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A lot of the Cool Tools we feature here are about maximizing productivity, but this week, lets focus instead on a way to budget your precious downtime. As someone who watches the streaming TV space closely, Im well aware of how many choices exist when you sit down in front of the TV. Between Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+, Peacock, and more, there are endless things to watch, and not nearly enough time to get through them. So before you commit to a new show, heres a resource to figure out how many hours (or days) of total watch time youre in for. After all, theres nothing worse than being stuck on a cliffhanger. This tip originally appeared in the free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. Get the next issue in your inbox and get ready to discover all sorts of awesome tech treasures! Estimate watch times the easy way To see how long itll take to get through the next show youre streaming, check out a resource called Bingeclock. Bingeclock is a free website that lists the total runtime of any TV series or movie. Looking up a show takes just a few seconds; theres no login or registration required. To find a total watch time, just type the name of the show or movie into the search box. Directly on the search results page, youll see how many days, hours, and minutes itll take to watch. You can also hit the Cut credits button to see what the watch time would be if you skipped that part of the presentation. Precise streaming planning is never more than a few clicks away. Clicking on a show title leads to a page with more options, including a handy Daily planning button that asks how many episodes you intend to watch per day. Choosing a number will update the watch time, showing how many days youd need to get through the entire series. Bingeclock lets you get incredibly nuanced with mapping out your streaming schedule. While you dont need an account to use Bingeclock, creating one unlocks some interesting extra featuresincluding a watchlist, a log of your past binges, and a way to plan Marathons of multiple movies or TV shows. (You can also head to the Leaderboards tab to see popular Marathons from others, like the two-day Marathon of every Godzilla movie.) Streaming marathons, in stylethanks to Bingeclock’s intelligent estimates. The site has a few other charming oddities. The Bingerdie game is essentially Wordle, but with terms from popular TV shows, and the Are We Trek Yet? subsite shows how many fictional Star Trek advancements have become reality. And if all this leaves you feeling even more indecisive about what to watch, just head to the Your Antennas menu. Here, youll be given a virtual tube TV with dozens of seemingly random streaming channels to flip through, from Grateful Dead concert footage and Disney theme park walkthroughs to recent robotics demos. You never know what you might find in Bingeclock’s on-demand “channels.” Its nice to know that while Bingeclock can help meticulously plot your TV time, it can help you waste it as well. Bingeclock is completely web-based and will work in any browser, on any device, without any downloadsthough the service does also offer an Android app and a beta-level, TestFlight-requiring iOS app if youd rather go that route. Its completely free to use without any limitations. And you dont have to provide any personal info whatsoever to use itthough if you do opt to create an account, the < href="https://www.bingeclock.com/privacy/">sites privacy policy is pretty standard and straightforward about how it does and doesnt use any associated details. Treat yourself to all sorts of brain-boosting goodies like this with the free Cool Tools newsletterstarting with an instant introduction to an incredible audio app thatll tune up your days in truly delightful ways.
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E-Commerce
On Monday, Apple will release the iPhones next operating system, iOS 26, to the general public. The new operating system features the most radical redesign of the iPhones software in over a decade. Gone are iOSs flat, minimalist interface elements, replaced by a new transparent design language called Liquid Glass. But iOS 26 is offering iPhones more than a facelift. The new operating system is also packed with new features, including more advanced AI tools, a revamped calling experience, an all-new Games app, and dozens of enhancements to major apps, including Maps, Photos, Messages, and more. If you plan on upgrading to iOS 26, however, there are a few steps you should take before installing the iPhones new operating system. Heres how to get your iPhone ready for iOS 26. Make sure your iPhone will run iOS 26 First, be sure your iPhone can actually run iOS 26. The great news is that the new OS supports a ton of older iPhone modelsmore than two dozen. The bad news is that if your iPhone was released before 2019, it wont be capable of running iOS 26. With the release of iOS 26, Apple is dropping support for three iPhone models that can currently run iOS 18: the iPhone XS, the iPhone XS Max, and the iPhone XR. All three models were released in 2018, and none will support iOS 26, likely because they dont possess the graphics or processing power to run the new Liquid Glass design adequately. Yet Apple has still managed to offer iOS 26 support on iPhones that first came out six years agoand every model since. Here are all 30 models of iPhone that can run iOS 26: iPhone 17 iPhone Air iPhone 17 Pro iPhone 17 Pro Max iPhone 16e iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhone 14 Plus iPhone 14 Pro iPhone 14 Pro Max iPhone 13 iPhone 13 mini iPhone 13 Pro iPhone 13 Pro Max iPhone 12 iPhone 12 mini iPhone 12 Pro iPhone 12 Pro Max iPhone 11 iPhone 11 Pro iPhone 11 Pro Max iPhone SE (3rd generation) iPhone SE (2nd generation) If you have any of these iPhones, youll be able to install iOS 26 onto them. However, note that some features, such as those powered by Apple Intelligence, will require more recent iPhone models, including the iPhone 15 Pro and above. Make sure your iPhone is already running the latest iOS When upgrading to a new OS, the installation processincluding carrying over all your data without a hitchtends to run more smoothly, some believe, if the iPhone you are upgrading is currently running the latest iOS. Whether this advantage is actually true is a matter of debate. Still, it doesnt hurt to ensure that your iPhone is running the latest operating system before upgrading to iOS 26. As of the time of this writing, the latest operating system for the iPhone is 18.6.2. To upgrade to the latest iOS (before iOS 26 is released), do the following on your iPhone: Open the Settings app. Tap General. Tap Software Update. Your iPhone will then check to make sure it is running the latest operating system, and if it is not, it will prompt you to upgrade by tapping the Update Now button. Free up your iPhones storage space Our iPhones often get cluttered with apps we dont use, games we dont play, and documents and photos we no longer need. All this leads to excess data on our phones, which takes up valuable storage. And when installing a major new operating system, the most critical thing you need for the installation process is enough storage space. Depending on which iPhone model you are upgrading, you may need 10GB or more of free storage space on your device. If you dont have it, then your iPhone wont be able to download the new OS’s installer files. Usually, the biggest storage hogs on iPhones are games and media files. If you need to free up a lot of storage space quickly, consider deleting any unnecessary types of this kind of data, with the caveat that you should always keep a backup of the files you will be deleting, so you can recover them later if needed. If you need help discovering what may be hogging the most space on your iPhone, you can do so by doing the following: Open the Settings app. Tap General. Tap iPhone Storage. From this screen, your iPhone will even recommend which files and apps may be able to be deleted, allowing you to free up storage space. Back up your iPhone There is one more crucial thing you should do before upgrading your iPhone to iOS 26: back up your device. By backing up your iPhone first, youll ensure that you have a copy of your iPhone data in the rare instance that the iOS 26 installation process goes horribly wrong and you lose all your data. Apple allows you to back up your iPhone through several methods, including creating a backup on your Mac or PC. However, the easiest way to back up your iPhone is to use the iCloud Backup feature. iCloud Backup stores your iPhone data in the cloud, where Apple keeps it safe. You can use this data to restore an older iPhoneor a brand new onewith all your data. To back up your iPhone using iCloud Backup before installing iOS 26, do the following: Open the Settings app. Tap your Apple Account ID. Tap iCloud. Tap iCloud Backup. Tap Back Up Now. You can view Apples instructions for all available iPhone backup options here. Apple will make iOS 26 available to the general public on Monday, September 15.
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E-Commerce
For over two decades, businesses have chased the elusive goal of improving employee engagement, yet the results have been lackluster. Gallup data shows U.S. engagement languishing at 31%, virtually unchanged since their landmark 2013 study. Annual or semiannual surveys conducted as perfunctory exercises fail to capture the fast-changing dynamics of todays workplace. Their delayed resultsoften taking months to reach managersrender them largely unactionable, leaving employee concerns unaddressed. Moreover, few leaders in organizations, including line managers who most directly influence engagement, have ever been held accountable for improving their leadership effectiveness and team engagement. As a result, employees, perceive their employers efforts as insincere, grow jaded, frustrated, and cynical, paradoxically becoming even less engaged. Instead of using outdated engagement surveys, organizations should use pulse-surveysshort, frequently administered questionnairesto gauge how employees are feeling, and then administer fixes to improve well-being. In my new book, The Power of Employee Well-Being: Move Beyond Engagement to Build Flourishing Teams, I posit that employee well-being drives thriving workplaces. Emerging research shows employee well-being has a profound influence over productivity, retention, and true workplace vitality. And, as the adage goes, you dont know what isnt measured. Pulse Surveys: A Smarter Approach Pulse surveys are concisetypically 15 questions employees can complete in minutesthat capture employee sentiment in real time, enabling workplace managers and companies to swiftly respond. Phil Willburn, vice president of People Analytics, Insights, & Experiences at Workday, an HR technology company specializing in workforce analytics, so strongly believes in their data-driven impact, his company has pulsed its own employees weekly for over seven years. In 2022, it’s pulse surveys identified workload issues during a hybrid work transition, leading to policy adjustments that reduced stress by 15% and enhanced team belonging. Bobby Melloy, regional director of People Science at Culture Amp, an HR technology company focused on employee experience, emphasizes the pulse survey’s adaptability: As the rate of change increases, the importance of frequent pulsing grows. Culture Amps client Canva used monthly pulses in 2023 to improve collaboration during rapid growth, boosting employee commitment by 18%. Designing Effective Pulse Surveys Strategic design is critical for pulse surveys to enhance well-being, and to meaningfully inform leadership decision-making. Melloy of Culture Amp advises, Pulse survey items should be dynamic, measuring things that will change over time, such as, ‘Do I feel a sense of belonging on my team?’ or ‘Does my manager show appreciation for my work?'” Questions about meaningful work are also vital. Willburn of Workday highlights his favorite: Is the work I do is meaningful to me? He explains, you can overcome so much distraction or pressure workload if you really believe in your work. Both Willburn and Melloy agree, employing a five-point scaleStrongly Agree to Strongly Disagreeis best for pulse surveys. Its intuitive, familiar design minimizes fatigue, ensures nuanced feedback, and supports frequent pulsing. Finally, surveys should be concise and conducted weekly, monthly, or quarterly to balance actionability with trust. Melloy cautions, survey only as often as you can act on that data . . . you dont want to sacrifice participation rates by getting people to become cynical about your pulses. Driving Accountability and Trust Once data is collected, managers should receive the feedback and respond by holding team discussions and creating actionable plans to address concerns like morale or stress. Melloy emphasizes: Unaddressed feedback breeds distrust. Without follow-through, pulsing risks eroding the psychological contract with employees. Senior leaders should also monitor all survey scores to swiftly identify managers who prioritize performance over well-being. Managers with lower scores should receive coaching. A Call to Action Pulse surveys empower leaders to make transformative decisions and prioritize employee well-being. Phil Willburn told me that Workdays weekly pulses uncovered collaboration gaps during a critical global product launch, prompting leadership to form cross-functional task forces. The informed intervention led to a 20% increase in project delivery performance. Bobby Melloy highlighted a client whose pulse data revealed that some employees felt highly unsupported by their managers. This led to the firm launching targeted coaching programs that remedied the friction. These vivid examples highlight how pulse surveys provide real-time employee insights, and empower leaders to act swiftly, build resilient cultures, and create workplaces that inspire loyalty and attract top talent. Pulse surveys also drive well-being by empowering employee voices, ensuring people work for supportive and effective managers, feel connected to their teamand have all the support they need to do their jobs. Phil Willburn said it best: Pulse surveys give leaders the pulse of their people, turning challenges into opportunities for support.
Category:
E-Commerce
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