I'm routinely surprised by just how much technology Apple has managed to pack into the iPhone that I can carry in the palm of my hand. What's even more surprising is that there's even more to it than meets the eye. There's a better, faster way to use the keyboard and a faster way to select unread emails to archive. There are better ways to browse the web than just the usual Safari experience, and you can get way better photos out of the iPhone Pro cameras than what the stock Camera app shows you.

The iPhone has become such a default product in all our lives that we just take it for granted. Yes, it's a great way to stay in touch with friends and coworkers, to capture moments, and to doomscroll the night away. But spend some more time, and there's a whole new iPhone experience just waiting for you that will truly transform how your iPhone looks and works.

Automate small, redundant tasks on your iPhone with Shortcuts

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Apple installs the Shortcuts app on every device and even offers pre-built shortcut automations that you can install from the Gallery. But the fun starts when you explore the very active Shortcuts community online and start to integrate Automations into the mix.

Apple’s Shortcuts app lets you create automations that automatically follow pre-defined steps. They can be used to resize images, compress files, convert data, and even control aspects of your smartphone. For example, you can create an automation that automatically enables a VPN when you step out of your home, or sends a message to your partner when you leave work. Looking to get started? We have a list of seven automations that I feel every iPhone user should install.

Add custom widgets to your iPhone Home Screen

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

I’m a huge fan of custom widgets. Whenever someone picks up my iPhone, the response is usually something like, "Your iPhone doesn’t look like a regular iPhone." That’s down to custom widgets that show the time, day, my appointments, the weather, my tasks, and more. The world of custom iPhone widgets is huge, and if you just want to dip your toes in, I would suggest you start with the Widgetsmith app, which lets you customize multiple widgets with the same theme and fonts. All together, it looks really aesthetically pleasing. When you’re ready, you can dive in with the Widgy app, where you can import and customize thousands of interactive widgets.

Hide any Home Screen pages to quickly clean up the clutter on your iPhone

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

While we're on the home screen, here's another time-saving hack. If you've been using your iPhone for years, your home screen might be cluttered with apps. You can go to Settings > Home Screen & App Library and choose the App Library Only option in the Newly Downloaded Apps section to make sure that newly downloaded apps don't show up on your home screen by default.

But what about the dozens of apps already there? Well, you can quickly hide them in bulk. The iPhone has a hidden manager for home screen pages. Tap and hold on any empty part of the home screen, tap the Edit button from the top-left, and choose the Edit Pages option. You will now see a list of all your home screen pages at once. Simply uncheck the pages that you want to hide. If you would like to delete the page (along with all the apps and widgets in it), tap the Minus button in the top-left corner of the screen review, and from the popup, tap on Remove. Then tap Done to save your setup. Ah, see, much cleaner!

Access features quickly using your iPhone's hidden Back Tap gesture

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The iPhone has a hidden button, and it’s on the back of your iPhone. It’s an accessibility feature that you can access via Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. You can then assign any app, shortcut, or action to either the Double Tap or Triple Tap gesture. It’s a great way to trigger Shortcuts automations, or to simply bring up the selfie camera. I, personally, find that the double-tap gesture has a tendency to misfire sometimes, and the triple-tap gesture is a lot more reliable.

Use Voice Isolation to block out background noise during calls on your iPhone

Credit: Apple

If you live in a noisy city, or if you take calls during your commute, you'll appreciate this hidden feature. Voice Isolation is one of those features that Apple chooses to bury that, honestly, should be better placed. As the name suggests, Voice Isolation works in the background during calls (and when recording audio in Voice Memos, and some third-party apps), methodically removing distracting and loud background noises, and ambient noise. It can cancel out construction noise, or a loud hum of an AC unit. It works on any iPhone starting with iPhone X, but the best way to use it might be with the AirPods. The combination of the noise-canceling mode, with the boost of Voice Isolation leads to some of the clearest call quality you can get, especially when paired with the FaceTime Audio call.

When you're on a call, open the Control Center, tap the Phone Controls button up top to reveal all options. Here, switch to Voice Isolation mode.

Enhance the Safari iPhone browser using extensions

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

If you don’t use Safari extensions, you’re sleeping on unrealized potential. Just like on the Mac, the Safari browser on the iPhone also supports extensions. And you can use extensions to do some really cool things, like blocking all ads and trackers (of course), but also to force every website to be in dark mode, all the time. You’ll also find extensions to improve the Reddit browsing experience and to take complete control of all the elements on the websites you use frequently.

Use this gesture to drag and drop anything between iPhone apps

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The iPad popularized the drag and drop gesture that lets you transfer multiple items from one app to another with just one swipe. But here's the secret: it's not limited to the iPad. Even though you can't have two apps open at the same time on iPhone, you can still use iPhone's clever multitasking features to drag and drop anything between two apps. Things come in super handy when you want to drag multiple photos to the Files app, or to an email. First, select the files or photos you need. Select one file first, and move your finger to "pick" it up. Then use another finger to add more files or photos to the pile. It will all stay planted underneath your finger. Don't let go of it just yet. Use your other hand to go back to the Home screen and open the app where you want to drop it off. Open the email, or the notes, and simply release your finger. The data will end up right where you let go of your finger.

Switch to a third-party browser on your iPhone

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Using a third-party browser, like Vivaldi, is a very power-user move. All third-party browsers on iOS are technically variations of Safari, as Apple forces developers to build their browsers on Safari's WebKit platform. However, these third-party browsers can include unique features that Safari doesn't. Vivaldi, for example, offers desktop-class tab browsing, including tab groups and pinned tabs. Then there’s Orion, which can run desktop-class extensions from Firefox and Chrome Web Store on your iPhone (something that Safari can’t do). And if you don’t like Safari’s new interface, try out Quiche, which is a completely customizable browser.

Use iPhone Focuses to make your phone look and function differently based on where you are

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Focuses have the potential to transform how your iPhone looks and works, based on your location, time, day, or the task at hand. It’s time to go beyond Do Not Disturb and embrace everything that Apple's Focuses can do.

It would be a good idea for you to set up Focuses for Work, Personal Time, and Sleep. In each Focus, you can decide which apps can send notifications, and which friends or family members can contact you. You can even choose which home screens to show in particular Focus, choosing to hide widgets and apps depending on the Focus (no work stuff at all in Personal Time Focus, for example). Focus also integrates with Shortcuts and Automations, so you can trigger a Focus when you start a video call on your Mac or reach a particular location (like your workplace). Go to Settings > Focus to get started.

Copy text and run actions directly from images or the camera app on your iPhone

Credit: Apple

The iPhone has a built-in OCR technology (Apple calls it Live Text) that lets you copy text from an image, but you can also use it to take actions with that text—whether it's captured from an image, in a video, or out in the real world. When you're viewing an image with text on it in the Photos app, you'll see a little "Text" icon in the bottom-right corner. Tap on it, and all the text will be highlighted. If there's a phone number in there, or an address, you can tap on it to directly place a call, or open the location in Apple Maps. This also works in the Camera app: Just point the camera towards the text, and tap the "Text" button in the bottom-right corner.

Use the hidden swipe gestures everywhere on your iPhone

You’ll be familiar with all the usual iPhone gestures, like swiping up from the Home bar, or tapping the top edge of the iPhone to instantly scroll to the top. But the iPhone has a lot more hidden gestures that can really speed things up, and they work throughout the operating system. If you see a long list, try to swipe down with two fingers to instantly start selecting items. This works really well in Mail, Phone, and other Apple apps, but is also supported by third-party apps. Next, in iOS 26, Apple added back gesture support—just swipe in from anywhere on the left edge of the screen to quickly go back. You can also cut, copy, and paste with a three-finger gesture. To copy something, pinch it with three fingers. To cut, do it twice. To paste something, do a three-finger spread gesture (opposite of the pinch).

Use text shortcuts to speed up the iPhone keyboard

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The iPhone keyboard is hiding some robust functionality under the hood, including a built-in Slide to Type feature where you can glide your finger over the keys to type words. It works really well, especially when using the phone one-handed. There’s a virtual trackpad built in, too—just tap and hold the Space bar and move your finger to move the cursor around.

If you find your keyboard too large to type on, you can also enable the one-handed keyboard from the Keyboard Settings button (tap and hold the Globe icon). From here, you can go to Keyboard Settings to try out Text Replacement, where you can create shortcuts for expanding your frequently used text snippets. For example, you can type “adrs” to expand to your full home address. You can set these sorts of text shortcuts for any oft-types phrase—for example, you can set "@@@" to auto-populate your email address.

Use this hidden Files feature to scan documents without a third-party app

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

If you've been relying on third-party document scanning apps, it's worth knowing that there’s a really neat document scanner built into both the Notes app and the Files app on your iPhone. I prefer to use the Files app for this because it allows me to quickly save a PDF directly in the folder that I want. Here's how to do it: pen the Files app, go to any folder, tap the three-dotted Menu icon, and choose the Scan Documents feature. There’s an Auto Shutter feature, enabled by default, that will automatically scan each new page you put in front of your camera (if you find this annoying, you can disable it as well). Scan as many pages as you want, and tap the Done button. Then, give the document a name and it will be stored as a PDF in the folder. You can now send it to where it needs to go, or back it up using iCloud Drive.

Use Guided Access to lock your iPhone apps

Credit: Apple

If you're handing over your iPhone to a family member for playing a game or to watch some YouTube, iyou might not want them browsing your other apps. You can stop them from doing so using your iPhone's Guided Access feature. When activated, it locks a user in the app that's currently open, unless you press the Side button three times and you enter your passcode.

To set this up, go to Settings > Accessibility > Guided Access and enable the Guided Access option from the top. From Passcode Settings, you can either enable Face ID lock or set a custom passcode. Now that the feature is enabled, open the app that you want to lock and press the Side button three times. From the popup, choose Guided Access. You can draw over part of the screen to disable the functionality. The Session Settings button will give you options to disable access to keyboard, touch, or volume buttons. You can also set up an automatic time limit here. When you're ready, tap Start and enter your passcode. You can now hand over your phone to anyone, without stressing about your private data. When you're done, press the Side button thrice, and enter the passcode to disable the feature.

Upgrade your photos and videos on iPhone Pro

Credit: Blackmagic

The cameras on the iPhone Pro are truly stellar. But the Camera app is not. The default Camera app does too much computational photography for my taste, and has trouble focusing on elements exactly when I need to capture something small. Plus, the Pro cameras can shoot in Log in ProRes, and to fully take control of the visuals from your iPhone, you’ll need to step out of the Camera app.

For shooting video in the best light, Blackmagic is a great choice. Here, you get full manual control over both photos and videos, with film-grade presets (including the ability to create your own custom ones).

If that feels a bit too Pro, try using a third-party app to capture much better photos. My colleague Pranay has highlighted a couple of great options, with Halide Mark II topping the list (I agree, as well). Halide gives you a lot more control over the look of your photos. There’s also a Process Zero feature that removes all of Apple’s computational processes from the photos.

“Hubert H. Humphrey Building, Marcel Breuer’s Brutalist Federal Landmark in Washington, D.C.” by Dale Cruse – 11M SF views, CC BY 4.0

A contact phone number for the Department of Health and Human Services temporarily played an unexpected message seemingly from a pizza chain, because a “rogue” staffer changed it after an influx of calls protesting animal testing.

The kerfuffle began when White Coat Waste Project, a group that advocates against taxpayer-funded animal testing, posted on its social media accounts urging its supporters to call HHS and ask them to “cut funding for cat testing” at a National Institutes of Health-funded lab at the University of Missouri.

The post specifically mentioned HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by name and listed two phone numbers for supporters to call.

 

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A post shared by White Coat Waste | Stop Government Animal Tests (@whitecoatwaste)

In another post, WCWP accused NIH of “approv[ing] $126 MILLION of taxpayer dollars for new beagle experiments since RFK Jr. took office,” and described what happened after their supporters began flooding HHS’ phone lines with angry calls:

But when taxpayers caught on to their deception and flooded HHS phone lines, officials responded in the most childish manner possible.

They changed their voicemail recording to say: “Thank you for calling Domino’s Pizza.”

This is how HHS officials are responding to their betrayal of MAHA and their complete failure to shut down Fauci’s legacy of puppy abuse.

To be absolutely clear:

We will never stop exposing this taxpayer-funded animal abuse, and we will never back down from our fight to shut it all down.

WCWP senior vice president Justin Goodman told Politico Pulse that when his organization first posted the phone number, “a human was answering,” then the number went straight to voicemail on Friday, and by this Tuesday, the number played the Domino’s Pizza message.

“Torturing puppies with our tax dollars isn’t funny, but people at HHS apparently think it is,” Goodman denounced the prank at a hearing Wednesday for the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Reached for comment by Politico, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon provided a statement that the Domino’s Pizza voicemail was “an unauthorized action by a rogue employee and not representative of HHS,” and added that the phone number was now back to normal.

WCWP members also played the voicemail message for Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), who replied that it was “not okay” and “actually makes my stomach turn.”

—

The post ‘Rogue’ HHS Staffer Changed Agency Voicemail to ‘Thanks for Calling Domino’s Pizza!’ After Influx of Protest Calls first appeared on Mediaite.

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Cardio zones aren't real—not in the way your fitness app makes them sound, anyway. Yes, heart rate zones are a way to describe how hard you're working during a cardio workout, like running or cycling. But the cardio zones everyone's always buzzing about are just a way of bucketing exercise intensity into digestible categories. They're a useful shorthand, but there are no physiological lines in the sand where your body suddenly switches from "zone 2" to "zone 3." It's a spectrum, and the specific cutoffs vary depending on who you ask (or what app you're using), what formula they rely on, and whether they measured your lactate threshold in a lab or just guessed based on your age.

So when "zone zero" started circulating in wellness circles, my instinct was to roll my eyes. Relying on the zone framework in this way seems to add a layer of pseudoscience to what is essentially just...moving around more. To be fair, the underlying idea of "moving around more" certainly is a positive one, so allow me to break down what "zone zero" cardio even means, and how you can incorporate it into your routine.

What is "zone zero" cardio?

"Zero" sounds like nothing, or if not "nothing," then at best, it sounds like rest. But rest is already informally called "zone 1" in many popular frameworks (never mind that it's arguably not a real zone, since sitting still is in no way a cardio zone). So, we now have zone zero slotted below zone 1 (rest), which means we've invented a category below doing nothing.

The semantic confusion is worth calling out, because it reveals how the wellness industry tends to work: take something intuitive, give it a technical-sounding name, and suddenly people feel like they need an app, a heart rate monitor, and a six-week program to understand what they were already doing, or should have been doing all along.

Strip away the branding, and zone zero is a way to call out the sort of movement that falls between "workout" and "total inactivity." This might mean your 10-minute walk after lunch, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or pacing while on a phone call. These movements might not register as strict exercise, but cumulatively, across a day—across a life—they can make a real difference.

The research behind this practice is solid, even if the zone label itself is flimsy. Prolonged sitting is independently associated with health risks, even in people who exercise regularly. One way to think about it is that the body doesn't bank fitness like a savings account; it responds to the totality of how you move (or don't) throughout the day.

Who zone zero cardio is for

Armed with this understanding of what zones are and are not, zone zero can be a great framework. For instance, if you're an all-or-nothing exerciser, then zone zero is a way to remember that light movement still counts for something. Or if you're someone recovering from injury, illness, or burnout, or for whatever reason structured cardio isn't accessible to you right now, then zone zero is a great way to remember that you haven't failed by not hitting the gym. Gentle movement—even the kind that barely registers on a heart rate monitor—is still movement, and it still has value.

But if you're someone with a robust, consistent approach to cardio, zone zero is probably not a concept you need to think about at all. There's no need to add yet another source of noise in the fitness world.

The best fitness trackers for tracking your zones

If you want to monitor cardio intensity—whether that's the coveted zone 2 work, harder efforts, or just making sure you're moving enough throughout the day—here are the trackers that do it best:

Garmin Forerunner 570

Garmin's heart rate zone tracking is among the most accurate on the market for wrist-based monitors, and as my colleague Beth Skwarecki writes in her review, the Garmin Forerunner 570 has shockingly good heart rate accuracy. Unfortunately, the price (currently on sale for $496.97) might be a dealbreaker for casual users.

Garmin Forerunner 570

$496.97 at Amazon

$549.99 Save $53.02

Get Deal

Get Deal

$496.97 at Amazon

$549.99 Save $53.02

Apple Watch Series 10

This is the best Apple Watch for most people, and it gets the job done for most people's heart rate zone tracking. Plus, it's the most seamless option if you're already in the Apple ecosystem.

Apple Watch Series 10

$392.09 at Amazon

$429.00 Save $36.91

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$392.09 at Amazon

$429.00 Save $36.91

Fitbit Charge 6

When it comes to heart rate, the Fitbit is a perfectly solid budget option. If you want more than a minimalist approach, you might find yourself longing for a proper fitness watch, like the Garmin or Apple options above.

Fitbit Charge 6

$146.99 at Amazon

$159.95 Save $12.96

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$146.99 at Amazon

$159.95 Save $12.96

For more, I recommend reading this piece from Beth to see how Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin, Oura, and Whoop all compare on measuring heart rate variability (HRV).

The bottom line

To put it bluntly: You don't need to track so-called "zone zero" cardio. You don't need a new metric for it, a dedicated workout, or a wearable that vibrates to remind you to stand up (though your existing wearable might already do that, and it can certainly be useful). The whole point is that it's supposed to be below the threshold of effort.

What is worth taking seriously is the underlying behavior change this concept encourages. Take a look at your day and honestly ask yourself whether movement is woven through it, or confined to a scheduled block. If it's the latter, consider incorporating some walking and stretching breaks into your day. Maybe zone zero didn't need a name, but now it has one, and if knowing about it helps you move more, that's a win.

Evan Agostini/Invision & mpi34/MediaPunch/IPX via AP

Longtime conservative commentator and In Trump We Trust author Ann Coulter bashed Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, as he testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday.

Mullin was excoriated by Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) at the top of the proceedings over his celebration of a 2017 assault of Paul.

“Recently, Senator Mullin, if you have time to listen, you were confronted by constituents that were angry because you voted against my amendment to stop all funding for refugee welfare programs. Instead of explaining your vote to continue these welfare programs for refugees, you decided to transfer the blame. You told the media that I was a freaking snake, and that you completely understood why I had been assaulted. I was shocked that you would justify and celebrate this violent assault that caused me so much pain, and my family so much pain. I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force. You might argue you were mad and upset about being confronted by your constituents,” said Paul, adding:

But Senator Mullin, your constituents are justifiably upset with you. By now, most of America knows that the Somali welfare fraud in Minnesota stole over $9 billion. But instead of defending your vote, you took to continue-, the vote to continue these refugee welfare programs, you chose to lash out at me.

You went on to brag that you’d already told me, to my face, that you completely understood and approved of the assault. Well, that’s a lie. You got a chance today. You can either continue to lie, or you can correct the record. You have never had the courage to look me in the eye and tell me that the assault was justified. So today, you’ll have your chance. Today, I’ll give you that chance to clear the record. Tell it to my face, if that’s what you believe, tell it me today. Tell the world why you believe I deserve to be assaulted from behind, have six ribs broken and a damaged lung.

Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it. And while you’re at it, explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and Border Patrol agents. Explain to the American public how a man who has no regrets about brawling in a Senate committee can set a proper example for over 250,000 men and women who work at the Department of Homeland Security.

Coulter directed her followers on X to watch the exchange that followed between the two, asking, “How can any Republican vote to confirm Markwayne Mullin after this exchange with Sen. Rand Paul?”

A longtime immigration hawk, Coulter later added, “AMAZINGLY, DHS nominee Markwayne Mullin voted AGAINST cutting welfare for noncitizens. Not years ago. that was his vote this month.”

Paul’s takedown of Mullin was also celebrated by former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.

The post ‘How Can Any Republican Vote to Confirm Markwayne Mullin?’ Ann Coulter Bashes Trump DHS Nominee first appeared on Mediaite.

CNN data guru Harry Enten quipped “you don’t have to be a mathematical genius” to see President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement remains fiercely loyal to him.

Enten pointed to a new NBC News poll that showed Trump has a 100% approval rating with MAGA during an appearance on CNN News Central on Wednesday morning.

“Sometimes you look at the polling data and there are numbers that just jump off the screen at you!” Enten said. “And this is one of those.”

Enten joked Trump’s 100:0 approval-to-disapproval ratio made him the right-wing equivalent of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, which went undefeated and won the Super Bowl.

“Now, there are some Republicans who disapprove of Donald John Trump, but they are not members of the make America great again movement,” Enten explained. “The bottom line is this: if you are a member of MAGA, you approve of Donald Trump.”

CNN anchor Sara Sidner pointed out some pro-Trump commentators have publicly criticized the war against Iran. Without naming anyone in particular, she was likely referring to Tucker Carlson, who called Operation Epic Fury “absolutely disgusting and evil,” and Megyn Kelly, who called it “Israel’s war.”

Sidner then asked if there is “any sign that people might be leaving MAGA relative to 2024?”

Enten said that isn’t happening. He said if anything, MAGA is growing, based on 30% of Americans identifying with the movement — up from 28% in November 2024.

“That 100% that Donald Trump has among MAGA GOP, that is not an artifact of MAGA shrinking,” he said. “It’s just an indication of how strong Donald Trump’s grip is on that MAGA base.”

Enten’s Wednesday segment followed his report a day earlier, showing 90% of MAGA voters support Trump’s strikes on Iran. Operation Epic Fury is “tremendously popular among the Republican base,” Enten said.

Beyond the aforementioned pundits, Trump ally-turned-enemy Marjorie Taylor Greene has also bashed the war. But every major poll has shown MAGA supports it.

Enten pointed to data from CNN and NBC in his Tuesday report, and a Quinnipiac University poll last week showed 85% of Republicans support military action against Iran, while a YouGov-Economist poll found 91% of MAGA voters support the war.

Watch his latest report above.

The post CNN’s Data Guru Touts Trump’s Literal 100% Approval Rating With MAGA in New Poll: The Numbers ‘Jump Off the Screen!’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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When digital music first started popping off, the vast majority of us didn't care all that much about audio quality. Some of the less, erm, legal methods of downloading music offered horrific quality audio, while even the best options at the same (i.e., iTunes) only supported MP3, a relatively low-quality codec. Times have changed: While most of us still aren't necessarily audiophiles, we do expect high-quality tracks from the streaming services we use—especially if we pay for them. It might not be the "gold standard," but streaming sounds great, even with wireless headphones.

But there is a clear ceiling in audio quality for those of us that listen this way. Bluetooth can only support 320 kbit/s, which is good enough for many of us, but does mean you lose details originally there in the mastered track. If you have the right setup, including the right streaming plan, you can listen to your home in higher quality, preserving those details. Spotify might've been late to the game, but it does now support lossless audio for Premium subscribers, which can playback at up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz. With a good pair of wired headphones, you may hear some finer details than you're used to.

Now, Spotify is back with another quality booster—at least for a very specific type of subscriber. The feature, called "Exclusive Mode," is meant for Windows listeners to get even more out of their lossless audio playback. (Spotify says a Mac version is in the works.) But while any increase in audio quality sounds like a good deal, you probably won't notice too much of a difference here.

How Spotify's "Exclusive Mode" works

According to Spotify, Exclusive Mode is meant to achieve "Bit Perfect playback" from your PC. It does so by assigning Spotify as your PC's only source for audio processing. Typically, when listening to Spotify on Windows, you have any number of other apps and services running their audio sources through Windows's audio mixer. That could include notifications from Slack or Teams, Windows alerts, video playback if you click a YouTube link; anything that makes noise on your PC, routes through the same mixer.

Spotify says that the music you listen to in its app could be altered before it reaches your DAC (Digital Audio Converter), either because Windows resamples it, changes its volume, or mixes these other sounds in. Exclusive Mode, then, disables all of those other audio sources, so that Spotify's lossless audio is never compromised in that automated mixing. If you're a purest, that might be a welcome change: You'll know that the 24-bit/44.1 kHz audio you're paying for is coming out of your headphones or speakers exactly as it was leaving your Spotify app.

You probably won't notice a difference with Spotify's Exclusive Mode

There are some caveats and drawbacks here, however. First, in order to achieve this, Spotify does have to disable all other audio sources on your PC. That means when using Exclusive Mode, you won't actually be able to hear anything else on your computer. You might miss work messages or important Windows alerts if you're not paying attentions to your notifications. If that doesn't matter to you, you can ignore that issue, but it's important to know before you start using Exclusive Mode, well, exclusively. That includes non-music playback in Spotify itself, including music videos, podcasts, previews, and canvas clips. These might also run through Windows' default audio source, and, if so, you'll need to disable Exclusive Mode to use them.

Spotify says you don't need a DAC or audio interface for this feature to work, but that it works best with one. A DAC converts a digital signal into an analog one, for outputting to wired headphones or speakers. Spotify says if your PC has a headphone or speaker port, it might have a DAC built in, but you may want to confirm this if you want to listen in the highest possible quality. Otherwise, you'll want to pick up a DAC or audio interface.

iFi Audio Go Link Max

$79.00 at Amazon

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Of course, the biggest caveat of all is that even with the perfect setup—a DAC, great wired headphones, Exclusive Mode playing back lossless audio—you might not notice the difference. The higher quality the audio files, the better the music will sound, yes, but as with many media formats, there are diminishing returns in what you notice as you improve your setup. Going from MP3 tracks with a cheap pair of earbuds, to AirPods with 320 kbit/s playback on Spotify is going to be night and day; going from the latter to a wired headphone setup with lossless audio running through a DAC, on the other hand, might be day and slightly sunnier day.

If you already have such a setup, and you enjoy listening to your music in the highest possible quality, this is probably a worthwhile setting to try. If nothing else, you can see whether you notice the uptick in quality, and, if you don't, you can disable it, and get the rest of your Windows sounds back.

How to enable Exclusive Mode in Spotify

Again, this feature is currently exclusive to Spotify Premium members on the Windows desktop app. Then, connect your DAC to your computer. (Ignore this if your computer has a DAC.) Now, open Spotify, then head to Settings > Playback > Output. Select your audio device from "Device," then click the toggle next to "Enable exclusive mode for this device."

Spotify recommends you head back to Playback settings and turn off the following features while using Exclusive Mode: "Crossfade," "Automix," "Normalize Volume" and "Equalizer."

During a Monday appearance on Mediaite’s Press Club, MS NOW’s Stephanie Ruhle said that President Donald Trump is operating from inside a “gilded cage,” arguing that the president is more consumed by personal enrichment and access for wealthy elites than by the voters who first powered his rise.

In conversation with Mediaite founding editor Colby Hall, the MS NOW lead business analyst said that Trump’s second term looks far different from the first, when his rallies served as a point of connection with supporters who felt ignored by the political system.

“A Trump rally is a community event,” Ruhle said, recalling stops in places where “there aren’t a lot of movie theaters anymore,” “there aren’t a lot of county fairs,” and “there aren’t a lot of concerts to go to.”

But now, Ruhle said, “I think he’s in a gilded cage this time.”

“I think the president spends all of his time at the White House and at Mar-a-Lago,” she continued. “And at Mar-a-Lago, now on any given night, it’s a million-dollar dinner with him. It’s a five-million-dollar dinner with him. It’s people who are extraordinarily successful, who have become more successful, potentially because they’re Trump adjacent.”

Ruhle argued that Trump’s focus has shifted away from voters toward a circle of people benefiting financially from proximity to him and his administration.

“I think that this time around, and I said this after I went to the White House, I think he’s in a gilded cage this time,” she said. “I think that Donald Trump’s original base has not been served in any way.”

Ruhle also pointed to the president’s family and allies, saying, “he himself is more financially successful than I would guess he’s ever imagined. His family business is through the roof. [Commerce Secretary] Howard Lutnick’s family business is through the roof, I mean, their sons have made millions and billions of dollars.”

She contrasted that with the concerns she said are being neglected.

“We haven’t even talked, I haven’t even heard the president mention the price of healthcare this year,” Ruhle said. “And it spiked in January.”

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The post ‘He’s in a Gilded Cage’: Stephanie Ruhle Says Trump Is Prioritizing Profit Over Presidency first appeared on Mediaite.