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Save up to 44 percent on AirPods, iPads, MacBooks, Apple Watches and AirTags

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According to our reviews, Apple makes some of the best tech you can buy. But that doesn’t mean you have to pay full price for the devices. Now that Black Friday sales have arrived, we’re seeing plenty of discounts on iPads, MacBooks, AirPods, Apple Watches and more. A few of the discounts are hitting all-time lows, and others are the best prices we’ve seen in months. So if you’ve got your eye on a new iPad for family, an Apple Watch for a gift or a pair of AirPods for yourself, this is the list to check out. Here are the best Apple Black Friday deals around.

Apple Black Friday deals: AirPods

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In our review of the new AirPods Pro 3, we said they were Apple’s “most comprehensive update” to its Pro line yet. They feature live translation and heart-rate sensing, as well as improved overall sound, better active noise cancellation and a longer battery life. This is the lowest price yet on the new buds. Also at Walmart, Best Buy and Target.

$220 at Amazon

AirPods 4 (with ANC) for $100 ($79 off) at Amazon: If you just need moderate noise cancellation and prefer an open-wear fit (where nothing goes in your ear canal), you may prefer the new AirPods 4. They don’t have heart rate sensing or the hearing features the Pro models have. But we found the sound quality to be pretty good and appreciated Pro-level features like live translation. Also at Walmart and $140 at Best Buy.

AirPods 4 (no ANC) for $80 ($50 off) at Amazon: You miss out on a few more features on the base-model AirPods 4: no live translation, no noise cancellation and no heart rate sensing, but you do get Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking, like on the pricer models. We gave the entry-level buds an 88 in our review. The previous low price was $89. Also available at Walmart and Target.

AirPods Max for $430 ($120 off) at Walmart: These cans have been around for quite some time now, only getting the slightest upgrade with a new USB-C port in 2024. The hardware is otherwise the same as it was when the over-ear headphones debuted in 2020. Still, they’re comfortable, have good sound quality and the on-board controls are unique but good. Amazon is selling it for $40 more.

EarPods for $17 ($2 off) at Amazon: For those who prefer a cord, here is the only Apple-branded wired earphone option. This is a dollar more than the all-time low. Also at Walmart.

Apple Black Friday deals: iPads

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The entry level iPad doesn’t support Apple Intelligence, but that didn’t bother us when we reviewed the new slate. We found the speed to be plenty for what most people need an iPad for: casual gaming, streaming, browsing, answering some emails. We wish the display was laminated and had some anti-glare coating. But this is the lowest-priced way to get your hands on a current-model iPad. Also at Walmart, Target and Best Buy.

$279 at Amazon

iPad Air (M3, 11-inch, 128GB) for $449 ($151 off) at Amazon: The Air is the Goldilocks Apple tablet. It strikes the perfect balance between price and performance, making it our overall pick for the best iPad you can buy. The build is lovely; it feels premium and the display is a big improvement over Apple’s base-model slate. The M3 chip is plenty fast for everyday use and can handle an average day of productivity no problem, particularly with its improved multi-tasking abilities. This matches the lowest price we’ve tracked. Also on sale at Walmart, Target and Best Buy for a few dollars more.

iPad Air (M3, 13-inch, 128GB) for $649 ($150 off) at Amazon: A larger screen will make watching shows and playing games more expansive. And if you use your iPad more like a personal computer, you’ll appreciate the extra real estate for spreading out your work. Like the 11-inch Air, this has a powerful M3 chip and an excellent screen, as well as support for the Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Intelligence. This matches the lowest price we’ve tracked. Also at Target, Best Buy and it’s $100 more at B&H.

iPad mini (A17 Pro, 8-inch, 128GB) for $399 ($100 off) at Amazon: The smallest Apple iPad is really meant for those who put a priority on the portability and palm-ability of an 8-inch tablet. It uses the A17 chip, which enables support for Apple Intelligence, unlike the base model iPad. We gave it an 83 in our review, praising the fact that you get the full iPad experience, just in a more compact package. We found it particularly suited to messaging, reading, watching video and playing lots of Balatro. It went as low as $379 in October. Also at Best Buy.

iPad Pro (M5, 11-inch, 256GB) for $900 ($100 off) at Amazon: While we think this is an amazing piece of computing machinery, we admit that it’s overkill for most people. It’s got one of the best displays you’ll find on a tablet, the most recent M5 chip (the same that powers the base-level Apple MacBook Pro) and an almost impossibly thin and light build. We gave it an 85 in our review and had very few complaints — aside from the near-prohibitive price tag. Hopefully this Black Friday discount helps. This $100 discount is a new all-time low. It’s $923 at Walmart.

Apple Black Friday deals: Apple Watch

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Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS only) for $350 ($49 off) at Amazon: Apple still makes the best smartwatch money can buy. The flagship Apple Watch Series 11 is not just a stalwart companion for an iPhone, it also offers comprehensive health monitoring and fitness tracking. There wasn’t a huge change from the Series 10 to this one — both have the same thin and light design, but now the glass is tougher and the battery lasts longer. This $50 discount is the steepest we’ve seen yet. Also at Walmart and Target.

Apple Watch SE 3 (40mm, GPS only) for $200 ($49 off) at Amazon: After a couple years, Apple finally updated its budget-model smart watch. And we were pretty happy with the results, awarding the new wearable a review score of 90. It’s got a smaller screen and thicker bezels than the Series 11 and lacks a few of the more advanced health monitoring features. It’s also made from slightly less-robust materials. But it has nearly everything that makes Apple Watches great for a lot less — particularly now. This is the lowest price we’ve seen since the watch came out in September. Also at Walmart and Target.

Apple Black Friday deals: MacBooks and Macs

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Apple

As far as we’re concerned, Apple makes the best laptop overall with the M4 MacBook Air. It’s light and portable yet powerful enough to handle all but the most demanding media rendering. The keyboard and touchpad are excellent and the battery will get you through a full day of work and then some. It earned a 92 in our review. Also at Best Buy and it’s $100 off at B&H.

$749 at Amazon

Apple MacBook Air (M4, 15-inch, 256GB) for $949 ($250 off) at Amazon: The M4 chip is quite powerful, to take advantage of all the productivity it enables, you might want a little more room on your screen. When Apple first made a 15-inch option for the MacBook Air a couple generations ago, we were surprised at the difference it made. Also at Best Buy and it’s $100 off at B&H.

Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch, 512GB) for $1,444 ($155 off) at Amazon: Apple’s most recent M-series chip is the M5, and only comes equipped on the 14-inch MacBook Pro and the iPad Pro. When the M5 MacBook Pro M5 came out last month, we promptly reviewed it and awarded it a 92. That new chip gives the laptop an impressive graphics upgrade that helps make it more suited to gaming — an area where Apple still lags behind PCs. Other than the chip upgrade, it’s mostly the same, which is a good thing. It’s sturdy, powerful and has an impressively long battery life — we clocked 34 hours in a video run-down test. Also at Walmart, Best Buy and B&H.

Apple MacBook Pro (M4 Pro, 14-inch, 512GB) for $1,749 ($250 off) at Amazon: The M5 chip isn’t yet available in the Pro and Max variants. If Apple follows the same six-month gap that separated the M4 from the M4 Pro and Max chips, we may see the M5 Pro/Max in spring of next year. For now, however, those higher-specced chips can only be found in the M4-series lineup. The MacBook Pro with the M4 Pro chip is on sale and it’s our recommendation for creative professionals who need an obscene amount of processing power. Also at Walmart, Best Buy and B&H.

Apple MacBook Pro (M4 Pro, 16-inch, 256GB) for $2,189 ($310 off) at Amazon: You sacrifice a little portability for the larger 16-inch screen, as it adds about a pound and a quarter to the weight. But you might appreciate the extra space for your work on the display. Also at Walmart and B&H.

Apple 2024 iMac (M4, 24-inch) for $1,149 ($150 off) at Amazon: Apple just has one model of an all-in-one desktop computer and it has the M4 chip inside. We called the iMac more cost effective than ever, now that it comes with a minimum of 16GB of RAM. The M4 chip makes it capable for content creation, productivity and gaming.

Mac mini (M4) for $479 ($120 off) at Amazon: Apple’s compact desktop computer got a rave review from us. We called it “shockingly small [and] incredibly powerful.” It also benefits from a bump to a minimum of 16GB of internal memory. It can play modern games at reasonable resolutions and handle most productivity tasks you throw at it.

Apple Black Friday deals: Accessories

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Apple Pencil Pro for $99 ($30 off) at Amazon: The Apple Pencil situation is a little messy, so you’ll want to double check which model is compatible with your particular iPad. The Pencil Pro is the most fully featured in the lineup with haptic feedback, barrel roll and squeeze capabilities, and a hover preview feature. It’ll work with the two most recent models of the Air and Pro iPads, as well as the latest iPad mini. Also at Walmart and Best Buy.

Apple Pencil USB-C for $69 ($10 off) at Amazon: If you have the new base-model iPad with the A16 chip, this is the pencil that will work for you. It’ll also work with current as well as slightly older models of the Air and Pro iPads.

Apple AirTag (4-pack) for $65 ($34 off) at Amazon: Even though they haven’t been updated in a few years, Apple’s AirTags are still the gold standard of Bluetooth trackers, and what most people think of when they think of trackers. We may get a new version soon, but they aren’t likely to be this cheap. Also at Walmart. A single AirTag is on sale too.

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These power banks prove that you’re probably due for an upgrade

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If you’re anything like me, you probably have a pile of aging external batteries. Up through this year, I’ve had countless 10,000mAh bricks — the classic “big battery” size through most of the 2010s — along with a handful of smaller cells designed to offer something a little more pocketable and portable. If you haven’t upgraded your battery bank collection in a while, though, it might be time to make a change, especially if you don’t mind dropping some serious cash for a life-changing power solution.

Earlier this year, I got my hands on Anker’s 20,000mAh 100W power bank. My initial hands-on with it at CES left me intrigued; with two built-in USB-C cables (including a retractable cord) and two additional USB outputs, it seemed like about as powerful a battery as you could ever hope for. But after actually picking up my own unit, it’s shocked me how much this single accessory has changed how I charge every device I own, both on the go and at home.

It’s one thing to list out those specs above, but really, it’s the actual act of using this battery that really convinced me it’s something special. It really started with travel; with a cross-country trip planned not long after I got my own battery to try out, I pretty quickly realized I could leave most of my other power bricks at home. Because this battery has passthrough power, it can actually output to three devices at once while plugged into the wall. While I won’t pretend to have less than three devices that need charging on a regular basis, this immediately removed two power bricks from my carry-on, while simultaneously acting as a beefy, fast-charging battery on planes.

I’ve adapted its utility to around the house as well. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve reached for this particular battery when playing something on my Steam Deck or Switch. The retractable cable is just long enough to place the battery next to me on my couch, while not too long as to be annoying to use. It’s also found a place next to the power outlet by my desk, always ready to utilize passthrough power as a quick multi-device hub.

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It’s not going to be for everyone; this certainly isn’t the lightest battery on the market, for example, and the on-board display might strike some potential buyers as unnecessary. It’s also a pretty expensive battery when it isn’t on sale, having spent most of the past few months around the $120 mark on Amazon. But when it’s discounted — as it is right now, ahead of Black Friday — I think it’s the perfect accessory for power users of all types. I’ve had a lot of external batteries in my time, but this is the first one that has ever changed how I think about charging.

What it lack in built-in cables is more than made up for in sheer power.

Not to say it’s the only Anker battery bank I’ve tried out this year. Recently, the company sent me one of its latest Anker Prime power banks, and while I’m not sure it’ll change my charging habits to the same degree as that earlier, cheaper model that caught my eye during CES, for someone looking for power over an all-in-one package, I’m pretty impressed.

Despite its similar size and shape, Anker’s newer battery exchanges a couple of features for some pretty impressive specs. Gone are the two built-in cables, with a pair of USB-C ports and a legacy USB-A port left in its place. That might sound disappointing on paper, but what you get in return is a focus on sheer power. Its 26,250mAh cell is massive in size, and both of those USB-C ports are capable of outputting 140W with a single output. Even with two devices plugged in, you’re still looking at some surprisingly speedy output — and at 250W recharging speeds with two input cables, refilling is surprisingly powerful, too.

All that’s packed into a battery that remains approved for flight by TSA standards in the US, which usually results in the largest bottlenecks for batteries. While some of the additional features here feel a little tacked on — a silly “AI” logo on the built-in display, presumably to emphasize its charging prioritizations; Bluetooth support for a partner app that I don’t think most consumers will get much out of; a timer permanently set to 25 minutes — as long as you don’t mind carrying around all of your cables separately, it’s as mighty an external battery as I’ve ever carried.

As we approach Black Friday and the holiday shopping season, I really think it’s as good a time as any to take a look at your own battery collection, just to see if anything’s in need of an upgrade. As someone who has had to make it through some pretty rough power outages in the past, having too many battery packs is never really a concern of mine. And with just how much portable power you can lug around with you now, well, that 10,000mAh cell from 2016 might be due for a refresh after all.

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Burgers, BBQ bowls and Vietnamese street food headline at new Cambridge food hall

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The opening date of Kendall Square’s new food hall is soon approaching, and five of the nine vendors inside were recently announced.

Eastern Edge, a new food hall destination, will open at 290 Main Street in Cambridge. It’s aptly named, since it sits at the “eastern edge” of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus.

The opening date, while unspecified, will be in early 2026, according to a press release out this week.

Also in the release, five of the new vendors were revealed, showcasing a diverse array of what will be available when the doors do open.

Here’s what they are:

Clover – This fast-casual Mediterranean-inspired dinning option began in 2008 as a food truck on the MIT campus. Clover features ingredients grown by Massachusetts farmers, and will have a rotating daily menu including dishes like chickpea fritter sandwiches, rosemary fries and housemade seasonal sodas and spritzes.

Juicy Jay’s – This burger spot combines classic American burgers with global flavors, featuring house-made sauces and freshly baked buns. Eastern Edge represents Juicy Jay’s first brick-and-mortar location.

Perillas – This is a Korean place specializing in modernized bibimbap and Korean BBQ bowls, featuring healthy ingredients. It was first established in 2018 and named after the perilla leave, a staple in Korean cooking.

Everybody Gotta Eat – This Southern and Caribbean comfort food place grew from neighborhood cookouts into one of Greater Boston’s largest Black-led food operations. Their menu features crispy fried fish, soul wings, and the signature “Soul Bowl” with layered mac and cheese, yams and cornbread.

Viet Citron – This Vietnamese street food locale combines dishes made from scratch and a focus on sustainability. Menu highlights include bánh mì sandwiches, bánh hoi bowls and pho noodle soups.

Overall the space has seating for 275 people with two bars and flexible space for educational activities, community events and private parties.

Further updates can be found at Eastern Edge’s website.

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How this founder’s unlikely path to Silicon Valley could become an edge in industrial tech

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Thomas Lee Young doesn’t sound like your typical Silicon Valley founder.

The 24-year-old CEO of Interface, a San Francisco startup using AI to prevent industrial accidents, is a white guy with a Caribbean accent and a Chinese last name, a combination he finds amusing enough to mention when he’s first introduced to business contacts. Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, the site of substantial oil and gas exploration activity, Young grew up around oil rigs and energy infrastructure because his entire family worked as engineers, stretching back generations to his great-grandfather, who immigrated to the island nation from China.

That background has become his calling card in pitch meetings with oil and gas executives today, but it makes for more than a great conversation starter; it underscores a path that has been anything but straightforward and that Young might argue gives Interface an edge.

It was years in the making. From age 11, Young fixated on Caltech with the intensity of someone much older. He watched shows about Silicon Valley online, mesmerized by the idea that people could build “anything and everything” in America. He did everything possible to secure admission, even writing his application essay about hijacking his family’s Roomba to create 3D spatial maps of his house.

The ploy worked – Caltech accepted him in 2020 – but then COVID-19 hit, and so did its ripple effects. For one thing, Young’s visa situation became nearly impossible (visa appointments were cancelled and processing came to a halt). At the same time, his college fund, carefully built over six or seven years to $350,000 to cover his education, “basically got hit entirely” by the abrupt market downturn in March of that year.

Without a lot of time to decide his future, he chose a cheaper three-year engineering program at the University of Bristol in the UK, studying mechanical engineering, but never abandoning his Silicon Valley dreams. “I was devastated,” he says, “but I realized I could still get something done.”

At Bristol, Young landed at Jaguar Land Rover, working in something called human factors engineering – essentially the UX and safety design of industrial systems. “I had never heard of it before I even joined,” he admits. The role involved figuring out how to make cars and manufacturing lines as safe as possible, ensuring they were “dummy proof” for smooth operations.

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It was there, inside heavy industry, that Young saw the problem that would become Interface. He says the tools many companies use to manage safety documentation are either nonexistent – pen and paper – or so siloed and poorly designed that workers hate them. Worse, the operating procedures themselves — the instruction manuals and checklists that blue-collar workers rely on to stay safe — are riddled with errors, outdated, and nearly impossible to maintain.

Young pitched Jaguar on letting him build a solution, but the company wasn’t interested. So he started plotting his exit. When he learned about Entrepreneur First (EF), a European talent incubator that recruits promising individuals before they have a co-founder or even an idea, he cold applied despite its 1% acceptance rate. He was accepted to essentially pitch himself.

He told Jaguar he was going to a wedding in Trinidad and would be away for a week. Instead, he went to EF’s selection process, impressed the organizers, and the day he returned to the office, quit. “They realized, ‘Oh, so you probably weren’t at a wedding,’” he laughs.

At EF, Young met Aaryan Mehta, his future co-founder and CTO. Mehta, of Indian descent but born in Belgium, had his own thwarted American dream. He’d been accepted to both Georgia Tech and Penn but similarly couldn’t get a visa appointment during COVID. He ended up studying math and computer science at Imperial College London, where he developed AI for fault detection before building machine learning pipelines at Amazon.

“We had similar backgrounds,” Young says. “He’s super international. He speaks five languages, very technical, amazing guy, and we got along very well.” In fact, they were the only team in their EF cohort not to break up, says Young.

More than that, today, they live together in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood, though asked about spending so much time together, Young is adamant that that’s not an issue given their respective workloads. “Over the last week, I’ve seen [Aaryan] at home for maybe a combined total of 30 minutes.”

As for what, exactly, they are building, Interface’s pitch is straightforward: use AI to make heavy industry safer. The company autonomously audits operating procedures using large language models, cross-checking them against regulations, technical drawings, and corporate policies to catch errors that could – in a worst-case scenario – get workers killed.

Some of the numbers are arresting. For one of Canada’s largest energy companies, where Interface is now deployed across three sites (Young declines to name the brand), Interface’s software found 10,800 errors and improvements across the company’s standard operating procedures in just two and a half months. As Young tells it, the same work done manually would have cost more than $35 million and taken two to three years.

One error Young found particularly troubling, he says, was a document that had been in circulation for 10 years with the wrong pressure range listed for a valve. “They’re just lucky that nothing happened,” says Medha Agarwal, a partner at Defy.vc, which led Interface’s $3.5 million seed round earlier this year, with participation from Precursor, Rockyard Ventures, and angel investors, including Charlie Songhurst.

The contracts are considerable. After initially trying outcome-based pricing (the energy company “hated it,” Young says), Interface adopted a hybrid per-seat model with overage costs. A single contract with the Canadian energy company is worth more than $2.5 million annually, and Interface has more fuel and oil services customers coming online in Houston, Guyana, and Brazil.

The total addressable market isn’t entirely clear, but it’s not small. In the U.S. alone, there are something like 27,000 oil and gas services companies, per the market research outfit IBISWorld, and that’s just the first vertical that Interface wants to tackle.

The outsider’s edge

Interestingly, Young’s age and background – things that might seem like disadvantages when it comes to more established industries – have become his secret weapons. When he walks into a room of executives twice or three times his age, he says, there’s initial skepticism. “Who the hell is this young guy and how does he know what he’s talking about?”

But then, he says, he delivers his “wow moment,” by explaining an understanding of their operations, their workers’ daily routines, and exactly how much time and money Interface can save them. “Once you can flip them, they will absolutely love you and advocate and fight for you,” he says. (He claims that after a recent, first site visit with operators, five workers asked when they could invest in Interface, which made him particularly proud, given the field workers typically “hate software providers.”)

Indeed, though Young works from Interface’s office in San Francisco’s Financial District, his hard hat sits on a table not far from his desk, ready for the next site visit. (Agarwal suggests Young could use a little more down time in his life, recalling a recent call where Young told her that he hadn’t seen the sun all day.)

The company now has eight employees – five in the office, three remote – mostly engineering hires, plus an operations person who started just this week. Interface’s biggest challenge is hiring fast enough to keep up with demand, a problem that requires its small team to tap networks across both Europe and the US.

As for what Young makes of the life in San Francisco he wanted and is now living, he marvels at how accurate the Silicon Valley stereotypes turned out to be. “You see people online talking about, ‘Oh, you go to a park and the person sitting next to you has raised $50 million building some insane AI agent.’ But it is actually like that,” he says. “I think back to what life was like in Trinidad. I mention these ideas to people back home, and they just don’t believe me.”

He occasionally makes time to go out in nature with friends – he says they went to Tahoe recently – and Interface hosts events like a hackathon they threw last weekend. But mostly, it’s work, and most of that work involves AI, just like everyone else’s in San Francisco right now.

Which makes the trips to oil rigs oddly appealing.

Indeed, that hard hat at the office isn’t just a practical necessity; it’s also a lure, suggests Young. For engineers tired of building “some low-impact B2B sales or recruiting tool,” as Young puts it, the promise of occasionally leaving the Bay Area bubble to work with operators in the field has become a recruiting advantage. Less than 1% of San Francisco startups work in heavy industry, he notes, and that scarcity is part of the appeal, for him and for the people he’s hiring.

It’s probably not quite the version of the Silicon Valley dream he spent his childhood chasing from Trinidad: long hours, intense pressure, endless AI discussions everywhere, punctuated by the occasional trip to an oil rig.

Still, for now, he doesn’t seem to mind it. “Over the last month or two months, I have not done much at all [outside the office], because there’s just been so much intensity here, with building, hiring, selling.” But “I feel pretty strong,” he adds.



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X’s handle marketplace is open and there are some… interesting names if you’re willing to pay

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After previewing its plans to open a marketplace to “redistribute” dormant handles last month, X has made the feature available to all Premium+ subscribers on the platform. The feature allows subscribers to request new handles that up to now have been unavailable because they belonged to accounts that have since become inactive.

The marketplace offers two types of handles: “priority” and “rare.” For priority handles, X has suggested the goal is to give people the chance to have a handle that more closely reflects their name. In practice, though, it’s not at all clear how X is determining what’s considered a “priority” versus a “rare” handle. I signed up for a $40/month subscription and searched for both @kbell and @karissa only to be told that both are considered “rare” and thus not available to me. I was able to “register” my “interest” in the names, and include a brief description of why I wanted the handles.

My first initial and last name is, apparently, "rare."

My first initial and last name is, apparently, “rare.” (X)

The company says that rare handles are “the most valuable” names and are “often words, slang, or containing few characters. Some options that may one day be available, according to my searching, include @memelord, @phone, @gr0k and @AIchat. The exact process for acquiring one of these, though, isn’t exactly clear. X says that handles on your watchlist “may be released in a public drop where you, and others can apply to receive the handle for free via a merit based application system.” The company has also said that it will make some especially sought-after handles available for purchase on an invitation-only basis, with prices “anywhere from $2,500 to over seven figures.”

There's some good meme potential here, if you can get it.

There’s some good meme potential here, if you can get it. (X)

After a bit of perusing, I did find that there were a few entertaining options that are theoretically available now as “priority” handles, including @six_seven, @elonfarts, @grokfacts and @kbchat. Honestly, all of these were at least a little tempting, though I’m not at all confident X would approve @elonfarts or @grokfacts. You also have to consider these requests at least a little carefully because X is only giving users the ability to request one priority handle during the entire lifetime of their account.

There are also some significant strings attached to the whole process. In addition to being required to maintain a $40/month or $395/year Premium+ subscription, X has a rather strict set of rules for “maintaining your handle.” These include:

-Create content regularly. If an account is active but the associated handle remains largely dormant – for example, where little or no original or engaging content is published – X may reclaim the handle.

-Use the handle in a way that reflects the spirit of participation and expression on X.  That means active involvement in platform activities (replying, reposting, discussing topics) that help build a vibrant community for sharing ideas and expressions.  X’s intent is to ensure that handles remain available for active voices and creators who help advance the mission of the platform, not for speculation or inactivity.

-Ensure regular activity on the platform, with a minimum of 1 device login within a 30 day period. For details, see our Inactive Account Policy.

The terms also state that “X owns and can reclaim any handle,” which is more than theoretical. The company has a long history of commandeering desirable handles from users that were actively using them including, infamously, @X.

Given all that, I still have yet to follow through on requesting any of the available “priority” handles I’ve found. I might just stick with the same handle (@karissabe) I’ve been using for the last 16 years. It’s only two letters off from the supposed “rare” variation of my first name only, and it won’t cost anything extra to keep.



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Gmail for Android notifications adding photo, attachment previews 

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After adding the “Mark as read” action, Google is modernizing Gmail for Android notifications with photo previews. 

Previously, Gmail notifications on Android showed the sender, subject line, and body. Google is now updating them to highlight and show attachments.

The compact alert adds a paperclip emoji/icon to the front of the subject, while replacing the sender image at the right with a small preview.

The first notification shows the old approach, and the second is an account with the updated style

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When expanded, you’ll see a rectangular preview that matches the behavior of messaging apps. However, this does replace the body of the email, which you might not like in the case of work correspondences. That said, this update lets you quickly skim for attachments, with Gmail previously not noting their presence.

Emails with more than one photo attachment will reflect that in a bottom row. 

Meanwhile, Gmail will highlight other file attachments. You might get a PDF pill and the start of the file name. The compact notification also shows the paperclip emoji.

At the moment, we have this rolled out with only one Gmail account, but it appears across multiple signed-in devices. As always, Gmail rollouts take ages to complete.

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Matt DeMelis’ overtime goal leads Railers past Maine

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WORCESTER – This was a game that some previous Railers teams. In fact, as recently as a couple of weeks ago, Worcester would have found a way to lose.

Instead, they got more fabulous goaltending from Henrik Tikkanen and another overtime goal from Matt DeMelis to beat the Maine Mariners in overtime, 2-1.

Worcester has won four straight games. The last time the Railers did that was from Jan. 31 through Feb. 7 last season.

Tikkanen made 35 saves to outduel Luke Cavallin, who stopped 27. It was a wonderful goaltending battle, and with the game going into overtime, had a sort of post-season feel to it even though it is not yet Thanksgiving.

“Our division is playoff-like all the time,” Railers coach Nick Tuzzolino said. “These are the types of games we have to be ready.”

DeMelis’ goal was his third of the season. Two have come in overtime. Some players thrive in OT with all the extra space and time that playing 3 on 3 can provide. DeMelis is now on a list with skaters like Anthony Repaci, Riley Piercey, and Collin Adams as OT killers.

The goal came exactly five minutes into an overtime period that the Railers dominated. Worcester had several excellent chances and just could not find a way to solve Cavallin until Riley Ginnell set up DeMelis with some time and room in deep.

He beat Cavallin from about 12 feet out.

“I had a little bit of a plan,” DeMelis said. “I saw his blocker side was open, so that’s where I wanted to put it.”

There is nothing quite like hockey and sudden death. Railers fans seemed a little extra enthusiastic when DeMelis scored. But not him.

“He’s got a very deceptive speed to him,” Tuzzolino said, “and puckhandling, and with gap it throws off defenders. He’s really good at using those triangles out there, and there’s a reason he’s got two of ‘em.”

Tikkanen has been extraordinary in the last three games. He has stopped 94 of 95 shots in 185 minutes of play. His shutout streak ended at 18:19 of the second period on a shot by Maine’s Andrew Nielsen that deflected off a Railers player on the way in. The streak lasted 1:58:19. It shattered Mitch Gillam’s previous team record of 1:22:16.

The Railers took a 1-0 lead just before Nielsen scored. Ryan Miotto notched a power play goal at 17:59 as he poked home the rebound of a shot off the left wing.

DeMelis picked up an assist on the play.

“I’m glad we got rewarded,” Tuzzolino said of the outcome, “and the biggest thing I’m telling the group right now is that it probably wasn’t our best 40 (minutes) but we finished all of the 20 and if you’re doing things the right way and playing the right way, you don’t always have to have the best stuff to get the result. Tonight we didn’t have our best stuff and got the result.”

Worcester has not had a five-game winning streak since it took the first nine games of the 2022-23 season. It will try for five at 6:05 Saturday night when it plays the new Greensboro Gargoyles for the first time in team history.

MAKING TRACKS

Calle Odelius is up with Bridgeport, and the Railers signed Brendan Dowler, also a defenseman, out of the Southern League. Dowler was in the building but not in the lineup. …

Kolby Johnson, Riley Piercey, Porter Schachle, and T.J. Walsh were the other Railers not in uniform. … Piercey’s suspension ended with this game, and he is eligible to play again. …

Hatten extended his points streak to five games with an assist. He is 4-3-7 in those games. … The Railers killed all four of their penalties and are 10-for-10 in the last three games and 15-for-16 in the last four. …

Attendance was 2,333. … Worcester has won two in a row from Maine for the first time since the first two games between the two of last season.

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The hottest AI wearables and gadgets you can buy right now

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A new wave of AI-powered gadgets on the market aims to integrate artificial intelligence into our daily lives like never before.

Some of these AI wearables — including necklaces, rings, and wristbands, as well as portable devices — serve as productivity tools, while others claim to act as friendly companions listening to your everyday thoughts. Even OpenAI is working on a compact AI companion device.

Below, we’ve rounded up some of the most notable devices currently available.

Bee

Image Credits:Bee AI

Bee is an affordable pendant priced at $49.99 that can either be clipped to your clothing or worn like a fitness band. This device records everything it hears and learns your routines and preferences to create reminders and notes for you. It even features a mute button for those times you want some privacy. 

The companion app (currently available only on iOS) is included with a $19 monthly subscription. The app allows you to interact with Bee directly and ask it questions. You can also get key takeaways from your day and chronological transcripts of your conversations. 

Amazon recently acquired the wearables startup in July.

Friend

Image Credits:Friend

Friend is one of the most hyped entrants in the “personal AI” device market.

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This $129 white pendant hangs around your neck and functions as an emotional support companion. It recognizes your tone and mood, allowing you to chat with it as if it were a friend. It connects to your phone via Bluetooth and constantly listens, ready to respond or send you proactive messages, like wishing you good luck before an interview. 

However, it has also faced criticism, including a recent backlash against its subway ad campaign in NYC. People vandalized the ads, writing messages like “surveillance capitalism.”

Limitless

8 Limitless pendants in various colors
Image Credits:Limitless

Formerly known as Rewind, Limitless is another conversation-recording pendant priced at $99. 

This device continuously listens, transcribing meetings, calls, and conversations (with consent) into searchable and summarized knowledge. It’s ideal for professionals, especially journalists, looking to recall important discussions. 

The companion app comes with 10 hours of AI features per month — such as transcription and summaries — with the option to unlock unlimited features for $29 per month.

Omi

A still from a promotional video for Omi
Image Credits:Omi

Priced at $89, this device can answer your questions, summarize your conversations, create to-do lists, and help schedule meetings. Additionally, Omi is constantly listening and running your conversations through ChatGPT, allowing it to remember the context about you and offer personalized advice.

Omi can be worn as a necklace, but another notable aspect is that it can be attached to the side of your head with medical tape and can detect when you’re speaking to it.

Plaud’s NotePin

Plaud's NotePin hanging around a person's neck
Image Credits:Plaud

At $159, Plaud’s NotePin is one of the pricier options on this list; however, its built-in AI transcription and summarization features make it a valuable tool for lawyers, journalists, and students attending meetings or lectures. 

The tiny wearable voice recorder can be worn on your wrist or attached magnetically to your clothing. The recordings are saved in real time on your phone, eliminating the hassle of manual note-taking. The device includes 300 free monthly transcription minutes, but with the $8.33 per month Pro plan, you upgrade your transcription time to 1,200 minutes.

This year, the company is gearing up to launch a $179 ultra-thin note-taking device called the Plaud Note Pro, which is now available for preorder.

Rabbit R1

Image Credits:Rabbit

Rabbit R1 is another AI gadget that has quickly become a topic of interest in the tech world, despite facing some challenges during its initial launch. This small, retro-styled handheld device features a touchscreen and rotating camera, at a price point of $199.

The device is designed to be phone-adjacent, allowing you to perform tasks such as booking flights, ordering meals, and controlling apps without needing to pull out your phone each time. Following a crucial software update that rectified previous performance issues, the Rabbit R1 now boasts expanded AI features. For instance, it introduces “Creations,” a feature that allows you to build your own tools and even games.



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Ubisoft made a prototype game with voice-controlled AI teammates

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Ubisoft has announced a new game prototype featuring voice-controlled AI teammates that understand visual context and natural language. This “Teammates” project builds on the Neo NPCs Ubisoft showed off with Nvidia in 2024 to demo in-game AI that can naturally respond to players. A key difference this time, besides the complexity of the interactions the prototype supports, is that Teammates is already being played in a closed playtest with “a few hundred players,” Ubisoft says.

Teammates, even if Ubisoft describes it as a playable “experimental research project,” still uses the basic concepts of a first-person shooter. The prototype casts players as “a member of the resistance in a dystopian future, tasked with moving through an enemy base to locate five missing members of their team,” where directing in-game AI characters is key to success. Ubisoft came up with three AI NPCs for the project, “Jaspar,” an AI assistant with awareness of in-game lore and the ability to adjust game settings on the fly, and “Pablo” and “Sofia,” robotic characters that are physically present in the game and can respond to commands.

A screen from Ubisoft Teammates showing the different things the Jaspar AI can do in-game.

Jaspar is both a diegetic and non-diegetic presence in Teammates. (Ubisoft)

Based on footage shared with Engadget, Ubisoft’s AI characters not only understand voice commands, but also have a visual awareness of what the player is seeing. A direction to “stand behind a barrel” prompted Sofia to take into consideration where the player was looking and position itself appropriately. In the version of Teammates available in the closed playtest, Ubisoft also uses Jaspar to onboard and teach players about the basics of the game. In most cases, the AI characters seemed overly chatty and verbose, but Ubisoft is experimenting with letting players choose sets of personalities for Sofia and Pablo — including an option curiously labelled “Bad Cat and Good Boy” — that can change up how each character expresses itself.

“This technology opens doors to new, personalized experiences,” Ubisoft’s Data & AI Director Rémi Labory shared in the Teammates announcement. “Player input shapes character reactions in real time, something traditional development can’t achieve. We’re also delivering a full pipeline, with the experience taking players from onboarding to debrief, which is a first.”

Ubisoft has explored applying generative AI to other parts of the development process in the past. The company’s Ghostwriter tool, introduced in 2023, uses AI to generate first drafts of in-game dialogue. Ubisoft also recently adimitted to publishing Anno 117: Pax Romana without removing its AI-generated loading screen art.

Ultimately, the underlying technology powering Teammates could appear in other Ubisoft projects in the future. The company is collecting feedback from its playtest to apply towards future research, but Ubisoft suggests the middleware it created for Teammates already works with both its Snowdrop and Anvil engines, opening up the tool for future teams to use in their games.



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Galaxy Watch 8, Nothing Headphone (1), more

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The Amazon 2025 Black Friday Week deals are in full swing right now alongside yesterday’s Google Black Friday sale with Pixel Watch 4 at up to $100 off and up to $300 off Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro lineup, but today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break has even more to scope out. Black Friday pricing is now live on Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 from $280 alongside up to $400 off Galaxy Z Fold 7 and $350 off Galaxy S25 Ultra. Those offers also join the now live OnePlus Black Friday sale with as much as $200 slashed off the prices of many of its latest releases and a new Amazon all-time low on Nothing Headphone (1) joined by as much as 52% off a wide selection of Samsung monitors. Scope it all out below. 

Official 2025 Google Black Friday deals now live: Pixel Watch 4 up to $100 off, Pixel 10 up to $300 off, more

A screenshot of a device

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Black Friday week deals now live from $280

The official Samsung Black Friday week is in full swing with giant price drops on its latest Galaxy releases, including $400 off Galaxy Z Fold 7 and $350 off its flagship Galaxy S25 Ultra. But that also means the Black Friday deals are now live on its most affordable current-gen Galaxy Watch 8 at $70 off the list price.

While we did catch an early deal at Woot with some Galaxy Watch 8 configurations at $100 off, the color options were slightly limited and that offer did not include a proper warranty. Today, however, we are seeing a solid $70 slashed from the price on all configurations straight from Samsung:

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Using Amazon as a reference, the prices we are seeing here are actually the lowest straight up cash discounts since release outside of the Woot offer and YMMV/EDU discounts. These deal prices are matched at Amazonto deliver the lowest prices we have tracked there.

Be sure to check out the $350 price drops on the flagship Galaxy S25 Ultra and more of our Black Friday Samsung coverage below:

 

 

Official OnePlus 2025 Black Friday deals now live: $200 off phones, $100 off Watch 3, Buds Pro 3, more

The official OnePlus Black Friday sale is now live. The brand informed us that its main event sale is now in full swing with deals expected to last through Cyber Monday where stock permits. Just about everything in the sale, outside of the brand new OnePlus 15 that is still in a launch holding pattern, is now down even lower than we saw for Prime Day and the Halloween event with as much as $200 off. This includes all of its latest releases and even some new lows on gear like the OnePlus Watch 3 (43mm) and OnePlus Buds Pro 3. Scope it all out below.

There are now promo codes needed this time around – everything is just marked down and ready to roll. We are looking at straight up $200 price drops on OnePlus 13 configurations alongside one of the best cash discounts to date on OnePlus Pad 3 at $120 off.

Just be sure to watch out for the FREE gifts available on select gear – scroll down on the respective listing pages to ensure you claim the freebies where you can:

Amazon Black Friday deals up to 52% off Samsung monitors now live: Odyssey gaming and Smart Monitors from just $80

As part of its now live Black Friday Week sale event, Amazon is offering huge discounts on almost all Samsung monitors, including Odyssey gaming and Smart Monitor models. Many of these are either fresh lows or are back to their lowest prices, and you can save up to 52% by cashing in on these Black Friday prices. The sale even includes some of the newest displays, like this 27-inch Odyssey G60SF 500Hz OLED unit, and the prices for these monitors, believe it or not, are starting at just $80. Head below for a closer look at the deals.

Samsung monitor sale at Amazon at up to 52% off

One of the most notable deals at Amazon right now gets you Samsung’s 27-inch Odyssey OLED G6 (G60SF) QHD QD-OLED 500Hz monitor for $749.99 shipped. Also matched at Samsung as part of its Black Friday sale, this regularly $1,000 display is now $250 off. This is the lowest price we’ve seen for this unit aside from a brief $610 drop at Woot that very few people were able to grab. 

There are a bunch of other monitors on sale right now if you’d rather not splurge on a high-end OLED model, and we’ve highlighted some of our favorites from the sale below:

Nothing Headphone (1) hits new Amazon all-time low for Black Friday at $239 (Both colors)

As part of the now live 2025 Amazon Black Friday Week, we are now tracking the lowest price we have ever seen on this Nothing Headphone (1) release. The first flagship over-ears delivers a design unlike just about anything else out there, and now Amazon is delivering the best price yet.

Amazon now has the Nothing Headphone (1) down at $239 shipped in both the white and black colorways. Regularly $239, this is a straight up 20% price drop to deliver a new Amazon all-time low and the best price we have tracked to date.

Ahead of the now live Black Friday discount, we have tracked a few chances to land them down at the previous $254 Amazon low since release in early May. During the launch phase there was a chance to score a set at $100 off as well, but you had to bundle them up with a Nothing smartphone to land that discount – today’s offer is the best cash deal at Amazon yet. 

You can get a complete rundown on Headphone (1) in our hands-on review right here where we said they deliver a “stellar value” and a solid build “despite not using the most premium materials.” 

For me, it’s really all about the looks here. The over-ear headphones space is a busy one with super-popular releases from the likes of Sony, Bose, and Apple for that matter, all of which now seeing solid discounts for Black Friday, but you’re certainly going to be paying a whole lot more for any of the flagship models from those brands, and you’re certainly not going to get a set of headphones that look nearly as unique as Headphone (1). 

Loaded with interesting greebles, and tech accents, the sort of cassette tape vibe-meets-cyberpunk aesthetic here is one that has grown on me over the last year or so – we see this sort of approach on much of the Nothing gear, and I’m totally here for it. 

Alongside the 80-hours of battery life without ANC and up to 35 hours with, you’re also getting a series of listening modes, Spatial Audio, Headtracking tech, and the brand’s hybrid ANC treatment:

Intelligent Noise Cancellation for Perfect Listening: The headphones are Powered by Advanced next-gen processors and adaptive mics, and Hybrid ANC with dual feedforward technology delivers superior noise reduction; Smart Adaptive Mode automatically adjusts to your environment, while Transparency Mode lets in the sounds around you keeps you aware when needed; Customize with Personalized ANC (HIGH/MID/LOW/ADAPTIVE) for truly immersive, distraction-free sound

Today’s accessories and charging deals:

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