• The Kremlin is accused of waging a "shadow war" against the West amid Russian sabotage incidents.
• The sabotage spree has been ongoing for years but has escalated since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
• Frequent targets include weapons facilities and other infrastructure aiding Ukrainian forces.

In the wee hours of Sunday, May 12, a fire broke out at the Marywilska 44 shopping center, one of Poland's largest. The conflagration ultimately destroyed 80% of the complex, which housed 1,400 shops and outlets.

This week, Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that it is "quite likely — that the Russian services had something to do with the Marywilska fire." 

If true, the loss of a Polish shopping center by means of Russian arson would be shocking on its own. When viewed as one pixel in a larger picture of a sustained sabotage campaign against Western targets, the scale of the problem comes into focus.

After the fire, Poland arrested and indicted nine Russians alleged to have been involved in "beatings, arson, and attempted arson," including foiled plots to commit arson at a paint factory in the Polish city of Wroclaw and plans to set an Ikea in Lithuania ablaze.

Russia's shadow war against the West is no joke

Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas stated this week that likely ongoing sabotage operations are part of a Russian "shadow war" being actively waged against the West. Estonia would know having arrested 10 people believed to have committed acts of sabotage on behalf of Russia in February.

As NATO advances toward the July summit, it's become clear that more comprehensive discussions on addressing the Russian sabotage campaign must take place. The problem has been around for at least a decade; the pace of attacks, however, seems to have dramatically quickened.

Some of the earliest identified acts of Russian sabotage occurred in 2014 at ammunition depots in the Czech Republic killing two and causing $42.5 million in damage. In April, Czechia police published the results of their decadelong investigation, concluding, "The police authority considers it proven that the explosions of the two warehouses in Vrbětice were carried out by members of the Russian military intelligence."

Not long after, in 2015, Russia is believed set off explosions and fires at Bulgaria's largest armaments factory. More recently in 2022 and 2023, Russia is thought to have once again targeted the warehouses of Bulgarian defense manufacturers. Bulgaria has played a crucial role in supplying ammunition and shells to Ukrainian forces, especially in the early stages of the war.

Closer to home, last month, a fire broke out at the Scranton Army ammunition plant in Pennsylvania, which produces steel tubes for 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, among other munitions. Just two days later, explosions occurred at a BAE Systems munitions plant in the United Kingdom.

Investigations into both these incidents remain ongoing; either, however, would fit the Russian modus operandi.

Considering recent trends, one could also be forgiven for looking askance at the multiple fires that broke out in just one week at Denmark's Novo Nordisk. The company, better known as the maker of the diabetes and weight loss drug Ozempic, also happens to be Europe's most valuable.

Even putting these incidents aside, there are plenty of proven reasons to be suspicious. Indeed, the day after the BAE plant explosion, German authorities arrested two Russian-German would-be saboteurs, believed to be plotting attacks against bases, including Grafenwoehr, where the Ukrainian forces are trained to operate the American Abrams tanks.

Weapons and training facilities aiding Ukrainian forces are frequent targets. Norwegian authorities recently noted an increase in the threat of sabotage against arms deliveries to Ukraine, alongside a resident threat to the Norwegian energy sector.

Energy is another favored target. Russia was certainly a party to the sabotage of the Baltic Interconnector pipeline last October. This week, construction workers near Bellheim, Germany, stumbled upon a cache of explosives and detonators intentionally buried nearby pipelines that form a portion of the NATO Pipeline System.

Transportation links are also in the crosshairs. The Czech transport Minister accused Russia last month of "trying to sabotage European railways" with "thousands of attempts to weaken our systems." A series of Swedish train derailments may be one example.

Another is the October 2022 attacks on German rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB). Investigators suspect Russia was behind the sabotage of critical cables, which brought rail traffic to a three-hour standstill. In the event of future conflict, perched atop Germany's central location in Europe, DB would be one of the most important actors, moving NATO tanks, trucks, and troops.

Russia has also sought out more prosaic but no less critical targets. Take for instance, hackers closely tied to the Kremlin who claimed credit for hacking municipal water systems in the US and Poland as well as a water mill in France.

These incidents are very likely merely the tip of the iceberg and paint a picture of a sabotage spree gaining momentum.

Russia sees itself as at war with the West and believes that it can pummel with impunity so long as its aggression stays under a certain threshold.

NATO leaders gathering this summer in Washington may want to mark the alliance's 75th anniversary and focus on bolstering additional support for Ukraine. They are quickly learning, however, that Russia's hybrid aggression, most vividly elucidated in a brazen ongoing sabotage spree, will be sharing center stage.

Daniel Kochis is a senior fellow at the Center on Europe and Eurasia at Hudson Institute. He specializes in transatlantic security issues and regularly publishes on United States policy in Europe, NATO, Baltic, and Nordic dimensions of collective defense and Arctic issues. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own. 

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Most new iPhone releases offer incremental upgrades, but after testing and using the iPhone 15 over the months since its release, its upgrades are clearly more substantial. It might not look like it from the outside, but the iPhone 15 represents one of Apple's biggest updates to the base iPhone since the iPhone 12 from 2020. 

More so than any base iPhone in recent memory, the iPhone 15 doesn't make you feel like you're missing out by not buying the Pro version. It dips its toes in the exclusive waters of Apple's iPhone Pro models with more trickle-down features than we've seen before, like a high-megapixel camera, Dynamic Island, and super-bright displays that can handle the sunniest days. And, the iPhone 15 heralds a subtly refreshed design, which we haven't seen in three generations, as well as a USB-C port that brings Apple's ecosystem of devices closer to harmony for charging. 

To be sure, the iPhone 15 Pro models are technologically superior, and Apple is keeping a clear distinction between its base and Pro models. Though the iPhone 15 comes with major upgrades, it might still not be enough for those who typically go for the iPhone Pros. The iPhone 15's display still runs at a 60Hz refresh rate that's becoming stale and outdated in 2024. And only the iPhone 15 Pro models receive Apple's latest iPhone processor, the new Action Button, and a dedicated zoom camera. 

Still, the iPhone 15 is a darn good phone for most people, and considering all its upgrades relative to its price, it's the best iPhone we've seen in years.

Performance and display: A powerful processor that's still matched with a dated screen

Whichever way you look at it, the iPhone 15, running on Apple's A16 Bionic processor, is a powerful and fast phone. Sure, it's not as powerful as the iPhone 15 Pro models running on the newer A17 Pro, but it's still a generational leap over the iPhone 14, which ran on the iPhone 13 Pro's A15 Bionic processor. 

In everyday use, during the iPhone 15's first year and perhaps its second, you're not going to notice much of a difference whether you're comparing it to the iPhone 15 Pro models or the iPhone 14 (and the iPhone 13 series, for that matter). The iPhone 15's performance gap between the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 14 will perceivably widen over the years when iOS and apps become more advanced.

Benchmark test results suggest the iPhone 15 Pro could last a year longer than the iPhone 15 before apps start to take longer than you'd like to open and run. The same is true for the iPhone 15, which should last a year longer than the iPhone 14. 

It's a shame the iPhone 15's power isn't mated with a 120Hz display — it would accentuate the phone's performance with smoother animations. It's not a dealbreaker by any means, and it doesn't hold you back, but my eyebrows raise higher and higher with every new iPhone release that still has a 60Hz display. 

I could argue that a smooth 120Hz refresh rate is a standard expectation on phones these days, especially those starting at $800. Android phones have had 120Hz displays since 2020, starting with the Samsung Galaxy S20 series. And thinking about the $500 Pixel 8a with a 120Hz display, I'd even expect high refresh rates at lower price ranges. With that in mind, the iPhone 15's 60Hz display makes it feel dated.

The iPhone 15's simple 60Hz display also means it doesn't support an always-on display, which is another convenient feature reserved for the iPhone 15 Pro series. 

Still, the iPhone 15's brighter display is an unmistakable improvement, as it's noticeably brighter than previous generation base iPhones for better outdoor viewing on sunny days. Colors, especially, pop   

Design: A subtle leap

The iPhone 15 is slightly more comfortable and forgiving in the hand thanks to subtly softer edges compared to the harsher and sharper edges introduced with the iPhone 12 series through to the iPhone 14 series. It still looks like a modern iPhone with its flat edges, and not like the iPhone 11 and earlier generations with the fully rounded sides.

The rear glass on the iPhone 15 has a smooth, frosted matte texture compared to the clear glass from previous base iPhone generations. Whether you like the aesthetics is up to you (I personally prefer it), but it's undeniably less grippy than clear glass. As a result, it's easier to adjust the iPhone 15 in your hand, especially one-handed. Despite less grip, I never felt like the phone was more likely to stumble out of my hands.

Having said all this, none of it will matter much if you typically use a case. 

Colors are subjective, and Apple went with a pastel variety of blue, pink, yellow, green, and black.

'Pro' features: Dynamic Island, but no Action Button

Apple's Dynamic Island, a feature introduced with the iPhone 14 series and reserved for the iPhone 14 Pro models, has trickled down to the base iPhone 15. Dynamic Island delivers a nice boost in functionality — it's a clever way to view and interact with notifications, alerts, and app shortcuts without covering the entire screen, and it's proven useful whether you're actively doing something on the phone or not. 

Apple's latest functional convenience upgrade, the Action Button, didn't make it to the base iPhone 15 and is reserved for the iPhone 15 Pro models. For reference, the Action Button replaces the signature silent switch and offers customizable functions, like toggling the flashlight, opening the camera app, switching focus modes, and, yes, enabling silent mode. 

Cameras: 'Pro' quality trickles down

Since Apple released the iPhone 6s in 2015, most standard iPhones have had 12MP main cameras. The iPhone 15 introduced the biggest upgrade to the base iPhone camera since then with a 48MP camera, which was first introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro models. It's not exactly the same camera as the iPhone 14 Pro, but it's still a nice trickle-down feature that comes with some benefits.

One of those benefits is capturing more detail. It's not perceivable when you're casually flicking through photos, but it does let you zoom farther into a photo after it's been taken to reveal clearer details.

Here's a 12MP photo compared to a 48MP when fully zoomed out, showing the entire photo's contents on a screen. Apart from the cat in the 12MP, the photos are basically identical in quality:

Here's the same 12MP and 48MP photos zoomed in to show the cherub's details:

To save your iPhone's storage space, the iPhone 15 takes 24MP photos by default, which is a happy medium between 12MP and 48MP. It captures visibly more detail than a 12MP photo while using up significantly less storage:

Another benefit of the iPhone 15's 48MP camera is that it enables 2x zoom shots at 12MP with optical quality, and without the quality degradation from digital zooming. Essentially, it crops a quarter of the camera's sensor from the center, resulting in a photo that appears to be 2x zoomed when expanded on a screen.

Here's a photo taken with the iPhone 15's main camera with no zoom:

And here's a photo taken with the iPhone 15's main camera at 2x zoom: 

iPhone 15 photos follow Apple's signature safe and solid approach, which produces reliably excellent photos with well-balanced lighting, contrast, and colors. But, as with most phones, generational camera improvements only become apparent the older your current model is.

In low light, the iPhone 15 takes noticeably sharper photos than the iPhone 14, despite the fact that the iPhone 15's photos were taken at the same 12MP resolution as the iPhone 14. Improved sharpness was expected thanks to the iPhone 15's larger sensor that can capture more light. However, it didn't result in faster night shots — both phones prompted us to stay still for three seconds to take the test shots. 

The iPhone 15 records video up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, and video quality is reliably excellent, so there's no major upgrade here. However, the iPhone 15's larger 48MP sensor affords up to 6x digital zooming compared to the iPhone 14's 3x, and zoomed footage at any range looks significantly better as a result. 

Battery life and charging: USB-C brings harmony, but not faster charging speeds

The iPhone 15's battery life is comparable with that of the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 15 Pro, which is to say, it's very good and expected for a phone with a 6.1-inch display. If you already have experience with phones that have a similar display size, you'll find the iPhone 15 will provide similar battery life relative to your typical daily usage. Compared to an older phone with a battery that's degraded over time, the iPhone 15's battery life will be refreshing.

It won't change any daily charging habits you've built up over time based on your typical usage — only the iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 15 Pro Max have the potential to do that with their larger batteries and stunning battery lives.   

So, nothing new with battery life, but the way you charge the iPhone 15's battery, at least with a cable, has dramatically changed with the new USB-C port that replaced the Lightning port. 

The move is a triumph for some, as it standardizes the cables you'd need for electronics. USB-C is the common standard for nearly everything with a rechargeable battery these days, from laptops, tablets, and wireless headphones to kids' toys. It also opens up a wider variety of accessories to the iPhone 15 that were previously more limited or unavailable due to the Lightning port. And a nice little party trick — you can charge another iPhone, or your own, with another iPhone with a USB-C-to-USB-C cable.

The iPhone 15 doesn't come with a charger, but it does come with a USB-C cable. Those celebrating the move to USB-C likely already have chargers they can use, even if they're not specifically designed for the iPhone — any USB-C charger that supports at least 25W will fully support the iPhone 15's charging speeds.

For others who are fully entrenched in the Lightning ecosystem, this change potentially means buying new cables, chargers, and adapters. And unless you already own USB-C accessories, the new port will be more of an inconvenience for those who have been living in a Lightning-only world.

Either way, iPhones moving to USB-C or perhaps a different standard altogether was only a matter of time, even if Apple was forced to do so. The inconvenience is also only temporary, just as it was when Apple introduced Lightning to replace the 30-pin connector with the iPhone 5. 

Technologically, the base iPhone 15's move to USB-C offers little advantage over Lightning. Charging speeds aren't notably faster, and it handles the same USB 2 speeds as Lightning. Only the iPhone 15 Pro models support USB 3 for significantly faster data transfers. It's a shame, as the USB-C port has more to offer than what's given in the base iPhone 15. 

Should you buy the iPhone 15?

The iPhone 15 is a clear choice for anyone looking for a solid, simple phone that easily and effectively covers the basics that most people need, whether they're entrenched in the Apple ecosystem or not. Anyone who consistently picks base iPhone models instead of Pro models should be very happy with the iPhone 15.

While the base iPhone 15 has inherited several iPhone Pro features, the 60Hz display, dual-lens camera, and previous-generation processor won't lure iPhone Pro users to the base model. However, they should still satisfy most people's daily needs. And, iPhone Pro users looking to spend less will find more value than ever in the iPhone 15. 

As an upgrade option, the iPhone 15 and its considerable array of new features especially reward those with older iPhones, like the iPhone 12 and older. Those who recently spent good money on a more recent model, like the iPhone 13 or iPhone 14, may also feel the iPhone 15's pull — with a good trade-in deal, the justification to upgrade is there, especially considering trade-in deals tend to be more favorable if your current model is more recent. 

With that said, I'm not saying you need to update to the iPhone 15, even if you have an older iPhone. The iPhone 15 still delivers a very familiar everyday experience, and you shouldn't expect a major change in how you use your phone. Rather, the iPhone 15 gives you more reason to upgrade than the last two generations. 

In addition, the next iPhone release (iPhone 16) is cresting over the horizon at the time of writing, with a likely announcement in September. If you haven't picked up the iPhone 15 yet or don't need a new phone immediately, you can easily justify waiting less than half a year for the next release. It's possible Apple could add more trickled-down features to the iPhone 16 — the Action Button and faster USB-C, for example — and the iPhone 15 will get a predictable price cut, so it may be worth waiting if you can. But you won't go wrong getting the iPhone 15 now. 

If the iPhone 15 suits your needs, check our guides to the best iPhone 15 cases and best iPhone 15 screen protectors to guard the phone from damage and ensure its longevity. 

• Google is scaling back its AI answers after bad answers went viral.
• Last week, I made a pizza with glue  — and ate it — because Google AI search told me to.
• Am I the hero? Who can say.  

I'm not one to casually toss around the H-word, but, sure, you can say it: I'm a hero.

On Thursday, Google accounted in a blog post that it would be scaling back the AI search results it had rolled out the week prior to somewhat disastrous and hilarious ends. For example, its Google AI Overviews results suggested that it was good to eat one rock per day (which was presented seriously but was actually based on an article from The Onion), that Barack Obama was the first gay president, and that the way to keep the cheese from sliding off your pizza was to add 1/8 of a cup of glue to the sauce.

The glue pizza search result was traced back to a comment from a Redditor who went by "fucksmith" making an obvious joke on the subreddit r/Pizza.

Because I'm both brave and a genius, naturally, I had to try to make the glue pizza myself.

Now, Liz Reid, the head of search at Google, wrote in Thursday's blog post that Google will limit the use of satirical content in its AI-generated search results (no more answers from The Onion, for instance). It will also limit its use of user-generated content for AI-generated advice (being more careful with answers from Reddit, whose content Google is paying $60 million a year for, according to reports).

There was a whole lot of attention paid in the past week about how bad many of these AI-generated search results were — particularly because they were wacky and funny. Was Google's response to tamp down its big AI search ambitions just because a few jokesters on X made silly queries? Maybe.

Could it be because Google took the feedback seriously and realized that there were use cases they hadn't expected and they needed to retool based on this new information? Maybe.

Could it be a combination of those two things — that a small minority of trolls abusing the system for laughs revealed some serious flaws and dangers of putting AI in search results? That it wasn't just a PR disaster for a week but made Google seriously rethink the safety of the AI Overviews product and what it would actually be used for? Most likely.

But let's not overlook one crucial factor here: ME! I actually ate the glue pizza. (It did not taste good, and please do not do this at home).

In my dreams, I like to believe that Google CEO Sundar Pichai saw a picture of my gaping maw ingesting polyvinyl acetate and cheese, fell to his knees, and cried out, "What have I done?!?" Sacrificing my palate and the equilibrium of microplastics in my bloodstream was not in vain or merely for clicks; it slowed the steamroller of AI that is destroying all that we loved about the old internet.

The ridiculousness of those AI answers does call into question the entire concept of using AI for Google search results.

What is the point of it — these AI-generated results, the idea that you should "let Google do the Googling for you" — instead of using your own judgment to pick the link that looks like it has the best answer? As Max Read writes, "It is possible I am in a minority here, but speaking for myself I want to see a selection of different possible results and use the brain my ancestors spent hundreds of millions of years evolving to determine the context, tone, and intent."

Similarly, for New York Magazine, John Herrman points out that humans have become pretty good at parsing Google results on their own: "Understanding that you'll encounter some nonsense, scams, jokes, and ads on the way to finding what you're looking for, or realizing that you won't, is part of the job of using Google. By attempting to automate this job, Google has revealed — and maybe discovered — just how hard it is and how alien its understanding of its own users has become."

I don't necessarily think that AI search results are a terrible idea and will never be good. I believe Google when it says that most people, most of the time, have enjoyed AI search results. That's mostly been my experience, too.

The fact that Google rolled this out with such easily exploitable flaws? That was bad. But fixing it? That's good. And I like to convince myself that my eating glue pizza was part of the noise that prompted Google to act.

Please, please … I don't need your thanks. I'm just doing my job! As they say, not all heroes wear capes. Some just eat glue.

• America's shrinking birthrate is a problem.
• Millennials not having enough babies could crimp growth by 1-2 percentage points a year.
• At the current trajectory, that's set to weigh on the economy for the next decade or more.

Millennials aren't having as many kids as previous generations, and that fact could end up dragging down economic growth for more than a decade.

That may not faze some child-free millennials, who are using the money that would have been spent on childcare to splurge on lavish vacations, flashy boats, and other luxuries popular among DINKs — couples who live on double-income, with no kids.

But that kind of spending won't be enough to offset the drag of a shrinking population on the economy over the long run, especially considering that the US birthrate has collapsed over the last half-century, economists told Business Insider.

In 2022, there were just 11.1 births per every 1,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's a 53% plunge from what was recorded in 1960, when there were 23.7 births per every 1,000 people.

The shortage of babies has been particularly acute since the pandemic, according to James Pomeroy, HSBC's global economist. The national birthrate is now dropping around 2% each year, he estimated — and it didn't pick up in 2023, like experts originally expected.

That puts the US at risk of seeing "extremely low" population levels over the long run, not unlike countries like China, where the population decline is so dire the government is doling out cash to convince people to have more kids. 

"What you're talking about is these birth rates dropping very, very low levels, which over the course of time has huge impacts on the economy," Pomeroy said. "And then by the time you get to 2030, you're talking about a birth rate that is wildly different to what was in the assumptions made at the beginning of the decade."

The impact of millennials having fewer kids will likely be worse than the impact of aging boomers — and the most dire consequences could come 10-15 years from now, Pomeroy estimated. He pointed to Japan, which had a similar birth rate in the 1990s as the US does now. Its economy saw the "worst bit" of growth around a decade later, when its workforce dwindled and the nation posted several years of negative GDP growth.

The shrinking birthrate in the US could drag down GDP by 1-2 percentage points each year, according to Todd Buchholz, a former White House economist. Over several decades, that's the equivalent of slashing the US growth rate by a third, he estimated, or wiping out the estimated productivity increases stemming from artificial intelligence. In the worst-case scenario, GDP growth could nosedive 3-4 percentage points, Pomeroy warned. 

Fewer Americans being born means fewer workers in the economy. 

"You find it more difficult to find somebody to cut your hair, do your nails work on, set up the x-ray machines at the hospital," he said. "So the sheer decrease in the number of people … becomes a problem."

Declining fertility rates also mean it will be harder to bear the brunt of Social Security payments, particularly as boomers age into retirement. Baby boomers are estimated to exert "peak burden" on the US economy in 2029, which is when all boomers will be 65 or older.

"We will have a great deal of trouble … figuring out how to pay the retirements. The promised retirement payments for senior citizens — Medicare and Social Security — are going to go in vast deficits," Buchholz added.

If the birthrate doesn't increase soon, he estimates there will eventually be two full-time workers for every retiree, down from around 20 workers per retiree in the 1930s. 

"That is simply not sustainable," he said.

Downward spiral

It's hard to convince people to have kids. 

Once the birthrate in an advanced economy starts to decline, it generally continues to do so, Pomeroy and Buchholz both noted. That's been the case for China and Russia, two countries that dealt with low birth rates for decades, and are now hobbled by demographic issues. 

Government policies that support those who have children could be one way to boost the birthrate — or at least, prevent it from falling further. Boosting the supply of available homes, which can push down sky-high housing costs, will also help, Pomeroy said, though that will likely take decades to build enough inventory to meet demand. 

The most important thing to encourage people to have more kids might be a cultural shift in how we talk about children, Buchholz says. He pointed to the chatter among millennials about how much money you can save by going child-free — around half a million dollars, according to one CNBC analysis.

In the US, mounting costs for everything from shelter to healthcare to education weigh on younger generations' decision to have kids. On top of that, existential uncertainties stemming from things like the climate crisis to technological upheavals like artificial intelligence don't make the decision any easier. 

"I think it's a net negative to have fewer children when the choice is between having a child and investing in a new Sony PlayStation," Buchholz told Business Insider. "Now it seems crude, vulgar, and inhumane to admit that people do, but people will openly say, having a child is expensive."

Many DINK couples say they don't regret their lifestyle choices — much to the vexation of their critics – but that blasé attitude could be the very problem itself, Buchholz speculated.

"'At the end of my life, I was surrounded by a machine tethering me to oxygen, a nurse, and a lawyer.' That seems like a very dreary way to end life," Buchholz said. "And so I think the narrative has to change. So it's not about the fear of missing out and only being able to live once. People who have children feel that they live more than once."

This story was originally published in February 2024.

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Amazon's Kindle lineup has led the e-reading space for years. In terms of design, performance, and convenience, they're nearly unrivaled by other brands. Right now, buyers can choose between four main Kindle models, and I put them all to the test to find the best Kindle for most readers.

My top pick, the Kindle Paperwhite, presents the ideal balance between performance and price. It has a larger screen than the base Kindle and is one of the cheapest waterproof e-readers you can get. But if you're on a tight budget, the more affordable standard Kindle is also a great buy. It isn't waterproof but delivers the same core features that Kindles are known for without breaking the bank. 

After dozens of hours of reading, page-flipping, and book browsing, here's how all the best Kindle models stack up and why certain ones are better suited for specific buyers.

Our top picks for the best Kindle

Best overall: Kindle Paperwhite – See at Amazon

Best premium pick: Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition – See at Amazon

Best on a budget: Kindle – See at Amazon

Best for notetakers: Kindle Scribe – See at Amazon

Best overall

The Kindle Paperwhite offers everything a reader could want from a book replacement, balancing simplicity with an excellent set of features, speedy performance, and a reasonable price. More than just the best Kindle, it's also our pick for the best e-reader you can buy. 

The Paperwhite is designed with all the Kindle essentials, including a beautiful paper-like display with adjustable lighting, font size settings, and a dark mode. It's also got a sharp screen with 300 pixels per inch (PPI) and Bluetooth support for Audible listening. But you can expect as much from any of our picks in this guide. 

What sets the Paperwhite apart from the rest of the Kindle lineup is its perfect set of features for the money. Unlike the standard model, the Paperwhite is waterproof and has a more modern flush-front design. After unlocking the device, you'll find the snappiest performance of all the Kindles with little to no ghosting (after-images left on the screen). Its lighting temperature is also adjustable, and it has a larger 6.8-inch screen versus the standard Kindle's six-inch display. 

Starting at $150, it's the cheapest waterproof Kindle available. Even better, it's sometimes on sale for as low as $100, which is the regular starting price of our budget pick. Whether discounted or not, the Paperwhite delivers the best Kindle value for most people. 

Note: Though Amazon previously sold an 8GB version of the Kindle Paperwhite for $140, that model is no longer available. As of April 2024, only the 16GB Paperwhite is listed for purchase on Amazon's site.

Check out our Kindle Paperwhite review.

Best premium pick

Designed with all of the normal Paperwhite's splendor and more, the Kindle Paperwhite Signature offers additional features if you're willing to pay a little extra. It's a convenient size with a beautiful display and snappy performance that helps you stay immersed in your books. 

Like the regular version, the Paperwhite Signature Edition has a 300 pixels per inch (PPI) resolution with a 17-LED backlight. That translates to crisp page fonts that are easy on the eyes, with lighting powerful enough for reading books in the sun. It's also waterproof and powered by a speedy processor for quick page turns with little to no ghosting (after images left on the screen). 

It gets its premium title by being the only Kindle to charge wirelessly and the only model with automatic light adjustment aside from the $340 Kindle Scribe. And where the normal Paperwhite has 16GB of storage, the Signature Edition comes with a whopping 32GB for building a massive library of titles and storing tons of audiobooks. 

Our former pick in this category, the Kindle Oasis, offered even more cool features but had an outdated design and was more expensive. However, the Oasis has been phased out of the Kindle lineup and is no longer available to buy. I wish the Paperwhite Signature Edition had the Oasis' page turn buttons and automatic page orientation flipping, but for $60 less, missing these features isn't a dealbreaker. 

Best on a budget

Amazon's base Kindle got an upgrade in 2022, making this model one of the newest of the bunch. That means, despite being the cheapest option, the 11th-generation Kindle now has the benefit of a modern user interface with a 300-PPI resolution. 

This model forgoes many extra features in exchange for a lower price point, but it still comes with a glare-free display, adjustable backlight, and customizable settings. With a six-inch screen, it's the smallest Kindle in the lineup, but it feels great in hand. In my review, I found it ideal for users who just want to read and don't want to pay for all of the bells and whistles of its pricier siblings. 

However, if a waterproof design is important to you, you'll have to get the more expensive Paperwhite. You can't read in the rain or the tub with a regular Kindle, and that's its main drawback. It also lacks extra features you might want to pay more for on another model, like lighting temperature settings, automatic adjustments, and a writeable screen. 

In the end, my advice is this: if the Paperwhite is on sale for the same price, opt for that, but when the regular Kindle costs less money, it's an excellent budget e-reader. 

Check out our Kindle review.

Best for notetakers

Most readers don't need the Kindle Scribe, an e-reader you can write on, but it is a nice device. Starting at $340, it offers an incredible sketching and note-taking experience, as well as all of the essential e-reader features you could want. 

The Scribe comes with the usual Kindle glare-free display, adjustable brightness, and customizable settings, with the added bonus of automatic page orientation flips and lighting adjustments. With its paper-like feel and responsive e-ink display, writing on this device is a joy that feels leaps and bounds better than writing on an iPad with an Apple Pencil. It's also well organized with digital notebooks you can format and file away into folders.

For an extra $30, you can upgrade the included stylus to the Premium Pen. After testing, I found the Premium Pen to be a nice improvement over the basic option. It adds a dedicated eraser and a shortcut button to the base design. Both can attach magnetically to the Scribe. 

But despite just how fun it is to use, it's tough to justify the Scribe's high price. As noted in my full review, it's uncomfortably thin, making a case a necessary investment for commuters and students to prevent any potential bending. One of the Scribe's main selling points is its annotation functionality, but most Kindle ebooks don't allow you to write directly on their pages. Instead, you need to use a clunky sticky note feature. You also can't use the highlighter directly on text. Did I mention it isn't waterproof?

If you have $340 to spare, the Scribe is a fun device, but if you fall into the category of "most readers," I recommend opting for a cheaper Kindle model.

Check out our Kindle Scribe review.

How we test Kindles

I used several key evaluation points to judge each of the Kindles in Amazon's e-reader lineup to arrive at their final ranking, including display, responsiveness/speed, price, and lighting customization. Here's how those aspects were considered during testing for our reviews. 

Display: Though all Kindles share the same 300 PPI resolution, every model has a different size that makes a big difference when used. In testing, I found the Kindle (11th Generation) could be too small for some readers and the Scribe too large for others. Luckily, the sharp resolution is easy on the eyes across all of the models, even during long reading sessions. 

Responsiveness/speed: You don't need to be a speed reader to notice when an e-reader is slow. Page turns will take a second to stutter into view, previous screens will leave an after-image, and graphics will load in slowly. I evaluated this by loading each device with 100 titles from my ebook library before testing. The fastest model is the Kindle Paperwhite, and the Oasis is the slowest, but this difference is small. 

Price: Of course, price plays a big part in judging a Kindle's value, and that's part of what brings the Paperwhite above the rest. I compared pricing between Kindle models and comparable e-readers from Kobo and Nook to see what the industry is like overall. None of the Kindles are a waste of money, but the Scribe is definitely the least cost-efficient.

Lighting customization: You won't always be reading in the same room, under the same conditions, every time, and that's where lighting customization comes in. The ability to toggle the brightness based on your current environment is a godsend for eye comfort, especially for long reads. All of the Kindles offer adjustable brightness, but the base Kindle doesn't offer temperature adjustment, and only the Oasis and Scribe offer automatic lighting changes.

What to look for in a Kindle

Every reader is different, but there are a handful of features that all buyers should look for when it comes to committing to a Kindle. 

If you ever plan to read in the bathtub or the rain, waterproofing is a must — that eliminates the 11th-generation Kindle and the Scribe from the running. Readers who like to get in a few chapters before bed can also benefit from lighting temperature adjustment to warm the screen and ease your eyes into bedtime, which is something the base Kindle doesn't offer. And if you're looking for a digital notebook that you can write on, the Scribe is the only Kindle to offer such a feature.

Ultimately, the best Kindle for you is whichever one covers your needs the most without breaking the bank. That's why I recommend the Kindle Paperwhite as our top pick because it manages to offer the best balance between price and features for most people.

Kindle FAQs

Are Kindle books free?

Ebooks typically cost money, just like physical books, but you can score titles for free in several ways.

• Join Kindle Unlimited: This Kindle Subscription service comes with over four million digital titles when you sign up for $12 a month.
• Become an Amazon Prime member: If you're a Prime member, you have unlimited access to thousands of Prime Reading titles as an included benefit of your subscription.
• Check out a book from your Public Library: E-reader users can still take advantage of borrowing books for free from their local public library's website.

What is Kindle Unlimited?

Kindle Unlimited is Amazon's e-reading subscription service. For $12 a month, it includes access to over four million books, thousands of audiobooks, magazine subscriptions, and Kindle Books you can borrow. 

Can the Kindle read to me?

Your Kindle can read most content to you using Text-to-Speech, an option available in your Kindle's menu. If you prefer a human voice reading to you, you can also buy and download Audible Audiobooks of your favorite titles to have a narrator read to you from your e-reader.

Do I need a case for my Kindle?

While most Kindles are designed with a solid build, a case is still a good idea for protecting your device from drops or scratches. The Kindle Scribe, in particular, has a very thin design, which makes it feel flimsy without a case. You should also consider buying a case if you bring your Kindle with you outside your home during trips and commutes.

Cases can also help by providing a better grip on these otherwise flat devices. For less bulk, you may even want to consider attaching an adhesive phone grip, like a popsocket, to your e-reader.

For top recommendations, check out our picks for the best Kindle Paperwhite cases.

When is the best time to buy a Kindle?

Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday are the best times of year to buy just about anything, including Kindles. During these major sales events, Kindles drop to their all-time lowest prices, making it easier than ever to make the leap and buy one. 

Historically, we've seen the Kindle Paperwhite on sale for as low as $95 and the Kindle (11th Generation) on sale for as low as $65. Deals can be short-lived and low in stock, so we highly recommend acting fast if you come across a great deal.

Is Amazon releasing new Kindle models?

Amazon has not officially announced any plans to release new Kindle models. The last new Kindle was the Kindle Scribe, which launched in 2022. However, Amazon recently discontinued the Kindle Oasis, which could point to a new high-end Kindle replacement on the horizon.

• Bill Ackman is aiming to take Pershing Square public as soon as next year, the WSJ reports.
• Ackman aims to secure funding by first selling a stake in his firm, the Journal reported.
• It would be an unusual move for a hedge fund.

Billionaire Bill Ackman is planning to take his investment firm Pershing Square public, according to a new report in The Wall Street Journal.

But first, Ackman intends to drum up some funding by selling a stake in his firm to investors in a deal that's expected to close very soon, people familiar with the matter told the WSJ.

This funding round is expected to give Pershing Square a roughly $10.5 billion valuation, the outlet reported. The firm told prospective investors to value it like an asset management firm, rather than a hedge fund, citing Brookfield Asset Management as a comp.

For context, Brookfield — valued at about $15 billion — oversees more than $925 billion, compared to the $16.3 billion Pershing Square had under management at the end of April.

Pershing Square spokesman Francis McGill declined to comment on the report to Business Insider.

The IPO filing would be an unusual move for a hedge fund, as their performance can be volatile and it lifts a shroud of secrecy they're accustomed to. But the Journal cited a prospectus filed by Pershing noting that Ackman's growing personal brand among retail investors could give Pershing Square the publicity it needs for a successful public launch.

Ackman could take Pershing Square public as soon as the end of 2025, or early the following year, people familiar with the matter told the WSJ.

• Prominent business leaders doubled down on their support for Trump after his conviction.
• Some called the trial unfair, others felt the guilty verdict would backfire.
• Small-dollar donors also flocked to the campaign in record numbers, Trump's campaign said.

Former President Donald Trump's conviction yesterday on falsifying business records hasn't dissuaded high-profile supporters on Wall Street — some of whom are newly energized by the historic verdict.

In a post Thursday evening on X, venture capitalist Shaun Maguire revealed his support for Trump, noting "the timing isn't a coincidence" as he announced a $300,000 donation to the presumptive Republican candidate.

"Bluntly, that's part of why I'm supporting him," Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, wrote on X about a potential conviction. "I believe our justice system is being weaponized against him."

He wasn't the only prominent business leader who seemed fired up.

Tech investor David Sacks, who was reportedly in talks to hold a Trump campaign fundraiser at his San Francisco home, denounced the guilty verdict on X.

"A sham trial designed for one purpose: to brand Donald Trump as a 'felon,'" Sacks wrote yesterday on X. "Watch Dems and the MSM endlessly repeat that word."

The investor Omeed Malik, of 1789 Capital and Farvahar Partners — who hosted a fundraiser for Trump last month that raised over $10 million, CNBC reported — told CNBC he thinks the verdict will "completely backfire," bolstering support for the convicted candidate.

Maguire, Sacks, and Malik did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

It wasn't only prominent business leaders on Wall Street circling their wagons.

The Trump campaign said it raised a record $34.8 million after the verdict from small-dollar donors, while the National Republican Senatorial Committee also hit a fundraising high of $360,000 on Thursday.

Even billionaires who haven't formally announced their support for Trump were quick to lambast the proceedings.

Amid reports that Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman is leaning toward endorsing Trump, the billionaire wrote on X Thursday that he agreed with Governor Ron DeSantis' assessment of the trial; DeSantis called it "the culmination of a legal process that has been bent to the political will of the actors involved."

Ackman didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's questions about the report that he may back Trump.

Elon Musk, too, said the proceedings had caused "great damage…to the public's faith in the American legal system."

"If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter — motivated by politics, rather than justice — then anyone is at risk of a similar fate," Musk wrote on X.

Musk is being considered for an advisory role in Trump's White House, though the two have had a bumpy relationship in the past, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Musk has denied that he's in talks to work with Trump.

• Trump's post-conviction speech quickly turned into an airing of grievances.
• Trump called star witness Michael Cohen a "sleazebag" and "one of the worst people" to testify.
• Trump is still under a gag order not to attack witnesses as he plans to appeal his 34 felony convictions.

It didn't take long for Donald Trump's press conference after his felony convictions to go off the rails.

Trump launched into a free-wheeling speech on Friday, insulting President Joe Biden and spreading conspiracy theories about terrorists crossing the US border.

But most notably, Trump ranted against key prosecution witness and his former lawyer Michael Cohen, risking another violation of the judge's orders in his hush-money case.

In a meandering press conference at Trump Tower on Friday, the former president railed against the "rigged trial" that ended with him convicted on 34 felony counts.

He also slammed "sleazebag" Michael Cohen, whose testimony helped seal his fate.

"This was a highly qualified lawyer, now I'm not allowed to use his name because of the gag order, but you know, he's a sleazebag," Trump told reporters, referring to Cohen without mentioning him by name. "Everybody knows that. Took me a while to find out."

Trump then accused Cohen of throwing him under the bus in a plea deal so Cohen could "get off" himself.

Trump also attacked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, falsely accusing Bragg of believing that Cohen would be a dishonest witness and taking the case anyway.

"When Bragg came in, he said, 'This is the most ridiculous case I've ever seen,' " Trump said, impersonating Bragg.

Trump may be referring to a comment Bragg once made about not wanting to bring a larger financial crimes case against Trump until it was "ready," NBC New York reported.

"And who would have a certain person — again, gag order — who would have a certain person like this ever testify?" Trump continued, in an apparent reference to Cohen. "[Bragg] said, 'This is essentially one of the worst people I've ever seen, ever, to testify.' "

There's no reporting that Bragg ever said that. But now that Trump has, he could be in trouble yet again.

Trump's attacks on Cohen could amount to another violation of his gag order, which Judge Juan Merchan hasn't lifted yet.

Trump has violated the order — which prohibits him from disparaging witnesses, jurors, and others involved in the case — 10 times since the trial began, racking up a $1,000 fine each time.

Merchan threatened earlier this month to consider jail time for Trump if he violates the order again.

It's not clear how long the gag order will last, but a legal expert told Forbes the judge would likely be hesitant to lift it anytime soon while Trump vows to appeal the case.

On Thursday, the jury in the hush-money trial convicted Trump on all felony charges that he faked business records to cover up a hush-money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her from taking allegations of an affair to the press before the 2016 election.

The conviction was historic: no former president has ever been convicted of a crime.

While the impact of the convictions on the 2024 race isn't clear, it won't stop Trump from running. Convicted felons and even people serving time in prison can run for president.

During his Friday press conference, Trump — the presumptive GOP nominee — bragged about a recent poll that showed him with a lead over Biden if the election were held now.

• Ukraine's allies look set to approve its use of their weapons on targets inside Russia.
• A growing number of NATO allies have backed the move, prompting the US to also reconsider.
• Ukraine could attack Russia's border forces, experts told BI, but it's no silver bullet.

As more of Ukraine's allies say it can use weapons they've supplied to hit targets in Russia, under certain conditions, experts say the move will open up new targets, but may not be the silver bullet Ukraine hopes.

Lifting the restrictions will help Ukraine repel Russian attacks, especially at its borders, but comes late, with Ukraine facing major ammunition and manpower shortages, war analysts and experts told BI. For these missions, Ukraine is also likely to lack the Western intelligence support useful to locate high-value targets far beyond the front lines.

"It is so late," Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House's Russia and Eurasia Programme, told BI. "It is more than two years after a decision like that should've been taken," he said, blaming delays from the US and slow decision-making.

The ability to strike within Russia would strengthen Ukraine's hand, but it was unclear if it would fundamentally alter the course of the war, Alexander Libman, a professor of Russian and East European politics at the Free University of Berlin, said.

"The military logic of allowing Ukraine to use weapons against targets in Russia is straightforward," he said, but "there are structural limits, which Ukraine is now facing."

An overdue shift

Ukraine's allies have sent it billions of dollars in military aid since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, but with the caveat that it wasn't allowed to use the weapons to go after targets on Russian soil.

Many worried that crossing that line would provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin and escalate the conflict. That's meant that Ukraine has had few ways to strike attack aircraft or troop build-ups that threaten it from Russian territory.

But this calculation seems to have changed with the launch of a border offensive near Kharkiv in Ukraine's northeast.

On Tuesday, France said Ukraine should be allowed to use Western weapons to hit targets in Russia — but only sites that Russia is using to launch attacks on Ukraine.

A day earlier, lawmakers from all 32 NATO states adopted a declaration urging alliance members to allow strikes on military targets inside Russia.

And the US, which has repeatedly stated it won't allow Ukraine to use weapons it's supplied to strike Russia, appears to be changing its tune.

Three unnamed officials told Politico on Thursday that Ukraine can now use US-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia.

One of the officials said that Ukraine could use US-provided weapons only to hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them in Kharkiv, where Russia has seized more territory and threatens the country's second-largest city.

No more 'sanctuary zones'

In recent weeks, Ukraine has faced renewed Russian offensives, especially in Kharkiv.

One Ukrainian commander told The Times of London that his unit had Russian troops in their sights for weeks as they gathered across the border, but hadn't been allowed to attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has repeatedly begged the country's partners to let it use Western weapons to target the Russian soldiers across the border.

According to Giles, lifting the restrictions would be of "huge" assistance to Ukraine in repelling incoming Russian offensives, as well as in targeting Russia's war-making capabilities.

"This would be a major step forward because Russia would no longer have the sanctuary zones from which it could prepare and launch these attacks," he said.

He also said that Ukraine could launch the same kind of military campaign it has been conducting against Russia's Black Sea Fleet, where Ukraine has successfully held back Russia's far superior navy despite having no real navy of its own.

This is a "demonstration of what Ukraine could achieve if it did not have these restrictions for striking into Russian territory itself," Giles said.

Going after Russia's air operations

John Hardie, the deputy director of the Russia program at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said letting Ukraine use Western-provided tube artillery and rocket systems like the US-supplied HIMARS to hit Russian artillery across the border was a "no-brainer."

"It's unfair to make Ukraine sit on its hands until after Russian forces cross the border, or to make Ukrainian guns stay silent when Russian artillery is firing from across the border," he said.

Western-provided missiles like Storm Shadow and ATACMS could also go after some Russian air bases that launch aircraft for glide bomb attacks.

However, he said that this alone won't be enough to turn the tide in Ukraine's favor.

Ukraine could also struggle to develop the intelligence needed to find and quickly strike targets farther inside Russia.

Earlier this month, unnamed Ukrainian officials told The New York Times that they needed more real-time intelligence and information from the US and EU allies about targets in Russia.

It's far from clear whether the US will reverse its position and offer intel to support these strikes. Without it, Ukraine's targeting will be limited to satellite imagery, drone surveillance, and what its informants can spot on the ground.

This is not the only pressing issue. Libman, the Free University of Berlin professor, said that if Ukraine's lack of troops and dwindling artillery shells remain unresolved, it will continue to face "major" problems on the battlefield.

"This does not mean that allowing Ukraine to hit targets in Russia will not help — but it is clearly not a silver bullet to win the war," he said.

• The FAA will allow Amazon to fly its drones beyond a pilot's direct line of sight.
• That means Amazon can now expand its delivery services with its MK-27 drones, the company announced.
• Amazon's drone delivery program has faced repeated delays in recent years.

Amazon's package delivery drones are expanding their horizons following a nod of approval from the FAA, the company announced on Thursday.

"We're excited to share that the FAA has given Prime Air additional permissions that allow us to operate our drones beyond visual line of sight, enabling us to now serve more customers via drone and effectively expand and scale our drone delivery operations," Amazon said in a press release.

The FAA requires companies to get approval to operate drones beyond a pilot's visual line of sight, something Amazon said it accomplished after developing "detect-and-avoid technology."

"We've spent years developing, testing, and refining our onboard detect-and-avoid system to ensure our drones can detect and avoid obstacles in the air," the company said, including "real planes, helicopters, and a hot air balloon."

Now, Amazon plans to scale the use of its MK-27 drone to "reach customers in more densely populated areas," the company said.

The FAA's permission comes after delays in the company's drone ambitions over the last few years due to field and test crashes, one of which involved a drone that fell 180 feet and "just blew apart when it hit the ground," Business Insider previously reported.

"It's also important to note that during our commercial operations we haven't had any safety mishaps delivering to customers," an Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider over email.

The company began executing drone deliveries in 2022 in its distribution areas in College Station, Texas, and Lockeford, California — the latter of which the company closed in April to focus on other locations across the nation, CNBC reported.

Earlier this year, an Amazon executive boasted that one of its drones in College Station managed to deliver a box of cookies less than 16 minutes after it was ordered.