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Where is this economy going? Honestly, we don’t know. Economists don’t know. The stock market — we say it all the time here— is not the economy, and it doesn’t know, either.

Hard economic data about how different sectors have actually been performing, like home building, retail sales and job creation, have been holding up pretty well. The ‘soft’ data —how businesses and consumers are feeling — have been more downbeat. 

The Conference Board’s latest Leading Economic Index, which pulls a bunch of data points together to try to predict where the economy is going, was down by 0.3% in February — the third straight monthly decline. What does it mean?

The LEI crunches together 10 key data points, including manufacturing orders, jobless claims, consumer confidence and stocks. 

A falling LEI from December to February signals the economy is slowing and faces headwinds, said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, senior manager of business cycle indicators at The Conference Board.

But she said what matters most is the six-month trend, and that’s been gradually improving.

“It has not been as negative as 2023 or the beginning of 2024, not triggering recession signals,” she said.

Now, one big caveat here, February’s LEI doesn’t include what happened in March; rising fears of a global trade war, and a big selloff in stocks. 

“So the market has pulled back from its all-time high,” said Paul Christopher, head of global investment strategy at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

He said in the overall economy, we’re not seeing “a cascade of weakness, where one thing leads to another leads to another.”

Instead, things just seem to gradually be getting a little worse, said Thomas Martin, a senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments.

“Employment has been weakening, sort of, but not too much. Consumer spending — it’s still OK. The odds of a recession have increased, but they’re not alarming,” he said.

Lower-income consumers are increasingly pulling back in the face of high prices, said Eric Freedman, chief investment officer at U.S. Bank.

Still, with incomes rising faster than inflation, and business balance sheets strong: “We do retain a glass-half-full perspective. We do concurrently recognize that that glass could spill, quite quickly,” he said.

With the next wave of unsettling news on tariffs, inflation, government spending cuts, and all the rest.

This is just one of the stories from our “I’ve Always Wondered” series, where we tackle all of your questions about the world of business, no matter how big or small. Ever wondered if recycling is worth it? Or how store brands stack up against name brands? Check out more from the series here.

Listener Brian Hempstead from Seattle asks: 

In Seattle, pre-Microsoft and Amazon, when layoffs happened, there was a phrase “the Rule of 7.” For each high white-collar job laid off, it affected seven support jobs in the community
When you talk about these huge government layoffs, is there a formula of its down river effect on the economy?

The federal government has announced more than 62,000 layoffs this year as part of a new initiative to curb “wasteful” spending, even though federal worker salaries represent less than 5% of total government expenditures.  

These sweeping layoffs, led by the Department of Government Efficiency, have hit departments and agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Education.

The Department of Education announced earlier this month that it will reduce half of its workforce, with those employees being placed on administrative leave starting on Friday. Then on Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the agency. 

It’s been a major period of upheaval – and confusion – for federal workers, some of whom have been rehired in recent weeks after their initial firings. On Thursday, the National Park Service was allowed to reinstate 1,000 terminated employees.  

The federal government employs about 3 million workers, a figure that excludes active-duty military personnel. The vast majority of federal workers live outside of Washington, D.C., residing in states like California, Washington, Texas and Pennsylvania, where they help stimulate the economy.

Jonathan Schwabish, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who’s worked for the federal government, said government workers take pride in serving the country. 

“Federal workers are just like any other person working in the United States. They’re just trying to do good work, pay their mortgage, pay their bills, raise their family, and put food on the table,” Schwabish said. 

Each federal layoff could result in the loss of 1.3 additional workers  in the private sector, according to Patrick Clapp, senior economic consultant at Chmura Economics & Analytics, a labor market consulting and data firm. 

That’s because the federal government works directly with other businesses who sell them items like office supplies, while laid-off federal workers are no longer spending money in industries like food, health care and retail, Clapp explained. 

Some local economies, like Washington, D.C., could be hit even harder. “On average, for every job in the federal government, you explain two to three jobs in the regional economy,” public policy professor Terry Clower told the Washingtonian. Government jobs lead to jobs for contractors like Lockheed Martin, the Washingtonian explained. 

Some federal workers, like national park employees, live in communities that are especially tight-knit.

If they’re unemployed, that creates ripple effects throughout the regions where they live, said John Garder, senior director of budget and appropriations at the National Parks Conservation Association. 

“These are dedicated park servants who have moved their families in many cases, and are integral parts of their communities,” Garder said. “Their children go to the same schools. They have friends and family in the community.”

And they’re investing their paychecks in the area, whether that’s buying groceries or taking their families out to local restaurants, Garder added. 

While the NPS is now able to reinstate workers, the parks still face the possibility of future cuts. 

“After they have been treated so poorly, it remains to be seen how many of them will actually want to return,” Garder said. 

The federal government is also cutting back on grants and contracts and laying off the people who run them, Schwabish said. 

Take the Department of Agriculture. If the government fires everyone who handles contracts, they’re no longer able to provide contracts or grants to research or farm-lending organizations, Schwabish said. 

“So that money is not going out the door,” he said. 

Without that money, these organizations may then lay off their own employees. Johns Hopkins University announced last week that it’s going to eliminate more than 2,000 jobs after the Trump administration clawed back $800 million in grants for the university. 

Americans will soon become even more aware of how vital federal services are, said Emily Gee, senior vice president for Inclusive Growth at the Center for American Progress.

People might face longer lines at their Social Security offices and receive less reliable weather forecasting information, Gee said. 

“It’s not pain that’s going to be contained to the federal workforce,” Gee said.

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Amazon is suing the Consumer Product Safety Commission over its decision to hold the company legally responsible for faulty products on its platform, The Associated Press reports. Amazon's suit demands that the shipping giant be considered a "third-party logistics provider" instead of a distributor and also calls the CPSC "unconstitutionally constructed."

The origins of the legal fight can be traced back to 2021, when the CPSC sued Amazon to force it to recall faulty carbon monoxide detectors, unsafe hair dryers and flammable children's sleepwear. At the time, Amazon had already taken some steps to address the issue, like informing customers who purchased the products that they were hazardous and offering store credit, but the CPSC wanted the company to go further.

The CPSC move to classify Amazon as a distributor in 2024 made the company responsible for issuing recalls and refunds for products sold through its Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) program. FBA lets sellers send their products to Amazon warehouses, where Amazon then handles picking, packing and shipping those products to customers, along with things like customer service and returns. Amazon takes issue with its classification as a distributor because it doesn't own or make the faulty products the CPSC is concerned with — it sees itself as more of a hands-on FedEx.

Besides wanting to be reclassified and not held responsible for issuing more refunds, Amazon also has problems with the CPSC itself. The CPSC's commissioners are appointed by the President, approved by the Senate and serve for seven years, unless they're removed for "neglect of duty or malfeasance in office." Amazon feels the commission's relative invulnerability is unconstitutional and makes them "judge, jury, and prosecutor" in proceedings.

Amazon's made similar claims about the National Labor Review Board, the organization in charge of protecting workers' right to unionize. The timing of these complaints is key. The Trump administration is not particularly interested in maintaining any government organization empowered to regulate business, and it seems likely it will side with Amazon in disempowering the CPSC, one way or another.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-wants-the-consumer-product-safety-commission-deemed-unconstitutional-211037804.html?src=rss

Earlier this year, with a TikTok ban looming, Perplexity AI threw its hat into the increasingly crowded ring to take over the embattled social media company. Now, the maker of the AI search engine is outlining its vision for TikTok if its bid were to win out.

In a blog post, the company made a lengthy pitch for "rebuilding TikTok in America," an effort that would see the AI company rebuild the app’s signature algorithm, add Community Notes, and integrate the shortform videos into its search engine.

Of the many potential buyers, it’s not clear how seriously Perplexity’s bid is being considered. On Friday, the Financial Times reported that ByteDance’s existing US investors are "exploring a deal alongside software giant Oracle" in an effort to "appease" President Donald Trump. The story also notes that ByteDance "strongly prefers" this arrangement.

Still, Perplexity is making the case that it is best suited to own the platform.

Perplexity is singularly positioned to rebuild the TikTok algorithm without creating a monopoly, combining world-class technical capabilities with Little Tech independence. Any acquisition by a consortium of investors could in effect keep ByteDance in control of the algorithm, while any acquisition by a competitor would likely create a monopoly in the short form video and information space. All of society benefits when content feeds are liberated from the manipulations of foreign governments and globalist monopolists.

The AI company also says it would rebuild TikTok’s "black box" recommendation algorithm from scratch and would make the "For You" feed open source. Perplexity also suggests it would add "Community Notes features" as well as the citations used by its own search engine in an effort "to turn TikTok into the most neutral and trusted platform in the world." That would be a significant departure from TikTok’s current fact-checking program, which relies on international media organizations.

This is the first time Perplexity has publicly discussed its vision for TikTok in detail. It’s also notable that some of its plans — like open-sourcing the "For You" feed and adding Community Notes — feel ripped straight from Elon Musk’s playbook for X. In any case, the White House will likely need to make a decision about TikTok’s future soon. Trump’s executive order that temporarily saved the app from a ban is set to expire April 5, although the president has indicated he would "probably" extend it if necessary.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/perplexity-ai-says-it-would-rebuild-tiktoks-algorithm-and-add-community-notes-features-200449390.html?src=rss

New studies from OpenAI and MIT Media Lab found that, generally, the more time users spend talking to ChatGPT, the lonelier they feel. The connection was made as part of two, yet-to-be-peer-reviewed studies, one done at OpenAI analyzing "over 40 million ChatGPT interactions" and targeted user surveys, and another at MIT Media Lab following participants' ChatGPT use for four weeks.

MIT's study identified several ways talking to ChatGPT — whether through text or voice — can affect a person's emotional experience, beyond the general finding that higher use led to "heightened loneliness and reduced socialization." For example, participants who already trusted the chatbot and tended to get emotionally attached in human relationships felt lonelier and more emotionally dependent on ChatGPT during the study. Those effects were less severe with ChatGPT's voice mode, though, particularly if ChatGPT spoke in a neutral tone. Discussing personal topics also tended to lead to loneliness in the short-term, and interestingly, speaking to ChatGPT about more general topics was more likely to increase emotional dependence.

The big finding from OpenAI's study was that having emotional conversations with ChatGPT is still not common. "Emotionally expressive interactions were present in a large percentage of usage for only a small group of the heavy Advanced Voice Mode users we studied," OpenAI writes. That suggests that even if MIT's findings are as concerning as they are unsurprising, they're not exactly widespread outside a small group of power users. 

There are important limitations to MIT Media Lab and OpenAI's research, like both studies covering a short period of time (one month for MIT, 28 days for OpenAI) and MIT not having a control group to compare to. The studies do add more evidence to something that seemed intuitively true for a while now — talking to AI has a psychological impact on the humans doing the talking. Given the intense interest in making AI a compelling conversation partner, whether its in video games or as a way to simplify the job of YouTube creators, its clear that MIT Media Lab and OpenAI are right to want to understand what'll happen when talking to AI is the norm.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/joint-studies-from-openai-and-mit-found-links-between-loneliness-and-chatgpt-use-193537421.html?src=rss

SpaceX could soon have greater control over the recreational activities of South Texas residents. The Houston Chronicle (via Gizmodo) and San Antonio Express-News report that a pair of state senate bills introduced earlier this month would give officials at the likely Starbase city the authority to decide when a nearby beach shuts down for weekday launch activities. Meanwhile, a third bill floated on Wednesday would take the company's control a step further, making it a criminal offense for people on the beach not to comply with SpaceX's evacuation orders.

The bills are possible because of an upcoming election that will almost certainly give SpaceX officials control of the area. On May 3, voters will decide if Starbase becomes a Texas city, something Elon Musk first proposed in 2021. Given that the area near the rocket site is populated mainly by SpaceX employees (after previous homeowners in Boca Chica Village moved, often after being bought out by the company), let's just say the election's outcome won't likely be a toss-up.

Republican state senator Adam Hinojosa's first bill, SB 2188, would let Starbase city officials (assuming the municipality establishment bill passes) decide when Boca Chica Beach is closed for weekday rocket tests and flights. An identical bill, HB 4660, was introduced in the state house by Republican Janie Lopez. Cameron County officials, who control the closures now, would maintain control on Friday afternoons and weekends.

Texas state senator Adam HinojosaCampaign for Adam Hinojosa

Meanwhile, Hinojosa's second senate bill (SB 2230) would make it a Class B misdemeanor for people on the beach not to comply with Starbase's evacuation orders. The freshman state senator said the bill would give the commercial spaceport "real teeth" to "compel people to do the right thing." (Fittingly, Hinojosa's election website touts his belief that "we don't need more government in business — we need more business in government.")

The Houston Chronicle reports that the FAA's Environmental Assessment shows that SpaceX has moved much of its testing to a site that doesn't require the closure of State Highway 4. A SpaceX flight test in April 2023 closed the road for over 24 hours, while another shuttered it for nearly eight hours last June. The company can close State Highway 4 for up to 500 hours each year for standard operations and up to 300 more hours to address incidents like an exploding rocket.

On the other hand, environmental groups have argued that SpaceX's activities are damaging the area. Last year, the Center for Biological Diversity, American Bird Conservancy and other groups sued the FAA for allegedly rushing SpaceX's permitting process without a full environmental review. And the Environmental Protection Agency fined the company for allegedly dumping pollutants into Texas wetlands adjacent to the Rio Grande River. 

Craig Nazor, conservation chair for the Sierra Club's Lone Star chapter, testified to the state senate on Wednesday that SB 2188 would "put beach closures directly in the hands of SpaceX." He also expressed concern that the second senate bill could put folks who are unaware of an upcoming launch into legal trouble. "[SB 2230] could potentially make a criminal out of someone who's out there and lost track of exactly what may be going on at the launch pad," he said.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/spacex-could-soon-have-more-control-over-texas-public-road-and-beach-closures-184526421.html?src=rss

In November, Google said it would conduct a "test" in eight European countries that would omit results from EU-based news publishers for a small percentage of users. The results are in, and the survey says the news has no meaningful monetary value for the company. But the "public experiment" was hardly done for scientific curiosity. European copyright law says the company must pay publishers for using snippets from articles, and Google will likely use the data to try to kneecap news outlets' negotiating leverage.

"During our negotiations to comply with the European Copyright Directive (EUCD), we've seen a number of inaccurate reports that vastly overestimate the value of news content to Google," the company bluntly wrote in its blog post explaining the experiment's results. "The results have now come in: European news content in Search has no measurable impact on ad revenue for Google."

Google Economics Director Paul Liu said that when the company removed news content from one percent of users in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, it saw no change in ad revenue and only a 0.8 percent drop in usage. (It initially included France, but a court warned the company that it would break a previous agreement and face fines, so it backed out.) Liu concludes that "any lost usage was from queries that generated minimal or no revenue."

Interior of Google's Madrid campusGoogle

TechCrunch notes that Google is walking a fine line here. It's already faced antitrust fines in France over news content, and Germany is ratcheting up pressure on the company's news licensing tactics. Neither country was ultimately included in the "experiment."

The company has a long history of using the potential withdrawal of visibility as a negotiating stick in similar situations (with success in some cases), including tests in Canada, California and Australia. In the latter case, Aussie grit prevailed: After Google threatened to remove its entire search engine from the country, then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, "Let me be clear. Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia." The bill was passed and enacted, and Google struck deals with Australian media companies to license content. And yes, Google search is still available Down Under.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-says-its-european-experiment-shows-news-is-worthless-to-its-ad-business-161103352.html?src=rss

Delaware has long been the go-to state for businesses to incorporate, but competition is heating up. Lawmakers in the First State are voting on a controversial bill that would give companies more leeway — and maintain the state’s competitive edge as a business-friendly haven. Let’s do the numbers. 

2.2 million

That’s the number of registered companies in Delaware, with nearly 300,000 new entities incorporated in 2023. There are nearly 43 million incorporated entities nationwide, but Delaware is home to many of the richest, including about two-thirds of the Fortune 500.

$2.2 billion

Delaware’s corporate franchise tax generates $2.2 billion in annual revenue, more than a third of the state budget. Corporate tax revenue offsets the state’s lack of a sales tax and low property taxes.

1792

Delaware established the Court of Chancery in 1792 to rule on corporate law disputes. The court has no jury; judges with corporate expertise hear cases. The special court is just one of the reasons Delaware has been a popular place to set up shop since the early 20th century.

2004

That’s when Meta, then Facebook, first incorporated in Delaware. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly been talking with officials in Texas and other states about picking up sticks, at least on paper.

SB 21

That’s the bill a bipartisan group of Delaware lawmakers are considering  to make their state more business-friendly. The bill would limit investors’ ability to file lawsuits and information requests when they suspect controlling stockholders or executives of insider deals or conflicts of interest.

Supporters, including Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer, a Democrat, say the change would preserve Delaware’s tax base. Opponents argue the law “helps billionaires and corporate insiders avoid accountability” and could lead to abuses of power.

$55 billion

Tesla CEO Elon Musk left Delaware last year, reincorporating in Texas after a Chancery Court judge rejected his multibillion-dollar pay package. In December, a Delaware judge rejected Musk’s compensation plan again, on the grounds of conflict of interest between Musk and his company’s board.

Tesla is appealing the latest ruling, and Musk has encouraged more companies to leave Delaware. The kind of shareholder lawsuit that prompted Tesla’s flight would become more difficult if SB 21 becomes law.

This story was first published in Marketplace’s weekly newsletter. For more numbers you need to know, sign up to receive updates from Marketplace.

The Anker 321 MagGo power bank has been discounted to $20 as part of the Amazon Spring Sale. This is a record low price and represents a discount of 23 percent. A whole bunch of colorways are on sale here, including white, black, pink, green and purple.

Anker products are all over our list of the best power banks and portable chargers, so this device is in good company. The 321 MagGo is, as the name suggests, a magnetic power bank that snaps onto the back of smartphones. It works with cases, so long as the case is magnetic. Inside, there’s a 5,000mAh battery that provides up to 19 hours of additional use for modern iPhones.

It’s equipped with heat sensors that continuously monitor temperatures to avoid accidental damage and it can juice up a phone while it’s being charged itself. This power bank is also on the smaller side, so it easily fits into pockets, bags and purses.

The only downside is that this is only for Prime members. The same goes for the Anker MagGo 3-in-1 charging station, which has been discounted to $88 from $110. However, the Anker Nano 3-in-1 portable charger is on sale for everyone. This non-magnetic charger includes a large 10,000mAh battery and is currently $35.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/this-anker-5k-magnetic-power-bank-is-only-20-in-the-amazon-spring-sale-152009004.html?src=rss

Among the federal agencies that DOGE has its eyes on is the Social Security Administration. Less than three months into the current Trump administration, Social Security has been in the headlines a lot: Offices are expected to close. At least 7,000 workers are expected to be cut. Identification requirements have been changed, too. And a lot of those changes may mean limited access and additional delays to already protracted services.

Marketplace’s Nancy Marshall-Genzer recently spoke with two experts — Jack Smalligan who worked at the Office of Management and Budget for almost 30 years, focusing on Social Security, and Rich Couture, an attorney at the Social Security Administration and a union official — for their thoughts on how changes at Social Security could play out and impact the everyday Americans who rely on the agency. 

The following is a selection of extended interviews with Smalligan and Couture. Interviews took place separately and have been edited for clarity and length. 

On what things are currently like at the Social Security Administration

Rich Couture: Social Security is at a 50-year staffing low. We currently have 57,000 workers serving about 73 million Americans, compared to fiscal year 2010, where we had 67,000 workers serving 60 million Americans. And we know by estimates that about 10,000 Americans turn age 65 every day — that’s when they become Medicare-eligible — and we handle Medicare applications. And so we that’s a pretty good indicator for how much our prospective workload grows on a daily basis. We haven’t been funded the way that we needed to be funded in order to keep up with this explosion in beneficiary growth, and it’s had real impact on service delivery and on productivity.

On what would happen if the agency experienced layoffs

Couture: There’s significant risk of disruption that can be caused by the agency’s diminished ability to maintain its IT systems as a result of the loss of significant numbers of IT specialists. There are other components that provide budgetary, programmatic and other forms of support to the front lines. HR offices are likely to be impacted, which is going to affect what little hiring we’ve been able to do. It’s going to adversely impact the processing of a lot of these separations and retirements that we believe are going to be coming, as well as being able to provide mission support to frontline offices.

If we are losing thousands of workers from the frontlines, that is going to have an absolute impact — an absolute negative impact — upon wait times, upon processing times, upon the ability to schedule appointments for in-person services, in terms of wait times to get a disability hearing in front of a judge. All of our workloads on the frontlines will be impacted, and that will lead to further delays for Americans seeking benefits. And any delay in benefits is really a de facto benefit cut, because, again, all of the services that we provide have been paid for by the American people through their FICA contributions — not just the benefits, but the ability to access those benefits through prompt and timely service.

On layoffs and the ancient tech the SSA uses

Couture: As you’re probably aware, the Social Security Administration operates a very ancient (by computing standards) and fragile information technology infrastructure, with the mainframe itself operating off of COBOL, which is an antiquated programming language. It’s not widely taught in schools any longer, and the number of individuals in the national economy who have programming expertise dwindles by the day. And so Social Security hires a lot of these programmers in order to maintain this foundation, this mainframe system upon which the rest of SSA’s information technology infrastructure rests. And if we lose significant numbers of programmers who speak COBOL and are familiar with the mainframe and all of the other IT systems that rest upon the mainframe, Social Security is going to face major exposure to system disruption, if not system collapse. 

On impacts to services

Jack Smalligan: For individuals who experience an issue with third-party data that comes into Social Security, SSA staff now spend a lot of time resolving those issues. And those are misunderstandings; this is not fraud. With fewer SSA staff, it’s going to take much longer for people to resolve very innocent discrepancies in what’s been reported about them, whether it’s earnings or other types of income.

On what would happen if SSA facilities — such as field offices or permanent remote sites — were closed

Couture: [DOGE] has claimed publicly that most of the offices where the leases are being terminated are these permanent remote sites, some of which haven’t been used in more than a year, because we have pivoted to having more than 90% of our hearings be conducted virtually, rather than in person — by public choice, I should stress. So there hasn’t been as much of a need for in-person hearings, including at the satellite hearing locations. But the American people have a right to an in-person hearing, if they so choose. Closing these permanent remote sites is going to place a real burden, particularly on indigent claimants who want an in-person hearing, who will not be able to travel potentially hundreds of miles to the main hearing office to have their hearing in front of an administrative law judge. So there is an impact with the closure of these permanent remote sites.

Smalligan: There’s been really some rigorous research done by the academic community that’s looked at the effects of past field office closures, and what that analysis has shown, kind of comparing the geographic areas around a closure versus other comparable areas, is that you have basically people giving up on the program, essentially — meaning you have lower participation particularly in SSI, because it’s simply harder to access the benefit. And so on top of people potentially losing their benefits because of these kind of misunderstandings around income and earnings, you’re going to just have a discouraged population that’s just never going to apply.

Signing up for Social Security could soon feel like a trip to the DMV Listen READ MORE READ MORE 150-year-olds are not receiving Social Security payments  READ MORE READ MORE On who would be most impacted

Smalligan: People with an issue with their eligibility status. And let me give an example: I worked with an individual receiving SSI who received a COVID stimulus check, and by law, that check is exempt from the SSI asset limit. But it’s hard for SSA to know that that source of income is from the stimulus check. So SSA sent her a letter basically ending her SSI benefit. And having lost your SSI benefit, she also lost your Medicaid benefit. And that misunderstanding is the kind of issue that a regional office could be working through or a field office could be working through. And before the Trump actions, those kinds of misunderstandings took months to resolve … With the downsizing and the office closures, it’s going to take much longer.

Someone claiming Social Security benefits, especially disability benefits, they are going to be the most acutely affected because they’re already waiting eight months for an initial decision, seven months for an initial appeal — and that’s with the current staffing levels. So if there’s substantial attrition because of all these actions, those wait times are going to increase into, kind of, years for people getting that initial review. And the Social Security actuaries modeled some scenarios that had backlogs for initial claims going from 1 million to 2 million if staffing is just allowed to stagnate. And here we’re actually looking at staffing declining by substantial amounts.

On what outside of Social Security benefits might be impacted

Smalligan: For low-income individuals, there’s a lot of rules around how the Medicare premium is done, and SSA has to calculate many of those things. And if there is an error made in that process, I mean you could have wrong payments going out and it could take a long time to resolve that. 

The COLA is clearly a pretty simple calculation, I mean, but the Medicare premium means there’s a higher premium for the highest-earning individuals. There’s also protections against having your Social Security benefit go down if the COLA is very modest, but the Medicare premium is very substantial … there’s provisions to basically hold those beneficiaries harmless so they don’t have a net reduction in their overall benefit after the Medicare premium. So depending your situation, you could have a higher or lower Medicare premium. And there’s been years when I was at OMB where Congress was still negotiating the budget, and if Congress changes the Medicare program in such a way to change Medicare spending, then the premium adjusts and everything ripples through. And so a change in overall Medicare policy ripples into the Medicare premium and how that impacts higher-wage and lower-earning individuals is complicated.

The price of copper has surged in the past few weeks to its highest level in nearly 10 months. Traders typically think of copper as a leading economic indicator; rising prices often predict economic growth ahead. But copper’s rising price may be sending a murkier signal right now.

Copper is generally a good indicator because it’s used all over the economy — in factories, houses, electronics and streetlights, per Chris Berry, founder and president of House Mountain Partners.

“The next time you’re on an airplane at night, and you’re coming in for a landing, and you see any lights or anything like that, every single one of those lights is working because of the electrical conductivity of copper,” he said.

So, if the economy is growing, and we’re building more, we’ll need more copper. 

Thing is, something else is going on right now. “In this specific case, I don’t believe that copper is acting as a leading indicator,” said Ian Lange, who teaches mineral economics at the Colorado School of Mines.

What’s mostly driving copper prices now is the threat of tariffs, he said. Companies are stocking up on copper as they attempt to navigate changing import tax policy.

“It’s just more because we don’t really know what’s going to happen,” Lange said. “‘Let me maybe try to buy some and hold it, just in case.'”

In the longer term, copper prices could keep rising — regardless of whether the Trump administration raises tariffs on the metal, said Chris Berry. That’s because more of the economy is electrifying.

“You need a lot of copper to effect the energy transition, right?” he said. “You need a lot of copper for data centers.”

Demand from those industries, he said, could keep copper prices higher for years to come.

After a season that resolved a few key mysteries but still perplexed fans and raised the personal stakes for everyone’s favorite macrodata refiners, it’s not a huge shock that Apple has renewed one of its most successful shows. Just as the second season finale hit Apple TV+, the company confirmed Severance will be returning for a third season.

The company says Severance became the most-watched show on its streaming service during the second season. The sci-fi thriller took the crown from Ted Lasso, which Apple also recently renewed.

Season 3 of Severance is available upon request.
- Tim C. https://t.co/bNig41qs9t pic.twitter.com/cnctZIRDNF

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 21, 2025

All going well, the wait shouldn’t be quite as long between seasons of Severance this time around. Fans had to remain patient for three years for the second season, in large part because of filming delays due to writers’ and actors’ strikes in 2023.

This week, The Information reported that Apple slashed its initial content budget for Apple TV+ by 10 percent from $5 billion to help reign in costs. The company is said to be losing over $1 billion per year on Apple TV+ — purportedly making it the only Apple subscription service that isn’t turning a profit despite reaching 45 million subscribers last year. Still, the company is evidently willing to keep supporting expensive projects like Severance if they keep performing well.

There’s no release window for season three of Severance as yet. In the meantime, I’ll be pretending I’m an innie so I can hopefully forget any spoilers I see until I have a chance to watch the season two finale.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/apple-greenlights-severance-season-three-140954214.html?src=rss

We call ourselves Marketplace, so part of our job is exploring how marketplaces work, in all their forms. David Brancaccio and the “Marketplace Morning Report” team are setting out to visit in-person places of commerce, in a world where so much buying and selling has gone remote and digital. None are financial markets in a formal sense, but all markets are financial markets in a way, right? The goal is to learn the right and the wrong moves with experts.

This week: “A Business Reporter Goes to the Rodeo.” Today: why “rodeo clown” is a serious occupation.

Barrelmen are the people with the job of protecting bull riders when they fall and things go haywire. The protective barrier used to keep rodeo rider and fierce bull apart is an aluminum barrel, like a good-sized beer keg. John Harrison is among the best in the business.

Harrison gets ready for the next bull-riding contestant. (Courtesy Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo)

The job is above all about the personal safety and the economic security of the people who ride the bulls.

“Professional other sports, they get hurt, they go sit on the sidelines and get a check,” Harrison said. “In rodeo, they get hurt, they go home and no money. So if you can keep them safe, so they can go ride tomorrow, that’s our job.”

If you’ve never been to a rodeo, you may be picturing some kind of stern referee dressed with authority. But barrelmen dress funny, act funny and are also known as rodeo clowns. Harrison has been doing this work for decades, but just this year reached the very top of his league as he received a torch passed to him from a barrelman who became a Houston legend: Leon Coffee.

Coffee was just inducted into the rodeo’s hall of fame. (Courtesy Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo)

Coffee will continue to entertain rodeo crowds, but with his 70th birthday in the rearview mirror, he’s no longer going to fold himself into that barrel with bulls barreling down at him. It’s been a career where he showed early promise.

“In high school, I had an American history teacher that told me, he said, ‘Son, you can’t make a living being a clown,’ ” Coffee said. “The first time I won rodeo clown of the year, I called him up, went, ‘Nana nana na na.'”

Coffee has been goofing around yet been serious about safety here for 31 years.

“Like I’ve always said, anybody can get a job — not everybody can keep one. They changed presidents and directors of this rodeo many times, and I’m still here.”

David Brancaccio speaks with Coffee and Harrison in their dressing room at the rodeo. (Alex Schroeder/Marketplace)

What was Coffee looking for when he found Harrison, the clown he picked to take over in the barrel?

“You’ve got to be a very caring person and caring about putting a smile on that face,” he said. “And we are in the entertainment business. If you don’t have the best show in town, you’re not going to get the entertainment dollar.”

And if clowning is your destiny, what do you tell your parents?

“Oh, my goodness, I was that person that went to college for six years and never finished,” Harrison explained. “So … I always joked, the best way to become a rodeo clown is spend six years at a junior college, and your parents won’t care what you want to do.”

Leon Coffee and John Harrison. (HLRS Association)

The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association does evaluations and issues permits for barrelmen/clowns for the events it sanctions, but pros like John Harrison also do a lot of outside homework.

“They changed presidents and directors of this rodeo many times, and I’m still here,”said Leon Coffee. (Courtesy Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo)

“You study great comedians on TV, and you don’t have to copy them, but you might pick one thing up by watching something,” Harrison said. “And you just try to adapt to be your own person, and you start trying to work your way up the ladder.”

And you don’t start with the big leagues; you earn your barreling in the minors.

“I’ve worked rodeos in Iowa where they’ve tilled up a cornfield an hour and a half before it started, and hauled bleachers in, lawn chairs on the side of a hill,” Harrison said.

As for other tricks of the trade from these pros, they hand us a useful piece of information from the world of bull:

“Everybody thinks they’re attracted to red. That’s completely fake. They’re color blind. They don’t see color. They’re attracted to movement,” Harrison said.

We call ourselves Marketplace, so part of our job is exploring how marketplaces work, in all their forms. David Brancaccio and the “Marketplace Morning Report” team are setting out to visit in-person places of commerce, in a world where so much buying and selling has gone remote and digital. None are financial markets in a formal sense, but all markets are financial markets in a way, right? The goal is to learn the right and the wrong moves with experts.

This week: “A Business Reporter Goes to the Rodeo.” Today: the market mechanics of auctions, especially those for a good cause.

It’s a Friday morning junior market auction at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, where the students put their gorgeous goats, charming chickens, stately steers and luxurious lambs up for sale to the highest bidder. On stage, the No. 2 rated lamb: 173 pounds, medium wool and its name is Trump. Turns out, that’s sort of a popular choice these days — the No. 2 goat up for auction is also named Trump.

Most people in the crowd at this auction are holding a list of all 288 lots being sold off. Some also have a yardstick to wave to make a bid.

As for the “Marketplace Morning Report” crew, we come equipped with a peer-reviewed journal, volume 56 of “Management Science,” featuring the article “Charitable Motives and Bidding in Charity Auctions” to help us get better a understanding of what we’re looking at.

In a normal auction, people want to pay lowest prices for highest quality. Here, they are happy to pay way above the going rate for goats and lambs to generate a pile of philanthropic money, for a scholarship fund here in Texas.

“I believe the commitment for this year from the rodeo to the youth of Texas is $28 million,” said Tracy Troup, chairman of the Lamb and Goat Auction Committee.

Troup, left, speaks with Brancaccio. (Alex Schroeder/Marketplace)

Troup said the committee raised $4.2 million in last year’s sale. It’s a process that turns lambs and goats into what is actually two pots of cash — the big one for the education fund, and a smaller lump sum that goes to the animal’s student owner. It’s $40,000 to the owner of the grand champion lamb and $30,000 for the grand champion goat.

“They can use it for college education. They can use it to go purchase another animal to show next year. So they can use it for any purpose that they decide to use it for,” Troup said. “But the additional money that’s raised goes to scholarships.”

The No. 1 overall lamb at this year’s auction was raised by high school senior Madden Wise from Brownwood, Texas. The bidding started at $50,000. A normal wool lamb of this size would go at a commercial Texas auction for around $200 these days, but with charity as the incentive, the bidding quickly climbed north of $350,000.

Competing experiments have found that the higher the percentage to charity the higher the bidding in these kinds of auctions. That’s in part because charity-minded bidders collude in a benevolent way to get the number higher. The authors of the aforementioned study call people doing their charitable best to juice up the price “unpaid shills.” Out of respect for the public-spirited people here, let’s call them “philanthropic bidder-uppers.”

“First of all, it creates a little competition,” Troup said. “But it’s amazing. Most of the people in that room are very good friends. You have the added touch of the kids being here, and who doesn’t love to donate to a child.”

People bidding in charity auctions are doing it all or in part for a higher purpose, which confounds some economists who tend to think humans just do things selfishly. Some theorize that people bid so they, in return, receive what researchers call the “warm glow” of doing good. Or to get the benefits of signaling their good work to the wider community. The study has evidence that refutes that second part, showing little difference between anonymous bidding and bidding with your name attached. Maybe helping others is a reward in itself.

In the end, the top lamb goes for $450,000. Think about that: Wise’s neatly shaved, pink-hued lamb named 2Dotto goes for more than the median price of a home in America.

On May 9, AMC Theatres will start showing a sci-fi movie that was shot in Swedish but will look like it was made in English instead. Watch the Skies, which was released in its home country as UFO Sweden, had undergone "visual dubbing" with the help of artificial intelligence. An AI company called Flawless used its technology to digitally alter the film's images, making the actors look like they were truly speaking in English. Notably, the original actors recorded their own dialogues in English in a sound booth — Flawless AI's technology merely altered the movements of their lips in the movie. 

On its website, Flawless says its TrueSync AI technology "captures every nuance of an actor’s performance and generates new lip movements that perfectly map to the new language audio, providing the perfect visual dub." Variety says the tool is compliant with the rules set by SAG-AFTRA, which ended a four-month strike in 2023 after securing a deal with studios that protects members "from the threat of AI."

Flawless AI's technology could lower the barrier of entry into foreign films. It could make them more appealing to audiences resistant to watching subtitled movies and could provide a better experience for audiences in countries that normally dub movies in their native language. "Showing our materials to filmmakers, especially over the past year, they realize the potential from going to a local stage to a global stage," the company's co-founder, Scott Mann, told Variety. "It’s a huge opportunity to get your work out and it’s been invigorating. They are so excited about showing their work in a wider audience, and especially in America."

Watch the Skies revolves around a teenager who believes that her missing father wasn't dead but was abducted by aliens. To uncover the truth about her father's disappearance, she teams up with UFO Club to look for him. AMC Theatres has committed to showing the film in 100 locations across America. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/amc-theatres-will-screen-a-swedish-movie-visually-dubbed-with-the-help-of-ai-130022232.html?src=rss

There's a bidding war for the film adaptation of Split Fiction, according to the information Variety has gathered at this year's Game Developers Conference. Split Fiction is a split-screen multiplayer co-op game by Swedish indie developer Hazelight, which was also the studio behind the genre-defining game It Takes Two. The publication says Story Kitchen, the same media company that pieced together the It Takes Two film adaptation package until it was picked up by Amazon, is already looking for actors, writers and a director for the project. 

Variety didn't mention specific companies bidding for the game's rights, but offers are reportedly coming in from "multiple top Hollywood studios." Split Fiction was specifically designed for split-screen gaming through local or online play. You can control either one of the two main characters, Zoe and Mio, as they navigate multiple worlds and overcome various obstacles. The game's story revolves around the two authors who were invited by a company called Rader Publishing to test a new simulation technology that allows players to experience their own fictional stories as reality. 

Due to an accident, Mio fel into Zoe's story, which created a glitch that allowed them to travel to and from each other's science fiction stories featuring dragons, cyberpunk motorcycles and other sci-fi and fantasy elements. The game was released on March 6, 2025 and is currently available on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-split-fiction-movie-is-reportedly-in-the-works-121528148.html?src=rss

For all of the money and clout Meta has, it can’t stop the triennial emergence of a whistleblower revealing how awful its leadership is. Careless People, the tell-all memoir from former staffer Sarah Wynn-Williams is the latest, dishing plenty of dirt on the house of Zuckerberg. The book has shot to the top of The New York Times’ bestseller list despite Meta’s attempts to suppress it.

Engadget’s Karissa Bell summarized some of the more eye-watering details from the book, and even in highlight form, it’s wild. Like the fact Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire world king of the internet, wanted the company to arrange for him to be mobbed when he landed in Asia. Or that Sheryl Sandberg didn’t quite grasp how difficult it is to transport live organs between countries.

There’s plenty of scorn for Joel Kaplan, the former George W. Bush staffer and friend of Brett Kavanaugh, who has long been seen as the figure behind Facebook’s rightward pull. Kaplan is accused of blocking attempts to address the company’s role in the Myanmar genocide. The book suggests Kaplan didn’t know Taiwan was an island, and that he reportedly harassed Wynn-Williams.

What’s surprising, really, is how unsurprising many of the revelations are, from Zuckerberg’s venality to the company’s general indifference to the harms it creates. It’s not likely many of the claims here will make many people reconsider their relationship with the company and its products, either.

— Dan Cooper

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The biggest tech stories you missed

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Fujifilm’s GFX100RF is a 102MP medium format compact camera One hundred and two megapixels, in this economy? Fujifilm

Fujifilm has been on a hot streak for a while, to the point it’s looking to flex its muscles with some absolutely wild specs. The company announced the GFX100RF medium format compact camera with, wait for it, a 102 megapixel sensor. It’s machined from a single block of aluminum, aping the aesthetic found on the company’s other X-series cameras. I can’t wait to see the hipsters who wanted something fancier than an X100 VI wasting this camera’s talents in the next few years.

Continue Reading.

Google unveils the new Pixel 9a for $499 Meet the new midrange smartphone king Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Google has announced the already widely leaked Pixel 9a, its latest budget addition to the Pixel line. It ditches the Pixel’s famous camera bar in favor of a regular raised lens housing, but it has the same Tensor G4 chip as its pricier siblings. That will enable owners to harness some of the same AI smarts Google’s been selling on the flagship Pixels at a far lower price. Check out Sam Rutherford’s hands-on to see if your wallet might be tempted to crack open.

Continue Reading.

Tesla recalls more than 46,000 Cybertrucks over a faulty exterior panel Whoops.

Tesla is recalling every Cybertruck on the road (more than 46,000), after it found exterior panels could fall off. Filings with the NHTSA say an exterior trim panel could detach from the automobile, potentially causing an accident. Oh dear.

Continue Reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-a-closer-look-at-facebooks-leadership-114522686.html?src=rss

After a ton of leaks, Google officially announced the $499 Pixel 9a, which has the potential to be the new king of mid-range phones. It has dual cameras and access to Google's AI features — in many ways, it's everything the iPhone 16e should have been (especially its price). In this episode, Senior Writer Sam Rutherford joins us to discuss what's great about the Pixel 9a, as well as its potential downsides compared to the Pixel 9.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!

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Topics

• Google’s announces the Pixel 9a - potentially the new midrange king – 1:15

• Fujifilm’s GX100RF: a 102MP medium format camera (nice!) with only one F4 lens (boo!) – 21:31

• Karissa Bell’s roundup of the craziest stuff from Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams’ book – 24:14

• Donald Trump attempts to fire FTC’s two Democratic commissioners – 29:34

• Amazon will send all Alexa recordings to the cloud, no more local processing – 32:52

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• Working on – 1:09:56

• Pop culture picks – 1:10:28

Credits 

Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Cherlynn Low
Guest: Sam Rutherford
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/engadget-podcast-googles-pixel-9a-is-ready-to-take-on-the-iphone-16e-113020014.html?src=rss

If you think about it, Severance's "innies" — the people trapped in an endless cycle of office work — should genuinely hate their "outies" — their other halves who exist everywhere else. While outies are free to live a seemingly carefree existence, unburdened by the labor, boredom and indignities of office life, innies have no escape. Every time they enter the elevator at the end of their shifts, which triggers the switch to their outie persona, innies just blink and return to the sterile hallways of nefarious biotechnology firm Lumon Industries. There are no weekends or holidays, there isn't even time to sleep. 

Spoilers ahead for Severance season 2. No spoilers for the finale, "Cold Harbor."

Severance's first season arrived as we were all reeling from the initial onslaught of the COVID pandemic and many of us were dealing with our own work-life balance issues. It introduced the show's core concept — that Lumon pioneered the ability to completely separate work and life experiences — and it made the terms "innie" and "outie" a new cultural shorthand. But the debut season also leaned heavily on the outie perspective, sometimes to a fault. In its second season, Severance became even stronger by focusing more on the innie perspective. Do they deserve whole lives, or just the labor their outies don't want to deal with? Are they allowed to fall in love? Are they even real people?

Apple

These are all concepts the show previously touched on, but the innie experience became all the more tragic as season two went on. We watched as Adam Scott's Mark S. wrestled with the dueling desires to rescue Lumon's wellness counselor, Ms. Casey, who was revealed to be his outie's supposedly dead wife, and also nurture a budding romance with fellow innie Hellie R. (Britt Lower). John Turturro's Irving B. spent the entire season nursing a broken heart, after the innie he fell in love with disappeared. And Zach Cherry's Dylan G. ended up falling in love with his outie's wife (Merritt Wever), who saw the best aspects of her floundering husband through his innie.

Innies owe their lives to their outies, but lead a tortured existence that basically just makes everything easier for outies. Season two made it clear that the process of severance, which involves a brain injection that splits the innie and outie personas, essentially creates an adult child who only exists to work. Innies have no understanding of science, history or the greater world beyond what Lumon tells them. And naturally, the company's messaging to innies is purely focused on efficiency, output and the cult-like adoration of its founder, Kier Eagan. (It's as if Apple based its entire internal culture on worshipping Steve Jobs as a god, complete with archaic rituals and holy texts.)

Apple

While we spent less time with outies in this season, the show still had a sharper take on their side of the severed experience. There's a funny nod to the "return to office" phenomenon, where Tramell Tillman's Milchick practically had to beg the outies to come back to Lumon, following their innie revolt at the end of season one. In our world, RTO is mostly a phenomenon where executives are eager to witness their employees toiling away, rather than allowing them to potentially slack off while working at home.

We also get a sense of what outies lose by giving up their work life to their innies. When Dylan G.'s outie, Dylan George, is turned down for a basic job outside of Lumon, he learns he can't count his innie's work time, since he didn't actually experience it. (In some ways it feels reminiscent of what we could lose by outsourcing work to AI tools.) Severance isn't just a trap for the innies stuck in Lumon's offices, their outies will also have a tough time landing a job anywhere else. The only choice is to stay loyal to Lumon, and its dear founder Kier, until you retire. Or die.

According to Dan Erickson, the creator and showrunner of Severance, this season was partially inspired by the recent Hollywood writer's strike. "We were all talking to our guilds and having conversations about workers rights and what we owe our employers and what we should reasonably expect back in return... And how much of ourselves and our lives and our energy we should be willing to give up for the sake of a job," he said in an interview on episode 252 of the Engadget Podcast.

Apple

While much of the second season was written before the strike, "consciously or unconsciously, I think that the tone of that, of those conversations made their way into the story," Erickson said. "And certainly I think that they'll be on people's minds as they're watching the show. Because at the end of the day... it is a show about the rights of workers and what they deserve as human beings."

As I watched this season of Severance, and processed the events of its explosive finale, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Kazuo Ishiguro’s heartbreaking novel Never Let Me Go. It’s set in a strict boarding school where students are raised to serve one specific purpose, and their own lives are devalued in the process. But they still love, learn and dream. They have hopes and desires. Every innie should be so lucky.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/severance-season-two-review-innie-rights-and-humanity-made-for-a-stronger-show-100003400.html?src=rss

When most people think of gaming laptops, they imagine high-end gaming machines with the latest graphics card, processor and so on. And of course, gaming laptops of that caliber are going to come with a hefty price tag. However, it is possible to get a budget gaming laptop that still lets you play the latest AAA titles, without spending thousands of unnecessary dollars. If you’re searching for the best budget gaming laptop, you’ve come to the right place. All of our recommendations come in at a palatable $1,250 or less, meaning you can still enjoy an immersive gaming experience, at a much more affordable price. They all boast speedy SSDs, dedicated graphics cards and generous screen sizes, which are must-haves when investing in a budget gaming laptop.

Table of contents

• Best budget gaming laptops for 2025

• What is a budget gaming laptop?

• Are cheap gaming laptops worth it?

Best budget gaming laptops for 2025

What is a budget gaming laptop?

To get a high-end gaming experience, you can easily spend $5,000 on a fully tricked-out notebook like the Razer Blade 18. But when it comes to the best budget gaming laptops, we're focusing on the other end of the pricing spectrum: laptops under $1,000. It used to be tough to find a gaming option with decent performance at that price point but, as PC prices have fallen, they no longer seem like unicorns.

Stepping up a bit to systems between $1,000 and $2,000 puts you firmly in mid-range territory, which is beyond the scope of this guide. Still, it's worth keeping an eye out for sales that can push those higher-end models below $1,000. Be sure to check out our guide to the best gaming laptops for a general overview of what to look out for in these more expensive systems.

Are cheap gaming laptops worth it?

Cheap gaming laptops are definitely worth it if you’re trying to save money and are being realistic about what you can get at this price range. You can expect to find Intel and AMD's latest (but not greatest) CPUs, as well as entry-level GPUs like NVIDIA's RTX 3050. Budget models are also typically paired with FHD screens running at a respectably high refresh rate of 120Hz or beyond — ensuring smooth frame rates in your favorite games. There are some exceptions though: Dell's G16 (currently discounted to $900) is notable for its 16-inch quad HD+ screen.

Many cheap gaming laptops also skimp on specs like RAM and hard drive space. We'd recommend getting at least 16GB of RAM and SSD storage of at least 512GB. Modern games need a decent chunk of memory to run, and they also tend to be large, so you wouldn't be able to fit much alongside Windows 11 on a 256B SSD. You might be tempted to jump on one of those dirt-cheap gaming laptop deals from Walmart or Best Buy, but it's just not worth it if you're stuck with 8GB of RAM or a tiny SSD.

As for build quality, expect to find more plastic than metal on budget gaming machines. Still, the best budget gaming laptops we're recommending should be sturdy enough to last a few years. Affordable systems will also be heavier and thicker than mid-range and higher-end models, and often don’t have the best Wi-Fi or connectivity options. Battery life is another trade-off, though even the most expensive gaming laptops can struggle with longevity.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/best-budget-gaming-laptop-130004199.html?src=rss