Smart assistant like Alexa, Siri, or Google are essential components in your smart home. Sure, you can turn lights on and off from an app on your phone, but being able to ask Alexa to do it for you is like living in The Jetsons. These assistants come to life via devices installed throughout your house. For Alexa, that means Amazon Echo, which comes in a whole line of different options.

Choose a device

Depending on where you’ll install your device, you want to choose an Echo that will serve you best. You need to be within listening distance of an Echo in order to use the assistant, so you might consider a fleet of small Echo Dots installed throughout the house. Mighty and mini, they fit just about anywhere, and can even be mounted to walls and ceilings. Each Echo is also a speaker, but sometimes you’ll want better sound, so an Echo Studio might be in order. In your kitchen, you might want the ability to watch videos or take video chats, so an Echo Display could be the right choice. 

In any case, once you choose the right device or devices, you have to power them on and set them up to access your virtual assistant. If you’re just going to set your Echo on a counter, everything you need is in the box. You’ll just want to grab your wifi network password, and figure out where to plug the Echo in. If you plan to mount the Echo, you might need additional tools, whether a drill, level, or screwdriver, depending on instructions for the mount. You may also consider a cord cover. 

Add a device

Next up, grab your device of choice and download the Amazon Alexa app for Android or iOS.  Sign into your Amazon account to begin. In your app, choose add a device, and then allow the app to guide you through installation. Your Echo will display different colored lights on its face throughout the process. You’ll be guided through connecting it to the wifi network of your choice. In the future, you can change this network, if need be, by selecting the device and then going to the “status” menu. 

Set up preferences

Now that you’re connected, Alexa can help you with all sorts of tasks. Your Echo can act as a smart hub for your home, to which you can add not only other Echo devices, but devices from other apps that work with Alexa. In your phone, go to the Alexa app and select add a device to see what other devices can be added. If a smart device uses Matter, it can always be added to Alexa. 

Alexa knows best

The best way to learn what Alexa can do for you is to just ask it. Wake up Alexa anytime by saying “Alexa!” and then ask it to do something for you. Start by asking, “Alexa, what can you do for me?” You can ask for the time, the weather, for directions on how to make or do something, to translate measurements (“Alexa, how many tablespoons in 2.5 cups?”) or whether a nearby restaurant is still open. 

Over time, you can build on this to ask Alexa to play from your music libraries, to play white noise or something else to sleep to, or even to read you a bedtime story. In fact, these hidden “Easter eggs” are a point of pride for developers of smart assistants. Alexa can learn your name, your voice, and the voice of everyone else in your home. 

Amazon Echo troubleshooting

Some common problems with Echo devices are being unable to make your initial wifi connection or losing a connection over time. One of the most common reasons is wifi interference. You want your Echo device to be within a clear signal range of your wifi router or repeater. If the location you want for your Echo isn’t within a clear range, you might want to add a repeater or booster, or move the Echo closer. Remember that things like large appliances—particularly microwaves—can disrupt a clear range. 

Performing a hard reset

Sometimes, the best way to get things online and in order is to start over. To do so, you need to perform a factory reset, which will depend on what kind of Echo device you have. On the standard Echo Dot, you hold the Microphone Off and Volume Down button at the same time, for twenty seconds. The lights on the Echo will confirm it’s going into setup mode, and if you do so, you’ll need to go through the above process all over again.

Enjoy your new virtual assistant

Your assistant won’t become your new best friend, but it will become a habit to talk to Alexa throughout the day, as a hands free way to get quick information, listen to music, or control devices in your home. With the popularity of these devices, almost any issue you might have with an Echo device is sure to be documented on the internet, and a quick search can likely surface a solution. As an alternative, Amazon support for your Echo devices is just a quick click away.

Welcome to Evil Week, our annual dive into all the slightly sketchy hacks we’d usually refrain from recommending. Want to weasel your way into free drinks, play elaborate mind games, or, er, launder some money? We’ve got all the info you need to be successfully unsavory.

Since it’s evil week at Lifehacker, let’s take a look at a gadget that can be used for mild evil: the Flipper Zero. Despite its toy-like looks, this pocket-friendly multitool can be used for all kinds of hacking and penetration testing. It gives anyone, even newbs, an easy-to-understand way to interact with the invisible waves that surround us, whether they’re RFID, NFC, Bluetooth, wifi, or radio. It’s a like a hacker Swiss army knife that you can buy for less than $200.

You can use a Flipper Zero to control your TV, cheat your Nintendo, replace your work ID, open your hotel room door, and more. I’m sure you could see where the “evil” part could comes in. But on the other hand, it’s just a tool, and its ability to commit crimes is way overstated.

Is the Flipper Zero legal?

Despite its potential to be used for illegal purposes, the Flipper Zero is legal in the United States. But it seems to be making some people nervous. A shipment of 15,000 Flippers was seized by customs in 2022, but later let through. In April 2023, South Dakota Fusion Center alerted authorities across the country about the potential use of the device by domestic terrorists, and Amazon banned sales of the Flipper Zero on their site for being a “card-skimming device.”

How does a Flipper Zero work?

The Flipper Zero is basically a two-way remote control that can receive, read, store and transmit a variety of wireless signals. There are plenty of other devices that can do some of these things, but the Flipper puts them all together. Plus, it’s easy to understand—anyone could pick one up and use it to read the NFC code on a credit card, or use it to turn off the TV at their neighbor’s house. The Flipper Zero’s gamified presentation and ease of use could be seen as a means to demystify the technology that surrounds us, or it could be seen as a way of giving people with limited knowledge a powerful tool to cause chaos. It’s all about how you use it.

What can you can do with a Flipper Zero?

This is anything but a comprehensive list of things you can do with a Flipper Zero—there are a lot of possibilities—but here are some common ways the device can be used.

Use it as a universal remote

You can use the Flipper Zero to replace an infrared remote control, so your stereo, TV, air conditioner, and more can all be controlled from the same device. The Flipper uses “brute force” to send its library of IR codes wherever you point it, so you could use it to control devices with an IR remote that’s in range—unless they’re paired to their specific remote control. So you could use it to change the channel of the TV at a bar, or turn down your neighbor’s stereo at 2AM. (You shouldn’t, but you could.)

Take your pet’s temperature

If you’ve had a microchip implanted in your pet, a Flipper can read your pet’s identification number and take its temperature if it’s a thermo chip. Just hold it near where the RFID chip is inserted for a few seconds and bam—your pet’s number. If you don’t know where the chip was inserted, you can “scan” your pet with the Flipper and find it too. It cannot locate a lost pet, but neither can any scanner.

Clone keyless entry cards

If you have an ID that opens a door, you can (probably) clone it with a Flipper Zero, whether it’s your work badge or a hotel room key. That sounds like a security nightmare, but you have to have the original key to clone, so you can’t open any hotel room lock, just the one you have a keycard for already—and they’ll make you another copy at the front desk anyway.

Read your credit card information

A Flipper Zero can read credit cards. This is the functionality that got the device banned from Amazon, but it’s really not as bad as it seems. If you scan a card with a Flipper, it can read the card number and sometimes the date, but it can’t transmit the information or read the CVC number, so you won’t be able to use it to make purchases or empty someone’s bank account.

Crash smartphones

You can use a Flipper Zero to crash nearby Androids by flooding them with bluetooth messages. It’s not exactly easy—you need to load a developer build of third-party firmware in order to run the “crash my enemy’s phone” app—but it’s possible.

Update: 12/15/2023: This used to be possible on iPhones, but in the latest iOS update, iOS 17.2, Apple has removed the Flipper’s ability to overload iPhones with spam bluetooth requests. You can still send the requests, but it won’t cause the target to shut down. No word yet on a similar patch for Android phones.

Open a Tesla charging port

You can’t use a flipper to steal a Tesla, but you can use it to troll a Tesla owner by opening their car’s charging port (assuming this vulnerability hasn’t been fixed.)

Open garage doors or security gates

This one is iffy. Some older garage doors and security gates can be opened with a device like this. Newer models have better security and use rolling codes, so storing a code on a device like this wouldn’t work.

Ring someone’s doorbell from a distance

This will only work with some kinds of wireless, usually older doorbells—Ring or Nest doorbells are probably safe—and you need to first read the doorbell to get the right frequency, but if you do that, you can play ding-dong-ditch from a distance.

Cloning Amiibos

Nintendo’s Amiibos are basically RFID chips surrounded by figurines. You can use a Flipper to scan and emulate the code and feed it back to your Nintendo Switch. Or you can use this database of Amiibo codes and skip the middleman to unlock in-game extras without buying a vinyl doll.

Explore the invisible world around you

Many people who purchase a Flipper are no doubt disappointed by its limitations—it’s not a universal hack-anything device. It is, though, a tool for checking out all the invisible fields around you. You can use it to see where your wifi signal is weakest, or discover exactly how often your iPhone is shooting IR waves at your face. You can use it to test the security of all your devices—doorbells, garage doors, locks, etc.—to make sure no one else can use a Flipper to mess with you.

Things a Flipper Zero can’t do

There’s a lot of misinformation about the capabilities of the Flipper Zero. It’s not a pocket device that can instantly hack anything, and there are safeguards in place to prevent the most obviously illegal uses. (This is not to say that Flipper Zero itself couldn’t be hacked to offer darker possibilities, of course.) So here are some evil things the Flipper can’t do—at least right out of the box.

Steal a car

Despite TikTok videos that suggest otherwise, you can’t use a Flipper to open and start a car, even your own. Keyless entry cars open when the fob sends a radio signal to a receiver in the car. That’s a piece of cake for a Flipper, except that all but the oldest cars with keyless entry use rolling codes that change every time you use one. So you might be able to use it one time, but that’s it. Still, setting up a single-use car door opening is an easy way to impress your friends. (There may be exceptions, however.)

Change the prices of gasoline

 The TikTok videos that show a Flipper user changing the prices on a sign at a gas station are fake.

Steal money from an ATM

Obviously you can’t empty an ATM with a commercially available handheld device.

Change traffic signals

This one is complicated, because you could use a Flipper to control a set of external infrared LED lights that mimics an Opticom—a device that can change some traffic signals—but it’s not really the flipper that’s changing the signal, it’s the LED lights, and you could use something else to control them, too.

Open someone else’s hotel room door

While the Flipper can store and transmit the RFID signals needed to open a locked hotel room door, it can’t do it without physically holding the card near the device first. So you can’t open all the doors in a hotel—unless the establishment has a master keycard that you somehow get your hands on. But then why would you need the Flipper?

Is the Flipper Zero evil?

The Flipper Zero is not evil. If anything, for evil hacking, it’s overrated. The Flipper is a collection of tools bundled together in an attractive package—it’s useful and cool, but it’s not going to let you break into a bank vault or steal someone’s identity. While a nefarious person could use a Flipper to do a limited set of nefarious things, they could also use a hammer to smash windows instead of driving nails. In other words: It’s just a tool. The evil comes from how you use it.

WASHINGTON, December 15, 2023 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is accepting applications for the USDA 1890 National Scholars Program, which aims to encourage students at 1890 land-grant universities to pursue food and agriculture career paths. The application deadline is March 1, 2024.

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for December 15, 2023, read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is medium difficulty; I took five guesses but only because I made a dumb mistake. Beware, there are spoilers below for December 15, Wordle #909! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.

How to play Wordle

Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.

Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)

Ready for the hints? Let’s go!

Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?

We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)

Three of the letters are on our common list. The other two are middlingly common. Nothing unusual today–not even that X I mistakenly thought might be in the mix.

Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?

Teenagers like a “hot” one of these. (Or maybe they don’t anymore, I don’t know much about teenagers.) 

Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?

Nope, not today!

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

There are two different vowels in today’s word.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with T.

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with C.

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is TOPIC.

How I solved today’s Wordle

ARISE got me the I; TOUCH got me the T, O, and I. Obviously it’s TOXIC, right? It was not. Well then, of course it’s TONIC—nope. I examined the keyboard closely before deciding TOPIC was the only plausible answer left. If I had realized I needed to choose between three similar words, I would have played something like NEXUS for my third guess to narrow down whether I needed an N, P, or X. 

Wordle 909 5/6

⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

A primer on Wordle basics

The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word. 

Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word: 

• Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)

• Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)

• Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)

With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.

The best starter words for Wordle

What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:

• CRANE

• TRACE

• SLANT

• CRATE

• CARTE

Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:

• SALET

• REAST

• TRACE

• CRATE

• SLATE

Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.

How to win at Wordle

We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.

The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.

One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.

Wordle alternatives

If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:

• Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after another

• Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.

• Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.

• Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.

• Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.

• Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.

When home improvement projects require tools or equipment that even avid DIYers don’t have in their well-stocked garages, basements, or sheds, renting the items you need might be the best option—or at least one to consider. If you’re new to tool rental and are unsure where to start, here are some expert insights into where to rent the items you need and how much you can expect to pay.

Best places to rent tools and equipment

Your tool-rental options largely depend on where you live and what’s in or near your area—but generally speaking, here are the best places to rent tools and equipment.

Big-box home and garden retailers

Most Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Menards locations have tool-rental departments. One the plus side, these large chains are competitive in price and often located within driving distance, says Tom Yates, an asbestos abatement contractor and the founder of Asbestos Sampling. The downside, he says, is that many customers may want to rent the same tools at the same time, so if you don’t reserve yours in advance, the ones you need may be out of stock.

Independent hardware stores

While you can find True Value and Ace Hardware stores throughout the country, all True Value locations and most Ace outposts are independently owned and operated, and many offer tool rentals. Other local, independent hardware stores often do too. Their selection may not be as large as the large national chains, but often have better customer service and more knowledgable staff.

Rental companies

There are also dedicated rental companies—some of which offer a wide range of tools and equipment, while others are more specialized. For example, there are more than 950 Sunbelt Rentals locations across the country, some of which offer delivery and collection service. That is convenient when you don’t have the time to go and collect the item yourself. There may also be independent rental companies in your area. For more specialized tools and expert advice, local rental companies might be the way to go, according to Drew Mansur, the co-founder and director of TileCloud.

Tool-shares or tool libraries

Technically, you don’t rent items from tool-shares or tool libraries: You borrow them. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, we’re talking about neighborhood or community groups, or sections of public libraries where people can borrow tools instead of buying them. Mansur says they are great for basic tools and large equipment, and are either free to loan or are affordable.

How much does it cost to rent tools?

The cost of renting tools or equipment depends on multiple factors, including:

• The type item you’re renting

• Whether you’re opting for higher-end/professional-grade or lower-end versions

• How long you need the item (e.g., number of hours, days, etc.)

• The rental options in your area

Mansur estimates that the rental cost for a basic power tool will be around $30 to $50 a day. The prices go up from there, especially on larger pieces of equipment. And while shelling out a few hundred dollars to rent some equipment for a day may seem like a lot, it’s still probably cheaper than purchasing it yourself or hiring professionals to do a job and use their own equipment.

It’s also important to note that rental costs aren’t necessarily consistent in different locations of the same big-box retailer or rental chain, so select your local branch when looking up prices. Though the Menards website indicates that their rental costs may vary depending on the location, it does provide this price list (last updated in June 2023), which can give you an idea of what to expect.

Lastly, while some tool-shares or tool libraries are free to use, others have membership fees, which could cost up to $200/year.

The promise of AI chatbots lies in their seemingly infinite wisdom and asking them any question you can think of—plus the simpler stuff, like writing a thank-you note, crafting a cover letter, or even having a spoken conversation. However, there are limitations. I’ve previously turned to ChatGPT to test out its personal finance expertise, only to be told: “As an AI language model, I cannot provide financial advice or make specific investment recommendations…you may want to consult with a financial advisor who can provide personalized advice based on your individual financial situation and goals.” In other words: Don’t go to chatbots to make financial decisions.

Now, however, H&R Block has released a new AI chatbot specifically for your tax questions—an arena where, in the past, I’d say AI should not be trusted. Using conversational AI, this virtual tax expert can answer many of your common tax questions and supplement your understanding of the tax process, and it seems surprisingly useful.

What to know about H&R Block’s AI tax assistant

To reiterate, I’m hesitant to use AI when it comes to any sort of financial guidance. After all, as ChatGPT itself explains to users: “The system may occasionally generate incorrect or misleading information and produce offensive or biased content. It is not intended to give advice.”

Here’s where this AI Tax Assist is different: H&R Block promises is that its AI model does not randomly pull information from the internet. Instead, the company says that it trained the chatbot only on H&R Block’s library of tax laws and refined with the help of its many accountants, lawyers, and other tax professionals. Plus, the chatbot will point people to a human tax expert for more personalized advice, if needed.

How to use the H&R Block AI chatbot

H&R Block said that while AI Tax Assist is not available on the free version of its app, it will not increase the prices of its subscription tiers that will have access to the conversational AI platform. Paid plans start at $35. 

The chatbot is designed to feel like a natural conversation, allowing you to phrase questions conversationally instead of needing to use specific keywords. You can use this tool to help explain tax forms you may need to file, eligibility for certain credits and deductions, estimated payment requirements, and much more. It can also provide helpful definitions for tax terminology you may encounter.

For instance, you can use the chatbot to ask questions specific to your situation, like, “What can I deduct as business expenses as an Uber driver?” Then you’ll be provided with a list of allowed deductions, as opposed to having to search through painfully dense IRS resources.

Between keeping track of paperwork, making sure you don’t miss any deductions, and getting accurate answers to your questions, taxes are always a headache. By supplementing self-service options like H&R Block’s chatbot, you can get more done on your own, saving time and money on your taxes. And as a final reminder, you’re probably eligible to file your taxes for free.

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

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

How governments steal your push notification data

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wyden is imploring the DOJ to allow Apple and Google to be more transparent about these requests with the public. Apple, for their part, said that this letter now empowers them to be more public about the practice, and it seems they are already working on it. Apple quietly updated their law enforcement guidelines in the days following the report, which now confirms the company will not hand over push notification data to anyone without a judge’s order. As it happens, Google already had this policy in place, so Apple had to play some catch up here.

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

Now that both Google and Apple will block entities from requesting your push notification data without a warrant, the situation is a little less dire than it was. Still, it might not sit well with you that should a judge decide against you, your push notification data is essentially free for the taking.

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

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

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

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

With the likes of Starfield, Diablo IV, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, among others, 2023 been a very good year for video game releases. With so many games to choose from, it would be understandable if Alan Wake 2 flew under your radar. But if it did, I have good news for you: this is the best time to buy the award-winning horror shooting game. Currently, you can get Alan Wake 2 on PC for $26.79 (originally $49.99) from Epic Games and get Alan Wake Remastered for free. But it’s not as straightforward as you might think.

About the Game of the Year nominee

It’s not hard to convince anyone why Alan Wake 2 is a game worth their time. The awards the game won at The Game Awards 2023 speak for themselves: Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, and Best Art Direction. It was also nominated for Game of the Year, Best Score and Music, Best Audio Design, Best Performance and Best Action/Adventure. It was also voted Mashable’s 2023 game of the year and received a 9 out of 10 from IGN. If you’re a fan of Resident Evil or just well-made survival games, you should not pass on the Alan Wake series. The game developers have really put in work on its immersive world design, captivating story with well-made characters, and great game mechanics.

How to get the Alan Wake 2 deal

The game is currently 20% off, but Epic Games has a 33% coupon during their holiday sale that you can use to stack on top of the Alan Wake 2 discount. You will need to be logged into your Epic Games account, add the game to your cart, and click on the link above for the coupon. Click the “get my coupon” button and then “view my coupon.” The coupon should be automatically added to your cart if you refresh it, bringing the total down to $26.79. The holiday coupon, as well as the deal for the free copy of Alan Wake Remastered on PC, both expire on January 10, 2024. You will receive an email with the digital voucher code for the first game within 48 hours per the FAQ.