SCI-TECH

Subscriptions have been everywhere for a while now, but charging you just to edit a document? That’s where we draw the line. In the spirit of freedom and fireworks, UPDF is declaring independence from fees and giving you a lifetime license to edit, annotate, convert, and more for a price we haven’t seen since Black Friday!

Now you can get a UPDF lifetime subscription for only $47.99 with code DROP20 (reg. $149.99). Since they’re being super cool about this whole freedom-from-fees thing, you’re able to grab this discount through July 15.

A day of freedom with UPDF

Imagine this: it’s 8:43 a.m., your boss just sent you a contract to sign before your coffee even cooled, and you’re stuck on some “free” PDF editor that suddenly demands a fee to add a signature. WTF.

Fire up UPDF instead. No logins. No paywalls. Just you, the doc, and a full editing suite ready to go. You click to insert your signature, hit “save,” and it’s done. Easy.

Now it’s lunchtime, and you’ve got a scanned form you need to convert into a fillable PDF for a client. UPDF’s built-in OCR tool recognizes text in 38 languages, and turns that scan into something you can actually work with.

Later that night, you’re editing lecture notes on your tablet, using UPDF’s annotation tools to highlight, comment, and even draw freehand in the margins. And when your professor asks a wild question about a graph, you use UPDF’s AI image chat feature to ask the file itself.

It’s time to get a lifetime PDF tool. Especially when UPDF has great reviews and is 20 percent off with code DROP20 at checkout through July 15 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

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UPDF – Edit, Convert, AI Chat with PDF: Lifetime Subscription

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The post Give your PDFs liberty and subscription fees death this 4th of July appeared first on Popular Science.

Step aside, Joey Chestnut (the award-winning competitive eater famous for his hot dog consumption every 4th of July). The first-ever professional eating competition between goats, appropriately called The Great Goat Graze-Off, will take place on July 12 in New York City. The event will feature five invasive plant-eating fiends from the Riverside Park Conservancy—Kash, Rufus, Mallomar, Romeo, and Butterball.

“Competitive eating events—whether human or goat—are quirky, high-energy spectacles that tap into our love for friendly competition and fun,” Alison Ettinger-DeLong, communications manager at Riverside Park Conservancy, tells Popular Science on behalf of the conservancy team. “People enjoy watching the goats munch with gusto and cheer for their favorites, but the deeper enjoyment comes from seeing animals do what they naturally love (for goats, that’s eat!) while learning about their role in environmental care.”

Ettinger-DeLong confirms that the contest does not involve force-feeding. It is short, safe, and aligns with the animals’ normal eating habits, consisting of a controlled amount of their preferred foods. The event will be emceed by Major League Eating’s George Shea, host of the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. 

The conservancy has been hosting goats at Riverside Park on the west side of Manhattan for the past five summers. The goats help clear a steeply sloped area of invasive plant species, including poison ivy, where it’s particularly difficult for park volunteers and staff to work. According to their website, Riverside Park’s goats work like a herd of full-time professional weeding staff.

“They can navigate steep slopes or other hard-to-reach areas a lot easier than people or machines, with a lower overall impact on the land,” Jared Harmon, executive director of the Mid Michigan Land Conservancy, explains in a Michigan State University Q&A. “Plus, their manure doesn’t smell as bad as other livestock, which is another perk of using goats for these control methods.” 

[ Related: Humans probably didn’t mean to tame sheep and goats. ]

Plus, goat poop makes the soil more nutritious, according to the Riverside Park Conservancy. For those of you worrying that the goats will simply re-spread the invasive plant seeds through their poop—as many other animals do—Harmon explained that the animals’ four-chambered stomachs destroy most of the seeds before that can happen. 

“The eating contest will be a lighthearted way to give the public a chance to cheer on their favorite goats and learn about urban ecological practices,” Ettinger-DeLong adds. As for the prize, the winning eater will earn the title of the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) Grazer, a celebratory photo-op, and of course, bragging rights.

The post G.O.A.T. will be crowned in first-ever professional eating competition for goats appeared first on Popular Science.

Why does big tech think that improvements always have to mean different? If you’re over having to relearn your essential computer programs every time some tech genius thinks it’s time to switch up, check out this Microsoft Office 2019 for Windows deal.

During Deal Days (think of it as our rendition of Amazon’s Prime Day), you can add the classic apps you love, like Word, Excel, and Publisher, to your PC with the layouts you like for just $19.97 (reg. $229) for life.

What’s included in your license?

With Microsoft Office 2019, you get all the essential programs you’re familiar with in the Office suite to help you create documents and spreadsheets, draft presentations and design graphic art, and even track research and database information. The included programs are:

• Word 2019
• Excel 2019
• PowerPoint 2019
• Outlook 2019
• OneNote 2019
• Publisher 2019
• Access 2019

Even though these are the older versions of Microsoft programs, your files will still be compatible with more recent iterations. You don’t have to worry about integrating with existing Office setups, such as in a work team.

Why Office 2019 beats Office 2024 and 365

Price, for one. One of the best deals is getting the seven programs included in Office 2019 for under $30. But 2019 beats 2024 on the included programs as well. Office 2024 doesn’t come with Publisher or Access, so if you want to continue using these familiar design and database programs, it’s best to buy an older version of Office, like 2019.

Office 2024 has AI-powered tools that can help you edit or research within the programs. But if you’re not interested in getting a little robot-based assistance, opting for Office 2019 will help you avoid that.

Microsoft 365 also has AI-powered tools because it routinely gets updates to the Office programs as a cloud-based system. However, this means that the layouts of these programs can change at any time. It has monthly fees that aren’t locked in; Microsoft recently raised those fees for the first time in years.

But thanks to this Deal Days price drop, you can lock in a price for life when you buy Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for just $19.97 (reg. $229). No coupon is needed, but you’ll have to act by July 15 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

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Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows

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The post Don’t want AI in Office? This $20 Deal Days offer for Office 2019 is calling your name appeared first on Popular Science.