To take advantage of Prime Day sales, you must be a member of Amazon Prime. This service is Amazonâs $139-a-year club that offers free two-day shipping on orders, as well as a litany of frills and various promotional offers. New Prime members get a free 30-day trial, which means you can sign up, get the Prime deals, and then dump the membership before the bill comes due.
While official Prime Day is still a week away, early deals can already be found on Amazon. Keep this page bookmarked as we will add the best of Amazonâs tech-related Prime Day deals to this page on a regular basis between now and the end of the event.
From: Amazon
Was: $1,599.99
Now: $1,199.99 (25% off)
SkyTech is throwing out the pre-Prime Day deals this year! This desktop sports a Ryzen 5 3600, RTX 3060, 16GB RAM, and a 1 TB SSD. It also has a sleek black case with 3 RGB fans.
From: Amazon
Was: $3499.95
Now: $3125.89 (11% off)
Stacked with an RTX 3090, 10th Gen i9-10850K CPU, a whopping 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD, this GT13-0090 can do just about anything you want.
From: Amazon
Was: $1,099.99
Now: $999.99 (9% off)
The BenQ Mobiuz EX3210U measures 32-inches and has a resolution of 3840Ã2160 as well as a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz. It also has loads of ports and awesome built-in audio.
From: Amazon
Was: $529.99
Now: $449.99 (15% off)
The Gigabyte M27Q X has a blazing fast refresh rate of 240Hz and phenomenal color accuracy. It measures 27-inches and has a resolution of 2560Ã1440 as well as a one millisecond response time.
From: Amazon
Was: $209.99
Now: $139.99 (33% off)
Samsungâs excellent Gen 4 SSD not only snagged our Editorâs Choice award, but it claims a spot among our early Prime Day deals with a cool 33 percent discount. Thatâs an all-time low for the 1TB capacity.
From: Amazon
Was: $110.99
Now: $82.99 (25% off)
Need lots of space for a network-attached-storage unit? This 4TB Seagate IronWolf sits in a sweet spot for price and capacity, with an equally sweet price.
From: Amazon
Was: $34.99
Now: $20.49 (41% off)
Maybe youâve had to make do with the lesser Steam Deck as you wait for your place in the queue to make it to the front. (Just kidding, the Nintendo Switch is awesome.) This deal slashes the cost of a branded SD card to a near all-time low for more storage on the ultra cheap.
From: Amazon
Was: $800
Now: $750 ($50 off)
This small discount on a high-end iPad is well worth it if you need a storage boost.
From: Amazon
Was: $329
Now: $309 ($20 off)
This small discount on the base model iPad â the last one with an easy-to-use Home button â makes it even more affordable.
From: Amazon
Was: $2,499.99
Now: $1,789 (28% off)
The XPG Xenia 15 is both portable and powerful, a rare combination for a gaming laptop. Itâs rocking an Intel Core i7-11800H CPU, an RTX 3080 GPU, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and a whopping 1TB of NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD storage.
From: Amazon
Was: $399.99
Now: $279.99 (30% off)
This 360-degree convertible should play Android games comfortably with an adequate Celeron N4000 processor and B&O speakers powering them; official Google support should last through 2027.
From: Amazon
Was: $269.99
Now: $215.00 (20% off)
While the screen is a bit of a gotcha at just 768p resolution, two things work in this dealâs favor: battery life of well over 12 hours, and official support that lasts until June 2027.
From: Amazon
Was: $229.99
Now: $128.00 (44% off)
Price sells this deal, either here or a refurbished version of this Samsung Chromebook 4 for just $97; while the 768p display might be a bit of a turnoff on paper, weâll bet that it wonât matter on an 11-inch display and that youâll be happy that official support will last until June 2027.
From: Amazon
Was: $499.99
Now: $250 (50% off)
Samsungâs Chromebook Plus V2 has a solid camera, an included pen, and decent specs; support will expire in June 2024, however.
From: Amazon
Was: $129.99
Now: $109.99 (15%)
This micro-sized dash cam from one of our favorite brands Garmin, is discreet enough to fit behind a rearview mirror. It has a wide 140-degree lens that records 1080p video.
From: Amazon
Was: $199.99
Now: $169.99 (15%)
The Vantrue N2 Pro is a solid dash cam built especially for Uber or other rideshare drivers. It offers two cams in one â a front facing camera and an inside facing camera.
From: Walmart
Was: $179.99
Now: $129.49 [$50.50 off]
Walmart has a great deal on the battery-powered Nest Doorbell, which offers a 145-degree field of view, on-device people detection, and night vision.
From: Amazon
Was: $99.99
Now: $79.99 [$20 off]
As with the much pricier Nest Cam with Floodlight, the wired version of the Nest Cam offers on-device people, pet, and vehicle detection, no subscription required.
As shopping holidays go, Prime Day canât match Black Fridayâs scope, but bargain hunters can still often find a few sweet deals during this mid-year event. As in previous years, Amazon devices will be a big part of the dealsâthe company has already teased up to 55 percent off the Echo Show, Kindle Paperwhite, Ring alarm, and more, plus steep discounts on Fire TV-enabled smart TVs. But if the past predicts the future, you can safely expect solid price cuts on streaming devices, Bluetooth headsets, fitness trackers and smartwatches, mechanical keyboards, mice, and gaming headsets. Often thereâs been at least a few nice buys for laptops, desktop PCs, and Chromebooks, too.
Officially, Prime Day starts at midnight Pacific Time on July 12 and end on July 13. But Amazon is already offering discounts on many items in the lead-up to the event.
If you refer to PCWorldâs articles pointing to the best Prime Day deals, you can be assured that our editors have vetted the deals based on price history and the quality of the product. But itâs also possible for you to do background research that will help you find the best deals.
Like any retailer, Amazon mixes true deals with âsalesâ that are really just regular prices (or close to it) with a deal tag. To avoid that pitfall, look up historical prices before buying. We like Keepa.com for thisâparticularly price history graphs that you can adjust on-the-fly. CamelCamelCamel.com is also a good alternative, though not quite as robust. Both services offer price watching for specific items, too.
For example, letâs say you see a deal on the Elgato Stream Deck. Youâd type âElgato Stream Deckâ into Keepa, and find the historic pricing of that product.
Keepa says the best pricing on this macro board was $97 in January 2020, and that the highest was $190 about a year and a half ago. In the last three months, itâs hovered between $120 to $130. With that information, you have the tools to decide whether this streaming accessory is worth the current sale price.
If the sale price were $100, for example, that would be a good dealâyouâd be getting close to the lowest price ever. A $110 price tag would also still be a pretty good deal, since itâs cheaper than recent prices, which were already in a low range. The graph also shows that deals in the last year have been standard discounts, rather than anything special like a limited-time lightning deal.
Lightning Deals are limited-time deals that can offer the most bone-deep Prime Day discounts. Accordingly, the more popular ones sell out fastâlike hot-concert-tickets fast.
Amazon often teases its lightning deals in advance. If you visit the Prime Day webpage, for example, you may see a carousel of Lightning Deals. Keep scrolling through those deals, and youâll soon hit products that are on deck but havenât yet started as deals.
If you find something in those upcoming Lightning Deals youâd like to buy, thatâs the time to do historical price-checking. Then when the product goes on sale, youâll know right away if Amazonâs limited-time price is worth it.
Speaking of which, you donât have to wait around or keep an eye on the clock to know when your deals are going live. The Amazon app for Android and iOS lets you build a deals watch list and then get notifications when your deals are active.
Once youâve installed the Amazon app and signed in, go to Settings > Notifications > Your Watched & Waitlisted Deals. Activate the slider in that section. You can now add an upcoming item to your watch listâgo to the deals page in the app, find the upcoming deals youâre interested in, and tap Watch this deal.
Remember that itâs not only Amazon that offers sales on Amazon on Prime Day. Third-party Amazon marketplace sellers are also eligible to sell items at low prices. Many of these sellers are great, but sometimes there are less-than-honest brokers pushing fake or low-quality products, as The Guardian reported in April 2018.
Before you buyâeven with Lightning Dealsâtake a second to check that the seller and the product appear legitimate. We advise consumers to only buy products that come from, or are fulfilled by, Amazon. That wonât protect you from counterfeits, but if anything goes wrong, youâre 100-percent covered by Amazonâs excellent customer service. With independent third-party marketplace sellers, you have to deal with them directly and can appeal to Amazon only if that effort fails.
Check out the rest of the internet on Prime Day. With Amazon building so much hype, other retailers offer their own sales to compete. Itâs a long shot to find the exact same deals elsewhere, but itâs always worth checking online shops like Walmart, Newegg, Staples, and Best Buy for a close match.
Or better yet, check out PCWorldâs curated Prime Day articles for the best deals across all retailers.
PCWorld has be scouring both Amazon and other online retailers for early Prime Day deals. So, whether youâre interested in TVs, laptops, PC storage or other consumer tech items, chances are one of the round-ups below will have a deal of interest.
Best Prime Day TV deals
Best Prime Day laptop deals
Best Prime Day Chromebook deals
Best Prime Day SSD and storage deals
Best Prime Day monitor deals
Best Prime Day GPU deals
Best Prime Day tablet deals
Best Prime Day dash cam deals
Best Prime Day computer deals
If youâre in the market for a brand spanking new laptop, youâre in luck. Amazon Prime Day 2022 is happening on July 12 and 13, 2022. That said, you can find some awesome laptop deals ahead of the annual event.
Prime Day is a two-day event that offers epic deals on everything from computer storage and headphones to barbeque tools and pool floats. But in order to get these deals, you have to be a Prime member. If you havenât got Prime, donât worry. By signing up for the 30-day trial, you can actually get Amazon Prime for free. If hunting down the right laptop deals feels massively overwhelming, weâve got you covered.
In this article, weâll highlight a bunch of laptops that offer strong processing and graphics performance. Weâll also take things like battery life and display quality into consideration. Whether youâre a gamer or a writer, we can guide you toward the best laptop for your needs. Read on to learn more about what to expect this Prime Day.
Last year on Prime Day, we saw some great deals on everyday laptops like Chromebooks and Lenovo Ideapads. Those discounts ranged anywhere from 20 to 60 percent off. This year we expect to see solid discounts on Chromebooks and convertible laptops.
Chromebooks are perfect for students thanks to their quiet operation and rugged builds. Convertible laptops, on the other hand, are more suitable for those who regularly travel. You may even see some discounts on gaming rigs with Nvidia RTX 3070 and 3080 GPUs. Although Prime Day is an Amazon event, competing retailers like Best Buy and Walmart are having their own sales as well Weâll make sure to include those retailers in this round-up.
From: Amazon
Was: $2,499.99
Now: $1,789 (28% off)
The XPG Xenia 15 is both portable and powerful, a rare combination for a gaming laptop. Itâs rocking an Intel Core i7-11800H CPU, an RTX 3080 GPU, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and a whopping 1TB of NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD storage.
From: Walmart
Was: $549.99
Now: $379 (31% off)
With its reliable performance and robust build, the Acer Aspire 5 is a fantastic laptop for productivity. It features an Intel Core i5-1135G7 CPU, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of PCIe SSD storage.
From: Best Buy
Was: $419
Now: $243.99 (58% off)
The Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 is a great everyday laptop for students or those on a tight budget. This Chrome-OS machine has an Intel Pentium Gold 7505 processor, 4GB of DDR4 RAM, Intel UHD graphics, and 32GB of eMMC storage.
From: Amazon
Was: $929.99
Now: $843 9% off
If youâre looking for a budget gaming laptop with a massive screen, the HP Victus 16 is the way to go. The 16-inch display has a resolution of 1920x1080p and a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz.
From: Best Buy
Was: $1,649.99
Now: $1,499.99 9% off
The Asus ROG Zephryus G14 is a fantastic gaming machine that promises blazing fast performance in a tiny package. It has an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS CPU, an AMD Radeon RX 6700S GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of ultra-fast PCIe 4.0 SSD storage.
Switching to a solid-state drive is the best upgrade you can make for your PC. These wondrous devices speed up boot times, improve the responsiveness of your programs and games, and generally make your computer feel fast. But not all solid-state drives are the same. You can spend big to achieve read and write speeds that reach a whole other level, or you can find top-notch SSDs that offer solid performance without breaking the bank.
Many SSDs come in a 2.5-inch form factor and connect to your PC via the same SATA port used by a traditional hard drive. But tiny NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) âgumstickâ SSDs that fit in an M.2 connection on a modern motherboard are becoming increasingly common, along with blazing-fast PCIe 4.0 solid-state drives for compatible PCs, and youâll even find SSDs that sit on a PCIe adapter and slot into your motherboard like a graphics card or sound card. Picking the perfect SSD isnât as simple as it used to be, though excellent new drives like the SK Hynix Platinum P41 are certainly trying to achieve no-brainer upgrade status.
Thatâs the purpose of this guide. Weâve tested numerous drives to find the best SSDs for any use case, and offer our top picks below. In addition to that we give you useful information on what to look for in an SSD so you can be a more knowledgable shopper. Quick note: This roundup only covers internal solid-state drives. Check out PCWorldâs guide to the best external drives if youâre looking for a portable storage solution, such as the Samsung T7 Shieldâour newly crowned pick for the best high-performance portable SSD.
Updated 07/06/2022 To include our review of the Kingston XS2000. If youâre looking for an SSD that fits in your pocket and can store your entire media library, this ultra portable drive provides good transfer speeds and up to a whopping 4TB capacity all without breaking the bank.
Pros
Cons
If youâre looking to add some storage via a traditional 2.5-inch SATA drive rather than a tiny M.2 âgumstick,â Samsungâs spectacular 870 EVO is your best bet. Itâs the fastest SATA SSD weâve tested, itâs available in up to 4TB of capacity, and itâs exceedingly affordable given its speed. Enough said, reallyâthough Samsungâs killer Magician SSD management software and long warranty period also deserve a shout-out. The EVO series is a legend among SSDs for a reason.
That said, the SK Hynix Gold S31 is also worth considering. Itâs just a hair behind the 870 EVO in benchmarks and costs $12 less in its 1TB version, at $98. The SK drive is only available in a 1TB flavor these days, however, while the 870 EVO ranges from a 250GB model for $60 all the way up to a massive 4TB goliath for $450. Samsungâs 1TB offering costs $110.
Pros
Cons
The Samsung 870 EVO offers an intoxicating blend of performance and affordable pricing, but if you want as much capacity as possible for as cheaply as possible, consider the Crucial BX500. You can get its 1TB model for $80, a whopping $30 less than the equivalent EVO, while a 480GB version costs just $45. 240GB and 2TB versions are also available.
âWe recommend this QLC drive in the larger capacities for those who want good everyday performance for a budget price,â we said in our review. âThe smaller capacities will likely run into more slowdowns during heavy writes.â
Pros
Cons
Sure, PCIe 4.0 SSDs scream during big file transfers, but if youâre still using an older system with PCIe 3.0, upgrading to an NVMe SSD still provides substantial benefits to your PCâs speed and overall responsiveness. Better yet, you donât need to break the bank to take advantage. The PNY CS2140 is a very good daily performer, but itâs available for lowball pricesâjust $93 for a 1TB model as I write this. Thatâs partially because this drive uses your system memory to help with data caching. Itâs technically a PCIe 4.0 SSD, but its performance is fairly terrible on that front. The CS2140âs PCIe 3.0 performance is good enough to earn it this nod, however, especially given its bargain pricing.
PNYâs drive even sports a five-year warranty, though thatâs offset somewhat by low TBW ratings. All told, this drive is an outstanding choice for anyone looking to snag a solid everyday SSD at a great price. The Crucial P5 and SK Hynix Gold P31 are other solid options, though they cost about $15 to $20 more.
Pros
Cons
If youâre looking for a solid all-around PCIe 4.0 SSD, you canât go wrong with the SK Hynix Platinum P41, whose delectable mix of extreme performance and compelling pricing recently unseated Samsung 980 Proâs on this list. The Platinum P41 is just a sliver slower than the fastest second-gen PCIe 4.0 SSDs like the Corsair MP600 Pro XT, but sells for considerably less, with its 1TB flavor going for roughly the same price as the much-slower 980 Pro. Youâd never the difference in day-to-day use between the P41 and those chart-toppers, but youâll sure feel the extra $50 in your wallet.
Donât buy this if youâre only using a system with PCIe 3.0, however. Itâs still a great drive on those PCs, but not significantly better than the lower-priced competition.
Pros
Cons
The SK Hynix Platinum P41 may be the best PCIe 4.0 SSD around, but itâs far from your only option. If you want slower, but still plenty-fast PCIe 4.0 speeds for a slightly lower price, consider the Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade, which performs better than even the Samsung 980 and costs less than those SK Hynix and Samsung options in 1TB capacities, at $128 versus $150. The S70 Blade is also PlayStation 5 compatible. This is one of the best SSDs on the market, but Adataâs history of swapping out components for slower parts over the life of certain SSDs leads us to give SK Hynixâs Platinum P41 the overall nod.
Pros
Cons
Bleeding-edge PCIe 4.0 SSDs arenât quite as cheap as SATA or PCIe 3.0 NVMe drives, but weâre starting to see several models available at compelling prices now that the technology is becoming established. The best of the bunch? The Adata XPG Atom 50. Pricing rocks, at just $120 for a 1TB model, and it delivers sneaky-good performance. The Atom 50 was second-tier on our synthetic benchmarks, sure, but it tied for number one in our real-life transfer tests over PCIe 4. âThe Atom 50 is an excellent bargain and a good fit for your PC,â we said in our review.
The Atom 50 also plays nice with Sonyâs PlayStation 5, but since this drive uses your system RAM as a primary cache, performance may dip a bit on the console.
Pros
Cons
No SSD weâve seen can match Adataâs Elite SE880 for portability. Indeed, measuring in at only 2.55 inches long, 1.38 inches wide, and 0.48 inches thick, it reminds you more of a USB thumb drive than a standard SSD. It weighs a mere 1.1 ounces to boot, virtually disappearing when placed in your pocket.
The Elite SE880 is also very fast at everyday tasks. In real-world 48GB transfer tests, the drive displayed outstanding marks. However, it did lose significant ground in the longer contiguous write tests meaning photo and video pros with large files might want to look at other options. Considering the respectable transfer rates and the small form factor, the Elite SE880 is a great pick for those looking to take their SSD on the go.
Pros
Cons
The Kingston XS2000 sits in the Goldilocks zone of SSDsâit might not be the smallest, fastest, or largest capacity drive, but it scores above average on most of these categories. It is small enough to fit in your pocket and with up to 4TB in capacity, it comes with considerably more storage than any other ultra-portable drive out there right now.
The Kingston XS2000 also has data transfer rates of up to 20Gbps, which isnât lightning quick, but it beats the 10Gbps competitor portable drives. Overall, this super small, affordable, and fast enough SSD is a solid product, especially if you have a lot of data you need to carry around with you.
Pros
Cons
âConsidering the Corsair MP600 Pro XTâs tantalizing combination of price, performance, and features an Editorâs Choice award was no-brainer,â we said in our review. âHighly recommended.â This âabsolute barn-burnerâ of an SSD hangs with and sometimes bests the fastest drives weâve ever tested, for a considerably lower price than its fellow hot-rod rivals. It comes with a five-year warranty that guarantees hundreds of written terabytes before failure. And if you want to get fancy, thereâs even a version designed to plug into the liquid-cooling setup of exotic PCs, for a minimal markup.
We canât find much to complain about. Youâll need a modern PC (from the last two or three years) with PCIe 4.0 support to unlock those face-melting speeds, however, and this sort of cutting-edge performance doesnât come cheap. The 1TB version of the Corsair MP600 Pro XT will set you back $200, while 2TB and 4TB offerings go for $300 and $800, respectively.
As far as alternatives go, the Kingston KC3000 and Seagate FireCuda 530 both deliver face-melting performance on par with Corsairâs drive. That said, Seagateâs drive costs quite a bit more, while the KC3000 is only officially available through Kingstonâs website. The MP600 Pro XTâs wider availability helps it earn our top recommendation.
Be aware of what NVMe drives deliver before you buy in. Standard SATA SSDs already supercharge boot times and loading times for PCs, and for a whole lot cheaper. Youâll get the most use from NVMe drives, be it in a M.2 form factor like the Samsung 980 Pro or a PCIe drive, if you routinely transfer data, especially in large amounts. If you donât do that, NVMe drives arenât worth the price premium.
Whether youâre looking for a laptop for gaming or programming, youâve come to the right place. Weâre combing the web daily to find the best laptop deals. However, not all advertised laptop deals are actual deals, so weâre only including the ones we consider true bargainsâand weâll explain why. Right now, weâre seeing strong discounts on gaming laptops, Microsoft Surface devices, Chromebooks, and more. Weâve also got some handy laptop shopping tips at the end of this post. Read on to learn more.
From: Best Buy
Was: $1,649.99
Now: $1,499.99 ($150 off)
Asus
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is both lightweight and powerful. Thatâs a rare combination in the gaming laptop world. It weighs about three and a half pounds, which really ups the portability factor. Most gaming rigs tip the scales at five or six pounds. This specific model is packing an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS CPU, an AMD Radeon RX 6700S GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. The 14-inch display has a resolution of 2560Ã1600, a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, and it tops out at 500 nits. Overall, this is fantastic machine that promises zippy gaming performance in a tiny package.
See the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 at Best Buy
From: Amazon
Was: $849.99
Now: $621.70 (27% off)
Lenovo
The Lenovo Flex 5 is a great option for a student on a tight budget. It has an AMD Ryzen 5 5500U CPU, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD storage, and integrated Radeon graphics. Itâs the perfect machine for everyday tasks like browsing the web, checking e-mail, watching YouTube, writing papers, and working on presentations. The 14-inch LCD display has a resolution of 1920Ã1080 and is touch-enabled.
The Flex is also a convertible, which really ramps up the versatility. This means you can prop it up like a tent or rotate the screen all the way around and use it like a tablet. Itâs a little heavy at five pounds, but thatâs really the only knock we have against this machine. This is a solid system going for a very good discount price.
See the Lenovo Flex 5 at Amazon
From: Best Buy
Was: $1,899.99
Now: $1,749.99 ($150 off)
Dell
If youâve been jonesing for a proper gaming machine, the Alienware x14 will surely fit the bill. The biggest selling point is that itâs shockingly thin and portable for a gaming rig, weighing a little over four pounds. Most gaming laptops tip the scales at five or six pounds, or even higher. As for the internals, itâs packing a very capable amount of power. It features an Intel Core i7-12700H CPU, an RTX 3060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. The 14-inch display has a resolution of 1920Ã1080 and a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz.
When we reviewed a higher tier version of this laptop in June, we gave it three and a half stars. While we liked the reliable performance and lightweight form factor, we werenât huge fans of the near-constant fan noise and the cramped keyboard. That said, fan noise is common with gaming laptops. You can also plug into an external keyboard for a more spacious layout. Nitpicks aside, we really dig this rig. If youâre looking for solid gaming performance and portability, the Alienware x14 is a great pick.
See the Alienware x14 at Best Buy
Acer
From: Newegg
Was: $529.99
Now: $459.99 ($70 off)
If youâre looking for a nice productivity laptop, the Acer Swift 3 is a solid buy. It has a 13.5-inch 2256Ã1504 resolution display with a 3:2 aspect ratio. Thatâs more square resolution than the typical 16:9, which adds more height to the display and is nice when working on documents. It also has an Intel Core i5-1135G7 with four cores, eight threads, and a boost to 4.2GHz. RAM is 8GB and onboard storage is a 512GB NVMe SSD. Overall, this is a good laptop, especially for general use tasks like video streaming and web browsing.
See the Acer Swift 3 at Newegg
Acer
From: Amazon
Was: $321.29
Now: $289.99 ($31.30 off)
We already have a similar model from the same series available in this roundup, but this one is a little cheaper and swaps a Ryzen 3 APU for an Intel Core i3 processor. This version of the Acer Aspire A5 still has a 15.6-inch 1080p display, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of onboard NVMe storage. Itâs also rocking Windows 11 Home in S Mode. You can do a one-way switch to regular Windows 11 Home if you prefer, but you may not want to given the CPU.
The big difference is the processor. This model has the Intel âTiger Lakeâ Core i3-1115G4, which has two cores, four threads, and a boost to 4.1GHz. Thatâs good enough for casual uses like web browsing, video streaming, and so on. It would likely struggle as a productivity laptop, but for someone with light computing requirements, it offers a nice size screen at a solid price.
See the Acer Aspire A5-515-56-36UT at Amazon
Lenovo
From: Lenovo via eBay
Was: $769.99
Now: $509.99 ($260 off)
The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15 is a solid productivity and casual computing laptop. This laptop features a Ryzen 5 5625U with six cores, twelve threads, and a boost to 4.3GHz. It has a whopping 16GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage. The display is also 15.6 inches with 1080p resolution.
Lenovoâs bundled three free months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with this laptop. Thatâs an odd choice, especially because this machine only has integrated graphics and no discrete GPU. Still, if you have a console or want to play some older games that wonât tax the integrated GPU, itâll work out nicely.
See the Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15 at eBay
Lenovo
From: Best Buy
Was: $139
Now: $99 ($40 off)
Sometimes deal hunting means making compromises to take advantage of those incredible prices. This is one of those. The Lenovo Chromebook 3 features an 11.6-inch display with a 1366-by-768 resolution. We try not to recommend anything below 1080p, but given the screen size and the fact that itâs well under $100, this is fair value for that resolution. It also has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. Thatâs plenty for a Chromebook. The processor is Intelâs Celeron N4020, another good choice for the minimal requirements of a Chromebook.
This laptop will also run Linux apps as well as Android apps from Google Play. This Chromebook will also continue to get updates until June 2027.
See the Lenovo Chromebook 3 11 at Best Buy
Lenovo
From: Walmart
Was: $1,029.99
Now: $749 ($280.99 off)
This is a nice gaming laptop at a solid price. Itâs packing the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, a 1080p graphics card. With this you should be able to play most games on medium to high with a jump to ultra on older games.
The processor is the Intel âComet Lakeâ Core i5-10500H, which has six cores, twelve threads, and a boost to 4.5GHz. Itâs an older processor, but still fast enough for gaming. As for RAM, itâs 8GB and onboard storage is 256GB. This is still considered a budget gaming rig, but for $100 extra you get an upgraded GPU.
See the LG Lenovo Legion 5i at Walmart
Acer
From: Walmart
Was: $549
Now: $479 ($70 off)
You donât often find a laptop deal with an Intel Alder Lake CPU, which is why we decided to highlight this specific sale. The Acer Aspire 3 features Intelâs Core i5-1235U with eight efficiency cores and two performance cores with HyperThreading for a total of 12 threads and a maximum boost to 4.4GHz. It also has 8GB of RAM, a 15.6-inch display with 1080p resolution, 256GB of onboard storage, Intel Iris Xe graphics, and itâs running Windows 11 Home.
See the Acer Aspire 3 at Walmart
Gigabyte
From: Best Buy
Was: $1,199
Now: $949 ($250 off)
Best Buy is back with another version of a Gigabyte gaming laptop. This one features a 15.6-inch display with 1080p resolution, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of onboard SSD storage. The processor is a Ryzen 5 5600H, a step down from the Ryzen 7 in the last laptop (though this one is $100 cheaper). The GPU is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, which offers no compromises 1080p gamingâmeaning it will meet or exceed 60 frames-per-second in most games. This is an excellent price for a very good 1080p gaming machine.
See the Gigabyte A5 K1 at Best Buy
Lenovo
From: Walmart
Was: $699
Now: $399 ($300 off)
Weâve already got an IdeaPad 3i in the round-up, but this model is different enough that itâs worth a look on its own. The somewhat older Core i5-10210U has four cores, eight threads, and a boost to 4.2GHz. Still, itâs a solid processor for an everyday work machine. Itâs also packing 8GB of RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD. Thatâs a big difference compared to the other 3i, which has a hard drive. This model has a slightly smaller screen at 14-inches, but the resolution is 1080p, which is all well and good. Itâs also running Windows 11 Home.
See the Lenovo IdeaPad 3i at Walmart
Acer
From: Amazon
Was: $399.99
Now: $349.99 (13% off)
If youâre looking for a solid everyday laptop, youâve come to the right place. The Acer Aspire 5 features a 15.6-inch 1080p display, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of onboard SSD storage. The processor is a Ryzen 3 3350U, which has four cores, four threads, and a maximum boost to 3.5GHz. Itâs packed with modern features like Wi-Fi 6, a backlit keyboard, and a fingerprint reader for biometric logins. Acer starts this laptop off with Windows 11 in S mode, but thereâs no reason not to do a one-way upgrade to full Windows 11. This is being sold by a third-party retailer, but Amazon is handling shipping, which means it falls under the companyâs return policy.
See the Acer Aspire 5 A515 at Amazon
Asus
From: Walmart
Was: $749
Now: $599
If youâre into creative work, the Asus Vivobook Pro 14 is a fantastic option. This laptop has a 14-inch 2880-by-1800 OLED display with a 16:10 aspect ratio. OLED screens are great, so you can expect a sharper image. The Vivobook is also packing a Core i5-1330H, a Tiger Lake CPU with four cores, eight threads, and a boost to 4.4GHz. Thereâs even 8GB of RAM, which is a good amount for some video editing. Onboard storage is a 256GB NVMe SSD, and youâre getting Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.0.
This is a nice laptop with a very good display, but for storage youâll likely have to rely mostly on the cloud. Speaking of which, you also get a free, three month subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud as part of the package.
See the Asus Vivobook Pro 14 K3400 at Walmart
Mark Hachman/IDG
From: Walmart
Was: $929.99
Now: $599 ($330.99 off)
If youâre looking for a well designed Windows tablet, thereâs no beating Microsoftâs Surface line and this Walmartâs sale offers an excellent bargain. This version of the Surface Pro 7+ comes with a Core i3 processor, 128GB of onboard storage, 8GB of RAM, and a black Type Cover. We reviewed the Surface Pro 7+ in early 2021, giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars and an Editorsâ Choice Award. We called it âthe most potent upgrade Microsoftâs Surface Pro line has offered in years.â
See the Surface Pro 7+ at Walmart
If youâve shopped online before for laptop deals youâre probably aware that thereâs a vast range of laptop configurations available.
A good place to start is with the processor. Buy laptops with Intel 10-series Core chips or higher, such as the Core i5-10510U, or the Core i7-11800H (for even more details see our Intel 10th-gen mobile CPU buying guide); or go with an AMD Ryzen processor (but not an AMD Athlon or A-series chip). Avoid laptops with Pentium or Celeron processors unless itâs a Chromebook (running Chrome OS). Youâre going to need to pay attention with gaming laptops, too, as some GPUs, like the RTX 3050 Ti, donât offer much boost over their RTX 2xxx-series cousins, and Nvidia has dropped the Max-Q designation on certain low-power options. Our laptop CPU and GPU cheat sheet can help you shop smart.
Display resolution is a gotcha. If you see a laptop labeled as âHDâ resolution that means 1366-by-768 and often isnât worth your time for a laptop under 13 inches unless the deal is absolutely standout. What you want is âFull HDâ or âFHD,â which means 1080p.
Donât buy laptops with under 4GB of RAM or 128GB of SSD storageâthough on a Chromebook, this configuration is acceptable. We have more explanation in our laptops versus Chromebooks buying guide, as well as in our primer on how to buy a budget laptop without getting screwed. Also watch out for eMMC storage, which is something we donât recommend for a Windows laptop but works fine for a Chromebook.
Reviews can be helpful. Even if you canât find a review of a specific configuration, try related models. Theyâll often give you a good idea of the build quality and performance. Also buy from brands you trust. Amazonâs daily laptop deals right now are full of brands weâve never tested or talked to (Broage, Teclast, DaySky, Jumper) and itâs just a good idea to be wary.
Most older laptops will run Windows 10, and thatâs fineâthereâs no rush to upgrade. Windows 10 in S Mode, though annoying, can be switched out of easily if you find it on a budget laptop. If you want to buy a Windows 10 PC with the intent of upgrading it to Windows 11, we recommend you start here with a list of older laptops that are Windows 11-eligible.
Updated on July 6 with additional deals, and to remove expired deals.
In the world of bleeding-edge Windows Insider preview builds, there are two groups of people: haves and have-nots. Microsoft is now bringing that dual nature beyond the Dev Channel to the more stable Beta Channel, while explicitly telling you which group you fall into.
Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.290 and 22622.290 for the Beta Channel is nothing that special. In fact, the new builds just bring the AI-driven âsuggested actionsâ of Mayâs Dev Channel release into the Beta Channel, which is a step removed from the Release Preview Channel.
What Dev Channel testers know, however, are that the features that Microsoft âreleasesâ in the Dev Channel arenât always available to those who download them. Usually, Microsoft splits the release up into two groups, only one of which actually gets to test the new features. And you never know which group youâll end up in. Now that split nature is coming to Windows 11 beta build as well, but with signposts.
The two new releases signal the âhavesâ and the âhave-nots.â Build 22622.290 indicates that youâll receive the new features, and Build 22621.290 signals that you will not. The key, as our highlighting indicates, is the fifth digit: â2â means that youâll have access to the new features. If you donât have access to the new features, however, Microsoft is also saying that you can download the build that does, by checking for updates within the Windows Update section of the Settings menu.
Thereâs only one problem. Microsoft is also reserving the right to wait to turn on the new features, even in the build version that is supposed to receive them. And the companyâs blog post reveals that ânot all features will be immediately turned on with this update as we plan to roll them out and monitor feedback and see how they land before pushing them out to more Insiders.â
Microsoft is therefore apparently announcing that youâll be able to override Microsoftâs choice of whether youâll be able to test out new features, but that Microsoft will be able to override your choice of when you receive those features, as the company is using this split path to âhelp us validate our ability to release updates with features turned off by default.â Living on the bleeding edge of Windows can sure be hectic.
If youâre looking for a gaming laptop thatâs both portable and powerful, then youâre in luck. Best Buy is selling the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 for $1,499.99. Thatâs a savings of $150. This laptop has a lot of goodies baked into it, which is super exciting.
When we reviewed a slightly different configuration of this model, we gave it a sterling 4.5 star rating and an Editorâs Choice award. We loved the blazing fast CPU and GPU performance and its compact form factor. It weighs about three and a half pounds, which is surprisingly light for a gaming laptop. The backlighting on the keyboard is less-than-stellar, but thatâs a super minor nitpick.
The Zephyrus G14, specifically this one at Best Buy, comes packing an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS CPU and an AMD Radeon RX 6700S GPUâa very capable duo ready to blow through games and productivity workloads alike. It has 16GB of RAM and a huge 1TB of ultra-fast PCIe 4.0 SSD storage. The 14-inch display has a resolution of 2560Ã1600 and a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. The display also tops out at 500 nits, which is pretty darn bright.
Overall, this is a fantastic gaming laptop that promises exceptional performance, and today you can get it for a lot less than usual.
[Todayâs deal: Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 at Best Buy]
Are you looking for an affordable gaming monitor? If so, weâve got an excellent deal for you today. Best Buy is selling the LG 24-inch IPS FreeSync monitor for $119.99, which is a savings of $80 and well below the usual $200. Itâs a great size for esports and gaming in smaller spaces. Letâs check out the specs, shall we?
The LG monitor has a resolution of 1920Ã1080, a maximum refresh rate of 75Hz, and a five millisecond response time. Itâs an LCD panel with an aspect ratio of 16:9 and the viewing angle is 178-degrees. This monitor is also packing FreeSync (AMD Adaptive Sync) as well, which helps reduce any screen tearing or annoying stuttering when paired with a compatible Radeon or GeForce graphics card. For ports, youâve got one VGA and two HDMI.
If youâve been looking for a secondary monitor or something for a smaller space, then this LG is definitely worth picking up at this price.
[Todayâs deal: LG 24-inch LED FHS FreeSync monitor at Best Buy]
Being the victim of phone hacking is a nightmare. The worst case of phone hacking is that the threat actor gains access to your online accounts, such as your social media, email, online shopping accounts, or worse, your banking information. This would force you to go through the headache of changing a ton of passwords, having to lock your credit, contacting your bank and online shopping vendors (Amazon, eBay, etc.), and trying to pinpoint everything else the hacker had access to.
Itâs always better to be proactive instead of reactive. Donât wait until you get hacked to care about your privacy and security. Take steps to protect yourself now.
Here are eight simple precautions you can take to remain safe and secure from would-be hackers.
When people think of getting hacked, the first thing that comes to mind is someone in a remote location executing a bunch of code to gain access to your device. This may sometimes be true, but the reality can sometimes be much more boring than that. Hacking simply means someone gains unauthorized access to data on your device. This means that if someone gets physical access to your phone and accesses your data without your consent, then by definition, youâve been hacked.
Your mobile deviceâs first line of defense is your passcode lock or face or touch ID. While this technology isnât 100 percent foolproof, having a password or other authentication measure enabled will certainly keep a large percentage of people out if they somehow get a hold of your phone. While it may seem like a minor inconvenience to add a lock on your phone, itâs nothing compared to the inconvenience of being hacked.
Keeping frequent backups of your phone is good for several reasons. Even if your phone doesnât get lost or stolen, having a complete backup of your phone makes the transition to a new phone so much easier.
But, if your phone does get lost or stolen, you can wipe the data on that phone remotely while having the peace of mind that you still have access to all of your data. Remember, if you donât have at least three copies of your data, then your data doesnât really exist. Hereâs how to back up your iPhone, and your Android phone.
In general, itâs best not to store passwords or other sensitive information, such as credit card details or personally identifying information, on your phone. If your phone gets hacked and the threat actor has access to that information, it will cause more than just a headacheâit could completely destroy your credit and drain your bank account.
If you do want to store passwords on your phone, make sure youâre using a password manager. If youâre tight on cash, you can even get one for free. Password managers require a master password to access all of your account credentials, so create a strong master password and make it something you can remember. Most importantly, donât store that master password on your phone.
This mostly applies to Android users, as Appleâs app-vetting process is much stricter than Googleâs. Additionally, you can download third-party apps with Android, allowing for the potential to download a malicious app.
Also, be mindful of what permissions you grant apps. Some apps request access to your camera, microphone, photos, etc. While some apps obviously have legit uses for this, it opens you up for fraud if you mindlessly give access to everything that just any app requests.
While it can be easy to postpone updates, a lot of these updates provide critical security patches and/or enhancements. If there are known vulnerabilities in an OS or app, you can bet that threat actors are going to take advantage of them. Keeping your apps and phone systems up to date will keep you one step ahead of the would-be hackers.
Additionally, if youâre not actively using an app, itâs good practice to delete them.
Two-Factor Authentication, also called 2FA, is an authentication method that enhances the security of your accounts. Instead of just requiring a password to get into your account, youâll need to provide a secondary method of identity verification.
2FA comes in many forms, such as SMS, authenticator apps, Bluetooth, and even physical security keys. Each type of 2FA provides a varying level of security. Understanding the fundamentals will help you decide which method is best for your situation. When it comes to your phone, though, you really canât beat a physical security key.
When browsing the web on public Wi-Fi, always use a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN masks your IP and encrypts any data you send, making it difficult for threat actors to intercept or understand. This makes doing things like purchasing something online a bit more secure. But that just means they canât access your personal information. Can they actually hack your phone if youâre not using a VPN? Yes.
Without a VPN, your IP address is out there in the open. One method of hacking, known as Remote Hacking, is when a threat actor gains access to your IP address and uses it as a backdoor into your smartphone (or any other device you may be using). With a VPN, youâre using the IP address of the VPN server youâre connected to instead of your deviceâs real IP address, protecting you from remote hacking.
In the unfortunate event that your phone does get hacked or stolen, itâs important to have a plan in place so that you can quickly neutralize any damage the hacker may be able to do to you.Â
First, donât wait to learn how to remotely wipe your phone until your phone gets stolen. The quicker you wipe your information, the better. Once youâve wiped the phone, itâs now time to locate it. You can use iPhoneâs Find my iPhone or Googleâs Android Device Manager to find your device even after youâve wiped the phone or if itâs been factory reset by the thief/hacker.
The next thing you want to do is contact your local authorities to report the theft. Be thorough in your description to the police, and take note of any important information that you may later need to report to your insurance company of phone manufacturer, such as the officer assigned to your case, the case number, and so on. If your phone was hacked but you still have physical access to the phone, you can report the crime to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) if youâre US-based.
If you believe the hacker may have had access to your personal information, such as banking or credit card information, immediately contact your bank to freeze your account and all associated cards to prevent any unauthorized purchases. Also, freeze or lock your credit so that the threat actor canât open any accounts in your name.
Lastly, take a deep breath. Everything is going to be ok.
[Further reading: What to do when your laptop is stolen (and how to prepare for it)]
Your computer monitor is easily among the most important peripherals on your desk. You spend all day staring at it, after all. Yet most people donât spring to upgrade it until their old monitor is on deathâs door. Thatâs understandable â monitors arenât as exciting as a new, ray-tracing capable video card or sixteen-core CPU â but, if your monitor is more than five years old, itâs time to give an upgrade some serious thought. You could be missing out on a massive boost in image quality.
The best reason to upgrade your monitor is the most obvious: it will look much, much better.
Resolution is the most noticeable improvement. Asus introduced the first 4K monitor in 2013 at a jaw-dropping $5,000 price tag. Since then, pricing has slowly come down, making it possible to snag a good 4K monitor, like the Dell S2721QS, for about $300 to $400 when you find a nice sale.
The improved resolution makes everything from the Windows desktop to 3D games look crisp and fresh. Small fonts are easy to read and, thanks to improvements in Windowsâ scaling options, itâs now easy to find a comfortable UI scale even on high-resolution displays.
And thereâs more to it than 4K. The general increase in resolution has slashed the price of monitors with 2,560 x 1,440 resolution, which are now widely available starting around $250. This is a great resolution for a 27-inch monitor and ideal if you want to snag other modern features, like a high refresh rate or USB-C (which Iâll explain soon) on a modest budget.
Matt Smith
Thereâs also a whole new category of ultrawide monitors, most of which have 3,440 x 1,440 resolution (which is about equal in sharpness to a widescreen at 2,560 x 1,440). The added display space is perfect for productivity and looks fantastic in modern 3D games.
Brightness, contrast, and color performance have all improved, as well. Iâve seen this improvement first-hand as Iâve reviewed and tested PC and laptop displays over the past decade.
From: Amazon
Was: $3499.95
Now: $3125.89 (11% off)
Stacked with an RTX 3090, 10th Gen i9-10850K CPU, a whopping 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD, this GT13-0090 can do just about anything you want.
From: Adorama
Was: $1,799.99
Now: $1,599.99 (11% off)
This CyberPowerPC comes loaded with an Intel Core i7-11700KF CPU, a respectable 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and a GeForce RTX 3060. While hardcore gamers might be looking for a more top-end GPU, the 3060 should be able to handle most game settings on high and the 1TB SSD and 16GB RAM will keep your loading times down to a minimum.
Amazonâs summer version of Black Friday is just around the corner, and when Prime Day sales begin on July 12, they should bring juicy price drops on PC hardware. Prime Day SSD and storage deals in particular were a highlight in previous yearsâand you can already snag early discounts starting right now.
To shop, youâll need an Amazon Prime subscription, as this torrent of bargains is only available to members, but getting Amazon Prime for free is easy. If the deals below donât grab your attention just yet, stay tuned. Weâll keep updating this article in the run up to July 12 and July 13. In the meanwhile, prepare yourself by learning how to navigate Prime Day lightning deals, and reading up on all you need to know about Amazon Prime Day 2022.
In the past, the sweetest SSD deals have been on 500GB and 1TB SATA and PCIE 3.0 drives. Discounts should hit that area again, but this year is already hinting at better prices on 2TB and PCIe 4.0 drivesâSK Hynix already dropped the price on its brand-new P41 just last week. Keep an eye out for bargains on high-capacity hard-disk drives (HDD) in the 6TB to 12TB range too, as well as huge markdowns on flash drives and SD cards.
In general, Prime Day doesnât match Black Friday in scope, but the good deals that surface match or get very close to Novemberâs deep cuts. These days, other retailers also put up their own rival sales to lure shoppers. Weâll be monitoring those, too.
What remains unknown is if Prime Day will limp by (as it has a few times), which some news outlets have predicted, or if itâll still unveil at least a few exciting deals. We donât anticipate zero worthwhile discounts, however, even given the current economy. Please note that deals come and go, and weâll do our best to keep this article fresh with the latest information.
From: Amazon
Was: $198.99
Now: $169.14 (15% off)
One of our favorite PCIe 3.0 SSDs is back to an all-time low price for the 2TB version. Donât need that much space? The 1TB version is extremely close to its all-time low, tooâless than $1 more.
From: Amazon
Was: $149.99
Now: $127.49 (15% off)
The 1TB version of SK Hynixâs brand-new, blistering fast PCIe 4.0 drive takes its first price cut, a whole week in advance of Prime Day 2022. Itâs possible it could drop a little more during Prime Day proper, but this is still an excellent discount.
From: Amazon
Was: $209.99
Now: $139.99 (33% off)
Samsungâs excellent Gen 4 SSD not only snagged our Editorâs Choice award, but it claims a spot among our early Prime Day deals with a cool 33 percent discount. Thatâs an all-time low for the 1TB capacity.
From: Amazon
Was: $259.99
Now: $189.99 (27% off)
We loved Samsungâs affordable SATA drive when we reviewed it, and the high-capacity 2TB drive is at last at an all-time low in the run up to Prime Day 2022.
From: Amazon
Was: $110.99
Now: $82.99 (25% off)
Need lots of space for a network-attached-storage unit? This 4TB Seagate IronWolf sits in a sweet spot for price and capacity, with an equally sweet price.
From: Amazon
Was: $34.99
Now: $20.49 (41% off)
Maybe youâve had to make do with the lesser Steam Deck as you wait for your place in the queue to make it to the front. (Just kidding, the Nintendo Switch is awesome.) This deal slashes the cost of a branded SD card to a near all-time low for more storage on the ultra cheap.
Amazon sells more stuff than any other company on the planet. And one of the things that it sells the most of is tablets, specifically its own branded Fire tablets. So, when Amazonâs yearly celebration of consumerism begins, you can bet there will be plenty of Prime Day deals on tablets, especially low-price Android ones. With a little work, you might be able to find a rare discount on an iPad, too. Prime Day 2022 is scheduled for July 12th and 13th.
Itâs become customary for Amazonâs big competitors like Best Buy, Newegg, and even secondary markets like eBay to offer huge deals on Prime Day as well, so weâll be taking a peek across the fence to find the best discounts. For the best deals at Amazon itself, make sure youâre subscribed to Prime (or get it for free if you arenât) and keep an eye on the front page lightning deals.
Amazon will absolutely have discounts available on some, if not all, of its latest generation Kindle Fire tablets, as well as the e-ink Kindle digital book readers and accessories for same. But since Amazon also sells, well, pretty much everything, youâll be able to find discounts on tablets from other brands too. Low-end tablets from brands like Samsung and Lenovo are frequent targets for discounts, as are some full-sized Windows machines. Appleâs iPads, usually very hard to find discounted, will sometimes get a small discount, but youâre more likely to find deals on iPad accessories.
In the lead-up to Prime Day, you can expect to find a few deals from both Amazon vendors and their competitors. Weâve collected the best that we can findâsome of them might be even cheaper than the ones you find on Prime Day itself. Please note: Deals come and go quickly, and weâll do our best to keep this article updated with the best information.
At the time of writing, there are no discounts available on the latest generation Kindle Fire tablets: the Fire 7, Fire HD 8, Fire HD 8 Plus, Fire HD 10, and Fire HD 10 Plus. We expect significant deals on some or all of these models, including the âKidsâ variants, as Prime Day 2022 approaches.
From: Amazon
Was: $50
Now: $30 $20 off
The already dirt-cheap 2019 version of Amazonâs Fire 7 is already one of the least expensive tablets on the market, but during this sale itâs less than a sit-down meal for two.
From: Best Buy
Was: $1250
Now: $900 ($350 off)
This mid-range Surface Pro comes with a keyboard (not always included!) and is more than $300 off the retail price.
From: eBay
Was: $530
Now: $355 ($175 off)
This eBay deal is for an âopen boxâ tablet, but you canât argue with a triple-digit discount on one of Samsungâs most powerful models.
From: Walmart
Was: $530
Now: $470 $60 off
If all you need is the tablet with a shocking amount of power, Walmart has a deal â the price appears once the item is in your cart.
From: Amazon
Was: $329
Now: $309 ($20 off)
This small discount on the base model iPad â the last one with an easy-to-use Home button â makes it even more affordable.
From: Walmart
Was: $600
Now: $559 ($40 off)
This modest deal on the latest iPad Air comes in a variety of colors, and extends to higher-capacity models.
From: Amazon
Was: $800
Now: $750 ($50 off)
This small discount on a high-end iPad is well worth it if you need a storage boost.
The best Prime Day TV deals donât necessarily have to occur on Prime Day, Amazonâs two-day sale that takes place on July 12 and 13, 2022. Below weâve rounded up the best TV discounts in anticipation of Prime Day itself, focusing on Amazon deals, as well as deals from other retailers.
Remember, youâll need to sign up for Amazon Prime (for free) to take advantage of Amazonâs best TV sales. You should also read our primer on how to plan for Amazonâs lightning deals.
While youâll find some top-notch TV deals on Prime Day proper, the smart shopper will start looking before Prime Day even begins. Unsure of where to start? Read TechHiveâs introduction to TV terminology, which can teach you how to wade through the jargon and help find the best Prime Day TV deals.
Itâs no secret that Prime Dayâs best TV deals will feature models with hooks into Amazon, right? Itâs almost a given that Amazonâs own Fire TVs will be discounted on Prime Day, and any TVs that include Amazon Alexa support should get a prime spot on Prime Day, too. Last year, for example, Insigniaâs now-discontinued 43-inch 4K Fire TV Edition TV was on sale for $219, or 31 percent off.
Weâd expect similar TV deals for this Prime Dayâanything with âFire TV Editionâ in its name will likely be on sale, and last year that included TVs from Insignia and Toshiba. In fact, connected TVs (or anything that can connect to Prime Video) did well on Prime Day last year, with TV deals extended to Samsung Smart TVs (20 percent off) and TCL (25 percent to 30 percent off). Again, weâd expect more of the same.
What should you look out for? Upgrades. If you own a 1080p TV, keep an eye out for 4K TV deals. Since 4K TVs are nearly ubiquitous, pricing should be interesting: Inflation will certainly play a role, but manufacturers still want to clear their shelves of older inventory.
Unlike a laptop, however, you probably wonât care if youâre buying the latest and greatest. OLED displays, with the deep blacks and sharp contrast ratio, usually command a premium⦠but not always. Pay attention to TVs that offer local dimming, as those are the technologies that help HDR TVs look their best. And, of course, size matters, so watch out for those sudden lightning deals on big-screen TVs.
As you can see, Prime Day sales are already in effect. All of the Fire TV deals below are at all-time low prices. While the TCL smart TV isnât quite at an all-time low price, itâs close.
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