TL;DR: AcePDF Converter & Editor handles PDF conversion, editing, OCR, and form building on Windows and Mac for a one-time $23.97 (MSRP $99.99).

Most PDF editors either charge a monthly fee or only handle one job well. AcePDF Converter & Editor is a lifetime license on sale during Deal Days, PCWorld’s answer to Prime Day, that does conversion, editing, and OCR in one app.

On the conversion side, AcePDF batch-processes PDFs into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, and image formats while keeping the original layouts and hyperlinks intact. Going the other direction, you can merge Word docs, spreadsheets, and images into a single PDF in a few clicks.

OCR is built in, so scanned documents become editable text without a separate tool. Beyond conversion, AcePDF lets you merge, split, compress, rotate, and password-protect files. A form builder rounds things out, letting you create fillable PDFs with text fields, checkboxes, and annotations from scratch. Both the Windows and Mac versions now support the full feature set, and one license covers two devices. AcePDF holds a 4.4 out of 5 on Trustpilot.

Stop paying monthly for a PDF editor you barely use.

Get AcePDF Converter & Editor: Lifetime License on sale for $23.97 through October 11 at 11:59 p.m. PT (MSRP $99.99).

AcePDF Converter & Editor: Lifetime LicenseSee Deal

StackSocial prices subject to change.

PDF files are a necessary component of our multi-platform world. With this convenient file format, users are able to view and share documents across various devices, using various operating systems and software programs.

While tasks such as simple viewing and/or commenting on a PDF can be accomplished with free software, there are times when you need a broader range of tools for working with a PDF document. You might want to make edits, reorganize the elements of a file, or collaborate with others to make changes. In cases such as these, you’re better served by a full-featured PDF editor.

The best PDF editors allow you to edit, create, alter, and convert PDF files just like you would with any other text document. Adobe’s Acrobat Pro is full-featured PDF editor, and probably the most well known. Adobe has earned its renown honestly with an excellent feature set and overall utility. But it’s also expensive.

Fortunately, there’s a whole range of capable and even great third-party PDF editors that provide less pricey alternatives to Adobe’s premier product.

Our picks below cover the gamut of PDF editing needs and budgets.

Why you should trust PCWorld for PDF editor reviews and buying advice: At PCWorld, we’ve been testing PC hardware and software for over 40 years. Our evaluation process is always hands-on and thorough, taking into account real-world usage needs. We don’t ever recommend something we wouldn’t be comfortable using ourselves.

Other PDF editor reviews

• MyPDFTools: This handy, free PDF toolkit offers easy and effective basics, but more demanding jobs expose some limitations.
• Swifdoo PDF for Windows: This full-featured, low-priced Acrobat alternative should serve most users well, with most everything you’d need for editing PDFs.
• MobiPDF: Budget buyers will find a lot to like about PDF Extra. It offers good basic-to-intermediate PDF functionality that will please both casual and professional users, for a fraction of the cost of pinnacle program Adobe Acrobat Pro.
• PDF24 Creator: This is a capable free editor that comes in handy for casual use, but if you need a program for more regular editing duties, PDF24 Creator has annoyances that will hinder its helpfulness.
• PDF-XChange Editor: Another full-featured PDF editor that will fulfill most editing needs for a reasonable price. It also offers a respectable free version, if you can accept its watermarks.
• Kofax Power PDF 5: This is a close alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro with essential and advanced editing tools and lots of help resources, making it suitable for old hands and those new to PDF editing.

A word about online PDF editors

Why spend a chunk of change on a desktop editor when free online PDF editors abound? The simple answer is because you get what you pay for. Generally, free online editors will let you add text and comments, merge and split documents, and convert files to and from PDF. With rare exception, however, they won’t let you edit existing text and many have file-size and page-volume restrictions. And a lot of them will watermark your edited document. For these reasons, web PDF editors are best reserved for simple, fast editing jobs. Call in these big dogs for anything more demanding.

How to choose the best PDF editor

PDF editors come in a variety of flavors, offering varying feature sets—from basic functionality to power-user tools. It’s important to know what features best match your workflow before you commit to a PDF editor.

Create, convert, and export PDFs

The most fundamental function of a PDF editor is to make PDFs, either from scratch, scanned hard copies, or by converting digital documents. A good PDF editor should be able to transform a variety of file types—from Microsoft Office formats to images to HTML—and do so seamlessly, preserving the original formatting. It should also include OCR technology to make the PDF text searchable and editable. Likewise, a good PDF editor must be able to export PDFs into other editable formats such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, HTML, or plain text, maintaining the original files hyperlinks, images, and other elements.

Content editing

Another bit of magic that PDF editors unlock is the ability to modify text; insert, resize, and move images; and reorganize pages in the PDF. A good one will perform these tasks as easily as in a text document or slide deck, allowing in-line editing, dragging-and dropping graphics, and adding or removing hyperlinks.

Review and annotate

A good PDF editor should also let you or anyone else using it add comments and other annotations to PDF files during review. It should have tools to mark up both text documents and graphic-heavy files like webpages. Common options include sticky notes, callout boxes, highlighting, freehand drawing tools, and stamps with messages like “approved,” “revised,” and “confidential.”

Security

All businesses deal with documents containing sensitive data. Look for a PDF editor that includes security features that allow access for authorized eyes only. Good options will usually offer several levels of security, including password protection, permissions setting, and content redaction, which “blacks out” selected text and images. Most PDF editors will also offer one or more ways to electronically sign documents.

Mobile support

While deep PDF editing is best done on a desktop, it’s nice to be able to review and annotate files when you’re out and about. While PDFs can typically be reviewed in any PDF reader or editor, regardless of which one they were created in, consider looking for an editor that has a dedicated mobile app, is optimized for mobile devices, or allows cloud access to features through a mobile browser.

One of the great things about a PDF is that it can be read and edited in any PDF program regardless of which one it was created in. So beyond the features outlined here, let your personal preferences guide you in making your decision.

Amazon is currently selling its 55-inch Ember 4K Smart TV for just $279.99, a 39% discount off its original $459.99 price. That matches the lowest price it’s ever been, representing a great deal in the days leading up to October Prime Day next week. If you want a feature-rich 4K TV for under $300, this is the deal you want to jump on.

What the Amazon Ember 4K TV offers

This Amazon Ember TV (model 4K55N402) has a large 55-inch screen with ultra-high-def 3840×2160 4K resolution, complete with HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG support, ensuring greater contrast and rendering of dark areas. You’ll notice the difference when watching compatible streaming content.

With Direct LED backlighting and a 60Hz refresh rate, it’s great for well-lit rooms and sufficient for everyday TV, movies, and gaming. If you’re a serious gamer, you may want to opt for a more specialist model with 120Hz, 144Hz, or even 165Hz of refresh instead. As for audio, the built-in speakers support Dolby Audio and suffice for standard fare. If you’re picky about audio, maybe supplement with an Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus.

Between the quad-core processor and updated Fire OS, the Ember 4-Series delivers a smoother experience, faster app launches, more responsive menus and interfaces, and shorter content load times. It’s especially noticeable when streaming high-resolution content and cloud gaming. Fire OS offers access to platforms like Netflix, YouTube, and Prime Video, plus free ad-supported content. The Alexa Voice Remote makes it easier to search for content, bypassing the need to use on-screen keyboards.

One extra cool feature is Ambient TV Mode, which can passively display photos and/or 2,000+ free works of art. It’s activated via ambient sensors that detect when people are in the room, at which point the TV becomes a decorative display instead of a flat, black screen. But you’ll need to keep the TV in standby rather than shutting it off when not in use.

Is this the right deal for you?

Reception for the 55-inch Amazon Ember 4-Series Smart TV is generally positive, with a 4.2 rating across 1,800+ reviews. Most of the praise is for its overall value, simple setup, 4K picture quality, vivid contrast, and user-friendly interface. 55-inch 4K TVs typically only fall under the $300 mark during big sales events, so now’s your opportunity.

This TV is best suited as an entry-level 4K option for avid streamers, casual gamers, and those who want the decorative atmosphere offered by Ambient TV Mode. It’s not the best choice for users who have high gaming demands, for home cinema enthusiasts who expect peak brightness and premium black levels, or for picky audiophiles. It’s also not a good fit if you want to avoid the Fire TV ecosystem that’s heavily integrated into the TV.

For more great deals worth scoring, check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best early October Prime Day tech deals.

There’s a particular kind of frustration that anyone juggling meetings, classes, or creative projects knows well: the good idea that slipped away because you were too busy talking to write it down, the client detail buried somewhere in a call, the lecture point you meant to revisit but never found again. Information isn’t usually lost because we weren’t paying attention—it’s lost because it was never captured in a form we could actually use later.

Soulog Sense, the new AI Voice Recorder with a Personal Context System from Soulog, is built around that exact problem. Rather than treating recording as an end in itself, it treats a recording as raw material—something to be understood, connected, and turned into an output you can act on.

Capture First, Think Later

The device itself is designed to disappear into daily life. At just 0.124 inch (3.15mm) thick, Soulog Sense is slim enough to sit magnetically on a compatible phone or case. Before the first recording, users activate the device in the Soulog App. After that, recording starts with a simple physical sequence: slide the Power Switch up to turn on the device, then flip the Recording Switch up to start and down to stop and save the file. The dedicated power switch also gives users full hardware control when they want the device truly off. With more than 50 hours of continuous recording on a full charge, it’s built to keep pace with a packed week of meetings, classes, or travel rather than needing constant attention.

One of Soulog Sense’s more thoughtful features is 30-Minute Live Rewind. Off by default, it must be enabled in the Soulog App while the device is on. Once active, pressing and holding the multifunction button saves up to the previous 30 minutes of audio—useful when a casual conversation becomes worth keeping before anyone thinks to start record. Live Rewind cannot retrieve audio from before the feature was enabled. As with any recording feature, users should make participants aware and comply with applicable recording and consent laws.

From Recording to Understanding

What sets Soulog Sense apart isn’t just what it captures, but what happens afterward. Powered by Soulog APP, from Capture → Structure → Understand → Connect → Create → Publish, the system doesn’t just transcribe—it works to understand meaning, connect related context across sessions, and generate structured outputs like summaries, key points, action items, owners, and open questions. Unlimited transcription spans more than 120 languages, with support for Vocabulary Management so specialized vocabulary doesn’t get lost in translation.

For professionals tracking client calls or project meetings, Speaker Recognition can recognize and label registered voices—supporting one primary user and up to nine additional profiles, all encrypted and used only with the registered person’s permission. For students and researchers, that same structure helps turn a semester’s worth of lectures into organized, searchable material instead of a pile of disconnected files.

Perhaps Soulog’s most distinctive feature is its Personal Context System, which brings related recordings, images, and files together as a connected body of context. A creator can combine interview clips with reference notes, a traveler can organize voice memos alongside trip photos, and a consultant can bring together research from multiple client calls. Instead of searching through hours of audio for one useful moment, users can ask questions across that accumulated material and trace the response back to its source.

Built for How People Actually Work

Soulog Sense won’t do the thinking for you—it’s a tool for keeping personal context connected so you don’t have to reconstruct it later. For the professional moving between calls, the parent trying to hold onto small family moments, the student trying to truly listen instead of transcribe, or the creative chasing an idea before it disappears, that connection is the point. Capture what matters. Let Soulog keep it together. Turn it into something you can use.

After a recording is completed, the Soulog app can generate transcripts in 120+ languages and, depending on the plan, apply features such as Speaker Recognition, Vocabulary Management, structured AI summaries, and actionable insights. Unlimited transcription and 30-Minute Live Rewind are available on the Free plan. Other advanced features vary by subscription tier and can be explored through a seven-day Pro trial. Check the current plan details for the exact features included.

Order now for a limited-time discount

Soulog Sense retails for $139.99 in the U.S. From September 28 through October 28, 2026, all users can receive 20% off, bringing the early-bird price to $111.99.

October Prime Day (officially known as “Prime Big Deal Days”) is coming next week! If you missed out on June’s Prime Day, this is your chance to snag a bunch of stuff on sale—hopefully stuff that’s already in your cart, waiting for you to pull the trigger.

Prime Big Deal Days runs Tuesday, October 6th to Wednesday, October 7th. But if you have cash to spend right now and you want to score some early deals ahead of the big event, here are some of the coolest tech deals I’ve spotted in the days leading up.

The Ring Battery Doorbell 2K is on sale for $39.99, down from $99.99. And the Ring Indoor Cam is on sale for $24.99, down from $49.99. But if you’re interested in both, you’re in luck—Amazon has bundled the two together and priced the package at just $49.99. That’s a $150 value with a massive $100 discount, or an extra $15 off buying them separately. That’s a huge deal ahead of October Prime Day next week.

That Ring Battery Doorbell 2K is great for first-timers, with its no-wire setup and battery-operated design. You’re getting 2K resolution with up to 6x Enhanced Zoom, plus Two-Way Talk so you can give instructions to couriers and scare away intruders. The battery should last 1–3 months on a charge, and recharging is done via USB-C (just pop it off the mount first).

And the Ring Indoor Cam offers 1080p coverage with night vision and a live feed that you can check into at any time. Mount it on a table, a shelf, or a wall, but note that this one’s wired so you’ll need it to be within the vicinity of a power outlet. It also swivels so you can point it exactly where you want, and it also has Two-Way Talk so you can chat with family while away.

With this bundle, you can cover both inside and outside for just $49.99—you’d normally pay more than that for a single video doorbell. If you want to score more deals like this, check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best early October Prime Day tech deals.

Price When Reviewed

$1,699

Best Prices Today: Anthbot N8

Robotic mowers almost always leave the clippings on the lawn, but the Anthbot N8 does it differently. It collects grass and leaves and deposits both at a location of its choosing. This means it’s not just another variant of a mulching mower, but a machine for yard owners who prefer a tidy lawn.

Anthbot N8: Design and build quality

Anyone seeing the N8 on the lawn for the first time might easily underestimate it. At 24 inches long, the body itself is still manageable. With the grass catcher attached, the robot measures just under 3.3 feet. The manufacturer states a net weight of 38.7 pounds, while the shipping box says it weighs over 33 pounds.

The build quality is impressive. The top of the body is light in color, while the bumpers and underbody are anthracite. A purple ring on the wheels adds a splash of color. The drive wheels, with their deep tread, grip well even on damp grass. On the top is a control panel with a red stop button, three membrane keys, a battery indicator, and four status LEDs for 4G, Wi-Fi, GPS, and warnings. There is no display. All settings are managed via the app.

At the front, there are two camera openings behind the bumper, with an LED headlight between them. The robot is IPX6-rated for protection against water jets and can be hosed down with a garden hose. The charging station is IPX5-rated, and the adapter delivers 42 volts at 168 watts.

Anthbot N8: Two mowing systems

The N8 has two operating modes. These are not controlled by a switch in the app, but by the blade disc.

The Cyclone system collects clippings. The flat disc is fitted with three blades, which are bolted to the edge and bent upwards at the ends, similar to the high-lift blades on a gas mower. As the blades rotate, the wings on them generate an airflow. The mower deck above them tapers in a spiral pattern and opens into a discharge chute at the rear.

The disc acts like a blower. It lifts the blades of grass, cuts them, and carries the clippings and leaves into the grass catcher via airflow. Anthbot quotes a collection rate of up to 99 percent and 4,000 revolutions per minute.

The Particle system mulches. This cutting disc is fitted with six blades: three straight blades and three spoon-shaped ones. The spoon-shaped ones keep the clippings in motion, while the blades break them down so they’re blown backwards and fall between the blades.

The two rear attachments differ mainly at the bottom. The 6.1-gallon grass catcher is enclosed and collects the clippings, while the discharge deflector is open at the bottom, directing the clippings straight onto the lawn. Both attach behind a hinged rear panel, which can be opened with a single movement. The N8 recognizes automatically which attachment is fitted to the mower. In the app’s main menu, Mulching is greyed out as long as the grass catcher is fitted.

To change the disc, screws on the underside need to be loosened first. This is a bit fiddly, but it’s meant to ensure safety. You only need to change the disc once or twice a season. The collection disc comes fitted as standard. If you want to mulch, you’ll need to swap the blade. When buying replacements, keep in mind that the N8 uses two different blade types: curved ones for the collection disc and straight ones for the mulching system.

Anthbot N8: Setup

There are more individual parts in the box than with many robotic mowers. As a result, assembly takes a little longer, but is straightforward. Clipping the two rear attachments (collection basket and discharge deflector) into place is a bit fiddly, as they need to be clipped into the correct position on the wire frames. No screws are required.

The charging station’s cables run through plastic screw connectors and are color-coded: purple for power and green for RTK. When connecting them, make sure to tighten them gently.

The charging pad should be placed near the lawn, plugged into a socket. The app requires about 6.5 feet of clear space all around it as well as a Wi-Fi connection. At the top end of the station, the contact unit protrudes from the housing with two round contacts; above this is a black-and-white marking consisting of a cross and arrows, which the robot mower’s camera uses for orientation when docking.

The RTK antenna is mounted on a pole with a three-pronged ground spike and requires a clear view of the sky. If you skip this step, the N8 will use NetRTK via mobile networks and obtain its correction data from the internet. The 4G service is free for one year. After that, it costs $35.99 for one year, $75.99 for two years, and $107.99 for three years.

Setup is done via the app. You pair the robot via Bluetooth, enter the Wi-Fi details, check the firmware, and then create the map. Automatic mapping (in the ACC app) isn’t something you can do while lounging in a deckchair.

The app requires clearly defined lawn edges and for you to follow the robot. Alternatively, you can map manually and guide the robot along the lawn edges using two joysticks.

Before the first mowing session, the grass should be shorter than 3 inches. The app recommends working your way down in stages from 3 to 2, and then to 1 inch. In our case, it took three or four passes before we were satisfied with the result.

Anthbot N8: Features and app

The app is clearly laid out and offers plenty of features. You can set up to 30 zones, each with its own name, and adjust the cutting height, mowing direction, and camera detection sensitivity separately for each one. The cutting height ranges from 1.2 to 2.8 inches, in 0.2-inch increments. The travel speed can be set to 0.66, 0.98, or 1.31 feet per second. For track spacing, you can choose between High Efficiency and Precision Cut. For the number of passes, you can choose between one and two.

You can adjust the sensitivity of the N8’s obstacle detection in three levels. The high setting avoids stepping stones and areas covered in leaves. The medium setting avoids stone paths and terrace edges. The low setting avoids only large areas without grass. If you switch off camera detection, you must first set up the pool, raised slabs, and tree roots as restricted zones. The app will remind you of this.

The N8 detects rain and pauses for a pre-set period of three hours. It also features schedules, a quiet mode, anti-theft protection, a mower cleaning function, and a dedicated mode for the area around the charging station.

The Sweeping mode is not a third operating mode, but a profile for collection mode with two pre-set passes. Speed and noise levels remain the same. Sweeping doesn’t quite describe the process accurately, as nothing is actually swept up. A tip for autumn: If you just want to clear leaves from the area without cutting the grass, set it to 2.8 inches. As long as the grass remains below this height, the blades barely touch it.

Anthbot N8: Collecting and emptying

This is where the N8 really shines. The grass catcher fills up without leaving any significant debris behind. Nothing sticks to the soles of your shoes or your dog’s paws anymore.

You don’t have to empty the full collection basket yourself. A sensor monitors the fill level. When the grass box is full, the robot moves to a pre-defined dumping area, tilts the grass box and rear panel upwards, and then carries on working. This also happens at the end of a job or on command via the app.

You can set up to five such areas, each at least 5 by 5 feet in size, which can be rotated and resized in the app. One detail: the dumping area must be within the mowing zone. If you’d like it to be somewhere else, simply extend the mowing zone accordingly.

There’s a reason why it’s a discharge area rather than a single point. The N8 discharges in a staggered pattern. This creates several small piles instead of a single cone, which could block the discharge. In our test, the discharge worked without a single failure.

The clippings in the basket are coarser than one might expect. The collection disc cuts once and then conveys the clippings on. It does not shred them. The result is reminiscent of an electric mower with a grass catcher: pieces of grass interspersed with leaves and leaf fragments. The contents of the grass catcher can be composted or put in the organic waste bin.

A minor design flaw only becomes apparent when it rains. The upper covering of the collection basket is waterproof and forms a hollow in the center where rainwater collects. This does not hinder mowing or emptying. The water drains out when the basket is tipped. If the robot is in its docking station during a shower, a puddle forms. The original garage only covers the robot itself. The collection basket protrudes from the rear. A drain in the collection basket would be a simple improvement for the next model.

Anthbot N8: Fallen leaves

Falling leaves are usually shredded by robotic mowers and often remain visible on the lawn. When there are large quantities, this is more than just a cosmetic issue. The layer of leaves can block out light from the grass, and the organic matter provides food for fungi. Leaves from trees infested with fungi should be removed from the lawn entirely anyway, as mulching spreads the pathogen. This is precisely where the N8 excels thanks to its Cyclone blade disc and collection basket.

On our test lawn, the area that had already been mown was largely clear after a single pass, while the leaves were still lying all over the area right next to it. The area wasn’t completely free of leaves, with a few individual leaves remaining. I can only achieve this level of cleanliness with a hand rake and great effort.

The overall result is impressive: I come home from the office in the evening to find the leaves gathered in a small pile at the edge rather than scattered across the lawn. No other robotic lawnmower has managed this on our test course so far. You should clean the grass catcher every now and then with a broom or garden hose to ensure air can escape unhindered.

Anthbot N8: Lanes, turning, and edges

There’s nothing to complain about when it comes to the mowing result. The N8 cuts parallel lines with a slight striped pattern and covers the area completely. For the evaluation, we set up a 360-degree camera (DJI Osmo 360 II) securely at the edge of the lawn and recorded the process as a time-lapse. This allowed us to track the path, turning maneuvers, and evasive movements over a complete run.

During initial commissioning with an early firmware version, the robot’s behavior at the end of the track seemed erratic. Some tracks were missed, and the mower shut down while turning. Anthbot quickly rectified the issue. With firmware 0.3.90, navigation ran smoothly.

Turning maneuvers remain complicated, and this is down to the design. The mower head is rigidly attached to the rear and does not turn with the robot. When the robot turns on the spot, this rear end swings outwards in a wide arc and collides with a wall, fence, or hedge, even though the wheels are free to move. Consequently, the N8 first veers off to the side, reverses, and then turns into the new path.

Each end of a track thus requires several maneuvers. This extends the working time and has a greater impact the more turns are required – that is, when the mowing direction is transverse and the track spacing is narrow, and even more so when two passes are made.

A strip remains uncut at the edge, up to about 6 inches depending on the distance to walls and obstacles. This is not a weakness of this model. A centrally mounted mower without a swiveling disc or trimmer cannot reach the edge. Three edge passes at the end of each mowing session reduce the width of the strip, but do not eliminate it entirely. Trimmers or hand shears are still required.

Anthbot N8: Obstacle detection

On the test course, the N8 avoided a crisp packet, a watering can, fake hedgehogs, and children’s toys. It only recognized the fake dog poo at a cutting height of 1.8 inches and below – in other words, on short grass. The reason for this is the camera position. Taller blades of grass obscure objects that are low to the ground before the detection system kicks in. In this respect, the N8 is roughly on a par with the Navimow i210 LiDAR Pro.

The N8 is also fitted with an LED spotlight. We advise against mowing at dusk or at night, as small animals are most active at those times. The schedules in the app offer the necessary settings to avoid this.

Anthbot N8: Noise level, speed

The N8 delivers on its 4-in-1 promise (mowing, mulching, collection, and leaf clearing) thanks to two distinctive features. The first is its noise level. In collection mode with the grass catcher fitted, we measured just under 68 decibels from a distance of 3.28 feet. This is down to the design. The blade disc and spiral housing work together to generate the airflow, and this requires a certain rotational speed. This cannot be optimized via a software update.

When in operation, the N8 sounds like a cordless lawnmower.

The second compromise is the working speed. In one test area, the N8 mowed 1,200 square feet in 97 minutes, which works out at around740 square feet per hour. At the fastest speed setting, the maximum is 1.3 feet per second. You’ve also got to remember that it’s consuming more power in this mode.

In another run, mowing an area of 960 square feet used up around 80 percent of the battery charge. With a charging time of 80 minutes, the N8 takes a corresponding number of charging breaks when covering larger areas. Anthbot itself quotes around 2,150 square feet of continuous mowing with the grass catcher fitted.

Anthbot N8: Conclusion

The Anthbot N8 is a specialist mower, and I mean that as a compliment. As a grass-collecting robotic mower and leaf clearer, it tackles tasks that were previously the preserve of rakes and leaf vacuums. The collection system works thoroughly, the automatic emptying function performed flawlessly in our test, and the app offers plenty of customization options without becoming confusing.

The drawbacks stem from its design. The grass catcher makes the robotic mower longer and noisier, and it slows it down. The water trough on the grass catcher cover remains an avoidable blunder. Small, winding gardens with lots of corners are also not suitable for it.

Before buying, consider how important grass collection is to you. If you want to leave the clippings on the lawn as fertilizer, you’re better off with the other Anthbot models, depending on the size of your lawn.

Anthbot N8: Specifications

• Model: Anthbot N8
• Price: $1,699
• Mowing systems: Cyclone disc with three blades for collection | Particle disc with six blades for mulching
• Cutting width: 7.9 inches
• Cutting height: 1.2 to 2.8, adjustable in 0.2-inch increments
• Grass box capacity: 61 gallons, automatic emptying at up to five discharge points
• Navigation: Full-band RTK with reference station and dual-vision cameras, optional NetRTK via 4G
• Obstacle detection: AI camera detection, sensitivity in three levels
• Mowing zones: Up to 30, each with its own cutting height, mowing direction, and detection level
• Travel speed: 0.7 to 1.3 ft./sec.
• Battery: 9.2 Ah, 198 Wh, 21.6 V
• Charging time: 80 minutes
• Maximum gradient: 24 degrees (45 percent), not tested
• Noise level: 68 dB in collection mode
• Dimensions: 24 x 17 x 13.1 without grass catcher
• Weight: 38.7 pounds
• Water resistance: IPX6 (robot), IPX5 (charging station)
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 2.4 and 5 GHz, Bluetooth, 4G
• Firmware version: 0.3.90

Malware can gain access to more than just documents and apps on your PC. Get infected with a certain kind of virus, and your camera and microphone are fair game, too.

You can minimize part of the headache by disabling unused microphones. For example, maybe you have both a dedicated microphone and a webcam with a built-in mic connected—if you disable the webcam’s mic and activate the standalone mic’s mute button, that should block any eavesdropping.

Added bonus: You’ll minimize the annoyance of starting Zoom and Teams calls with the wrong mic active. (I swear, for me it’s every. single. time.)

How to disable a microphone in Windows

Head to the Sound settings in Windows (Settings > System > Sound). Under Input, click on the audio device you want to disable—this could be a webcam, a headset, or something else.

In the individual device’s settings, find General > Audio. Click on the Don’t allow button.

Why not just disconnect the cable?

Unplugging an audio device from your PC is a valid strategy if you use it rarely. But otherwise, you may run into one of two problems:

1 – You can’t use the device because the audio input is mixed with other signals and routed over a single cable. (Ex: webcam)

2 – Your USB port wears out from frequent use.

The second problem is fixable by buying a USB hub that has individual on/off switches. But turning off Windows’ access to a mic is free.

Keep antivirus active on your PC!

You can disable your microphone(s) as a precaution, but also take steps to avoid getting spyware in the first place. Let your antivirus program scan your system regularly, and avoid shady websites and downloads. Also keep an eye on your browser extensions and apps installed—sometimes, legit ones can turn bad right under your nose.

Logitech is launching the Zone Vibe Pro, a wireless over-ear headset that’s designed to be used both at work and in your free time.

The Zone Vibe Pro doesn’t have a traditional microphone boom, instead using AI-based voice isolation to reduce background noise. The speakers feature 40mm drivers and adaptive active noise cancellation (ANC).

With ANC enabled, the battery life is expected to last up to 30 hours with music playback or up to 18 hours with active talk time. Without noise cancellation, the battery life can reach up to 66 hours. A 5-minute charge is all that’s needed to regain about 1 hour of talk time.

This headset can be connected to multiple devices via Bluetooth Multipoint, and the sound quality can be customized using the Logi Tune app. Logitech has also made the headband, ear cushions, and battery replaceable to extend the headset’s overall lifespan. Not a bad move given the current state of high-priced consumer electronics.

So what exactly makes this headset for work and leisure? Here’s what Logitech says in its announcement post:

“Modern professionals working across open offices, at home or on the go, shouldn’t need multiple audio solutions for work and life,” said Joseph Mingori, VP and General Manager of Mobile and Audio Solutions at Logitech. “Zone Vibe Pro solves that problem by giving employees the option of great sound everywhere with comfortable fit while giving IT teams reliable, certified hardware.”

The Logitech Zone Vibe Pro is available now for $259.99 in three colors: Black, Graphite, and Off-White. For a limited time, it also comes with a free Logitech Wooden Headset Stand included.

This was supposed to be the year Microsoft fixed Windows 11.

Back in March, Microsoft made an unusually blunt promise: Windows would become faster, more reliable, more consistent, and less eager to shove Copilot into every corner of the operating system. Six months later, Windows 11 26H2 is rolling out, and it’s time to grade the results.

The early report card? Search earns an A-, Microsoft has done a decent job putting Copilot back in its lane, and Windows feels noticeably quieter. But the Start menu still gets a C, and performance on 8GB PCs remains a work in progress.

That makes 26H2 less of a dramatic new beginning than a progress report on Microsoft’s Windows reset. And in several important ways, the company really has listened.

Microsoft’s Windows 11 26H2 Update is here, and you should already have it

First things first: chances are that you’ve already had a chance to experience Microsoft’s changes for yourself. Though Microsoft now issues a single, major “feature release” each fall, the changes are actually delivered incrementally. Each month, Microsoft delivers some incremental pieces of code as part of its Patch Tuesday updates, which deliver some of these feature improvements on a regular cadence. The fall update rolling out this week simply “rolls up” those changes within a single update, if a user or organization has optionally delayed those changes for whatever reason.

And the changes to Windows aren’t necessarily additions, either. In general, they’re a look back to what Windows was, in an era before AI was rampant and the world ran on Windows 10.

Let’s get to the grades.

Taskbar and Start menu: C

In September, Microsoft’s update finally allowed you to move your Windows taskbar to any part of the screen you wish, adjust the size, and tweak items such as badging options for individual icons.

Likewise, the Start menu now allows you to resize the individual icons, with separate buttons for Pinned, Recently Used, and All.

I hate to say it, but neither change made a profound difference to me. I absolutely give credit to Microsoft for making these changes, if only because it acknowledged that the company was listening to its customers. I briefly noodled with moving the Start menu around within Windows 10; some of the early browser experiments in rearranging tabs made readjusting the Start menu a fun experiment.

What Windows 11 ultimately “taught” me was that I didn’t strongly care where my taskbar ended up, and forcing it to the bottom center was something I learned to live with.

The Windows 11 Start menu, though, I still truly despise. I really enjoyed how Windows 10’s Start menu combined dynamic live tiles/widgets, which used the large, bright icons to full effect. I would actually use my mouse to navigate either through my array of Live Tiles, or scroll through the alphabetical listing of additional apps. Windows 11’s Start menu used to have that, too! Microsoft pledged to make Start feel faster by moving to WinUI3, and I guess it does. But that’s not really the issue here.

Today, I simply launch new applications by “searching” for them (Win+[app name]) and use the app to bring up recent documents. For me, the “Start” menu is now the icons I have pinned to the Taskbar. But if you do happen to use it yourself, it does feel faster now.

Teaching Copilot to chill: B

I think Microsoft has made progress here. For many, any AI is too much AI, but for a while there, Copilot was everywhere, with its injection into Notepad as its most egregious offense.

Now, you don’t see Copilot icons in Notepad, Photos, and the Windows Snipping Tool anymore (thankfully). You still see it within the Copilot application, obviously (where Microsoft has eliminated its goofy avatar) and within the Microsoft 365 applications, where I think it truly belongs. (Copilot destroyed its human competition in the Excel World Championship when I recently tested it.)

Microsoft has fussed over its application UI, with one change in May and another, more visionary update just a few days ago, with an eye towards using Windows and Microsoft 365 as a home for vibe-coding and autonomous agents.

The latter effort could lead to trouble, as Microsoft will undoubtedly feel encouraged to show off what those agents can do for you. But for now, Copilot has been corralled into a few specialized applications where it fits naturally.

AI also still exists within Paint, where Copilot can be explicitly asked to design stickers or an AI-generated piece of art. And yeah, that still feels a little weird. What I do like are the image-processing tools within Photos, with everything from generative erasing to super resolution. They’re just Copilot without the Copilot brand, and that’s probably the model going forward: just give us useful AI utilities without throwing Copilot in our face — and use the PC’s local resources where possible.

Improved Search: A-

Microsoft promised “a more consistent search experience across the Taskbar, Start, File Explorer and Settings,” as well as “clearer and more trustworthy results.” I think it’s delivered.

Typing a search term — “Copilot,” say — into the Taskbar’s search box produces clear differences between apps, settings, and documents. Searching within File Explorer, at least on my SSD-equipped PC, can be as quick as lighting, and rarely takes longer than a second or two across my entire laptop.

Again, habit has taught me to open the application, and then the file. However, Windows’ search speed now tempts me to do the opposite. It’s seen a big improvement this year.

Windows Update and the Out of the Box (OOBE) experience: B

Microsoft basically acknowledged that Windows updates were out of control, pledging to move back to a single monthly update.

I appreciate that, but the Windows update process now achieves something Microsoft traditionally struggles with: simplicity on the surface, with more complexity hidden underneath. Do I want the latest updates ASAP? A simple toggle enables this. Do I want to delay the update? I can, and select a specific date as well.

That’s exactly what many people want. Me too. I appreciate even nerdier options such as selecting optional preview and driver updates, as well as the numerous options to reset your PC when something goes wrong or an update fails. There’s even “quick machine recovery,” an automated process I’ve never been forced to experiment with, thankfully. My only complaint at the moment is that the “delivery optimization” feature that’s existed within Windows for years — designed to share updates locally, without needing to download from an Internet server — has never seemed to work, ever.

Resetting or setting up a new PC is also supposed to be faster, and it generally is. One of Windows’ new features is its ability to defer updates, delivering you to the desktop faster. I’ve never taken advantage of this, but anything that smooths the process is a step forward.

I still don’t entirely like the Windows Insider hierarchy for preview builds, however. While I like the easier way to migrate a PC in and out of Insider builds, the process of selecting “beta” and “experimental” builds, then opting in to a “release preview” update, then picking which of the code bases to use… It’s too convoluted. On the other hand, I don’t really think the corps of Insiders wants yet another change to the program.

Windows performance, especially on 8GB PCs: B

This is a tough one. I simply couldn’t say for certain whether Windows feels faster without doing a head-to-head comparison with the same hardware.

What I will say is that PCWorld has tested a few laptops with 8GB of memory installed, such as the Dell XPS 13 this past August. In my own experience, these affordable PCs — based on Intel’s Wildcat Lake processor and its Project Firefly initiative — feel akin to Chromebooks, capable of performing many basic tasks.

For me, the dividing line between what these PCs can or can’t do falls somewhere between the “required” and “recommended” specifications that software vendors include. Will the application run, and will it run well? I never had any problem with basic Web browsing or the Microsoft Office applications on the 8GB laptops I tried. However, simply opening Microsoft Edge with ten browser tabs sucked up virtually every bit of memory that Windows provided, and even an idle background app affected performance.

I think Microsoft has more work to do here, and it may never match Apple in how effectively it aligns its silicon with its operating system and applications. The question is, will it need to? If the memory crunch continues, Microsoft developers will be forced to keep busy. If it evaporates, Windows can begin gobbling up memory once again.

A “quieter” Windows: A-

I’m sure many readers will disagree with me here, but Windows does feel less intrusive. Microsoft’s pledge to make Windows “quieter” essentially targeted Widgets, the crazy-quilt app that lives in the right-hand corner of your PC. Widgets began as a simple notification of the current forecast, a change in a stock price, or a notable news event, but quickly became a repository for every random bit of information Microsoft’s Bing search engine could dredge up.

Fortunately, Microsoft has reined it in once again. I’m sure many readers see no use for Widgets at all (and if I weren’t in media, I’d agree) but Widgets sits quietly to one side. I also haven’t seen many “ads” for Windows features pop up, either. Then again, I kill off pretty much every Windows notification I can, and I think you should, too.

That’s my evaluation. What do you think? You can find PCWorld on Facebook, Bluesky, X, and more. Give us your grades.

It’s not often that I come across a productivity tip so good that it amazes even me. And that’s what happened when I started testing Windows’ hidden “energy recommendations” to extend laptop battery life.

Before external USB-C battery packs were a thing, I’d carry a backup laptop to conferences. I know, pen and paper work just fine. But to me, no power meant no productivity; what would happen if I needed to file a story as soon as possible? It’s part of the reason I began testing laptops with streaming and office work for a better sense of how long they’ll last.

Today, there’s a simple one-click way to extend your battery life within Windows, which brings together ten different methods of saving power. Oddly, Microsoft identifies them as “energy recommendations” to lower your carbon footprint, rather than power-saving techniques. But that’s exactly what they are. And they work! (The results of my testing are at the end.)

These energy recommendations hide within the Windows Settings menu (System > Power & battery). And right up top, Microsoft includes a nice big “Apply all” button to turn them on all at once. Let’s take a quick tour.

What’s in Microsoft’s “Energy recommendations”

Set the power mode for best energy efficiency. This is the famous Windows power slider, which can be adjusted for maximum performance or minimal power consumption. Really, you can make the argument that you might as well turn this on 24-7; most productivity apps don’t require a ton of horsepower, and dialing down the performance minimizes fan noise and maximizes battery life.

Turn on Dark Mode. This is more than an aesthetic decision. On modern displays like OLEDs, a “black” portion of your screen is literally off, saving power. On the other hand, sometimes I prefer smaller laptop screens to be lit brightly to make them easier to see.

Set the screen brightness for best energy efficiency. In Windows, this sets the screen brightness at 75 percent by default. Historically, this has been a simple, significant way to improve battery life, but as screen display types and backlight brightness varies between laptops, the improvements won’t be consistent.

Put my device to sleep after three minutes, and turn off my screen after three minutes. Two easy wins, but these are only useful if you’re staring off into space or leave your desk to get a coffee. Otherwise, these settings may never actually engage.

Turn on dynamic refresh rate. Modern laptop displays just don’t “paint” the screen at a fixed 60Hz. Many can now go up to 120Hz for smooth scrolling and mousing…but that takes more power. Many can now drop down to 30Hz to save power…but with potential display stuttering. Windows has a dynamic refresh rate option to intelligently go back and forth, but it’s typically off by default.

Turn off HDR to conserve energy. I’d leave it off all the time, period. High-dynamic range content isn’t designed for productivity applications, and exists mainly in premium streaming content and games.

Save power by optimizing screen contrast and brightness for the content shown. This is a little like the earlier entry, except that Windows will adjust the brightness for a Web page versus a movie. I usually leave this enabled by default, as it affects visual quality as well as the battery life.

The last two, turn off my screen saver and stop USB devices when my screen is off to help save battery are legacy controls, sort of. Although there is some debate on whether screensavers are necessary for OLED displays (or not), you can be certain that an attached USB device like a webcam or mouse will drain the laptop’s battery, whether the screen is off or on.

What’s the difference between these “energy recommendations” and the more conventional “energy saver” that usually turns on when your laptop battery hits 30 percent or so? The “recommendations” don’t really affect your laptop’s functionality (and productivity), while the energy saver can. Energy saver can halt some background tasks and sync requests, which can mean that crucial email might be held or file backups might be paused. That flies in the face of always-on productivity, though it does keep your laptop up and running.

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Microsoft also has some additional “recommendations” options for specialized devices, too. (Not these specialized devices, just ones with unique hardware.)

I usually turn off adaptive brightness, or Change brightness automatically when lighting around me changes, for testing a laptop, but it’s a significantly useful setting that can lower or dim the brightness of a laptop’s display. We’ve traditionally considered 250 nits of brightness or so to be the appropriate brightness for a laptop indoors, but OLED screens change the game. In testing for this article, I reduced a laptop with an OLED display down to 40 percent, which equated to just 65 nits. The high contrast ratio from the OLED display surprised me with its legibility.

Two options are only available to those laptops with a presence sensor, Automatically dim my screen when I look away and Automatically put my device to sleep when I leave. I find the first annoying, as the dimming distracts me. The latter, however, is a useful power-savings tool provided that you can trust your surroundings; walking away from a laptop in a public place is just asking for it to be stolen, power savings or not! That’s even more catastrophic than your battery gauge hitting zero.

Testing Microsoft’s energy recommendations. Do they work?

Do they! But as they say, your mileage may vary.

I tried both an Asus ZenBook A16 laptop as well as the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition. My thought was that both share a common processor architecture (Qualcomm Snapdragon ARM) but the former has an OLED display, and the latter an older IPS display. If the display is typically what gobbles up battery life, would there be a difference?

I didn’t perform full rundown tests; instead, I used Procyon’s specialized one-hour office productivity benchmark to track how much battery was chewed up in an hour’s worth of tests, leaving Wi-Fi on.

I wasn’t expecting much, and the Asus laptop didn’t deliver much: battery life dropped 17 percent in a single hour with my default settings (performance dialed down to a minimum but screen brightness up, and with virtually none of the recommendations in place), which equated to about 5.9 hours of battery life. With the recommendations on, the drain dropped to 14 percent per hour, or a projected 7.7 hours of battery life. Still, that’s close to a full work day, and 1.8 hours of difference.

On a second run (because I was kind of shocked that this worked so well), the battery draw dropped from 18 percent to 10 percent, though I turned the brightness up to maximum on my “normal” settings.

But the Surface Laptop — oh, man. Again, I used the same procedure (brightness turned up, performance down to “recommended” levels, with the other recommendations largely off) and Procyon measured a 16 percent drain per hour, projecting to 6.25 hours of battery life. But with the energy recommendations all enabled, battery dropped by just 8 percent, projecting to 12.5 hours of continuous work. I even double-checked it, with an even better score: a 17 percent hourly drop on my normal settings, and a 7 percent drop with Microsoft’s energy recommendations turned on.

Put simply, a single click doubled my battery life. What can it do for you?

Productivity in the news:

• Microsoft Copilot is getting a major update with an eye towards productivity. Here’s the breakdown.
• Ooh, a nerdy story combining ergonomics and monitor placement! You can do more if you’re not dealing with neck strain.
• Hate those Windows ads? Try adjusting these settings to minimize them.
• One followup to the recent Googlebook launch: Google confirms that some Chromebooks (the Plus devices are the default guess) will be upgradable to the new Aluminium OS.
• Applying Windows patches is fine — when it’s done right, there’s no interruption to your workday. When it goes wrong — catastrophe! And that still happens way too much to Windows 11.
• Meanwhile, colleague Alex Wawro gets right to the point: Is Windows 11 finally good?

Productivity on camera:

Sandra Andrews, head of Microsoft’s go-to-market for Surface, believes that the untold story of Surface is that it’s a touchscreen. (Source: analyst Carolina Milanesi.) I hope there’s more to it than that!

The Windows Clock app might be the most “blah” app on your PC. But it hides a “focus mode” feature that’s perfect for staying on task.

Productivity tip of the week: Shut down your desk as well as your PC

Implement a “shutdown ritual” at the end of every workday. Block out the final 10-15 minutes to clear your physical workspace, review completed tasks, and write down your top three non-negotiable priorities for tomorrow.

Clearing the deck before you step away creates a clean boundary between work and personal life, preventing off-hours mental rumination. When you return the next morning, you eliminate decision fatigue and start immediately on what actually matters instead of spending your first hour figuring out what to do. I personally don’t physically write these things down, but I do leave with a clear sense of how I’m going to start my next workday. Now that I think about it, however, this might be an even better way to end the week and set the stage for Monday.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for tuning in to this edition of Smart Mode, PCWorld’s newsletter devoted to helping you make the most of your life, smartly. Sign up and have it sent to your inbox every Thursday!

If you have five years, four months, and $1,138 to spare, you might be able stream every one of The New York Times‘ top 100 TV shows of the 21st century.

As you’d expect from any authoritative listicle, The Times‘ plaudits have prompted plenty of debate about the honorees and snubs. It’s also a reminder of how much great TV already exists, and how much time you could spend watching critically acclaimed shows from the past instead of trying to keep up with the present.

With that in mind, and with a little data-sorting help from AI, I set out to determine the most efficient ways to stream them all. Here is what I found:

What’s available where

To determine where each show is available to stream, I relied on data from JustWatch and developer tools from The Movie Database (TMDB), which let you slice and dice the data in different ways.

Let’s start with just a list of the top 100 shows and where you can stream them.

An interactive, sortable version of this chart is available here →

#	Show	Streaming service	Free options
1	Breaking Bad	Netflix	—
2	The Wire	HBO Max	—
3	Mad Men	HBO Max, AMC+	Plex (Season 1)
4	Succession	HBO Max	—
5	Fleabag	Prime Video	—
6	Game of Thrones	HBO Max	—
7	Veep	HBO Max	—
8	30 Rock	Hulu, Peacock	—
9	Curb Your Enthusiasm	HBO Max	—
10	Atlanta	Hulu	—
11	The Office (U.S.)	Peacock	—
12	Arrested Development	Netflix	—
13	Girls	HBO Max	—
14	Friday Night Lights	Prime Video, Paramount+	—
15	Six Feet Under	HBO Max	—
16	The Office (U.K.)	HBO Max, Hulu, Peacock, BritBox	Hoopla
17	The Americans	Hulu	—
18	I May Destroy You	HBO Max	—
19	Chernobyl	HBO Max	—
20	The Crown	Netflix	—
21	The White Lotus	HBO Max	—
22	Lost	Hulu	—
23	The Comeback	HBO Max	—
24	Deadwood	HBO Max	—
25	The Leftovers	HBO Max	—
26	Black Mirror	Netflix	—
27	Better Call Saul	Netflix	—
28	Band of Brothers	HBO Max	—
29	Key & Peele	Paramount+	Hoopla (Seasons 1-2), Pluto TV (Seasons 1-2)
30	Severance	Apple TV	—
31	Survivor	Paramount+, Hulu (Seasons 1, 12, 15, 40-42)	Pluto TV (Seasons 25-26, 31), Tubi (Season 1)
32	Andor	Disney+	—
33	Enlightened	HBO Max	—
34	Schitt’s Creek	HBO Max, Hulu	—
35	True Detective (Season 1)	HBO Max	—
36	The Pitt	HBO Max	—
37	Battlestar Galactica	Paramount+	Pluto TV
38	Homeland	Netflix, Hulu	—
39	Watchmen	HBO Max	—
40	Adolescence	Netflix	—
41	Louie	Direct purchase (ad-free)	Direct purchase
42	Hacks	HBO Max	—
43	Peaky Blinders	Netflix	—
44	BoJack Horseman	Netflix	—
45	Happy Valley	BritBox	Hoopla
46	Broad City	Hulu, Paramount+	—
47	Twin Peaks: The Return	Paramount+	Pluto TV
48	House of Cards	Netflix	—
49	Normal People	Hulu	—
50	Parks and Recreation	Peacock	—
51	The Good Place	Hulu, Prime Video, Peacock	—
52	Downton Abbey	Prime Video, Peacock, BritBox, PBS Passport	—
53	Stranger Things	Netflix	—
54	The Bureau	Paramount+, AMC+ (Season 4)	—
55	Insecure	HBO Max	—
56	Nathan for You	HBO Max, Paramount+	Pluto TV (Seasons 1-2), Hoopla (Season 2)
57	I Think You Should Leave	Netflix	—
58	Chappelle’s Show	Paramount+ (Seasons 1-2)	Hoopla, Tubi (Seasons 1-2)
59	PEN15	Hulu	—
60	Peep Show	Hulu, BritBox, Prime Video (Seasons 2-3)	Plex, Pluto TV, Roku Channel, Tubi, Prime Video (Seasons 4-9)
61	RuPaul’s Drag Race	Paramount+	Pluto TV (Seasons 1-15)
62	Slow Horses	Apple TV	—
63	The Thick of It	BritBox, Peacock (Seasons 1, 3-4)	—
64	Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown	HBO Max	Plex (Seasons 1-2, 4-10), Roku Channel (Seasons 1, 4-8), Pluto TV (Seasons 1-5)
65	Mare of Easttown	HBO Max	—
66	The Rehearsal	HBO Max	—
67	The Handmaid’s Tale	Hulu	—
68	Ozark	Netflix	—
69	Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations	HBO Max, Discovery+, Hulu (Seasons 1-2, 5, 7), Disney+ (Seasons 1-2, 5, 7)	Roku Channel, Pluto TV (Seasons 1-6, 8)
70	The Shield	Hulu, Prime Video	—
71	Beef (Season 1)	Netflix	—
72	Squid Game	Netflix	—
73	Barry	HBO Max	—
74	The Bear	Hulu, Disney+	—
75	Ted Lasso	Apple TV	—
76	Somebody Somewhere	HBO Max	—
77	Modern Family	Hulu, Peacock	—
78	It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia	Hulu	—
79	The Good Wife	Paramount+	Roku Channel
80	How To With John Wilson	HBO Max	—
81	The Queen’s Gambit	Netflix	—
82	Better Things	Hulu	—
83	Justified	Hulu	—
84	Planet Earth	HBO Max, Discovery+	—
85	The Great British Baking Show	Netflix (Seasons 5-7)	Roku Channel
86	Shogun	Hulu	—
87	Reservation Dogs	Hulu	—
88	Dexter	Paramount+	Roku Channel (Season 1)
89	Baby Reindeer	Netflix	—
90	Eastbound & Down	HBO Max	—
91	Catastrophe	Prime Video	—
92	The Night Of	HBO Max	—
93	Station Eleven	HBO Max	—
94	The Diplomat	Netflix	—
95	House	Hulu, Prime Video	—
96	Halt and Catch Fire	AMC+	Roku Channel (Season 1)
97	Community	Hulu, Peacock	—
98	The OA	Netflix	—
99	Gilmore Girls	Hulu, Prime Video	—
100	Scandal	Netflix, Hulu	—

The cost to stream everything

To figure out the total cost to watch all these shows, we first need to sum up how many are on each streaming service:

Service or bundle	Shows	Ad-supported	Ad-free
Disney+ and Hulu bundle	26	$13/mo	$21.99/mo
HBO Max	35	$11/mo	$18.49/mo
Netflix	20	$9/mo	$20/mo
Paramount+	11	$9/mo	$14/mo
Peacock	8	$13/mo	$20/mo
Apple TV	3	$15/mo	$15/mo
Prime Video	8	$9/mo	$14/mo
BritBox	5	$11/mo (ad-free)	$11/mo
AMC+	2	$8/mo	$11/mo
Roku Channel	4	$0/mo	$0/mo (w/ ads)
Hoopla	3	$0/mo (ad-free)	$0/mo
Louie	1	$30 (ad-free)	$30
Total	99/100	$98/mo + $30	$144.49/mo + $30

Should you pay upwards of $98 per month for access to all these shows? Of course not, because there aren’t enough hours in a day to watch even a tiny fraction of what’s available. If you really wanted to work your way through the list, you’d want to space out the subscriptions based on how much viewing time you’d realistically need.

To figure that out, we’ll calculate how many hours of New York Times-approved, 21st-century TV each service has to offer, based on data from JustWatch. To factor in time spent watching commercials on ad-supported services, we’ll use August 2026 data from Ampere (via Business Insider). We’ll assume Roku Channel and Tubi have similar ad loads, since data for the former is not available:

Service	Estimated hrs. (w/ ads)	Hrs. (ad-free)
Disney+ / Hulu Duo	1,549	1,337
Paramount+	1,370	1,164
HBO Max	922	863
Netflix	594	570
Peacock	144	133
Apple TV	78	78
Prime Video	61	59
Roku Channel	56	56 (w/ ads)
AMC+	25	23
BritBox	18	18 (ad-free)
Hoopla	1	1
Louie	22	22
Total	4,842	4,325

Given that the average American watches 2.5 hours of TV per day, here’s what it would cost to get through each service’s critically acclaimed catalog, one show at a time:

Option	Ad-supported (est.)	Ad-free
Disney+ / Hulu Duo	$273 for 21 months	$396 for 18 months
Paramount+	$171 for 19 months	$224 for 16 months
HBO Max	$143 for 13 months	$222 for 12 months
Netflix	$72 for 8 months	$160 for 8 months
Peacock	$26 for 2 months	$40 for 2 months
Apple TV	$30 for 2 months	$30 for 2 months
Prime Video	$9 for 1 month	$14 for 1 month
Roku Channel	$0 for 1 month	$0 for 1 month
AMC+	$8 for 1 month	$11 for 1 month
BritBox	$11 for 1 month	$11 for 1 month
Hoopla	$0 for 1 month	$0 for 1 month
Louie	$30 for 1 month	$30 for 1 month
Total	$773 for 71 months	$1,138 for 64 months

Note that you can combine Disney’s services with HBO Max, and Peacock with Apple TV for additional savings. I’ve counted them separately here because it’s cheaper that way if you’re just plowing through each show one at a time.

Of course, these calculations will change drastically based on how much TV you tend to watch per day:

• At one hour per day ad-free, it’ll take 12 years and 4 months and will cost $2,654 to watch all 100 shows. With ads, it’ll take 13 years and 10 months at a cost of $1,770.
• At four hours per day ad-free, it’ll take 3 years and 7 months and will cost $751 to watch all 100 shows. With ads, it’ll take 3 years and 11 months at a cost of cost $509.
• Got eight hours to watch TV every day? It’ll take 2 years and 2 months and will cost $437 to watch all the shows without ads, or 2 years and 4 months at a cost of $302 with ads.

You might also want to exclude shows you don’t care about or ones you’ve watched already. Here’s a little tool for calculating the cost and time commitment based on your own habits.

Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming TV advice.

TL;DR: SwifDoo PDF Pro edits, converts, and signs PDFs on Windows, and a lifetime license is $34.99 (reg. $129).

Most full PDF editors charge a monthly fee, and a web browser can only open a file and add basic markup. A SwifDoo PDF Pro perpetual lifetime license edits, converts, and signs PDFs for a one-time $34.99 (reg. $129).

SwifDoo edits text and images in existing PDFs, merges and splits files, and compresses large documents to the quality level you pick. Conversion goes both ways between PDF and Word, Excel, PowerPoint, JPG, EPUB, CAD, and more. OCR turns scanned pages into editable, searchable text, and batch processing converts or compresses a whole folder of files at once. For contracts and forms, you can add passwords and handwritten or uploaded signatures.

One buyer switched from opening PDFs in Microsoft Edge and called SwifDoo “feature packed.” SwifDoo runs on Windows 7 through 11, needs an internet connection to stay fully functional, and is for new users only.

Pay once for a PDF editor instead of renting one.

Get a SwifDoo PDF Pro perpetual lifetime license on sale for $34.99.

SwifDoo PDF Pro: Perpetual Lifetime License for WindowsSee Deal

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Gamers and PC users will spend hours tuning frame rates, working on a spreadsheet or presentation, or benchmarking a new GPU—but the chair underneath all of it often gets ignored. That’s a mistake, because no amount of horsepower fixes the ache that sets in after a long raid, a marathon coding session, or back-to-back video calls. A stiff neck, a sore lower back, legs that go numb by hour six—none of that is about discipline. It’s about sitting in a chair that was never designed to move with you.

LiberNovo builds two lines of dynamic ergonomic chairs—Omni and Maxis—around a different idea: the chair should do some of the work of keeping you comfortable, not just cushion you while you sit still.

This fall, timed to National Ergonomics Month, LiberNovo is running its Fall Prime Sale, cutting up to 37% off selected chairs and accessories.

The Real Cost of Sitting Still

If you’re gaming for hours at a stretch, running long builds in Visual Studio, or grinding through spreadsheets and back-to-back meetings on a Windows workstation, your body is under the same kind of load whether you’re a competitive streamer or an office IT admin: static pressure, in the same spots, for hours on end. A high-end chair with good foam doesn’t solve that—it just delays the discomfort by an hour or two.

LiberNovo’s chairs take a more active approach. ErgoPulse Motorized Lumbar Support adjusts as you shift in your seat instead of staying locked in one position. An OmniStretch Recovery Mode feature works relief into the middle of a work or gaming session instead of waiting for a break you might skip. And a 105 to 160° recline range lets you swing from an upright competitive-gaming posture to a fully reclined “watching a stream, not playing” position without swapping furniture.

The design idea is what LiberNovo calls a Dynamic Support System: headrest, backrest, armrests and seat move in sync, so support follows the body rather than holding it in one posture.

Shopping for an Ergonomic Chair? Check These Boxes

Not every “ergonomic” chair on the market earns the label. Before you buy, look for three things: adjustability that’s built around different body types (not a single generic frame), ErgoPulse Motorized Lumbar Support that tracks your movement rather than sitting fixed in place, and a recline mechanism that eases you back smoothly instead of dropping you.

Maxis, the headline series in this sale, is a larger-frame chair line engineered for Big & Tall gamers and professionals, sold in Basic, Standard, and Premium tiers across Manual, Electric, and Airflow builds. It’s built with a 52 cm ultra-deep seat for extra thigh support, a wider frame (430 mm across the shoulders, 520 mm at the waist), a U-shaped headrest with 140 mm of vertical and 120 mm of horizontal adjustment, curved arc armrests that keep pressure off your sides, and a six-spring recline system tuned for stability under a bigger frame. The Maxis frame is rated to 399 lb (181 kg) and sized for users from 5’10” to 6’7″ (178–200cm).

Maxis Airflow adds Active AirFlow Ventilation, a sensor-driven seat ventilation system powered by a rechargeable battery—a feature otherwise available only on the Omni Pro.

Omni covers the rest of the lineup: Omni Pro for a full electric feature set, Omni Gen as the do-everything middle option, and Omni SE as a straightforward manual chair for anyone making their first real upgrade from a basic office or gaming chair.

A core engineering feature shared by the Omni and Maxis is the Bionic FlexFit backrest, which uses eight adaptive panels and 16 pivot points to contour along the spine’s natural S-curve.

Why Now Is the Time to Buy

An ergonomic chair is closer to a PC build than an impulse buy—it’s a long-term investment, and LiberNovo has structured the sale that way. Buy early and you get 30-day price protection, plus gifts and automatic savings on qualifying orders, so there’s no incentive to rush the decision just to lock in a price. IT departments and studios outfitting five or more seats can also get bulk pricing across eligible Maxis and Omni models—a solid option for offices doing a round of workstation upgrades alongside new hardware.

Whether you’re chasing lower ping times in a raid, pushing through a long compile, or just trying to make an 8-hour workday less punishing, the LiberNovo Fall Prime Sale is worth a look. Think of it the same way you’d think of a GPU or RAM upgrade: it’s not glamorous, but it changes how every session actually feels.

The LiberNovo Fall Prime Sale runs September 30 to October 14, with some a limited-time Flash Sale between October 6-7 on some products and bundles.