back to school - CybAI news

07 Aug

The best budgeting apps for 2024

stp2y0 CommentsNewsback to school, best tech, Commerce, evergreen, feature, gear, shopping, streamshopping, thebuyersguide

As a former Mint user, I had to find a new budgeting app not too long ago. Intuit, parent company of Mint, shut down the service in March 2024, and prompted users to transition to its other financial app, Credit Karma. However, after testing Credit Karma myself, I found it to be a poor Mint replacement — that meant I needed to branch out and look elsewhere for a trusted app to track all of my financial accounts, monitor my credit score, follow a monthly spending plan and set goals like building a rainy-day fund and paying down my mortgage…

21 Jul

The best free tools and services for college students

stp2y0 CommentsNewsback to school, Commerce, feature, gear, shopping, streamshopping, thebuyersguide

When you’re living the college life, every penny counts. Thankfully, there’s a plethora of free software, services and tools you can use to get through your day-to-day on campus, whether you’re doing coursework, trying to better manage your time or just finding some entertainment. Our job at Engadget is to figure out which of these things are actually good, so below we’ve recommended a few of our favorite apps and services that are totally free. Each should help you save cash for extracurricular fun, and all of them are significantly better than the main thing you get for free when…

18 Jul

The best educational toys for kids

stp2y0 CommentsNewsback to school, backtoschool21, best tech, bts2021, Commerce, entertainment, feature, gear, streamshopping, thebuyersguide

There are tons of building toys out there, from LEGO, to Tegu, to the classic wooden block. But one of my favorites (and my kid’s) are Magna-Tiles. These large, colorful construction toys come in a variety of sizes and shapes and click together, or to other surfaces, with the aid of powerful magnets. They can be combined to form simple shapes like cubes and pyramids, or arranged to make magnetic art on a garage door. Plus there are themed packs that can add windows, staircases or even functional cranes to the playsets. These are open-ended building toys that don’t have…

17 Jul

The best study-from-home essentials for students

stp2y0 CommentsNewsback to school, backtoschool21, bts2020, bts2021, Commerce, feature, gear, shopping, streamshopping, thebuyersguide

Libraries are fine places to study in college (I quickly learned the difference between the beautiful one that was good for napping and the more austere building that was conducive to getting things done). But if you’d rather work from the comfort of your own home — be that an apartment, dorm room or your parents’ basement — outfitting your space appropriately can make you more comfortable and focused. This is the gear that’s worked for us over the years, with options to improve ergonomics, brighten up your desk and do justice to your focus music. We kept a college…

15 Jul

The best Chromebook you can buy in 2024

stp2y0 CommentsNewsback to school, backtoschool21, best laptops, best tech, bts2020, bts2021, Commerce, evergreen, feature, gear, holiday gifts, laptops, streamshopping, thebuyersguide

The Chromebook market has grown so much over the past few years that choosing the best Chromebook for you can be hard. The combination of years worth of software updates and manufacturers making laptops with more power, better build quality and long battery life means there are a ton of good Chrome OS machines that work well as everyday drivers. While Google did make things simpler last fall by introducing the Chromebook Plus initiative (more on that below), there are still multiple things to keep in mind when shopping for a new Chromebook. I’ve been testing and reviewing Chromebooks for…

10 Jul

The best finance and security apps for college students

stp2y0 CommentsNewsback to school, best tech, Commerce, feature, gear, shopping, software, streamshopping, thebuyersguide

Learning in college is as much about life lessons as it is about the lectures. It might be the first time you’re managing things on your own — particularly your finances — and as you apply for jobs and search for apartments, you may also be increasing the amount of personal data you put online. We gathered up the budgeting apps we have tried and ultimately recommend, as well as services that can help you keep track of passwords and protect your online activities. These are all tools we wish we’d known to use when we headed off as undergrads,…

08 Jul

The best dorm room essentials for college students

stp2y0 CommentsNewsback to school, best tech, bts2021, Commerce, feature, gear, shopping, streamshopping, thebuyersguide

A new college year is right around the corner, which means it’s time for a new batch of freshmen to live independently for the first time. If you’re among that group, it’s a good idea to stock up on a few essentials that’ll make your dorm room feel more like a (tiny) second home. We’ve rounded up a few dorm-friendly items we can safely recommend; this is Engadget, so expect a bunch of tech gear, but we’ve also got a few non-gadgets that can hopefully make student life less stressful, if only by a little bit.Will Lipman Photography for EngadgetI…

07 Jun

The best laptops for gaming and schoolwork in 2024

stp2y0 CommentsNewsback to school, backtoschool21, best laptops, bts2020, bts2021, Commerce, feature, gaming, gaming laptops, gear, streamshopping, thebuyersguide

The best laptops for gaming and schoolwork offer the best of both worlds, so you don’t have to make the hard decision and choose one over the other. With gaming laptops being much more affordable than they once were, it’s possible to find a powerful laptop that comes with a decent CPU to make multitasking a breeze, and GPU that plays the latest AAA titles without question. Whether you’re looking for a laptop with a larger screen size and high refresh rate, or something more portable and lightweight, there are plenty of great laptops out there to choose from. These…

05 Jun

The best cheap Windows laptops for 2024

stp2y0 CommentsNewsback to school, best tech, Commerce, evergreen, feature, gear, holiday gifts, laptop, laptops, thebuyersguide

We review a number of Windows 11 laptops every year at Engadget, but the cheapest among them often fall to the bottom of the list. Unlike our top picks for best Windows laptop, or even more niche devices like the best gaming laptops, these machines don’t have pricey screen panels, high-powered graphics cards or super thin-and-light designs. But that doesn’t mean you should write them off. Besides, not everyone needs a pro-level laptop — they just need the best machine that will fit their budget.Sub-$500 laptops made by Acer, Dell, Lenovo and other companies can be great fits for those…