News You Can Use • October 2026

Welcome to October’s News You Can Use! This month, we’re looking at the surprising ways inflation is changing retirement plans, where to find a less expensive appliance without giving up the basics, and the Halloween candy preferences that vary wildly from state to state. A little useful information, a little “well, I didn’t know that,” and plenty to keep you in the know as fall rolls along.

That French Press in Your Kitchen May Be Recalled

If you own a Bodum French press, this one is worth a trip to the kitchen. Nearly 6 million 8- and 12-cup models have been recalled after reports of glass carafes breaking during use, including 48 reports of burns. And don’t assume yours is too old to be affected. The recalled presses were sold from 1974 through October 2026. The CPSC says owners should stop stirring with metal utensils and contact Bodum for a free plastic spoon and updated warning label.
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The Latest Numbers Explain That Squeezed-Paycheck Feeling

If it feels like money is leaving your checking account faster than it’s arriving, the latest government numbers offer some explanation. Personal income rose just 0.2% in September while consumer spending increased 0.5%. Meanwhile, the personal saving rate came in at 3.8%, and the Federal Reserve’s closely watched measure of underlying inflation was 3.1% higher than a year ago. These are national averages, of course, not your household budget. But they help explain why “the economy is doing fine” and “why does everything still feel so expensive?” can exist at the same time.
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What Are We Giving Up to Pay for Christmas?

Here’s an interesting wrinkle in all those predictions about strong holiday spending: some shoppers aren’t spending more because they have more. They’re making room for Christmas by spending less somewhere else. An EY-Parthenon survey found 62% of consumers expect to spend the same or more on gifts this year, while shoppers also reported cutting back on things such as restaurants, entertainment, electronics and travel. Some expect to use debt to keep holiday spending going. There’s nothing wrong with making Christmas a priority. But knowing what you’re trading for it and whether January gets the bill is worth considering before the shopping really gets rolling.
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Dollar General Accused of Charging More at Checkout

That little price screen at checkout deserves your attention. The Federal Trade Commission and 20 states are suing Dollar General, alleging the chain repeatedly charged customers more at the register than prices shown on shelves or in advertisements. These are allegations, and the case has not been decided. Still, there’s an immediate takeaway for any shopper: watch prices as items are scanned and check your receipt before leaving the store. A few cents here and a dollar there can disappear awfully quietly, especially when you’re buying a full cart.
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Brain Fog? Your Crossword May Be Practicing the Wrong Skill

Can’t pull up a name or word you know perfectly well? A neurologist says another Sudoku puzzle may not be the brain exercise you need. The idea is surprisingly simple: practice the skill that’s giving you trouble. For sluggish word recall, try setting a timer for 60 seconds and naming as many animals, foods or other items in one category as you can. The goal is to practice retrieving words quickly, rather than exercising an unrelated skill like math or logic. It’s not a cure for brain fog, but it’s a free little workout you can do anywhere.
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A Super El Niño Could Put Snow in Some Surprising Places

A stronger El Niño doesn’t automatically mean a snowier winter. In fact, some traditionally snowy parts of the country could get less. Looking at past El Niño winters, snowfall tended to run above average in parts of the Southwest, southern Plains, southern Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic, while portions of the Pacific Northwest, northern Rockies and Great Lakes often came up short. The catch? El Niño only tilts the odds. One well-timed blast of cold air and a big storm can still turn an otherwise mild winter into one everybody remembers.
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Airbnb Says You Can Leave the Chore List Behind

Paying a cleaning fee and then spending your last vacation morning stripping beds and washing dishes? Airbnb has decided that’s a bit much. Starting Nov. 20, hosts can no longer require guests to do time-consuming chores normally handled by a cleaner, including stripping beds, washing and putting away dishes, or hauling trash offsite. Hosts can still set reasonable house rules, but Airbnb says the new policy is meant to draw a clearer line between being a considerate guest and becoming the cleaning crew.
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Why Everyone Was Talking About That Huge Internet Security Flaw

If yesterday’s scary headlines about a massive internet security threat left you wondering whether you needed to unplug the router, here’s the plain-English version. Researchers used AI to figure out, in just two days, how to exploit a complicated weakness in PHP, software that runs a huge share of the world’s websites. The vulnerability had been known about in some form for years, but exploiting it was so tedious that it wasn’t considered very practical. AI changed that. The specific flaw has now been patched, but the bigger concern is what comes next: AI can hunt for and exploit weaknesses far faster than humans could before. For the rest of us, this is another good reason to keep phones, computers, browsers and apps updated when security fixes arrive. Read more →

What Does a $2,000 Folding iPhone Actually Get You?

If you’ve been wondering who on earth needs a $1,999 folding iPhone, an early review offers a surprisingly convincing answer: it’s basically a pocket-size iPhone that opens into a small tablet. The new iPhone Duo unfolds to a 7.6-inch screen, can run two apps side by side and even props itself up for video calls. The reviewer loved the larger display and found the crease surprisingly unobtrusive. But first-generation compromises are real: it’s thick and heavy, uses Touch ID instead of Face ID, skips the telephoto camera and still has software quirks. Impressive? Very. A sensible $2,000 upgrade for most of us? Even the reviewer says probably not. Read more →

Your iPhone May Soon Double as Your Car Key

One less thing to dig through your purse or pockets for: GM is expanding support for digital car keys stored in Apple Wallet. Before the end of the year, select newer Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC models, including the Tahoe, Suburban and Yukon, are expected to let owners use a compatible iPhone or Apple Watch as a car key. The rollout covers nine vehicle models initially, with GM saying more will follow over time. If your vehicle becomes eligible, GM says you’ll get a notice through its app. Handy? Absolutely. Just don’t toss the physical key quite yet.
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The Cheapest Store for Halloween Candy May Surprise You

You’d think the dollar stores would be the obvious place for bargain Halloween candy. Not this time. A same-day price check at Walmart, Target, Publix, Dollar General and Dollar Tree stores in South Florida found Walmart generally had the lowest prices on popular fun-size candy, while the two dollar stores offered little that beat the bigger chains. Publix was pricier overall, although a couple of BOGO deals changed the math. Prices vary by location, of course, but there’s a useful lesson here: compare the cost per piece, not the name on the storefront. And don’t burn $5 in gas to save 50 cents on Snickers.
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Could More Daily Steps Help You Stay Focused?

Your daily step count may say something about more than how much you move. Researchers studying more than 3,000 U.S. adults found that people averaging about 8,900 or 14,200 steps a day performed slightly better on tests of attention, resisting distractions and choosing longer-term rewards than those averaging about 5,100. The differences were small, and this study does not prove that walking more makes you sharper or establish a magic number of steps. Still, it adds an interesting possibility to the already-long list of reasons to get up and move: your attention may appreciate it, too.
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Build This Box Before Someone Gets Sick

The worst time to discover you’re out of fever reducer, tissues or anything remotely hydrating? When you’re already sick. Pharmacists and pediatricians suggest assembling a simple “sick day” kit now, while everyone is still upright and functioning. Start with the basics your household actually uses: a working thermometer, single-symptom medications, saline spray, honey for anyone over age 1 and a few favorite hydrating drinks. Check expiration dates and dosing instructions while you’re at it. No need to buy the entire drugstore. The point is simply to have what you’ll need before 2 a.m. arrives with a fever.
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Charmin’s New Roll Is Wider, but There’s a Catch

Charmin is making its toilet paper wider and says the extra coverage could mean using less. Before you start calculating bathroom savings, though, read the fine print. The company’s claim of using 50% less toilet paper compares the new Ultra Strong with Wider Sheets to bargain 1-ply brands, not the current Charmin Ultra Strong. And while each sheet is wider, one comparison found fewer sheets per roll: 297 versus 330. The new rolls may not even fit every holder, although Charmin is offering a free extender and a 60-day fit guarantee. Wider? Yes. Better value? That deserves a closer look.
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The Artwork Hiding in Plain Sight at Dodger Stadium

Millions of fans have walked past them for decades without knowing what they were looking at. Tucked around Dodger Stadium are abstract concrete reliefs dating back to the ballpark’s 1962 opening, some several stories tall and so well camouflaged they practically disappear into the building. A reporter finally tracked their origins to artists George Nocito and Bert Schwartz, who created 18 relief sculptures covering more than 6,000 square feet, along with fountains and other artwork. Some pieces have disappeared or been damaged, but about a dozen reliefs appear to remain. Even the Dodgers had little information about who made them. Not bad for a 64-year-old mystery hiding beside the hot dog line.
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Microsoft Will Pay MacBook Owners to Switch Sides

Microsoft is putting some serious money behind its attempt to woo MacBook Pro owners. Buy its new $2,599.99 Surface Laptop Ultra, trade in an eligible MacBook Pro, and you could get up to $1,000 in promotional cash back on top of the laptop’s regular trade-in value. There are strings attached, of course. The bonus depends on your MacBook model, condition and trade-in value, and you’ll need to submit a claim and mail in the old computer on time. The offer runs through Nov. 23 in the U.S. and Canada. If you’ve already been thinking about switching from Mac to Windows, this is one trade-in offer worth doing the math on.
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Could a Flip Phone Give You More Time?

What if your smartphone isn’t saving nearly as much time as you think? Artist August Lamm ditched hers for a basic flip phone in 2022 and says something unexpected happened: She got more free time, became more intentional with friends and stopped feeling like part of her attention was always somewhere else. Yes, life without apps means a few inconveniences. Directions, tickets and QR codes take more planning. But Lamm argues those extra minutes are small compared with the time reclaimed from dozens of quick phone checks that quietly pile up throughout the day. Her suggestion? Try it for a month before deciding you couldn’t possibly live without one.
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Sweden Just Made a Vacation for People Who’d Rather Not Mingle

Ever come home from vacation feeling like you need a vacation? Sweden may have your number. Its tourism organization has launched the Introvert Travel Agency, built around a wonderfully simple idea: being social is optional. Think peaceful nature stays, island escapes, self-guided city outings and accommodations where personal space isn’t considered a problem to be solved. And apparently there’s an audience for this. In a survey commissioned by Visit Sweden, half of Americans said they need time to recover after a trip. Perhaps the best vacation isn’t about packing more in. Maybe it’s about leaving a little more out.
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The 194-Year-Old Tortoise Whose DNA Could Hold Clues to Longer Human Lives

What if one of the biggest clues to healthy aging came from a tortoise who was alive before Abraham Lincoln was born? Jonathan, believed to be about 194 years old, has genes linked to DNA repair and reduced inflammation, two processes that may help protect cells from age-related damage. Researchers also found that his energy-producing mitochondria appear to be in surprisingly good shape. Could these discoveries eventually help humans age more healthfully? Scientists are hopeful, but they need to study more tortoises before drawing firm conclusions.
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Is Screen Time Really Bad for Kids? Science Has a More Surprising Answer

Not all screen time is created equal. One eight-year study found that kids who reported more screen time also performed better on certain memory and thinking tests, although that doesn’t prove screens made them smarter. The bigger question may be what kids watch and what screens crowd out. Pediatric experts recommend paying attention to content, mood, sleep, real-world activity and communication. And there’s a lesson for grown-ups, too: if your phone keeps stealing time from sleep, exercise or people you love, it may be time to put it down.
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The Woman Behind the Moon Landing Code You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

Before astronauts could walk on the moon, someone had to make sure their computer knew what to do when things went wrong. Margaret Hamilton led the MIT team that developed Apollo’s onboard flight software, including the clever system that prioritized critical tasks when the computer became overloaded during Apollo 11’s lunar landing. Her work helped establish software engineering as a discipline, and her legacy reaches far beyond that historic mission.
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Has Inflation Killed the Early Retirement Dream?

The FIRE movement promised a shortcut to freedom: save aggressively, spend carefully and retire decades early. But with prices up 27% since 2021, many Americans now say early retirement feels out of reach. There’s a twist, though. Some FIRE savers are actually weathering inflation better because they’ve already built their lives around spending less.
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The Budget Appliance Brand Hiding Inside Whirlpool

If Whirlpool is the name you know, Amana may be the money-saving brand you’ve overlooked. Both belong to the same corporate family, but Amana appliances typically cost less because they skip some of Whirlpool’s pricier bells and whistles while still handling the basics. In a recent comparison, similar Amana models were $60 to $155 cheaper.
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Your State’s Favorite Halloween Candy Might Surprise You

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups may rule Halloween nationwide, but candy preferences get wonderfully strange once you cross state lines. Californians favor Red Vines, five Midwestern states choose Laffy Taffy, and seven Southern states reach for an inexpensive candy assortment. And that supposedly hated candy corn? Orders are up 30% from last year.
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• MORE: News You Can Use • September
• MORE: News You Can Use • August
• MORE: News You Can Use • July

 

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Check back regularly for updates! We’ll be adding new top news articles throughout October 2026.

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