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Freeze Fresh Cranberries Now to Make Thanksgiving Easier

All too often, I’ve been the person who buys two bags of cranberries a week before I need them only to find that 50% of them are an awful, slimy mess once it’s time to cook. Alternatively, I’ve also been the person who waits until the last minute to find the cranberry shelf has been completely decimated. The choices have always been: Shop too early and the berries turn to mush, or too late and the shelves have nary a cranberry in sight. Both of these options leaves you berry-poor.

However, if you store your fresh cranberries right, you can have perfect, unspoiled berries ready for when you need them. Stock up on a few bags right now, and freeze them. Here’s how to do it properly so they stay nice and fresh.

How to store fresh cranberries in the freezer

Regardless of where you stand on the great cranberry sauce debate, whole fresh cranberries are a cold-weather gem. Use them in cookies, cakes, pies, or chill your beverages with them.

1. Sort out the bad cranberries

After you’ve purchased your bounty of (hopefully) top notch, firm, unmarred cranberries, you need to check them over. Resist the urge to just chuck the entire bag in the freezer. It’s important to check them now because once they’re frozen you won’t easily be able to tell if they’ve gone rotten or not.

I set up a sorting station with a pan to sort through, a small bowl for the busted berries, and a big bowl for the keepers. Spill some cranberries out of the bag and into the pan. Pick up a handful and take out the bad berries. they go in the small bowl to get composted. Put the good ones into the big bowl. Repeat with all of your cranberries.

Two bowls and a cake pan with cranberries in them.

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

How do you know if cranberries are bad?

Gently squeeze them and roll them around to check out all of the sides. Any cranberries that are crushed, extremely wrinkled, brown, or feel like water balloons are on their way out, if not completely rotten already. A good cranberry is hard with a tight, shiny skin. Some flat spots are to be expected because cranberries have internal seed chambers, so they’re not always perfectly round. They can range in color from light pink and splotchy-white to dark red, nearly black. Ones that have mushy brown areas are no good.

2. Freeze them in a single layer

After you’ve sorted out the berries, lay them out on a clean sheet tray or cake pan in a single layer. Put the whole tray in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes. This step allows the berries to freeze loose from each other and preserve their plump round shape.

A layer of red cranberries in a pan.

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

3. Consolidate the cranberries

Once they’re frozen, pour the berries into a container or freezer bag. Seal it up tight and store these tart orbs in the freezer until you need them. They’ll keep well in the freezer for eight months to a year.

A clear freezer bag half full of cranberries.

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

When you’re ready to use them, measure the frozen berries directly into your recipe. There’s no need to thaw them; they can be used immediately from a frozen state. Pour them into a pot to cook into the best cranberry sauce, or drop a few into your champagne to keep it chilled and festive.

Best Buy Wants to Give You a Free TV Just for Buying Another, Larger TV

Black Friday is no longer a single-day shopping event—like other shopping events, it has become a multiple-day extravaganza without a defined beginning or end. Walmart’s sale is already live, as is as Target’s, and some of Amazon’s.) Joining the fun is Best Buy, which is offering some deals on TVs. Its Hisense and Samsung TV deals stand out, which include a free digital copy of NBA 2K25: All-Star Edition with the purchase of select Hisense 65″ TVs, or a free Samsung 40″ Class TV with the purchase of a 98” Samsung Class DU9000 Series.

Free Samsung 40″ class TV
Samsung – 98” Class DU9000 Series Crystal UHD Smart Tizen TV (2024)

SAMSUNG 98-Inch Class 4K Crystal UHD DU9000 Series HDR Smart TV, Object Tracking Sound Lite, Motion Xcelerator 120Hz, Supersize Picture Enhancer, Mega Contrast, Alexa Built-In (UN98DU9000, 2024 Model)


$2,499.99
at Best Buy
$3,499.99
Save $1,000.00

Free digital copy of NBA 2K25: All-Star Edition
Hisense – 65″ Class U8 Series Mini-LED 4K UHD QLED Smart Google TV (2024)

Hisense Class U8 Series Mini-LED 4K UHD QLED Smart Google TV


$899.99
at Best Buy
$1,499.99
Save $600.00

The 40-inch Samsung is a $249.99 value, which launched in 2019. It’s a fine TV to put in a child’s bedroom or if you need one in a garage, but don’t expect much from it aside from basic smart features. The only TV that includes the 40-inch is the 98-inch Samsung Class DU9000 Series Crystal UHD, currently $2,499.99 (originally $3,499.99) which comes with Smart Tizen TV. This is the lowest price this TV has been over the last four months, according to price-tracking tools. This TV came out earlier this year with an AI feature that optimizes picture quality called Supersize Picture Enhancer. Samsung claims that it’ll make the quality comparable to that of a 65-inch TV.

If you’re interested in the free digital NBA 2K25: All-Star Edition, it is available until Nov. 16 with the purchase of a selection of QLED/ULED TVs. One of the standout options is the 65-inch Hisense U8 Series Mini-LED QLED Smart Google TV for $899.99 (originally $1,499.99). It is the lowest price I have seen in the last couple of months, according to price-tracking tools. This is just $50 more than the previous year’s version. You’ll get 4K resolution with local dimming, which makes deeper darks and richer colors for a more dramatic contrast (it’ll look close to an OLED). The best part is you get the extra brightness that non-OLED TVs bring.

Use Mermaid to Create Charts and Diagrams Without Image Editing Tools

Have you ever tried to make a flowchart, or any kind of diagram for that matter, using image editing software or a word processor’s embedded tools? It generally doesn’t go well, which is why there’s dedicated software for the job. But longstanding options like Mirosoft Visio aren’t easily available to the average person, and Lucidchart, a web-based alternative, limits free users to 60 “shapes” per document, after which point you’ll pay $9 a month.

That’s reasonable if you’re the kind of person who constantly makes flowcharts, but it’s a lot to ask for the occasional use. If you’d rather avoid paying for another subscription, and are willing to learn a little bit of Markdown (essentially, a way to add formatting without a text editor or HTML tags), Mermaid is an open source tool that can be used to create such charts using plaintext.

The simplest way to get started is heading to Mermaid.live. It’s a free online tool that allows you to create flowcharts and a number of other diagrams right in your browser. It offers a number of sample diagrams, found in the left-hand column, and playing around with a few of them is a great way to learn your way around the tool. It includes flowcharts, as well as productivity favorites like Gantt diagrams and pie charts.

A pie chart made using Mermaid, using just four lines of text.

Credit: Justin Pot

The left panel is where you put the text, and the right panel shows a preview of the chart. If you’ve used another Markdown editor before it will feel familiar, even if the specifics take some time to memorize. If you’ve never used Markdown before, there’s a bit of a learning curve—figuring out how to best use this tool is going to require either experimenting within Mermaid itself, reading the documentation, or both.

Once created, you can export your charts from this web tool as an image, if you want, or copy the code to use in another app. A number of applications, including Obsidian, Notion, and GitLab, come with built-in support for embedding Mermaid code. (Read the list of integrations to learn about more tools that support Mermaid, and about other dedicated tools for creating within it.)

If you’re a power user of flowcharts and diagramming tools, Mermaid isn’t going to replace more robust programs built for the task. But if you only occasionally need to make a chart, and especially if you prefer working with text-based tools, it might save you time, and money.

AirPlay Mirroring on Mac Just Got a Huge Upgrade

I’m a big fan of mirroring my MacBook’s screen to my Apple TV. It’s how my partner and I researched and planned our wedding, and it’s what we use any time we need to make a calculated shopping decision. I like the stability of mirroring to my Apple TV, but now with AirPlay 2 integrated in so many modern displays, mirroring a Mac display to any TV is accessible and convenient.

For the longest time, the only real downside to AirPlay mirroring was that you had no control over which parts of your screen you could share: You could either mirror your whole display or nothing at all. But now in macOS Sequoia 15.2 beta 3 (currently available in developer beta, and will roll out to the public at large sometime in December), there are plenty of options for mirroring your Mac’s screen. You can choose to show a single window or app, or, my favorite, finally use your TV as an extended display, like a monitor that’s docked next to your laptop.

How to share a single app or window on Mac

Just as with a Zoom call, it’s nice to only share one app or window when screen mirroring, instead of everything going on with your Mac. It can save you from displaying the wrong notification, photo, or message thread when you’re in a big meeting, or even when sharing with friends and family.

If you’re only going to be sharing your browser, or perhaps a PowerPoint presentation, it’s best to just share that with your viewers. To start, click on Control Center in the menu bar and choose Screen Mirroring.

Choose Screen Mirroring from Control Center.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Then, choose the TV or Apple TV you want to mirror to. If you’re doing this for the first time, macOS will prompt you to ask if you wish to mirror your whole screen, just an app, or use the TV as an extended display. If you don’t see the popup, click the Choose Content button from the Screen Mirroring menu.

Choose Content option in Screen Mirroring.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Now, you will see a popup with the aforementioned options. Here, choose Window or App and click Start Mirroring.

Mirroring options in macOS Sequoia.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Next, switch to the app you want to mirror, and simply hover over it. macOS will add a blue tint over the window, to suggest this window will be mirrored. Here, you can choose if you want to mirror this particular window, or all windows from the app in question (so when you switch between all open windows from the app they will still be shown on the TV). Once you make the selection, the content will show up on the screen.

Choose to mirror the window to Apple TV.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The window that’s being mirrored will show a new Screen Mirroring icon in the top left-hand corner, in place of the usual window management buttons. You can use this button to manage and stop the screen mirroring. Alternatively, go to the Screen Mirroring menu bar drop-down and click Stop Mirroring.

This feature isn’t limited to a single app or window. You can keep adding apps you want to show on the TV, and as you switch between them, they will update accordingly on the TV. To add more apps or windows, go back to the Screen Mirroring menu and choose Add Windows.

Add Windows to Screen Mirroring.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The feature is currently in beta, and I’ve had mixed results with the stability of the app and window mirroring. Sometimes the screen goes blank when I shift to a different app, but most of the time it stays put. I hope that by the stable update this won’t be an issue.

How to use your TV as an external monitor for your Mac

If you want to keep a particular window or multiple windows docked to your TV while you continue to work on other things on your Mac, you can use the Extend Display feature—an option I’ve been waiting some time for. When you’re using this mode, your TV essentially works as an external monitor while your MacBook’s display stays in its native resolution. This way, both displays are independently usable.

To use it, click Screen Mirroring, choose your TV, then click Replace. Finally, choose Extended Display. Once set, your TV will show an empty desktop view by default. You can move your mouse over to your TV to begin using it as a new display. To set that up, go to System Settings > Display Settings > Arrange Displays and drag the TV to a position that you like. I keep the TV on the top of my laptop, as it’s more ergonomic. Hit Done to finalize your choice.

Arranging displays on the Mac

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Now, you can drag any window or app over to the TV using a drag and drop gesture, and it will stay there just like that.

You Can Get a BJ’s Membership on Sale for $65 Right Now

You can get a BJ’s Wholesale Club+ membership on sale for $65 right now (reg. $110). Club+ members earn up to 2% back on both in-store and online purchases, get five cents off per gallon at BJ’s Gas, and get up to 3x back in additional rewards during special events. BJ’s offers savings of up to 25% compared to grocery stores, and members can shop for groceries, household essentials, clothing, electronics, furniture, and outdoor supplies. You can also save at BJ’s Travel and BJ’s Optical Center. This offer is only available for new members.

You can get a BJ’s Wholesale Club+ membership on sale for $65 right now (reg. $110), though prices can change at any time. No coupon is needed.

Exercise Is Stress Relief So You Should Probably Go Exercise Right Now

The world is not being kind to us right now. (You might argue that it never has been.) Between the economy, the climate, and the looming political milieu of the next four years—not to mention the ever-present, everyday stresses of staying alive—we could probably all use some stress relief right now. And that is why you should get up and go for a walk right after reading this.

I will never argue that exercise is sufficient to meet everyone’s mental health needs, but it beats a lot of other coping mechanisms, like drinking and doomscrolling and crying in the shower. (Satire site Reductress probably said it best: “Woman Who Says Exercise Is Like Therapy Must Have Some Pretty Light Trauma.”)

If you’re working through truly difficult things right now, please get yourself a therapist. You have plenty of options, even if your insurance sucks. We also have a rundown of ways to calm your panic and anxiety, including a video you can watch while you’re having a panic attack.

Why exercise helps

There are two reasons to exercise when your thoughts are spiraling out of control. One is for the benefits it may bring to the rest of your day and to your long-term health. Exercise tends to use up nervous energy, calm our brains down, and promote better sleep. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America notes that people who exercise are less likely to have anxiety and depression, possibly because exercise helps us cope better with stress.

Exercise isn’t a cure-all, and some people don’t get much of a mental health benefit from it. But exercise is also a way of taking care of your physical body, and that contributes to your overall well-being—even if you are one of the people who don’t see a direct impact on your mental health.

But the other important reason is, I think, simply that it gives you something to do. When I’m running, I can’t check my phone. I accept that for this hour, this minute, I am putting one foot in front of the other.

The best part of your day

Back in the fall of 2020, I read an essay on the pleasures and mental health benefits of walking. I kind of skimmed through it at first, but two lines stuck with me, and I remembered them every time I headed out for a walk or a run, or chose to lift weights in my garage while the world was falling apart around me. The writer, Sarah Miller, said this about using her elliptical to manage depression:

It did make me less depressed while I was doing it, but once I finished I was pretty depressed again. I told my friend this … he just shrugged and said, “Just do it anyway. That’s one whole hour where you’re not depressed.

This seemed like a good bargain. How much would I pay, while in the throes of anxiety, to spend a whole hour not being anxious? Or even being slightly less anxious? Walking had always seemed like a bit of a time-waster to me, even when I knew it was beneficial, but now I saw it in another light.

I skimmed that essay in September 2020. According to Apple Health, which tracks my steps anytime my phone is in my pocket, I doubled my average daily step count that month, going from a summer average of somewhere in the 3,000s to nearly 7,000. The following month, I walked even more.

In early November, as we awaited the election and then the election results, I fully leaned into my new coping mechanism. From November 3rd to 13th, every single day was over 11,000 steps. I learned that Biden had won while I was walking one of my favorite trails. I originally wrote this article you’re reading on January 7—yes, the day after that January 6.

That all happened about four years ago, but the lesson remains. These days I’m more likely to run than to walk, and there have been times I eschewed all outdoor workouts in favor of an indoor spin bike. The specifics change, but the principle remains. During particularly stressful times, I find that the amount of exercise I do expands. I call it my “anxiety cardio.” This brings me to the other thing I took from Miller’s essay, the epiphany she reached as she extended her own walk:

These two [walking routes] overlapped — it’s not a large town — and one day, while I was doing the first walk, it occurred to me I could just add the second one and walk longer. You would have thought I was discovering electricity. I could just go and make the best part of my day twice as long?

You can, you really can. If you run or walk or do dance workouts from YouTube as part of your mental self-care, you can do more of them. (From a physical perspective, it may not be wise to suddenly double your running mileage, but most of our bodies would be fine with taking an extra long walk or yoga session. Choose sensibly.)

What you do on your walk or run or other form of exercise is up to you. I love hiking or running through nature, but my neighborhood streets are closer and more time-efficient. I pick the quietest streets and loop through them. Sometimes I listen to podcasts or music, choosing my soundtrack based on whether I want to escape my thoughts or mull them over.

I highly recommend, if you’re feeling down or anxious or don’t know what to do, getting up and doing whatever form of exercise makes the most sense to you. The best part of your day awaits.

All MacBook Air Models Are on Sale Right Now

“Never pay full price for a MacBook Air” seems to be the takeaway from recent Apple launches. Apple unveiled its updated lineup of M3-powered MacBook Air laptops in early March, and all the M3s saw their first discounts three weeks later. The M3, M2, and M1 MacBook Airs are all discounted and are at some of their lowest prices according to price-tracking tools. If you’re on a budget, you can always go for the older M2 and M1 laptops, which are still great laptops in 2024.

The best deal on the M3 MacBook Air

MacBook Air 13-inch Laptop 8GB Memory – 256GB SSD

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (2024, M3)


$799.00
at Best Buy
$999.00
Save $200.00

MacBook Air 13-inch 16GB Unified Memory, 256GB SSD

Apple 2024 MacBook Air 13-inch Laptop with M3 chip: Built for Apple Intelligence, 13.6-inch Liquid Retina Display, 16GB Unified Memory, 256GB SSD Storage, Backlit Keyboard, Touch ID; Starlight


$899.00
at Amazon

$1,099.00
Save $200.00

MacBook Air 13-inch 16GB Unified Memory, 512GB SSD Storage

Apple 2024 MacBook Air 13-inch Laptop with M3 chip: Built for Apple Intelligence, 13.6-inch Liquid Retina Display, 16GB Unified Memory, 512GB SSD Storage, Backlit Keyboard, Touch ID; Starlight


$1,099.00
at Amazon

$1,299.00
Save $200.00

MacBook Air 15-inch Laptop 16GB Unified Memory, 256GB SSD

Apple 2024 MacBook Air 15-inch Laptop with M3 chip: Built for Apple Intelligence, 15.3-inch Liquid Retina Display, 16GB Unified Memory, 256GB SSD Storage, Backlit Keyboard, Touch ID; Midnight


$1,099.00
at Amazon

$1,299.00
Save $200.00

The new M3 MacBook Air has corrected one of the biggest complaints about the M2’s hard drive, ultimately making it 33% faster at write speeds and 82% faster at read speeds. Both the 15-inch and 13-inch M3 base models start with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but the 16GB RAM version is not that much more expensive starting at $899 (originally $1,099) and will give you much better value for your money. This is the best deal and the best bang for your buck on a new M3 MacBook Air. Any of them will get you the usual backlit keyboard, 1080p HD web camera, and Touch ID, along with dual-monitor support, which used to be a MacBook Pro-only feature. You can read more about it on PCMag’s “excellent” review.

The best deal on the M2 MacBook Air

MacBook Air 13.6″ Laptop M2 chip 16GB Memory 256GB SSD
13.6-inch Liquid Retina Display, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage, Backlit Keyboard, 1080p FaceTime HD

Apple 2022 MacBook Air Laptop with M2 chip: Built for Apple Intelligence, 13.6-inch Liquid Retina Display, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage, Backlit Keyboard, 1080p FaceTime HD Camera; Space Gray


$799.00
at Amazon

$999.00
Save $200.00

2022’s M2 MacBook Air laptop is also on sale; currently $749.99 (originally $999) after you use the $49.01 on-page coupon for the 13.6-inch 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD model, the lowest price this laptop has ever been. This is the best M2 you can buy as far as value for your money (surprisingly matching the price of the 8GB RAM version), and as tech editor Jake Peterson explains, it could be the last laptop you’ll ever buy. It has the same RAM and storage as the M3, but there are some key differences between the two machines you should be aware of. If, however, you have $150 to spare, the upgrade to the 16GB M3 is a good deal as well.

The best deal on the M1 MacBook Air

MacBook Air 13.3 inch Laptop M1 Chip
Apple MacBook Air 13.3 inch Laptop – Space Gray, M1 Chip, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage

Apple MacBook Air M1 13” Laptop


$649.00
at Walmart
$1,024.00
Save $375.00

The 2020 M1 MacBook Air has also dropped in price and is perhaps the best all-around value for an entry-level laptop right now. Walmart has the M1 MacBook Air 13.3-inch laptop for $649 (it cost $999.99 prior to the launch of the M3), which is the lowest price I’ve seen after checking price-comparison tools.

This M1 from 2020 has 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage with about 18 hours of battery life. If you’re wondering if the M1 is relevant in 2024, Lifehacker’s Senior Technology Editor Jake Peterson notes the M1 is still a fantastic computer even three years after its release. Yes, its specs pale in comparison to the new M3 chip and all of its new features, but the M1 is still enough for most people.

My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Apple AirTags

These days, you don’t need to be a spy to have tracking devices. If you’re an Apple user, AirTags uses Find My to track anything that you can put this device on. Right now, Amazon has a single AirTag on sale for $19 (originally $29) and the four-pack for $69.99 (originally $99), both at a new record-low price according to price-checking tools.

Keep track of and find your items alongside friends and devices in the Find My app
Apple AirTag

Apple AirTag


$19.00
at Amazon

$29.00
Save $10.00

Keep track of and find your items alongside friends and devices in the Find My app
Apple AirTag 4 pack

Apple AirTag 4 pack


$69.99
at Amazon

$99.00
Save $29.01

AirTags are useful gadgets, and their usefulness extends to your creativity. They are mostly marketed for purses, keys, and travel bags, but there are examples of people using them much more creatively (someone on this Reddit post used it on their dog collar and trained it to come back whenever they pressed the “play sound” feature). How it works is with Apple’s network of iOS devices to create a Bluetooth tracker. Essentially, every person with an iPhone (or iPad) is part of this iOS network, and as long as one of these people is within Bluetooth range of your AirTag, it will show up on your Find My app.

As you can see on PCMag’s “excellent” review of the AirTag, the Find My app has a screen that points you in the direction of your AirTag like a compass, including the distance away it is from you. There is also an option to play a sound, which is perfect for, say, finding a remote that’s buried under the couch.

Once you are more than 30 feet from your phone, the network of iOS users will kick in. When the AirTag is between that range, it uses your own Bluetooth. There are security measures in place set by Apple, including end-to-end encryption so nobody (not even Apple), knows where your AirTag is except for you. The batteries last about a year and are replaceable. There is also no monthly charge for these, unlike competitors like Tile for Android users.

It’s Ridiculously Expensive to Fix a Pixel 9 Pro Fold Display

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is expensive. That’s not news for anyone who follows smartphones closely, particular the foldable variety. As David Nield explains in a review for Lifehacker, Google made some great choices for its latest Fold device, but at $1,799, these things are still way too much money.

As it turns out, that expense might extend beyond just the initial purchase of the phone. Smartphones are slabs of glass we take everywhere with us, so, when we inevitably drop them at some point, they may break. When you break the display of a Pixel 9 Pro Fold, however, it’s going to cost a lot more than you might expect—even if you have experience with the Fold’s history of repair costs.

As spotted by 9to5Google, iFixit now has listings for official parts for the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. If you need to repair the inner screen of your Fold—say, if you dropped it while opened into “tablet” mode—that’s going to run you $1,199.99 (or $1,206.99 for the entire “Fix Kit”). Compare that to the original Pixel Fold’s inner screen replacement part, which cost $899 on iFixit, or $909.99 for the Fix Kit.

$1,200 for a display is an enormous ask. For that price, you can buy an iPhone 16 Pro Max, or a MacBook Air, or four Nintendo Switches. $1,200 for just the inner display means that, if you break and fix your Fold 9 Pro, you’ll have spent $3,000 all-in, all for a device that runs Android.

Now, that’s if you’re not protected: Google does offer insurance on the Pro 9 Fold for $15 per month. That covers up to two instances of damage per 12-month period. So, you could potentially run Google up a tab of $2,400 for just $180 of insurance fees. While no one wants to add the extra $15 a month to their bill, it’s a lot better than facing down the MSRP on that display part.

Still, it’s a staggering number. Again, it’s $300 more than Google’s previous foldable inner display cost, and when you look at the competition, it gets even worse. Samsung charges $499 to repair the inner display of the Galaxy Z Fold 5, a fraction of the cost.

My advice? Get the insurance, and keep a death grip on this thing.