Toys R Us is back, at least in the sense of private equity rediscovering the skin of something it gutted long ago and deciding to wear it again. But this isn't the first time that the famous toy shop was haunted. — Read the rest
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Black Friday is still over a month away, but if you’re hoping to upgrade your TV, you don’t need to wait until November. LG has already kicked off its early Black Friday sale, letting you save on the LG C6 and various soundbars through November 1st. Right now, for instance, you can snag a 55-inch C6 for an all-time low of $999.99 ($400 off), with Amazon and Best Buy matching said price. Other sizes are also discounted, including the 65-inch model, which is on sale for $1,399.99 ($300 off) from Amazon, Best Buy, and LG. If you purchase direct, you’ll also get a free Xbox Wireless Controller and a complimentary wall mount.
LG’s C6 OLED TV offers a few small but welcome upgrades over last year’s C5, including a faster Alpha 11 AI Gen3 processor designed to improve picture and sound quality, along with a brighter display. It also boasts a higher refresh rate of up to 165Hz for smoother gaming, up from 144Hz, while retaining four HDMI 2.1 ports and support for AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync, the latter of which helps reduce unwanted screen tearing while gaming.
Unsurprisingly, the C6 delivers the hallmarks of OLED technology, including inky blacks, vibrant color, and impressive contrast. Support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, meanwhile, helps make movies and shows appear more lifelike and immersive, while built-in access to Netflix, HBO Max, and the like lets you stream your favorite content without a dedicated streaming device. Google Cast and Apple AirPlay 2 also make it easy to share content from your phone, while Matter support lets you pair it with various smart home devices.
Solid specs aside, we’d be remiss not to mention that researchers recently raised concerns about how LG’s smart TVs collect and log user data. LG has since responded to some of the accusations, saying its TVs don’t continuously record conversations, and that features like voice recognition and interest-based advertising are optional and disabled by default. While LG hasn’t addressed all concerns, similar data-collection practices aren’t necessarily unique to LG TVs, and they don’t detract from the C6’s impressive feature set.
My colleague John Higgins considered Soundcore’s Space One some of the best budget noise-canceling headphones you could buy when they launched in 2023 — and their successor has only improved upon their winning formula, albeit with a $30 price increase. Thankfully, the Soundcore Space 2 are currently on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart in all three colors for an all-time low of $106.49 ($23 off), making them even easier to recommend.
The Space 2 builds on the original with improved active noise cancellation, particularly when it comes to the low-frequency sounds associated with trains and airplane engines. They also deliver more accurate sound performance thanks to various design upgrades, while retaining many of the same features that made the Sound One sound so good for the price, including support for high-resolution LDAC audio. You also still get access to HearID 3.0, which lets you personalize the sound by listening to a series of samples and adjusting accordingly.
Battery life is another welcome improvement. The Space 2 can last up to 50 hours with ANC enabled or 70 hours with it switched off, up from 40 and 55 hours, respectively, on the original. And when your battery dies, you can still use the equipped 3.5mm jack for wired listening. They’ll also automatically pause playback when you take them off, which is handy when you need to step away without losing your place in a song or podcast.
If your dog or cat is prone to getting lost, or you frequently go on adventures together, you can save 30 percent on Fi pet trackers through October 25th when you enter coupon code SCARY at checkout. The sale includes several satellite-connected trackers, including the Fi Ultra GPS we previously tested, which is down to $209.30 after the discount. That effectively brings it down to its original launch price.
The IP68-rated Fi Ultra is fully waterproof, even in saltwater, and lasts up to five days, depending on how active your dog is. The accessory — which conveniently attaches to your dog’s collar or harness — uses a combination of LTE, GPS, and Starlink satellite coverage to track your dog’s current location and recent history, even in cellular dead zones; it can also send noise and vibration alerts to catch your canine’s attention.
We spent time with the Fi Ultra earlier this year, testing it in a remote location in South Carolina. While the tracking was precise, the two- or three-minute update interval could be problematic for fast dogs, and it drained the battery quickly in Lost Mode (we barely got two days on a full charge). It’s also fairly sizable, making it a better fit for larger pups.
Unsurprisingly, you’ll need an active subscription to use the Fi Ultra’s tracking features, though you’ll get a discount on your first term, with six-month, one-year, and two-year plans available that offer lower overall monthly rates. For example, a one-year plan is $99 for the first year, and $189 each year after. However, the plans only work in the United States and offer no satellite coverage in Alaska.
Etsy is announcing stricter rules about how AI can be used in listings to reduce the volume of AI slop on the platform. In a post, the company says that "many active buyers say they can't tell which items involve AI-generated content" and that sellers are "concerned about your work appearing alongside items that use AI in misleading ways," spurring the new policies and restrictions.
Under the new policies, every listing must include "at least one unedited photo of the actual item against a real background," and all photos must "accurately represent the item a buyer will receive." The photos that aren't the first one can be edited with softw …
Despite being announced just a few weeks ago, both Amazon and Best Buy are now offering the latest Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K for 50 percent off, bringing the price down to an all-time low of $29.99. The most notable new feature is that the Fire TV Stick 4K no longer requires a separate power connection, meaning it can draw all the juice it needs from the USB port on your TV. It supports 4K at up to 60fps, with HDR10 Plus for higher contrast, although it’s worth noting that it doesn’t allow for side-loading apps like some older models.
Amazon updated the Fire TV OS earlier this year with a redesigned UI, closer Alexa Plus integration, and various improvements to the mobile app, all of which are supported on the new hardware. You’ll also get a revamped remote, which features a new asymmetrical design with a rounded bottom and buttons with a more tactile feel. For connectivity, the Fire TV Stick 4K has Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6.
A lot of people are snagging a PlayStation 5 ahead of Grand Theft Auto VI’s November 19th launch. You could pay full price at one of many retailers, but why do that when you can save $100 on a Sony-refurbished console that has the same one-year warranty? It’s a great time to consider one because company has a new limited-time bundle.
Through this page, you can select either a refurbished digital or disc-based console for $499 or $549, respectively, and add a refurbished DualSense to your order that’s $40 off its usual price. For instance, a white DualSense tacks just $18 to your total, while one of the fancier colors, like sterling silver, adds $23. It’s an affordable way to stock up to cover a two-player household. The refurbished controller also includes a one-year warranty.
One thing to note about the refurbished consoles is that they include a 1TB SSD. Sony’s digital edition console at stores is currently equipped with 825GB of built-in storage (the disc edition still has 1TB), so it’s nice that this version includes a little extra space for games. Like all PlayStation 5 consoles, these support PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs equipped with heatsinks for extra storage, though like RAM, those are pretty pricey at the moment.
You can outfit your iPad Air or iPad Pro with one of Apple’s slick Magic Keyboards for considerably less than the accessory usually costs at Woot. I won’t bury the catch I teased in the headline; These cases have a 90-day warranty via Woot, and aren’t eligible for AppleCare. That said, Woot says they’re in “pristine condition, with essentially no visible signs of use.” If you’re still interested, the savings should be worth it.
The most affordable option is the Magic Keyboard for the 13-inch iPad Air (M2, M3, M4 versions supported). Originally $319, and selling for that price at most retailers, you can nab one in white for just $129.
Woot also has the Magic Keyboard in black for the 11-inch iPad Pro (M4 and M5 editions) and the 13-inch Pro supporting the same configurations. Those cost $159 and $199, respectively, which is well over $100 off.
Each Magic Keyboard essentially turns your iPad into a MacBook, of sorts, complete with a trackpad, aluminum design, and a function row of keys. It magnetically attaches to the back of your iPad, and gets power via its pogo pins, keeping the tablet’s USB-C port free for you to plug in accessories. The keyboard accessory features a USB-C port in its cantilevered double-hinged design for charging your iPad (this port doesn’t allow data passthrough, just power). The stand lets you make easy adjustments to the viewing angle of your iPad, which is great if you’re trying to avoid glare.
I’m not sure when birdwatching became so popular, but it seems everybody’s getting into it these days. If you want to see what all the fuss is about without leaving your couch, both Coolfly and Birdfy are discounting their camera-equipped bird feeders for a limited time. Right now, you can buy Coolfy’s Aura Smart Bird Feeder for $149.90 ($140 off), or the Birdfy Feeder from Amazon or Birdfy for $109.99 ($90 off). You can also add a solar panel to the latter for an extra $20 from Birdfy, or grab both the panel and lifetime AI-powered bird identification from Amazon or Birdfy for $149.99 ($110 off).
My colleague Jennifer Pattison Tuohy called the Aura Smart Bird Feeder an impressive package, praising its large seed hopper, exceptional battery life, and dual solar panels. She also liked its unique side-mounted camera, which provides a more natural, wider view of birds than many other smart feeders. It can capture up to 2.5K video with a 150-degree field of view and offers full-color night vision, cloud and local storage, and AI-powered identification of more than 10,000 bird species, all without a subscription.
Birdfy’s feeder offers many of the same perks for less, including 2K video, night vision, and AI-powered identification of more than 6,000 bird species. It also lets you watch visiting birds on your phone, set up notifications for when they stop by, and access recordings via the cloud. Unlike the Aura, however, solar charging and lifetime AI identification aren’t included by default, with a subscription running $49.99 a year if you don’t purchase a bundle.
Whenever I go to Japan, I like to shop at Daiso. It's kind of like a dollar store in the U.S., except the stuff is good.
It was started by Hirotake Yano, who was born in Beijing in 1943. He had an interesting background. — Read the rest
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Walmart will soon let AI agents shop on its website for you. Next month, the retail giant will allow you to connect your own AI agent to the site, with systems in place to let you approve and review purchases and set spending limits.
The embrace of AI agents stands in stark contrast to Amazon, which blocked Perplexity's shopping agent and Meta's Muse AI assistant. But Walmart is opening its doors to AI shoppers - as long as they follow the retailer's rules. It has outlined a set of terms for agents, saying that "agents must not take actions beyond what the shopper intends" and cannot change a customer's payment method. Agents also can only …
If you’ve been curious about Star Wars Zero Company, the XCOM-like strategy game set in the Star Wars universe, Amazon has both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X physical editions on sale for $47.99 and $49.99, respectively. The game usually sells for $59.99. While I’m not usually enthused by turn-based strategy games, I’ve been impressed enough with the story and characters to keep playing, and any fan who’s familiar with the world surrounding the battles should make the experience more immersive.
There’s a surprising depth here, as well, with branching story missions that have consequences, and higher difficulty modes that punish you more severely for mistakes. The character creator is impressive, too, with a huge number of unlockable outfits and accessories, as well as classic alien races from the movies and cartoons. Plus, isn’t it every Star Wars fan’s dream to lead a crew of rag-tag heroes into battle against Droidekas and outlaws?
If you want a TV but prefer something that won’t clash with your room’s decor, Samsung’s The Frame is a standout option that’s designed to look like a piece of framed art instead of a black, monolithic rectangle mounted to your wall. You can buy the latest version of the 55-inch Samsung Frame TV on sale for around $897.99 ($402 off) at Amazon, which marks a new low price. Larger sizes are on sale, too, including the new 98-inch model, which is down to $3,749.99 ($1,252 off).
The 2026 model is largely the same as its predecessor; The biggest hardware change is that this size of the TV features built-in ports instead of using Samsung’s One Connect Box. Like previous models, it has a matte, canvas-like display that more closely resembles an actual painting better than a glossy TV screen. Its built-in motion sensor detects when someone enters the room and can automatically display artwork, even adjusting its brightness and colors based on ambient lighting. It supports Samsung’s Art Store, which offers access to more than 5,000 works ranging from world-famous galleries to lesser known, independent artists. A full subscription costs $49.99 annually, though you can also enjoy 30 new free, rotating artworks every month. Samsung includes a wall mount and a black bezel in the box, with additional magnetic frame styles available separately to better match your space or taste.
In terms of performance, the Frame prioritizes style over image quality, so it’s not necessarily the best choice for cinephiles who may be willing to pay more for a brighter picture, deeper blacks, and more lifelike colors. Still it offers a refresh rate of up to 144Hz with variable refresh rate support for smoother gaming, along with HDR10 Plus and Dolby Atmos support for a more immersive audio/visual experience.
There are quite a few 5K monitors out there. Many of them are designed to appeal to Mac users who are looking for cheaper Studio Display alternatives without giving up the pixel-dense 218ppi screen. However, if you’re interested in hearing about one with gaming chops, Samsung’s 27-inch Odyssey G80HF seems like one of the best monitors out there to satisfy your niche, but respectable desires. Currently, you can grab this model for $599.99 at Amazon and B&H Photo, which beats its best price by $100.
The G80HF supports two display modes with its Fast IPS panel: 5K at up to 180Hz refresh rate, or 1440p with up to a 360Hz refresh rate. Samsung touts Nvidia G-Sync compatibility as well as AMD FreeSync Premium to ensure the monitor’s refresh rate remains in lockstep with your GPU’s frame rate output. The monitor features a DisplayPort 2.1 port (just one, and Samsung doesn’t advertise its bandwidth), two HDMI 2.1 ports, and a USB hub for charging or connecting two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 accessories.
As a gamer, one of my favorite features here is the one-millisecond response time. That’s a very common spec among gaming monitors — even in ones that cost hundreds less — but it’s a bit of a rare spec in a 5K monitor at this price. I tested KTC’s sub-$500 model last year, and gaming on it was a pretty atrocious experience despite having what it claimed to be gaming-ready capabilities.
For $200 more ($799.99), LG’s 27-inch UltraGear evo 5K Mini LED monitor delivers slightly better specs. It has more dimming zones for a more accurate picture, it can get brighter, and it supports USB-C video input with 90W power delivery output to charge your device as you use it. Its dual mode refresh rates aren’t as high as Samsung’s (165Hz / 330Hz), but I don’t really see that as much of a downside.
Looking for a way to try the haptics-equipped G Pro X2 Superstrike wireless gaming mouse without spending full price? You probably aren’t alone. Logitech’s now-last-gen right-handed mouse is a great PC gaming companion that mimics the feel of mechanical switches with nothing but haptics. You can grab it refurbished through Logitech’s official eBay store for $131.74 (usually $179.99), and for even less with the code PROXPRODUCTS15 applied at checkout. It drops the price to just under $117.
The G Pro X2 Superstrike came out earlier this year, and I went hands-on with it. Logitech’s companion software lets you customize the intensity of the haptics, from an extra punchy click to one that’s barely there. (You can also turn the click feel off completely, but that felt a bit strange.) The mouse also supports rapid trigger, and when used together with haptics, it lowers the click latency compared with other mice that have mechanical switches.
The company followed up recently with the X3 Superstrike, though its differences may not matter much to those who aren’t competitive gamers. The X3 features a more responsive sensor, better battery life, and improved weight distribution. There are some other somewhat small changes to the specs. That said, none of these improvements makes the X2 feel obsolete, and Logitech is continuing to support and sell the mouse. So, if you want to give it a try, now’s your chance to save quite a bit of money on the purchase.
For a very limited time, Sony’s latest high-end noise-canceling earbuds are actually cheaper than their last-gen counterpart, the WF-1000XM5. B&H Photo is selling Sony’s latest WF-1000XM6 in black for an all-time low of $238 ($92 off) at checkout. Other retailers aren’t currently offering a discount on the XM6.
The XM6 are a solid upgrade over their predecessor and easily amongst the best noise-canceling wireless earbuds on the market. In his review, John Higgins noted that they do a better job of tuning out other people’s conversations than any other earbuds he’s tested. Sony has also improved the bone-conduction sensor and added AI-powered microphones that help keep your voice clear during calls, even in noisy environments.
The XM6 earbuds also deliver clean, balanced sound with impressive bass, raising the bar of what we expect with Sony’s WF-1000XM series. If you prefer to customize your listening experience, Sony’s Sound Connect app offers plenty of customization options, including the ability to adjust how much surrounding noise you hear without removing the earbuds. You can also personalize the touch controls.
The XM6 earbuds support Sony’s LDAC codec, which delivers higher-quality audio from compatible Android devices, too. New in the latest set is a listening mode that makes music sound more like background audio playing in a cafe, allowing you to listen to your favorite music without getting too distracted from whatever you’re doing.
Best Buy has a great deal for the rest of the day on the M4 Mac Mini base model that has 16GB RAM and a 256GB SSD. Normally, it doesn’t make a ton of sense to buy the M4 model for its usual $799 price given that the newer, faster M6 version has been available from Amazon for $779.99 (originally $899) for the past couple of weeks. However, at $649 it’s a much more tempting price.
The M4 Mac Mini launched at $599 in 2024, and was an incredible value. Given that this sale price makes it just $50 more than the original price instead of $200, it’s a good time to buy if you want to spend as little as possible on a modern Mac desktop.
Aside from some impressive generational leaps in processing power, you aren’t missing out on a ton by skipping the M6 model and opting for the M4. Their design and ports are nearly identical, and with either model you’ll need to supply your own keyboard, mouse, display, webcam, etc. If you’re on the fence and can’t decide between the M4 and M6 models, I suggest checking out my colleague Antonio’s review of the M6 Mac Mini. The newer model might be well worth the extra $130 cost.
The Legion Go S with SteamOS is a pretty solid alternative to the $789 Steam Deck OLED. It runs identical software, but ships in a design with two-stage triggers, a bigger eight-inch IPS screen (1080p and up to 120Hz versus 800p and 90Hz in the Deck OLED), and it’s got double the RAM and storage (32GB and 1TB, respectively), not to mention a slightly faster processor in the Ryzen Z1 Extreme.
At $999.99, its current discounted price at Best Buy, it’s worth considering if you’re deciding on a handheld. The Legion Go S is not as powerful as the $1,299.99 Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 that just launched, which has the Z2 Extreme and a OLED screen, but it’s no slouch, either.
This model launched with Windows 11 and the Ryzen Z2 Go. Despite being a newer chip, it’s less powerful than the Z1 Extreme in the discounted model. SteamOS and the faster internals within this configuration will provide a better experience. Check out my colleague Sean Hollister’s review of multiple configs of the Go S, and see how it stacks up in his benchmarks.
If you’re wondering what video game to play this weekend, my colleague Sheena Vasani spotted a discounted Nintendo Switch title with instant digital delivery. Walmart has the digital version of Pikmin 4 for Switch discounted to $39.88, just over $20 lower than its usual price. This version of the game follows the same puzzle formula as previous titles in the series, but adds in a dog companion for an extra layer of complexity and action, and dives deeper into the dark undertones previous games hinted at.
Nintendo recently announced a Switch 2 version of Pikmin 4 will launch on November 12th, 2026. That version features polished visuals, adds in voice commands for your dog companion, plus a new mode called Dandori Academy that adds extra challenges over time. You’ll be able to upgrade to that version for just $10, saving you $20 total over buying the $69.99 Switch 2 Edition outright.
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