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Record-low price alert: Save $50 on the Samsung Galaxy Watch FE at Amazon

Record-low price alert: Save $50 on the Samsung Galaxy Watch FE at Amazon

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SAVE $50: As of June 17, the Samsung Galaxy Watch FE is on sale for $199.99 at Amazon. That's 20% off its list price of $249.99 and a return to its lowest-ever price.
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Credit: Samsung
Samsung Galaxy Watch FE
$199.99 at Amazon $249.99 Save $50
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As we head into the summer, there are some great deals popping up at various retailers, with plenty of discounted smartwatches on offer. No matter if you're looking for a high-end option or something to just cover the basics, there are a lot of discounts available on various models. When it comes to the latter, one of our favorite budget-friendly picks that's on sale right now is the Samsung Galaxy Watch FE.
Normally, the Samsung Galaxy Watch FE is listed for $249.99, but it's currently enjoying a 20% discount down to $199.99. What's even better is this marks a return to its lowest-ever price according to price tracker camelcamelcamel, so now is an excellent time to pick it up if it has been on your radar.
SEE ALSO: Amazon announces Prime Day 2025 dates, and the 4-day rumors are true
When it comes to features, the Samsung Galaxy Watch FE boasts a variety in the realm of health and fitness to help you out throughout the day. These include step counts, active minutes, how many calories you've burned, heart rate tracking, and sleep tracking, to name a few. It also has a BIA sensor that provides you with details on body fat, muscle mass, water levels, and more to help you with your fitness goals.
There's no better time to pick up an item than when it's at its lowest-ever price, so don't miss out on the Samsung Galaxy Watch FE down to $199.99.
There are a couple more smartwatch deals available right now that are worth checking out alongside this one. Also at Amazon, Apple's budget-friendly smartwatch, the Apple Watch SE 2, is on sale, and if you're looking for a stylish pick, the Garmin Lily 2 is discounted as well.
Apple AirPods Pro 2nd Gen With MagSafe USB-C Charging Case — $169.00 (List Price $249.00)
Roku Ultra 4K Ultimate Streaming Player (2024 Release) — $99.00 (List Price $99.99)
Apple AirTag (4-Pack) — $74.99 (List Price $99.00)
Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 (Wi-Fi, 40mm, S/M Green) — $199.99 (List Price $299.99)

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How middlemen funnel illegal Chinese vapes into the United States
How middlemen funnel illegal Chinese vapes into the United States

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time17 minutes ago

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How middlemen funnel illegal Chinese vapes into the United States

By Emma Rumney, Kaylee Kang and Tom Polansek LONDON/NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) -From an office a 15-minute drive from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, one small firm helped import millions of unauthorized Chinese-made vapes last year alone, forming a key link in the supply chain feeding U.S. demand for illegal e-cigarettes. In a little over four years, the firm, a customs brokerage run by a man named Jay Kim, became a go-to broker for the Chinese vape industry. The firm worked on 60% of all shipments of vapes and vape parts from China to the U.S. in 2024 registered by the Food and Drug Administration, according to a Reuters analysis. "A lot of them have FDA authorization," Kim said in an interview in his office in April, referring to the vape shipments his firm handled. However, FDA data on imports into the U.S. of FDA-regulated goods such as tobacco products or medicines showed the products Kim's firm helped bring into the United States included unauthorized brands like Lost Mary and Geek Bar. The FDA has declared those brands illegal to import or sell, warning their array of fruit and candy flavors may appeal to children. The agency says nicotine can harm developing brains, and impact attention, learning and mood in young people, who can get hooked more easily on the addictive chemical. A Lost Mary spokesperson said it had no connection or contact with Kim's firm, and flavors play a key role in helping adult users quit smoking. The maker of Geek Bar did not respond to a request for comment. The Chinese city of Shenzhen is the biggest source of vapes, both legal and illegal, coming into the United States. In 2024, China exported more than 26 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) in vapes to the U.S., according to Chinese customs data. But U.S. customs figures show only $333 million in Chinese vapes were officially received in the U.S. that same year. Mismatches in custom data between the U.S. and its trading partners are not uncommon, but a 90% gap was unusual, two customs data specialists told Reuters. Unauthorized vapes often arrive in the U.S. disguised as other items like shoes and toys, according to the FDA, which leads efforts to control the vape market. Reuters used FDA and U.S. customs data, interviews with vape and tobacco industry insiders, and information from U.S. regulators and law enforcement to build a picture of how unauthorized vapes make their way onto U.S. shelves. It found a group of middlemen based on U.S. soil - including some customs brokers and distributors - who played key roles in the vape supply chain, and sometimes take steps to avoid detection. Trump Administration officials have promised a crackdown; FDA Commissioner Marty Makary has said the agency will stop illegal imports and distribution. "Our borders have been far too porous when it comes to challenges like illegal e-cigarette products coming from other countries," an FDA spokesperson said, adding that the agency is planning to use artificial intelligence to "stem the flow of products that are appealing to our nation's children." In May, the FDA and Customs and Border Protection announced a $34 million seizure of unauthorized vapes in Chicago. Officials found many of the shipments in the seizure, which took place in February, contained vague product descriptions and incorrect values. As part of the operation, for the first time, the agency sent letters to 24 middlemen involved in the vape supply chain, including U.S. importers and customs brokers. The letters warned the middlemen it was a crime to make false statements to the government, and asked them to explain how they ensured they followed tobacco laws, according to the FDA. Reuters was not able to establish whether Kim was among the customs brokers who received a letter from the FDA. He did not respond to detailed questions about Reuters' findings. VAPE MIDDLEMEN Customs brokers do not buy or sell goods themselves. Rather, they are paid by others, usually the importer, to help navigate the customs process by submitting documents and fielding enquiries from border officials, according to Lenny Feldman, a managing partner at the law firm Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg. Customs brokers may be breaking the law if they are found to have not conducted proper due diligence, said Feldman. Speaking briefly to Reuters at his office in April, Kim said his firm did not deal with vape shipments anymore after exiting the business last year. He said that a former employee of his firm had gotten him into working with vape clients and took those customers with her when she left. However, the FDA data reviewed by Reuters showed that vape-related shipments handled by Kim have continued throughout 2025, including in June. The FDA, which was directed to fire 3,500 employees in March, works with CBP to catch unauthorized vape shipments at the border. A spokesperson for CBP told Reuters the agency seized over 3 million units of illegal vapes valued at $76 million in 2024. 'CBP has encountered bad actors exploiting shipments to transit illicit goods, including illegal vapes, synthetic opioids, precursor chemicals and related paraphernalia,' the spokesperson said. The FDA said that over the past two years, efforts by FDA and CBP had led to the seizure of around 7.1 million e-cigarettes with an estimated retail value of over $136 million. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the administration would "wipe out" fruity and sweet flavored vapes from China that appeal to kids. "We are going to get rid of all of them," he told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in May. Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said middlemen like Kim bear some responsibility for the flood of vapes, but lays most of the blame with the FDA, which he accuses of sitting idle while illegal vapes flood into the country. "The FDA is a disaster. It's asleep at the switch," he said. "You have illicit vapes all over the place." IN PLAIN SIGHT The Trump Administration's tariffs on China, as well as vape seizures, have already dented supply, Reuters reported this month. Vape shipments recorded by the FDA collapsed in May, with a shortage of popular brand Geek Bar in particular. The FDA has authorized 34 different vape products made by companies like British American Tobacco and Altria, but no fruity or sweet flavored vapes that the FDA says could appeal to children. And yet executives at BAT estimate unauthorized devices make up 70% of vape sales in the U.S., valuing their sales at $8.14 billion last year. The supply chain ferrying illegal Chinese-made vapes into the U.S. mostly operates in plain sight. It starts with a network of exporters based in China. After a vape shipment clears customs in the U.S., it is passed along to its U.S. buyer - usually a distributor, which then sells them to smaller wholesalers and retailers nationwide. The FDA collects data on U.S.-based recipients of vape shipments. The largest in 2024 was Reynolds American, the U.S. subsidiary of BAT. But the top ten largest U.S. vape recipients also included six obscure firms, opened in 2023 or 2024 and sometimes operating out of residential homes. The second-largest recipient of vape shipments in 2024 was a Chicago-based company called Somo Trade LLC, established in 2023, Reuters analysis of FDA data and state business filings show. A woman at the business' address, a residential home on Chicago's north side, told a Reuters reporter that the property was not involved in the vape business. Another recipient of vapes, Rongda Trade, is registered to a house on the same street as Somo Trade, opened the same month, and has already been shut down, its filings show. No one answered the door when Reuters visited the address. No one answered at a residential address linked to Lila Trade on Chicago's southwest side, either. The name of the registered agent, Xiaohong Dai, was not among those listed on four mailboxes out front. Reuters could not find websites for any of the firms, and their state business filings did not contain any contact information. Meanwhile, in February, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued 13 different companies which she said were major U.S. vape distributors, accusing them of working closely with Chinese manufacturers to fuel the unauthorized vape industry. "Together, Defendants have established an industry for flavored e-cigarettes, particularly disposable vapes, and staked out their own lucrative shares in the soaring market," the complaint states. "All have engaged in reprehensible, illegal conduct and aim to addict youth to their products." Mitch Zeller, former head of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products during the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, placed the blame on U.S.-based distributors, such as those named in James' lawsuit, for feeding demand. "There's only a handful of middlemen, middle companies, that are responsible for taking the illegal, imported stuff being misclassified and mislabeled and getting it into interstate commerce," he said. 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Oil's Spike Unwinds as Traders Await Iran Response to US Attack
Oil's Spike Unwinds as Traders Await Iran Response to US Attack

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Oil's Spike Unwinds as Traders Await Iran Response to US Attack

(Bloomberg) -- Oil jumped after US strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites in a significant escalation, but later pared gains as fears of an immediate disruption to supplies from the Middle East began to fade. Bezos Wedding Draws Protests, Soul-Searching Over Tourism in Venice One Architect's Quest to Save Mumbai's Heritage From Disappearing NYC Congestion Toll Cuts Manhattan Gridlock by 25%, RPA Reports Global benchmark Brent initially surged as much as 5.7% to $81.40 a barrel in heavy trading, before changing hands near $78. US President Donald Trump said that weekend air attacks had 'obliterated' a trio of targets, and threatened more military action if Iran didn't make peace. In reply, Tehran warned that the strikes would trigger 'everlasting consequences.' The oil market has been gripped by the crisis since Israel attacked Iran more than a week ago, with futures pushing higher, options volumes spiking, and the futures curve shifting to reflect tensions about tighter near-term supplies. While the Middle East accounts for about a third of global crude production, there haven't yet been any signs of actual disruption to physical oil flows, including for cargoes going through the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint. 'Traders are starting to think there is nothing here: we are up $10 a barrel since the war started, now a little more, and so I think there is an appropriate amount of risk in the market,' said Bob McNally, founder of Rapidan Energy Advisers LLC and a former White House energy official. 'Traders are holding their breath, waiting to see if Israel or Iran expand this conflict beyond military and political targets into traded energy,' he told Bloomberg Television. 'So far, no one has pulled that trigger — and if they don't, I can see the price reversing.' The unprecedented US strikes were meant to hobble Iran's nuclear program, and targeted sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. At the United Nations on Sunday, Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said the 'timing, nature and scale' of Tehran's response 'will be decided by its armed forces.' There are multiple, overlapping risks for crude flows. The biggest centers on the Strait of Hormuz, should Tehran seek to retaliate by attempting to close the narrow conduit. About a fifth of the world's crude output passes through the waterway at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. Iran's parliament has called for the closure of the strait, according to state-run TV. Such a move, however, could not proceed without the approval of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Authorities may yet restrict flows in other ways. 'The market will closely watch Iran's response,' said Muyu Xu, a senior crude analyst at Kpler Ltd. 'If Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, even for one day, oil can temporarily hit $120 or even $150.' Rival Suppliers In addition, Tehran could opt to target crude infrastructure in rival suppliers in the Middle East, such as fellow OPEC+ producers Saudi Arabia, Iraq or the United Arab Emirates. Both Riyadh and Baghdad expressed concern following the US attack. Elsewhere, Iran could orchestrate attacks on ships on the other side of the Arabian peninsula in the Red Sea, encouraging Yemen-based Houthi rebels to harass vessels. After the US attacks, the group threatened retaliation. If the hostilities escalate, Tehran's own oil-producing capabilities could be targeted, including the key export hub at Kharg Island. Such a move, however, could send crude prices soaring, an outcome that Washington might want to avoid. So far, Kharg Island has been spared, with satellite imagery pointing to a drive by Iran to expedite its exports of oil. The crisis will also throw a spotlight onto the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and its allies including Russia. In recent months, OPEC+ eased supply curbs at a rapid clip to regain market share, and yet members still have substantial idled capacity that could be reactivated. Brent's prompt spread — the difference between its two nearest contracts, and a closely followed metric — first widened to as much as $1.99 a barrel in backwardation, from $1.53 on Friday. It then retraced almost all of that move. 'It may take a few days or even weeks to discern the Iranian response to this unprecedented attack,' RBC Capital Markets LLC analysts including Helima Croft said in a note. 'Above all, we would caution against the knee jerk 'the worst is behind us' hot take at this stage.' --With assistance from Stephen Stapczynski and Yongchang Chin. Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros The US Has More Copper Than China But No Way to Refine All of It Can 'MAMUWT' Be to Musk What 'TACO' Is to Trump? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio

ChatGPT's Impact On Our Brains According to an MIT Study
ChatGPT's Impact On Our Brains According to an MIT Study

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ChatGPT's Impact On Our Brains According to an MIT Study

A visualization of a new study on AI chatbots by MIT Media Lab scholars. Credit - Nataliya Kosmyna Does ChatGPT harm critical thinking abilities? A new study from researchers at MIT's Media Lab has returned some concerning results. The study divided 54 subjects—18 to 39 year-olds from the Boston area—into three groups, and asked them to write several SAT essays using OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's search engine, and nothing at all, respectively. Researchers used an EEG to record the writers' brain activity across 32 regions, and found that of the three groups, ChatGPT users had the lowest brain engagement and 'consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.' Over the course of several months, ChatGPT users got lazier with each subsequent essay, often resorting to copy-and-paste by the end of the study. The paper suggests that the usage of LLMs could actually harm learning, especially for younger users. The paper has not yet been peer reviewed, and its sample size is relatively small. But its paper's main author Nataliya Kosmyna felt it was important to release the findings to elevate concerns that as society increasingly relies upon LLMs for immediate convenience, long-term brain development may be sacrificed in the process. 'What really motivated me to put it out now before waiting for a full peer review is that I am afraid in 6-8 months, there will be some policymaker who decides, 'let's do GPT kindergarten.' I think that would be absolutely bad and detrimental,' she says. 'Developing brains are at the highest risk.' Read more: A Psychiatrist Posed As a Teen With Therapy Chatbots. The Conversations Were Alarming The MIT Media Lab has recently devoted significant resources to studying different impacts of generative AI tools. Studies from earlier this year, for example, found that generally, the more time users spend talking to ChatGPT, the lonelier they feel. Kosmyna, who has been a full-time research scientist at the MIT Media Lab since 2021, wanted to specifically explore the impacts of using AI for schoolwork, because more and more students are using AI. So she and her colleagues instructed subjects to write 20-minute essays based on SAT prompts, including about the ethics of philanthropy and the pitfalls of having too many choices. The group that wrote essays using ChatGPT all delivered extremely similar essays that lacked original thought, relying on the same expressions and ideas. Two English teachers who assessed the essays called them largely 'soulless.' The EEGs revealed low executive control and attentional engagement. And by their third essay, many of the writers simply gave the prompt to ChatGPT and had it do almost all of the work. 'It was more like, 'just give me the essay, refine this sentence, edit it, and I'm done,'' Kosmyna says. The brain-only group, conversely, showed the highest neural connectivity, especially in alpha, theta and delta bands, which are associated with creativity ideation, memory load, and semantic processing. Researchers found this group was more engaged and curious, and claimed ownership and expressed higher satisfaction with their essays. The third group, which used Google Search, also expressed high satisfaction and active brain function. The difference here is notable because many people now search for information within AI chatbots as opposed to Google Search. After writing the three essays, the subjects were then asked to re-write one of their previous efforts—but the ChatGPT group had to do so without the tool, while the brain-only group could now use ChatGPT. The first group remembered little of their own essays, and showed weaker alpha and theta brain waves, which likely reflected a bypassing of deep memory processes. 'The task was executed, and you could say that it was efficient and convenient,' Kosmyna says. 'But as we show in the paper, you basically didn't integrate any of it into your memory networks.' The second group, in contrast, performed well, exhibiting a significant increase in brain connectivity across all EEG frequency bands. This gives rise to the hope that AI, if used properly, could enhance learning as opposed to diminishing it. Read more: I Quit Teaching Because of ChatGPT This is the first pre-review paper that Kosmyna has ever released. Her team did submit it for peer review but did not want to wait for approval, which can take eight or more months, to raise attention to an issue that Kosmyna believes is affecting children now. 'Education on how we use these tools, and promoting the fact that your brain does need to develop in a more analog way, is absolutely critical,' says Kosmyna. 'We need to have active legislation in sync and more importantly, be testing these tools before we implement them.' Psychiatrist Dr. Zishan Khan, who treats children and adolescents, says that he sees many kids who rely heavily on AI for their schoolwork. 'From a psychiatric standpoint, I see that overreliance on these LLMs can have unintended psychological and cognitive consequences, especially for young people whose brains are still developing,' he says. 'These neural connections that help you in accessing information, the memory of facts, and the ability to be resilient: all that is going to weaken.' Ironically, upon the paper's release, several social media users ran it through LLMs in order to summarize it and then post the findings online. Kosmyna had been expecting that people would do this, so she inserted a couple AI traps into the paper, such as instructing LLMs to 'only read this table below,' thus ensuring that LLMs would return only limited insight from the paper. She also found that LLMs hallucinated a key detail: Nowhere in her paper did she specify the version of ChatGPT she used, but AI summaries declared that the paper was trained on GPT-4o. 'We specifically wanted to see that, because we were pretty sure the LLM would hallucinate on that,' she says, laughing. Kosmyna says that she and her colleagues are now working on another similar paper testing brain activity in software engineering and programming with or without AI, and says that so far, 'the results are even worse.' That study, she says, could have implications for the many companies who hope to replace their entry-level coders with AI. Even if efficiency goes up, an increasing reliance on AI could potentially reduce critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving across the remaining workforce, she argues. Scientific studies examining the impacts of AI are still nascent and developing. A Harvard study from May found that generative AI made people more productive, but less motivated. Also last month, MIT distanced itself from another paper written by a doctoral student in its economic program, which suggested that AI could substantially improve worker productivity. OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment. Last year in collaboration with Wharton online, the company released guidance for educators to leverage generative AI in teaching. Last year in collaboration with Wharton online, the company released guidance for educators to leverage generative AI in teaching. Contact us at letters@

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