logo
Patagonia's Back-to-School Sale Is Offering Up to 40% Off Essentials, but Not for Long

Patagonia's Back-to-School Sale Is Offering Up to 40% Off Essentials, but Not for Long

CNET4 days ago
Nothing beats the feeling of stacking fresh notebooks in a new backpack or prepping snacks for the first day in a lunchbox with that familiar store smell. If you haven't already started ticking things off your back-to-school list, Patagonia's back-to-school sale is offering a solid chance to do so at a discount.
The brand is offering up to 40% off essentials, including jackets, backpacks, tech tees and even lunch-friendly snacks. Some sale items are past-season styles but the quality holds up so it's a great chance to invest in gear that will last you a good time. Plus, Patagonia is offering free shipping on all orders above $99.
Some of our top picks from the sale? The Capilene daily shirt for a comfortable, all-day wear. Available in different colors, you can snag it for $38 after a 32% discount. If your backpack needs an upgrade, the Refugio DayPack is down to $87. It features a removable padded sleeve for your laptop, a hydration hanger and several compartments for all your essentials.
Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.
Those who are shopping ahead for the colder months might consider the Nano Puff jacket, which keeps you warm without the bulk and is a great pick. It's lightweight, made out of 100% recycled polyester ripstop shell and packs down small. You can now grab it for $167 after a sweet 30% discount in multiple colors.
Prefer a laid-back style? Take a look at the Breezefarer cap or the Trucker Hat, going for $23 and $27, respectively. And if sunscreen alone doesn't cut it, the Sun Mask, designed to cover your neck, head and face, is now down to $24. There's a lot more to browse but be sure to get your orders in before the deals expire or the stock runs out.
Why this deal matters
Upgrading your gear can get expensive fast. Patagonia's summer sale offers a great chance to stock up on everything from outerwear and backpacks to everyday basics without paying the full price.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

‘The hustle factor is real': Why this fast-growing Seattle startup is packing its bags for Palo Alto
‘The hustle factor is real': Why this fast-growing Seattle startup is packing its bags for Palo Alto

Geek Wire

time2 minutes ago

  • Geek Wire

‘The hustle factor is real': Why this fast-growing Seattle startup is packing its bags for Palo Alto

GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory . Nectar Social co-founders and sisters Misbah Uraizee (left) and Farah Uraizee. (Nectar Social Photo) Misbah Uraizee and Farah Uraizee want to win. And they believe their best shot at success lies in Silicon Valley, not Seattle. The co-founders of Nectar Social, fresh off a $10.6 million funding round, are moving their AI-powered social commerce startup down to Palo Alto, Calif. The decision came down to three main factors: proximity to customers and early adopters, co-locating employees, and accessing specialized talent. 'This wasn't about leaving Seattle — it was about giving Nectar the best possible chance to define a new category,' Misbah Uraziee told GeekWire. 'Sometimes that means being where the game is being played at the highest level.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​' Speed was also a consideration. 'The hustle factor is real,' Misbah said via email. 'Right now in the Valley, teams are working six, seven days a week because they understand this is a unique moment in technology history. That intensity — that sense of 'we have to win this market NOW' — is harder to cultivate in Seattle where the pace, even at startups, tends to mirror the steadier rhythms of the big tech companies.' Nectar's departure echoes themes highlighted in our story last week about the state of Seattle's startup scene amid a wave of AI-fueled transformation. The presence of tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft — along with Meta, Google, and others with large engineering centers in the Seattle region — has helped attract world-class talent. Misbah previously worked at Microsoft, Meta, and X in the Seattle area before launching Nectar Social in 2023. Farah spent nearly five years at Meta in Seattle. But that talent doesn't always translate into startup activity. Seattle's startup ecosystem has 'matured tremendously,' Misbah said, but she pointed to a 'cultural gap around early-stage risk appetite.' 'The talent pool — particularly from Amazon and Microsoft — tends to gravitate toward later stage companies with more predictable trajectories,' she said. 'For a seed/Series A company doing something new especially in social, the talent pool isn't it large as you'd expect.' Nectar is building AI tools to help brands engage consumers on social media through personalized, direct conversations. Revenue has grown 5X in the past two months, according to the company. Uraizee said Seattle excels in cloud infrastructure and AI research, but the Valley offers stronger depth in go-to-market functions, product marketing, and design — especially from people who've shipped AI products at scale. Asked what she'd add to the Seattle startup scene, Misbah said the city would benefit from celebrating risk-taking and more diversity within the investor ecosystem. Nectar raised from one Seattle firm, Flying Fish, but other backers are in Silicon Valley or elsewhere. 'Seattle VCs tend to pattern-match on enterprise SaaS and biotech,' Misbah said. She also called for more support infrastructure for early stage startups — such as shared spaces, angel investors, and advisory networks. 'Most importantly, Seattle needs to embrace the idea that some companies need to operate at Valley-speed to win their markets,' she said. 'That's not a judgment on work-life balance — it's recognition that certain opportunities have expiration dates. If the ecosystem could support both sustainable growth companies AND these sprint-mode ventures, more founders would stay.'

Samsung is now tracking employee office attendance
Samsung is now tracking employee office attendance

Fast Company

time2 minutes ago

  • Fast Company

Samsung is now tracking employee office attendance

Samsung is one of many companies that have been pushing for employees to return to the office fulltime. However, now the brand is taking RTO efforts in the U.S. one step further with a tool that tracks attendance for a group in its semiconductor business. In an internal email, seen by Business Insider, Samsung informed employees about the new compliance tracking tool. 'This tool will provide each Manager with visibility to the number of days & time in building metrics for each team member,' the email said. It continued, 'This will ensure that team members are fulfilling their expectation regarding in office work – however that is defined with their business leader – as well as guarding against instances of lunch/coffee badging.' In 2023 the brand embraced a global hybrid work model, rolling out 500 new jobs. While the specifics varied, the majority of the postings (58.3%) included the ability to work from home at least part of the work week. The brand also gave employees in the company's corporate offices in South Korea one Friday off a month. However, last April, after posting lower than expected sales, the brand asked its corporate executives to begin working six days a week in order to 'inject a sense of crisis' into its workforce. 'Considering that performance of our major units, including Samsung Electronics Co., fell short of expectations in 2023, we are introducing the six-day work week for executives to inject a sense of crisis and make all-out efforts to overcome this crisis,' a Samsung Group executive told the Korea Economic Daily. This May, Samsung asked employees to begin returning to the office full time. The following month, it updated employees on the RTO initiative. 'We are already experiencing increased foot traffic daily, with more cars in the parking lot and hungry mouths in our cafeterias on Fridays, to name just a few signs,' Samsung said in an email viewed by BI. At the time, Samsung also noted that it was developing a tool to track attendance. Employee tracking might sound offbeat, but workplace surveillance is on the rise. According to a recent ExpressVPN survey, 74% of U.S. employers now use online tracking tools to monitor work activities. That includes real-time screen tracking (59%) and web browsing logs (62%). Likewise, 61% use AI -powered analytics to measure productivity and around 67% collect biometric data to monitor things like behavior and attendance. Still, that doesn't mean it's popular among employees or feels all that ethical. While most companies (three out of four) use biometric surveillance, only 22% of employees know they're being monitored, according to the same report. Likewise, 17% of employees said they'd be 'very likely' to resign over workplace surveillance. Another 32% said they'd strongly consider it. It's unclear how Samsung's new tracking tool will work, how closely employees will be monitored, and how many employees will be impacted. Fast Company reached out to the brand but did not hear back by the time of publication. Samsung told employees they will find out more about the tracking system soon. 'Additional information regarding the new tool will be made available to Managers this month,' the email to employees said.

How to Get Your Internet Up to Speed and Fix Lag
How to Get Your Internet Up to Speed and Fix Lag

CNET

time2 minutes ago

  • CNET

How to Get Your Internet Up to Speed and Fix Lag

It's not cheap to get high-speed internet, so if you're paying top dollar for top speeds, you should ensure you're getting your money's worth. Although the advertised speeds may be coming into your home from your internet service provider, there could be other factors slowing your connection. Before upgrading to the next speed tier or buying a new router, let's go back to the basics. If you can determine that your ISP isn't throttling your internet connection, try restarting your modem and router or investing in Wi-Fi extenders or a mesh network. But before you do anything permanent, start with a simple speed test to know what you're working with. Read on for some tips you can follow to improve your connection. First things first: What are download and upload speeds? You've probably heard your ISP talk about these terms, but what do they mean? In simple terms, those measurements gauge how quickly data travels from the internet to your device. Those speeds are measured in "megabits per second," or Mbps. Download speed measures how quickly you can receive (or download) data from the internet; it's also referred to as "downstream" speed. Catching up on the latest season of The White Lotus, scrolling through Bluesky or playing music on Spotify all require a decent download or downstream speed. Locating local internet providers Typically, when ISPs advertise speeds, they advertise the download speeds first. Until recently, upload speeds were considered a secondary necessity to a good internet connection, but both are important. Upload speeds (also referred to as "upstream" speed) measure how quickly you can send data to the internet. Using Zoom, gaming online, uploading content to Instagram and emailing all require a decent upload speed. Typically, upload speeds are much slower than download speeds, though it varies by internet connection type. For example, upload speeds in a cable connection tend to max out at 20 to 30Mbps. A fiber connection, on the other hand, nearly always delivers symmetrical download and upload speeds. If you're paying for a fiber connection with 1,000Mbps in download speed a month, you should also get 1,000Mbps in upload speed. So how much speed do you need? It depends on the number of devices in your home and your household's internet usage. If you have some heavy bandwidth users (like gamers, remote workers, students, etc.) and multiple smart home devices, you should consider a speedy 1-gig tier. You can consult CNET's internet speed guide for a closer look at recommended speeds. The Federal Communications Commission published a guideline for household broadband speeds based on the number of devices and people connected to the same network that we use as a basis for our internet speed guide. Basic service ranges from 3 to 8Mbps download/upload and will be good enough for light usage (browsing, email, video calls, streaming HD video, etc.). The FCC gives some recommendations on how fast a connection you'll need based on your usage. FCC/Screenshot by CNET Medium service is classified as 12-25Mbps and is best for up to three users or devices simultaneously, with medium to high usage depending on the activity. Finally, advanced service is any connection speed over 25Mbps and is best suited for those with more than four users or devices using the connection simultaneously for more than light usage. Despite the household broadband guidelines, the FCC defines a broadband connection as 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload. Even if you're using different levels of bandwidth throughout the day, you should have a minimum internet connection of at least 100Mbps for consistent, reliable speeds. Next, run a speed test on your computer, phone or tablet Before you can start troubleshooting your internet connection, you need to figure out what the actual speeds in your home are. Now that you know what download and upload speeds are, let's take a free internet speed test to see how much speed you're actually getting. You can use a slew of free apps and websites to gauge your speeds, notably or CloudFlare. (Disclosure: Speedtest is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.) Whether you install an app or run the test in your browser, a good rule of thumb is to run the test multiple times a day, occasionally in different places in your house, to get a thorough sense of your internet connection performance. The tests typically take less than a minute, so the process shouldn't take long. Screenshot by Cierra Noffke/CNET Typically, internet connection speeds vary based on the time of day and how many devices are connected, among other reasons. For a better overall picture of your home's internet speeds, I suggest running the speed test multiple times over a day or two and to record your results. If you have a Raspberry Pi, you can run internet speed tests on a set schedule that also uploads results to a file in your Google Drive. Ideally, you'd connect your computer directly to your ISP's modem with an Ethernet cable to run a speed test, but that's not always possible. Another option is to use your wireless router's app. You can do a speed test on your wireless router Depending on your wireless router, you can run a speed test through its dedicated app. For example, Google's Nest Wi-Fi can run a speed test in the app or ask Google Assistant how fast your internet connection is. Getty Images Eero, Linksys and Asus ZenWifi routers also include the same capability, although not all support asking a smart speaker to run the test. It's best to start by looking at a dedicated app. Using your wireless router's speed test may prove more accurate -- in theory, at least -- because the router is connected directly to your modem. You don't have to rush out and buy a new router if the speed test results are lower than you expect or are paying for. It could be the issue, depending on its age. Router technology, like any other technology, often changes, and that can lead to performance issues. For example, if you have cable internet, most ISPs recommend a DOCSIS 3.1 modem or gateway to handle higher speeds. Are your internet speeds slower than they should be? If you're finding that your speeds are typically much slower than those you're paying for, try taking several easy steps to boost your Wi-Fi connection. First, try simply turning your modem and router off for about 60 seconds before turning them back on. It's a tried-and-true trick that helps clear any bugs, glitches or software issues from your devices and allows them to reload with a fresh memory. If that doesn't help, and you've already tried optimizing your home for Wi-Fi, you can check to see if your ISP is experiencing an outage. For example, the first thing to do when your Comcast Xfinity connection is flaky is open the Xfinity My Account app and look for any service issues. The app will give you an estimated restoration time when there is one. Knowing that the issue isn't anything on your end means you can forgo any troubleshooting. If none of those solutions prove effective, the issue may be your internet connection type. Speeds offered by DSL, fixed wireless and cable providers are often slower than a fiber connection's lightning-fast reliability. If fiber is available to you, consider an upgrade. If not, it may be time to jump to a higher speed tier with your ISP to ensure your internet connection stays fast and reliable. FAQs What do download and upload speeds mean? Download and upload speeds refer to how quickly data gets downloaded and uploaded from the internet to your device and vice versa. Internet speeds are measured in megabits per second or Mbps. Download speeds are typically what internet providers advertise first. You need them for everything from streaming in 4K HD to scrolling through social media. Upload speeds are essential for uploading content to social media or to the web, gaming online or using Zoom. How do I test the speed of my internet? There are many free, convenient ways to test your internet speeds. CNET's favorite internet speed test is Ookla because it keeps a record of your tests, is user-friendly and shows metrics besides download and upload speed like latency. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.) There are plenty of options that you can use either in your browser or by downloading an app, like M-Lab or

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store