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EXCLUSIVE! Poet Jessica Urlichs on How Poetry Can Help Make Sense of Motherhood—And Life

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American Airlines Got Rid of This Perk—And You Might Want to Think Twice Before Booking

Once upon a time, when you bought an airline ticket, the fare included meals, checked bags, seat selection and more. Those days are clearly gone. Now, these once-standard perks are major revenue drivers for the airlines. Fliers are genuinely thrilled to get a free bag of peanuts, and airlines have become quite creative when it comes to finding new ways to squeeze extra dollars out of passengers. Ancillary fees and the revenue they generate have been on the rise for more than a decade: In 2016, airlines worldwide earned $67.4 billion from these add-ons. By 2024, that figure had nearly doubled, to $148.4 billion, with final projections for this past year topping $157 billion, according to an analysis by the IdeaWorksCompany, an airline-revenue strategy firm. And now, just when it seemed like there couldn’t possibly be anything left to monetize, some carriers have found a new target. American Airlines is the latest to make the controversial move, and it could affect your wallet the n...

Good News for Fliers! Connections Will Be Easier to Make in Some Airports

Making a connecting flight is always a little fraught. There’s nothing worse than racing against the constantly ticking clock of a tight connection: Will my first flight depart on time? Will we land as scheduled ? How far away is the gate for the next leg of my trip? Will I make it, or end up stuck in limbo, frantically hunting for a new flight? I travel a lot, and this is why I always try to book a direct flight, but sometimes it’s just not possible. Well, American Airlines is taking some of that stress out of air travel —at least for passengers who connect through certain airports. Read on to find out how the carrier is using tech to help fliers stay on track—and what you need to know if your flight runs late. Get  Reader’s Digest ’s  Read Up newsletter for more travel, tech, cleaning, humor and fun facts all week long. How will connections be easier to make? American Airlines is testing an in-house artificial intelligence tool called Connect Assist that identifies del...

There’s a New Royal Feud Brewing—And Prince William Is at the Center of It (Again)

Family dynamics are tricky for the best of us, and they’re even harder when you work together. That goes double (triple?) when you and your co-workers are the Windsors. Toss in the crown, a few palaces and a lot of royal egos, we’re talking full-on regal explosions. It’s safe to say the Windsors have had a bit of a challenging time lately, between Andrew’s continued fall from grace and Prince Harry’s ongoing antics, plus the cancer journeys of King Charles and Princess Kate. So it was a relief—for a time, at least—to believe things had calmed down behind the palace walls and that everything was rosy for the rest of the royals. But is that accurate? Apparently not! Now there’s more behind-the-scenes drama brewing, and Prince William is at the center of it. What’s going on? Read on to find out. Get  Reader’s Digest ’s  Read Up newsletter for more royals, humor, travel, tech and fun facts all week long. Who has William been sparring with lately? His father, King Charles ...

Ring Doorbells Can Now Identify Faces—But Experts Say It’s a Major Privacy Invasion. Here’s Everything You Need to Know

You’re tucked in for the evening, and the doorbell rings. Do you answer it? Or maybe your teenager is home alone and calls you about a strange noise outside. If you have a security camera or video doorbell , you know what to do—quickly, easily and without a trip to the actual door. Video doorbells are incredibly popular for these reasons and plenty of others. But now, some Ring doorbells have a new feature that’s raising concerns about privacy: the ability to scan, store and potentially identify the face of anyone who walks up to the camera. That could be a would-be burglar—or it could be you, heading over to your neighbor’s place to borrow a cup of sugar. From there, your face scan could end up on an Amazon cloud server, without your knowledge or consent. Amazon rolled out this technology in December 2025, and it immediately stirred up some controversy. We spoke to Yelena Ambartsumian, an AI governance and privacy lawyer, to learn more about this new feature and its potential legal ...

Preview! These Are the 10 Best Movies of 2026 to Put on Your Must-Watch List—And When They’re Coming Out

Mickey 17 . Snow White . I Know What You Did Last Summer . Um, I must admit I highlighted these three flops last year in my roundup of the 10 buzziest movies to watch in 2025 . (In my defense, they seemed legitimately appealing!) And, honestly, Snow White wasn’t that awful. But part of the enduring beauty of the movie-watching experience is that for every theoretical sure thing—I did nail F1, Jurassic Park: Rebirth, Superman and Avatar: Fire & Ash , thank you very much—there’s word-of-mouth surprises like Sinners, One Battle After Another, Weapons, Marty Supreme and Materialists . If each movie represents a kernel of popcorn, we love and need to consume the whole darn bucket. That brings us to 2026. I’m pleased to report that fictional icons ranging from Spider-Man to Miranda Priestly are back in action, while the very real Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Matt Damon and Daniel Craig are bringing some of our most beloved book characters to the screen . (Come to think of it, Spider...