Waiting for a pot of water to boil on the stove is such a waste of time that it's become a cliche for something boring, second maybe only to watching paint dry. And if you have an old-school electric stove, you may find paint drying to be less time-consuming.The stereotypical inefficiency of an electric stovetop is one reason so many people prefer gas ranges -- they're known to heat your pots and pans up more quickly and evenly. But gas comes with its own problems, including potential health hazards from lighting a fossil fuel fire in your kitchen every time you want a pot of noodles.Fortunately, home cooks looking to go electric have choices. Induction stoves are gaining popularity, and they solve some of the problems of traditional electric ranges. They heat more quickly and evenly, all while using less energy. The trick is magnets.Here's a look at how induction cooktops compare to electric ranges. The mechanics of induction and electric heat Upgrade your inbox Get cnet insider From talking fridges to iPhones, our experts are here to help make the world a little less complicated. Electric and induction cooktops produce the same outcome -- dinner -- but the way they actually get there is quite different.The burners on electric cooktops heat up and transfer that energy to your pots and pans through what's called conduction. The burners consist of metal coils, which may be exposed or covered by a cooktop made of glass or ceramic, that are heated with an electric current. The LG Signature Smart InstaView microwave mounts above the company's induction stove, and a camera mounted on the bottom of the microwave allows you to watch your food cook on the range from across the room. James Martin/CNETThat heat then transfers either directly to the cookware, in the case of exposed coils, or into the conductive surface and then onto your pots and pans.Induction cooktops, meanwhile, use magnetic elements to energize your metal pots and pans, heating up the cookware itself instead of heating up the surface it sits on. This means the whole pan is being heated up evenly and less energy is wasted in heating up the air around the stove or the surrounding surface.Read more: The Cooktop Burner That Saved Us During a Kitchen RemodelThe pros and cons of an induction cooktopInduction cooking is faster and safer, but that doesn't mean it's the easiest switch. There are some key differences to know.Induction cooktop prosCooking on an induction cooktop has plenty of benefits. Primary among them is the fact that they require far less energy to heat. Because they transfer heat directly to cookware, considerably less energy is lost through the cooking process. By some estimates, induction cooktops are capable of delivering as much as 90% of the electromagnetic energy generated to the food in the pan, compared to as little as 38% of the energy generated in gas ranges.Another benefit of induction cooktops is the speedy cooking times. Induction surfaces can boil water in about half the time it takes for gas to do so, for instance. At CES 2025, we saw the Copper Charlie induction stove bring water to a boil in about 30 seconds. That induction stove and oven is expensive -- about $6,000 -- but it also comes with a 5 kilowatt-hour battery, allowing it to run during a power outage.Because of how induction cooktops transfer heat, the surface itself does not actually get as hot, except for the residual heat of having a hot pan on it. That means it's much safer if you touch it by accident. Spill food? You won't have to scrape it off after you're done, because it won't cook onto the stovetop. That's safer, and it makes cleanup a breeze.Another advantage is that induction cooktops generally aren't heating anything up unless there's a metal pan on top of an element, so you can worry less about the myriad hazards of leaving the stove on.Induction cooktop consThe main downside of an induction range is the cost. If you're on a budget, it may be difficult to find an induction cooktop that's the size you want and meets your preferred price. Copper's stove is particularly pricey at $6,000, but induction range and ovens from other brands typically start around $1,000 and go up from there.There are also some hidden costs: Most induction stoves require a 240-volt outlet to run. If you already have an electric stove, you may already have one of those in your kitchen. If you're switching from gas, you might need to call an electrician to get the right outlet installed -- and you need to have the space for it in your electrical panel. Those costs add up. (The Copper stove we saw at CES can plug into a standard 120V outlet because of its battery, but it also costs $6,000 to begin with.)On top of the product and installation costs, you may need to buy new pots and pans.Induction stoves only work with cookware made of ferromagnetic material. Specifically, that means stainless steel, cast iron and carbon steel. Pots and pans made from aluminum and copper aren't compatible. Adding to the confusion, some cookware uses a combination of materials in its construction, so its induction status isn't always obvious.To know for sure, give your pan the magnet test. If the magnet sticks, you're good to go. If not, then you may have to swap it for another one. Worse, you might have to change out all your existing cookware before your kitchen will be ready for induction. When you buy cookware, look on the label for information saying it's "induction ready" or something like it.Of course, if you're just wanting to take induction cooking for a spin, you can save on a lot of cost by picking up a portable induction burner, like a magnetic hot plate, for around $100 or less.Read more: The Best Way to Clean Your Cast-Iron Skillet is With This Kitchen Staple The Copper Charlie induction stove comes with a 5kWh battery, so it can plug into a standard outlet and keep running during a power outage. Jon Reed/CNETThe pros and cons of electric cooktopsResistive electric cooktops -- the ones you're probably used to -- are far more common than induction for a reason, but there are some major hangups.Electric cooktop prosElectric cooktops aren't quite as hip as induction cooktops, but that's okay. They've been around for a while, and they're still quite popular for good reason: They get the job done.Simplicity and reliability are among the primary selling points of an electric cooktop, and installation should be easy and straightforward, too. Don't concern yourself with special equipment or particularly steep price tags. Electric cooktops are common and functional, so there's no learning curve.Another benefit of the electric cooktop is the ability to make use of residual heat. You may notice that the stovetop stays warm even after you turn it off. You can use this to help keep food warm or use those final minutes of excess heat to finish off the cooking process before serving your finished dish.Electric cooktop consElectric ranges are not without their downsides. Residual heat can lead to unfortunate situations if you happen to place your hand on the surface or spill something on it while it's still warm. They can also take longer to heat up, and the coils can sometimes provide uneven heat or waste lots of energy if you're using a pan that's smaller than the surface being heated.There are still plenty of things to consider when deciding on the perfect cooktop for you, including your budget, the size of your kitchen, and how much you plan on actually using it. You might want to experience these cooktops for yourself before you decide, if possible. See how each one works and if you might like to cook on it.There are plenty of great cooktops that use both electric and induction heating mechanisms, so if you do some searching, you're likely to find one that fits your needs. A thoughtful approach will also help you produce great meals every time you use them. Though remember: A stove only provides the heat. You have to do the rest.

You don't need to overspend to get a capable laptop, and that includes both Windows models and Apple MacBooks. It's possible to find a decent laptop for less than $500; you may need to comparison shop and exercise some patience while you wait for a sale. And thats where we can help.CNETs editors have tested and reviewed many, many laptops from Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Dell and HP, so we can spot the best cheap laptops when we see them. Even Apple now has a bargain with the M1 MacBook Air. Also, consider a Chromebook, especially if much of what you do is on the web; even high-end models are under $700. Our Picks Best budget laptop Apple MacBook Air M1 View details $699 at Walmart View details Best budget gaming laptop Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 View details $990 at Amazon View details Best budget ultraportable HP Pavilion Aero 13 View details $570 at HP View details Best budget laptop for students Apple MacBook Air M3 View details $899 at Amazon View details Best budget Windows laptop Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 View details $799 at Amazon View details Best laptop under $500 Acer Aspire Go 14 View details $300 at Acer View details Best budget laptop for video editing HP Pavilion Plus 14 View details $900 at HP View details Best budget 2-in-1 laptop Lenovo Yoga 7 14 Gen 9 View details $615 at Amazon View details Best budget business laptop Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 View details $1,059 at Amazon View details Table of Contents What's the best cheap laptop overall?Our favorite budget laptop is Apple's M1 MacBook Air, which was first released in 2020 and revived earlier this year as an exclusive at Walmart. It's just $629, a great price for its mix of design, performance and battery life. The current M3 MacBook Air is also on the edge of the budget class and an excellent value when it's on sale for $899 at Best Buy.For a Windows ultraportable that rivals the MacBook Air in both design and battery life, check out the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7. Built with an Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X CPU, it's the first Copilot Plus PC we've reviewed. And we came away impressed, particularly in the battery life department. Windows laptops have trailed MacBooks in battery life ever since Apple released its Arm-based M1 processor nearly four years ago. The Surface Laptop 7 didn't just close the gap in battery life between a Windows laptop at a MacBook but surpassed it. And it starts at just $1,000, but a $1,200 version is reduced to $899.Elsewhere on the Windows side, the HP Pavilion Plus 14 is a great value for offering an all-aluminum design and OLED display while keeping the price in the budget class. We've also long considered Acer an excellent purveyor of budget laptoos, and it has a couple inclusions here with the super low-cost Aspire Go 14 and budget gaming laptop in the Predator Helios Neo 16.Using CNET editors' decades of experience testing and reviewing laptops, we've compiled a roundup of the best budget laptops below. Keep in mind that you may find even better laptop deals this holiday season that bring these affordable models to an even lower price. Best cheap laptops of 2025Filter by Showing 6 of 6 Results Compare

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Don't miss it.First 4 Figures has kicked off the new year with a "first look" at its new Metroid Prime Samus Phazon Suit PVC statue, which is apparently "coming soon".Pre-orders will open in 10 days on 20th February 2025, with pricing to be revealed on the same day. If you sign up to the website, you'll also get $10.00 off the statue when pre-orders go live.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Google Maps officially updated the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on Monday.Among many other executive orders, President Donald Trump decreed on the day of his inauguration that the Gulf of Mexico would be renamed the Gulf of America. This executive order also reverses an Obama-era move to rename Mount McKinley to Denali, the name that Indigenous people have used for centuries. Similarly, the name Gulf of Mexico has been the most prevalent name for the body of water since the 16th century.The president stated that these names are part of a gesture toward [restoring] American pride in the history of American greatness.As of Monday afternoon, Google Maps users in the United States will see the Gulf of Mexicos name changed to be the Gulf of America. International users will see both names, while Mexican users will only see the Gulf of Mexico. Google already stated in January that it would comply with Trumps executive order once the place names were updated in the United States Geographic Names Information System.Image Credits:Google Maps (opens in a new window)Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she would send a letter to Google questioning the companys decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico on Google Maps. But Googles decision to change the name of the gulf is consistent with its existing policies around how to navigate naming differences between countries. Google changes Maps to align with the users local government. While Google has complied with Trumps order, Apple has not yet updated the name of the Gulf of Mexico or Denali on its Maps app. When searching Gulf of America on Apple Maps, the app did not yield any results.Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook both attended Trumps inauguration; Cook personally donated $1 million to Trumps inaugural fund, while Google also made a $1 million contribution.Topics

Zeta, a provider of banking software to banks and fintech startups, has raised $50 million from a strategic investor at a $2 billion valuation.The new investment from American healthcare company Optum marks a 70% increase in the Bengaluru-based startups valuation from the $1.15 billion price tag (pre-money) it earned in 2021, when it raised $250 million in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.Founded in 2015 by Bhavin Turakhia and Ramki Gaddipati, Zeta helps banks use modern tech and cloud infrastructure to launch and manage credit cards, checking accounts, and loans.In banking, 60%-70% of institutions still operate on mainframes many created before some of us were even born, Turakhia said in an interview. He compared it to the industrys gradual shift to cloud computing, where banks initially managed their own data centers before adopting services like AWS and Azure. He expects a similar evolution in core banking technology, though with higher stakes since it involves replacing what he calls the heart and soul of the bank systems that process payments and manage accounts.Zeta, which also counts Mastercard among its backers, says it serves 25 million accounts through its platform and has contracts to add another 25 million. Its flagship customer in India is HDFC Bank, the countrys largest private lender, which also used the startups technology to rebuild its PayZapp digital payments platform.The startup also works with Pluxee, a global corporate benefits provider, and Sparrow Financial, a U.S.-based credit card issuer. The U.S. is Zetas biggest market, followed by India, where it generates annual revenue of more than $50 million. The startup is in talks with several large U.S. banks, but Zetas executives cautioned that some of these partnerships can take years to materialize.Zeta says it has invested about $400 million in its platform since inception and expects to become profitable by March 2026. Its offerings include modules for core banking, payment processing, fraud detection, and customer engagement.Through the next decade, we intend to capture 25% of the market share, Turakhia said. That has never been done before, because a vast majority of the market share in this industry was captured decades ago and has mostly been through acquisitions.Turakhia started his first venture with his brother Divyank in 1998. Along the way, they sold four internet businesses to Endurance for $160 million. Zeta is the third startup Bhavin has co-founded since then. In August 2021, WordPress-parent firm Automattic backed Turakhias most recent startup, business-email provider Titan, valuing it at $300 million.The company has 1,700 employees across the U.S., Middle East, and Asia.Turakhia said the startup didnt need to raise capital: In all likelihood, this $50 million is going to sit in the bank [] This investment reflects a reaffirmation of our journey.

Courtesy of BPL collections. Established in 1848, the Boston Public Library was the first large, free municipal library in the United States.The Boston Public Librarys first building of its own was a converted former schoolhouse located on Mason Street that opened to the public in 1854. As soon as the library occupied the building, it was apparent that the amount of visitors and collections could not effectively be held in the cramped quarters. Planning began almost immediately for its first purpose-built library. Less than a year later, in December 1854, library commissioners were authorized to purchase a lot and fund the construction of the new library. A desirable building lot on Boylston Street, opposite the Boston Common, was purchased and a public invitation for proposals from architects was held. The requirements for the building included: a library hall with alcoves capable of containing on fixed shelves at least 200,000 volumes, a general reading room with ample accommodations at tables for at least 150 readers, a ladies reading room, an adjacent library room for the arrangement of 20,000 books most constantly demanded for circulation, and quarters for the Trustees and Librarian. The facade was to be of brick, with stone dressing. The selected design by architect, Charles Kirk Kirby, was for this handsome Italianate style building which took nearly three years to build, opening in September 1858. Twenty years later, as the library outgrew that space, the Trustees asked the state legislature for a plot in the newly filled Back Bay, and planning began on the McKim Building, built in 1895 down Boylston Street. This building, the first purpose-built Boston Public Library building, was demolished in 1898, and replaced by the ten-story Colonial Theater Building. It stood just 40 years.

An obscure British government committee is to be asked this month to advise Home Secretary Yvette Cooper whether to go ahead with government demands that Apple provide British agents with a secret backdoor to break into the companies iCloud Advanced Data Protection system, enabling British spies to secretly copy and read users private data. The government committee, called the Technical Advisory Board (TAB), is charged with reviewing secret legal orders given to internet communications companies to arrange surveillance of their users, and to copy their emails and files, or to monitor their calls and videos. Enquiries by Computer Weekly this week revealed, astonishingly, that the Home Office had failed to renew the contracts for TAB members.According to a leak to the Washington Post, previously reported here, the Home Office issued a Technical Capability Notice to Apple in January, ordering them to remove electronic protection to allow access to data that is otherwise unavailable due to encryption. The company has 28 days to ask the Home Secretary to review the order. After getting a review request, Cooper is legally obliged to ask the advisory board to consider the financial consequences for Apple if they comply. Requiring them to destroy the integrity and security of their safest worldwide data storage system would be devasting for the UKs reputation as a centre for secure digital innovation, according to EU and security consultant Professor Ian Brown. It would also be breathtakingly naive and dangerous, after the recent revelations of China using similar back doors in the US telecoms system to run rampant through Americans calls and phone data.The UKs Technical Advisory Board is legally supposed to represent the interests of persons on whom obligations may be imposed. But Apple is not and has never been represented on the TAB. Nor are Google or Meta or any other US and European companies offering similar capabilities to Apple, and who could be threatened with similar secret orders.Apple would never build a backdoor, the company said in a 2024 statement. If faced with legal force, the company warned, they would publicly withdraw critical security features from the UK market, depriving UK users of these protections. This Apple statement was published in opposition to multiple changes to Britains 2016 Investigatory Power Act (IPA) then being considered in the UK Parliament. Industry regulation specialists expect that, if the Home Office persist, Apple would have to withdraw from the UK. The consequence for the UK governments growth policies could be immense.Throwing down its challenge last year, Apple told Parliament that the laws Britain wanted would effectively empower the Home Office to become the global regulator for every technology company around the world with a single affiliate (whether located in the United Kingdom or not) that provides telecommunications services in the United Kingdom. There is no reason why the UK should have the authority to decide for citizens of the world whether they can avail themselves of the proven security benefits that flow from end-to-end encryption. Querying whether the British government had any actual power to control U.S. companies, the memo noted that the IPA purports to apply extraterritorially, permitting the Home Office to assert that it may impose secret requirements on providers located in other countries and that apply to their users globally (emphasis added). Apples conduct to date has flouted the UKs claims to have legal rights to impose secrecy overseas. According to the government website the Technical Advisory Board has an independent chair, and two other independent named members, six industry representatives and an unknown number of civil servants and intelligence agency employees from organisations such as GCHQ and the National Crime Agency.The independent chair of the board is Jonathan W Hoyle, a former civil servant and deputy director of the GCHQ signals intelligence agency. At the same time as taking up repeated contracts as the chair of TAB since 2015, Mr Hoyle moved from GCHQ to become European vice-president of Lockheed Martin, the major supplier of signals intelligence and surveillance equipment to the British and American governments. A second independent member of TAB, Mr Alan Burnett has been Product Manager for the same period at Roke Manor Research Ltd, another major British supplier of signals intelligence and surveillance equipment to GCHQ. In 2011, Mr Burnett and Roke manor boasted of being the first to build Aquila - the most advanced lawful intercept and cyber probe working at 100 GHz and enabling GCHQ and other intelligence agencies to inspect 100 per cent of content 100 per cent of the time.Six industry representatives are also listed, none of whom appear to have training or experience that would assist them to advise the Home Secretary on financial consequences. Four represent British communications providers (Sky, Vodafone, VirginMediaO2 and the GSM Association).Enquiries by Computer Weekly have revealed that the Home Office has not been paying close attention to supporting or managing the Board membership. According to a 2022 government press release, the contract for the chair expired in August and the contracts for all but two listed TAB members expired last month. Asked if the contracts had recently been renewed by the Home Secretary, a press officer initially claimed that TAB was a non-departmental government committee. She then referred our enquiry to a Home Office email address for the Board, listed on the government website. The Home office position then changed after two members of TAB told Computer Weekly that they were not aware that their contracts had expired. TAB member Neil Brown of Decoded Legal called the Home Office and was told that his contract was to be renewed for a further term. I am grateful to you for pointing that out, he added. Mr Brown further said that he was not able to comment on whether TAB had seen the draft Technical Capability Notice to Apple, nor if the Home Office had yet officially asked TAB to conduct a review.Any British backdoor imposed on Apple users would have to subvert and defeat Apples complex security systems. These were upgraded in December 2022, the companys security manual explains. When the user turns on Advanced Data Protection, their trusted device initiates the removal of service keys from Apple data centres This deletion is immediate, permanent and irrevocable. After the keys are deleted, Apple can no longer access any of the data protected by the users service keys .User data is then protected with the new key, which is controlled solely by the users trusted devices, and [is] never available to Apple.To work, the UK Technical Capability Notice will have to explain how Apple could create a way for Britain to steal targeted users keys from selected Apple devices on demand. The methods normally used attack so-called end points (individual or many devices) rather than weaken the encryption system itself, as is sometimes supposed.If US lawmakers now require that Apple reveal the specific demands the UK wants to make of the corporation, it will be possible for US technical experts to see if any realistic or possible method is explained. Or they may confirm that the Home Office has been promoting magical and impossible thinking, as most cybersecurity experts have warned repeatedly for over 30 years. There is no realistic way to leave a door open for good guys and democracies that have rigorous checks and balances but not for cybercriminals or authoritarian states, according to Cameron Perry of the Brookings Institution. No amount of magical thinking can undo the contradiction between promoting strong encryption as a defense against the barrage of identity theft, espionage, and other cybercrimes while opening up new vulnerabilities, Perry added. Backdoors undermine not only security, but also the competitive position of US companies.Were their wishes to be granted, the Home Office would have to go through many further stages of getting specific legal and technical approval to obtain crypto keys, either against individuals (targeted warrants) or against large numbers of Apple users (*bulk warrants) or against specific groups or classes (thematic warrants). They would have to serve equipment interference warrants, to enable necessary updates and tampered apps to be sent to targeted Apple devices located in the UK. Such updates and apps would be official malware. This would mean that to follow Home Office wishes, regarded by academic and industry experts as fantasy, Apple would also have to disable their own security and malware protections on target devices, while also preventing users from noticing that their shields were down.The Home Office is not permitted to go ahead until both the TAB has reported back, and a Judicial Commissioner has re-approved the Notice.Even if some TAB members now warn the Home Secretary not to proceed, they may be ignored. The governments only possible next step then will be a court case in London against Apple - which would be impossible to keep secret, as Apple has made clear. If a case is brought, a Judge could impose a fine, or be asked to apply an injunction with, perhaps, a large and growing penalty for non-compliance. But Apple could and likely would appeal repeatedly in British Courts including the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, and to the European Court of Human Rights. As the possible legal actions in British law are against corporate persons (Apple Inc and any named subsidiaries) no-one could be arrested unless the British government attempted and kept secret a further series of nightmare proceedings against decision takers in the United States, bring them to trial, if need be by extradition. If the British government asks alternatively for large financial penalties, they might be found in breach of trade agreements by international bodies. The Home Office were warned in 2015 by Apple and others that the purported extraterritorial application of the Act was unenforceable. Were they to seek to deport and jail Apple CEO Tim Cook for disobedience to a secret British order, they would face further and very public derision. The Technical Advisory Board will be aware of, and should have to consider the recent revelation that Chinese government hackers, known as Salt Typhoon were able to get into and exploit US law enforcement access backdoors into telephone and communications providers to spy on US citizens and agencies.In the last resort, Apple have said they would withdraw the security of ADP from UK users. If still faced with absurdly large financial penalties, they could withdraw entirely rather than pay or face seizure.Apple Inc and the Home Office have to date both declined to comment officially or attributably on the Notice.The Home Office appears to be faced with a fiasco of their own making. According to Eric Kind, an expert in surveillance technology and privacy rights, who was hired by the Investigatory Powers Commissioners Office to help set up the new law in 2016, the way this stops is the way it always has beforehand - which is that government decide to drop it for fear of too much spilling into the public during the court battle.

The Dell XPS 8960 desktop impressed me with solid performance in both creative tasks and gaming. On Amazon, multiple configurations have been discounted.

Arvind Krishna, chief executive officer of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), in San Francisco, July 13, 2022.David Paul MorrisBloomberg/Getty ImagesBy Ayesha JavedFebruary 10, 2025 5:33 PM ESTArvind Krishna, CEO, chairman and president of IBM, used his acceptance speech at the TIME100 AI Impact Awards on Monday to acknowledge pioneering computer scientist and mathematician Claude Shannon, calling him one of the unsung heroes of today.Krishna, who accepted his award at a ceremony in Dubai alongside musician Grimes, California Institute of Technology professor Anima Anandkumar, and artist Refik Anadol, said of Shannon, He would come up with the ways that you can convey information, all of which has stood the test until today.In 1948, Shannonnow known as the father of the information agepublished A Mathematical Theory of Communication, a transformative paper that, by proposing a simplified way of quantifying information via bits, would go on to fundamentally shape the development of information technologyand thus, our modern era. In his speech, Krishna also pointed to Shannons work building robotic mice that solved mazes as an example of his enjoyment of play within his research.Krishna, of course, has some familiarity with what it takes to be at the cutting edge. Under his leadership, IBM, known as a pioneer in artificial intelligence itself, is carving its own niche in specialized AI and invests heavily in quantum computing researchthe mission to build a machine based on quantum principles, which could carry out calculations much faster than existing computers. The business also runs a cloud computing service, designs software, and operates a consulting business.Krishna said that he most enjoyed Shannons work because the researchers simple insights have helped contribute to the most sophisticated communication systems of today, including satellites. Speaking about Shannons theoretical work, which Krishna said was a precursor to neural networks, he noted, I think we can give him credit for building the first elements of artificial intelligence.The TIME100 AI Impact Awards Dubai was presented by the World Government Summit and the Museum of the Future.More Must-Reads from TIMEInside Elon Musks War on WashingtonIntroducing the 2025 ClosersColman Domingo Leads With Radical LoveWhy, Exactly, Is Alcohol So Bad for You?The Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise Harder11 New Books to Read in FebruaryHow to Get Better at Doing Things AloneColumn: Trumps Trans Military Ban Betrays Our TroopsWrite to Ayesha Javed at ayesha.javed@time.com