Gap (GAP) Q3 2024 earnings
Gap (GAP) Q3 2024 earnings
Hurricanes and unseasonably warm weather hit sales at Gap during its fiscal third quarter, but the apparel company still posted better-than-expected results, leading it to raise its annual guidance for a third time this year.
Gap, which runs Old Navy, Banana Republic, Athleta and its namesake banner, is now expecting fiscal 2024 sales to be up between 1.5% and 2%, compared with previous guidance of “up slightly.” That’s ahead of the 0.4% growth that LSEG analysts had expected, and bodes well for the all-important holiday shopping season, which is now underway.
The company is also anticipating ****** margins and operating income will grow more than it previously expected.
Shares surged about 13% in extended trading.
Here’s how the nation’s largest specialty apparel retailer performed compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
Earnings per share: 72 cents vs. 58 cents expectedRevenue: $3.83 billion vs. $3.81 billion expected
Gap’s reported net income for the three-month ******* that ended Nov. 2 was $274 million, or 72 cents per share, compared with $218 million, or 58 cents per share, a year earlier.
Sales rose to $3.83 billion, up about 2% from $3.78 billion a year earlier.
Across Gap’s business, unseasonably warm weather affected sales by about 1 percentage point during the quarter, while storms and hurricanes led overall store sales to fall by 2%, CEO Richard Dickson told CNBC in an interview.
“We had unusual circumstances, hurricanes, storms that led to almost 180 closures at the peak of the impact,” said Dickson, adding the storms affected Old Navy, Gap’s largest brand by revenue, the most.
As soon as the weather turned around, sales “rebounded” and the holiday shopping season is off to a “strong start” so far, said Dickson.
“We are energized about the holiday. Our teams are really focused on executing our plans. If we compare ourselves to where we were last year, our brands are in a much more pronounced place than they were last year,” he said. “We’ve got stronger brand identities and we’re more practiced in our playbook that we talk a lot about, driving better product, better pricing, more relevance, better consumer experience and excellence in **********.”
Since Dickson took the helm of Gap a little over a year ago, he’s worked to turn around the business after years of declines. Under his direction, the company has leaned into nostalgic marketing and celebrity partnerships to reclaim cultural relevance. Sales have grown for the last four quarters in a row, but the company is still smaller than it once was, and critics say it needs to do more to fix its product assortment and drive full-price selling.
Here’s a closer look at each brand’s performance:
Old Navy: Gap said sales at its largest brand grew 1% to $2.2 billion, while comparable sales were flat, shy of the 0.9% growth that analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. Old Navy’s kids category was particularly affected by the warmer weather, said Dickson.
Gap: Gap’s eponymous banner grew 1% to $899 million during the quarter, while comparable sales were up 3% — better than the 2.3% growth Wall Street expected, according to StreetAccount. The brand has seen four straight quarters of positive comparable sales and is benefiting from better marketing and product, the company said.
Banana Republic: The trendy workwear line grew sales 2% to $469 million while comparable sales fell 1%, a bit worse than the 0.8% drop that StreetAccount had expected. The brand has worked to turn around its men’s business, which drove results during the quarter. Overall, it is still focused “on fixing the fundamentals,” the company said.
Athleta: The athleisure arm of Gap’s empire grew sales by 4% to $290 million while comparable sales were up 5%. The results weren’t comparable to estimates. In the year-ago *******, comparable sales were down 19% at Athleta. Under its new CEO, former Alo Yoga boss Chris Blakeslee, the brand has managed to turn things around.
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****** Friday 2024 – Huge Savings on the Xbox Series X and Controllers
****** Friday 2024 – Huge Savings on the Xbox Series X and Controllers
****** Friday 2024 has officially kicked off, and while the deals for this year’s biggest shopping event are rolling in, we’ve already spotted some standout discounts on the Xbox Series X console and fan-favorite Xbox Wireless Controllers. If you’ve been keen to upgrade your gaming setup, but don’t quite have the budget, now is your time to strike. The Xbox Series X 1TB Carbon ****** will bring some serious firepower to your kit. With lightning-fast load times, up to 120 FPS gameplay, and exclusive perks like Quick Resume and Xbox Velocity Architecture, it’s a powerhouse designed to take your gaming to the next level.
Pair your Xbox purchase with one of the many Xbox Game Pass options available, and you’ve got yourself a gateway to an ever-expanding library of games–including day one releases. From Game Pass Core, perfect for casual and online gamers, to Game Pass Ultimate, which opens up cloud gaming and the best of Xbox, there’s an option for every type of player. Already own an Xbox Series X or S? There are still great deals for you, too. Xbox Wireless Controllers are on ***** in multiple colors, from the classic Carbon ****** to the eye-catching Electric Volt. And with a variety of special-edition designs, there’s a controller that’ll match any gaming setup.
Don’t wait–****** Friday deals are here, and these prices won’t last long. Take advantage now to upgrade your gaming experience for the future online or at your local retailer!
Xbox Console Deal
Xbox Wireless Controller Deals
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Will the Liberals’ ‘tax holiday’ pay political dividends? What it signals – National
Will the Liberals’ ‘tax holiday’ pay political dividends? What it signals – National
The ******** government announced a suite of affordability measures Thursday that Ottawa says aims to put more money in ********* bank accounts, a move experts say is likely to boost Canada’s economy and could register with voters who are still feeling the pinch of a higher cost of living.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Toronto to unveil a GST/HST “holiday” on select grocery items and other consumer goods ranging from video games to Christmas trees. He also announced the Working Canadians Rebate — a plan to send $250 cheques this spring to every individual who worked in 2023 and made up to $150,000.
“We’ve been able to get through the past couple of years. Everyone had to tighten their belts a little bit, and now we’re going to be able to give a tax break for all Canadians,” Trudeau said Thursday.
While inflation has cooled back to the Bank of Canada’s two-per cent target, the last few years of rising costs have left a mark on Canadians.
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1:58
Canada’s inflation ticked up to 2% in October
Ipsos polling conducted exclusively for Global News in late August showed that more than six in 10 respondents (63 per cent) are concerned they wouldn’t be able to absorb any unexpected costs of $1,000 or more; that figure rises to 72 per cent among parents.
Sahir Khan, executive vice-president of the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy, tells Global News that recent easing inflation hasn’t necessarily made life easier as years of living with rising costs compound on ********* families.
But the latest measures also come as the governing Liberals fall far behind the challenging ************* Party in the polls and affordability issues continue to top the list of voter priorities.
Sending voters a cheque or showing them a tangible impact when they tap their card at the grocery store provides recognition that Canadians may associate with the Liberals, Khan says. That’s a political message that has been missing from the carbon pricing rebates, he notes.
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“The cheque in the hands of people, I think there’s an immediacy to it politically,” Khan says.
“There’s an advantage of that very direct relationship between the entity that’s collecting your taxes and the one that’s paying you right back for it.”
The reaction to the ******** proposals on Parliament Hill was swift. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh took credit for pressuring the Liberals into the “winter tax holiday,” while ************* Leader Pierre Poilievre called the proposals a “tax trick.”
3:03
Liberals ‘caved’ to NDP demand of GST cuts on essential goods: Singh
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet accused the Liberals of abusing the public purse to improve their position in the polls.
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“The Liberals have shown that when they need billions of dollars in order to literally buy votes, they find it,” he told reporters Thursday.
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Khan says that Canadians ought to be mindful of where the money is coming from heading into an election year.
“We also have to remember, they’re kind of bribing us with our own money here, as governments like to do sometimes,” he says. “It’s a question of whether we value it and find it useful at the time, and, I imagine, remember it at the polls.”
What will the ‘tax holiday’ cost?
The Liberals claim that the GST holiday will amount to $1.6 billion in tax relief — in other words, forgone revenue for the federal government.
Ottawa did not provide an estimate for how much the $250 cheques — dubbed the Working ********* Rebate — will cost, though the Liberals said they expect the money will flow to an estimated 18.7 million Canadians.
Royce Mendes, chief economist at Desjardins, estimates the total cost of the affordability package will be roughly $6.3 billion, or 0.2 per cent of Canada’s ****** domestic product. He added in a note to clients Thursday that the spending could result in a “noticeable boost” to GDP growth in the first half of next year.
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BMO also pegs the fiscal costs of the new measures around $6 billion. Benjamin Reitzes, BMO’s director of ********* rates and macro strategist, notes that the Ontario government’s plans to send out stimulus cheques early in the new year will ratchet the total fiscal boost up to 0.3 per cent of GDP in early 2025.
As such, BMO is now raising its call for real GDP growth in the first quarter of next year to 2.5 per cent, up from 1.7 per cent before the announcement.
The ******** moves come as the Bank of Canada is well-entrenched in a monetary policy easing cycle. The central bank has so far delivered four interest rate cuts in a row as confidence grows that inflation is back under control.
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Will we see more cuts from the Bank of Canada?
Trudeau claimed Thursday that the ******** measures would not reaccelerate inflation, which ticked back up to two per cent in October, in line with the Bank of Canada’s target. He also credited the Liberals’ fiscal restraint and efforts to reduce the costs of dental and childcare in Canada as helping to rein in costs and set the central bank up for lower interest rates.
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“It allows us to make sure that we are putting money in people’s pockets in a way that is not going to stimulate inflation, but it’s going to help them make ends meet and continue our economic growth,” he said.
Reitzes said in his note that headline inflation will take a noticeable dip during the GST holiday in December and January before accelerating in February and March.
Mendes said that the sales tax exemptions will “mechanically lower inflation,” but the Bank of Canada will “look through” those effects and instead be more concerned about the impacts on growth and underlying price pressures.
With expectations that the ******** affordability measures could stimulate spending and economic growth, Mendes said he sees the central bank moving cautiously with 25-basis-point cuts heading forward.
Both Reitzes and Mendes agreed that a larger, 50-basis-point cut like the one seen in October is likely off the table for the Bank of Canada’s final rate decision of the year in December.
Is the ******** proposal fiscally sustainable?
Asked about the sustainability of the proposed spending, Trudeau defended the government’s fiscal position.
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“Canada is on a solid footing. Our macro economy is doing well, but that’s why we’re choosing to put that in service directly of Canadians.”
While Trudeau has touted the government’s declining debt-to-GDP ratio and other fiscal anchors, the Parliamentary Budget Officer has called into question the accuracy of the government’s projections.
Last month, the fiscal watchdog said the Liberals were likely on track to miss pledges to cap the federal deficit at $40 billion in the last fiscal year.
The PBO said in its economic and fiscal outlook that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year. It also projected that the deficit would decline to $46.4 billion in the current fiscal year — but that was before the latest slate of measures was announced.
1:08
Poilievre calls Trudeau announcement of GST relief a ‘tax trick’
Khan says that the ******** government, knowing it was likely to ***** past its fiscal anchors, likely decided it was better to miss in a way that benefits the party and Canadians.
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“I think they’ve made that calculation that if you’re going to go past the $40 billion, you might as well do something that you think appeals to Canadians when the anxiety is kind of at its highest,” he says.
“If they were going to go past it by $6 billion, as the PBO suggests, what’s the harm in going a little further?”
Khan says that the measures are temporary and therefore unlikely to have a lasting impact on inflation. He adds that $6 billion in a $3-trillion economy is a “broadly” sustainable measure.
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He adds that one measure does not define the government’s entire fiscal track.
The Liberals have yet to signal plans for a fall economic statement this year, and otherwise would have to present a more complete fiscal picture at the 2025 federal budget in the spring.
The government may have other spending commitments that it will cut, Khan notes, and may be wise to consider leaving some of its “firepower” in reserve as signs of a softening economy and fears of trade wars bubble beneath the surface.
Khan says that, after nearly 10 years in office, the Liberals also need to show they are committed to a new fiscal direction that will invest in growth rather than spend its way to a rising GDP.
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“Transfers to individuals alone, while they can solve a whole bunch of important problems, you do need an economic engine that’s generating wealth for people, but also for this government, too,” he says.
“If you want progressive policies, you need to be able to pay for them.”
— with files from The ********* Press
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Sarah McBride says GOP is trying to “manufacture a crisis” with transgender bathroom ban at Capitol
Sarah McBride says GOP is trying to “manufacture a crisis” with transgender bathroom ban at Capitol
Washington — Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, a Delaware Democrat who is set to become the first transgender member of Congress, characterized a GOP effort to restrict bathroom use as an attempt “to get headlines.”
“Everything was fine until some members of the small *********** conference majority decided to get headlines and to manufacture a crisis,” McBride told CBS News’ Scott MacFarlane.
The Delaware Democrat told CBS News that she anticipated an effort to “politicize my use of a restroom,” and she indicated she had not intended to use multi-stall women’s restrooms in the Capitol. But she also said “that is my choice here.”
“If anyone had thought to ask me about what I was planning on doing, I would’ve been happy to tell them,” McBride said. “But again, this is not an issue. And this has never been an issue in this complex.”
Weeks after McBride became the first transgender person elected to Congress, a ***********-led effort to restrict restroom use in the Capitol got underway this week. Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina ***********, introduced legislation Monday to change House rules to limit use of single-**** bathrooms in the Capitol complex to those corresponding to users’ “biological ****.”
McBride, who also made history as the first trans person ever elected to a state senate seat, has tended to stay above the fray, stressing that her priority is to work for Delawareans in the House. She told CBS News that she wants people to see her “competence in governing contrast with their chaos.”
“I would like my grace to contrast with the grandstanding that we’re seeing right now.” McBride said. “I would like my approach of respecting everyone to contrast with the disrespect that we are seeing right now.”
Mace’s two-page resolution alleges that “allowing biological males” into the facilities “jeopardizes the safety and dignity of Members, officers, and employees of the House who are female” and would task the sergeant-at-arms with enforcing the measure.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday that he supports restricting the “single-**** facilities” in the Capitol, saying in a statement that the facilities “are reserved for individuals of that biological ****.”
McBride pledged to follow the rules outlined by Johnson, “even if I disagree with them,” while asserting that she didn’t run for Congress to “****** about bathrooms.”
Anti-transgender sentiments have become a rallying cry for some Republicans in recent months, often evoked by President-elect Donald Trump and his allies on the campaign trail and over the airwaves.
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Kaia Hubbard
Kaia Hubbard is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.
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Police indict former president for coup attempt
Police indict former president for coup attempt
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Police have been investigating whether Bolsonaro incited a ******* coup after losing the 2022 election
Ex-Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and some of his closest allies have been formally accused of allegedly plotting a coup, after he lost the 2022 presidential election.
Bolsonaro’s vice-presidential candidate Walter Braga Netto and 35 other people have also been indicted by federal police for attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d’état and ********* organisation.
It comes after a nearly two-year-long investigation into whether Bolsonaro incited a ******* coup after claiming the election was fraudulent.
In a post on X, Bolsonaro said he would mount a legal “******” against the claims, and accused investigators of being “creative” and doing “everything that the law does not say”.
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Braga Netto, Bolsonaro’s former minister of defence, is among those also formally accused
Bolsonaro was banned from running for office for eight years after being accused of undermining Brazilian democracy by falsely claiming that electronic ballots used in the October 2022 poll were vulnerable to hacking and ******.
The bitterly fought election was won by an extremely narrow margin by left-winger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Mr Bolsonaro never publicly acknowledged his defeat and left Brazil for the US two days before Lula was sworn in as president.
His supporters, who refused to accept the outcome of the election, stormed Brazil’s Congress, the presidential palace and the building housing the Supreme Court on 8 January 2023.
Parts of the buildings were ransacked and police arrested 1,500 of the rioters.
In his X post, Bolsonaro added that he would wait to see what was in the indictment.
“I will wait for the lawyer. This, obviously, will go to the attorney general’s office. It is at the PGR [Prosecutor General of the Republic] that the ****** begins,” he added.
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How to fix Input Lag in Stalker 2: Heart Of Chernobyl
How to fix Input Lag in Stalker 2: Heart Of Chernobyl
Stalker 2: Heart Of Chernobyl is the long-awaited sequel, taking players back to the harrowing horrors of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. Equally as terrifying is the presence of input lag for many PC players, and I’m here to show you how to fix this.
No one likes input lag, and it’s one of the most frustrating issues in gaming. Forget Stalker 2: Heart Of Chernobyl, any game with input lag sets itself up for ********. A sports title with input lag offers inconsistent gameplay, fighting games depend on smooth gameplay for flawless combos, and let’s not get started on entries in the rhythm genre.
First-person shooters are no strangers to input lag, and it makes shots ***** with far less precision than required. Stalker 2 has a plethora of intense firefights, so let’s help you fix any input lag to make your time in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone slightly less stressful than it already is.
Stalker 2: Heart Of Chernobyl Input Lag Solutions
I want to enjoy this, please. Credit to GSC Game World
You can improve—and fix Stalker 2: Heart Of Chernobyl’s input lag by turning off various features from Frame Generation to V-Sync, lowering your graphics settings, changing the Upscaling, and updating Graphics Drivers.
Adjust Graphics
No matter how perfect your rig is, it might not be worth trying to run Stalker 2 at higher performance settings. We’ve already discussed Stalker 2’s PC Specs and the best ways to enjoy the shooter. However, even if you can hit the recommended specs, if you’re facing input lag, I’d suggest biting the bullet (not literally) and tuning everything down.
Lower the frame rate, decrease the quality and crispness of the textures, and focus on performance over image quality.
Change Upscaling
The second solution to fix input lag in Stalker 2 starts with Upscaling. Whether dynamic or natural Upscaling, the process takes an image/picture and refines it to create a slighter better picture. The option is present in Stalker 2, but players have found choosing a different option might be better:
Pause Stalker 2.
Go to the Options menu.
Scroll across to the Graphics tab.
Head down to Upscaling method.
Change this to TAA.
Graphics Driver Updates
Updating your Graphics Drivers is a simple and effective fix commonly overlooked. I see players have great success with this, and it’s as simple as checking your Graphics Driver—NVIDIA, in most cases—opening it up, and updating the software to the latest version. This can fix performance issues, ensure your system is up to date, and potentially reduce (if not cure) input lag.
Turn Off Features
This goes back to our “Adjust Graphics” section, but modern-day games have a ton of settings designed to improve various aspects of a title. This sometimes comes at the detriment of a game though, and in Stalker 2’s case, the community has recognized input lag can be attributed to several settings:
FSR
V-Sync
Frame Generation
Simply, turn these off in the settings menu, and see if it affects your input lag. Even if it alleviates some of the problem by even a few ms, it’s better than nothing.
Stalker 2’s performance and graphics settings are two of the biggest issues with the shooter sequel, and developer GSC Game World is already on the case to fix this. Stay tuned for more solutions and, hopefully, a complete fix for input lag.
How bad is input lag for you in Stalker 2: Heart Of Chernobyl? Is it manageable or game-breaking? Let us know, and if you can persevere to enjoy Stalker 2, check out how to upgrade weapons, as well as how to fast travel.
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RFK Jr. weighing FDA crackdown on food additives under Trump
RFK Jr. weighing FDA crackdown on food additives under Trump
Advisers to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are weighing a significant rewrite to the Food and ***** Administration’s rules governing food additives, to fulfill Kennedy and President-elect Donald Trump’s “Make America Healthy Again” pledge to get toxic chemicals out of the food supply.
The proposed crackdown, which is still in its early stages and will need to get a sign-off from Trump and his transition team, targets a provision in the FDA’s regulations on which food additives are considered by the agency to be “generally recognized as safe,” or GRAS.
Advisers to Kennedy, Trump’s pick for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, have also floated other approaches to curbing the use of food additives, including working with agricultural producers to change the subsidies and incentives offered by the government for certain kinds of foods Kennedy argues are unhealthy.
“I think the overall posture of the FDA should be actually a lot of deregulation. I think we should have a golden age of innovation and ***** development. Nobody’s standing in the way of that,” Calley Means, a top adviser to Kennedy’s transition team, said this month on “The Liz Wheeler Show.”
Means said “corrupt regulatory interpretations” had broken the regulation of additives under the GRAS process, saying it had become a “totally rigged system.”
“But when it comes to food, when it comes to ‘generally recognized as safe,’ complete self-policing from this industry, allowing them to put chemicals in our food that are banned in every other country and have hundreds of studies saying are harmful, there needs to be a review,” Means said.
“This is a bananas system”
Advocacy groups and experts have long denounced the FDA’s “loophole” in its regulation of these food additives, which allows companies to quietly decide which chemicals they deem safe enough to add to their products without going through the agency’s oversight.
“This is a bananas system. This is not the way that new food chemicals should be approved and come into our food supply,” said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group.
While companies with new chemicals can choose to go through a “voluntary” process to earn a spot on the agency’s list of substances that are “generally recognized as safe,” making it easier to market foods with the additives, officials acknowledge companies often bypass it.
“It does undermine the overall credibility of the system when it is possible to get a chemical on the market without prior review by the FDA,” the agency’s top food official, Jim Jones, said at an event hosted by the Alliance for a Stronger FDA earlier this year.
Bill Freese, science director for the Center for Food Safety, cited times companies have decided to go ahead and “self-certify” that their food additives were safe, even after failing to earn the sign-off of the FDA’s reviewers during the voluntary process.
That has strayed far from the original intent of the provision, Freese said, which was supposed to narrowly “grandfather in” foods with a long history of safe use like salt and vinegar.
“These GRAS exemptions should be limited. The FDA just expanded the loophole until it just literally swallowed the entire statute,” he said.
Obstacles in Congress and the courts
Making it mandatory for companies to go through the GRAS notification process before using any new food ingredients will likely face hurdles.
Cracking down on food additives would dramatically broaden the FDA’s workload. The agency would have to both screen new notifications as well as look back at previously greenlighted chemicals.
FDA officials have long called for Congress to step up funding for oversight of food additives, warning that resources were stretched thin even with the current duties.
One idea to broaden FDA’s funding — attaching fees to applications submitted by food manufacturers, similar to the “user fees” programs for medical products — has also ******* to gain traction on Capitol Hill. Kennedy has also been critical of the “user fees” approach for drugs, and has called to undo it.
Another obstacle could come through the courts, especially in light of a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that curtailed agency power.
Advocacy groups lost a previous federal lawsuit against the FDA trying to require the notifications back in 2021. In that case, the judge found that “it ******** unclear under the statute whether FDA even has the authority to make GRAS notifications mandatory.”
“I think there are certainly things within FDA’s power to narrow the loophole, to make it ******* for companies to take advantage of the GRAS process. But there is some legal precedence saying that this is Congress’ problem to fix, so we’ll just have to see,” said Benesh.
While Kennedy’s team acknowledges the issue may end up needing to be hashed out through legislation on Capitol Hill, changing the procedure solely through the executive branch is on the table, an adviser said.
Kennedy has previously said he is asking Trump to “declare a national emergency, but not for infectious ********, but for chronic ********” as another way to supercharge his authorities amid blowback they expect from the food industry.
“This is not a monolithic, this is not an all-powerful industry. They can be disrupted. So that’s what gives me hope. The voters and President Trump’s microphone are on our side,” Means said.
Alexander Tin
Alexander Tin is a digital reporter for CBS News based in the Washington, D.C. bureau. He covers the Biden administration’s public health agencies, including the federal response to infectious ******** outbreaks like COVID-19.
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‘******* Is Not About Buildings’: Surfing Pastor Builds Lighthouse of ****** on Beaches of Portugal
‘******* Is Not About Buildings’: Surfing Pastor Builds Lighthouse of ****** on Beaches of Portugal
PORTO, Portugal – Surfing is often seen as a sport, yet for some, it’s much more than that. They see riding the waves as a way of life, spiritual practice, and path to deeper connection.
One Brazilian pastor and lifelong surfer has found a unique way to merge his passion with his ******.
Talk to any avid surfer, and they’ll tell you it’s not just the waves, it’s understanding the ocean’s rhythm and learning to read patterns – the subtle movements of swells, timing of breaks, and how wind shapes the waves.
“The water is the connection you have with nature. When you are surfing, you just connect with the water,” said Samuel Cianelli dos Anjos.
Growing up in São Paulo, Brazil, Dos Anjos is no stranger to the ocean and learned to surf before he could swim – riding the waves became as much a part of his life as family and friends.
“You enjoy the atmosphere. You enjoy the nature, the wind, you look at the waves and it brings you calm and peace,” Dos Anjos told CBN News. “It’s even more special when I come with my kids for example and my young daughter and we surf together and she’s just enjoying the water in her face.”
Dos Anjos says this connection to water goes beyond the physical; it’s also deeply spiritual for him.
“When I’m surfing and I’m in the ocean and I see a wave, I can see **** and I can relate to **** when I’m in the ocean and surfers, they think the same. Maybe they don’t believe in ****, they don’t worship something, but they understand nature,” said Dos Anjos.
He says the unpredictable nature of the waves, mirrors life’s ebb and flow – its highs and lows, challenges, and moments of grace.
“We can compare the Holy Spirit with a wave. You don’t control it. You see it, you feel it. And the only thing you can do is navigate through it or on it and in my case with a surfboard,” Dos Anjos said. “So, that’s my deepest time with **** is my connection, my devotional time with ****. It happens in this connection with the water.”
Dos Anjos had always dreamed of merging his two loves – ****** and surfing. So, a few years ago, he left behind Brazil’s sun-soaked beaches and moved 5,000 miles to Portugal’s Atlantic coast.
Famous for its cobblestone streets, historic architecture, and the aroma of fresh pasteis de nata, the city of Porto has become a popular tourist destination. What drew the pastor here, though, were the stunning coastlines and vibrant surf culture.
“Today when we talk about surfing, Portugal is getting very, very close to being one of the biggest countries in surf,” said Dos Anjos.
He started organizing informal gatherings on the beach. He began with simple BBQs and surf lessons, inviting anyone curious enough to join.
Soon, the beach became his *******.
“It is my *******, exactly. That’s my everyday office, every day if I could, but as many times as I can, as many chances I have I’m here. I’m in my *******, in my place, where I connect with ****, I connect with people. I have a devotional with ****, and I can share who ****** is through my everyday life,” Dos Anjos told CBN News recently.
Surf ******* pastor, the Rev. Samuel Cianelli, preaches to his congregation at the ******* in Porto, Portugal. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)
Gradually, people of different nationalities and backgrounds came together, ******* by their love for the ocean and a thirst for deeper connections.
Pastor Samuel moved his family from Brazil all the way here to Porto, Portugal, back in 2014. A year later, Surf ******* was started with 3 families.
Today, some 13 nations are represented, and their goal is to build 50 churches across this country.
“******* is not about buildings, it’s about relationship,” insisted Dos Anjos. “You can be ******* everywhere. You can be ******* even in your house, you can be a *******.”
Sunday services begin at the beach.
“Sun or rain, cold or warmest day, we are here every time. Every Sunday. We are here. We serve together. We gather a group of people, sometimes more or sometimes less so it’s just a fellowship time. A time to connect again with each other and ****,” said Dos Anjos.
One Sunday morning, ******* members witnessed Uliana Yarova get baptized in the Atlantic Ocean. As she emerged, laughter and cheers erupted from her new family, echoing HER joy.
“I’m really excited. I can’t explain my feelings, you know,” said Yarova.
The Ukrainian teenager fled her war-torn country with her family and found refuge in Porto – and in Surf *******. Also baptized, her brother Zakharii and their mother Nataliia were there to witness the special occasion.
“I believe the best word to describe Surf ******* today is a lighthouse,” said Dos Anjos. “We are safe place where people from all over the world can come and find community, find family, find ****** in ******.”
What started as a simple beach gathering here has grown into a beacon of hope, offering a belonging and purpose to people from all walks of life.
In the end, Dos Anjos says it has moved way beyond surfing to include navigating life together, with ******, love, and a shared commitment to something greater, all woven together by the simple act of riding waves and serving ******.
***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly ********** perspective.***
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‘Nathan Drake and his buddies are all *****’ on What Happened After Uncharted With That ‘Last of Us’ Tease
‘Nathan Drake and his buddies are all *****’ on What Happened After Uncharted With That ‘Last of Us’ Tease
Uncharted is a video game series widely appreciated by gamers, especially those who have owned a PlayStation console since the PS3. The series creator, Amy Hennig, is considered a trailblazer in the video game industry.
Uncharted 3, contained a tease of the arguably the biggest Naughty Dog IP. | Image Credits: Sony Interactive Entertainment.
In a recent interview, the creator spoke about how Naughty Dog fostered a culture of creative freedom for video game directors. A case in point was a minute detail from a game in the series that was a nod to another hit Naughty Dog franchise.
Amy Hennig Talks About The Last of Us Tease in Uncharted 3
The deadly ******* that starts it all in Naughty Dog’s survival horror game was first referenced in a newspaper found in Drake’s Deception. | Image Credits: Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Naughty Dog’s action-adventure video game series led by Nathan Drake had the player spend a part of their time performing adventurous maneuvers. The rest of the playthrough involved gunfights and other chaotic situations that Drake and his team had to diffuse.
In a game like that, the player isn’t expected to stop and look around for minor details and easter eggs. However, gamers have spotted an unofficial teaser for the studio’s next game after Uncharted 3.
Posts from the gamingdetails community on Reddit
In a recent interview, Amy Hennig talked about this exact detail from the game and told VentureBeat:
I think Naughty Dog has always been good at attention to detail…There was the famous newspaper in the bar in Uncharted 3 that actually foreshadowed The Last of Us…talking about an outbreak. I guess that implies that Nathan Drake and his buddies are all *****.
She also elaborated to say that someone had to take the time to make that newspaper and put it in a discoverable place in the game. Moreover, the same bar where Nathan Drake finds this newspaper is also seen in the zombie-survival game by the video game company.
Amy Hennig on the Contrast and Similarity Between Tomb Raider and Uncharted
Nathan Drake and Lara Croft have been pitted against each other time and again by their respective loyal fans | Image Credits: Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Most gamers would agree that there is a lot in common between Lara Croft and Nathan Drake. Especially because the two began as video game protagonists, there were a lot of parallels drawn between them.
When asked if she ever considered making Nathan Drake a girl instead, Amy Hennig replied: (VentureBeat)
We deliberately chose to have a guy, not a woman, because it would feel like we were invading that [Tomb Raider’s] territory. She was this aspirational, acrobatic, James Bond character, so we made ours a little hapless, a little clumsy, more like Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones.
The last game starring Nathan Drake saw the adventurer metaphorically hang up his cape and cowl. It’s not known if the players will get to step into his shoes again. However, as seen in The Lost Legacy, that might not mean that it will be the end for the video game series, too.
Do you think Nathan Drake will ever return to plunder long lost treasures? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
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King Charles III’s Coronation cost taxpayers £72m
King Charles III’s Coronation cost taxpayers £72m
Getty Images
Last year’s Coronation of King Charles III cost taxpayers £72m, government figures have revealed.
Just over £50m was spent by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which coordinated the event, while policing costs came to almost £22m, which were paid for by the Home Office.
The DCMS described the Coronation as a “once-in-a-generation” moment and the figures came broadly within unofficial estimates, which suggested it would be between £50 and £100m.
The Coronation in May 2023 had been described as a “slimmed down affair”, with the Westminster Abbey guest list only a quarter of the size of Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation at the same venue in 1953.
Being a state event, the Coronation was paid for by the *** Government and Buckingham Palace through the Sovereign Grant – which comes from a percentage of the profits of the Crown Estate revenue – and the Privy Purse, money from a private estate known as the Duchy of Lancaster.
By the end of March 2024, the Duchy of Lancaster had £647m of net assets under its control.
There had been criticism aimed at the public funding of the Coronation, which came during a cost-of-living crisis in the ***.
A poll carried out by YouGov the month before the Coronation revealed that 52% of Londoners did not believe the Coronation should be paid for by taxpayers.
There had been much speculation about the cost to the public purse, which the DCMS said could not be revealed until after the event.
The DCMS annual accounts report released on Thursday said the Coronation reached an estimated global audience of two billion people in 125 countries, saying it “offered a unique opportunity to celebrate and strengthen our national identity and showcase the *** to the world”.
Reuters
The King and Queen processed up The Mall to Buckingham Palace
King Charles was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 6 May 2023 in a ceremony attended by dignitaries from around the world.
The King’s youngest son, Prince Harry, flew in from California for the ceremony, but his wife Meghan and their two children did not join him.
Celebrity guests inside the Abbey included British acting royalty Emma Thompson, ***** Dench and Stephen Fry, as well as international stars such as US singers Lionel Richie and Katy Perry.
The Foreign Office said in total, 90 heads of state were in attendance, as well as the first ladies of the ******* States and Ukraine, representing the presidents of their respective countries.
Thousands of people packed the Mall in the rain to watch as the procession paraded through London.
A star-studded concert, featuring Perry, Richie and Take That, among others, took place at Windsor Castle the following night.
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Matt Gaetz won’t be the next attorney general. Will he go back to the Hill?
Matt Gaetz won’t be the next attorney general. Will he go back to the Hill?
Matt Gaetz is out of the running for attorney general. He’s also out of a job on Capitol Hill. In Washington and Tallahassee, the question now is: Could he be back in the House in January?
The Florida *********** resigned both from his current term and preemptively from his term in the next Congress, which he just won in the November election.
“I do not intend to take the oath of office for the same office in the 119th Congress,” he wrote in a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson that was also transmitted to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
One thing’s clear: He can’t come back for this Congress. But if Gaetz would like to return to Capitol Hill in January and serve in the seat his Florida constituents elected him to in November, the Hill seems prepared to punt that decision to DeSantis and Florida’s secretary of state, Cord Byrd.
A congressional aide indicated that Gaetz’s membership status for the 119th Congress is effectively up to his home state, telling POLITICO: “The official roll for the 119th Congress will be prepared with the Certificates of Election received from the States.”
The names provided by Florida of candidates who were “regularly elected” to the House under the state and federal laws will be eligible to take their seats in January, the aide continued.
Gaetz has not yet said publicly what he wants to do. And he did not respond to questions from POLITICO about what his future might hold.
But if he wants to come back to the Hill, he may argue his assertion that he won’t serve in the new Congress may be conditional: He specified that he wouldn’t take the oath “to pursue the position of Attorney General in the Trump Administration,” which is now off the table.
This could put the spotlight on DeSantis — and Byrd, his appointee — on how they want to handle it. Notably, a special election has not yet been scheduled to fill Gaetz’s seat.
Gaetz was once tight with DeSantis, and played a key role in his first transition team back in 2018. But Gaetz remained loyal to Trump during DeSantis’ bid for president — and that shifted the relationship.
Gaetz could possibly take his seat as normal, as if his resignation never happened. Or that special election could still happen — but nothing would stop Gaetz from running in it if he wanted to come back to Washington.
It’s also possible his political future isn’t in the House. Trump’s decision to pick Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of State will allow DeSantis to appoint someone to that plum position for the next two years, until the 2026 elections. DeSantis said he intends to name a successor by early January.
Gaetz is not considered a likely contender for the open Senate seat — but some of his allies have already floated him. And Gaetz has long been rumored to be considering a 2026 gubernatorial run, with DeSantis term-limited.
When reached by phone, Don Gaetz, a Florida state senator and Matt Gaetz’s father, said he had not had a “substantive conversation” with his son following his decision to drop his bid for attorney general and did not know whether he would attempt a return to Congress. He did add that, “I love my son and I’m proud of him.”
Several candidates had already announced their intent to run in the younger Gaetz’s 1st District, a safe *********** seat. But they may show him deference.
*********** state Rep. Michelle Salzman, who already announced a run, told POLITICO after the news broke that she immediately reached out to Gaetz to tell him she would “fully support whatever he wants” and would “absolutely” withdraw from the race if Gaetz wanted to return to Congress.
Other Republicans who’d filed to run or said they planned to include state Rep. Joel Rudman and Bernadette Pittman, the owner and CEO of Boots on the Ground Bikers for Trump. Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis had also considered running, which would necessitate DeSantis appointing his replacement.
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The 44 ****** Friday tech deals worth shopping from Amazon, Walmart, Apple, Anker and others
The 44 ****** Friday tech deals worth shopping from Amazon, Walmart, Apple, Anker and others
****** Friday may technically just be one day, but it’s evolved to consume the entire month of November in the US at this point. For the past few years, retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Target have ushered in the holiday shopping season earlier and earlier, and this year is no different.
****** Friday deals are already here, bringing discounts to some of our favorite tech we’ve tested this year. In the past, we’d advise waiting until the week of ****** Friday to get the best of the best discounts, but we’re seeing those sales right now this year. If you’re eager to get a jump start on your holiday shopping, or you want to pick up a few items for yourself, now is the time. These are the best early ****** Friday deals we could find; we’ll be updating this post regularly throughout November, so check back for the latest discounts.
Engadget’s top picks
Apple AirPods Pro 2 for $160 ($90 off): The best AirPods you can get right now, these offer a secure, comfortable fit, good sound quality and ANC, plus excellent transparency mode. Thanks to a recent software update, the Pro 2 earbuds can be used as hearing aids if the user takes Apple’s new hearing test and it discovers mild to moderate hearing loss.
Apple 10th-gen iPad for $279 ($70 off): The best iPad for those on a budget, this model has a modern design, good performance, a landscape-oriented front-facing camera and a solid battery life. It has also done away with the Lightning port in favor of a more modern USB-C port.
Apple Watch Series 10 for $329 ($70 off): The latest Apple Watch is our top pick for the best smartwatch you can get thanks to its slightly thinner and lighter design, wide-angle OLED panel for better viewing angles, watchOS 11 features and slightly improved battery life. We gave it a score of 90 in our Apple Watch Series 10 review.
Anker 10K MagGo power bank for $60 ($30 off): This is one of our top picks for the best power banks you can buy today thanks to its versatile capacity, speedy Qi2 charging capabilities, clear screen that shows remaining battery power and its built-in kickstand.
DJI Osmo Mobile 6 gimbal for $89 ($40 off): The latest version of DJI’s smartphone gimbal includes improved tracking and a new Quick Launch feature for iPhones that automatically launches the companion app in camera view so you can get to filming.
Bose QuietComfort headphones for $199 ($150 off): The latest version of Bose’s iconic QC headphones, these cans have excellent ANC, a comfortable (if a bit dated) design, 24 hours of battery life and a quick-charge feature that will get you two hours of battery after just 15 minutes of them being plugged in.
Kindle for $85 ($25 off): The 2024 base Kindle is lighter than ever before, and it has a 6-inch, glare-free screen with an adjustable front light, 16GB of storage, speedier performance and six weeks of battery life.
reMarkable 2 bundles starting at $529 ($89 off): Our top pick for the best E Ink tablet for most people has now been discounted when you pick up one of its folio cases and a marker to go along with it. The reMarkable 2 provides an excellent, distraction-free reading and writing experience, plus it has handy integrations with Google Drive and Dropbox.
Blink Mini 2 (two-pack) for $35 ($35 off): The newest Blink Mini wired security camera came out earlier this year and it supports 1080p video recordings, a wider field of view than the previous model and improved low-light performance. It may be wired, but you can use it outside if you wish provided you have the separate $10 weather-resistant adapter.
Samsung SmartTag 2 Bluetooth trackers (four-pack) for $62 (38 percent off): These trackers have a handy, built-in keyring *****, an IP67-rated design, a vast finding network and good battery life.
The best early ****** Friday tech deals
Apple Watch SE for $169 ($80 off): The most budget-friendly Apple Watch has all of the core features that the flagship one has, but lacks things like ECG monitoring. We consider it to be the best Apple Watch for first-timers, and anyone who’s on a tight budget.
Apple AirTags (four-pack) for $73 ($27 off): These are the Bluetooth trackers to get if you have an iPhone, and they allow you to keep track of your keys, wallet and other belongings from within the Find My app. Just make sure to pick up an AirTag holder or case if you plan on using them with your keys.
Apple MacBook Air (M3, 13-inch) for $849 ($250 off): The latest MacBook Air is our top pick for the best laptop for most people, and this model has 16GB of RAM built in — double the previous base amount. If you’re ok with getting an M2 processor, that 13-inch MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM is also on ***** for $749.
Apple Mac mini (M4) for $500 ($75 off with coupon): Apple’s newest tiny desktop is on ***** for $574, but a $25 coupon will bring it down to a record low of $549. It earned a score of 90 in our Mac mini review for its incredibly fast performance, standard 16GB of RAM, smaller design and front-facing USB-C and headphone jack.
Apple 2024 M4 iMac desktop computer for $1,150 ($148 off with coupon): Apple just released the refreshed iMac last month, and now the silver model is already on *****. It has the latest Apple silicon, the M4 system on a chip that gives it a speed boost and enables the new Apple Intelligence features in macOS Sequoia.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar / Engadget
Anker 3-in-1 10K portable charger for $30 ($15 off): A top pick in our best power banks guide, this 10K brick has a built-in USB-C cable so you don’t need to remember to bring one with you, plus it has an extra USB-C port for charging other devices.
Anker Soundcore Space A40 for $45 ($35): The Space A40 is the longtime top pick in our guide to the best budget earbuds, as it delivers the kind of robust feature set we expect from pairs that cost three times as much. Call quality isn’t the best, and it won’t auto-pause when you take out an earbud, but its warm sound, powerful ANC, eight-ish hours of battery life and comfy design all impress for the money. This deal ties the lowest price we’ve seen — it’s only available to Prime subscribers at Amazon, but you can also grab it at Anker’s online store with an on-page coupon.
Xbox Series X (1TB) with extra controller for $490 ($110 off): This bundle includes a total of two Xbox wireless controllers with the Series X console, and the built-in 1TB SSD is a good starting point for most gamers.
Seagate Storage Expansion Card 2TB for $200 ($160 off): Seagate’s expansion card is one of the best options for expanding your Xbox Series X/S storage. A 2TB version has dropped to $200, its lowest price to date. It’s one of our picks for the best Xbox Series X/S accessories. Also available at Seagate.
Lego Star Wars: A New Hope Boarding The Tantive IV Fantasy Toy 75387 for $44 (20 percent off): This set recreates the scene in which Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers battled the Rebels, and it includes seven Star Wars minifigures.
Lego Super Mario King Boo’s Haunted Mansion 71436 for $60 (20 percent off): This set opens out for more convenient play when it’s all built, and it includes King Boo, Yellow Baby Yoshi, Dry Bones and Boo figures.
Lego
Google Pixel Watch 3 for $280 ($70 off with coupon): Google’s latest smartwatch is down to an all time low price. This is the model we recommend for anyone with an Android phone in our guide to the best smartwatches and it earned an 84 in our review. It detects workouts quickly, has an extra long battery life and is one of the more attractive smartwatches on the market. The deal applies to the 41mm size with GPS only but the larger and cellular-enabled models are on ***** too. Also at Best Buy and Target.
Google Nest Indoor security camera (wired) for $70 ($30 off): Google’s security camera can tell the difference between people, animals and vehicles while it’s monitoring your home, and it supports 1080p video, night vision and two-way audio.
Theragun Mini 2.0 for $149 ($50 off): This compact massager makes a great gift for a beloved parent or anyone else you think could use a little more TLC. It supports a couple of different head attachments that help relieve different muscles of the body and it’s arguably the easiest of Thergun’s devices to throw into a carry on or gym bag.
Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer for $270 ($80 off): One of our favorite air fryers, this machine does a lot more than just air fry thanks to its 11 cooking modes, and while it’s larger than a typical air fryer, that means it can cook larger things like a full turkey or chicken.
Echo Dot for $23 ($27 off): This is one of the best smart speakers you can get right now thanks to its compact design, physical button controls that compliment voice commands and its solid sound quality for its size.
Amazon Echo Spot for $45 ($35 off): This recently revived smart display is billed as a smart alarm clock, and it features a customizable screen, big sound for its size and all the perks for Alexa voice commands. You can also grab it bundled with a free TP-Link smart light bulb.
Echo Buds for $25 ($25 off): These are one of our top picks for the best budget wireless earbuds you can get right now thanks to their comfortable design, pocket-friendly case, automatic wear detection, multi-device connectivity and, of course, built-in Alexa voice controls.
Amazon ***** TV Stick 4K Max for $33 ($27 off): Amazon’s most powerful dongle supports 4K streaming with Dolby Vision, Wi-Fi 6E and live picture-in-picture mode so you can see security camera feeds directly on your TV as you’re watching a show or movie. In addition to being a solid streamer, it also makes a good retro gaming device.
Ring pan and tilt security camera for $50 ($30 off): This security camera joined the Ring lineup only a few months ago, and this is the best price we’ve seen on it. It’s part of a larger Ring ***** that discounts home security gear by up to 50 percent.
Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Hisense U8N 4K TV (55-inch) for $698 ($402 off): The U8N is the next step up from the U7N in Hisense’s TV lineup, so it should provide better colors, contrast and brightness across the board. If you don’t mind buying a smaller panel for around the same price, this is another new low. Also at Best Buy.
Samsung 55-inch The Frame smart TV (2024) for $898 (40 percent off): The latest Frame TVs can show art on the screen when you’re not using it, and it has a matte finish to make it look more like a picture frame on your wall. Also available at Samsung.
Samsung Music Frame for $248 ($150 off): This unique smart speaker can show art or your own photos while it plays music, and it can sync with your Samsung TV speakers. Also available at Samsung.
Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ for $150 ($70 off): Our top pick for the best budget Android tablet sports an 11-inch 90Hz display, a microSD card slot for extra storage and a hefty battery.
Segway Ninebot Max G2 electric scooter for $799 ($200 off): The latest electric scooter from Segway can reach a maximum speed of up to 25mph, and it can run for up to 43 miles in Eco mode.
Solo Stove Bonfire Backyard Bundle for $400 ($180 off): Solo Stove ****** Friday deals include up to 30 percent off fit pit bundles that give you all of the necessary accessories to make the most out of your new ***** pit. Alternatively, you can pick up the Bonfire ***** pit with its stand over at Amazon for only $196.
Ooni ****** Friday deals: Get 20 percent off pizza ovens: Most pizza ovens at Ooni have been discounted, including a few of our favorites. The Karu 16 multi-fuel oven is down to $519, a whopping $280 off its normal price.
Audible Premium Plus for $0.99/month for three months + $20 Audible credit ($64 off): Those who don’t currently subscribe to Audible can get three months of the audiobook service’s Premium Plus plan for $1. Normally, the service costs $15 per month after a 30-day free trial. As a refresher, Premium Plus is Audible’s upper tier: In addition to giving access the full Audible Plus library, it lets you keep one title from a curated selection of audiobooks each month. We wouldn’t call it essential, but if you’ve been on the fence, this is a good way to see if it’d work for you. Just note that the plan will auto-renew until you cancel. Plus, you’ll now also get an additional $20 Audible credit to use at your discretion.
Amazon Kindle Unlimited for $0 for one month ($12 off): Amazon’s ebook subscription service gives you access to a catalog of thousands titles for unlimited reading, select Audible audiobooks to listen to and included magazines to read. Prime members can get a different deal: two months for only $5.
Headspace annual plan for $35 ($35 off): Our top pick for the best meditation app has tons of courses that address specific anxieties and worries, a good in-app search engine that makes it easy to find the right meditation you need and additional yoga routines, podcasts and music sessions to try out.
MasterClass Premium for $10/month ($10 off): Premium subscriptions, which include access for up to six devices and offline mode, are half off for the holidays. MasterClass’ other subscription tiers are also discounted. Those who love learning and want to pick up a new hobby (or refine an existing one) can take courses with some of the best in their respective fields.
Adobe Creative Cloud for $30/month ($30 off): First-time subscribers can get half off Creative Cloud for their first year of membership, bringing the cost down to just $30 per month. This gives you access to Photoshop, Illustrator and the rest of Adobe’s suite of apps.
ProtonVPN Plus two-year plan for $72 ($168 off): Our top pick for the best VPN is based on open-source framework and has a no-logs policy. Its easy-to-use apps are available on most platforms including iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and more, and some of them even include a *****-switch feature.
ExpressVPN two-year plan plus six extra months for $150 (82 percent off): Our top pick for best VPN for travelers provides access to tons of servers and had some of the fastest connections of any VPN service we tested. In addition to a VPN, this subscription tier gives you access to an ad blocker and password manager.
****** Friday FAQs
When is ****** Friday 2024?
****** Friday 2024 lands on November 29 this year.
When do ****** Friday deals start?
We expect some ****** Friday tech deals to start as early as November 1. Over the past few years, retailers have been kicking off the holiday shopping season earlier and earlier. This trend will continue in 2024, and you’ll likely find early ****** Friday deals available online and in stores in the weeks before the actual shopping event.
When do ****** Friday deals end?
Some ****** Friday tech deals will end immediately on Saturday, November 30. But those will likely be few and far between. Along with starting deals earlier and earlier, retailers have also extended ****** Friday deals past the day for a while now, too. In the tech space, we’ve seen many ****** Friday deals in the past run through Cyber Monday.
Where are the best ****** Friday deals?
There is no one place to buy all of the best ****** Friday deals, but you can expect the big retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Target to have many of the same ****** Friday deals available — both in the lead up and on the day itself. We also recommend checking direct-to-consumer sites like Apple, Samsung, Sonos and others to make sure you’re getting the best deal before you cross things off your list.
Does Apple have ****** Friday deals?
You typically will not find cash discounts on Apple’s website for ****** Friday, though it has offered various gift card bundles during ****** Friday in recent years. You may be able to find local Apple store discounts on accessories, but Apple isn’t a retailer known for slashing prices on its products. However, you can find more traditional Apple ****** Friday tech deals at other retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target and Best Buy.
Check out all of the latest ****** Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.
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Matildas make their way to Champions League quarters
Matildas make their way to Champions League quarters
Khadija Shaw scored twice as Manchester City advanced to the Women’s Champions League quarter-finals with a 2-1 win at Swedish club Hammarby.
City stayed perfect in the competition with four victories and reached the last eight for the first time since 2021, with two games to spare in Group D.
Bayern Munich were held 1-1 at Vålerenga in Norway and still could earn a quarter-final berth if Juventus lose to Arsenal later on Thursday.
City join Chelsea, Lyon and Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. Arsenal could follow with a victory over Juventus.
City lead Group D with 12 points, six more than two-time defending champions Barcelona, who meet Austrian club St Pölten later Thursday. St Pölten are pointless, while Hammarby remain on three.
Bayern top Group C with 10 points, Arsenal have six followed by Juventus (3) and Vålerenga (1).
Man City, with Matilda Alanna Kennedy stationed at the heart of defence and compatriot Mary Fowler up front, were responding to their first loss of the season – a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea in the Women’s Super League on Saturday.
Still without injured star Vivianne Miedema, Shaw took charge, proving her scoring instincts after half an hour.
The forward scored from inside the penalty area with a deflected shot that flew over goalkeeper Anna Tamminen to frustrate more than 20,000 noisy fans at the Stockholm Arena in the Swedish capital.
Ellen Wangerheim equalised soon after the interval from close range to rejuvenate the crowd, but Shaw struck again to restore the lead just minutes later.
This time, she delivered a powerful right-footed finish from the edge of the area.
Bayern dominated possession but could not translate it into goals until the 75th minute. They had to rely on substitute Jovana Damnjanović, who gave the visitors a late lead after connecting on a pass from Giulia Gwinn.
The Norwegians, who have retained their domestic title, equalised in the 88th through Elise Thorsnes’ header following a corner.
Pernille *******, who found the back of the net five times for Bayern in the previous three games, could not do it again on Thursday and was substituted.
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Nina Wilson on Maddy Cusack’s tragic ****** and why she has quit playing: ‘It can happen again’
Nina Wilson on Maddy Cusack’s tragic ****** and why she has quit playing: ‘It can happen again’
She speaks from the heart, as a close friend of Maddy Cusack, and starts to explain why she has taken the life-changing decision to walk away from her professional career.
“The game, as a whole, seems reluctant to change or accept criticism,” Nina Wilson tells The Athletic. “But if a player’s ****** is not a wake-up call for the entire game, I don’t know what is. Maddy would still be here if it wasn’t for football and the lack of support systems and, unless these issues are addressed properly, this will happen again.”
Wilson, 25, was a team-mate of Cusack’s at Sheffield ******* and, like her friend, there was a time when she was immensely proud to represent the club. “I feel like I was born to play football,” she says. “It has always been my passion. I played for the love of the game and I have always been so proud and grateful to be a professional player.”
Today, though, she is announcing that she has decided to quit playing because she is so disillusioned by how the club — and women’s football as a whole — have responded to Cusack’s ****** and the failures, she believes, that led to a previously happy 27-year-old taking her own life.
Wilson says she experienced the “worst six months of my life” after the appointment of Jonathan Morgan as the team’s manager. It left her, she says, “a shell of a person” and she gave evidence to that effect to the club-commissioned inquiry that, to the dismay of Cusack’s family, cleared Morgan of bullying or wrongdoing in relation to any player.
Nina Wilson was a popular figure among Sheffield ******* fans (Ashley Allen – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
Morgan, who denies causing Cusack’s emotional anguish, is now the subject of a Football Association investigation into an official complaint from her parents, David and Deborah, stating why they believe their eldest daughter “would still be with us had he not been appointed.” Morgan denies any form of bullying and says he is the victim of a witch hunt.
Wilson, a goalkeeper with more than 100 career appearances, says her own experiences of Morgan left her feeling “worthless and extremely isolated” in line with the initial investigation’s findings that he could divide opinion among the players.
Some found him caring and supportive. Others, including Wilson, reported that he could be divisive, even intimidating, and favoured certain players while ignoring and cold-shouldering others.
Wilson’s reasons for going public are mostly because “the lessons haven’t been learned and it is difficult to feel like anything is changing or that football, as a whole, wants to make things better.”
She wants to show solidarity with the Cusack family and, in doing so, she states:
Other players are reluctant to speak out for ***** of being “ostracised” when the culture of women’s football is, for the most part, aimed at promoting the sport
The women’s game is not doing enough to provide external whistleblowing systems or help players through mental health issues, with no mandatory requirement for counsellors and psychologists to be made available
Pressures are increased because women footballers are often so badly paid they have to take on extra jobs, working punishing hours to the detriment of their playing careers
Sheffield ******* have “*******” Cusack’s family by ignoring a fan-led petition urging the club to ‘retire’ her No 8 shirt.
GO DEEPER
Special report: Maddy Cusack – why her family want a new investigation into her ******
In ordinary circumstances, Wilson would be approaching the peak years of a playing career that has featured spells at London City Lionesses, Watford, Lewes and her hometown club, Brighton & Hove Albion.
These, however, are not ordinary circumstances and she has decided to give up playing, after seven years as a professional, for as long as “football has its head in the sand and no one cares enough to want to change anything.”
Wilson has not tried to find another club since becoming a free agent in the summer. It has been her own choice and one of the reasons, she says, is that it would be ******* to speak freely if she was still involved in the sport.
“When I found out about Maddy, the first thing that multiple members of the team said was that ‘it could have been any of us.’
“As awful as it sounds, they were the direct conversations that were happening after Maddy *****. There was a group of us who said it could have happened to us. Those players, including Maddy, regarded it as the worst times we had ever had in football and couldn’t have been in a darker place.
“We’d been made to feel like we weren’t worth anything. It felt like we didn’t matter as people any more. Some of us just went off the radar and barely spoke for weeks and months on end. You could go into training and not be acknowledged by anyone all day.”
Morgan took the Sheffield ******* job in February 2023, despite the club’s then head of women’s football, Zoe Johnson, emailing her colleagues during the selection process to warn them that, although she believed he was a good coach, he “doesn’t have a great reputation” within women’s football.
Jonathan Morgan was accused of bullying at Sheffield ******* (Steve Bardens – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
His appointment coincided with Cusack losing her place as an automatic starter in a team where she was a fans’ favourite. She had played for Morgan before at Leicester City and, according to her family, it had left her with the clear impression that he disliked her.
Wilson says she saw, close up, how her team-mate became “nervous and withdrawn” in Morgan’s presence and no longer seemed her usual self.
“Maddy was always a massive leader in the team and such a confident person – that changed almost overnight.
“She tried so hard to please him and do what was right by the team. She still trained hard, doing extra running and fitness sessions. If we ever asked, ‘You OK, Mads?’ she would turn it back in typical Maddy fashion, as if she was more worried about others. ‘Just getting my head down,’ she’d say, ‘are you OK, though?’
“Both of us were in a very similar position whereby we couldn’t be ourselves any more. We couldn’t be that bubbly, confident person. The whole culture (under Morgan) had shifted massively. It was very divisive and it made no sense because, just a few months before, we were a really close team and all really good friends.
“That’s what I loved about being there. I loved Sheffield and I loved being at the club. But a lot of us just shut down and stopped talking. We didn’t know who we could trust any more. It made it a horrible environment and if you tried to bring up issues with other people at the club you were either pushed further out or laughed off. The response was, ‘Well, he’s the manager.’
“Anyone who dared to speak out was completely frozen out. Other staff and players would walk past and not even acknowledge you. You felt like you were invisible, like you didn’t really matter. Multiple players, including myself and Maddy, were made to feel this way. We were seasoned players. We’ve all been dropped before; that’s just football. What’s not acceptable is to put people down so much they feel they have no value as a person.”
In Wilson’s evidence to the club inquiry, seen by The Athletic, she states Morgan went out of his way to blank her and recalled how unhappy it made her, as a hard-working player with no disciplinary issues, when she reported back from a loan spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers and was informed she was not welcome to train with the rest of the squad. Morgan, she says, “made that decision without ever even talking to me… I’d never even met him.”
Nina Wilson made over 100 career appearances (Charlotte Tattersall – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
She moved to Scotland in the summer of 2023 to join Hibernian for “a new start … to help me get that bubbly, upbeat person back.” However, she had been at her new club only a few weeks when she took the telephone call that turned her world upside down.
“Maddy was gone,” she says. “I got the call while I was in my car before training and I already knew, without anyone having to tell me, that it was because of football.”
Cusack, a former England Under-19 international, was *******’s vice-captain and longest-serving player as well as working as a marketing executive in the club’s commercial department. She had previously played for Leicester, Birmingham City and Aston Villa, having come through the youth systems of Nottingham Forest and Chesterfield.
Fourteen months after her friend’s ******, Wilson believes there needs to be much better support systems in place for players who need emotional and psychological help. It saddens her that “every club should be learning from Maddy’s ****** but, rather than looking at themselves, they would rather believe it was an one-off tragedy that won’t happen again.
“I think it will happen again. And I know the family think it will happen again. So, are we just going to wait for that to happen? Does someone else need to lose their life? Because that’s what I ask myself every day.”
GO DEEPER
A year on from her ******, let’s talk about Maddy Cusack – and who she really was
What many people might find shocking is how little, on average, players earn in the top two divisions, the Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship, and how that can add to the pressures that already exist from working in a highly competitive environment. Wilson had to find other ways to supplement her £6,000-a-year income, taking a job with the club’s community foundation as well as doing bar work in the evenings.
It could be gruelling keeping down three jobs, especially at a time when the demands on players were higher than ever before. But that, she says, is one of the realities of the women’s game for many players.
“The demands continue to increase, and so do the pressures, but the wages don’t, the provisions don’t and the player care doesn’t,” says Wilson. “We (the players) are the ones taking the hit for how much the profile of the game is growing. You’re earning the bare minimum in some cases but you’re made to feel you should be grateful for whatever you can get. It’s very easy to end up in a dark place and think, ‘What’s the point? Why have I given up everything for this?’”
Against that backdrop, it can seem strange and unsatisfactory to Cusack’s family and friends that a tragedy of this nature has not led to greater scrutiny of the women’s game.
“Most people (in the media) haven’t touched it,” says Wilson. “It (the coverage of women’s football) is all about ‘the image of the game.’ Nobody wants to make the game look bad. So nobody dares say anything and, if that comes at the detriment of the players, the people in higher positions seem OK with it.
“This should have been the main story of women’s football for months – not just in the week after Maddy *****. This needs to upend everything in the game. We need to look at how we are failing players. It’s about the pressures that are put on players, the lack of support, the lack of available whistleblowing. It’s about making the game better and safer.”
Other players, she adds, have been “silenced more or less” by the culture of a fast-expanding sport or because of non-disclosure agreements similar to the one that prevents another former ******* player from speaking about her own complaint against Morgan’s alleged “bully-like behaviours.”
Morgan was sacked in February over revelations that he had a secret three-year affair with a teenage player while managing Leicester. He has said previously that he is confident the FA inquiry will exonerate him of any wrongdoing in relation to Cusack or any other ******* player.
Maddy Cusack’s ****** shook women’s football to its core (Ashley Allen – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
An inquest into Cusack’s ****** will be heard next year and, by going public, Wilson is making it clear she “doesn’t want Maddy’s family to feel they are alone in this ******.”
She is aware, because she was there herself, that nobody senior from the club’s hierarchy attended the vigil outside Bramall Lane on September 20 to mark the anniversary of Cusack’s ******.
As for Cusack’s old shirt number, it seems remarkably hard-faced that the club have decided against retiring it despite a 1,200-name petition being raised by fans 11 months ago.
“There’s clearly resistance,” says Wilson, “and that resistance feels extremely unnecessary. Maddy was ‘Miss Sheffield *******’. She lived and breathed the club and I don’t know who else could ever wear her shirt. It (retiring her number) seems such an obvious thing to do.”
Sheffield ******* and Morgan were approached for comment by The Athletic.
An emotional Wilson was one of the speakers at the vigil, alongside Cusack’s youngest sister, Felicia, and used the occasion to urge her former club to rethink their position and understand “it sets a dangerous precedent to lose a member of our community and simply move on and forget, as it seems some organisations would like to.”
In a statement, ******* told The Athletic: “There is currently a Football Association investigation ongoing with regards to a number of the points raised. Sheffield ******* have fully co-operated in this regard and continue to respectfully await the outcome.”
The club say they are continuing “to grow and evolve, which includes transitioning from part-time to full-time” and that, as well as having a dedicated women’s safeguarding officer, a player-care officer and access to mental health first-aiders and wellbeing services, they have “further plans to strengthen the support staff.”
******* also say they have had an external and independent whistleblowing service in place since 2018 with Safecall, the Sunderland-based firm that carried out the investigation into Morgan on the club’s behalf. Wilson, however, says that in her two years at the club she was never made aware of an external whistleblowing service for players.
Wilson is now on the committee of the MC8 charity foundation set up in her friend’s name. She had worn Cusack’s No 8 on her gloves at Hibernian and felt glad that, purely by coincidence, she had chosen 44 as her shirt number at the start of the season. “Maddy always supported me when I played,” she says. “I wanted to continue playing for her. But in the end, I couldn’t.”
Nina Wilson pays tribute to her late friend Maddy Cusack (Michael Hulf)
Instead, Wilson has been putting on mental-health workshops with various clubs, as well as coaching younger players. It is not clear when, if ever, she will pull on her gloves again. But she is determined to make good from bad.
“A few people have said, ‘What about your career?’” she says. “I know I’m taking a risk. But I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do what I thought was right. I can’t play football unless I love it. And my love for football won’t return until something changes and there is justice for Maddy.”
(Top photos: Getty Images, courtesy of Nina Wilson; design: Eamonn Dalton)
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Lord Of The Rings 4K Blu-Ray Box Set Gets Huge Price Cut For ****** Friday
Lord Of The Rings 4K Blu-Ray Box Set Gets Huge Price Cut For ****** Friday
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy’s wonderful 4K box set is on ***** for $55 at Amazon for ****** Friday. This collection tends to be one of the most popular Blu-ray box sets during Amazon’s big sales events, so you won’t want to wait too long to scoop it up. The 4K release is especially notable because it includes the theatrical and extended cuts of all three of Peter Jackson’s beloved adaptations: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the Ring. If you’ve only seen the original theatrical releases, the extended cuts alone are worth the price of admission, as they add roughly two hours of runtime to the already epic (and lengthy) adventure.
In addition to the 4K box set, Amazon has the Middle-earth Theatrical Collection on Blu-ray for only $25. And if you’re interested in picking up some cool editions of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and other books by Tolkien, Amazon is hosting a Buy One, Get One 50% Off Book ***** as part of its massive ****** Friday event. We’ve rounded up some notable Lord of the Rings books that are eligible for B1G1 50% off below.
$55 (was $90)
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy’s move to 4K UHD resolution is fittingly marvelous. Middle-earth comes alive with the visual and audio enhancements provided by Dolby Vision HDR10 and Dolby Atmos 5.1 surround sound. The only downside to this collection is that it no longer comes a voucher for the digital versions of the movies.
If you’re buying this as a gift for a fan, it’s worth noting that this 4K collection is being re-released in a special-edition gift set on December 20. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: One Ring Gift Box includes a leatherette case resembling a book, a replica of the One Ring from the Noble Collection. The display-worthy case has a map of Middle-earth on the inside cover and gold foil type. The Lord of the Rings: One Ring Gift Box is up for preorder for $157.
$25 (was $63)
The Middle-earth Theatrical Collection offers a very cheap way to watch The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit Trilogy on 1080p Blu-ray. But keep in mind, that’s all you get here: the theatrical versions of all six films. No special features, no extended cuts–this is strictly the movies you saw in theaters. But hey, it’s only $25, which translates to roughly $4 per movie.
The Lord of the Rings – Tolkien Illustrated Editions
Now’s a great time to pick up gorgeous special editions and box sets of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and the author’s many other books about Middle-earth. The B1G1 50% off promotion includes the beautiful Tolkien Illustrated Editions, the recently released Collector’s Editions, The History of Middle-earth, and more. Check out our lists below for the best Tolkien book deals at Amazon.
We also have stories focused on the Tolkien Illustrated Editions and the recently released Collector’s Editions, in case you wanted to read more about these unique editions of these fantasy classics.
The Lord of the Rings Book Deals at Amazon
Note: Books eligible for B1G1 50% off are bolded.
B1G1 50% Off Tolkien Illustrated Editions
The brand-new hardcover Collector’s Editions
Tolkien Box Set Deals
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Snag this Apple ****** Friday deal on the new iPad mini
Snag this Apple ****** Friday deal on the new iPad mini
I still remember when Apple released the first iPad mini. Before getting my hands on one, I thought to myself, “Why not just use your phone?”
The first time I tried it, I understood. It was easier to type on and fit in only one hand, two things I couldn’t say about its full-size sibling, but with so much more screen space than a phone.
Now the brand-new iPad mini is already on *****, so you can hold all of that power in the palm of your hand for less.
Amazon
This new generation of the compact tablet features Apple Intelligence, an A17 Pro chip and 128GB memory, double the usual base standard.
$450 at AmazonWhy is this a good deal?
A $49 discount might seem pretty small, but any discount on a brand-new Apple item is noteworthy, especially when it comes to iPads, which tend to hold their value. Priced at $450, this iPad mini with 128GB of memory has never been cheaper.
Why do I need this?
Think this is just a slightly larger version of your phone? Think again. With a 3:2 aspect ratio compared to the iPhone’s 2:1, the iPad mini is much wider and, for those who use their tablets to read, can fit more text and feels more like a book or magazine in your hand. Speaking of fitting in your hand, it’s much less cumbersome than the full-size iPad, making it great for travel or slipping into a backpack for your commute.
As far as features go, the iPad mini is packed. It’s powered by the A17 Bionic chip, so you should experience zero lag (which I definitely cannot say for my Kindle). It also has a 12-megapixel camera on both the front and back, plus, with its smaller size, you won’t look ridiculous holding it up to snap a photo. The optional (but highly recommended) Apple Pencil Pro can turn this tablet into an art studio, whether your medium is photography or digital art.
This is also the first time an iPad mini will have Apple Intelligence. What is Apple Intelligence, you ask? It’s Apple’s way of making your device even more helpful and personalized. It learns from your habits and preferences to suggest things like reminders for meetings, suggest photos from specific events or even offer predictive text while you type, making things run smoother and faster.
Coupled with the optional Apple Pencil, the iPad mini becomes a powerhouse of an art studio. (Amazon)
What reviewers say
Since this iPad is so new, it has only a handful of ratings on Amazon so far, most of them five-star. Unsurprisingly, the previous-generation iPad mini has received quite a few five-star ratings — close to 10,000, in fact, from shoppers who say it’s “a compact powerhouse.”
*****
Portability seems to be one of the biggest draws, including for this five-star reviewer. “I use my iPad for reading, streaming movies/TV shows, as a planner, as a coloring book and sketchbook, and surfing the internet. I also purchased an Apple Pencil, second generation, and I purchased a Paperlike screen protector — it helps me write easier and smoother on it. I love this thing! It’s perfect to take literally anywhere and fits in most of my purses.”
“I am coming from the iPad mini 5th generation and wow is this a huge step up,” said another happy customer. “It is super fast. Great feel, quality and awesome camera. The picture quality is unreal. It is very portable even with a case on it. The storage is great. I have 30GB free even after the new iOS install.”
“I had been looking for something to take quick notes at work, edit PDFs for simple stuff at work and home, and I had really been getting ***** of reading on my phone,” shared a final five-star buyer. “We have an iPad Pro 10-inch and the new 10th generation Air, and none of them seem to perform any better than mine does, but the big thing about it that is huge for me is that it is so small and light, super easy to tote around, doesn’t really add any weight to my bag.”
*****
“I will say, battery life is subpar, especially when compared with my older iPad Pro,” cautioned one purchaser. “The 2021 iPad Mini and 2022 iPad Air that I own don’t have the best battery life, but at least they charge up quickly with the included USB-C charger. I guess the newer models don’t hold a charge as long, but when I travel, I bring an Anker portable battery with me, just in case.”
Some users also miss the home button, which Apple no longer includes on the iPad mini. “You sort of have to fling things off the screen,” said this user. “If you like that, it probably works for you. I do not. Takes a while getting used to, and I don’t think I ever totally will.”
Amazon
With a 3:2 screen ratio, the iPad mini feels much more like a book in your hand than your iPhone.
$450 at Amazon
If you have Amazon Prime, you’ll get free shipping, of course. Not yet a member? No problem. You can sign up for your free 30-day trial here. (And by the way, those without Prime still get free shipping on orders of $35 or more.)
The reviews quoted above reflect the most recent versions at the time of publication.
Your ****** Friday Shopping Guide: See all of Yahoo’s ****** Friday coverage here. Shop the best expert-picked ****** Friday deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for ****** Friday tech deals. And find ****** Friday sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
Looking for more great Amazon tech deals? Check these out:
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NFL sends security warning to teams after Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce’s homes burglarized
NFL sends security warning to teams after Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce’s homes burglarized
By Dianna Russini, Larry Holder and Alex Andrejev
The NFL sent a memo to teams from the league’s security branch earlier this week warning about the threat of burglary groups targeting the homes of professional athletes. The Athletic obtained a copy of the memo.
This alert comes after burglaries at the homes of Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce last month. Two law enforcement officials told NBC News the FBI is working with local agencies to determine whether the recent burglaries are connected to a transnational ****** syndicate. Per NBC’s report Wednesday, there has been no determination about who is responsible and the investigation is ongoing.
“The homes of professional athletes across multiple sports leagues have become increasingly targeted for burglaries by organized and skilled groups,” the NFL’s memo said. “Law enforcement officials have noted these groups appear to exploit team schedules to target athletes’ homes on game days.”
The memo also included ways the groups survey players’ whereabouts and explained methods of entry into homes. The league security team provided recommendations regarding the use of social media, including avoiding posting images of expensive items or comments about hotel accommodations. The memo also spelled out methods of home security.
Mahomes addressed the incident involving his home last Wednesday, calling it “frustrating” and “disappointing.”
“I can’t get into too many of the details because the investigation is still ongoing,” he said. “But obviously something that you don’t want to happen to really anybody, but obviously yourself.”
Officers responded to a reported burglary shortly after midnight on Oct. 6 at Mahomes’ estate in Belton, Mo., according to a police report from the Cass County, Mo. Sheriff’s Office. Mahomes is not identified in the report, but the address listed matches public records for the three-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback.
A day after the reported burglary at Mahomes’ home, another reported burglary occurred around 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 7 at a residence in Leawood, Kan., believed to belong to Kelce, according to a Leawood Police Department offense report. The Chiefs beat the New Orleans Saints at Arrowhead Stadium in a “Monday Night Football” game that night with Taylor Swift, Kelce’s girlfriend, in attendance.
The police report for the incident indicated that $20,000 in cash was taken and that there was $1,000 worth of damage to a rear door.
A spokesperson for the Leawood Police Department declined to provide additional details, saying the department does not release victim information except in cases of fatalities, crashes and homicides.
Required reading
(Photo: Brooke Sutton / Getty Images)
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Golden Joystick Awards 2024 – All Award Winners
Golden Joystick Awards 2024 – All Award Winners
On November 21, the Golden Joystick Awards 2024 took place in London, and there was no shortage of awards to be given out to the various winners this year.
It’s the 42nd-Annual edition of the Golden Joystick Awards, and it featured 24 awards and dozens of games both large and small sharing the stage for the show. Nearly all of the awards are voted on by the fans with just four being decided by a panel of critics and creators. Those four awards are: Streamers’ Choice, Breakthrough, Critics’ Choice, and Lifetime Achievement.
RELATED: Inaugural Indie Game Awards Announce Full List Of Nominees
Check out the full list of award nominees and winners below, and let us know what your thought of the fan’s choices in the comments or official Insider Gaming Forums. The winners of each award are bolded as they are announced.
Golden Joystick Awards 2024 Winners
Ultimate Game of the Year
Animal Well
Astro ****
Balatro
****** Myth: Wukong (WINNER)
Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Helldivers 2
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Satisfactory
Silent Hill 2
Tekken 8
Studio of the Year
11 Bit Studios
Arrowhead Game Studios
Capcom
Digital Eclipse
Team ASOBI (WINNER)
Visual Concepts
PC Game of the Year
Animal Well
Balatro
Frostpunk 2
Satisfactory (WINNER)
Tactical Breach Wizards
UFO 50
Console Game of the Year
Astro ****
Dragon’s Dogma 2
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Helldivers 2 (WINNER)
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Most Wanted Game
Atomfall
*********’s Creed Shadows
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Deadlock
****** Stranding 2: On The Beach
*****: The Dark Ages
Exodus
Fable
Ghost of Yotei
Grand Theft Auto VI (WINNER)
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Light No *****
******: The Old Country
Monster Hunter Wilds
Skate
Slay the Spire 2
South of Midnight
Best Storytelling
1000xResist
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (WINNER)
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Tactical Breach Wizards
Best Visual Design
Astro ****
****** Myth: Wukong (WINNER)
Harold Halibut
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Best Multiplayer Game
Abiotic Factor
EA Sports College Football 25
Helldivers 2 (WINNER)
Sons Of The Forest
Tekken 8
The Finals
Best Audio Design
Astro **** (WINNER)
Balatro
Robobeat
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Star Wars Outlaws
Still Wakes the Deep
Best Game Expansion
Alan Wake 2 Expansion Pass
Destiny 2: The Final Shape
Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (WINNER)
**** of War Ragnarök: Valhalla
World of Warcraft: The War Within
Best Indie Game – Self Published
Arctic Eggs
Another Crab’s Treasure (WINNER)
Crow Country
Duck Detective: The Secret Salami
I Am Your ******
Little Kitty, Big City
Riven
Tactical Breach Wizards
Tiny Glade
UFO 50
Best Indie Game
Animal Well
Arco
Balatro (WINNER)
Beyond Galaxyland
Conscript
Indika
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Thank Goodness You’re Here!
The Plucky Squire
Ultros
Best Soundtrack
A Highland Song
Astro ****
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (WINNER)
Hauntii
Silent Hill 2
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
Best Early Access Game
Enshrouded
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor
Hades 2
Manor Lords
Lethal Company (WINNER)
Palworld
Best Gaming Hardware
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024)
Backbone One (2nd Gen)
LG UltraGear 32GS95UE
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super
Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra
Steam Deck OLED (WINNER)
Best Game Trailer
Caravan Sandwitch – Launch Trailer
****** Stranding 2: On The Beach – State of Play Announce Trailer
Helldivers 2 – “The ****** for Freedom Begins” Launch Trailer (WINNER)
Kingmakers – Official Announcement Trailer
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII – Narrator Reveal Trailer
The Plucky Squire – Launch Trailer
Best Game Adaptation
Borderlands
Fallout (WINNER)
Halo Season 2
Knuckles
Like a Dragon: Yakuza
Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft
Best Lead Performer
Cody ********** as Cloud Strife in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (WINNER)
Kaiji ***** as Ichiban Kasuga in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Humberly Gonzalez as Kay Vess in Star Wars Outlaws
Luke Roberts as James Sunderland in Silent Hill 2
Melina Juergens as Senua in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Sonequa Martin-Green as Alvilda in Asgard’s Wrath 2
Best Supporting Performer
Abbi Greenland & Helen Goalen as The Furies in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Briana White as Aerith Gainsborough in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (WINNER)
Dawn M. Bennett as Aigis in Persona 3 Reload
Debra Wilson as Amanda Waller in ******** Squad
Matt Berry as Herbert in Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Neve McIntosh as Suze in Still Wakes the Deep
Still Play Award – Mobile
Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile
Free *****
Honkai: Star Rail (WINNER)
Roblox
Marvel Snap
Monopoly Go!
Mini Motorways
PUBG: Battlegrounds
Squad Busters
Star Wars: Hunters
Subway Surfers
The Sims Mobile
Still Playing Award – Console & PC
Apex Legends
Counter-Strike 2
EA Sports FC
Dota 2
Fortnite
GTA Online
Minecraft (WINNER)
Naraka: Bladepoint
Roblox
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
Valorant
Warframe
Streamers’ Choice Award
Chained Together
Breakthrough Award
Balatro
Critics’ Choice Award
Helldivers 2
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Intuit (INTU) Q1 earnings report 2025
Intuit (INTU) Q1 earnings report 2025
Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi speaks at the opening night of the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on Aug. 15, 2024.
Rodin Eckenroth | Filmmagic | Getty Images
Intuit shares fell 6% in extended trading on Thursday after the finance software maker issued a revenue forecast for the current quarter that trailed analysts’ estimates due to some sales getting delayed.
Here’s how the company performed in comparison with LSEG consensus:
Earnings per share: $2.50 adjusted vs. 2.35 expected
Revenue: $3.28 billion vs. 3.14 billion
Revenue increased 10% year over year in the quarter, which ended on Oct. 31, according to a statement. Net income fell to $197 million, or 70 cents per share, from $241 million, or 85 cents per share, a year ago.
While results for the fiscal first quarter topped estimates, second-quarter guidance was light. Intuit said it anticipates a single-digit decline in revenue from the consumer segment because of promotional changes. While that will affect revenue timing, it won’t have any impact on the full 2025 fiscal year.
Intuit called for second-quarter earnings of $2.55 to $2.61 per share, with $3.81 billion to $3.85 billion in revenue. The consensus from LSEG was $3.20 per share and $3.87 billion in revenue.
For the full year, Intuit expects $19.16 to $19.36 in adjusted earnings per share on $18.16 billion to $18.35 billion in revenue. That implies revenue growth between 12% and 13%. Analysts polled by LSEG were looking for $19.33 in adjusted earnings per share and $18.26 billion in revenue.
Revenue from the Global Business Solutions Group came in at $2.5 billion in the first quarter. The figure was up 9% and inline with estimates, according to StreetAccount. Formerly known as the Small Business and Self-Employed segment, the group includes Mailchimp, QuickBooks, small business financing and merchant payment processing.
CreditKarma revenue came in at $524 million, above StreetAccount’s $430 million consensus.
At Thursday’s close, Intuit shares were up about 9% so far in 2024, while the S&P 500 has gained almost 25% in the same *******.
Executives will discuss the results with analysts on a conference call starting at 4:30 p.m. ET.
WATCH: H&R Block, Intuit shares fall after report Trump admin considering a free tax-filing app
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Intuit (INTU) Q1 earnings report 2025
Intuit (INTU) Q1 earnings report 2025
Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi speaks at the opening night of the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on Aug. 15, 2024.
Rodin Eckenroth | Filmmagic | Getty Images
Intuit shares fell 6% in extended trading on Thursday after the finance software maker issued a revenue forecast for the current quarter that trailed analysts’ estimates due to some sales getting delayed.
Here’s how the company performed in comparison with LSEG consensus:
Earnings per share: $2.50 adjusted vs. 2.35 expectedRevenue: $3.28 billion vs. 3.14 billion
Revenue increased 10% year over year in the quarter, which ended on Oct. 31, according to a statement. Net income fell to $197 million, or 70 cents per share, from $241 million, or 85 cents per share, a year ago.
While results for the fiscal first quarter topped estimates, second-quarter guidance was light. Intuit said it anticipates a single-digit decline in revenue from the consumer segment because of promotional changes. While that will affect revenue timing, it won’t have any impact on the full 2025 fiscal year.
Intuit called for second-quarter earnings of $2.55 to $2.61 per share, with $3.81 billion to $3.85 billion in revenue. The consensus from LSEG was $3.20 per share and $3.87 billion in revenue.
For the full year, Intuit expects $19.16 to $19.36 in adjusted earnings per share on $18.16 billion to $18.35 billion in revenue. That implies revenue growth between 12% and 13%. Analysts polled by LSEG were looking for $19.33 in adjusted earnings per share and $18.26 billion in revenue.
Revenue from the Global Business Solutions Group came in at $2.5 billion in the first quarter. The figure was up 9% and inline with estimates, according to StreetAccount. Formerly known as the Small Business and Self-Employed segment, the group includes Mailchimp, QuickBooks, small business financing and merchant payment processing.
CreditKarma revenue came in at $524 million, above StreetAccount’s $430 million consensus.
At Thursday’s close, Intuit shares were up about 9% so far in 2024, while the S&P 500 has gained almost 25% in the same *******.
Executives will discuss the results with analysts on a conference call starting at 4:30 p.m. ET.
WATCH: H&R Block, Intuit shares fall after report Trump admin considering a free tax-filing app
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Cyberpunk 2077 won’t get PS5 Pro patch
Cyberpunk 2077 won’t get PS5 Pro patch
CD Projekt Red has no intention to release a PS5 Pro patch, at least for the foreseeable future, and we wouldn’t hold our breath. The game has, for the most part, plateaued in development, though there are still easter eggs to be found.
Responding to a user on Twitter, the official Cyberpunk account addressed that it has “no plans” for a patch to take advantage of the mid-gen refresh. This isn’t too shocking, considering the studio has pulled all staff that were previously working on the game to other projects.
We currently have no plans for PS5 Pro patch
— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) November 20, 2024
Chief among the projects fans can get hyped about are The Witcher’s next game as well as Cyberpunk’s sequel, codenamed Project Orion. The last major patch introduced was back in September to add FSR 3 with Frame Generation support. Additionally, it’s set to release on Mac next year.
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Former NY cop pleads guilty to foreign exchange fund ****** ***********
Former NY cop pleads guilty to foreign exchange fund ****** ***********
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace, speaks during a news conference in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., October 22, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
Former New York City police officer Jason Rodriguez pleaded guilty to *********** to commit wire ****** related to his role as the chief operating officer of a foreign exchange investment fund, prosecutors said in a release Thursday.
Rodriguez, 38, was indicted in a Brooklyn federal court in February after he lied to investors and lost most of the $4.8 million put into his forex investment fund, Technical Trading Team. To date, approximately $3.5 million of those funds have not been paid back to the investors, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
“The defendant deceived retail investors into investing with his company based on false promises that he would invest their money in accordance with clear guardrails and that he had left the NYPD because of his success as a trader,” Breon Pace, ******* States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said. “In reality, there were no guardrails, he resigned from the NYPD in disgrace, and he lost most of the money, inflicting substantial harm on his victims.”
Rodriguez falsely reassured investors that if the company lost money, he could pay them back through a “loss reserve account,” and that he wouldn’t risk more than 1% of assets under management on a single trade.
“[Rodriguez] also misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars which he used to pay for luxury car rentals, travel, and other expenses,” Peace said in February following the indictment.
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Rodriguez served as an NYPD officer for approximately seven years before he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor ****** and resigned. He then established the TTT fund in 2020 along with CEO Edwin Carrion.
Previous court records show that Carrion pleaded guilty to the scheme in January. He has yet to be sentenced in the case.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2023 filed a civil lawsuit against TTT, Rodriguez and Carrion in Brooklyn federal court, accusing them of making “false and misleading statements regarding their investment track record and the safety of investing the TTT pool to participants and potential participants.”
The complaint also alleges that after losing over $3 million, Rodriguez and Carrion assured investors that they could win back the losses using artificial intelligence-based trading algorithms.
The suit was stayed in March by District Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr.
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.
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Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s latest patch adds 57 improvements and bug fixes
Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s latest patch adds 57 improvements and bug fixes
The latest update for Dragon Age: The Veilguard has been released, adding nearly 60 changes to the game.
Patch 3 adds numerous quality of life updates, including the ability to choose filters in Photo mode and a reworking of the file naming system for Photo mode’s screenshots.
Players can now bind arrow keys to input mappings, and can more easily identify where an Enchantment has been applied to a companion’s equipment.
When a player gets a new ring, it can now more easily be compared to both equipped ring slots, and some weapons have new icons.
When the Crossroads’ Spirit Merchant is available, players will now get a notification informing them.
The patch also adds numerous bug fixes, with BioWare saying it’ll “have another patch to talk more about soon”.
The full patch notes can be found on the Dragon Age: The Veilguard website.
Patch 3 is live on all platforms! Among the bug fixes, we’ve also included several quality of life updates. It is now possible to map the Arrow Keys, and we added new filters to Photo Mode! pic.twitter.com/uskPpJviMd
— Dragon Age (@dragonage) November 21, 2024
Earlier this week GSD data suggested that launch month sales for Dragon Age: The Veilguard were relatively slow in Europe.
Compared with other high profile RPGs released this year, Dragon Age: The Veilguard sales are tracking 18% below Dragon’s Dogma 2 and almost 21% behind PS5 exclusive Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, GamesIndustry.biz’s Christopher Dring said on Bluesky.
The new Dragon Age title was the seventh best-selling game across Europe in October, one spot behind Silent Hill 2 on the monthly chart.
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****** Friday SSD and Storage Deals Live: Best Sales on Internal and External Drives
****** Friday SSD and Storage Deals Live: Best Sales on Internal and External Drives
2024-11-21T20:53:22.430Z
8TB of Speedy SSD at an Epic Low Price
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
For most people, even a 4TB SSD seems luxurious. But, if you need more storage and you don’t want (or aren’t able to) combined multiple drives in the same system, an 8TB drive is ideal. There aren’t many 8TB drives on the market, but WD ******’s SN850X is available in this spacious capacity and its now on ***** for just $549 at Amazon, reduced from $694.
The SN850X 8TB is a PCIe Gen 4 drive that’s rated for 7,200 MB/s sequential reads, 6,600 MB/s and 1.2 million IOPS for read and write. It has a five year warranty and write endurance of 4,800 TBW (terabytes written).
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Product
8TB
Pricing
$549.99
Form Factor
M.2 2280 DS
Interface / Protocol
PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4
Controller
Proprietary (Triton MP16+ B2)
DRAM
DDR4
Flash Memory
Kioxia 162-Layer TLC (BiCS6)
Sequential Read
7,200 MB/s
Sequential Write
6,600 MB/s
Random Read
1,200K IOPS
Random Write
1,200K IOPS
Security
TCG OPAL 2.01
Endurance (TBW)
4,800TB
Part Number | w/HS
WDS800T2X0E WDS200TXHE
PS5-Compatible HS
Yes
Dimensions w/HS
80mm (L) x 24.46mm (W) x 10.31mm (H)
Warranty
5-Year
The WD ****** SN850X is also the fastest 8TB drive we’ve tested, easily outpacing competitors on both latency and bandwidth tests.
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
In short, this is a high-performing, high-capacity drive at an epic low price.
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