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The best Cricket Wireless deals of September 2025

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority Cricket is the no-contract subsidiary of AT&T, offering customers a way to get affordable smartphones with cheap prepaid plans while still having in-store support and many other benefits that you’d find with traditional postpaid service. While pricing is already quite low, Cricket occasionally has some pretty sweet deals for both new and existing customers. Below, we’ve rounded up the top promotions available heading into September of 2025. Get an unlimited

LayerX uses AI to cut enterprise back-office workload, scores $100M in Series B

Aging demographics, labor shortages, the adoption of GenAI, and the 2023 implementation of e-invoicing are driving companies to automate finance, tax, procurement, and HR in Japan. Yet only 16% of digital transformations succeed, and that’s only 4–11% in traditional industries. The main barriers? Weak leadership commitment, a rigid culture, and a lack of digital talent. LayerX offers an AI SaaS platform to help enterprises scale back-office automation. LayerX, a Japanese AI SaaS startup that en

My favorite projector from Samsung doubles as a gaming hub, and it's discounted for Labor Day

Allison Murray/ZDNET The Samsung Freestyle 2 projector is on sale for $341 off when you purchase it at Walmart, making the new price $459 over Labor Day weekend. Also: The best Labor Day deals live now ZDNET's key takeaways The Samsung Freestyle 2 is a solid projector available for $800. Sharp image quality, an internal battery, and the ability to play games without a console make this projector ultraportable. The second-generation feature upgrades are geared toward gaming, which may not b

Desert Graves (2021)

Arizona is an interesting place. Even today, there is much remote country, and as I’ve wandered through its deserts and forests (yes, we have forests!), I have been surprised by how many times I’ve come across cemeteries and graves in the most out-of-the-way and unexpected places. I did a survey of place names on Arizona’s topographical maps and found a total of 147 named cemeteries, but I also found 9 places where there was just a “grave” or “graves” shown (I know there are many more than that,

Vibration Plates: Can You Use Them to Lose Weight, Build Muscle and Get Stronger?

Vibration plates are all the rage right now. They claim to help you lose weight or build muscle -- all while standing on the vibrating surface. But is this for real? Does standing on a shaking platform really help you get stronger or shed pounds, or is it just another short-lived trend? To find out, we talked to personal trainers and other fitness experts. These experts explained how vibration plates are supposed to work, the benefits you might get from using them, the risks you should watch ou

Sony is hosting a State of Play showcase for 007 First Light on September 3

Sony has lined up its next PlayStation State of Play showcase, and this one is all about a single game. It will focus on 007 First Light , the long-awaited James Bond adventure from Hitman studio IO Interactive. It starts at 2PM ET on September 3 and you can watch it on the PlayStation YouTube and Twitch channels (there'll also be a version of the video with English subtitles on YouTube ). You can also just hit the play button on the YouTube video above when the time is right. The showcase will

Making Minecraft Spherical

Blocky Planet is a tech demo I created in the Unity game engine that attempts to map Minecraft’s cubic voxels onto a spherical planet. The planet is procedurally generated and fully destructible, allowing players to place or remove more than 20 different block types. While much of the implementation relies on common techniques you’d expect from your average Kirkland brand Minecraft clone, the spherical structure introduces a number of unique design considerations. This post will focus on these

The best smart home gadgets for 2025

Our favorite Google-powered smart display is the second-generation Nest Hub. It has a 7-inch screen, which makes it just big enough to fit in most rooms in the house. The size also makes it work well as a digital photo frame. You can set it up to pull in pictures of friends and family from your Google Photos library, and there’s a smart algorithm that automatically uses the best shots while avoiding the blurry ones. As you might expect, you can also use the display to watch YouTube, Netflix and

Enforcing Australia's social media ban on kids is possible but contains risks, report says

Enforcing Australia's social media ban on kids is possible but contains risks, report says Though the move is popular with many parents, experts have raised concerns over data privacy and the accuracy of age verification technology. Under the new laws, platforms must take "reasonable steps" to prevent Australian children from creating accounts on their sites, and deactivate existing ones. The government says its ban, which comes into effect in December, is designed to limit the harmful impact

The Pixel 10 Pro is technically cheaper than the Pixel 10, at least for me

Rita El Khoury / Android Authority I’m in the market for a new phone, and while I told myself I wouldn’t spend more than $500 on it, I’m a tech nerd and have to say that the latest Pixels look very appealing. I prefer smaller phones, and the entry-level Pixel 10 has all the features I want and need, and then some. I don’t see myself spending an extra $200 on the similarly sized Pro model, as the price difference isn’t worth it for me. But here’s the kicker: The Pixel 10 Pro is actually cheaper

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What Is Complexity in Chess?

Pacto Visual May 2020 an interesting proposal was suggested. I provided some constructive criticism on research paper A Metric of Chess Complexity by FM David Peng, as well as constructive criticism on the codebase used to validate this experiment. For many months I have refrained from further comment, and although code has not progressed, two things have: 1. Public interest in "complexity" as determined by ACPL (yuck). 2. Lichess has a blogging platform where I can properly address deficien

“This telegram must be closely paraphrased before being communicated to anyone”

It appears that it was US military communications doctrine to not send the exact same message twice using different encryption ("none" counting as one type of encryption), and the term of art for changing a message to avoid that was indeed "paraphrase". I managed to dig up a US Army document on Cryptology from roughly that era that appears to discuss paraphrasing. The document in question is Department of the Army Technical Manual TM 32-220(pdf), dated 1950, titled "BASIC CRYPTOGRAPHY". It appa

CarPlay Ultra could soon land on an affordable EV after luxury car debut

CarPlay Ultra arrived this year after taking a bit longer than expected to materialize. The only catch is that next-generation CarPlay is only offered in cars that start around $200,000. That appears to be changing soon with an affordable EV option coming soon. Apple CarPlay is super popular in cars these days, and CarPlay Ultra goes further than ever by taking over almost all of the carmaker’s user interface. CarPlay Ultra appears both on the infotainment center displays and the screens behind

Now’s a great time for Apple to bring back this long-removed iMac feature

A while ago, Apple used to include a software feature with macOS on older iMac models. It was called Target Display Mode, and it allowed you to turn an iMac into an external display once your iMac was too dated to be a usable computer. The company got rid of it with the introduction of the 5K iMac due to technical limitations at the time – though said limitations no longer pose a challenge. As mentioned, Apple previously got rid of the feature due to technical limitations. After the company int

Get up to 77 percent off NordVPN two-year plans for Labor Day

VPN users are overwhelmed with choice, and there are as many bad options out there as there are good ones. Luckily, NordVPN sits in the latter category, and right now Nord is offering discounted plans across its various tiers. If you take out a two-year NordVPN Plus plan (the company's most popular plan) it’ll cost you $108 for the duration of the contract, with Nord throwing in three extra months at no extra cost. That’s 73 percent off the usual rate. As well as Nord’s VPN service, a Plus plan

"This telegram must be closely paraphrased before being communicated" Why?

It appears that it was US military communications doctrine to not send the exact same message twice using different encryption ("none" counting as one type of encryption), and the term of art for changing a message to avoid that was indeed "paraphrase". I managed to dig up a US Army document on Cryptology from roughly that era that appears to discuss paraphrasing. The document in question is Department of the Army Technical Manual TM 32-220(pdf), dated 1950, titled "BASIC CRYPTOGRAPHY". It appa

You Can Play the New Gears of War Game Now on Xbox Game Pass

Gears of War is one of the most iconic Xbox series, spawning sequels, spin-offs and books. I fell in love with the series almost 20 years ago when the original landed on the Xbox 360. Microsoft brought the remastered edition of the game, called Gears of War: Reloaded, to Xbox Game Pass and I can't wait to play it. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, a CNET Editors' Choice award pick, offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Amazon Fire TV, smart TV and PC or mo

Earth models can predict the planet’s future but not their own

In the 1960s, meteorologist Edward Lorenz was running weather simulations on an early computer system when he realized that a small rounding difference led to extremely divergent weather predictions. He later called this idea the butterfly effect to communicate that small changes in initial conditions, like a butterfly flapping its wings in Nepal, could produce wildly different outcomes, like rain in New York. But better understanding those initial conditions and how the biological world couple

Pig lung transplanted into a human

A genetically modified pig lung transplanted into a brain-dead human patient functioned for nine days in a new achievement that reveals both the promise and significant challenges of xenotransplantation. Over the course of the experiment, the patient showed increasing signs of organ rejection before scientists at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University in China terminated the experiment, allowing the recipient to pass away. It's the first time a pig lung has been transpla

My phone is an ereader now

My phone is an ereader now I got a Kobo in 2016 after borrowing my mom's old one for a year before that. It probably is responsible for getting me reading again after high school. I used to be an avid reader, the sort of kid who would have to be told to put down the book and go to sleep, and who would then creep slowly to the bookshelf to pick it up again without arousing suspicion after the light had been turned out. I think I slowed my reading for fun as the work load of school increased, and

Building a Jeopardy Game for Laravel Live Denmark

August 27, 2025 By Mathias Hansen A crazy idea that turned into a fun mashup of software and hardware...and all of it with Laravel As a co-organizer and the MC of Laravel Live Denmark, I was tasked with helping to come up with an idea for entertainment during the conference. Entertaining on stage gets me pretty excited. Inspired by PHP Jeopardy, we decided to give Laravel Jeopardy a go this year. But this wasn't going to be just Jeopardy. I decided to go a little bit wild and build an enti

Why the New York Times Claimed Life Had Been Found on Mars

If you followed news about either the media industry or space exploration back in 2021, you probably remember when the New York Times accidentally published a story claiming that watermelons had been found on the planet Mars. "Authorities say rise of fruit aliens is to blame for glut of outer space watermelons," read the story, which the newspaper deleted less than an hour later, but is still accessible in an archived snapshot. "The FBI declined to comment on reports of watermelons raining down

Pig Lung Transplanted into a Human in Major Scientific First: ScienceAlert

A genetically modified pig lung transplanted into a brain-dead human patient functioned for nine days in a new achievement that reveals both the promise and significant challenges of xenotransplantation. Over the course of the experiment, the patient showed increasing signs of organ rejection before scientists at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University in China terminated the experiment, allowing the recipient to pass away. It's the first time a pig lung has been transpla

One of the best cheap smartwatches I've tested isn't made by Samsung or Google

Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro ZDNET's key takeaways The Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 Enduro is available in Obsidian black for $349 (but on sale for $175 at the time of writing). This Google Wear OS smartwatch offers long battery life, dual-display technology, and a sapphire glass display. The watch currently runs Wear OS 3.5 and is available in one larger size. $157.5 at Amazon Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. For the past couple of years, I've been switching between various Go

This Dell laptop is my top pick for both work and travel - especially at this price

Dell 14 Plus ZDNET's key takeaways The Dell 14 Plus is currently on sale, starting at $649 for the 16GB version. During a time of economic turmoil, this laptop is a lifeline, providing next-gen performance at an affordable price. However, don't expect too much from its display, as it's no OLED or 4K panel. View now at Dell View now at Micro Center more buying choices Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. Back in early 2025, Dell made a bold move. The company announced that it

Gear News of the Week: Apple’s iPhone Event Gets a Date, and Plaud Upgrades Its AI Note-Taker

Apple has officially set a date for its iPhone September event, which is due to take place on September 9. This year's launch will be held at the Steve Jobs Theater on Apple's campus in Cupertino, California. The company is expected to unveil the iPhone 17 range, which for the first time will include the iPhone 17 Air—though that name could change—Apple's thinnest and lightest iPhone to date. We're also expecting the Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and the AirPods Pro 3. The invitat

The Galaxy Watch 8 is the first smartwatch I forgot I was wearing

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 The Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 is a sleek, lightweight smartwatch that combines smart features with the robust health tracking of Samsung Health. It's pricier than the Galaxy Watch 7, but it's also a smartwatch that I've genuinely enjoyed wearing and using all day and all night, and that's priceless. I have tested plenty of smartwatches over the years, but after bouncing between premium and mid-range wearables across both Android and iOS, the Galaxy Watch 8 has managed to do

SSA Whistleblower’s Resignation Email Mysteriously Disappeared From Inboxes

On Friday, the Social Security Administration’s chief data officer, Chuck Borges, sent an email to agency staff claiming that he was forcibly removed from his position after filing a whistleblower complaint this week accusing the agency of mishandling sensitive agency data. Minutes after the email went out, it disappeared from employee inboxes, two SSA sources tell WIRED. “I am regretfully and involuntarily leaving my position at the Social Security Administration (SSA),” Borges wrote in the re

Tesla said it didn't have key data in a fatal crash, then a hacker found it

Years after a Tesla driver using Autopilot plowed into a young Florida couple in 2019, crucial electronic data detailing how the fatal wreck unfolded was missing. The information was key for a wrongful death case the survivor and the victim’s family were building against Tesla, but the company said it didn’t have the data. Then a self-described hacker, enlisted by the plaintiffs to decode the contents of a chip they recovered from the vehicle, found it while sipping a Venti-size hot chocolate a

How I completed my ultimate smart home setup with this tablet hub (and why it works)

Eufy Security E10 Smart Display ZDNET's key takeaways The Eufy Security E10 Smart Display is available for $200. This smart display shows you the history and current status of your security system and works as a control panel with real-time alerts. The E10 Smart Display only works with Eufy Security devices, so it's not compatible with other security cameras or meant to be a smart home hub. $199.99 at Amazon Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. I've had an Eufy Security syst