You can’t go long these days without hearing the word “tariff,” and for most of us, just hearing it induces anxiety. Family budgets, already a challenge, are going to get a lot more difficult once the predicted price increases and shortages kick in—one study predicts that these new tariffs will cost American households an average of $3,800 this year alone.

If you’re determined to avoid tariff surcharges, you’ve got your work cut out for you—especially when it comes to groceries. About 15% of our food supply is imported, but that number doesn’t necessarily account for food that is sourced domestically but uses imported ingredients. And some staples, like coffee or bananas, are almost exclusively imported. But if you’re hoping to avoid tariffs on your grocery bills, you have a few slim options to explore.

Albertsons

Amidst all the warnings of rising grocery prices, there’s been one hint of good news: Grocery giant Albertsons announced in late March that it wouldn’t tolerate automatic price increases from its suppliers due to tariffs. It’s explicitly framed as a policy designed to keep prices at their current levels.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be any price increases—Albertsons clarified that it would take increases under consideration, but its suppliers would have to basically apply to raise their prices, and the company would consider whether to grant the request. But Albertsons already sources about 90% of its products domestically (though this doesn’t mean ingredients or other components that might be affected by tariffs aren’t included in those domestic products), so this policy could have some real impact on prices.

The good news here is that Albertsons is huge. They operate more than 20 supermarket chains, including Safeway, Acme, Carrs, and Balducci’s Food Lovers Market—a total of more than 2,200 stores across the country. You can see a full list of chains owned by Albertsons here to see if there are locations near you.

Other strategies

If you’re not close to an Albertsons store and are still determined to void tariffs as much as possible, you have few other options:

• Shop local. Buying as many groceries from farmer’s markets and other direct sources will avoid most tariff price increases, though farmer’s markets tend to be slightly more expensive than grocery stores in the first place, so you might not save that much money by going that route.

• Selective shopping. You can also continue to shop at your local supermarket but pay closer attention to the import status of the items you buy. While you probably won’t find much domestic coffee in your grocery store, there are many items that aren’t imported and thus should avoid most tariff-driven price increases. This can be laborious, and since domestically-made products can still suffer from tariffs if they include imported ingredients or packaging there’s no guarantee you’re evading higher prices by looking for a “made in the USA” designation.

It’s going to be difficult to avoid tariff price increases unless you live near an Albertsons grocery store, at least for the time being. Until more grocery chains follow their lead (or Albertsons rescinds the policy under pressure from their suppliers) that’s your best bet for avoiding the tax.

Washington, D.C., May 6, 2025 — Today, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will require States to make certain all records associated with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and allotments are shared with the federal government.

I couldn’t live without copy and paste—it’s core to the way I write and work—but it’s a pretty abstract feature when you think about it. Copy something and it goes… somewhere. Then you can paste it. Oh, and if you copy a second thing the first thing is gone.

This is a problem solved by clipboard managers. These applications let you review everything you’ve copied recently and even select an older item to paste it. They work well, but generally require a lot of context switching. What if you want to copy multiple things and then paste them later, all in the order you copied them, without having to open a clipboard manager and choose the items in order? There’s a free and open source Mac tool for that: Batch Clipboard (which I found via MacMenuBar).

This application isn’t a clipboard manager—in fact, it can easily be used alongside one. With the application running, you can copy text, images, or files using the keyboard shortcut Cmd-Control-C to start building a batch. When you’re ready, you can paste them, one at a time starting at the beginning of the batch, using the keyboard shortcut Cmd-Control-V. You can click the menu bar icon at any time to see the current batch.

It takes a second to wrap your head around, but is quite useful in certain contexts. If, for example, you’re reading a document and want to collect a few quotes, you can copy each one to your batch and them paste them all to your notes in sequence, taking the time to add a bit of context as you go. This allows you to focus on reading instead of constantly switching back and forth between the source document and your notes.

Getting started is simple. After downloading the app, you can launch it to read the quick start guide—it will talk you through using the application and ask you to enable permissions. You can access the settings by clicking the menu bar icon and clicking “Settings”. You can customize the keyboard shortcuts, decide whether the application start when your computer does, and change how many history items are visible in the menu. You can also choose for the application to ignore items copied from particular applications.

You could, in theory, use Batch Clipboard as an alternative to a clipboard manager—click the menu bar icon while holding the Option key and you can review everything you copied recently. You could also use it alongside a dedicated clipboard manager, or just open it when you specifically want to use the batch copying feature. Check it out if clipboard managers have never quite clicked with you.

You likely update devices like your smartphone or laptop fairly frequently. (Perhaps you’ve put the latest one off a little longer than you should.) But how often are you updating other types of devices, like your TV?

Despite how routine and simple your TV use may be, it can be important to keep the tube, like other devices, updated to the latest software and firmware version. And while many smart TVs routinely check for the latest updates, it’s possible yours doesn’t. I don’t keep my TV connected to the internet, for example, so there’s no way for me to check for updates via wifi.

You don’t need to hook your TV up to your network to update it, however, nor do you need a TV that will look for updates on its own. As a matter of fact, one of your TV’s overlooked ports can help keep it fully up to date, as ZDNet’s Chris Bayer explains.

How to update your TV over USB

To start, you’ll need three items: a TV (to update), a computer (to download the update), and a USB drive (to store the update).

First, figure out what TV you actually have. It isn’t necessarily enough to just know the brand, since that company may make many different types of TVs. You’ll want to grab your particular TV’s model number to make sure you’re pulling the most recent update available for that model.

If you have your TV mounted or backed up to a wall, it might be a bit tricky to find, since the model number is usually on a sticker on the back of your TV. If you can, pull your TV as far out as you safely can, and use a flashlight or your smartphone camera to locate the sticker with the identification number. You can also see if your TV has its model number in its settings menu. This may be in an “About” or “General” menu.

Once you know your TV’s model number, head to the manufacturer’s site and look for the downloads section. For example, for an LG TV, you’ll find this in the “Support” section under “Software & Drivers for Downloading.” When asked, enter your model number, and the site should take you to the list of available software to download. You’ll want to make sure you’re choosing the most recent download available, as well as the one for your region, as you don’t want to install the wrong software on your TV.

Once you find the right software version, download it to your computer. If it arrives as a ZIP file, you can either click it to unzip (Mac), or right-click and choose “Extract All” (Windows). Once you have access to the files (which should appear as .bin or .img files), connect a USB stick to your computer and move the files to the drive, making sure to add the files to the main drive and not any of the folders that might be on it. Choose to eject the drive from your Mac or PC before physically removing it from your computer.

Finally, plug the USB stick into your TV. If your TV doesn’t automatically register the update file on the stick, head to your TV’s settings and look for “update” language, like “Software Update” or “Firmware Update.” Your TV should walk you through the proper steps.

If the update didn’t work, format the drive

One possible issue with this method concerns the USB drive itself. If it isn’t properly formatted (to FAT32), your TV may not recognize it.

You can format the drive on either Windows or Mac, but note that formatting requires erasing everything on the drive. If you have any essential data on your drive, back it up somewhere else first, or choose another drive to work with.

If the drive is small enough, you can format it through Windows’ Explorer. Right-click on the drive, then choose Format. Here, choose FAT32 under “File system,” then check Quick Format. Click Start, click OK on the pop-up that warns you you will lose all data on the drive, and you’re set.

On Mac, plug your drive in, then open Disk Utility. Choose Erase, then choose MS-DOS (FAT) from the “Format” drop down. Now, click Erase, then choose Done when finished.

If you’re like most people, you probably didn’t think a whole lot about tariffs before this year. And if you’re like most people, you’ve probably spent this year thinking a lot about tariffs—specifically, how they’re going to impact your life. Whether it’s worry over higher prices and empty store shelves or more generalized economic anxiety, these certainly are exciting times. And, like clockwork, we can add one more thing to worry about in relation to tariffs: Scams.

Pivoting off the chaos and uncertainty everyone is experiencing around the on-again, off-again tariffs and their constantly shifting parameters, scammers have quickly assembled a few new attacks on your bank account. They count on the fact that most of us aren’t economists or experienced with import/export law, so it can be easy to frighten or intimidate us into forking over money, especially because the one thing most of us know about tariffs is that they’re going to cost us money. Here are the tariff scams you need to be on alert for—and how to spot them.

Fake government emails

One new scam attempts to leverage people’s unfamiliarity with tariffs by posing as government agencies seeking tariff payments directly from consumers. Several hundred websites have been created since the beginning of the year, many with deceptive names including terms like “U.S. Customs” or “Tariffs” in hopes of convincing you they’re legitimate organs of the government. The scammers then send out emails from those official-looking domains claiming that you owe a tariff payment for something you bought recently, or that you owe a general tariff payment.

Sometimes the scammer’s goal is to get you to make a payment, but often it’s just to collect your information via an official-looking form.

How to spot it: First, always keep in mind that consumers don’t pay tariffs directly—if the costs are passed on to you, it’s through higher prices. Any request for a direct tariff payment is almost certainly a scam. Any official government website will have a “.gov” extension, so you should be suspicious of any “.com” or “.net” sites claiming to be associated with the government. You can also use what’s known as a WHOIS lookup to see when a web domain was registered. Any site created within the last few months should be considered extremely suspicious.

Fake messages about mail and packages

Another way scammers will try to leverage tariff confusion against you is by pretending to be a major shipping company like FedEx or UPS. They’ll send you an email claiming that you have a package being held because a tariff is owed, and direct you to a scam sight to pay to have the package released. This is a twist on an old scam, but uncertainty over who owes tariffs gives it a fresh sheen of legitimacy.

How to spot it: Simply reminding yourself that you should never pay a tariff directly is key—any request from a shipping company or the United States Post Office for a tariff-related fee is a scam, full stop. If you actually have packages coming and you’re at all uncertain of their status, always verify details separately by going to the shipper’s main website and entering tracking information there, or contacting their customer service.

Factory shopping

If you’re a consumer on a budget—and who isn’t these days—you might be excited to stumble on a social media post or email purporting to sell you stuff directly from factories in China or other countries without a tariff. They claim that the stuff is the same as name-brand clothing or other items, just without the branding, making them cheaper to offset any tariff-driven price increases. These sites are often pushed by so-called influencers on platforms like TikTok, who gush about avoiding tariff fees.

Of course, once you receive your items—assuming you actually do—they’re almost certainly counterfeit and probably pretty crappy in terms of quality. And you won’t have the benefit of the brand’s customer service to fall back on, either.

How to spot it: Anyone claiming they can circumvent tariffs is probably lying to you, and the old rule about things being too good to be true (i.e., they probably aren’t) always applies. If you see a post or video purporting to show a foreign factory selling items directly to consumers, it’s almost certainly a scam.

Fake tariff relief payments

All this talk of skyrocketing prices has made everyone understandably nervous about paying their bills. This has led to a version of a scam that’s been popular ever since the pandemic stimulus checks went out: Fake relief payments.

Advertisements are showing up on social media claiming that there are various “tariff relief” payments going out, offering anywhere from $750 to $5,600. These are supposedly government programs to help us all survive the new reality of tariffs, and in the wake of previous government bailouts and stimulus payments they can seem plausible at first glance. Of course, if you click on any of these ads you’ll find yourself at a phishing site demanding every bit of sensitive information the scammers can think of.

How to spot it: Since these usually pop up in the form of paid ads on platforms like Facebook, they will usually be marked as “sponsored” in some way—if you see an indication that it’s a paid ad, ignore it. If the government were to send out some sort of tariff-related stimulus, it wouldn’t require you to fill out forms—like previous stimulus payments, it would rely on the reams of data it already has on you thanks to the IRS. And a tariff stimulus would be in the news. A lot. If you’re tempted to believe something like this, look for headlines on legitimate news sites—if you don’t see any, assume it’s a scam.

Investment scams

Scammers are always trying to play off two things: Fear and greed. While there have always been investment scams involving fake accounts or dubious cryptocurrencies, the newest versions of these scams play on everyone’s fear of economic turmoil, claiming that a new investment product—typically in the cryptocurrency sphere—offers a risk-free safe haven from tariff chaos. While economies and national currencies might falter as trade wars escalate, the pitch goes, this nifty new version of money is unaffected by tariffs or other traditional economic factors and offers steady returns. Naturally, if you actually contact these sites and make an investment, your money simply vanishes, or you’re pulled into a Pig Butchering scam complete with a fake website showing you incredible returns on your investment that you will never actually be able to withdraw.

How to spot it: The most obvious sign of a scam investment is an unrealistic rate of return. Any investment that “guarantees” no risk of loss and a huge profit in a short time is almost always a scam. If it involves a cryptocurrency you’ve never heard of, you should definitely be suspicious. An increasingly common sign of a tariff-related crypto scam is a fake “endorsement” from a political figure—a scam targeting nervous Canadian investors, for example, used fake testimonials from former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other officials to fool people. Government officials typically don’t endorse investments, and you should absolutely fact-check any you see without relying on links provided by the site itself.

The average total consumer household debt last year was $105,056—a 13% increase over the past five years, according to the most recent data. When it comes to researching strategies and tips for paying off your balances, it’s easy to get lost down a rabbit hole. And that rabbit hole can distract you from the real work of getting organized and tackling your debt.

Taking the first steps toward a clear plan and system in place—even just reading this article—can help you feel more in control and start to make some progress toward being debt-free. If you’re worried and feeling overwhelmed by debt, here are initial steps to take so you can get organized and make some real progress.

Know what you owe

Before you can tackle your debt, you need a complete picture of what you’re facing. Here are the first actionable steps you can take:

• Gather all statements for every debt you have (credit cards, student loans, medical bills, personal loans).

• Create a master list with the creditor name, balance, interest rate, minimum payment, and due date for each debt.

• Check your credit reports to ensure you haven’t missed any debts.

• Keep this information in one accessible place—a spreadsheet, notebook, or budgeting app.

List out your interest rates

In order to prioritize your debts, list them out by interest rates. If you can’t rattle off yours, it’s time to log into your accounts or check your latest statement to pinpoint your interest rate for each and every balance you carry. Doing this now can help you strategize to get that debt paid off faster.

Choose a payoff method

Once you know your interest rates, you can strategize your payoff plan with either the snowball method or the avalanche method.

The avalanche method prioritizes high-interest debt first, helping you pay less interest in the long run by knocking out debts with higher interest rates as soon as possible. The main benefit of the debt avalanche is that it saves you the most money in the long run by targeting the most expensive debt first. This can be especially helpful if you have one or two debts with significantly higher interest rates than the others. Knocking those out first can make a big dent in the total amount you owe.

The snowball method, on the other hand, focuses on paying off your debts in order of smallest balance to largest. The idea is that getting “wins” by paying off smaller debts quickly can provide much-needed motivation to keep going. The main benefit of the debt snowball is the psychological boost you get from crossing debts off your list one by one. This can be incredibly powerful, especially if you have a lot of smaller debts that feel overwhelming. Paying them off in quick succession can give you the momentum to keep tackling the larger debts.

Never miss a payment

Even if you only make the minimum payment on your balances to start, make sure you pay each and every bill on time, every time. Missing that due date could result in both a late fee and a penalty APR, meaning you could pay up to 30% interest for a while instead of your normal interest rate. Dealing with that penalty interest rate could set your payoff plans back in a major way.

To make it easier to avoid payment disasters, set up automatic payments. You can always make additional payments when you’re able to pay more than the minimum, or adjust the amount for your monthly payments. And if your debt is in a balance transfer promotional period (more on that in the next slide), you’ll want to make sure you can pay off your entire balance during that zero-interest period.

Consolidate your debt or transfer your balance

If you’re having a hard time paying more than the minimum on your debts, consider taking steps to reduce your interest rates. There are two main ways you can do this if you don’t feel like calling every one of your creditors to haggle:

Consolidate: Debt consolidation makes sense if you can save money over the long term by securing a better interest rate, or if streamlining will be what allows you to make payments on time. And remember, consolidated debt is still debt that needs to be paid off as quickly as possible.

Transfer: Check with your credit card issuer for zero-interest balance transfer offers, which allow you to transfer in your balance from another source of debt to your current account. Zero-interest offer periods can last anywhere between nine and 18 months.

Forget about earning rewards

Rewards earnings setups and signup bonuses have a special way of getting people to spend more than they bargained for. If you’re in debt, now isn’t the time to try to optimize your credit card use to earn maximum rewards. This is especially important if you have cards that charge annual fees.

If you have some rewards cards in your wallet, convert your balance to statement credit to help put a dent in your balance.

Ask for help if you get stuck

If you’re having a hard time paying your minimum debt payments because of a financial hardship like a job loss, you can ask your creditor if it has a customer assistance program. You may be able to defer your payments for a few months while you get back on track.

You can also get a second opinion on your debt payoff plan, whether your monthly budget is in dire straits or you’re just feeling stuck. Credit counseling organizations are typically non-profit groups that provide a range of money management services and educational resources to consumers. Their counselors are certified professionals who can give you expert, unbiased guidance on how to handle your specific financial situation. All the money you pay goes directly toward your debts, but there may be costs to use such a program. There’s often a setup fee of up to $75 and an ongoing monthly fee of between $25 and $75.

Prepare for setbacks

Life happens—stay organized even when challenges arise. Know which bills could be temporarily reduced if finances get tight, and have contact information ready for creditors if you need to request hardship accommodations. Review and adjust your plan quarterly to stay realistic and on track.

Getting organized isn’t a one-time event but an ongoing process that supports your financial goals. With these systems in place, you’ll build momentum to pay off your debt once and for all.

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There are a lot of fantastic settings to use on the Vitamix Ascent X5, but one of my favorites is the soup setting (the nut butter function is a close second). If you didn’t already know, it’s not just for blending already cooked soup. You can actually cook with the blender. It might take a moment to wrap your head around the idea, but personally, I had to see for myself to become fully convinced. Here’s how to do it. 

How can a blender cook soup?

It turns out, if you have an engine powerful enough, you can create enough friction with the blender’s blades to heat up a few pints of liquid ingredients until it’s well into cooking temperature (140°F to 190°F) and fully billowing steam. While you’re not cooking with fire, you do have a heat source, and the ingredients get chopped into such minuscule pieces that they take only a moment to cook once they reach the correct temperature. 

Not all blenders are equipped to pull this off. I’ve heard harrowing experiences of soup flying out of blender containers, or blades wearing out at high speeds, but all Vitamix blenders are equipped to run at speed 10 (the highest speed) for over seven minutes straight. And that’s exactly what you need to get your soup up to cooking temperature. 

If you have been wanting a Vitamix but haven’t wanted to shell out the money, check out the company’s surprisingly good Mother’s Day sale. For more information on the Vitamix Ascent X5, read my full review here, or check out the more affordable Explorian model E310.

How to use the soup function on the Vitamix Ascent X5

Making soup directly in the Vitamix is dead simple. The only thing you have to be aware of is you can’t make adjustments on the fly. You have to wait for the blender to complete its seven to eight minute soup cycle before you taste it and adjust for seasoning and consistency. 

1. Load up the blender

Load the blender container with your ingredients. I’ve made tomato soup, broccoli soup, and potato soup in the Vitamix, and I’ve tried recipes that use completely raw ingredients, all cooked ingredients, and ones with a mixture of pre-cooked and raw. Keep in mind that the blender will essentially poach your ingredients, so you can add flavor by pre-cooking some items. Roast tomatoes before adding them, char broccoli, or sear some onions before tossing them into the blender. In my tomato soup today, I roasted the tomatoes and included the charred skin, but I left the onion and garlic raw. On another day, I might do the opposite.

Besides the main bulk of your soup, remember to add enough liquid. It seems logical but you’d be surprised how quickly fibrous vegetables can make the soup mixture too thick to blend well. Keep a measuring cup with broth nearby so you can drizzle some in through the opening on the lid if necessary. (More on adjusting consistency in a moment.)

2. Navigate the presets

Fit the container onto the base, turn on the Vitamix, and press the menu button on the left. It looks like three horizontal lines. Once you’re here, twist the round dial to find a picture that looks like a soup bowl emitting steam with a little spoon underneath.

Make sure the lid is on tight, then press the start button on the right side. The Vitamix will start on a low speed and ramp up to speed 10 (the highest and loudest speed) within the first 30 seconds or so. Your work here is done.

The Vitamix will run through the soup setting in a little more than seven minutes. When I went to take the temperature of my tomato soup today, a thick plume of steam escaped when I pried off the lid. The soup read 179°F near the walls of the container and up to 186°F closer to the blades.

Adjusting the consistency

After your soup is cooked, you may be interested in adjusting how thick or thin it is. It’s way easier to thin out a soup rather than thicken it after it’s finished. With that in mind, try to add a touch less liquid than the recipe instructs before you begin cooking, and then you can always stir water or broth into the mixture afterward. 

If your soup is too thin, you could blend in aquafaba, a spoonful of canned cannellini beans, or even a couple spoonfuls of leftover mashed potatoes. Run the blender again on high speed but only until smooth; there’s no need to do a full soup cycle again unless you’re adding a raw ingredient. 

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Amazon’s new soundbar came out this year, and it’s tailored for people looking for an easy setup that is both user-friendly and affordable. Right now, the 3.1 channel Fire TV Soundbar Plus with Subwoofer combo is $289.99 (originally $374.99), the lowest price it has ever been, according to price-tracking tools.

The 3.1 channel model comes with a soundbar that is a fully self-contained system, meaning it can be a stand-alone soundbar with enough bass to get by. The soundbar itself is regularly $250 (but it’s $189.99 right now), so for $40 more, you get the external subwoofer, which gives you a more movie theater-like experience with that thumping bass you can feel. The subwoofer is wireless, as far as its connection to the soundbar, so you can place it anywhere in your living room. You only need to wire it to a power outlet, and it will automatically pair with your soundbar. If you want the full 5.1 channel system with the rear speaker, you’ll have to cash out $414.99 (originally $489.99)—in my opinion, the upgrade is not worth the price.

The soundbar can be wall mounted and comes with a wall-mounting kit, which is nice since the soundbar is pretty bulky at 24 inches long. The combo comes with an HDMI cord, which is what you want to use to take advantage of the Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio support. This also lets you use your TV remote to control the volume of the soundbar.

The soundbar doesn’t have wifi or a companion app, which is where Amazon cut costs. But if those things don’t matter to you, you’d be saving a good chunk of money compared to getting other costlier soundbars that do. You can still control most settings with the remote.

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Stuck for ideas on how to show your kids’ teachers the depth of your gratitude? We’re in the midst of Teacher Appreciate Week, which is a great time to thank them for all their work this year—or at least get a jump on picking out an end-of-school-year gift. If your favorite teacher is tech-inclined, they will likely appreciate one of the gadgets on this list, all of which are under $50.

A mini thermal printer

Thermal printers have gotten smaller and smaller, and now they can fit in your pocket. Why a thermal printer? They can quickly produce stickers, notes, even temporary tattoos. I can think of 100 ways a teacher would use one of these printers. I like the Notebuddy for its compact shape and easy-to-replace sticker paper. You connect via Bluetooth from your phone or laptop. 

A scrolling ring

If you have a Kindle or TikTok habit, you know all too well the hand cramping that comes from having to hold and flip through with your thumb. There is a solution—the scrolling ring. Worn on your finger, you can press the forward, backward, or select button on your ring and control your phone or tablet remotely. You could even use it on whatever you are showing your class onscreen.  

A heated neck massager

For the last year, this neck massager has been all the rage on TikTok, but I didn’t think much of it until I was gifted one. Holy moly. What makes it work differently is that it’s shaped like a scarf you stretch around you, and put your arms through, so you can easily change the pressure based on how hard you stretch the massager. 

Super Mario Bros. brick lamp

I’ve been obsessed with this Super Mario Bros. question mark light up brick. It attaches to the wall or wherever else you’d like to stick it, and yes, you can actually punch it, and yes, it will make that deeply satisfying sound effect from the classic game. Imagine this in a classroom, where a swipe can serve as a reward.

Desk vacuum cleaner

My desk is where everything goes—mail, projects, books, gloves, my purse—so it often needs a cleaning. Can you even imagine what a teacher’s desk looks like at the end of the day? I love this cordless vacuum cleaner that I can keep nearby and grab as needed to vacuum my keyboard and mousepad if I need to, without needing to clear away pens and cords.

A projecting microscope

The Hue is a fascinating piece of tech: a small camera on a bendy, telescoping arm can project anything to your screen via USB. The macro lens can project a doc, picture, live handwriting, or an ant walking across a table, all at 720px.

Endless flowers for their desk

The allure of LEGO is forever. This flower bouquet set is a project for relaxing at home, or working on with students. In either case, the resulting bouquet is more interesting than fresh flowers, and will give any teacher instant credibility with kids.

Sunrise alarm clock

Waking up for another day of school with your little rays of light can be… a lot, but a sunrise alarm is the gentlest way someone can rise and shine. The alarm subtlety brings the level of light up in your room, timed to when you need to get up, mimicking the sunrise.

A wireless mic and speaker

Teachers use their voice constantly during the day, trying to be heard over students. A little amplification couldn’t hurt. A simple wireless microphone means less shouting, and many less sore throats.

A notebook that’s manual and digital

For some people, a tablet is too much tech, but a spiral notebook is too basic. Enter Rocketbook, which is the best of both. Write manually on the pages, and they’ll be scanned to the Rocketbook app.