All posts tagged: popular

I compared these popular sleep earbuds to my Oura Ring 5 – the results surprised me

I compared these popular sleep earbuds to my Oura Ring 5 – the results surprised me

pros and cons Pros Very comfortable, masks most disruptive noise. Stayed in my ears each time I wore them. Easy-to-use app. Cons Expensive. The sleep data takes a while to load. The sleep staging greatly overestimated and underestimated various cycles. Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. Summer is always the hardest time to get good sleep for me. Not only because temperatures make falling asleep harder, but also because outdoor activities and sunlight keep me out into the night. That means falling asleep later and waking up earlier to seize the day. My neighbors seem to be doing the same, as I can hear their celebrations during all hours I’m trying to catch a Z or two.  Also: These earbuds help me get some sleep in a noisy neighborhood Ozlo’s second-generation sleep earbuds are designed to help with a few of those issues. While the Ozlo Sleepbuds 2 can’t guarantee I get to bed earlier, they do have features like environmental sensing and sleep tracking that make improving sleep a smidge easier.  I …

Popular burger chain to close up to 350 stores – opened in 1969 | World | News

Popular burger chain to close up to 350 stores – opened in 1969 | World | News

Wendy’s has over 5,830 locations in the United States, as per numbers from February this year. However, as part of the popular burger-chain’s plan around five to six per cent of locations will shut in 2026. This equates to about 350 underperforming stores. The latest closure came in recent days when a restaurant at 4003 Wilmington Pike in Kettering, Ohio, had a sign posted on its front door which read: “This location is permanently closed.” This is the second store in the Drayton area to shut in the last four months, as the Moraine store closed in Marach 2026. Wendy’s has not announced that any other stores are scheduled to close. In a fourth quarter earnings call CEO Ken Cook said: “By closing consistently underperforming restaurants, we are enabling our franchisee partners to increase focus on locations with the greatest potential for profitable growth.” He added that closing around six per cent of locations under its Project Fresh program will improve profitability and franchisee economics. The giant fast-food chain reported a 5.5% decline in global …

Bradley Walsh explains reason why he cannot host popular TV game show Blankety Blank anymore

Bradley Walsh explains reason why he cannot host popular TV game show Blankety Blank anymore

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Bradley Walsh has announced he will not be hosting the popular gameshow Blankety Blank this year. The presenter and actor attributed his departure to scheduling conflicts, saying: “I just don’t have the time.” The beloved programme, which challenges contestants to match fill-in-the-blank answers, saw its latest revival in 2020 with Walsh at the helm. Blankety Blank originally graced BBC screens from 1979 to 1990 and has since undergone numerous reboots. Speaking to Radio Times, the 66-year-old broadcaster expressed his fondness for the show, admitting it is “one of my favourite shows,” but confirmed he cannot return for its fourth series, set to begin filming later this year. Walsh said: “The thing is we’re just doing Gladiators. I get a week off and then I go to rehearsals for the live Prat Pack show. “I take The Prat Pack back on the …

Bradley Walsh explains reason why he cannot host popular TV game show this year

Bradley Walsh explains reason why he cannot host popular TV game show this year

Bradley Walsh has announced he will not be hosting the popular gameshow Blankety Blank this year. The presenter and actor attributed his departure to scheduling conflicts, saying: “I just don’t have the time.” The beloved programme, which challenges contestants to match fill-in-the-blank answers, saw its latest revival in 2020 with Walsh at the helm. Blankety Blank originally graced BBC screens from 1979 to 1990 and has since undergone numerous reboots. Speaking to Radio Times, the 66-year-old broadcaster expressed his fondness for the show, admitting it is “one of my favourite shows,” but confirmed he cannot return for its fourth series, set to begin filming later this year. Walsh said: “The thing is we’re just doing Gladiators. I get a week off and then I go to rehearsals for the live Prat Pack show. “I take The Prat Pack back on the road for a month, and then I would normally go straight into Blankety Blank. “But at the moment, what I’m going to do is I’ve got other stuff which I can’t announce (yet). Bradley …

The Popular Lefant M210 Robot Vacuum Is 55% Off on Amazon

The Popular Lefant M210 Robot Vacuum Is 55% Off on Amazon

Robot vacuums are a handy way to clean your floors when you don’t have a lot of time — but they also have a reputation for costing a small fortune. This Amazon deal proves that isn’t always the case. Right now, the Lefant M210 Robot Vacuum is 55 percent off, bringing the price down to under $100 — a rare find in a category where many well-reviewed models still run $300 or more. If you’ve been putting off adding a robot vacuum to your cleaning routine because of the price, this is the kind of deal worth grabbing before it’s gone. Deal of the day The Lefant M210 is a compact robot vacuum built for small spaces and pet-inhabited homes. At 11 inches in diameter and less than 3 inches tall, it’s designed to slip easily under beds, sofas, and other low furniture. Instead of a traditional roller brush, it uses a brushless suction port powered by a digital motor, a design meant to pull in pet hair and dirt without tangling, which roller brushes …

Midjourney announces surprise purchase of popular horoscope app Co-Star

Midjourney announces surprise purchase of popular horoscope app Co-Star

One of the world’s leading generative AI companies, with products licensed by tech powerhouses like Meta, has just announced its acquisition of one of the most popular astrology apps — and we didn’t have that on our Bingo cards in 2026. Banu Guler, founder and CEO of Co-Star Astrology, took to X recently to announce her company’s acquisition by AI lab Midjourney, best known for making the generative AI tools used by popular services like Discord and Facebook. And because, on its surface, this is an odd acquisition to say the least, Guler went into some detail about the shared origins of these two companies: This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. In a nod to the general public’s fear of artificial intelligence (a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 71% of Americans worry that their job will be replaced by AI), Guler took pains to distinguish the Co-Star/Midjourney partnership by pointing to the shared interests she has with Midjourney founder David Holz as well as his lab’s commitment to …

I tested every popular internet-speed trick — they’re all fake except one

I tested every popular internet-speed trick — they’re all fake except one

Every time someone complains about slow Wi-Fi, someone else replies with the same routine: flush your DNS, clear your browser cache, tweak a registry key nobody can find twice, and so on. But the reality is that, most of the time, none of this really works. It might deliver marginal gains here and there, but there is only really one true and tested way to increase your internet speeds: wired Ethernet. Related 7 devices in your home that really shouldn’t be on Wi-Fi If you care about a reliable home network, move these devices off of wireless immediately and start using Ethernet instead. DNS flushing Internet speed-up rating: 1/10 Image taken by Yadullah Abidi | No attribution required. Clearing your DNS cache is a useful fix for specific problems, such as a site that’s moved servers since the last time you visited, and your computer is still resolving to the old address. It forces a fresh lookup and repopulates your DNS cache with new entries, making sure your “address book” has all the right details. …

‘As the World Turns,’ ‘Popular’ Actor Was 68

‘As the World Turns,’ ‘Popular’ Actor Was 68

Scott Bryce, who received two Daytime Emmy nominations for his turn as Craig Montgomery on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns and portrayed Leslie Bibb’s dad on The WB series Popular, has died. He was 68. Bryce died Sunday in New Haven, Connecticut, after a battle with esophageal and stomach cancer, his son, Jackson Bryce, told The New York Times. He had been diagnosed with cancer in October 2024 and opened up about his health issues with Alan Locher on an episode of The Locher Room last year. Bryce also showed up on six episodes from 1990-92 as Will Forrest, the husband of Faith Ford’s Corky Sherwood, on CBS’ Murphy Brown. The New York native originated the role of the antihero Craig on As the World Turns in January 1982 and stuck around through May 1987 for the first of his five stretches on the show (also 1988-89, 1990, 1993-94 and 2007-08, when he was fired). “The plots on the show are so much darker than they used to be — dead babies, …

Ukraine Shake-Up: Zelensky Sacks Popular Defense Chief, & IDs CEO Of Naftogaz As Likely Next Prime Minister

Ukraine Shake-Up: Zelensky Sacks Popular Defense Chief, & IDs CEO Of Naftogaz As Likely Next Prime Minister

Update(1410ET): FT is reporting late in the day Wednesday that Ukraine’s 35-year old defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, who has grown in popularity for his ‘reformer’ reputation and for orchestrating the ramped-up drone war on Russia, has been sacked by Zelensky. The shock move comes days after Yulia Svyrydenko, Zelensky’s prime minister, was forced to step down, and amid a big cabinet shake-up. Zelensky had previewed huge changes coming. As to who might be elevated as new prime minister, Zelensky has dropped a strong hint that the CEO of the state-owned energy company Naftogaz, Sergii Koretskyi, might be next in the spot… “The priorities are clear – preparing for winter,” Zelenskyy said on Wednesday as Kyiv braces for another season of expected Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid. “Therefore, following ⁠all the consultations, Sergii Koretskyi is surely the ⁠most prepared candidate for the post of prime minister of Ukraine.” This is already unleashing a flurry of controversy and commentary Wednesday, with pundits scratching their heads and questioning whether Zelensky is actually just playing petty and jealous …