Technologies

You’ll Never Catch Me Running Without These High-Performing Outdoor Headphones

The Shokz OpenFit wireless headphones are the ones I turn to every time I walk or exercise outside.

For anyone who walks, runs, cycles or does just about anything outside on a regular basis, I always give the same piece of advice: Ditch those noise-canceling headphones. Don’t get me wrong. I have a pair of big over-the-ear headphones that have spectacular noise cancellation, and I love them. But when I’m outside — especially if I’m close to fast-moving cars and heavy traffic — I need to be able to hear the world around me and not just my music or whatever podcast I’m bingeing at the moment. In those cases, I want something like the OpenFit true wireless headphones from Shokz.

I love a good pair of headphones, but I don’t love spending a ton of money on them. My threshold is about $100, which is why when all of my cycling friends started raving about bone-conduction headphones a few years back, I was more than a little hesitant because I would probably use them only when working out. However, now is a great time to get in on this innovative headphone technology.

These headphones are designed to be used in places where bone conduction may not be enough and, as a result, I’m rarely seen without mine on. You can grab these headphones at a great price in black and beige, both marked down to $160 right now — a $20 discount off the usual list price.

A week after I picked these up, I was nearly sideswiped by a pickup truck and the only thing that saved me was hearing it come up behind me. There’s a reason these are recommended on our list of the best running headphones you can buy.

If you’re looking for outdoor-friendly workout headphones, my first recommendation is always Shokz, formerly known as Aftershokz. Bone-conduction headphones sit just outside your ear, resting on the bone. Music vibrates through a set of pads into your skull and you hear those sounds as if they’re coming from a speaker a few feet away.

You can hear everything you’re listening to on your phone without interrupting the sounds coming from the rest of the world around you. For cyclists and runners — really anyone who does anything outside — this is a game-changing experience. It’s more accurate and pleasing than traditional headphones with «passthrough mode» and you sacrifice very little in audio quality.

Impulse Buys Under $25 on Amazon That Make Surprisingly Great Gifts

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My favorite bone-conduction headphones — and I’ve tried them all — are the OpenRun Pro headphones from Shokz. They’re waterproof (which means they’re easy to clean when I’m all sweaty), the battery lasts me about 7 hours on a charge (perfect for those 70-mile riding days), and they’re comfortable enough that I can wear them all day and not feel them pressing on me. They charge magnetically with a proprietary charger but Shokz includes two cables in the box in case you lose things, as I do.

If these headphones are a little rich for your blood, no worries. Shokz also has cheaper OpenRun and OpenMove bone-conduction headphones with up to 6 hours of battery life and IP55 dust and water resistance. Whether you’re physically active outdoors or you just like exploring new things, I highly recommend giving these headphones a try.

HEADPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK

Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Noise Cancelling Over-Ear Headphones (Navy):

$298 (save $50)
Soundcore Life Q20 Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Headphones (Black):

$40 (save $20)
Beats Studio Pro Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones (Black):

$300 (save $51)
Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless ANC Over-Ear Headphones (Black):

$299 (save $151)
Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e ANC Over-Ear Headphones (Black):

$220 (save $180)

Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.

The Shokz OpenMove make a great gift for an outdoor runner

The Shokz make a great purchase, either for yourself or as a gift for the outdoor runner in your life. Not only are they the best of their kind, but giving these to a runner may also give you some peace of mind to know they’re a little safer when they’re out running alongside busy streets or other high-traffic areas.

For more discounted tech, check out our editors’ picks for the best headphone deals.

Technologies

Forza Horizon 6 Focuses on Japanese Car Culture: Here’s What to Know

The racing series’ latest edition, out in May, includes stunning views of Mount Fuji.

Microsoft has given racing-game fans a deeper dive into the upcoming Forza Horizon 6, and on Friday announced a May 19 release date for Xbox and PC. Premium Edition buyers will get early access on May 15, but PlayStation 5 owners will have to wait until sometime later in 2026 to play.

The publisher provided a first-look video that shows stunning views of Japan, including cherry blossom-strewn rural roads, ice-enclosed courses, neon-lit Tokyo streets and plenty of views of Mount Fuji.

The game will launch with 550 collectible cars, and Microsoft will display two on the cover: the 2025 GR GT Prototype and the 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Microsoft says the open-world game will focus on Japanese car culture, with the player in the role of a new arrival to the country guided by two close friends, motorsports fan Jordy and car builder Mei.

The locations will be divided into districts, ranging from bustling urban areas such as Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing to suburbs, industrial docklands, and more rural areas.

What to know about Forza Horizon 6

Progress in the game will include unlocking new cars and more advanced races, plus a journal of digital mementos inspired by stamp collecting.

The game features eight player houses across Japan that serve as fast-travel points. And new to the game series is The Estate, a piece of land players can acquire and build on.

Inspired by Japanese car culture, Forza Horizon 6 will add Car Meets that’ll serve as social spaces for players.

The Standard Edition costs $70, the Deluxe Edition costs $100, and the Premium Edition, which unlocks early access and includes several Car Packs, costs $120. The game will also be a Day 1 release on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and will be available on Steam and Xbox Cloud as well.

Technologies

TikTok Deal Will Keep It Online in the US, but Your Experience of the App Might Change

TikTok has secured its future by agreeing to split the US app from the global business. But the deal will spark changes to the app’s algorithm.

TikTok has dodged a ban and secured its long-term future in the US by announcing a deal on Friday that will see a joint venture take over US operations of the popular social video app. The deal marks the conclusion of a protracted battle over the app’s continued presence in the US, which dates back to President Donald Trump’s first term in office.

TikTok in the US will now be run by TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which was established by a White House executive order issued in September 2025. At its helm will be CEO Adam Presser, previously the head of operations, who led TikTok’s efforts to ensure that the data of the app’s US users was kept secure. Shou Chew, the CEO of TikTok’s international operations, will serve on the joint venture’s board of directors.

«TikTok USDS Joint Venture’s mandate is to secure US user data, apps and the algorithm through comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity measures,» the company said in a statement. «It will safeguard the US content ecosystem through robust trust and safety policies and content moderation while ensuring continuous accountability through transparency reporting and third-party certifications.»

The venture has three managing investors — Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX — which each hold a 15% stake. Oracle also will be responsible for protection of US user data and of the freshly retrained algorithm, which will be specific to the US version of the app.

Presidents Trump and Joe Biden raised concerns over a potential national security threat posed by TikTok, because of its Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance, which will retain a 19.9% stake in the new joint venture. During both of his presidential terms, Trump has attempted to ban TikTok, but also delayed the ban’s implementation.

The deal announced on Friday arrived moments before the deadline set by the White House for TikTok to comply with its September executive order. In a post on his social site Truth Social, Trump said he was «so happy to have helped in saving TikTok.»

«I only hope that long into the future I will be remembered by those who use and love TikTok,» said Trump. He also thanked China’s President Xi Jinping for working with the US and approving the deal. «He could have gone the other way, but didn’t, and is appreciated for his decision,» he said.

How TikTok might change for you

TikTok has more than 200 million users in the US, and if you’re one of them, the deal announced on Friday will allow you to continue using the app without the ongoing fear of it being banned.

It also won’t see you cut off from creators in China, or the rest of the world. People in the US will still be able to watch videos from Europe, such as last year’s viral «nothing beats a Jet2 holiday» trend. TikTok users outside of the US will still be able to follow their favorite American creators.

In the TikTok newsroom post, the company addressed interoperability, saying that the deal would «provide US users with a global TikTok experience, ensuring US creators can be discovered and businesses can operate on a global scale.»

Where the experience might change is in the content that is recommended to you. Under the terms of the deal, TikTok’s algorithm will be retrained, tested and updated based on US user data. This will have a knock-on impact on what you see on the platform, according to Kelsey Chickering, principal analyst at Forrester.

«TikTok’s power lies in its content graph — an algorithm that learns from thousands of user signals to deliver hyper‑relevant, highly addictive videos,» said Chickering. «With a US joint venture retraining that algorithm on domestic data, the experience will change — maybe for the better, maybe not. One thing’s certain: TikTok in America won’t be the same.»

In spite of the interoperability that will see US TikTok users connected to those across the globe, it does seem likely that the focus on US data will lead to a shift away from the global nature of the content that the algorithm currently serves up to you.

«TikTok’s US algorithm will now be trained on US data, which means what trends — and what dominates feeds — will feel distinctly American,» said Chickering. «Global content will still appear, but its ranking will change.»

Exactly how this will look may differ from person to person, and will likely take some time to come into effect as the joint venture begins the retraining process. TikTok didn’t immediately respond to questions regarding how long it expects retraining the algorithm to take, when US TikTok users should expect to be impacted by changes and whether it will issue public updates about this process.

One potential pitfall the company might want to avoid, Chickering said, is moderating the US version of TikTok in a way that tilts too far toward any one particular political viewpoint, or fails to curb misinformation. Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter (now X) — and his subsequent algorithmic changes that alienated users and advertisers — is a cautionary tale in this regard. With Instagram Reels already vying to replace TikTok, the company will likely want to avoid making changes that could spark a mass exodus of people.

«For now, it’s speculation,» said Chickering. «It remains to be seen how new leadership will wield this power and whether moderation policies will evolve.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Jan. 23

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Jan. 23.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Hope you’re familiar with a certain blond actor (8-Across)! Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.