All posts tagged: Harder

Your Favorite Books of the 2026 Read Harder Challenge So Far

Your Favorite Books of the 2026 Read Harder Challenge So Far

Published by Jenni Sidey

To celebrate being halfway through 2026, I sent out a survey to see how you’re all doing in the Read Harder Challenge so far. I already shared some of the results about how many books you’ve all read on average, how many tasks you’ve finished, and which tasks you found the most difficult and the easiest. Now, I’m here to let you know about the new favorite books you’ve all read so far this year that check off tasks! Almost all the titles you shared were unique, but there were five books mentioned by multiple people. Here are the most popular responses, organized by most mentioned to least. I also added a couple of honorable mentions for books that were only named once, but I think would be particularly useful for you to know about. Interestingly, when I did this survey last year, True Biz by Sara Nović appeared on that list as well, for another task! It’s a Read Harder Challenger favorite. I also wanted to mention that Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree …

Andy Burnham Hints He Will Make It Harder To Claim Benefits To Bring Down Welfare Bill

Andy Burnham Hints He Will Make It Harder To Claim Benefits To Bring Down Welfare Bill

Published by Sam Flores

Andy Burnham holds a National Economic Council meeting at No 10 North last Friday. via Associated Press Andy Burnham has suggested he wants to make it harder for people to claim benefits in a bid to bring down the welfare bill. The prime minister said “we’ve got to get really serious as a country” about reducing the amount of money the government spends on benefits. He told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that could mean increasing the conditions required to qualify for welfare payments. His comments are likely to prove controversial with those on the left of the Labour Party. Last year, Keir Starmer was dealt a devastating blow when he was forced to ditch plans to reduce the welfare bill by £5 billion following a rebellion by his own MPs. Burnham is this week expected to set out how he plans to reduce the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training – so-called NEETS. He said: “There are people in the benefits system, young people in their 20s, who have been, I …

Yemen’s Houthis say they hit Saudi Arabia as Trump weighs harder Iran strikes

Yemen’s Houthis say they hit Saudi Arabia as Trump weighs harder Iran strikes

Published by Sam Flores

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said on Saturday they had targeted Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities on the Red Sea coast, as the Tehran-backed group threatened to intensify its response if struck by the Gulf monarchy. In a video statement, military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had targeted sites operated by the Saudi oil giant Aramco in Jizan and Yanbu using drones and missiles and threatened “to expand our movements and escalate… during the coming hours and days”. The attacks came as US President Donald Trump mulled fresh strikes on Iran in the deepening Middle East war. The US military broke its daily announcement of fresh strikes on the Islamic Republic on Saturday, following 13 nights in a row hitting military targets there. Trump said he had not yet decided whether to launch major strikes on Iran, hours before the conflict widened across the region with Yemen’s Houthi rebels claiming a missile attack on the southern Saudi city of Jizan. Read moreTrump threatens Iran and Houthi rebels with ‘major military punishment’ The Houthis had accused US ally …

My favorite Android 17 feature makes my Pixel much harder to break into

My favorite Android 17 feature makes my Pixel much harder to break into

Published by skeptic

The stable release of Android 17 is ready for download on Google Pixel phones, and it’ll soon make its way to more Android brands. There are a few exciting features, like App Bubbles, Screen Reactions, and a foldable gaming mode. However, the most important Android 17 upgrade is one you’d probably never notice. Google cut the maximum number of device passcode or password attempts on the lock screen from 1,800 guesses to just 20 tries — and it’s a bigger deal than you may think. Finding the right number of incorrect attempts for a PIN or password is tricky. Allow too many wrong guesses, and an Android phone becomes easy to crack. Set a limit that’s too low, and Android users can be locked out of their own phones if they accidentally enter a handful of wrong passwords. Android 17 slashes the maximum number of unlock attempts while overhauling lock screen security, and it has me wondering whether it went too far. Related Android 17 made my Pixel feel new in ways I didn’t expect …

The Hardest and Easiest Tasks of the 2026 Read Harder Challenge

The Hardest and Easiest Tasks of the 2026 Read Harder Challenge

Published by Jenni Sidey

How many 2026 Read Harder Challenge tasks have you completed so far? There’s a pretty wide range of answers to this question, though the most common response was 12: exactly on track to finish all 24 tasks by the end of the year! The trend seems to be that most of us are a little bit behind, though, which is a change from answers last year. Is the Read Harder Challenge more difficult this year, or are we collectively going through something? (It might be both.) Which task was or will be the most challenging for you to complete? There was no debate about the hardest task this year, though: 25% of you said #12: Read/try a recipe from a cookbook about a culture whose food you’ve never eaten. I’d love to hear what makes this one so difficult! I imagine if you are an adventurous eater, it might be tricky to find a cookbook from a culture whose food you’ve never tried. The runner-up most difficult tasks were #18: Read a nonfiction book about …

Cheaper Phones Will Be Harder to Find This Year and in 2027, Analysts Warn

Cheaper Phones Will Be Harder to Find This Year and in 2027, Analysts Warn

Published by skeptic

Budget-conscious phone shoppers could be in for a struggle, and they have AI to thank for it. With memory costs continuing to rise, there could be 22% fewer phones under $400 on the market for the rest of this year and into 2027, according to a new report on Tuesday from technology research and advisory group Omdia. While premium phones such as the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, priced well above $1,000, continue to push the envelope of affordability, consumers with tighter wallets willing to forgo fancy features opt for cheaper phones. But if makers of these under-$400 devices are driven out the market, phone buyers with the least economic cushion could be hardest hit.    Analyst Zaker Li said that for phones in that price range, memory manufacturing costs have nearly doubled between the third quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. For phones above $400, memory costs have increased by more than 100%, according to Omdia’s Quarterly Smartphone Technology Trends report.  Li said that some companies are trying to offset the …

Experts say USAID closure made virus harder to contain

Experts say USAID closure made virus harder to contain

Published by Sam Flores

Doctors Without Borders health workers wearing personal protective equipment move through the isolated red zone to monitor patients, provide medical care and ensure sanitation at the Ebola Treatment Center in Munigi in Congo on June 2, 2026. Jospin Mwisha | AFP | Getty Images An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in central Africa has been exacerbated by cuts to U.S. and Western foreign support, experts say, a year after Washington slashed its international aid operations. In May, authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda declared outbreaks after lab tests detected the spread of Bundibugyo virus, which causes a type of Ebola disease. Transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids, wild animals and contaminated objects or meat, Ebola is a rare but serious illness that has a fatality rate of around 50%. The current outbreak is the 17th that the DRC has suffered. With more than 1,400 cases confirmed to date, it is the third-largest outbreak on record, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Currently, no known cases …

Childbirth for many primate species is even harder than for humans

Childbirth for many primate species is even harder than for humans

Published by skeptic

Golden lion tamarins dislocate the bones of the pelvis during childbirth Edwin Giesbers / naturepl.com Childbirth can be extremely challenging for humans – but some other primates may have it even worse. A comprehensive analysis of primate anatomy concludes that many species must squeeze large-headed infants through too-narrow pelvises. The problem may have begun with the very first primates, which lived more than 50 million years ago. It has been assumed for decades that evolution has left humans with unique childbirth difficulties. The conventional view is that the trouble began when our ancestors first walked on two legs, which required the pelvis to be narrow. A few million years later, hominin brains evolved to be larger and infant heads became bigger – but the pelvis was unable to expand to allow for their easy delivery. Other primates were thought to have things easier, largely because that was the conclusion of an influential study published by anthropologist Adolph Schultz in the 1940s. Schultz looked at a range of primate species and concluded that in the vast …

Read Harder 2026 Halfway Check-In Survey

Read Harder 2026 Halfway Check-In Survey

Published by Jenni Sidey

We’re halfway through 2026, which means we’re halfway through the 2026 Read Harder Challenge! Can you believe it? I thought this was a great time to check in: how much progress have you made so far? Which tasks are giving you trouble? What’s your favorite book you’ve read for the challenge so far? I’ve put these questions together in a Google form, and in two weeks, I’ll share my findings! Click through to take the survey! I can’t wait to hear what you all say, and I’m sure I’ll end up with a ton more books on my TBR. I’ll close the survey to responses in one week (July 5th), and then I’ll crunch all that data and share my findings with you. Book Deals Sign up for our Book Deals newsletter and get up to 80% off books you actually want to read. Subscribe to Selected No Thanks The comments section is moderated according to our community guidelines. Please check them out so we can maintain a safe and supportive community of readers! Source …