You can still grab great deals on Bose headphones and Astro Bot this weekend
Welcome to the weekend, friends! While the rest of our team was checking out Samsung’s forthcoming Galaxy S26 lineup and prepping for Apple’s “special experience” next week, we’ve been sifting through Woot’s “Video Games for All” sale and a truly weird slate of deals that, frankly, don’t have a throughline. (Some of us have also spent the last week unpacking what Huel is, but that’s neither here nor there.) Here’s what we can tell you. If you’re thinking of picking up the Galaxy S26 Ultra at launch, putting in your preorder now isn’t a bad idea. It’s also a great time to pick up the midrange QuietComfort Headphones and what many of us at The Verge consider to be the game of 2024: Astro Bot. And who doesn’t want to save on a slick handheld vac? Now let’s get to it. If you’re craving a little peace and quiet, Bose’s QuietComfort Headphones are currently on sale at...
Welcome to the weekend, friends! While the rest of our team was checking out Samsung’s forthcoming Galaxy S26 lineup and prepping for Apple’s “special experience” next week, we’ve been sifting through Woot’s “Video Games for All” sale and a truly weird slate of deals that, frankly, don’t have a throughline. (Some of us have also spent the last week unpacking what Huel is, but that’s neither here nor there.)Here’s what we can tell you. If you’re thinking of picking up the Galaxy S26 Ultra at launch, putting in your preorder now isn’t a bad idea. It’s also a great time to pick up the midrange QuietComfort Headphones and what many of us at The Verge consider to be the game of 2024: Astro Bot. And who doesn’t want to save on a slick handheld vac?Now let’s get to it.If you’re craving a little peace and quiet, Bose’s QuietComfort Headphones are currently on sale at Amazon in multiple colors for $199 ($150 off), which is the best price we’ve seen this year.The standard QC Headphones are essentially a refresh of the last-gen QC45s with some new software tricks, including the ability to adjust noise cancellation levels and set custom listening modes. That being the case, you still get up to 24 hours of battery life, excellent comfort, and multipoint support, making it easy to switch between Bluetooth devices on the fly. They lack Bose’s immersive audio mode and the higher-quality Bluetooth found in the newer QC Ultras, though, as well as support for lossless audio over USB-C. Then again, that probably shouldn’t come as a surprise given they’re retailing for $250 less.
Bose QuietComfort Headphones
Where to Buy:
$359 $199 at Amazon
$359 $229 at Best Buy
$359 $229 at Walmart
As we alluded to earlier, Samsung announced its Galaxy S26 lineup this week. There are already plenty of preorder deals to consider, but one of the best comes courtesy of Amazon, which is throwing in a $200 gift card alongside a free storage upgrade when you preorder the 512GB Galaxy S26 Ultra starting at $1,299.99. Other retailers are also running promos ahead of the phone’s March 11th release date, mind you, though they’re not as impressive; Best Buy is only providing a free storage upgrade, while Samsung is offering a mere $150 in credit.While the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus both feel like underwhelming, iterative updates, the 6.9-inch Galaxy S26 Ultra actually impressed our resident phone reviewer, Allison Johnson. That’s largely because of the new Privacy Display, which can help shield your screen from people sitting near you (if desired), and a more powerful camera array that should improve low-light performance. Plus, like the rest of the S26 lineup, the Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which supports more advanced generative AI tools and a souped-up version of Gemini that can carry out certain tasks in third-party apps on your behalf. No one likes calling an Uber themselves, anyway.
Read our S26 Ultra hands-on impressions.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
Where to Buy:
$1299.99 at Samsung (256GB, with $150 credit)
$1499.99 $1299.99 at Amazon (512GB, with $200 gift card)
$1499.99 $1299.99 at Best Buy (512GB)
You can still grab a physical copy of Astro Bot at Walmart for $32.99 ($27 off), an all-time low. The fantastic PlayStation 5 exclusive — which won Game of the Year at the 2024 Game Awards — has players take on the role of Astro, a lovable robot who sets off on a space adventure after his crew is lost in a sudden attack. Despite the prior game being a pack-in t**le for the PS5, Team Asobi’s full-sized sequel brims with inventive platforming, whimsical power-ups, and a kind of lighthearted fun that recalls the best of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. Thankfully, it never feels outdated, even if ‘90s vibes are totally there.
Read our Astro Bot review.
Astro Bot
Where to Buy:
$59.99 $32.99 at Walmart
If you’re looking for a relatively compact handheld vacuum that can reach into car crevices and s*** up crumbs on your desk, Fanttik’s foldable Fold V10 Apex is still on sale at Amazon for $85.49 (about $65 off), matching its best price to date.Fanttik’s 17,000Pa vac features an extendable nozzle that pivots up to 210 degrees, along with a built-in LED light to help illuminate the dark corners of your vehicle. An onboard display, meanwhile, indicates the remaining battery life and suction mode, as well as the status of the washable filter. It also comes with a range of useful add-ons, including an upholstery tool, two brush heads, and an extendable hose with a crevice tool for hard-to-reach areas. It even charges via USB-C, making it easy to juice after the battery runs out in about 30 minutes or so.
Read our recent profile on Fanttik.
Fanttik Fold V10 Apex Foldable Car Vacuum
Where to Buy:
$149.99 $85.49 at Amazon
$149.99 $94.99 at Fanttik (with code V10APEX)
More ways to save this weekend
You can pick up five second-gen AirTags for $99.99 ($24 off) at Costco, though non-members will have to pay a $5 surcharge. That’s the first discount we’ve seen on Apple’s latest location tracker, which builds upon its predecessor with an upgraded ultra-wideband chip and extended range, allowing for more precise tracking from up to 50 percent farther away. It’s also better at locating items in multi-story homes, and the built-in speaker is up to 50 percent louder, making it easier to hear. Read our review.
AOC’s 27-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor (Q27G41ZDF) is on sale for $379.99 ($170 off) at Best Buy, which is its lowest price to date. The 1440p display is a great entry-level OLED, with a sharp 16:9 panel and a speedy 240Hz refresh rate. As a QD-OLED monitor, it delivers the deep blacks and vibrant colors the technology is known for, along with G-Sync compatibility to help reduce screen tearing. It also includes a three-year warranty for added peace of mind.
You can snag the Sharge Pixel 100 from Amazon (with Prime) and Sharge for $69.90 ($30 off) right now, which is its lowest price to date. The small, retro-inspired GaN charger delivers up to 140W of power, which is enough to charge a 16-inch MacBook Pro to 50 percent in about 25 minutes. It also features three USB-C ports for powering multiple devices, along with a customizable dot-matrix display that shows the real-time wattage for each port.
SpaceX made more revenue as an AI company than a space company
SpaceX's AI revenue grew more than three times to $2.6 billion from the year before, mostly because of deals that the company made to provide compute to other AI companies, according to SpaceX's quarterly earnings. The AI division, which the company said in its documents to go public was the...
SpaceX's AI revenue grew more than three times to $2.6 billion from the year before, mostly because of deals that the company made to provide compute to other AI companies, according to SpaceX's quarterly earnings. The AI division, which the company said in its documents to go public was the source of most of its value, lost $1.5 billion this quarter, slightly less than in the same quarter last year.SpaceX made deals with Anthropic in May and Google in June to provide compute to the other two AI companies, putting it in competition with other neoclouds such as CoreWeave. The increased presence in AI is also driving the company to spend mor …Read the full story at The Verge.
Gabino Guzmán Mexico
Published by: aplhsindia.in
A Microsoft executive got Doom running in Paint using a clipboard hack
If you thought Microsoft's Azure CTO should have better things to do than getting classic FPS Doom to run in MS Paint, you'd be very wrong.
If you thought Microsoft's Azure CTO should have better things to do than getting classic FPS Doom to run in MS Paint, you'd be very wrong.
Emily Brown Houston
Published by: aplhsindia.in
AMD’s data center business is booming while gaming takes a backseat
Driven by demand for AI capacity, AMD's data center revenue more than doubled year-over-year in its latest earnings report, reaching $6.7 billion. That's up from $5.8 billion in Q1, and jumping 107 percent from the $3.2 billion it reported for the same period a year ago. During Tuesday's earnings call,...
Driven by demand for AI capacity, AMD's data center revenue more than doubled year-over-year in its latest earnings report, reaching $6.7 billion. That's up from $5.8 billion in Q1, and jumping 107 percent from the $3.2 billion it reported for the same period a year ago. During Tuesday's earnings call, AMD CEO Lisa Su said the company expects "data center segment revenue to more than double year-over-year in 2027," as well. At the same time, AMD's gaming revenue fell 31 percent compared to last year, to $779 million, as price hikes and component shortages slowed sales for the Xbox Series X / S, PS5, and Valve's Steam Deck. On a call after …Read the full story at The Verge.
Ella Sørensen Denmark
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Your monitor’s HDMI 2.1 port is lying about what it can do, and it’s all perfectly legal
There was a time when HDMI 2.1 ports were extremely rare, but even today, the ones on most gaming monitors aren't delivering the features they're supposed to. An HDMI 2.1 port should support not just 48 Gbps bandwidth, but also features such as eARC, ALLM, dynamic HDR, and more. In...
There was a time when HDMI 2.1 ports were extremely rare, but even today, the ones on most gaming monitors aren't delivering the features they're supposed to. An HDMI 2.1 port should support not just 48 Gbps bandwidth, but also features such as eARC, ALLM, dynamic HDR, and more. In reality, manufacturers can implement just one of these features and market "HDMI 2.1" to move units.
Özsu Keseroğlu Turkey
Published by: aplhsindia.in
5 tools that turned my self-hosted media server into something better than any streaming service
My living room media setup started with a simple goal. I wanted my movies and television shows on hardware I controlled, with one clean interface instead of a pile of streaming apps that each remembered different watch histories.
My living room media setup started with a simple goal. I wanted my movies and television shows on hardware I controlled, with one clean interface instead of a pile of streaming apps that each remembered different watch histories.
Michael Johnson Chicago
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Your old PC just got Bluetooth 5.4 for $7
If you're looking to move away from cable clutter, Bluetooth is one way to go. You can use the technology to connect vital accessories, transfer files, listen to audio, and more. If you have an older PC or laptop, there's a pretty good chance it might need a Bluetooth upgrade....
If you're looking to move away from cable clutter, Bluetooth is one way to go. You can use the technology to connect vital accessories, transfer files, listen to audio, and more. If you have an older PC or laptop, there's a pretty good chance it might need a Bluetooth upgrade. This Ugreen Bluetooth 5.4 USB dongle is the perfect solution, and costs just $7 right now thanks to a 33% discount on Amazon.
Noham Dufour France
Published by: aplhsindia.in
I tried 3 self-hosted Claude alternatives on the same documents, and one crushed the others
Document chat is a non-negotiable part of most of my workflows these days. Yes, NotebookLM still holds the crown in this department, but only when I'm getting serious with coursework. For all of my other documents, I default to my daily AI, Claude. However, Claude is still a cloud tool...
Document chat is a non-negotiable part of most of my workflows these days. Yes, NotebookLM still holds the crown in this department, but only when I'm getting serious with coursework. For all of my other documents, I default to my daily AI, Claude. However, Claude is still a cloud tool at the end of the day, which means there are certain docs I don't feel comfortable just handing over.
Benito Ramírez Spain
Published by: aplhsindia.in
I ditched my clipboard manager after finding this cross-device clipboard app
Lately, my workflow revolves around AI tools much more than it used to. I'm constantly copying prompts, AI responses, code snippets, research, and links while switching between my desktop, laptop, and phone. My clipboard manager still does a good job of remembering everything I copy, but that's no longer my...
Lately, my workflow revolves around AI tools much more than it used to. I'm constantly copying prompts, AI responses, code snippets, research, and links while switching between my desktop, laptop, and phone. My clipboard manager still does a good job of remembering everything I copy, but that's no longer my biggest problem. These days, I need that content to be available wherever I'm working next. After looking for a better solution, I came across OctoClip. It combines clipboard syncing with simple file transfers, which turned out to be a much better fit for the way I work today.
Daniel Martinez Dallas
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Now you can securely link multiple phones to one Signal account
You can link more devices with one phone number on Signal now, including an Android phone or iPhone. Signal already supported linking PCs and iPads, but not additional phones. When you link a device on Signal, you can check and respond to new messages across all of your linked devices....
You can link more devices with one phone number on Signal now, including an Android phone or iPhone. Signal already supported linking PCs and iPads, but not additional phones. When you link a device on Signal, you can check and respond to new messages across all of your linked devices. You can also choose whether or not to transfer an end-to-end encrypted copy of your previous messages to each newly linked device to mitigate the risk of devices that might be shared, lost, or compromised.The update is rolling out now with Signal version 8.20 on Android and version 8.22 for iPhone / iPad. Signal also says it has made "significant interface …Read the full story at The Verge.
Daniel Martinez Dallas
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Don’t screw this up, Marvel
In less than a week, Spider-Man: Brand New Day raked in $1 billion worldwide and had the biggest box office opening weekend in Hollywood history. The feature has been a reminder of why Sony is probably never going to give up the Spider-Man film rights, and highlighted how Marvel Studios...
In less than a week, Spider-Man: Brand New Day raked in $1 billion worldwide and had the biggest box office opening weekend in Hollywood history. The feature has been a reminder of why Sony is probably never going to give up the Spider-Man film rights, and highlighted how Marvel Studios was smart to strike a deal to bring the character into its own films. But as successful as Brand New Day has been, the larger MCU has been stuck in a confounding slump for the past few years. And while this latest Spider-Man movie was truly excellent, it's not necessarily a sign that Marvel has figured out how to get things back on track.Though Brand New Da …Read the full story at The Verge.
Brandie Price United States
Published by: aplhsindia.in
The Steam Controller has one kryptonite, and it caused me to swap controllers
I bought the new Steam Controller with the expectation that it'd be the last gamepad I'd ever need, and the hardware makes a great case for that. While there are controllers out there that combine a couple of the elements of what Valve has done, none of them have full...
I bought the new Steam Controller with the expectation that it'd be the last gamepad I'd ever need, and the hardware makes a great case for that. While there are controllers out there that combine a couple of the elements of what Valve has done, none of them have full parity with the Steam Controller. The trackpads are great, the gyro is really solid, and the traditional gamepad elements like the buttons and joysticks are as good as it gets.
Jorge Luis Burgos Mexico
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Transcoding is the part everyone gets wrong, and the fix is usually a cheaper GPU than you think
Anyone who has ever built a Jellyfin server eventually reaches the same crossroads — a couple of friends start streaming remotely, and someone tries to play a file on a device that can't handle the original video format. That's what makes the "effortless" server start sweating, and you instinctively think...
Anyone who has ever built a Jellyfin server eventually reaches the same crossroads — a couple of friends start streaming remotely, and someone tries to play a file on a device that can't handle the original video format. That's what makes the "effortless" server start sweating, and you instinctively think of plugging in a faster Ryzen processor, a newer motherboard, and maybe even a memory upgrade. Those upgrades aren't nearly as easy as they once were, but they were still mistakes I almost ended up making.
