With Christmas drawing ever closer, it’s more than time to start crossing some names off of your gift-buying list. But procrastination doesn’t have to mean overspending: There are some very good deals on smartwatches to be found right now—from brands like Garmin, Fitbit, Apple, and Google—that will still arrive in time for Christmas.

These watches are at historic low prices right now, so order soon if you want to get one under the tree by Christmas morning.

The Garmin Forerunner 745, for the triathlete on your list

The Garmin Forerunner 745 is a great smartwatch for those very outdoor and active people who like to do a variety of sports, including biking, track running, triathlon mode, swimming, etc. It also has preloaded workout suggestions based on your activity. It has a seven-day battery life, and it can sync to streaming services like Amazon Music, Deezer, and Spotify. You can also pay using Garming Pay if they want to leave their wallet at home.

The Garmin Forerunner 745 was originally priced at $499 when it was released in 2020, but you can get it now for its lowest price yet: $269.99 at Amazon.

The Fitbit Versa 4, for those who want to monitor their energy levels

The Fitbit Versa 4 is more user-friendly and better at tracking sleep and energy levels than the Garmin Forerunner 745. If you know your targeted giftee is into monitoring their sleep, tracking their energy levels throughout the day, or having their heart rate or blood pressure monitored, the Fitbit Versa 4 will fit their wrist. It has six-day battery life, Bluetooth connectivity to take calls and texts from your wrist, and even support for Google Maps (only for Android users).

The Fitbit Versa 4 was originally $229.99 when it was released in the fall of 2022, but you can get it now for its lowest price ever, $149.95 from Amazon.

The Apple Watch Ultra, for the discriminating Apple user

The Apple Watch Ultra is Apple’s flagship line of smartwatches. The first generation Ultra was recently eclipsed by the Apple Watch Ultra 2, released this past September. The Ultra 2 doesn’t offer that much of an improvement in terms of functionality, so if you want to gift a pricey, full-featured watch but don’t mind a (slightly) older model, it’s a good time to grab the original Ultra: It’s currently $639 from Best Buy, ts lowest price yet according to Honey’s price history, and $20 cheaper than Amazon.

For the Googler on your list

If you have someone on your list in the Google ecosystem, the Google Pixel Watch is a safe bet. Google’s first smartwatch came two years after they acquired Fitbit, in the form of the Google Pixel Watch, released in 2022. It was recently succeeded by the Pixel Watch 2, but there isn’t that much of a difference in features to warrants the big difference in price.

You can get the Google Pixel Watch for $199.99 from Amazon right now; that’s the lowest price it has reached—matching what it sold for on Black Friday, according to Camelcamelcamel’s price history.

Recommended products:

These smartwatches at at all-time low prices and will arrive by Christmas (if you act fast).

Garmin Forerunner 745 $269.99

Fitbit Versa 4 $149.95

Apple Watch Ultra $639

Google Pixel Watch $199.99

Source: LifeHacker – The Best Deals on Smartwatches That Will Arrive in Time for Christmas

After having the same Apple Watch for six years, I was recently moved to upgrade to a newer model—partly because newer versions simply have more features, partly because I am curious about my bodily processes, and also because I am an impulsive spender convinced that every new purchase will be the one that brings me to the precipice of pure wellness. In the week that I’ve had my fancy new doodad, I have not become a paragon of perfect health, but I have gained some insights into my activity levels and, importantly, my sleeping habits. I am a firm believer in over-preparing for luxurious sleep sessions, so I wanted to see if the data my watched gleaned from my body overnight backed up my insistence that better sleep is possible through investments in things like fancy pillow sprays and silky sheets.

What the Apple Watch measures overnight

The Apple Watches you get nowadays come preloaded with a Sleep app that will estimate the amount of time you spend in REM, core sleep, and deep sleep, provided you wear your device when you hop in the sheets. It’s important to know that you have to pre-define your sleep schedule within the app for this to work; it doesn’t necessarily magically detect that you’ve gone to bed. I set mine to be from 1 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. after some internal debate about whether I wanted to lie to it (which would be useless) or be honest about what kind of person I am and when I actually go to bed. To get data from the watch, you also need to give it at least four hours of sleep to work with per night. You can set separate schedules for weekdays, weekends, or any other days you have special requirements or schedules.

When you wake up every day, the watch will figure out that you’re up and at ‘em and halt sleep monitoring. Then, you can see a little chart that estimates how long you were in each sleep phase. The sleep phases are defined like this: 

• REM is the phase where you’re dreaming most

• Deep sleep is a restorative phase that is good for your brain and body

• Core sleep is how Apple refers to lighter sleep that doesn’t fall into either of those categories

You get a chart that shows you how long you were in all three the previous night and can see trends for the previous two weeks. My average sleep time since acquiring the watch is six hours and 26 minutes. This is sad, but there is room to improve.

What you can learn from your Apple Watch sleep data

My watch claims that last night, I slept for six hours and eight minutes, with REM sleep comprising an hour and 21 of those, deep sleep making up just 45 minutes, and core sleep coming in at four hours and two minutes. That tracks with how it’s been all week: I’m mostly in core sleep and dabble a little bit in REM and deep. The watch, of course, isn’t measuring my brain’s electrical activity or any of the super science-y elements that would give medical-grade insight, but it does monitor breathing and movement. 

The most important insight you really gain from wearing this thing to bed is how long you’re actually sleeping. For me, gamification is one of the only ways I can tolerate the boring parts of adult life, so challenging myself to stop emailing, scrolling, reading, or doing who-knows-what-else I do instead of going to sleep in an effort to maximize my total sleep time data is fun. The amount of sleep you get is important, whereas the phases are more like bonus information (unless you really have a sleep issue that you’re trying to hone in on, which you should work on with a professional). 

Things to note before tracking sleep with Apple Watch

When I woke up this morning, I learned my Apple Watch had died at some point in the night. Nevertheless, my sleep data claims that I woke up at 8:32, though I don’t know how it got that information if it was dead when I did that. Whether it died at 8:31 or some other time, I’m regarding today’s new data with some skepticism. 

To prevent this from happening to you, be smart about your charging. Charge the watch while you’re in the shower or during your wind-down time before bed, times when you don’t need your activity tracked or to be responding to emails at all and, thus, the watch is largely useless. You can also use the watch’s Sleep app to set up reminders for charging, so if your pre-defined wind-down and sleep schedule coincides with a time when the device is under 30% battery, it will remind you to stick it on the charger.

Helpful tools to make sleep tracking on Apple Watch work

There are a few ways you can maximize the efficiency of the sleep tracking and necessary charging. Consider these items:

• Try a portable Apple Watch charger so you can charge it in the car, while you shower after the gym, or wherever and whenever else that will make it possible for the thing to be powered up overnight. This one from Newdery ($7.59) is a simple charger on a USB stick, so you can use it in the car or plug it into any computer or wall adapter. Or, you can use the kind that you pre-charge at home and take on the go, like this one from Huoto ($15.99), which has a convenient keychain.

• The watch needs to be snug to collect your data overnight, so if you wear it looser in the daytime and only care about seeing notifications on it, consider adjustable bands that you can tighten up before bed. Here’s a pack of 10 in a variety of colors for $14.19.

• Grab a sleek three-in-one charger ($19.93) to keep next to your bed for your phone, Airpods, and (when necessary) Apple Watch. God forbid you get that lower-than-30%-charge notification before tucking in, you can just slip the watch on the stand with the rest of your devices.

Source: LifeHacker – What I Learned From Tracking My Sleep With an Apple Watch

If I told you governments were spying on you through your smartphone, would you be surprised? Probably not. We all know these little black mirrors are privacy nightmares, even with the extensive data protection features both Apple and Google have added over the years.

However, you’ll likely be surprised to learn that governments aren’t necessarily tracking your location through your phone’s GPS, or tapping into your phone calls (although who knows): We now know they’re actually spying on you through your push notifications, of all things.

How governments steal your push notification data

The only reason we know about this is thanks to Ron Wyden. The Oregon senator sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday urging them to let Apple and Google warn their customers about requests for their smartphone usage.

In the letter, Wyden explains his office received a tip in the spring of 2022 which claims foreign governments were demanding Apple and Google hand over push notification records from users. In the time since, Wyden’s office has investigated the issue: When they contacted Apple and Google about this concerning assertion, the companies both said the federal government had blocked them from being able to comment on the practice. That’s chilling.

As the letter explains, push notifications aren’t a one-to-one connection from your smartphone to the app or service pushing the alert. These notifications need to first pass through Apple and Google’s servers: On Apple’s side, that’s Apple Push Notification Service, while Google uses Firebase Cloud Messaging. All of your push notifications that rely on an internet connection run through these servers before ending up on your iPhone or Android, which means they’re all susceptible to this overreach from government agencies.

These push notifications contain quite a bit of data, too. When Apple and Google receive push notification data to their servers, they intercept metadata (data about the app that is receiving the push notification), as well as details about the phone and account that notification belongs to. If Duolingo is trying to send a notification to “Jake’s iPhone 14 Pro” on Thursday at 10 a.m., governments demanding my push notification info from Apple might be able to see exactly that.

This is a great moment to implore you to use encrypted messaging services for your texting needs. Encrypted content won’t appear in the data that third-parties receive from Apple and Google, so governments aren’t actually able to read your iMessages, RCS texts, or WhatsApp alerts, for example. However, if they intercept push notifications from unencrypted alerts, such as messages sent using SMS or an unencrypted Instagram DM, they might be able to see that as part of the data they obtain. The secrets you text through unencrypted methods are kept by you, your friend, and governments around the world.

According to Wired, governments and law enforcement agencies that want this data must first retrieve your push notification “token” from an app developer. You’re assigned a token by the apps you download on your devices, which connects you to their push notifications. The government can then take your token to Apple or Google to demand information on the account associated with that token. This has happened in the US before: In 2021, in a Jan. 6-related case, the FBI requested the push notification data for two Meta accounts. Meta did not respond to Wired’s request for comment.

Wyden is imploring the DOJ to allow Apple and Google to be more transparent about these requests with the public. Apple, for their part, says that this letter now empowers them to be more public about the practice, although how public they’ll be remains to be seen.

What you can do to protect your data from push notification spies

At this point, the details surrounding this practice are still muddy, but that doesn’t mean we should sit idly by and wait for Apple and Google to make statements.

If you want to go extreme, you should disable push notifications for all your apps. I’m a big supporter of keeping notifications off for almost all apps, except the ones you actually need, and the recent news only bolsters my stance. There’s absolutely no reason that governments, foreign or domestic, should be allowed to see what my apps are notifying me about, but it feels especially egregious to allow them to do it when it’s just Snapchat desperately asking me to open the app.

I think you’ll find a solid 90% of the apps sending you alerts on your iPhone or Android are bullshit anyway, so disabling them with give you peace of mind and strengthen your privacy. Of course, disabling notifications for certain apps can backfire: You’re likely to fall behind in group chats if you disable notifications for your messaging apps, and you might miss meetings and appointments disabling notifications for your calendar. (Sorry, boss.)

At the end of the day, it’s a balancing act between privacy and convenience, as it always is. Even with today’s news, I’d have trouble disabling notifications for Messages, although it helps that iMessage is encrypted. But other apps I’m more than happy to keep turned off, so I can catch up with them on my own time. (Looking at you, Snapchat.)

All that said, the larger solution will have to come from larger forces. You shouldn’t have to disable notifications to preserve your privacy, and governments shouldn’t be allowed to ask for this info anyway. Hopefully, Sen. Wyden’s letter makes some change in Washington.

Source: LifeHacker – Governments Can Spy on Your Push Notifications

Living in a city like New York, San Francisco, or Boston often means forking over a large portion of your income to pay your rent—especially if you don’t want to live with roommates. This often prompts those living in more affordable housing markets to wonder, or even ask, why you don’t simply pack up your life and move somewhere cheaper.

While that might be an option for some people, others have ties to pricey cities, like their job or family, or have other reasons why relocating isn’t on the table. But until more affordable housing is available, people who call those major metro areas home will have to figure out how to stretch their rent budget as far as possible. Because strategy is important in real estate, I reached out to Andrea Neculae, a research analyst at RentCafe, for some insider tips on finding a rental you can afford in an unaffordable city. Here’s what to know.

How to find an affordable rental in an expensive city

A recent report from RentCafe determined how much living space you can get for $1,700 per month (roughly the national average rent) in the 50 largest U.S. cities. In one Memphis neighborhood, you can find a rental home with nearly 2,000 square feet of living space for $1,700. Meanwhile, in Manhattan, you’ll barely be able to rent a 200-square-foot space for the same amount.

Here are Neculae’s takeaways from analyzing those data—which, she says, might help improve your chances of finding a rental that won’t break the bank in a notoriously expensive city.

Find the sweet spots

When analyzing the study data, Neculae and the rest of her team noticed a pattern emerging in many of the larger rental markets: The ring of ZIP codes surrounding a city’s downtown area often has the best balance of price and location. “These spots can be real gems without costing a fortune,” she tells Lifehacker. That said, if you wander too far outside the city center, you might find that the cost of rent spikes in neighborhoods with a mix of urban and suburban features. “These are now highly coveted by older millennials with families looking for urban amenities in a suburban setting,” Neculae explains.

Relocate your home office

It’s no surprise that people who work remotely often want a rental with space for a home office. But before blowing your budget on an extra room, Neculae suggests looking into rentals near coworking spaces. You’ll need to do the math, but it could work out to be cheaper to rent a desk in a shared office than to pay more to rent a home with room for an office. “In cities like Chicago and New York, for example, giving up a spare bedroom could save you anywhere between $9,000 to $20,000 each year,” she notes.

Consider a transit-oriented development

According to Neculae, you may be able to save money living in a transit-oriented development (TOD). A combination of residential and commercial areas, TODs are designed to maximize access to public transit, offering easy access to work, and city amenities, without having to rely on a car. “Plus, several states have announced initiatives to build more housing close to transit, so you can expect to see more of these projects in the future,” she adds.

Look for rentals in the fall or winter

Typically, more people are on the hunt for rentals in the spring and summer, meaning there’s more competition over properties, and less room for negotiation at this time of year, Neculae explains. “If you’re hoping to find a good deal, consider looking in the autumn and winter months when rental demand is typically lower, giving you the chance to score the apartment you love—often with a rent special,” she says. Neculae recommends starting your search early in January or February for the best chances of finding a property that meets your needs at a decent price.

Don’t ignore the fees

If you find an apartment with rent so low that it seems too good to be true, there’s a good chance that it’s either a scam, or you haven’t factored in all the various fees the resident is required to pay on top of their rent. “These not-so-obvious charges like application fees, security deposits, charges for trash collection, or pet fees can pile up to a significant amount that would raise your monthly expenses,” says Neculae.

Source: LifeHacker – Use These Five Strategies for Finding an Affordable Rental in an Unaffordable City

The Game Awards are back. Host Geoff Knightley, who started The Game Awards back in 2014, is set to take the stage tonight, Thursday Dec. 7, to honor some of the best games of the year. If you’re looking to tune in to see if your favorite game of 2023 will be honored, here’s what you need to know.

When and where to watch The Game Awards

Unless you snagged tickets to the event, you’re most likely watching The Game Awards at home like the rest of us. Luckily, it’s super easy to do. The show will begin airing at 7:30pm ET (4:30pm PT) on Thursday, Dec. 7. As for where you can stream the awards, well, the choice is yours. The Game Awards is partnering with 11 different outlets, all of whom are hosting the show live. That includes usual suspects like YouTube and Twitch, but the list includes plenty of others, from Steam, to Facebook, to X (Elon will be thrilled)—even Google Play will host.

Of course, I’m partial to YouTube livestreams since I’m always on the site to begin with. The stream is live now if you want to keep it in the background until tonight:

The annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) conducted by the Audubon Society has been an annual event since the beginning of the 20th century. As an answer to declining bird populations, the tradition began in 1900 by early proponents of conservation to record what they feared were shrinking bird populations and promote bird watching as a hobby. Joining your local bird count can be a holiday tradition to treasure, connecting to the outdoors and helping to gather information on birds and habitat at the same time.

What is the Christmas Bird Count?

As a participant in the count, you will get connected with your local circle and contact the organizer for details. Each count occurs on one calendar day between December 14th and January 5th within the boundaries of a 15-mile circle on the map, recording not just each species that is seen or heard, but each individual bird. Participants will tally their counts and turn in their data to their count compiler, who is then tasked with turning in the data to the Audubon Society.

Find your local count

To find your circle, you can start on the map page that lists the existing circle for the Audubon CBC. Each circle has the location and contact information for the compiler listed if you click on it so that you can arrange to participate in your local count. There are locations all over North and South America, so it’s likely that there’s a circle near you.

If you don’t have a local count

If you don’t see a count near you, you can either choose to participate in the National Backyard Bird Count (NBBC) as an alternative, or you can apply to start your own circle if you’re a skilled and ambitious bird watcher. Keep in mind that organizing your own count requires that you have at least a few other participants willing to pitch in and that you have a solid area in mind where the count can be conducted.

The count is for everyone

The CBC is open to anyone who wants to participate through a circle, and is conducted much the same way a census would be. It’s free to participate and is open to all skill levels. If you’re new, you will be paired up with a more experienced birder so you can learn the ropes. This can be a great family activity, but I wouldn’t bring younger kids, who might have shorter attention spans and be more vulnerable to inclement weather.

Be prepared

You should be prepared to stay outdoors for the whole time the count goes on unless you’re lucky enough to live within the boundaries of a circle. You are responsible for bringing your own binoculars and weather-appropriate clothing to the count. If you reside inside of one of the circles, you can participate from home simply by recording all of the birds that visit your feeder and then turning in your results to the compiler.

How the data from your count gets used

The data that’s collected during the Christmas Bird Count is used as a resource for science-based publications, studies, and as a resource for those studying wildlife and ecology. Summaries of the data collected every year are also published for the public and can be found online through the Audubon Society website.

Stay in the loop

To follow the data as it comes in and stay informed on community science events from the Audubon Society, you can sign up for American Birds and check out the CBC Live Tracker for photos and updates from Christmas Bird Count participants. If you choose to participate in the count, you can also upload your photos for others to see how your count is going.

Source: LifeHacker – You Should Join the Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count This Year

For someone who’s just starting out on their DIY journey, or for those who already seem to have just about every tool you could think of, it can be hard to choose tools to gift. But the DIY community isn’t just about tools, and makers can use other things besides glue guns and 3D printers to hone their craft. There are lots of non-tool gifts that anyone from novices to DIY masters would love.

Books

Books by DIY masters, experts on a particular subject, or personal stories related to a particular DIY subject can be a good option. Here are a few of my favorites:

• For the renter in your life who’s looking to become more handy, Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust (aka, The Trans Handy Ma’am) is the perfect gift. Her focus on empowering ordinary people to tackle all their maintenance tasks with confidence is peppered with both practical advice as well as guidance on how to overcome your apprehensions about your maintenance needs.

• For woodworkers, Working with Hand Tools: Essential Techniques for Woodworking by Paul N. Hasluck is a guide to the traditional hand tools and methods of woodworking. The book guides readers not just about tools, but also has project guides and inspiration for shop set-up, including work benches and clamps that can be made by hand.

• For gardeners, How to Grow: Nurture Your Garden, Nurture Yourself by Markus Bridgewater (aka, Garden Marcus) is more than just a treasure trove of gardening wisdom; it’s also a calming and inspiring journey peppered with relatable personal stories. His book is a must-read for anyone looking to gardening for improved mental and physical health.

Classes and workshops

Classes and workshops are another great gift for your favorite DIY enthusiast—but matching the class to the skill level and particular interests of your recipient is key.

For online classes, Udemy has a variety of woodworking and home repair classes to offer. But for many makers, in-person classes tend to be more fulfilling because the materials and tools will be arranged by the instructor, and there will likely be a workspace set up for the desired project. These types of classes can be found through local community colleges, libraries, maker spaces, and sometimes through private programs hosted by shops or studios. The nice thing is that the gift of a class like this offers some community building for a new maker or DIYer as well as instruction.

Maker memberships

A membership to a maker space for your favorite DIY craftsperson who maybe doesn’t have room for a garage or basement shop is a really good gift. Maker spaces often include access not just to space, but to some tools as well, so for someone who is either looking to expand their skills or who is newer and needing to try out some different techniques or projects, a maker space can be just the right fit. These memberships can range from a $10 day pass to as much as $600 per month, depending on the space and location, but many of them tend to be in the $35 to $60 per-month range. 

Tool library membership

Another membership you could consider for someone who is a new homeowner or just getting into gardening or DIY is membership to a tool library. Although some tool libraries are free, others will charge an annual fee for access to borrowing tools, equipment, and other materials. These memberships can range from $10 to $100 per year, and they often also offer classes in repair and maintenance. They’re also an excellent resource for getting involved in your local DIY and repair community.

Software subscriptions

Craftspeople, from beginners to experts, often use planning software to design and sketch their projects. This software can also be used to make sure that objects will fit where you plan to put them, and to try out layouts and designs before you start building. While there are some free apps out there for these purposes, having access to more advanced features can make the software easier to use.

• Sketchup is a 3D rendering program you can use to draw all parts and components of a project to scale.

• Realtime Landscaping Pro is another option used primarily for outdoor spaces. This software will allow your favorite gardener to design and visualize plants, decks, sprinklers location, and even holiday displays using photos of the exterior of your home to make it realistic.

• For creating detailed schematics and layouts for more complex projects, Autodesk is a handy gift for a carpenter, designer, or builder. The various packages range from $100 to more than $4,000 a year, but the most common tools for DIYers will be between $100 and $600 per year.

Source: LifeHacker – The Best Gifts for DIYers (That Aren’t Tools)