Explore Trupanion’s Fair Values from the Community and select yours
Revenue: US$353.6m (up 12% from 2Q 2024).
Net income: US$9.41m (up from US$5.86m loss in 2Q 2024).
Profit margin: 2.7% (up from net loss in 2Q 2024).
EPS: US$0.22 (up from US$0.14 loss in 2Q 2024).
Trump has pledged to “unleash” American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit.
NasdaqGM:TRUP Earnings and Revenue Growth August 10th 2025
All figures shown in the chart above are for the trailing 12 month (TTM) period
Revenue exceeded analyst estimates by 2.0%. Earnings per share (EPS) also surpassed analyst estimates.
Looking ahead, revenue is forecast to grow 6.8% p.a. on average during the next 3 years, compared to a 5.5% growth forecast for the Insurance industry in the US.
Performance of the American Insurance industry.
The company’s shares are up 5.6% from a week ago.
It is worth noting though that we have found 2 warning signs for Trupanion that you need to take into consideration.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content?Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
An arts and crafts influencer shared a heartbreaking video and post detailing how she was going to end her life at an assisted dying facility.
65-year-old Amanda Bloom, whose real name was Amanda Machin, had amassed almost 50,000 followers on Instagram, sharing crochet creations and behind-the-scenes snaps from workshops held at her North Yorkshire shop, The Craft Room.
However, just days after marking the anniversary of her daughter Jenny Machin’s death, the woman revealed she was heading to Switzerland to take part in a voluntary assisted dying programme.
While euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are deemed illegal in the UK under the Suicide Act 1961, Swiss law legally condones assisted suicide, which can be performed by non-physicians, as per the National Institutes of Health.
Amanda Bloom said she ‘longed’ for her daughter, Jenny, before heading to Switzerland (Instagram/@amandabloomscraftroom)
The British Medical Association stated that the Swiss Criminal Code 1942 permits individuals to assist in another’s suicide as long as the motive for doing so is not ‘selfish’.
In a now-deleted video reportedly posted to social media, Bloom said: “By the time you see this, I’ll be with my Jenny.”
“I know this is going to be a bit of a shock,” she added, as per the Daily Mail.
Jenny was only 19 when she died from a brain tumour in 2017.
In one of her final Instagram posts, the crafter marked the eighth anniversary of her death, writing: “The world is a cruel place without you. I love you and miss you every day.”
Bloom’s penultimate Facebook post was dedicated to accusing a ‘little group of crafters in Bentham’ – where she ran her business – of making her life ‘miserable for months’ with ‘b****y comments, cruel Facebook memes and untrue gossip’.
The business owner posted a series of messages on Facebook (Instagram/@amandabloomscraftroom)
“Please don’t think it’s ok to pass me in the street with a cheery smile and hello… as if nothing has happened,” she continued.
“You’ve cost me my new business, my financial security and my home. Please don’t kid yourself that what you’ve done is a bit of harmless fun. It isn’t. There are consequences.”
Six days later, Bloom returned to Facebook to announce she was ‘giving up’ on life because she wanted to reunite with her daughter.
“I just long for Jenny with all my heart… the laughter, the feeling of loving her unconditionally and being so loved in return. She was the one wonderful thing in my life and without her it’s just too hard,” she said.
The businesswoman revealed she’d checked into Pegasos Swiss Association, a non-profit Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) organisation based in Basel, Switzerland.
She claimed that she’d informed her ‘nearest and dearest’ ahead of time and that while her decision wasn’t ‘very rock and roll’, it meant she left ‘no mess or trauma for anyone to deal with’.
One of the woman’s friends claimed Bloom’s longing for her daughter was ‘overpowering’ (Instagram/@amandabloomscraftroom)
One of Bloom’s friends, Julie, confirmed earlier this week via Instagram that Bloom’s funeral has yet to go ahead.
“Another week has gone by and still no news from Switzerland. It’s 8 weeks today,” she typed.
After revealing she’d spoken to the woman ‘until the last time when she was in the clinic’, Julie claimed her friend’s longing for her daughter was ‘overpowering’.
“And even if she was heading for oblivion, she said she was walking through a door that Jenny had gone through and that nothing else mattered,” she wrote. “My friend Amanda. So brave. So determined. I miss her.”
A creative bursary the woman championed during her life has now been renamed in her honour.
The Yarndale Festival start-up bursary was launched in 2022 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Skipton craft and wool festival and will now to presented in memory of Bloom and her daughter, Jenny Machin.
Bloom’s memory has been honoured by a local bursary (Instagram/@amandabloomscraftroom)
The Yarndale Start Up Bursary in Memory of Amanda Bloom and Jenny Machin honours Bloom’s ‘commitment to nurturing new creative talent’, according to Kate Beard from the Yarndale team.
She added it was a ‘beautiful way to carry’ their memories forward.
The bursary is designed to help emerging fibre artists and fledgling creative businesses, with winners being awarded a single stand at Yarndale, Skipton Auction Mart, in September.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.
There’s no denying that modern, app-filtered dating can be a nightmare.
Apps like Tinder and Hinge are cynically monetized, poorly moderated, and run by shady algorithms. A lot of profiles are fake, conversations don’t progress past terrible pick-up lines, and half the people are on there just to kill time. Worst of all, it replaces organic, in-person interactions with mindless swiping and an objectifying outlook, like flipping through a catalog and circling stuff that might look interesting, except the “stuff” is people.
But is the solution to this very real and nefarious paradigm summoning the ill-defined powers of an AI™ model?
Too late. Someone’s already answered that question, and the answer is, “yes.” Enter “Sitch,” a new app spotlighted by CNBCthat uses an AI to be your “matchmaker,” sparing you all the work of actually choosing how you will present yourself to or speak to the person that you could potentially be spending the rest of your life with (or at the very least, the rest of the night.)
We’re not kidding. First, a new user is asked to answer some questions posed by the “matchmaker” about their interests, their ideal date, and deeper stuff like their personal values. You can then view what the AI has compiled about yourself, sorted into categories like “Non negotiables,” “Red flags,” and “Nice to Haves.”
From there, the AI matchmaker begins to look for possible matches based on your conversation with it. And here’s the twist: instead of messaging a person you’re recommended, you ask the AI questions about your date candidate, and the AI does its best to speak of them in supposedly candid terms. If both (human) parties say yes, then the AI “introduces” them, and they can start chatting for real. So, yes: it’s the dating app equivalent of asking a pop-up customer support bot to answer FAQs.
If this all sounds good to you, then great! We hope you’re ready to fork over $90 for three setups, $125 for five, and $160 for eight.
Beyond sounding incredibly hollow and devoid of human spark, the potential for an AI to go wrong in this context is astounding; AI chatbots are notorious liars and inventors of facts. Their behavior and responses can be wildly unpredictable. This would suggest that they don’t make for particularly trustworthy romantic intermediaries.
The app’s creator, the 30-year-old Nandini Mullaji, acknowledged these shortcomings. “It can go rogue with the conversation,” Mullaji, who worked on the dating app Bumble’s launch in India, told CNBC. “But I think these are things that we’re going to be able to fix as time goes on.”
Say what you will about it, some users say they’re already having luck with their AI go-between.
“I think every date I went on, there was a second date,” James Harter, 31, told CNBC. (He added that he met someone IRL and is not currently using the app.)
Karishma Tawani, 35, says she’s been on dates with two people so far. “I feel special when I get an introduction every week,” she told CNBC. “I wait for it.”
Of course, maybe the reason it works is that it’s setting you up with the only other people on the planet who are insane or desperate enough to leave their romantic fortunes up to an AI model.
Sitch is currently live in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. It plans to expand to Chicago and Austin by the end of the year, and is targeting a global launch by 2030.
More on AI: GPT-5 Launch Demo Plagued With Catastrophically Dumb Errors
Mohamed Salah, one of soccer’s biggest stars, criticized the sport’s governing body in Europe over its tribute to Suleiman Al-Obeid, known as the “Pelé of Palestinian football,” which failed to mention how he died last week.
Al-Obeid, 41, was killed by Israeli gunfire on Wednesday as he was seeking humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Football Association (PFA).
“Farewell to Suleiman al-Obeid, the Palestinian Pelé,” the Union of European Football Associations said Friday in a post on X. “A talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times.”
“Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?” Salah, a forward for the Premier League club Liverpool and captain of the Egyptian national team, said in response.
UEFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
Salah, 33, has been a vocal advocate for increased humanitarian aid to Gaza, which the United Nations and other international experts say is on the brink of famine 22 months into Israel’s war with Hamas, which controls the enclave of about 2 million people.
Finding food has become more difficult and deadly for Palestinians since late May, when the American and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation took over the distribution of aid after Israel lifted a two-and-half-month blockade.
About 1,400 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food aid, mostly at the hands of the Israeli military, the U.N. says. The Israeli military says it does not target civilians.
Salah is not the only soccer star to speak out about the circumstances of al-Obeid’s death.
Eric Cantona, a former professional soccer player from France who was a forward for Manchester United, posted a tribute on Instagram alongside a photo of al-Obeid, asking, “HOW MUCH LONGER ARE WE GOING TO LET THEM COMMIT THIS GENOCIDE???”
Israel insists that it is fighting an existential war and rejects genocide allegations as antisemitic.
On Saturday, the PFA shared a statement attributed to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, praising al-Obeid for giving “talent and dedication to the children of Gaza” and giving their dreams “hope to blossom despite the suffering.”
Al-Obeid scored more than 100 goals over his long career, including two for the Palestinian national team, “making him one of the brightest stars of Palestinian football,” the PFA said.
He is survived by his wife and five children.
The PFA said on X Saturday that 325 players, coaches, administrators, referees and club board members from the Palestinian soccer community had died in the conflict.
More than 61,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, according to the local health ministry, while much of the territory lies in ruins.
Israel launched its offensive after the terrorist attack of Oct. 7, 2023, during which Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage. Of the 50 hostages remaining in Gaza, Israel believes about 20 are still alive.
The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) denied on Sunday media reports claiming Islamabad International Airport will be closed for eight days, terming them “incorrect and misleading”.
The PAA said flight operations will only be suspended for two-hour intervals on specific days to facilitate rehearsals for Independence Day celebrations on August 14, reported PTV citing a statement by the PAA.
According to a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) issued by the PAA, temporary flight restrictions will apply during the following periods:
All other operations will continue as normal. Passengers have been advised to contact their airlines for updated schedules to avoid inconvenience.
Read: Country lights up for Jashn-e-Azadi
The PAA said the temporary closures are part of security and logistical preparations for the official Independence Day flypast.
Meanwhile, as Pakistan’s 78th Independence Day approaches, a wave of green and white is sweeping across the country, exuding patriotic fervour, emotional pride, and historical remembrance.
The national flag flutters atop homes, private and official buildings ahead of Independence Day, and the bazaars and streets are lit with green and white lights in celebration.
The Pakistani showbiz industry has experienced numerous notable fights and controversies over the years. From rivalries between actresses to clashes among prominent figures in the industry, each era has had its share of famous feuds that captured headlines, sparking much discussion among fans about these incidents.
From the golden era of old Lollywood, when film stars were like distant, mysterious constellations, to the current age of social media, where everyone seems overly exposed, we are continuously presented with significant stories of celebrity conflicts. Often, these disputes alter the entire landscape of the entertainment industry. Many stars stop collaborating, and some potentially major projects never come to fruition.
Below is a list of notable fights in the Pakistani showbiz industry:
Noor Bukhari & Sana Nawaz
Noor Bukhari and Sana Fakhar are not just the top actresses in Pakistani films. They are also related and cousins in real life. They have known each other throughout their lives, and unfortunately, they have locked horns before. A big fight broke out between the duo when Noor Bukhari married her current and first husband, Awn Chauhary, for the second time. Sana posted a scathing message against Noor. They later stopped airing their dirty laundry online, but things remained sour between the two.
Ali Zafar & Meesha Shafi
Ali Zafar and Meesha Shafi are also two big stars of Pakistani showbiz. They were engaged in a huge legal and social media war. It all started when Meesha Shafi accused Ali of sexual harassment in a tweet. The backlash for both stars was severe. They went on to fight a legal battle in court, which is still ongoing. They were friends and good colleagues before. This fight between the duo shook the whole industry and divided it into two camps.
Mahira Khan & Meera
Mahira Khan and Meera are two big names in Pakistani showbiz. Meera ruled the film industry in her time, while Mahira Khan is currently reigning in the entertainment industry. Meera was not happy with either Mahira’s acting chops or the way she conducted herself in the media. She kept criticizing her to the point that she was unhappy with Mahira Khan’s casting in The Legend of Maula Jatt. This is how Meera spoke of Mahira:
Mahira Khan & Khalil ur Rehman Qamar
Mahira Khan and Khalil ur Rehman Qamar are two big stars of the Pakistani showbiz. The duo worked together in the blockbuster classic Sadqay Tumharay, but things changed drastically after that. Khalil ur Rehman Qamar engaged in a war of words with Marvi Sirmed, and he got criticism from everyone, including Mahira Khan. He took this criticism to heart and repeatedly announced for years that he would never forgive Mahira. Although Mahira Khan stood by her statements for a long time, she recently mentioned that instead of tweeting about the issue, she should have called KRQ privately. KRQ’s thoughts on Mahira Khan:
Reema Khan & Meera
Reema Khan and Meera were two starlets who were ruling the Pakistani showbiz in the 90s. They were naturally competing and over the years have not been truly friendly. They have been in the race for No. 1 and called each other jealous. Things finally improved when Meera decided to attend Reema Khan’s wedding to Dr Tariq Shahab. They have since then been amicable towards each other.
Fahad Mustafa & Nida Yasir
Fahad Mustafa and Nida Yasir are once again two big names of Pakistani showbiz who do not see eye to eye. They are both in the ARY Digital camp, but they are never seen together. Nida once openly spoke about it and shared that Fahad Musatafa’s family and Yasir Nawaz’s family had a marriage that ended bitterly. This explains why they have never collaborated on any show or broadcast. Listen to what Nida revealed:
Atif Aslam & Goher Mumtaz
Atif Aslam and Goher Mumtaz started the band Jal. It became a massive hit, but they got into disagreements regarding the band’s management. Atif went on to join Bollywood and kept making music. He is currently one of the most successful musicians in the world. Goher Mumtaz ventured into acting while continuing to create music. The two have maintained a mostly amicable relationship, though Goher occasionally makes pointed remarks about his former bandmate. This is how Goher spoke about it:
Resham & Dr. Omer Adil
Resham and Dr. Omer Adil were once very close friends, but they experienced a bitter falling out. Resham called him hurtful names, and in response, Dr. Omer said some inappropriate things about her. Recently, Dr. Omer Adil has apologized to Resham and explained that their conflicts stemmed from conspiracies within their inner circle. He expressed his desire to prevent their feud from becoming a topic of discussion online. Here is what Dr. Omer Adil said:
Alizeh Shah & Minsa Malik
Alizeh Shah and Minsa Malik are two young names in the Pakistani showbiz industry. They were working together in a drama, Mohabbat Ki Akhari Kahani. They got into a huge fight on set, which resulted in FIRs and legal notices. Mina Malik slapped Alizeh Shah, and Alizeh threw her sandals at her head. Alizeh speaking about the whole ordeal:
Saba Qamar & Mahira Khan
Saba Qamar and Mahira Khan are undoubtedly the two leading female superstars of Pakistan. However, they have had a competitive relationship, and things haven’t always been amicable between them. The tension began when Mahira Khan performed a rap in which she questioned whether anyone else’s films could achieve a box office gross of 100 crores after her Bollywood film Raees crossed that milestone.
Saba Qamar responded strongly after her film, Hindi Medium, achieved remarkable success by grossing 300 crores. This financial milestone not only highlighted the film’s popularity but also served as a testament to her talent and hard work in the industry.
They are now on amicable terms and support each other’s success!
Which celebrity fight do you believe had the biggest impact on the industry? What was it about that sparked significant media coverage or changed public perception? Share your thoughts and insights in the comments below!
It’s been a very sweet week for Selena Gomez. The Rare Beauty founder launched her first-ever brand fragrance, Rare Eau de Parfum, a gourmand offering with notes of caramel, vanilla, and sandalwood—“warm with just a touch of spice,” she recently told Vogue. To celebrate, she hosted a perfume-themed baking class with fiancé Benny Blanco, and made pistachio and caramel tiramisu.
On Thursday 7, Gomez kept celebrations going for the fragrance’s L.A. launch event. In a look styled by Erin Walsh (who often works with Gomez, as well as Alison Brie), Gomez wore a white, iridescent fringed halter dress from Cult Gaia. The slinky, shimmering dress felt bridal, a possible hint at a silhouette or style to come from Gomez, who is reportedly getting married in September.
Photo: Getty Images
She wore white, double-strapped stilettos with a bamboo-inspired sculptural heel—also from Cult Gaia—and sparkling silver earrings from Melinda Maria, as well as a series of cocktail rings to go alongside her pavé-set marquise diamond engagement ring.
A single bout of physical activity could fill the bloodstream with cancer-busting allies.
In an experiment involving 32 breast cancer survivors, a 45-minute session of either resistance training or high-intensity interval training resulted in a surge of messenger proteins in the blood.
When these players, called myokines, were introduced to breast cancer samples in the lab, they suppressed the growth of tumors by up to 30 percent.
Related: Common Viruses May Wake Dormant Breast Cancer Cells, Study Finds
“The results from the study show that both types of exercise really work to produce these anti-cancer myokines in breast cancer survivors,” says lead author and exercise researcher Francesco Bettariga from Edith Cowan University in Australia.
“The results from this study are excellent motivators to add exercise as standard care in the treatment of cancer.”
Exercise induces myokines. (Zhang et al., Mol. Bio. Rep., 2022)
The current experiments tested the blood of participants for myokines before exercise, immediately following, and 30 minutes after.
Those allocated to the resistance training group performed chest presses, seated rows, shoulder presses, lat pulldowns, leg presses, leg extensions, leg curls, and lunges. Those allocated to the high-intensity interval training, meanwhile, performed sets on the stationary cycle, treadmill, rower, and cross-trainer.
Ultimately, these exercises drove a short-term uptick in three types of myokine: decorin, IL-6, and SPARC.
Skeletal muscle secretes myokines into the bloodstream in response to exercise to stimulate growth or burn fat, though the proteins are known to also have anti-inflammatory effects. Preclinical and experimental studies have shown these effects suppress growth in different tumors, including breast cancer. Until now, it was not known if the same phenomenon occurred among cancer survivors.
Triple negative cancer cells which form certain kinds of breast cancer lack hormone receptors, so they were not expected to respond to hormonal fluctuations linked to exercise. Nevertheless, Bettariga and colleagues found that the cancer cells were impacted by exercise-associated myokines in the lab.
The findings join a growing number of studies that suggest myokines may have the potential to fight cancer.
“Our findings demonstrate that both resistance training and high-intensity interval training elicit acute changes in circulating myokines and reduced cancer cell growth, which may contribute to proposed biological pathways involved in cancer control,” conclude the authors; “however, further research is needed to determine the long-term relevance of these responses for disease recurrence in breast cancer survivors.”
The study was published in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.
Upgrading your phone doesn’t have to mean tossing the old one in a drawer. With just a few quick steps, you can repurpose that retired iPhone or Android into a useful security cam, with no no pricey hardware required. It’s an easy, budget-friendly way to keep an eye on your front door, garage or any spot that matters most. And best of all, you can start small.
All you need is a free home security camera app and a way to position the phone where you want coverage. If you want to take it further, a simple phone stand or mount can give you the perfect angle. In minutes, your unused device can start streaming video, adding an extra layer of protection to your home without spending a dime.
Step 1: Install a security camera app on your old smartphone
Alfred Camera is free and lets you set up a cam solution yourself.
Alfred Camera
To begin, you will need to choose a security camera app. Most apps offer many of the same features, such as local streaming, cloud streaming, recording and storing footage locally or remotely, and motion detection and alerts. Once you’re set up, you will be able to monitor your living space and control your security camera from anywhere, straight from your new phone.
One of the best app options for setting up your phone as a security camera is Alfred. It’s cross-platform, so it doesn’t matter if your old phone was an Android phone or iPhone. And the same goes for your new phone.
Alfred is free to use and gives you a remote view of your live feed, motion detection with alerts, free cloud storage, a two-way audio feed and use of both the front and rear cameras. To unlock additional features, like higher-resolution viewing and recording, zoom capabilities, ad removal and 30-day cloud storage, you can upgrade to Alfred Premium.
1. Download Alfred (Android, iOS) on both your old and new phones. You don’t have to use a phone as a monitoring tool — you can also download Alfred to your tablet or PC if you prefer to keep watch from there. Just make sure the app is on both devices.
2. On the new phone, swipe through the introduction and tap Start. Select Viewer and tap Next.
3. Once you get to the sign-in page, click Sign in with Google (a Google account is required) and sign in with your Google account credentials.
4. On the old phone, repeat the same steps, but instead of selecting Viewer, select Camera. Be sure to sign in to the same Google account.
Alfred’s app supports night vision, people recognition and more.
Alfred
Once both phones are signed in to Alfred, you’re pretty much done with the setup. Alfred has simplified the camera options to include only a few settings. On iOS, you can only enable motion detection, choose between the front and rear cameras, and enable or disable audio. If you’re using an Android device, you have those options and can also enable continuous focus, have Alfred automatically reopen if the phone reboots, set a resolution and enable a passcode lock.
From your new phone, you can change a few more settings, such as turning notifications on or off, setting a camera or viewer name, adding other people to your Trust Circle (granting other people access to your video feeds), removing a camera, checking how many times a camera has disconnected, setting motion detection sensitivity and enabling a low-light filter on cameras.
If Alfred isn’t really doing it for you, you can explore other cam app options. Other apps that can give your old phone a security cam upgrade include:
Faceter: Faceter is a surveillance app that offers quick setup and cloud storage for Apple and Android phones.
Epoccam: EpocCam is a very speedy cam app that’s made for content creators but can serve a wide variety of purposes. It’s currently made only for iPhones.
iVCam from E2ESoft: iVCam is a more open-source cam solution that’s best for those who really want to tinker with camera settings and customize them, although like EpocCam it’s focused a bit more on webcam-related activities than security.
Step 2: Pick a spot for your new smartphone security camera
You can use your new security camera in a variety of ways after the transition.
Alfred Camera
After you have the stream up and running, you will need to set up and position the camera. You may want it focused on the main entry point to your home, your backyard, the place where you store valuables or a point you think might be particularly vulnerable. If you have multiple old phones, you can set up multiple cameras for fairly robust video coverage.
Step 3: Mount and power your security camera smartphone
To mount or position the camera, a small smartphone tripod or suction-cup car mount can work wonders and help you position the camera in an inconspicuous place. To broaden the field of view, consider buying a wide-angle lens for your phone, something that can be purchased for between $5 and $20 online.
Streaming video is very power-intensive, and the phone will be on 24/7. To keep the phone from dying in the first few hours, you’ll need to position it close to a power source. A 10-foot Micro-USB,Lightning cable or USB-C cable and spare phone charger will give you more flexibility in where you can put it.
And that’s it: Now you can use the security cam app on your new phone to view the feed from your old phone’s camera, and you’ve made your home more secure without spending much at all.
Note: When choosing your mounting location, be sure to avoid furnace vents and other heat sources, such as in a window that gets full sun all day. Heat sources can damage your camera’s lenses and battery over time, especially when combined with the heat of a power-hungry task like livestreaming.
Final note: Old smartphones and security concerns
Smartphones will eventually age out of security updates, which means they can eventually become vulnerable to attacks. If your old phone is still online — like when you’re using it as a security camera — that’s a problem.
First, we recommend wiping any personal data off the phone before you transform it into a camera. Second, automate your updates when possible. Third, consider giving the phone a final use-by date, after which you’ll recycle it. These days, companies try to push security updates for five to seven years after release (with some going even longer in recent years). We have a full guide on the security of older phones if you’d like to learn more.
Finally, if we’ve got you excited about using your smartphone for home security purposes, don’t forget that you can also download an app like Hidden Camera Detector to automatically search for telltale signs that there’s a cam watching in the room. Airbnb may have outlawed indoor security cameras, but we don’t blame you if you still want to check when you’re traveling.
For more, check out the best DIY home security systems.
We’ve never heard of anyone hacking into these kinds of apps, and it’s generally not worth the trouble. The bigger security risks, as mentioned above, come from using phones that no longer receive security updates.
Camera apps like Alfred Camera include low-light modes that use software to enhance visibility in the dark. While it’s not true night vision, it’s suitable for most low-light situations.
Yes, apps like Alfred Camera do include a two-way audio option using the phone’s speakers.
Annuals are a great and cost-effective way of injecting some color into your garden. Growing quickly from seed or easily available ready to plant out, annual flowers are perfect for sprucing up a tired-looking border or jazzing up containers.
Over my career as a professional gardener and flower farmer, I’ve had the opportunity to grow a wide array of annuals, both for adding to beds and borders and for cutting commercially. Annual flowers tend to germinate readily and be easy to care for, but some can be far more difficult and tricky to get going.
If you need some inspiration on what you could grow to bring your borders and pots alive, here are the best annual flowers to get you thinking. However, if you fancy a challenge, here are my most difficult annuals to grow and some tips to help ensure they are a success.
Most difficult annuals to grow
From germination issues to a lack of flowers and even pests and disease, annuals are not always the simplest to grow. However, with a little bit of nurturing and the right care, these annual flowers will be brightening up your backyard in no time.
Nicotiana
(Image credit: Future/Edward Bowring)
Widely referred to as the flowering tobacco plant, Nicotiana is celebrated for its fragrant, long-lasting blooms and ability to attract moths. An ideal cottage garden plant, I have grown and come to love both Nicotiana alata and Nicotiana sylvestris for their delicate flowers and evening scent.
Flowering from early summer right up until the fall, Nicotiana are commonly grown as annuals, but some can be treated as short-lived perennials in US hardiness zone 10 and above.
Planted out after all threat of frost is over, flowering tobacco plants require full sun to partial shade and a consistently moist soil. Having grown Nicotiana in various borders in a garden I used to manage, those planted in a less-than-ideal, dry, and free-draining, south-facing bed struggled, whereas those in a more moisture-retentive soil and dappled shade thrived.
Design expertise in your inbox – from inspiring decorating ideas and beautiful celebrity homes to practical gardening advice and shopping round-ups.
Furthermore, if you choose to grow them from seed, they need light to germinate, so the seeds should not be covered but rather gently pressed into the soil and kept at 72-78°F.
Heaven Scent Nicotiana are available from Burpee.
Sweet peas
(Image credit: Future/Edward Bowring)
One of the most adored garden flowers, sweet peas, Lathyrus odoratus, are a delight both in the garden and when cut and brought indoors. Generally highly scented and in an array of colors, there is a sweet pea variety for everyone. However, known to be a bit of a diva, sweet peas can sometimes be tricky to grow.
A perfect addition to any cut-flower garden, sweet peas require vertical support such as an obelisk or a teepee, but can equally be trained up a fence. Sweet peas prefer full sun and a rich, moisture-retentive soil, but can struggle in a hot summer and even stop flowering if the temperature rises too high. In hotter parts, planting them so that they receive some shade and respite from the harsh afternoon sun can help prolong their flowering.
Encased in a hard coating, you can speed up the germination of sweet pea seeds by soaking them in water and nicking them with a sharp knife before sowing. With deep roots, sweet peas are best sown in root trainers or deep pots and kept far away from any mice, who, from my experience, seem to adore freshly sown sweet pea seeds.
To prevent mice from eating the seeds, you can either sow them indoors or, when grown outside, place a few sprigs of prickly holly over the soil to put off any little critters from digging them up.
A hungry annual plant, sweet peas need a consistent supply of moisture and nutrients to keep them flowering as long as possible, especially towards the end of the season. Regular irrigation, incorporating lots of well-rotted manure or organic matter into the soil before planting and a weekly feed with a high-potash fertilizer will help ensure a great display.
If this wasn’t enough, sweet peas also require near-constant picking and deadheading to keep them blooming and stop them from going to seed. Sweet peas might be high maintenance and a bit fussy, but they are more than worth it for the joy they bring.
Sweet pea seeds are available from Ferry-Morse and thrive in US hardiness zones 3-8.
Guaranteed to bring color to your beds, borders and containers, snapdragons or Antirrhinum are a long-standing favorite of gardeners and cut flower growers. Available in soft pastels and vibrant hues, snapdragons are great for attracting pollinators and will bloom from early summer until the fall.
Almost always treated as annuals that die back with the first frost of winter, snapdragons can also be grown as perennials in some warmer parts of US hardiness zone 7 and above.
Generally considered an easy-to-grow flower, getting snapdragons to germinate can be tricky. Having grown them for sale as cut flowers, I have found that snapdragons are best sown in the fall or early spring, 8 to 10 weeks before the last frost to give them a head-start.
Antirrhinum seeds are so small that they are best handled with a damp toothpick and sown in modules. Needing light and a temperature of around 70°F to germinate, the seeds, like Nicotiana, do not need to be covered.
Although happy enough when left to their own devices, there are some things you can do to encourage your snapdragons to keep flowering. Even though they require full sun to thrive, they prefer a cooler climate and can benefit from some shade from the midday sun.
If rainfall is limited, watering 2 to 3 times a week will help maintain plant health and bloom production, but being susceptible to overwatering, snapdragons should not be watered if the soil is already moist.
However, from growing them for sale in the past, perhaps the most important thing you can do is to deadhead your snapdragons correctly. Removing the spent flower stalks as soon as the blooms finish, just above a leaf node, will not only provide a tidy appearance but also encourage new blooms to emerge.
Snapdragon seeds are available from Burpee.
Morning glory
(Image credit: Getty Images/DigiPub)
Morning glory, or Ipomoea, is prized for its trumpet-shaped flowers and vigorous nature. A tender yet fast-growing climbing plant, morning glory can grow to 4m high and is ideal for covering a bare fence or growing up a pergola.
Morning glory is generally considered an easy annual to grow, but, from my experience of growing it in a walled garden, getting it to flower well and put on a long-lasting display can be a different matter. Although it is commonly treated as an annual, it may regrow the following year in USDA zones 7 and above.
Commonly grown from seed, morning glory needs a long growing season and should be sown 6 weeks before the last frost to give it the best chance of maturing and flowering before the end of summer.
To help promote flower production, you will want to plant morning glory in a sunny and sheltered spot where it will receive at least 6 hours of sun per day. If grown on fertile soil, supplementary fertilizer is not strictly required, but can be added at the time of planting in poorer substrates. Water regularly after planting and once established, only when the soil is dry.
Once mature, and after the first blooms have appeared, you can apply a fertilizer that is high in phosphorus and potassium, such as Jack’s Classic 12-15-30 available from Amazon, to encourage more blooms. Tempting as it may be to put on a general-purpose fertilizer, it is important not to apply high levels of nitrogen, as this can promote new leafy growth rather than any flowers.
Towards the end of the summer, regular deadheading is needed to prevent the vine from wasting energy on seed production. As soon as the flowers fade, you can remove them using a pair of pruning shears and wait for new flowers to emerge.
Morning Glory seeds are available from Burpee.
Bells of Ireland
(Image credit: Getty Images/Iva Vagnerova)
Grown for its spikes of pale green, bell-shaped calyxes and white to pale pink flowers, Bells of Ireland, Moluccella laevis, is a favorite of both gardeners and florists. It is also right on trend, having recently been spotted in Pamela Anderson’s stunning, no-foliage bouquets.
Perfect for adding to bouquets, both freshly harvested and as dried flowers, Bells of Ireland is equally at home in a cut flower patch as it is in a garden border.
Although I find that Bells of Ireland tend to self-seed freely, growing them deliberately from seed is known to be notoriously difficult due to its slow and often unpredictable germination. However, after several years of trying different methods, the following is what I found to be most successful.
Requiring cold stratification, you can either direct sow outdoors in early spring or keep the seeds in the freezer until you plan to sow them. Bells of Ireland seeds germinate best after soaking them in water overnight and at a temperature of 65-68°F, but patience is required, as it can take up to 21 days for seedlings to develop.
Furthermore, since Moluccella laevis develops tap roots, which can make transplanting them more tricky, sowing the seeds in modules can prove beneficial.
Once large enough, plant out in full sun at a spacing of around 12 inches and water deeply. For cut flowers, harvest the entire stem by cutting at the base once the small white flowers begin to appear. To encourage self-seeding, you can leave some flowers to go to seed, which will hopefully germinate the following spring.
Suitable for growing in zones 2-11, Bells of Ireland seeds are available from Burpee.
Hopefully, these tips will help you succeed, but if all this talk about the most difficult annuals to grow has put you off, don’t let it. Instead, why don’t you try one of these easiest annuals to grow, as picked by one of our other gardening experts.
.jpg)
.jpg)
