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The holiday season is approaching, which means it’s almost time for that annual tradition of panicking over ridiculously expensive flights. But what if you could actually beat the system this year?

 

According to the latest data from Google Flights trip reportthe service is essentially a cheat sheet for booking the cheapest flights possible. They analyzed years of data to surface the exact best times to buy your tickets, taking all the guesswork out of the equation.

Whether you’re an over-planner or a last-minute scrambler, these findings reveal the clear patterns you need to know to avoid being fooled. Before you book anything, you’ll want to see this.

For more top travel tipsExplore these travel essentials you need for every vacation, then take a look at this travel checklist. You should also review CNET’s roundup of the best headphones for travel.

Don’t miss any of CNET’s unbiased technical content and lab-based analysis. Add us as your preferred Google font in Chrome.

Which days are cheapest to fly?

 

If you’re planning to book a flight, you’re probably trying to find the cheapest option. The cheapest flights are available for flights on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with Tuesday is the cheapest dayaccording to historical flight data.

Flying early in the week can save travelers around 13% on airfare compared to flying on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, with Sunday the most expensive day to fly.

Do layovers on flights save money?

It may come as no surprise that connecting flights are cheaper than direct flights, but you may not realize how significant these savings can be.

Google Flights data shows that travelers can save 22% by booking a flight with a stopover instead of a nonstop flight.

Which day of the week is cheapest to book flights?

There are certainly cheaper days to to flythere are no really cheaper days for book. “It’s worth knowing that you won’t save much by booking on a certain day of the week,” according to the Google report.

Tuesdays are typically the cheapest day of the week to bookaccording to the data, but bookings on Tuesdays are just 1.3% cheaper than the most expensive day, Sunday.

Is it cheaper to book flights far in advance?

To wait or not to wait? According to Google, it’s best to book your trip well in advance, especially if you need to fly on a specific day or time. There are some patterns you can look at to decide whether it’s better to wait for lower prices or book now based on specific scenarios, destinations, and travel dates.

To domestic flightsprices are generally the lowest among 23 and 51 days before your trip – with 39 days Before departure is, on average, the cheapest day to book.

To international flightsprices are generally lower between 49 days or more before your trip, but it’s usually best to book as early as possible. According to Google, “average prices do not drop significantly before departure, but generally begin to rise 50 days after the flight” for international travel from the US.

Also read: Google’s new AI Flight Deals tool works, but only if you’re an “anywhere, anytime” traveler

When is the best time to book a flight in each season?

Here’s what Google says about the best times to book flights and vacation trips to certain popular destinations.

Thanksgiving: The cheapest domestic flights during the Thanksgiving holiday are generally available 24 to 59 days in advance, with 35 days in advance being the cheapest — meaning it’s best to book Thanksgiving flights in late September or early October.

Christmas: The cheapest domestic flights during the winter holidays are generally available 32 to 73 days in advance, with 51 days in advance being the cheapest. It’s best to book Christmas or holiday flights from mid-October to mid-November.

Spring Break: The cheapest domestic flights in March and April are available 28 to 61 days in advance, with 43 days before departure being the cheapest time to book, on average.

Summer holidays: The cheapest domestic flights in July and August are generally available 14 to 43 days in advance, with 21 days before departure being the cheapest day on average to book.

When is the best time to book a flight to Europe?

International flights to Europe from the US are generally cheaper 48 or more days before departure. As with all international travel, it is generally good practice to book as early as possible.

When is the best time to book a flight to Mexico or the Caribbean?

International flights to Mexico and the Caribbean are the only exception to the broader international trend, according to Google. This is because flights are generally lower between 26 and 79 days in advance with 50 days being the cheapest.

What are the top holiday travel destinations in 2025?

Google also released insights into the most searched destinations for each holiday in the 2025 season.

Thanksgiving: The most searched domestic destinations for travel departing between November 23 and 30 include Columbia, South Carolina; Bozeman, Montana; Detroit, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska and more.

 

 

Christmas and New Year’s Eve: The most searched destinations for travel departing between the dates of December 21st to January 4th include Rio de Janeiro, Saint Lucia, Marrakech, Curacao and more.

 

 

For more, check out CNET’s picks for the best travel credit cards in 2025. You can also explore the 12 Travel Essentials You Always Need to Pack and the Worst Airlines for Flight Delays and Cancellations.

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.

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Battery life and power management are crucial, if overlooked, strengths, but they have always been one of Bose’s weaknesses. Its 2019 flagship earbuds, the NC700, offered around 20 hours of battery life, and its 2023 QuietComfort Ultra earbuds maxed out at 24 hours.

Review: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (Gen 2)

The new from Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) borrow one of the AirPods Max’s best power management features – but run it better. While the new headphones’ expanded 30-hour battery capacity is great, their efficiency is more valuable.

In addition to Bose’s undeniable strength in producing best-in-class noise cancellation and comfort, the new low power feature may be the most significant and useful improvement Bose has implemented in its latest headphones. Here’s why.

Intuitive automatic standby for victory

Most premium headphones have gyroscopes or motion detection systems that enable their wear detection features. Wear detection pauses audio content when the headphones detect that you’ve removed them from your head, and resumes content when you put them back on.

Apple’s AirPods Max and Bose’s QC Ultra 2 perform this feature best by pausing content when you remove the headphones and disconnect them from your phone’s Bluetooth. This lets you switch audio from your headphones to your phone without pressing a button. Both earbuds go into low power consumption mode when inactive for a specified period of time.

Plus: I’ve used the best headphones from Sony, Bose, Apple, and Sonos: See how the AirPods Max win

However, Bose’s QC Ultra 2 enters a low-power state faster than Apple’s AirPods Max, and you don’t need to put them in a case to achieve this. Simply place the QC Ultra 2 horizontally – earbuds facing up or down – and they’ll start saving battery.

On the other hand, the AirPods Max have Find My compatibility, which requires the earbuds to stay on to find your real-time location. This feature must be disabled for the AirPods Max to save as much power as possible.

As a result, the AirPods Max eventually enter the same low-power state as the Bose headphones, but this doesn’t happen until 72 hours outside the Smart Case or after 18 hours inside it. Apple allows constant access to the nearby location of your headphones, but this comes at the cost of slow battery drain.

To power button or not to power button

The lack of a power button on the AirPods Max was a hot topic shortly after its release in 2020, as many people prefer to have full control over their devices. Bose realized this feature gap, offering users an intuitive automatic standby mode and a dedicated power button.

The specs also show Bose’s power advantage, promising 30 hours of playback with ANC on and 45 hours with it off. On the other hand, Apple headphones have a maximum battery life of 20 hours, regardless of the audio mode.

Also: I tried the AI ​​noise cancellation of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones and can’t go back to normal ANC

The QC Ultra 2’s low-power out-of-the-box mode, along with generational improvements in battery life, means you’ll likely spend fewer days of the week plugging them into the wall. For travelers, office headset users, and frequent flyers, this smarter energy-saving design could be a game changer.

The auto-sleep feature is my favorite thing about both the AirPods Max and the Bose QC Ultra. I love taking out my headphones and taking a call without having to fiddle with the power button.

Final result

I’ll admit that I’m impressed with Bose’s execution of this feature – I’ve always appreciated the Bose brand aesthetically more than I’ve ever applauded the company for its software and firmware prowess. But the feature works well; there is a brief delay after a few hours of inactivity and a slightly longer delay after a few days.

Also: Should you buy AirPods Max in 2025? A long-awaited update will attract professionals

While Bose doesn’t offer advanced Bluetooth codecs like Sony or as many convenient device features as Apple, the second generation of QC Ultra headphones and earbuds demonstrates the company’s advancements in producing more practical flagship products. What’s most impressive is that this happens without imposing a single barrier to the device ecosystem.

Apple launched iOS 26 on September 15, and the update brought a new Liquid Glass redesign, call screening and many hidden features for your iPhone. But when Apple released iOS 18 in 2024, it brought a simple change to Photos to make it easier to find recently saved photos, regardless of when they were taken. The change sorts your photos by when they were added to Photos, not when the photo was taken, and has saved me a lot of time searching for photos.

 

 

Previously, if someone sent me a photo and I saved it, the photo would be placed in chronological order – based on when the photo was taken – alongside all my other photos. So if a family member sent me a photo from last summer and I saved it, the photo would get lost in a sea of ​​other photos from last year.

I would scroll through hundreds of photos and videos to find it, and sometimes I would give up. But there is a toggle in Photos called Sort by recently added which lets you sort your photos based on when they were saved on your device, not when they were taken.

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Here’s how to sort your photos by when they were saved in Photos so you don’t lose a photo again.

How to Sort Your Photos Based on When They Were Saved

1. Open Photos.
2. Tap the three dots in the top right corner of the screen.
3. Play Sort by recently added.

 

 

Once you tap this option, you’ll see your photos change to adjust to the setting change. Your last saved or taken photo will now be at the bottom of the grid, even if it was from your wedding years ago.

To learn more about iOS 26, here it is my operating system reviewhow to reduce the effects of Liquid Glass and how block spam calls in the update. You can also check out our iOS 26 Cheat Sheet.

Today Word The answer is difficult simply because an unusual letter can leave you with more guesses than chances to guess.

If you just want to hear today’s word, you can skip to the end of this article to see today’s word. Word solution revealed. But if you prefer to resolve it yourself, read on for some hints, tips, and strategies to help you.

Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Word It quickly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the world playing it every day. Toggle Word Fan-created versions have also emerged, including Battle Royale Argumentmusic identification game Heardand variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess several words at the same time.

Word ended up becoming so popular that it was purchased by New York Timesand TikTok creators even live stream playing games.

What is the best wordle starter?

The best Word initial word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have some ideas to help you choose a word that can help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, in addition to some common consonants such as S, T, R or N.

What happened to the Wordle file?

The entire archive of the past Word The puzzles were originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they wanted, but were later taken down, with the site’s creator stating that it was made at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then it rolled your own Wordle fileavailable only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It may seem Word It’s getting harder, but it’s actually not harder than when it started. You can call WordHowever, you can use Hard Mode if you are after more of a challenge.

Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:

An injury.

Mashable Top Stories

Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no recurring letters.

Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…

Today Word starts with the letter W.

Wordle’s answer today is…

Make your last guesses now, because it’s your last chance to solve today’s problem. Word before we reveal the solution.

Drum roll, please!

The solution for today Word and…

INJURY

Don’t feel bad if you couldn’t guess this time. There will be a new Word for you to stretch your brain tomorrow, and we’ll be back to guide you with more useful tips.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See tips and answers for today’s Strands.

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable now has games! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crosswords and more.

Not the day you’re looking for? Here is the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.

The next ride was on singletrack from my house to Spiritual MountainDuluth’s lift-accessible downhill park with 24 trails ranging from easy to expert. Lacking a full-face helmet and the landing skills to tackle double black runs like the one called Calculated Risk, I rode Candyland instead. The machine-built flow trail has some high, winding berms, where the bike’s fat tires kept me upright and stable. I had so much fun riding around the bike park, climbing steep hills like The Puker to get one last flowing descent, that I had to rush home for dinner at dusk.

On the way home, I chickened out while riding a sturdy, steep, extended rock bridge in Trail mode and experienced the only moment of fear in all of my 50-plus miles of testing so far—I had already committed to forward momentum, but chickened out at the last second, so the bike surged forward as I jumped sideways into the bushes. It was more a lack of user confidence than a failure of the bike, but also a good reminder of two things: how powerful the bike is and how it is as capable as its rider.

At home, I checked the Specialized app and discovered that I had climbed 3,451 feet in 22 miles in about two hours, mostly in the bike’s Auto mode. I still had 44% battery and power in my legs.

Smart Ride

Photography: Stephanie Pearson

After subsequent rides, what stands out most about the Turbo Levo 4 is how intuitive it is. The bike’s high-performance torque sensors can instantly “sense” the rider’s power and amplify it, while maintaining control, traction and precision at higher speeds. This is especially evident in Auto mode, which is the most natural feeling of the four Eco, Auto, Trail and Turbo modes, all of which are easy to read on the bike’s Master Mind computer on the top tube.

I was a little dubious about the Turbo Levo’s ability to make the jump from a Class I electric mountain bike to a Class III electric mountain bike. On American versions of the bike, riders can adjust the speed limit by toggling through Master Mind and increasing the Class I limit of 20 mph to the Class III limit of 28 mph. It’s an easy process designed for mountain bikers who ride from city streets to trails.

But it also raises a question: What ripper is going to want to get back on a Class I bike – the upper limit on most trails in the US – unless the speed police are in hot pursuit? By allowing this workaround in a higher speed limit category, Specialized puts the onus on the rider to follow the rules, which opens a Pandora’s box – especially on trails populated primarily by non-motorized mountain bikers, where safety is a greater concern.

Aside from the ethical conundrum, my only problem with the S-Works Turbo Levo 4 is that it’s so fun it suspends time. I’m so in the groove that I forget to go home and make dinner.

President Donald Trump declared on Friday that he will impose a 100% tariff on all imports from China, while also imposing export controls on “any and all critical software” from the United States.

This is the latest move in what appears to be an escalating trade conflict between the United States and China. In a post from Truth Social When announcing the tariffs, Trump also said that this new tariff would be “in addition” to any tariffs already imposed on Chinese imports. (CNBC reports that while U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports vary depending on products, the basic rate is already 40%.)

Earlier this week, China announced that it is tightening its export controls on rare earth minerals, requiring foreign companies to apply for a license if they want to export products with even a small amount of these minerals. China is the world’s largest producer of rare earth minerals, which are used in essential products for the technology industry, including semiconductors and solar panels.

In his publication, Trump described China’s announcement as “absolutely unprecedented in international trade and a moral disgrace in dealing with other nations”.

“It is impossible to believe that China would have taken such action, but they did, and the rest is history,” he wrote.

According to Trump, these new tariffs will take effect on November 1st. Trump reportedly told journalists that tariffs could still be reduced and that he would not necessarily cancel a scheduled meeting with President Xi Jinping.

Shares fell following Trump’s announcement, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 1.9% at market close on Friday, the S&P 500 falling 2.71% and the Nasdaq falling 3.56%. Some technology companies were particularly hard hit, with Nvidia and Tesla down around 5% at market close.

The news also affected crypto markets, leading to sell-offs that were reportedly 10x the dollar value of liquidations during the FTX meltdown.