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Z Flip 7, Moto razr+, Tab S11, LG OLED TV, more

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Your 9to5Toys Lunch Break is highlighted by the Best Buy Holiday Deals of the Day that are delivering $350 price drops on Motorola’s 2025 razr+ and $250 off the Galaxy Z Flip 7, among other things. We also have a new Amazon low waiting on the most affordable Galaxy Tab S11 at $165 off alongside LG’s B5 OLED smart TV with “FREE same-day delivery” at $550 ($750 under the 2025 list price) and Best Buy’s Final Chance Holiday Doorbusters. Hit the jump for a closer look. 

Best Buy Holiday Deals of the Day: Galaxy Flip 7 $250 off, Moto razr+ 2025 $350 off, more from $100

Alongside its now live last-chance Doorbusters, Best Buy has refreshed its Deals of the Day offers with solid markdowns on last-minute gifts that will still arrive before Christmas. Today’s lineup is packed with big savings on Samsung’s Galaxy Flip 7, Windows laptops, home appliances, and more. There are even a few gaming deals worth checking out if you’re still shopping for gifts. All of today’s offers are live right now, with full details below.

The lineup today is headlined by huge markdowns of up to $350 on the Motorola razr+ 2025, Samsung Galaxy Flip 7, and so on. You can now save up to $350 on Motorola’s 2025 razr+ and up to $251 on Samsung’s Galaxy Flip 7. These are some of the lowest prices we have tracked for these phones to date, and you can check out the offers below.

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Now even lower: Samsung’s most affordable Galaxy Tab S11 just hit the Amazon low at $165 off

If you’re just looking to score a quick casual Galaxy Tab, the model we spotted this morning down at $140 is the way to go. But for folks with their eye on the flagship Galaxy Tab S11, Amazon just dropped the price on the most affordable model down once again to the best it has offered at $165 off– Samsung is offering $200 off the Ultra model, but Amazon has the best price on the more compact 11-inch.

Samsung is currently offering $150 off all configurations of the Galaxy Tab S11 right now with deals from $650. Amazon, however, was already slightly beating that price and has now shaved another $5 off the top to deliver $165 in savings for the lowest we can find at $634.99 shipped for the 128GB in Gray.

This is $5 below our previous mention and the best we have tracked over at Amazon.

Amazon does not carry the larger 14-inch S11 Ultra model, so you’ll need to head over to Samsung to land one of those at $200 offthe list price with the option of scoring the add-on keyboard case at 50% offas well.

A screenshot of a phone and a watch

If you are looking to land the bonus keyboard offer, head over to the listing page, configure the tablet color and storage capacity to your liking, and then scroll down to the “Exclusive offers for the full Galaxy experience” section (as seen above) to add the Book Cover Keyboard Slim to your order at 50% off.

LG’s B5 OLED smart TV w/ ‘FREE same-day delivery’ now at $550 ($750 under the 2025 list price)

Alongside the launch if its final Holiday Doorbusters, this morning we are checking back in with Best Buy’s deal on the LG 48-inch Class B5 Series OLED AI 4K UHD Smart TV. One of the best bang for your 2025 OLED releases, this is the more modestly sized option for the bedroom or gaming setup that you can now land at $750 off its launch price.

Best Buy is now offering the LG 48-inch Class B5 Series OLED AI 4K UHD Smart TV down at $549.99 shipped. This one debuted earlier this year at $1,300 and is now $750 off – this is $20 under our previous mention. 

Best Buy also includes “FREE same-day/scheduled delivery” to most locations on this deal.

Best Buy has been offering tons of discounts on this model through the Black Friday and holiday season – it has been a popular option among folks looking to land an LG OLED without spending the sort of cash required for a C5 or G5 model. We did see a Black Friday Doorbuster deal at $530 on this one, but today’s last-minute holiday offer is landing within just $20 of that.

As a quick reminder, LG and Amazon do not carry this 48-inch variant – it is a Best Buy exclusive. For folks looking towards the more modestly-sized option for smaller spaces or a bedroom gaming rig, this one really hits the sweet spot for me in terms of features for the price. You’re looking at a 120Hz refresh rate, G-SYNC (NVIDIA Adaptive Sync), FreeSync (AMD Adaptive Sync), and Variable Refresh Rate tech, as well as four HDMI 2.1 inputs, built-in Amazon Alexa voice command action (also works with Google Assistant gear), Apple AirPlay 2, and Google Cast tech. 

Today’s accessories and charging deals:

Amazon just knocked $400 off Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold (Back to Black Friday all-time low)

The Google Pixel holiday deals are in full swing, but Amazon isn’t playing around this morning with the latest series 10 foldable – it has now once again knocked another $100 off the official deal pricing to bring it back to the best we have ever seen online. The Moonstone Pixel 10 Pro Fold model is now $400 off. Details await below. 

Amazon is now bringing the Pixel 10 Pro Fold back down to all-time low pricing as of this morning with the 256GB model at$1,399 and the 512GB at $1,519 shipped. Regularly $1,799 and $1,919, respectively, you’re looking at straight $400 cash discounts here on both storage capacities.

Google’s latest folding flipper with the Jade paint job is still at the same $300 off we featured as part of the official holiday pricing, but Amazon is getting aggressive with its new blueish-gray dolphin (Moonstone) vibe this morning – both configs have returned to the special Black Friday pricing to undercut Google’s official deals and match the best we have tracked all-time. 

Pixel 10 Pro Fold is certainly a more niche and pricey pickup amongst the more traditional Google handsets (especially when they are up to $300 off as well), but if you’re still in the market for one, do it now while the bonus $100 off is rolling.

Google Pixel 10

Google Pixel 10 Pro/XL

Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold

Samsung offers still live for holiday delivery: Up to $720 off Galaxy Fold 7, Galaxy Watch, tablets, more

Samsung is taking a bit of a different route with this year’s holiday offers. While we are tracking straight up cash discounts on a broad range of its smart TVs, monitors, and more, its popular Galaxy smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches have special price drops available to select users. Delivering as much as $720 in savings on its latest foldables to some of the lowest prices to date on its Galaxy Watch 8 models, you’ll want to double check what prices the official Samsung site is offering you before pulling the trigger elsewhere. 

We have detailed how things appear to be working previously, but as time winds down for holiday deliveries we wanted to make sure some of the sort of mysterious Samsung offers were on your radar just in case you’re one of the lucky ones.

Over the last few weeks or so, Samsung appears to have been targeting select IP addresses and Samsung user accounts with special deal pricing. This remains true right now in the lead up to holiday delivery cut-off times. 

There are deals at Amazon and elsewhere on the latest Galaxy gear, some of which lower than the standard deal pricing directly from Samsung. But none of those offers compare to the targeted deal pricing we are tracking across its foldable lineup, the Galaxy Watch 8, and more. 

Again, these deals aren’t available to everyone, but you’ll want to double check what prices you are seeing (and maybe get a friend to check for you too) as the deals are particularly notable for some users right now – here are some highlights we are tracking on our end right now:

Galaxy Z Fold/Flip 7

  • Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 now up to $720 off
    • $600 off + FREE $120 storage upgrade
    • Get an additional $258 off with a.edu email
  • Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 $300 off

Galaxy Tab S11/Ultra

Galaxy Watch 8

A screenshot of a cell phone
Screenshot

More details on Samsung holiday and savings – how to score even deeper deals at Samsung 

Special savings for select users

Samsung seems to be targeting select IP addresses and official Samsung accounts with even deeper deals. So while you might find some of these offers live over at Amazon as well, you’ll definitely want to explore your options directly from Samsung first – in some cases we are looking at as much as $320 in additional savings on smartphones, $50+ on the watches, and that’s before you even include the bonus savings we detailed below. 

Samsung Offers Program

First Responders, military personnel, and really just anyone with access to a.edu email can score bonus add-on savings on just about anything Samsung sells – considering these bonus savings stack on top of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday pricing, now’s the time to do it.

  • Students and educators
  • First responders
  • Healthcare workers
  • Qualifying employees
  • Military personnel
  • Government workers

 

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Sale of closed Eastern Mass. college campus falls apart. Here’s what to know

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The sale of Eastern Nazarene College to an alum of the college fell through last month, according to an announcement from the college.

The transition board at the college announced that the previous agreement won’t be finalized “due to factors outside its control.”

It is considering new, good-faith offers for the property that honor its legacy, the college said.

Graham Crain, the buyer who fell through, and the mayor’s office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The college announced in June 2024 that it would be closing its doors in May 2025 because of financial woes.

In February, the prime real estate in Quincy was taken off the market.

The campus is situated in an attractive location, close to Quincy’s downtown and in proximity to the MBTA’s Red Line, nestled within surrounding residential neighborhoods.

Crain planned to transition the campus into housing, a mix of new multi-family, townhome and senior-living residential developments, according to a May interview with MassLive.

He wanted to keep the green space and older, structurally sound buildings in place to maintain the essence of the college.

The mayor’s office told The Patriot Ledger that Crain wanted to build several hundred apartments, but the mayor didn’t support high-density housing.

Prior to Crain stepping up as the buyer for the campus, the city was discussing ways to add zoning to the property.

For instance, the city was in the process of considering a senior housing zoning overlay district to allow development for people 55 years old or older.

A preliminary plan was presented in December for a thoroughfare or a main road with 23 single-family lots, a cul-de-sac with seven single-family lots and another cul-de-sac with two residential multi-family lots.



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TikTok agrees to deal to cede control of US business to American investor group

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TikTok has reached a deal to cede a substantial portion of its U.S. operation to a group of American investors, thus ending a years-long tussle in which the federal government has sought to force the platform to do just that.

The new partnership is described as a “new TikTok U.S. joint venture” in an internal memo from ByteDance CEO Shou Chew, which was viewed by TechCrunch.

That arrangement will see major American investors take over significant control of the U.S.-based business. The newly formed investor group includes cloud giant Oracle, the tech-focused private equity firm Silverlake, and MGX, an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm focused on AI. Together, those companies will own 45% of the U.S. operation, while ByteDance retains a nearly 20% share, the memo states. The new entity formed by this partnership has been dubbed “TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.”

That new entity will be responsible for overseeing the app, including data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurance, the memo states. “A trusted security partner will be responsible for auditing and validating compliance with the agreed upon National Security Terms, and Oracle will be the trusted security partner upon completion of the transaction,” the document says.

The closing date for the deal is listed as January 22, 2026. The news was originally reported by Axios.

Much of the deal, as it has been described in the memo, parallels the language in an executive order signed by President Trump in September. That memo similarly approved the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations to an American investor group. CNBC previously reported that Oracle, Silverlake, and MGX would be the primary investors in the deal. Until now, ByteDance had not divulged details of such a deal, except to say that it would abide by U.S. law to ensure that TikTok remained available to U.S. users.

The U.S. government has long sought to cleave TikTok’s U.S.-based business away from its Chinese parent company, espousing national security concerns as the rationale.

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Sony is buying Peanuts

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Sony is paying approximately $460 milliion to purchase Peanuts [PDF] and its characters, including Snoopy and Charlie Brown, created by Charles M. Schulz. That’s a 41 percent stake Sony is buying from Canadian firm WildBrain. Since Sony bought 39 percent of the franchise back in 2018, this will give the company an 80 percent stake. The deal is still subject to regulatory approvals, but Peanuts will become Sony’s consolidated subsidiary once it’s closed. Schulz’s family still owns the remaining 20 percent stake in the franchise.

Schulz launched the Peanuts universe in comic strips 75 years ago, back in 1950. The franchise has grown massively since then, spawning animated series, cartoon musicals and movies that made Snoopy a household name. The company said that it has focused on expanding the Peanuts IP since it bought 39 percent of the brand years ago. “With this additional ownership stake, we are thrilled to be able to further elevate the value of the ʻPEANUTSʼ brand by drawing on the Sony Groupʼs extensive global network and collective expertise,” Sony Music Entertainment Japan CEO Shunsuke Muramatsu added.



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Google Fi subscribers can basically get a free Pixel Watch 3 LTE 

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While it’s not a holiday gift made of bricks like in years past, Google Fi subscribers can get a free Pixel Watch 3 LTE this holiday season.

Google Fi Wireless members can essentially get the 45mm Pixel Watch 3 LTE — 41mm model excluded — for free. The 2024 wearable is $250 off on the Fi store. This will “automatically apply during checkout.” 

Google will cover the remaining $149.99 as 24 monthly bill credits, thus making it free. It’s only available in Silver or Hazel today as Black is out of stock. Alternatively, you can pay the $150 outright. 

You must (emphasis ours):

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  • “Remain active and in good standing on Fi for 120 consecutive days. Pausing, changing, or suspending the account will void the promotion.”
  • “Activate the device on a full service plan (data-only SIMs do not qualify) within 30 days of the shipment confirmation email and keep the qualifying account active for 24 months.”
  • “If you cancel service at any time before the 24 months, you will forfeit all remaining monthly credits.”
  • “You must activate on the same Fi account used to purchase the device or be a member of the purchaser’s group plan.”

This offer is available until December 24, 2025 at 9:59 a.m. PT “or while supplies last.” When Google offered this deal last November, it ended after three or so days. Take advantage of this deal now.

In terms of limits:

  • “For individual plans, limit one device promotion per person during the promotion redemption period.” 
  • “For group plans, limit one device promotion per group plan member during the promotion redemption period.”

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Brown University mass shooting investigation: How was the suspect identified?

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More than five days after two Brown University students were killed and nine others were injured in a mass shooting on the Providence, Rhode Island, campus, police found the suspected shooter dead in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire.

Federal officials soon confirmed that the person suspected of opening fire at Brown — 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Manuel Neves Valente — was the same person suspected of shooting and killing 47-year-old MIT physics professor Nuno F. G. Loureiro at his Brookline apartment complex on Dec. 15.

Redacted court documents filed Thursday in Rhode Island paint a clear picture of how the police investigation into the shooting at Brown progressed over the last few days, as well as how investigators finally identified Neves Valente as a suspect.

Prior to the discovery of Neves Valente’s body, Providence police were set to charge him with 25 counts, including two charges of first-degree murder, according to court documents.

The day of the mass shooting

Providence police responded to Brown University’s Barus and Holley building on Hope Street at 4:06 p.m. on Dec. 13, Detective Ryan Fedo wrote in a Thursday court filing. The building is home to the university’s engineering and physics programs.

Police and firefighters found the victims in an auditorium in which an economics class final exam review had been finishing up, Fedo wrote. The two students who died — sophomore Ella Cook and first-year student Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov — were declared dead at the scene.

Students interviewed by police said they’d heard gunfire coming from the back of the auditorium, and that the shooter then walked to the front while firing, Fedo wrote. Some students hid themselves under the teacher’s desk until police arrived.

Witnesses described the suspect as a man with a medium build who wore a face mask, Fedo wrote. Police found 44 spent shell casings at the scene.

The initial evidence

Investigators recovered two different full DNA profiles from evidence collected at the scene, but neither matched any existing profiles from the FBI’s database, Fedo wrote. Security video from the area showed a suspicious person circling Brown University as early as 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 13.

Footage also showed the same person interacting with a man police refer to in the court filing as “John” at 2:16 p.m. that day, according to Fedo’s account. Investigators used the security videos to identify the suspect’s unique gait and determine that he was between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-9 inches tall.

Multiple students who were shot confirmed that the suspicious person from the security footage was the shooter, Fedo wrote. Images from the security videos were later released to the media in the hopes that the public would provide police with the suspect’s identity.

A Brown University custodian told police in an interview that he’d seen a man wearing the same clothing and face mask as the person in the security footage come into the Barus and Holley building multiple times in the last month, Fedo wrote. The custodian’s account was soon corroborated by security video from the building.

Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente
A photo of Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, provided by Leah Foley, the U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts. Authorities say Neves-Valente is the person who shot at Brown University students Dec. 13, killing two and injuring nine others and who also, two days later, killed an MIT professor in Brookline who he knew. As of Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, investigators did not yet know his motives.Courtesy of U.S. Attorney Leah Foley’s office

A break in the case

On Dec. 16, police received a tip referencing a comment from the Providence sub-Reddit in which the commenter claimed to have interacted with the suspicious person from the security footage on the day of the shooting, Fedo wrote. The description of the interaction matched that of the suspect and John.

The comment advised investigators to search for a gray Nissan with Florida license plates that might be a rental vehicle, Fedo wrote. They soon found a gray Nissan Sentra in security video from the scene.

Providence police interviewed John on Dec. 17, and he provided a detailed description of the suspect and the Nissan, as well as multiple interactions he had with him on the day of the shooting, Fedo wrote. At one point, the suspect ran away from John, then accused him of “harassing” him, and John noted that the suspect may have a hispanic accent.

A Brown University faculty member independently told Rhode Island State Police on Dec. 17 that she’d noticed a gray Nissan with Florida plates driving slowly around the neighborhood on Dec. 11, Fedo wrote. Security video from the area revealed that the same car had been in the area 14 different times in recent weeks, beginning on Dec. 1.

Police soon discovered that the gray Nissan was a rental from an Alamo Rent-A-Car in downtown Boston, Fedo wrote. It had last been rented by Neves Valente on Dec. 1. Video footage from the Alamo Rent-A-Car showed him wearing clothing matching that of the suspect from the Brown shooting.

Neves Valente’s connection to Loureiro

Brown University’s records indicated that Neves Valente had been a doctoral student studying physics from the fall semester of 2000 to the spring semester of 2001, Fedo wrote. He took a leave of absence the following semester before dropping out in the fall of 2003.

Neves Valente became a legal permanent resident of the U.S. in 2017, Fedo wrote. His last known address was located in Miami, Florida.

During a press conference Thursday night, Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said she believed Neves Valente and MIT Professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro knew each other. Both men were from Portugal, and Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez Jr. said at a different conference earlier that night that they’d previously studied at the same university in Lisbon.

But as of Thursday night, there was no clear motive in the mass shooting at Brown University or in Loureiro’s killing, Foley said.



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Entertainment industry remembers Rob Reiner’s six-decade career in TV and film : NPR

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Rob Reiner’s career as an actor and director spanned six decades. The entertainment industry is honoring his legacy and mourning the reported deaths of Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.



STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Rob Reiner’s work has been almost ubiquitous in American life for decades. It’s amazing how many lines from his movies and TV shows are in people’s heads. NPR’s Mandalit del Barco has been covering that career. Mandalit, how did Reiner’s career begin?

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: Yeah, so Rob Reiner grew up in show business. And he said his No. 1 inspiration was his father, Carl Reiner, a comedy genius from the early days of television. He created “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” Well, Rob Reiner often spoke about how much he loved what his father did. And comedy really was all in the family.

INSKEEP: Aha, which was the name of a sitcom that put Rob Reiner in a lot of American living rooms.

DEL BARCO: That’s right. “All In The Family” was a comedy featuring the generation gap in the 1970s. Rob Reiner played Michael Stivic, the progressive son-in-law nicknamed Meathead by the bigoted but lovable Archie Bunker. They often butted heads about everything from politics to how to put on your shoes.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “ALL IN THE FAMILY”)

CARROLL O’CONNOR: (As Archie Bunker) Don’t you know that the whole world puts on a sock and a sock and a shoe and a shoe?

(LAUGHTER)

ROB REINER: (As Michael “Meathead” Stivic) I like to take care of one foot at a time.

(LAUGHTER)

DEL BARCO: So on Fresh Air in September, Reiner talked about how influential and controversial “All In The Family” was.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)

REINER: I was 23. And it was groundbreaking at the time. Nobody had done a show like this. CBS, when they put it on, they had a big disclaimer at the beginning saying, you know, the views that are represented in the show don’t represent the views of CBS. Basically, it was a disclaimer saying, I don’t know how this show got on here, but…

TERRY GROSS: (Laughter).

REINER: …If you want to watch it, you watch it at your own risk, you know? We don’t…

GROSS: Don’t sue us.

DEL BARCO: And, you know, Steve, Reiner pointed out that “All In The Family” was the No. 1 TV show in America for five years straight.

INSKEEP: He would be remembered right now just for that, but he went on to decades as a director. What made his movies stand out?

DEL BARCO: Well, Steve, we could dedicate a whole podcast to that. But I’d say his films were so memorable and quotable. Take this scene from “A Few Good Men” with Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “A FEW GOOD MEN”)

JACK NICHOLSON: (As Col. Nathan R. Jessep) You want answers?

TOM CRUISE: (As Lt. Daniel Kaffee) I want the truth.

NICHOLSON: (As Col. Nathan R. Jessep) You can’t handle the truth.

DEL BARCO: And his movies were clever. Take this from “The Princess Bride,” my favorite.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “THE PRINCESS BRIDE”)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) He didn’t fall? Inconceivable.

DEL BARCO: And his films were hilarious. Reiner even cast his own mother, Estelle Reiner, to deliver the punchline of a scene in “When Harry Met Sally…” after Meg Ryan’s character, Sally, fakes an orgasm at Katz’s Deli in New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “WHEN HARRY MET SALLY…”)

MEG RYAN: (As Sally Albright) Oh, God, oh.

ESTELLE REINER: (As Older Woman Customer) I’ll have what she’s having.

DEL BARCO: Rob Reiner gave credit to Billy Crystal for that line. And his movies were pioneering. The first film that he directed, “This Is Spinal Tap,” introduced audiences to the mockumentary. In that parody of a rock documentary, Reiner also plays the filmmaker who asks a member of the fictitious band, Spinal Tap, about the volume switch on an amplifier.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “THIS IS SPINAL TAP”)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) The numbers all go to 11. Look, right across the board.

REINER: (As Marty DiBergi) Oh. Oh, I see.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Eleven, 11, 11.

REINER: (As Marty DiBergi) And most of these amps go up to 10.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Exactly.

REINER: (As Marty DiBergi) Does that mean it’s louder? Is it any louder?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it?

INSKEEP: (Laughter).

DEL BARCO: One louder. Like I said, very quotable.

INSKEEP: I think he would want us to be laughing, even on this horrible occasion.

DEL BARCO: Right.

INSKEEP: What have you been hearing from people who knew Reiner best?

DEL BARCO: Well, earlier this year, Reiner brought Spinal Tap back together for a sequel. And one of the aging rockers was played by Harry Shearer. And last night, he told NPR that Reiner had been a great collaborator, always funny. Here’s what he said about the news about Reiner and his wife.

HARRY SHEARER: It’s devastating. Knowing the two of them and knowing how this story ended, it’s just horrible, unspeakable. It’s Greek tragedy come to our lives in the most traumatic and awful way. And it’s, you know, Bob still had more work to be done. And it’s a loss.

INSKEEP: Harry Shearer. We also heard from Mandalit del Barco. Mandel, thanks.

DEL BARCO: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF TAKENOBU’S “CANALES (DREAMS ADAPTATION)”)

Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.



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Instacart to pay $60M to settle FTC claims it deceived consumers

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Instacart will pay $60 million in refunds to settle allegations by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that it deceived consumers with false advertising. The federal agency alleged Instacart misled consumers with unlawful tactics, causing them to pay higher fees while also denying refunds.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stated Instacart’s “free delivery” claims are misleading because customers are still required to pay a mandatory service fee, which can add up to 15% to their total order.

The agency also said the delivery platform’s “100% satisfaction guarantee” promise is false because it implies it will provide full refunds when consumers are not fully satisfied with their orders, which is typically not the case when people receive late deliveries or unprofessional service.

Additionally, Instacart hid the refund option from the “self-service” menu that consumers use to report problems with their orders, making people believe they could only get a credit toward a future order rather than a refund, the FTC claimed.

Instacart also failed to clearly disclose terms relating to the Instacart+ membership enrollment process, the agency said. The sign-up process for the free trial of the subscription service did not disclose consumers would be charged once the trial ended, which allowed Instacart to charge people without their informed consent. These consumers will be receiving refunds as a result of the settlement, the FTC said.

“The FTC is focused on monitoring online delivery services to ensure that competitors are transparently competing on price and delivery terms,” said Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement.

Instacart acknowledged the settlement in a blog post and denied “any allegations of wrongdoing.” The company also said it believes “the foundation of the FTC’s inquiry was fundamentally flawed.”

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The settlement comes as Instacart is currently under fire over a recent study that revealed its AI-powered pricing tool is causing some customers to receive different prices for the same items at the same stores. Instacart responded to the controversy by stating that retailers determine their own prices, and any pricing tests conducted through its AI tool are random and not influenced by user data. Reuters reported on Wednesday the FTC has begun an investigation into the delivery platform’s AI pricing tool.



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AirTags are back on sale, with a four-pack retailing for $65

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Apple keeps most of its product pricing on a tight leash, but we do see the company’s AirTags go on sale pretty frequently. Another cost cut has come around for this item just in time for the holidays. Amazon is currently selling a four-pack of for $65. At a third off the regular cost, that price is pretty close to the record low discount of $63 we’ve seen for these Bluetooth trackers.

Image for the large product module

Apple

If you place an order quickly, the AirTags should arrive in time for Christmas, making this a solid choice as a gift for someone with a tendency to misplace stuff. AirTags can also be useful for people who travel frequently, helping you to keep track of essentials like your passport as well as a way to keep tabs on luggage while you’re on the go.

If you do purchase some AirTags, we have some recommendations for to go along with them, such as different styles of cases to best attach the trackers to different types of items. These are worth looking over and adding to your shopping cart in order to make the most of the product.

AirTags have an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance and their replaceable batteries should last for about a year. They can also support Precision Finding, which gives more exact directions to a lost item, when paired with most models after the iPhone 11. Up to five people can share an AirTag’s location, which is helpful for families or large travel groups.

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Google brings Gemini for Home to Canada in first global expansion

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Google only kicked off its Gemini for Home rollout a few weeks ago, but it’s full steam ahead for the company’s efforts to replace Assistant. After speeding up invites in the US last week, we’re now seeing our first international expansion of the program.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Canada is the first non-US region to receive Gemini for Home, with Google’s Chief Product Officer of Home and Nest Anish Kattukaran confirming the move on social media. For now, Google’s early access program will remain locked to English, but sometime in “early 2026,” Gemini for Home will receive support for French.

If you’re located in the Great White North, invites for the program will start rolling out to Home users starting today, with those who previously signed up for early access set to join in on the fun shortly. Considering just how fast Google got its program up to speed in the US, I wouldn’t be surprised to see similar movement in Canada not long after the holidays wrap up. As usual, you’ll need one of the following devices to take advantage of Gemini for Home:

  • Google Nest Hub (2nd gen)
  • Google Nest Audio
  • Google Nest Mini (2nd gen)
  • Google Nest Hub Max
  • Google Nest Wifi point
  • Google Nest Hub (1st gen)
  • Google Home Max
  • Google Home Mini (1st gen)
  • Google Home
  • Third-party speakers

There’s no indication of where Google’s next international rollout might happen, but with the first domino having fallen — and the first non-English language settings likely arriving in just a few short weeks — expect a busy 2026 for Google’s Assistant follow-up.

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