Home printers and scanners had their moment--around the same time flip phones did. Instead, they're swapping out those dusty relics for a powerful little app called iScanner. This mobile document scanner fits in your pocket, fires up instantly, and doesn't charge you monthly. You can grab lifetime access for just 24.99 with code SCAN at checkout while codes last (reg. Last time we ran this deal, they sold out within the day--so act fast if you're interested.

If you're looking for a budget-friendly robot vacuum that can handle both vacuuming and mopping, iRobot's Roomba Combo Essential just hit its lowest price ever. Thanks to the Amazon Spring Sale, it's down to 149 from 275, matching the lowest price we've seen. It previously dipped to 149 during the holiday season and earlier this year, but it's unclear how long this deal will stick around this time. As you can see in our roundup of the best budget robot vacuums, we've consistently rated iRobot's machines highly for their reliability and ease of use. The Roomba Combo Essential is a simple, no-frills option that both vacuums and mops, making it a solid pick for small apartments, dorm rooms or anyone who wants a cleaner floor without spending a fortune.

Amazon's Big Spring Sale has finally reached its last day. Like last year, the deals are focused less on tech and gadgets and more on home, cleaning and fashion discounts. That's not Engadget's area of expertise -- except when it comes to robot vacuums, where home cleaning and hi-tech neatly intersect. We've tested dozens of these handy automatic floor cleaners and put the results in two buying guides one for budget models and one covering the best of the best. We've also tried out a few cordless vacs, which make good spot-cleaners to supplement automated cleaning. Right now, a number of our picks and related models are on sale and we've rounded up the best deals on vacuums Amazon's latest sale has to offer.

This year's Amazon Spring Sale is nearly over, but there's still time to grab a bunch of household, fashion and outdoor gear for record-low prices. Tech isn't a huge focus for this sale, but there are a decent number of devices on sale right now for some of the best prices we've seen all year. The selection may not be as good as that of Amazon Prime Day in July, but it still provides a good opportunity to save on things like headphones, robot vacuums, air purifiers and more. We've collected the best Amazon Spring Sale deals on tech gear here so you don't have to go searching for them. Our top pick for the best budget streaming device can play content at 1080p/60fps and now its remote can also control your TV's power and volume.

In e-commerce, behavioral data is collected for decision making which can be costly and slow. Simulation with LLM powered agents is emerging as a promising alternative for representing human population behavior. However, LLMs are known to exhibit certain biases, such as brand bias, review rating bias and limited representation of certain groups in the population, hence they need to be carefully benchmarked and aligned to user behavior. Ultimately, our goal is to synthesise an agent population and verify that it collectively approximates a real sample of humans. To this end, we propose a framework that: (i) creates synthetic shopping agents by automatically mining personas from anonymised historical shopping data, (ii) equips agents with retail-specific tools to synthesise shopping sessions and (iii) introduces a novel alignment suite measuring distributional differences between humans and shopping agents at the group (i.e. population) level rather than the traditional "individual" level. Experimental results demonstrate that using personas improves performance on the alignment suite, though a gap remains to human behaviour. We showcase an initial application of our framework for automated agentic A/B testing and compare the findings to human results. Finally, we discuss applications, limitations and challenges setting the stage for impactful future work.

One notable trend at CES earlier this year was the quirky robot vacuum. It seemed every third booth had a new model that could climb stairs, pick up socks, serve drinks and, oh yeah, suck up dirt from your floor. Now that Amazon's Spring Sale is here, we're seeing lots of discounts -- not on those wacky prototypes, but on robo vacs that make keeping your floors clean easier and automated. Engadget has two guides to these handy home gadgets, based on years of testing and reviewing products from brands like iRobot, Shark, Dyson, Eufy and more. Here are the best deals on robot vacuums and cordless stick vacs we could find for the Big Spring Sale. This "essential" Roomba is relatively no-frills, but it has the added benefit of being a mopping robot in addition to a vacuum.

This year's Amazon Spring Sale is in full swing, and as promised, a ton of household, fashion and outdoor gear has dropped to record-low prices. Tech isn't a huge focus for this sale, but there are a decent number of devices on sale right now for some of the best prices we've seen all year. The selection may not be as good as that of Amazon Prime Day in July, but it still provides a good opportunity to save on things like headphones, robot vacuums, air purifiers and more. We've collected the best Amazon Spring Sale deals on tech gear here so you don't have to go searching for them. The Spring Sale runs through March 31, so check back here for all of the latest deals as they drop.

The Amazon Spring Sale is here, bringing a slew of discounts on household essentials, fashion, outdoor gear and even furniture. We at Engadget are focused on tech, and while the selection this time around isn't quite as good as that of Amazon Prime Day in July, there are some decent discounts to be had. Some of our favorite robot vacuums, air purifiers, headphones and storage gear are on sale right now for some of the best prices we've seen this year so far. Below, you'll find all of the best tech deals we could find in the Amazon Spring Sale. The shopping event runs through March 31, so be sure to check back for the latest deals as they become available.

Normally priced at 275, this is the best discount we've seen on the 2-in-1 robot, matching the sale price we saw during the holiday shopping season last year. As you can see in our roundup of the best budget robot vacuums, we've consistently rated iRobot's machines highly for their reliability and ease of use. The Roomba Combo Essential is a simple, no-frills option that both vacuums and mops, making it a solid pick for small apartments, dorm rooms or anyone who wants a cleaner floor without spending a fortune. That's more than 100 off this robot that can vacuum and mop. The vacuum uses special multi-surface brushes to pick up dirt, dust and pet hair from hard floors and carpets.

In recent years, the use of databases that analyze trends, sentiments or news to make economic projections or create indicators has gained significant popularity, particularly with the Google Trends platform. This article explores the potential of Google search data to develop a new index that improves economic forecasts, with a particular focus on one of the key components of economic activity: private consumption (64\% of GDP in Peru). By selecting and estimating categorized variables, machine learning techniques are applied, demonstrating that Google data can identify patterns to generate a leading indicator in real time and improve the accuracy of forecasts. Finally, the results show that Google's "Food" and "Tourism" categories significantly reduce projection errors, highlighting the importance of using this information in a segmented manner to improve macroeconomic forecasts.