When is Amazon's Spring Sale 2025?This year, Amazon's Big Spring Sale begins on March 25 and ends on March 31.Are headphones and earbuds really cheaper during Amazon sales?Yes, you can find many headphones and earbuds at cheaper prices during Amazon's sales. However, the spring sale typically offers smaller discounts than Amazon's fall and holiday sales later in the year. During Amazon's sales, headphone, and earbud brands also slash prices on their sites to compete for your dollars. Sometimes, prices are lower at other retailers, so you should compare factors like prices, return policies, and free items included with your purchase before buying. If you want all-time low prices on the latest headphones and earbuds, wait until later in the year.How did we choose these Spring Sale deals?I spend most of my time testing the latest headphones and earbuds and revisiting headphones and earbuds released in past years to provide our readers with the most sound buying advice. I also notice products' retail prices and when the lowest prices were offered, typically later in the year.Additionally, by retesting products, I can determine if they're still worth hundreds of dollars a year or two later. If they are, I will still recommend them during significant sales. Another factor I consider is when newly-released products are on sale; if a product I recommended was released six months ago and is already on sale, I'll notify our readers to take advantage of the sale price.What are the best Amazon Spring Sale 2025 deals?ZDNET's experts are searching through Amazon's Spring Sale deals to find the best discounts by category. These are the best deals so far:You can also find the best Amazon Spring Sale deals by price:And the best deals from other retailers this week:Best anti-Amazon Spring Sale dealsLooking for the next best product? Get expert reviews and editor favorites withZDNET Recommends

Up to 2.3 million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) the most lethal form of ... More undernutrition are now at risk of losing access to life-saving treatment due to critical cuts in nutrition fundinggettyA harrowing new study published in Nature warns that sweeping cuts to global nutrition funding could result in 369,000 additional child deaths every year. The analysis, conducted by the Standing Together for Nutrition Consortium (ST4N), a global network of leading development and nutrition experts, finds that up to 2.3 million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) the most lethal form of undernutrition are now at risk of losing access to life-saving treatment.It comes down to this, says Saskia Osendarp, Executive Director of the Micronutrient Forum, hosts of ST4N. Seven children will die every ten minutes, not because we dont have the tools to save them but because money is being pulled. Its hard to wrap your head around. And honestly, just like during the early days of COVID, I remember feeling this overwhelming sense of panic thinking, Oh my God, what is happening?The cuts to global nutrition aid are indeed staggering. The dismantling of USAID and reductions by the UK (40%), France (37%), the Netherlands (30%), and Belgium (25%) are equivalent to 44% of the $1.6 billion provided in 2022.USAID-funded nutrition programs in particular valued at $128 million in 2022 vanished almost overnight in a manner that Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, describes as brutal, sudden, and indiscriminate.The Nature analysis links this single decision to the loss of treatment for one million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and an estimated 163,500 additional child deaths annually.Helen Keller International In NigeriaIn Nigeria, where 2 million children face severe malnutrition and stunting affects one in three ... More under-fives, funding cuts pulled the rug out from under life-saving programs leaving millions vulnerable and unprotected.Helen Keller InternationalIn Nigeria, where 2 million children face severe malnutrition and stunting affects one in three under-fives, funding cuts pulled the rug out from under life-saving programs leaving millions vulnerable and unprotected.In May 2024, global health non-profit, Helen Keller International had just celebrated 25 years of progress in the West African nation, with an impressive reach of over 73 million people. This is going to continue to happen as long as we have resources to invest in the states where we support, said Aliyu Mohammed, Helen Kellers Country Director in an interview to mark the occasion.A mere nine months later, in February 2025, the organization received termination notices for all its U.S. government-funded projects. The withdrawal of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funding meant that programs providing nutrition services to 5.6 million Nigerian children were halted.According to Helen Keller International, 21 million people across the countries it serves many of them young children are now at increased risk of severe malnutrition.Tools like the delivery of essential vitamins and nutrients, climate-smart agriculture, and screening and treatment of malnutrition have the power to severely reduce malnutrition, but suspended funding threatens our progress, said Sarah Bouchie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Helen Keller International, in a statement.While Nigerias story is emblematic, its only one thread in a broader unraveling of the global nutrition safety net.The Broader Impact of Nutrition Funding CutsBoxes of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) at the Mana Nutrition plant in Fitzgerald, Georgia ... More waiting to be shipped on March 3, 2025 after contracts with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) were abruptly canceled (Photo by JOHN FALCHETTO/AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty ImagesIn addition to treatment programs, nutrition funding cuts have hit essential prevention programs breastfeeding promotion, food fortification, school feeding, agriculture, and social protection. These are the invisible pillars that keep millions of children from slipping into wasting, stunting, and life-threatening deficiencies.Severe acute malnutrition affects 13.7 million children annually. Without treatment, up to 60% will die. Ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) a dense, peanut-based paste that has become the gold standard for treating severe malnutrition was largely funded by USAID. The global supply has now been cut in half.ST4N data reveals a $290 million drop in funding for severe acute malnutrition treatment alone. The ripple effects are devastating. Beyond the immediate health toll, the long-term economic and political consequences are substantial. Malnutrition undermines human capital, weakens labor markets, and slows economic growth both at home and abroad.Evidence shows that this is going to impact the safety, the stability, and the prosperity of the United States and of other donor countries, says Osendarp. Weve seen that hunger and food insecurity have been one of the root causes of civil unrest and even of wars.Haddad agrees: Hungry and malnourished people are restless, he says. Theyre going to go overseas in search of a better life. Hungry and malnourished people have less to lose from conflict. Theyre much less likely to be building thriving enterprises and thriving economies to buy American and European goods.The Way Forward For Nutrition FundingFrance's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou addresses the audience during the Nutrition for Growth ... More Summit in Paris on March 27, 2025. The Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit in Paris is a high-level global event focused on mobilizing political and financial commitments to end malnutrition in all its forms. It brings together governments, donors, businesses, and civil society to accelerate progress toward achieving global nutrition targets and ensuring healthier, more resilient populations. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP) (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty ImagesThe Standing Together for Nutrition Consortium is calling on governments and donors to take urgent action, affirming that Failure to act now will result not only in a drastic increase in child mortality but also in long-term societal damage.Recommendations include restoring humanitarian nutrition programs, scaling up evidence-based interventions, broadening funding streams including domestic and private-sector sources and strengthening data systems for crisis response.Experts are urging governments and donors to look beyond traditional aid. Development banks and international finance institutions, whose lending is already allocated for the next several years, could integrate nutrition into concessional loan frameworks. The private sector could be incentivized to provide workforce nutrition programs. Small and medium enterprises could receive support to produce locally made, highly nutritious complementary foods for young children.Theres a massive opportunity here, says Haddad. Governments can use some of the remaining aid to help countries access concessional loans and integrate nutrition into those packages. Most banks havent figured out how to include nutrition or dont think they have the mandate. Some even worry theyll lose their credit rating because nutrition is seen as too risky.Haddad also calls on the private sector to do more: Why arent we incentivizing companies to run workforce nutrition programs? Offer tax breaks. Its good for workers and good for the bottom line.Osendarp agrees and sees hope in emerging coalitions.Theres a growing dialogue between the climate and nutrition communities, she says. Were starting to see investment in local food production, climate-smart agriculture, and nutritious foods for infants being produced by small businesses. These movements existed before the cuts, but now they must be accelerated. We need to unlock these other sources of funding and fast.Unless timely action is taken, ongoing cuts to nutrition funding are likely to lead to further loss of life weakening treatment systems, limiting prevention efforts, and reversing years of progress. This represents a significant public health challenge with far-reaching, long-term consequences. By the time that this article has been read, seven more children will have died victims of a crisis for which proven solutions already exist.

In context: Microsoft introduced the original version of ReFS in 2012 alongside the enterprise-focused Windows Server 2012. At the time, the company stated that the new file system was intended to replace NTFS. However, NTFS remains the de facto standard for storage and file management in modern Windows versions. At last, Microsoft appears to be taking action with its Resilient File System (ReFS) technology. Despite being 14 years old, the storage format remains largely unfamiliar to most Windows users. However, it is now being offered as an optional choice in a recent Windows 11 preview build.Discovered by a prolific Windows insider, the new option appears in Windows 11 Build 27823. According to him, a hidden menu accessed via an invisible button allows users to format partitions and unallocated disk space using a new "Flexible Storage" option. A pop-up menu then provides two file system choices: the default NTFS format or the ReFS technology.I was unable to find any particularly relevant information about the "Flexible Storage" moniker on Google, so it's unclear exactly what Microsoft means by this term. Meanwhile, Redmond provides a basic overview of ReFS on its Microsoft Learn network. The new file system is designed to support larger storage capacities, improve efficiency in scaling large datasets, and offer greater resiliency against data corruption.Designed as the "next generation" of Windows file systems and a potential replacement for NTFS, ReFS offers significant improvements over the aging storage technology, which dates back to Windows NT 3.1. A ReFS partition can be formatted up to 35 petabytes and can even contain a single file as large as the entire volume. In contrast, NTFS volumes max out at 256 terabytes.ReFS introduces advanced features such as block cloning, file-level snapshots, and more. However, it lacks traditional NTFS capabilities (see a comparison table here), including bootable volumes, file compression, encryption, short file names, and support for removable media. Microsoft states that these features are unavailable "at this time," suggesting they may be added in the future... or perhaps not.Despite being a highly advanced storage technology, ReFS remains an enterprise and server-focused solution for now. The hidden menu discovered in Windows 11 Build 27823 could indicate Microsoft's intent to bring ReFS to consumer versions of Windows. // Related StoriesMeanwhile, the open-source community is working on unofficial ReFS documentation, and the German company Paragon Software offers its own closed-source ReFS driver.

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Driving while non-white Study of Lyft rideshare data confirms minorities get more tickets Researchers ascribe it to "animus or prejudice against minority drivers." John Timmer Mar 27, 2025 4:22 pm | 0 Credit: fstop123 Credit: fstop123 Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreIt's no secret that "driving while black" is a real phenomenon. Study after study has shown that minority drivers are ticketed at a higher rate, and data from speed cameras suggests that it's not because they commit traffic violations more frequently. But this leaves open the question of why. Bias is an obvious answer, but it's hard to eliminate an alternative explanation: Minority groups may engage in more unsafe driving, and the police are trying to deter that.But now, Lyft has given a group of researchers access to detailed data from their drivers. The results confirm that minority drivers get more tickets, and they pay higher fines when they do. And the results also show that minorities aren't in any way more likely to speed or engage in unsafe driving. Which suggests, in their words, that the problem is "animus" against minority drivers.Giving research a LyftThe work was done thanks to cooperation from the ridesharing company Lyft, which provided data on its drivers in Florida, all 222,838 of them, along with a record of all the GPS pings their tracking systems sent into the company's servers. Combined with a detailed map of Florida's roads, along with their speed limits, they could determine when a given driver was speeding. They also obtained Florida police records of any accidents and cross-referenced their locations to any vehicle that experienced a sudden stop in that spot at the same time.In addition, they got ahold of voting registration records of the drivers, about half of whom were registered voters. These included information on the driver's ethnicity. Separately, Lyft receives an image of each driver when they start working with the company. These images were used to infer the ethnicity of the remaining drivers. These were broken down into broad categories, but ultimately the data analysis split people into white and minorities.Then, the researchers got data on all the speeding tickets issued in Florida and identified the ones belonging to Lyft drivers.The data showed one thing clearly: Lyft has incentives for its drivers to avoid traffic violations, and they work. "Compared with the general population of motorists, our sample is less prone to speed, especially more than 10 mph over the limit," the team writes. "As a result, our analysis examines only 1,423 citations for speeding." While lower than you'd expect, that's more than enough to do some statistics on the frequency of these citations.AnimusThere's a lot of confounding factors that might influence whether someone gets pulled over and cited, like their gender, the make of their car, and so on. The researchers handle this in two ways. For one analysis, the researchers themselves chose a set of factors to include as potential confounding influences in an analysis. For the second, they relied on machine learning to determine the factors that would be considered in the analysis. Both approaches led to similar results.The results clearly reproduced a similar pattern to earlier research. Minority Lyft drivers were about 30 percent more likely to be pulled over and cited for speeding (the two analyses produced results of 24 and 33 percent). Once cited, they were also likely to receive higher fines, either 23 or 34 percent more than white drivers.The remaining question was whythe police could potentially be acting out of bias, or they could be attempting to deter minority drivers because they are more prone to problematic driving. So, the researchers compared the actual frequency of speeding based on the GPS data and used accidents as a proxy for problematic driving habits. Neither of these showed any significant differences between minorities and white drivers.So, the researchers are left to conclude it's simply because of what they call "animus" against minority drivers on the part of the police. And the problems go well beyond the impact of the fines themselves. The researchers note that most auto insurance policy providers give drivers discounts for avoiding traffic violations. Which suggests that minorities face the additional burden of paying more simply for being able to drive with insurance, something that's legally required by US states.Science, 2025. DOI: 10.1126/science.adp5357 (About DOIs).John TimmerSenior Science EditorJohn TimmerSenior Science Editor John is Ars Technica's science editor. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. When physically separated from his keyboard, he tends to seek out a bicycle, or a scenic location for communing with his hiking boots. 0 Comments

No reservations Google announces Maps screenshot analysis, AI itineraries to help you plan trips Google wants to help you get away this summer with, you guessed it, AI. Ryan Whitwam Mar 27, 2025 3:04 pm | 24 Credit: Google Credit: Google Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreAfter a long and gloomy winter, many people are looking forward to some summer travel. Google has some new tools to help you plan, but like most of what Google does now, the new features lean heavily on AI. And unusually, the most interesting of these additions is launching first on iOS.Google says that lots of people tend to take screenshots when they're planning a trip. Instead of letting those images become lost in your camera roll, Google will let you feed them into Maps. The new screenshot list feature will let you add those images to Maps, where Gemini will scan them to identify locations.This feature is opt-in, and the AI doesn't appear to detect locations with image recognition. Instead, it looks for place names in text, allowing you to review the results before marking them on the map for later perusal.Google confirms to Ars that all Maps image processing happens on device, which is probably why it's only analyzing text. Your screenshots added to Maps in this way will never leave your device. Google says this feature is arriving in the Maps app for iOS this week. Android users will have to wait a bit longer, but Google doesn't have a timeline other than "soon."AI overviews invaded Google search last year, and the company has consistently expanded its use of these search summaries. Now, AI Overviews will get some new travel tweaks that might make it worth using. When you search for help with trip planning, AI Overviews can generate a plan with locations, photos, itineraries, and more.You can easily export the data to Docs or Gmail from the AI Overviews screen. However, it's only available in English for US users at this time. You can also continue to ignore AI Overviews as Google won't automatically expand these lengthier AI responses. Google adds trip planning to AI Overviews. Credit: Google Google adds trip planning to AI Overviews. Credit: Google Google's longtime price alerts for flights have been popular, so the company is expanding that functionality to hotels, too. When searching for hotels using Google's tool, you'll have the option of receiving email alerts if prices drop for a particular set of results. This feature is available globally starting this week on all mobile and desktop browsers.Google is also pointing to a few previously announced features with a summer travel focus. AI Overviews in Google Lens launched in English late last year, which can be handy when exploring new places. Just open Lens, point the camera at something, and use the search option to ask a question. This feature will be launching soon in Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish in most countries with AI Overview support.Updated March 27 with details of on-device image processing in Maps.Ryan WhitwamSenior Technology ReporterRyan WhitwamSenior Technology Reporter Ryan Whitwam is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering the ways Google, AI, and mobile technology continue to change the world. Over his 20-year career, he's written for Android Police, ExtremeTech, Wirecutter, NY Times, and more. He has reviewed more phones than most people will ever own. You can follow him on Bluesky, where you will see photos of his dozens of mechanical keyboards. 24 Comments

A view of the early universe captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, including numerous little red dots whose nature is uncertainNASA, ESA, CSA, Steve Finkelstein (UT Austin)A mysterious class of small, red objects in the early universe might be explained by black holes inside dense cocoons of gas, like a star.Since launching in 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has found hundreds of objects in the early universe that appear extremely red and compact, dubbed little red dots (LRDs).

Berkshire Hathaway stock is up 17%, proving Warren Buffett's ability to strike a win no matter how shaky the circumstances.Read the original article on Business Insider

Two executives who oversee key advertising verticals and the Asia-Pacific region, the company's largest market, both left this week. Chesnot/Getty Images 2025-03-27T20:32:45Z SaveSaved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Two senior Meta executives, Dan Neary and Kate Hamill, are leaving the company.Neary led Meta's Asia-Pacific growth; Hamill strengthened US advertising.Hamill will join Pinterest, while Neary plans a break before exploring new steps.Two senior Meta executives Dan Neary, vice president for Asia-Pacific, and Kate Hamill, managing director for retail and e-commerce in North America are leaving the company after more than a decade each in key leadership roles. The departures are unrelated.Neary, who joined Meta in 2013, announced his decision to step down in a LinkedIn post on Thursday. He described the move as the end of a "12-year run," during which he helped grow the company's business across the Asia-Pacific region.Based in Singapore, he oversaw Meta's expansion in some of its largest and fastest-growing international markets, including Australia, Southeast Asia, and Greater China."It's hugely gratifying for me to look back at the small Singapore office where this journey started over a decade ago and see how far we have come together," Neary wrote. "It's been the ride of a lifetime on the Meta APAC rocket ship."He added that he would remain for a few months to help with the leadership transition before taking a break to spend time with family and explore the next steps.Neary's exit marks the end of an era for Meta's Asia-Pacific operations, which have seen explosive growth over the past decade. Asia is now Meta's largest user base, home to over a billion accounts across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.Meta's platforms have become essential for communication, commerce, and digital advertising in India, Indonesia, and Thailand. The region also continues to be a key driver of Meta's business messaging and performance ad revenue.Hamill, who spent 13 years at Meta, will join Pinterest as vice president of enterprise sales for North America starting April 7. She will oversee revenue and sales teams in the US and Canada and work closely with Pinterest's Chief Revenue Officer, Bill Watkins.Hamill led Meta's advertising relationships across major verticals, including retail, travel, entertainment, and gaming. She also worked closely with product teams on offerings like mobile app ads.In a LinkedIn post earlier this week, she said she was drawn to Pinterest's focus on "AI-driven and lower funnel ad solutions " and the company's mission to build a "more positive online space".Her departure is notable given her role in strengthening Meta's ties with major US advertisers during a period of rapid growth in its ads business. She helped launch and scale tools like Advantage+, automatically optimizing ads to reach likely buyers using AI. Advertising remains Meta's primary source of revenue.Neither executive gave a specific reason for their departure. A Meta spokesperson told Bloomberg, that Neary took the company's Asia Pacific business to "incredible heights, delivering consistently strong results over the years."Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at or Signal at . Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; .Recommended video