Technologies

Labor Day Deal Lops $40 Off Our Favorite Bone-Conduction Headphones

The top-rated OpenRun Pro 2 headphones use bone-conduction so you can still hear your surroundings, and they’re just $140 at Amazon for Labor Day.

Music is a great way to stay motivated during your regular runs. Podcasts and audiobooks are also an excellent way to focus, if that’s more your speed. But earbuds can fall out and many over-ear headphones are too bulky to use during a workout. That’s why we love these unique bone-conduction Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 headphones that are lightweight, offer superb sound and an ergonomic fit on the back of your head. Their usual asking price is $180, but Amazon has dropped them to $140 for Labor Day in a limited-time offer. Not only is this an excellent deal, but buying now might be a great way to avoid potential future price increases due to tariffs.

Bone-conduction headphones have been on the market for a while, but David Carnoy, our headphone reviewer, hailed the OpenRun Pro 2s as one of the first pairs out there with truly good sound — earning them a top spot on our list of the best running headphones of 2025 and an Editors’ Choice award. This is thanks to the new and improved hybrid-driver design that provides fuller bass tones, which these kinds of headphones typically lack. And with Amazon’s Labor Day deal, they’re more affordable than ever.

They’re also fairly rugged with an IP55 weather-resistance rating and have a fairly impressive 12-hour battery life. Plus, solid voice-calling performance makes it easy to stay connected while you’re on the road or trails.

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.

Why this deal matters

Earning a CNET Editors’ Choice award and a spot on our lists of the best headphones for running and working out, it’s fair to say that these Shokz are some of the absolute best bone-conduction headphones on the market. In fact, CNET’s audio expert David Carnoy found very little not to love about them other than their steep price, which is less of an issue now that they’re 22% off for Labor Day.

Looking for more options? Check out our specific Labor Day Headphone Deals roundup on the market now with Sony, Bose and more featured.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Aug. 29

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Aug. 29.

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.

Today’s Mini Crossword was a fairly easy one. But if you need some help, read on. 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.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Recede, as the tide
Answer: EBB

4A clue: Fictional creature voiced by Rihanna, James Corden or Nick Offerman, in a 2025 animated movie
Answer: SMURF

6A clue: Diet that harkens back to prehistoric times
Answer: PALEO

7A clue: It’s tough to digest
Answer: FIBER

8A clue: Trippy drug, for short
Answer: LSD

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: One might start «Hope you are well»
Answer: EMAIL

2D clue: Future tulips
Answer: BULBS

3D clue: Munchkin or Maine Coon
Answer: BREED

4D clue: No. on a sunscreen bottle
Answer: SPF

5D clue: Supportive of
Answer: FOR

Technologies

AI Is a Threat to the Entry-Level Job Market, Stanford Study Shows

Early-career workers in roles most exposed to AI, such as software development and customer support, have experienced big declines in employment.

Will artificial intelligence take your job? A recent Stanford study provides six facts supporting «the hypothesis that the AI revolution is beginning to have a significant and disproportionate impact on entry-level workers in the American labor market.»

The study noted that «since the widespread adoption of generative AI, early-career workers (ages 22-25) in the most AI-exposed occupations have experienced a 13% relative decline in employment.»

Easily automated jobs are most affected

The decline in employment can be seen primarily in occupations where AI automates the work rather than when it augments people’s labor. The study found «substantial declines in employment» for those in their early 20s working in fields most exposed to AI, including customer service and software development.

By contrast, employment for more experienced workers in those fields and those working in less AI-exposed fields like nursing «has remained stable or continued to grow,» the study said.

The research showed that job declines remained even when such considering such industry shocks as interest-rate changes. The adjustments are more visible in employment than compensation, meaning AI might affect employment more than wages, at least for now. The patterns also hold in jobs that aren’t affected by remote work and for both fields with a high share of college graduates and those without.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, overall unemployment remains relatively stable. July’s rate was 4.2%, slightly up from 4% in May and 4.1% in June.