Technology
How to score cheap stuff (to keep or resell)
How often do you buy a bunch of stuff online, planning to only keep your favorites? I shop for clothes this way, for sure — and I’m not the only one. Returns cost retailers $743 billion last year.
If you’ve ever wondered, “What happens to all those returns?” the answer is interesting. I did the research and found the best places where you can score deals on other people’s “no, thank you” items.
Wait, how does that work?
Let’s take Amazon as an example. Any package that’s undeliverable and unclaimed for 90 days is fair game. Amazon sells unclaimed goods on its website. Pro tip: Some items have crazy delivery charges tacked on, so check before you get excited about a deal.
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The same goes for packages from other retailers sent through the U.S. Postal Service. After 90 days, they’re sold to the highest bidder.
Like a garage sale but better
The USPS contracts with a website to auction off things postal workers can’t deliver. Go to GovDeals.com to browse everything from TVs to vehicles to kitchen appliances.
Liquidation.com hawks packages and undelivered goods from Amazon, Target, Walmart and The Home Depot. You can filter by brand or retailer.
Many of these deals are for items sold in lots, like this one with 57 pairs of Sony headphones. Hello, side hustle!
The Amazon logo is being displayed on a smartphone screen and on a computer screen in Athens, Greece, on May 14, 2024. (Photo by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Feeling mysterious?
Some returned and undeliverable merch is packaged into “mystery boxes,” which are like grab bags. You don’t know precisely what you’ll get, but the idea is you’ll find a few valuable items you want to keep or sell.
Sound like fun? Try Poshmark. Search for “mystery box” and you’ll find listings for returns from retailers like Walmart and Amazon, ranging in price from a few bucks to hundreds of dollars. For $50, this seller will send you eight items and let you make requests from their 20,000 listings.
eBay
Unsurprisingly, eBay is more of a buyer-beware situation. These are mystery packages, items that couldn’t get to the customer and returned things. Just type “unclaimed packages” or a similar term in the search bar on the site and see what comes up.
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Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace makes it easy to buy things locally. Meet the seller to pick up your purchases at a public place or even the police station and skip all the shipping headaches. It never hurts to bring a friend, either. Just as you would on eBay, search for “unclaimed packages.”
Bonus: Unclaimed Baggage
Unclaimed Baggage dates back to 1970 and has an agreement with airlines to purchase lost luggage. Rather than providing an unwelcome surprise (think of a bag filled with dirty laundry or worse), this site opens the bags, checks the contents and cleans them.
A United States Postal Service (USPS) worker delivers packages on Cyber Monday in San Francisco, California, US, on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The baggage is available online or at the company’s store in Scottsboro, Alabama.
Read this before you buy
While there’s a fun factor that comes with the mystery, don’t expect to open a package and find gold (literally or figuratively). There’s usually a reason that an item was returned or never accepted by the buyer.
Many of these products have been sitting in a warehouse for a while and the owners want to get rid of them. There’s no guarantee of condition or functionality. What you get is what you get, and your chances of return or refund are close to zero if that.
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It truly is a buyer-beware situation, as the products are typically not checked or inspected. Nobody will know if there’s a dangerous item in the box until it’s opened. As with any online purchase, check customer reviews and seller ratings before making any moves. Ask for photos if you don’t see any.
The sites listed above are established and generally safe, but scammers and thieves can use these platforms just like anyone else. If you’re asked for payment in the form of cryptocurrency or gift cards, run and block the seller. This is an all-too-common and scammy practice.
Want to make money?
A view of packages stacked on a trolley on June 11, 2024, in Germany. (Sebastian Kahnert/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Buying and reselling items is a smart way to do it. I put together a step-by-step guide to help you out. (It’s totally free!)
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Technology
Use this map to find the data centers in your backyard
When Oregon resident Isabelle Reksopuro heard Google was gobbling up public land to fuel its data centers in her home state, she didn’t initially know what to believe. “There’s a lot of misinformation about data centers,” she said. “Google has denied taking that land.”
Technically, she explains, The Dalles, a city near the Washington state border, sought to reclaim that land, “and Google is just a big, unnamed power user.” The city had in fact asked for ownership of a 150-acre portion of Mount Hood National Forest, claiming it needs access to Mount Hood’s watershed to meet municipal needs as its population — 16,010 as of the 2020 census — grows. But critics, including environmentalists, say the city is trying to secure more water for Google, which has a sprawling data center campus in The Dalles that already consumes about one-third of the city’s water supply.
This controversy made Reksopuro curious about the backlash to data centers being built in other communities. So Reksopuro, a student at the University of Washington who studies the connections between tech and public policy, decided to map it out. Using information collected by Epoch AI and data scraped from legislation on data centers, she built an interactive map tracking AI policy around the world. She designed it to be simple enough for anyone to use. “I wanted it to be something that my younger sisters could play through and explore to understand what are the data centers in the area and what’s actually being done about it,” Reksopuro said. She hoped to shift their opinions that way, “instead of like, through TikTok.”
Four times a day, the map searches for new sources and checks them against the existing database Reksopuro built out. “Once it does that, it will write a new summary, add it to the news feed, and populate it on the sidebar,” she said. “I wanted it to be self-updating, since I’m also a student.”
Reksopuro isn’t against data centers, but she thinks tech giants benefit from a lack of transparency around data center policies. “Right now, it’s this really opaque thing — and all of a sudden, there’s a facility,” she said. “I think that if people knew about data centers beforehand, it would give them leverage. They would be able to negotiate: ask for job training programs, tax revenue, environmental monitoring, things to improve their community.”
Technology
Fox News AI Newsletter: Graduation speaker praises AI, gets instantly booed
UCF commencement speaker Gloria Caulfield (University of Central Florida via Storyful)
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.
IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:
– UCF graduates clobber commencement speaker with boos after she says AI is the ‘next Industrial Revolution’
– OPINION: DIRECTOR KASH PATEL: We brought the FBI out of the past and into the AI age
– OpenAI backs creation of global AI governance body led by the U.S. that would include China as a member
TOUGH CROWD: During a recent commencement ceremony at the University of Central Florida, a speaker was met with loud boos from the graduating class after declaring that artificial intelligence represents the next industrial revolution. Fox News Digital reporting captures this tense cultural moment, illustrating the mixed public sentiment and skepticism surrounding AI’s growing footprint in daily life.
A statue on the campus of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. (iStock)
BADGE MEETS BYTE: Reflecting on the modernization of national security in a Fox News op-ed, FBI Director Kash Patel explores how the bureau must adapt its strategies to address modern threats and advance beyond the artificial intelligence age.
TECH DIPLOMACY: OpenAI is throwing its support behind the establishment of a new global artificial intelligence governance organization that would be led by the United States while notably including China as a member. Fox News Digital reporting examines the geopolitical dynamics and regulatory implications of this proposed framework as global powers race to set the standards for AI development.
EQUITY ELEVATION: The massive wave of wealth generated by the explosive growth of ChatGPT and the broader AI industry is driving a sudden surge in the San Francisco Bay Area’s luxury real estate market. Fox News Digital reporting breaks down how the influx of new tech capital is reshaping local housing dynamics and fueling a high-end property frenzy.
FBI Director Kash Patel listened as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche spoke during a press conference at the Department of Justice on April 28, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
STRATEGY RESET: Tech giant Cisco is planning to eliminate thousands of jobs as the company shifts its primary focus to accelerate its artificial intelligence initiatives, a move that comes despite the company beating earnings expectations. Fox News Digital reporting details the corporate restructuring and broader economic trends pushing legacy tech firms to aggressively pivot toward AI.
ROAD HAZARD: Waymo is issuing a sweeping recall of its autonomous vehicle fleet following a concerning incident that highlighted significant safety issues with the self-driving technology. Fox News Digital reporting outlines the specifics of the recall, the nature of the safety flaw, and what this setback means for the future of fully autonomous transportation on public roads.
BOTS IN THE BAY: A newly developed, artificial intelligence-powered robot has been engineered to seamlessly change and balance vehicle tires without human intervention. Fox News Digital reporting showcases this latest innovation, exploring how automation and AI mechanics could soon revolutionize the automotive service and repair industry.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the 2026 Infrastructure Summit in Washington, D.C., on March 11, 2026. (Kylie Cooper/Reuters)
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Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future with Fox News here.
Technology
Microsoft’s Edge Copilot update uses AI to pull information from across your tabs
Microsoft Edge is adding a new feature that will allow its Copilot AI chatbot to gather information from all of your open tabs. When you start a conversation with Copilot, you can ask the chatbot questions about what’s in your tabs, compare the products you’re looking at, summarize your open articles, and more.
In its announcement, Microsoft says you can “select which experiences you want or leave off the ones you don’t.” The company is retiring Copilot Mode as well, which could similarly draw information from your tabs but offered some agentic features, like the ability to book a reservation on your behalf. Microsoft has since folded these agentic capabilities into its “Browse with Copilot” tool.
Several other AI features are coming to Edge, including an AI-powered “Study and Learn” mode that can turn the article you’re looking at into a study session or interactive quiz. There’s a new tool that turns your tabs into AI-powered podcasts as well, similar to what you’d find on NotebookLM, and an AI writing assistant that will pop up when you start entering text on a webpage.
You can also give Copilot permission to access your browsing history to provide more “relevant, high-quality answers,” according to Microsoft. Copilot in Edge on desktop and mobile will come with “long-term memory” as well, which can tailor its responses based on your previous conversations. And, when you open up a new tab, you’ll see a redesigned page that combines chat, search, and web navigation, along with the Journeys feature, which uses AI to organize your browsing history into categories that you can revisit.
Meanwhile, an update to Edge’s mobile app will allow you to share your screen with Copilot and talk through the questions about what you’re seeing. Microsoft says you’ll see “clear visual cues” when Copilot is active, “so you know when it’s taking an action, helping, listening, or viewing.”
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