Apple wants to prioritize Siri and its in-house AI models, according to a leaked internal memo.

Hackers are faking Reddit threads and WeTransfer files to try and trick users into downloading malware.

If you have spent any time traveling in the U.S. over the past 10 years, you may have noticed a curious vending machine filled with jars. Instead of crinkle-cut chips or wired earbuds for that movie you want to watch on the plane, these vending machines sell freshly made apple pecan salads, blueberry chia overnight oats, and mediterranean bowls. They are run by a company called Farmers Fridge, and they are slowly taking over airports in the U.S.Since it launched in 2013, the company has installed its vending machines at about 20 U.S. airports, including LAX, Chicago OHare, Dallas Fort-Worth, and most recently, Las Vegas. (I first stumbled on its leafy offerings at JFK airport, while on a quest for a meal that didnt involve a side of soggy fries.)And its not just airports. These fridges are cropping up everywhere, from hospitals like New York Presbyterian and Boston Medical Center, to Amazon fulfillment centers, college campuses like Northwestern and Harvard, and stadiums like L.As Crypto.com Arena. Today, the company counts 1,600 locations around the country, and in the next 10 years, CEO and founder Luke Saunders is hoping to reach 100,000. How? With an understanding of cold chain logistics, an ever-expanding menu, and a swanky new fridge.This month, the company is debuting a new design that could help the company roll out more fridges at a faster clip. Five years in the works, the new fridge comes with a pitched roof that stands out from its flat-topped competitors. It boasts a new UX where various parts of the machine (from the payment module to the recycling bin where you can return your jar) light up to guide you through your purchase. And perhaps most importantlyat least when it comes to business growthit is made of two flat-pack modules that can be assembled in just 30 minutes, compared to four hours for the previous model.For now, the team is rolling these out at new locations onlythe first 50 fridges are already on the ground in Chicago and New York. But if these fridges prove as efficient as hoped, the company will begin swapping them out, one airport at a time. As we look to expand into new markets, our strategy is always to start with the airport, Saunders told me. Once we have the airport locked in, we build out the market with other verticals to saturate the market.[Photo: Farmers Fridge]The vending machine boomLipstick, guacamole, earrings: You can buy pretty much anything out of a vending machine today (especially in Japan.) But in the early 2010s, when Farmers Fridge was just a seed in Saunderss mind, vending machines in the U.S. were only beginning to diversify. Best Buy launched its first airport vending machine in 2008. Sephora launched its in 2009. Benefit followed suit in 2013 with their now-iconic kiosk designed to look like a pink bus.Saunderss biggest influence, however, was Redbox, the now-defunct movie rental kiosk company. That, and ATMs, he says with a laugh. Prior to [ATMs], you had to go into a bank, talk to somebody, wait in line, and now you could go anytime you wanted, he says. ATMs, like vending machines, were convenient, and they were available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Why has no one done this for food? he wondered.At the time, most vending machines sold snacks with a disturbingly long shelf life. The reasons for that are obvious. When food doesnt need to be refrigerated, the level of urgency to get it from the facility where its made and into peoples mouths is significantly lower than when its fresh. A granola bar, for example, can take anywhere from two weeks to six months to make it into a vending machine. A salad from Farmers Fridge can only spend 24 to 48 hours in transit. After that, Saunder says, the fridge wont let you buy it.Farmers Food makes every meal in-house, from a 100,000 square-foot facility in Chicago. The workday begins at 4 a.m. with washing and chopping veggies, cooking pasta, and mixingdressings. The assembly line begins at 8 a.m., and by 6 p.m., the company has to decide where these meals will be shipped off to.The team makes this decision based on a cost-function algorithm that Saunders himself built in the early days to calculate the probability the company will sell an item against the profitability of that item. The algorithm takes into consideration purchasing data, historical foot traffic data, and other variables like the weather.Today, the software mostly gets it right, but that wasnt always the case. Ten years ago, Saunders says about 50% of meals were left unsold. Now, that number has dropped to 5%. (Unsold meals get either donated or composted, depending on the location.)[Photo: Farmers Fridge]From salads to . . . sushi?From the beginning, Saunders suspected that the biggest hurdle to scaling wouldnt be a lack of interest, but a lack of infrastructure. To prove out his theory, he set out to find a pilot location and eventually installed his first Farmers Fridge in a food court in Chicago. As Saunders recalls it, the food court was desperate for a tenant, and he himself was desperate for a landlord.The food court ended up shuttering soon after that, but the machine had done its job, and interest snowballed from there. In the first year, the company made about $350,000. This year, Saunders says it is projected to make 30 to 40 times that, which could amount to as much as $140 million.To date, the companys best-selling item is the chicken southwest salad. In 2018, the company introduced sandwiches (and won a packaging award in the process). This year, they are rolling out protein bowlsand even contemplating sushi.The idea of eating raw fish from an airport machine might put some people off, but Saunders is convinced the idea has merit. And its not just intuition. Every time people buy something from Farmers Fridge, they are asked to fill out to a survey with their wish list. The most requested item? You guessed it. Sushi in a vending machine is not an entirely new concept. Japan has them in troves. But for Americans to buy in will likely depend on a variety of factors, including how much confidence the fridge can inspire. People get nervous about stuff like that, and Im the guy whos like, ten years ago, people were telling me that about salad, says Saunders. If you make good sushi, people will buy it. If its bad, they wont buy it.That the company spent five years fine-tuning the design of its fridges suddenly makes sense considering every fridge bears the burden of luring customers. Back in 2013, the first fridge looked as if a vending machine and a restaurant had a baby, says Saunders. It came with wood paneling, fresh plants on the roof and astroturf. Now, the company has pared down the aesthetic in favor of something clean and bright. The plants are gone. The wood paneling has made way for powdered-coated metal.But what the company has lost in rustic charm, its hoping to make up for in brand trust. This new design might not win any awards for hygge designbut it acknowledges that the fridge is just a shell, and the actual star is whats inside it. Whether it comes with a side of soy sauce, or not.

The devastating wildfires in Los Angeles have made one threat very clear: Climate change is undermining the insurance systems American homeowners rely on to protect themselves from catastrophes. This breakdown is starting to become painfully clear as families and communities struggle to rebuild.But another threat remains less recognized: This collapse could pose a threat to the stability of financial markets well beyond the scope of the fires.Its been widely accepted for more than a decade that humanity has three choices when it comes to responding to climate risks: adapt, abate or suffer. As an expert in economics and the environment, I know that some degree of suffering is inevitableafter all, humans have already raised the average global temperature by 1.6 degrees Celsius, or 2.9 degrees Fahrenheit. Thats why its so important to have functioning insurance markets.While insurance companies are often cast as villains, when the system works well, insurers play an important role in improving social welfare. When an insurer sets premiums that accurately reflect and communicate riskwhat economists call actuarially fair insurancethat helps people share risk efficiently, leaving every individual safer and society better off.But the scale and intensity of the Southern California fireslinked in part to climate change, including record-high global temperatures in 2023 and again in 2024has brought a big problem into focus: In a world impacted by increasing climate risk, traditional insurance models no longer apply.How climate change broke insuranceHistorically, the insurance system has worked by relying on experts who study records of past events to estimate how likely it is that a covered event might happen. They then use this information to determine how much to charge a given policyholder. This is called pricing the risk. When Americans try to borrow money to buy a home, they expect that mortgage lenders will make them purchase and maintain a certain level of homeowners insurance coverage, even if they chose to self-insure against unlikely additional losses. But thanks to climate change, risks are increasingly difficult to measure, and costs are increasingly catastrophic. It seems clear to me that a new paradigm is needed.California provided the beginnings of such a paradigm with its Fair Access to Insurance program, known as FAIR. When it was created in 1968, its authors expected that it would provide insurance coverage for the few owners who were unable to get normal policies because they faced special risks from exposure to unusual weather and local climates.But the programs coverage is capped at US$500,000 per propertywell below the losses that thousands of Los Angeles residents are experiencing right now. Total losses from the wildfires first week alone are estimated to exceed $250 billion.How insurance could break the economyThis state of affairs isnt just dangerous for homeowners and communitiesit could create widespread financial instability. And its not just me making this point. For the past several years, central bankers at home and abroad have raised similar concerns. So lets talk about the risks of large-scale financial contagion.Anyone who remembers the Great Recession of 2007-2009 knows that seemingly localized problems can snowball.In that event, the value of opaque bundles of real estate derivatives collapsed from artificial and unsustainable highs, leaving millions of mortgages around the U.S. underwater. These properties were no longer valued above owners mortgage liabilities, so their best choice was simply to walk away from the obligation to make their monthly payments.Lenders were forced to foreclose, often at an enormous loss, and the collapse of real estate markets across the U.S. created a global recession that affected financial stability around the world.Forewarned by that experience, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board wrote in 2020 that features of climate change can also increase financial system vulnerabilities. The central bank noted that uncertainty and disagreement about climate risks can lead to sudden declines in asset values, leaving people and businesses vulnerable.At that time, the Fed had a specific climate-based example of a not-implausible contagion in mindglobal risks from sudden large increases in global sea level rise over something like 20 years. A collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could create such an event, and coastlines around the world would not have enough time to adapt.The Fed now has another scenario to considerone thats not hypothetical.It recently put U.S. banks through stress tests to gauge their vulnerability to climate risks. In these exercises, the Fed asked member banks to respond to hypothetical but not-implausible climate-based contagion scenarios that would threaten the stability of the entire system.We will now see if the plans borne of those stress tests can work in the face of enormous wildfires burning throughout an urban area thats also a financial, cultural and entertainment center of the world.Gary W. Yohe is a Huffington Foundation professor of economics and environmental studies at Wesleyan University.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

If youre a part of the food industry in any measure, youve probably been seeing red the past few days, literally and figuratively. The FDAs recent decision to ban Red Dye No. 3 from food products has stirred significant attention, precisely because of how its eye-catching red hue has long been a staple in various products. Globally, many countries have already restricted Red Dye No. 3, making the FDAs move a belated but still noteworthy shift thats now rocking a lot of peoples boats.Although the FDAs decision underscores the importance of consumer safety and the need for regulatory bodies to respond to scientific findings, its implications extend beyond the food industry. Designers, particularly those in the food and packaging sectors, must navigate these changes and explore alternative solutions that maintain visual appeal without compromising safety.Image courtesy of: US FDAThe Scarlet Enigma: Understanding Red Dye No. 3Red Dye No. 3, also known as erythrosine in some countries, is a synthetic dye cherished for its vibrant cherry-red color. For decades, it has been a key ingredient in processed foods, baked goods, and certain medications. Its ability to enhance visual appeal has made it a valuable tool for food designers.Image courtesy of: dolgachovThe FDAs decision to ban this dye was driven by studies since the 80s linking it to cancer development in rats. But while there is still some debate on its impact on humans, the Delaney Clause in U.S. law is unambiguous. The US Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits any additives found to cause cancer in humans or animals, not necessarily both. Despite these findings, the dye continued to be used due to industry pressure and its widespread adoption. Even stranger, the dye was already banned from use in cosmetics and topical or topical drugs in 1990 for the exact same reason. Since it was approved for use in food and medicine in 1907, Red Dye No. 3 has established itself as one of the standards for this bright red color, making any prohibition potentially disruptive to multiple industries.Image courtesy of: StudioPeaceThat said, the US is actually playing catch up to some extent, as other countries have already either banned the same synthetic dye or have limited its use significantly. The gap, which was partly due to industry lobbying, highlights the challenges in balancing consumer safety with industry demands. As a result, designers must now adapt to this change and seek alternative solutions that meet both aesthetic and safety standards.A Spectrum of Impact: Red Dye No. 3s ReachImage courtesy of: PhotodariaRed Dye No. 3s reach extends to a myriad of products, which is part of the reason for the buzz around this prohibition. Many of the bright red colors you see from processed food make use of it, from the expected like gummy bears and frosting to the unexpected such as saffron rice, vegetarian meat alternatives, and instant mashed potatoes. Its surprising presence in medicines, including chewable vitamins and cough syrups, underscores its extensive application.Designer: HAMThe ban presents a significant challenge for the young food design industry which now needs to find a new way to paint the town red, so to speak, without this commodity. Food design, a sub-discipline that focuses on creating new food products, staging and presenting dishes, and designing packaging, will have to look elsewhere for a kind of red that will preserve that visual appeal without compromising safety. Also potentially affected is the budding 3D food printing market which might need to search for alternatives that will give their food that lush red color.Designer: Revo FoodsThe ripple effect of the FDAs decision extends to various design disciplines, including those that use food dyes for printing or crafts. However, this transition also offers a silver lining, prompting a reevaluation of synthetic dyes and encouraging the pursuit of safer alternatives. It challenges designers to rethink their approach to color and materials, presenting an opportunity for innovation, creativity, and a greater awareness of sustainability in this matter.A Palette of Possibilities: Exploring Natural AlternativesThe ban on Red Dye No. 3 highlights broader concerns about synthetic dyes. Red Dye No. 40, for example, has been associated with ADHD, raising questions about the safety of consuming chemicals in small doses over time. And its not just red thats the culprit, as other color dyes have also been put under scrutiny for just as long.This growing awareness has fueled interest in natural alternatives that try to avoid the fundamental cause of the problem: the synthetic nature of these compounds that have toxic effects on humans and animals, no matter how small. And for these, we only need to look to Mother Natures own dyes for the answer, leading researchers and scientists to test different sources, including some rather odd ones.Betacyanins plant-based and vegan-friendly color solutions from red beet roots.Anthocyanins water-soluble pigments that appear in fruits and vegetables like sweet potato or red cabbage.Carmine color pigments extracted from the crushed scale insect bodies.Betacyanins (top), Anthocyanins (middle), Carmine (bottom)Images courtesy of: Givaudan Sense ColourWith the exception of the third alternative, many people probably wouldnt mind getting their colors from plants and fruits, unless theyre very particular about the kind of red they want. Depending on the exact mixture, these natural alternatives might not have that same bright cherry red hue of the Red No. 3 dye, making them poor substitutes when it comes to visual impact.They also have different applications, unlike the generic flexibility of this banned dye. Some, like Carmine, are better for cosmetics but not for art, while Betacyanins are a poor choice for heat-processed foods. Just like plastic, these more natural materials are harder and costlier to make because of their novelty and low demand. Further research is needed to understand their limitations in non-food applications, ensuring they meet the diverse needs of designers across industries.Shades of CarmineThe FDAs decision serves as a wake-up call, urging us to reconsider what we consume and the materials we use in design. This ban underscores the urgent need for natural, sustainable, and safer alternatives to synthetic food dyes. The exploration of natural dyes presents an exciting opportunity for designers to innovate and push the boundaries of traditional design practices. By embracing these alternatives, designers can create products that are not only visually appealing but also safer and more sustainable.The Designers Challenge: Navigating a New LandscapeDesigners play a crucial role in shaping the future of product aesthetics. As the FDAs ban on Red Dye No. 3 takes effect, designers must explore creative solutions and innovative materials. This shift presents an opportunity to redefine design standards and prioritize consumer safety.The ban on Red Dye No. 3 challenges designers to think outside the box and push the boundaries of traditional design practices. By exploring new materials and techniques, designers can create products that are not only visually stunning but also safer and more sustainable.As designers navigate this new landscape, they have the opportunity to lead the way in creating products that are both aesthetically pleasing and environmentally responsible. This shift presents an exciting opportunity for innovation and creativity, as designers work to redefine the future of design.Designer: Brik ChocolateThe post How the Red Dye No. 3 Ban is Shaping the Future of Design: Insights for Creatives first appeared on Yanko Design.

Apple's 24GB M3 laptop is down to a record-low price.

The singer generated millions in prop bets for the Kansas City Chiefs just by showing up to watch her boyfriend play. Now that shes busy, gamblers are losing interest.

There are a lot and I meana LOT of fitness trackers out there, many of which can provide a surprising amount of insight into your health and fitness. That being said, the bare-bones Casio WS-B1000, which is currently on sale at Amazon and Walmart for an all-time low of $39.10 (about $17 off), is not exactly one of them.RelatedAt its core, the WS-B1000 is a lightweight wristwatch with some basic smarts, retro styling, and a few different color options. Theres no optical heart rate monitor or fancy-schmancy OLED display, though it does boast an onboard accelerometer for tracking your steps, up to two years of battery life on a single CR2016coin cell battery, and Bluetooth for pairing it with your phone. Doing so lets you view a basic activity log in the Casio app while ensuring you always have the correct time on hand (a wild concept, I know).You get some basic wristwatch functionality as well including a stopwatch, a timer, and an alarm but the appeal of the WS-B1000 isnt what it offers but what it lacks. For someone like me whos burnt out on push notifications and rarely tracks anything beyond steps, a cheap tracker with some Y2K vibesRead our Casio WS-B1000 review.Casio WS-B1000$39$5630% off$39$39$5630% offThe Casio WS-B1000 combines retro chic with step tracking, Bluetooth connectivity with your phone, and classic wristwatch functions like a stopwatch, alarms, and timers.Other ways to save this weekendSamsung held its latest Unpacked event this week, providing us with a closer look at its forthcoming slate of Galaxy phones. The iterative S25 Ultra is the most capable of the bunch thanks to its improved ultrawide camera, and if youre looking to reserve it ahead of its February 7th release date, its now up for preorder at Amazon and Best Buy with a $200 gift card starting at $1,299.99. Samsung, meanwhile, is offering the 6.9-inch phone for the same price with $150 in store credit. Read our hands-on impressions.Now through the end of tomorrow, January 26th, Ankers 341 USB Power Strip is available from Amazon and Anker for an all-time low of $18.69 (about $7 off). The 11-in-1 power strip isnt going to provide a ton of surge protection, sure, but it sports a pair of wall-mounting slots, several USB ports, and a whopping eight AC outlets. Plus, it features a nifty fastener, allowing you to easily coil the 5-foot cable if you plan to take it with you on the road.If my colleague Antonio G. Di Benedettos recent experience with the GameSir G8 Plus left you envious of his big screen upgrade, you can now pick up the clamp-on mobile controller at Amazon for $65.99 ($14 off), which nearly matches its all-time low. Its similar to 8BitDos first smartphone controller in that it features drift-free Hall effect sensors in the joysticks and connects over Bluetooth as opposed to USB-C; however, unlike 8BitDos offering, the G8 Plus supports Android and iOS, along with the Nintendo Switch.

Any ebook reader will let you cram a Beauty and the Beast-sized librarys worth of books in your pocket, but so will your phone. An ebook reader offers a more book-like reading experience, with fewer distractions and less eye strain, and many include extra features, like adjustable frontlighting. Some really are pocketable. Others are waterproof or offer physical page-turning buttons, while a few even let you take notes.What Im looking forComfortHow easy is it to use and read on? A sharp display and relatively fast performance are essential to an enjoyable reading experience, as are size and weight.Build qualitySome e-readers come with different features, like waterproofing, which means you really can read anywhere. Others offer buttons that make using the e-reader more intuitive to use.Supported content typesThere must be easy, direct access to a wide selection of digital titles, which includes audiobooks as well as various file formats.AffordabilityIs the price justified, given what the e-reader offers?Ive been using ebook readers for nearly a decade, and Ive gone hands-on with dozens, from the Kindle Paperwhite to lesser-known rivals like the Pocketbook Era. Whether you want something your kid can throw against the wall or a waterproof, warm-glow Kindle that wont ruin your spa ambiance, these are the best ebook readers for everyone.The best KindleKindle Paperwhite (2024)$160Amazons latest Paperwhite features a larger seven-inch display and noticeably faster performance. It also boasts longer battery life than the previous model, retains IPX8 waterproofing, and includes a USB-C port.Dimensions: 7 x 5 x .3 inchesWeight: 211 grams / Screen area and resolution: 7-inch screen, 300ppi resolution / Storage: 16GB / Other features: IPX8 waterproofing, Bluetooth audio supportIf you mostly buy ebooks from Amazon, youll want a Kindle, and the 12th-gen Kindle Paperwhite is the best choice for most people. Starting at $159.99, its cheaper than the Kobo Libra Colour my top non-Amazon ebook reader, which Ill dive into later while offering many of the same features. Those include a spacious 7-inch 300pi display with rich contrast levels and an adjustable warm white frontlight, which make for a clear and enjoyable reading experience. The latter also conveniently improves sleep by cutting down on blue light that interrupts melatonin production.That warm white frontlighting is an advantage over the cool white of the $109.99 base-model Kindle, and unlike the base Kindle, the Paperwhite has IPX8 water resistance. The $199.99Signature Edition Paperwhitealso has an auto-adjusting frontlight and no lockscreen ads. It has wireless charging, which is a rare feature to find in an e-reader.The latest Kindle Paperwhite offers a sharp display thats easy to read.Amazon is the largest online retailer in the world, and it dominates the US ebook market, so Kindle owners have access to advantages owners of other ebook readers dont. Much of Amazons hardware strategy depends on offering cut-rate discounts to pull you into its content ecosystem. If you have Prime and buy a lot of Kindle ebooks, the Paperwhite is the best choice because Amazon makes it incredibly easy to buy and read its stuff.Its ebooks and audiobooks are often on sale, and Prime members get more free content through Prime Reading. Rivals like Kobo offer sales, too, but its hard for them to offer discounts as steep as Amazon.RelatedThere are downsides, though. The Paperwhite has lockscreen ads unless you pay $20 extra to get rid of them. Its also too big to hold comfortably with one hand. Perhaps the Kindle Paperwhites biggest flaw, though which it shares with all Kindles aside from Fire tablets is that its not easy to read books purchased outside of Amazons store. Kindle ebook formats are proprietary and only work on Kindle.Unlike Kobo and other ebook readers, Kindles dont support EPUB files, an open file format used by pretty much everyone except Amazon. So, for example, if you often shop from Kobos bookstore (or Barnes & Noble or Google Play Books or many other ebook stores), you cant easily read those books on a Kindle without using a workaround. There are ways to convert and transfer file formats so you can read on the Kindle and vice versa, but itll take a couple of extra steps.However, if you dont buy your books elsewhere or you dont mind shopping from Amazon, youll be more than happy with the Kindle Paperwhite.Read our Kindle Paperwhite review.The best non-Amazon ebook readerKobo Libra Colour (32GB, ad-free)$200$2209% off$200$200$2209% offThe Kobo Libra Colour is a color e-reader with physical page-turning buttons and a 7-inch E Ink display. It also boasts IPX8 waterproofing and compatibility with the Kobo Stylus 2.Dimensions: 5.69 x 6.34 x 0.33 inches / Weight: 199.5 grams / Screen area and resolution: 7-inch screen, 300ppi (black-and-white), 150ppi (color) / Storage: 32GB / Other features: Physical page-turning buttons, waterproofing, Kobo Stylus 2 support, Bluetooth audio supportThe Kobo Libra Colour is an excellent alternative to Amazons ebook readers, especially for readers outside the US or anyone who doesnt want to tap into Amazons ecosystem. Kobos latest slate offers many of the standout features found on the 12th-gen Kindle Paperwhite including waterproofing, USB-C support, and a 300ppi display along with a few perks that make it more helpful and enjoyable to use.The color display is the most obvious. The Libra Colour uses E Inks latest Kaledio color screen technology, which provides soothing, pastel-like hues that still pop in direct sunlight. Its not as sharp as reading in monochrome the resolution drops to 150ppi when viewing content in color but its a nice touch that makes viewing a wider range of content more pleasant. Book covers and comics, while still muted, have an added layer of depth, even if the colors are nowhere near as vivid as that of a traditional LED tablet or as vibrant as the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition. Thanks to its physical page-turning buttons and color display, the Kobo Libra Colour is an impressive e-reader. Photo by Sheena Vasani / The VergeHowever, unlike the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, the Libra Colour works with a digital pen the Kobo Stylus 2 (sold separately) which lets you highlight text in various colors or take notes using Kobos integrated notebooks. You can also take advantage of some of the more advanced capabilities found in the Kobo Elipsa 2E, allowing you to solve math equations, convert handwriting into typed text, and insert diagrams. This lets the Libra Colour function as a mini notebook of sorts, though I wouldnt use it as a primary note-taking device since the seven-inch display can feel cramped to write on.Kobos Libra Colour comes with integrated notebooks. Photo by Sheena Vasani / The VergeRelatedThe color display is only part of the appeal, though. The Libra Colour doesnt have the lockscreen ads on the base Paperwhite and packs physical page-turning buttons, which feel more intuitive to use than tapping either side of the display as you have to do on Amazons modern e-readers. The speedy e-reader also supports more file formats, including EPUB files, and makes it much easier to borrow books from the Overdrive library system. Native support for Pocket, meanwhile, means you can read your articles offline if youre someone who uses the long-standing bookmarking app.You can highlight in color. Photo by Sheena Vasani / The VergeHowever, at $219.99, the Libra Colour costs $60 more than the entry-level Paperwhite and thats without Kobos $69.99 stylus, which is required for performing certain tasks. That gap widens further when the Paperwhite is on sale. It more often is than the Libra Colour. The Kobo cant easily tap into Amazons vast library of ebooks, which can be frustrating if youve amassed a collection of Kindle titles over the years. It can be done, but you have to convert file formats using third-party apps, which is tricky and can take time.But if those things dont matter or apply to you, the Kobo Libra Colour will give you the best digital reading experience of all the e-readers on our list. Its my personal favorite.Read our Kobo Libra Colour review.The best cheap ebook readerKindle (2024) $110Amazons new entry-level Kindle retains a six-inch, 300ppi display and USB-C. Its brighter and slightly faster than its predecessor, though, and features longer battery life.Dimensions: 6.2 x 4.3 x 0.32 inchesWeight: 158 grams / Screen area and resolution: 6-inch screen, 300ppi resolution / Storage: 16GB / Other features: USB-C support, Bluetooth audio supportThe base-model Kindle ($109.99 with ads) is the best cheap ebook reader. Its 300ppi resolution makes text clearer and easier to read than the lower-resolution screens on other ebook readers in its price range. Plus, it even has USB-C for relatively fast charging.1/2The 2024 Kindle is easy to hold with one hand and offers a sharp display. Photo by Sheena Vasani / The Verge1/2The 2024 Kindle is easy to hold with one hand and offers a sharp display. Photo by Sheena Vasani / The VergeReading on its six-inch screen feels a little more cramped than it does on the larger displays of the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Libra Colour. However, the flip side is that its small size makes it pocketable, light, and easy for small hands to hold. Combined with its relatively affordable price, the Kindle is also the best ebook reader for kids especially the Amazon Kindle Kids Edition which costs $20 more. The kid-friendly version shares the same specs but is ad-free with parental controls, a two-year extended replacement guarantee, and a case. It also comes with six months of Amazon Kids Plus, which grants kids access to thousands of childrens books and audiobooks for free. After that, though, youll have to pay $79 per year.The kid-friendly version of the Kindle comes with one of several colorful cases.The base Kindle doesnt have extra conveniences like the waterproofing youll find in the entry-level Kobo Clara BW and Paperwhite. You also dont get the physical page-turning buttons found on Barnes & Nobles entry-level e-reader, the Nook GlowLight 4e (though the Kindle is a lot snappier than the Nook). And because its an Amazon ebook reader, youre also locked into the Amazon ecosystem and have to pay extra to remove ads. But if you can do without that, the Kindle delivers the essentials for under $110.The best ebook reader for taking notesKobo Elipsa 2E$350$40013% off$350$350$40013% offThe Kobo Elipsa 2E is an ad-free 10.3-inch e-reader you can write on with the included stylus. It offers a whole host of useful features, like the ability to convert handwriting to typed text and a great selection of pen types.Dimensions: 7.6 x 8.94 x 0.30 inches / Weight: 390 grams / Screen area and resolution: 10.3-inches, 227ppi resolution / Storage: 32GB / Other features: Handwriting to text conversion, magnetic stylus, Bluetooth audio supportOf all the large ebook readers I tested, the Kobo Elipsa 2E stood out the most because its a good e-reader with solid note-taking abilities. You can write directly on pages and margins just as on a physical book. The Kindle Scribe lets you annotate book pages as well, but its complicated involving resizable text boxes that mess up the page formatting and prevent you from doing basic things like circling words. In contrast, taking notes on the Ellipsa 2E feels far more intuitive and natural.1/2The Kobo Elipsa 2E lets you insert diagrams, convert handwriting to text, and can even solve math equations for you. Photo by Sheena Vasani / The Verge1/2The Kobo Elipsa 2E lets you insert diagrams, convert handwriting to text, and can even solve math equations for you. Photo by Sheena Vasani / The VergeThe Elipsa 2E offers other helpful note-taking tools and capabilities. Like the Kobo Libra Colour, its capable, for example, of solving math equations for you. You can also insert diagrams and drawings, and itll automatically snap them into something that looks cleaner and nicer. You can also sync your notes with Dropbox or view them online and convert handwriting to typed text. The Kindle Scribe offers the latter capability, too, but again, Kobo does it faster and better within the original notebook document as opposed to on a separate page. The only thing missing from the Elipsa 2E is the Scribes note-summarization feature, but thats a trade-off I am okay with given how much easier it is to take notes.RelatedFinally, the Kobo Elipsa 2E comes with twice the storage (32GB) for the same price as the base Kindle Scribe. You can step up to the 32GB Kindle Scribe for $20 more or upgrade to 64GB for $40 extra. Yet given the Scribes limitations, I still recommend saving the money and buying the Kobo Elipsa 2E instead.1/2The Kobo Elipsa 2E comes with an included stylus. Photo by Sheena Vasani / The Verge1/2The Kobo Elipsa 2E comes with an included stylus. Photo by Sheena Vasani / The VergeNote-taking capabilities aside, the Kobo Elipsa 2E is also a good e-reader with the same strengths and weaknesses as other Kobo devices. Theres support for a wide range of file formats, but you cant easily read Kindle books without converting them first. Its 227ppi display is also slightly less sharp than the 300ppi screen found on the Kindle Scribe and the Kobo Libra Colour. However, the 10.3-inch screen balances things out a bit and makes text easier to read, so its not a noticeable drawback. Plus, the Elipsa 2E comes with an adjustable warm light for nighttime reading. Thats a feature rivals with more advanced note-taking capabilities like the $379.99 OnyxBoox Go 10.3 which lets you do everything the Scribe does and more, like insert links to notes lacks.Other ebook readers that didnt make the cutThere are some other ebook readers my colleagues and I have tested that I didnt feature above but are still worth highlighting. Here are the most notable: Kindle Colorsoft Signature EditionThe Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition is the firstKindleto feature E Inks color screen technology and it stands out from other color e-paper devices with customizations. It offers improved contrast, more vibrant colors, and faster screen refreshes. With a $279.99 price tag, its the most expensiveKindlemodel currently available that doesnt support a stylus for note-taking, and it includes premium features like wireless charging that are convenient but not really necessary for a device with months of battery life. Amazon doesnt offer a cheaper version of the Colorsoft like it does with the Paperwhite, which is available in standard and Signature Edition versions, but if you want a color screen and want to stick with Amazon, the Colorsoft is your best option. - Andrew Liszewski, Senior ReporterKobo Clara ColourIf youre looking for a non-Amazon alternative thats more affordable than the Kobo Libra Colour, the new Kobo Clara Colour the successor to the Kobo Clara 2E is worth a look. At $149.99, the ad-free e-reader costs more than the Kobo Clara 2E, but I think its worth the extra $10. It continues to offer the same six-inch display and IPX8 waterproof design, but the e-reader now offers color. Plus, its noticeably faster something I was happy to see, considering the occasional lag on the Clara 2E sometimes got on my nerves. You dont get the Clara Colours physical buttons or stylus support, but thats a fair tradeoff at this price point.BooxPalma 2Despite all the advantages of E Ink display technology, your smartphone is probably still a more convenient device for reading given how pocket-friendly it is. TheBooxPalma 2 is a smartphone-sized E Ink device thats just as easy to slip into a pocket, but with more capabilities than ane-reader. Its 6.3-inch E Ink display is great for reading books, but the $279.99 Palma 2 also runs Android 13 so you can install productivity apps like email and messaging assuming youve got access to Wi-Fi, of course, because the compacte-readerlacks cellular connectivity. If you already have the original Palma, the sequel isnt worth the upgrade. But if youre looking for a smaller alternative to Kindles and Kobos, the Palma 2 could be worth the splurge. - Andrew Liszewski, Senior ReporterBoox Go 10.3The $379 Onyx Boox Go 10.3 is another ad-free ebook reader you can use to take notes. Its excellent as a note-taking device, and it offers an impressively wide range of writing tools and more prebuilt notebook templates than Kobos Elipsa 2E. Jotting down notes using the built-in notebook felt more akin to writing on paper as well, and its slim design makes the device feel more like a traditional notebook. Like all Boox devices, it also provides quick access to the Google Play Store, so you can download multiple reading apps including both Kindle and Kobo apps. The slates crisp 300ppi display is sharper than that of the Kobo Elipsa 2E, too, which is a plus.However, in comparison to the easy-to-use Elipsa 2E, the Go 10.3 lacks a front light and comes with a steeper learning curve. Notes you take on a Kindle or Kobo device wont transfer over (and vice versa), and you cant annotate books in either app using the Boox. I also felt like access to Google Play can be a double-edged sword as it grants easy access to distracting apps, including games, streaming services, and TikTok. Its too slow to use the latter, but its fast and comfortable enough that I found myself playing around with the Word Search app far too often. For me personally, I need my e-reader to be devoid of such distractions its one of the biggest things that distinguishes it from a tablet, after all. But if youve got more self-control than I do, the Go 10.3 could be worth a look.Nook Glowlight 4 PlusIn 2023, Barnes and Noble released the new Nook Glowlight 4 Plus. If you own a lot of digital books from Barnes and Noble, this could be a good Kindle alternative. Otherwise, Id still recommend the Kobo Libra Colour to everybody else. The $199.99 Nook Glowlight 4 Plus is a good e-reader with a lot to offer, including a lovely 300ppi screen, waterproofing, physical page-turning buttons, and even a headphone jack. However, its just not as snappy, which makes setting it up, buying books from the device itself, and navigating the interface a slow ordeal. It didnt help that the screen sometimes froze, too, which meant I had to restart the device while in the middle of a book.Update, January 25th: Added the new Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite as picks, mentioned the new Kindle Scribe and Kindle Colorsoft, and updated pricing and availability.Andrew Liszewski contributed to this post.

As the adoption of generative AI continues to expand, developers face mounting challenges in building and deploying robust applications. The complexity of managing diverse infrastructure, ensuring compliance and safety, and maintaining flexibility in provider choices has created a pressing need for unified solutions. Traditional approaches often involve tight coupling with specific platforms, significant rework during deployment transitions, and a lack of standardized tools for key capabilities like retrieval, safety, and monitoring.The launch of Llama Stack 0.1.0, the platforms first stable release, designed to simplify the complexities of building and deploying AI solutions, introduces a unified framework with features like streamlined upgrades and automated provider verification. These capabilities empower developers to seamlessly transition from development to production, ensuring reliability and scalability at every stage. At the center of Llama Stacks design is its commitment to providing a consistent and versatile developer experience. The platform offers a one-stop solution for building production-grade applications, supporting APIs covering inference, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), agents, safety, and telemetry. Its ability to operate uniformly across local, cloud, and edge environments makes it a standout in AI development.Key Features of Llama Stack 0.1.0The stable release introduces several features that simplify AI application development:Backward-Compatible Upgrades: Developers can integrate future API versions without modifying their existing implementations, preserving functionality and reducing the risk of disruptions.Automated Provider Verification: Llama Stack eliminates the guesswork in onboarding new services by automating compatibility checks for supported providers, enabling faster and error-free integration.These features and the platforms modular architecture set the stage for creating scalable and production-ready applications.Building Production-Grade ApplicationsOne of Llama Stacks core strengths is its ability to simplify the transition from development to production. The platform offers prepackaged distributions that allow developers to deploy applications in diverse and complex environments, such as local systems, GPU-accelerated cloud setups, or edge devices. This versatility ensures that applications can be scaled up or down based on specific needs. Llama Stack provides essential tools like safety guardrails, telemetry, monitoring systems, and robust evaluation capabilities in production environments. These features enable developers to maintain high performance and security standards while delivering reliable AI solutions.Addressing Industry ChallengesThe platform was designed to overcome three major hurdles in AI application development:Infrastructure Complexity: Managing large-scale models across different environments can be challenging. Llama Stacks uniform APIs abstract infrastructure details, allowing developers to focus on their application logic.Essential Capabilities: Beyond inference, modern AI applications require multi-step workflows, safety features, and evaluation tools. Llama Stack integrates these capabilities seamlessly, ensuring that applications are robust and compliant.Flexibility and Choice: By decoupling applications from specific providers, Llama Stack enables developers to mix and match tools like NVIDIA NIM, AWS Bedrock, FAISS, and Weaviate without vendor lock-in.A Developer-Centric EcosystemLlama Stack offers SDKs for Python, Node.js, Swift, and Kotlin to support developers, catering to various programming preferences. These SDKs have tools and templates to streamline the integration process, reducing development time. The platforms Playground is an experimental environment where developers can interactively explore Llama Stacks capabilities. With features like:Interactive Demos: End-to-end application workflows to guide development.Evaluation Tools: Predefined scoring configurations to benchmark model performance.The Playground ensures that developers of all levels can quickly get up to speed with Llama Stacks features.ConclusionThe stable release of Llama Stack 0.1.0 delivers a robust framework for creating, deploying, and managing generative AI applications. By addressing critical challenges like infrastructure complexity, safety, and vendor independence, the platform empowers developers to focus on innovation. With its user-friendly tools, comprehensive ecosystem, and vision for future enhancements, Llama Stack is poised to become an essential ally for developers navigating the generative AI landscape. Also, Llama Stack is set to expand its API offerings in upcoming releases. Planned enhancements include batch processing for inference and agents, synthetic data generation, and post-training tools.Check out the GitHub Page. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,dont forget to follow us onTwitter and join ourTelegram Channel andLinkedIn Group. Dont Forget to join our70k+ ML SubReddit. Sana Hassan+ postsSana Hassan, a consulting intern at Marktechpost and dual-degree student at IIT Madras, is passionate about applying technology and AI to address real-world challenges. With a keen interest in solving practical problems, he brings a fresh perspective to the intersection of AI and real-life solutions. Meet 'Height':The only autonomous project management tool (Sponsored)