Dreame’s X40 Ultra is over half off for Black Friday. Robot vacuums show up in our gift guides almost every year, and it’s easy to understand why: they clean, they save time, and they’re cheaper than hiring a professional. But not all robovacs are created equal, and some save more time than others. The Dreame X40 Ultra is one of those, offering a more genuinely hands-free cleaning experience than what you typically get. And now through December 1st, it’s down to a new low of $499.99 ($700 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and directly from Dreame.Dreame X40 UltraWhere to Buy: $1199.99 $499.99 at Amazon $1199.99 $499.99 at Dreame $1199.99 $499.99 at Best BuyIf you’re looking for a great robot vacuum that also does a fantastic job of mopping, the last-gen X40 Ultra is one of the best we’ve tested. With 12,000Pa of suction power, it does a great job of sucking up dirt and debris. It even comes with AI-powered smart dirt detection, which uses onboard cameras to spot particularly dirty areas, then slows down and passes over them multiple times until they’re thoroughly cleaned.Its dual oscillating mop pads also do a fantastic job on hardwood floors, even extending into edges and under cabinets. It can also automatically detach and reattach its mop pads when switching to vacuuming, so your carpets stay dry. In fact, it repeats this process multiple times throughout a cleaning cycle to ensure carpets are vacuumed and hard floors are mopped properly.What’s more, the robovac doesn’t require much babysitting; it maps rooms effectively, and its AI-assisted obstacle avoidance navigates around larger items like shoes with ease. Plus, the X40 Ultra can empty its own dustbin, refill its water tank, and clean its washboard — and its mop pads can even wash and dry themselves.

Meta may have just released the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) at the end of October, but they’re not significantly different from the last-gen model introduced in 2021. The overall experience is very similar, which is why the original Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses remain a great buy, especially now that they’re on sale for an all-time low of around $238.99 ($60 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target for Black Friday.Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 1) smart glassesWhere to Buy: $299 $238.99 at Amazon $299 $239.2 at Best Buy $299 $239.2 at TargetLike their successor, the first-gen Ray-Ban Meta let you listen to music, snap photos, record 1080p video, and make hands-free calls thanks to a five-microphone array. You can upload the resulting photos and videos — and even livestream— to Facebook or Instagram via the companion app. The glasses also support a host of AI-powered features, letting you use your voice to take photos, pull up the history of a landmark, ask questions, or get recipes based on what’s in your fridge. They can even translate multiple languages in real time, helping you with Spanish, Italian, French, and other languages you may be less familiar with.Additionally, many of the same software upgrades currently slated to roll out to the Gen 2 model — including the new slo-mo and hyperlapse video modes, as well as the new “conversation focus” feature that boosts the audio of whoever you’re talking to — will also roll out to the original pair. The forthcoming software update, which is scheduled for the fall, will also improve the live translation feature by expanding it to support additional languages, including German and Portuguese.The biggest upgrade with the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 is that they have twice as much battery life: they offer up to eight hours of continuous use and a charging case that adds an additional two days of runtime, compared to 32 additional hours with the first-gen model. You’ll also get slightly sharper 3K video at 30fps, but since both models use the same 12-megapixel sensor, the difference isn’t all that significant.Read our full Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses review.

Microsoft is pitching a future where AI controls everything on your PC and agents go and do work for you in the background. But before the company gets there, it has to build the tools to make these systems work and convince its own developers that AI is actually capable of achieving these big promises.Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed earlier this year that up to 30 percent of the code of "some of our projects" is written by AI, and I've been eager to learn exactly how Microsoft's developers are using the technology ever since. I've been speaking to sources and company execs to get a better idea of how AI is being used by Microsoft dev …Read the full story at The Verge.

I didn't expect a local graph app to replace my all-in-one workspace. Notion was once the nervous system of my productivity—task lists, project databases, meeting notes, even a rudimentary CRM. But after watching the Plus plan creep upward in price (and knowing I'd eventually want AI features that cost even more), I started questioning whether I actually needed my notes living on someone else's servers.

It is easy to get swept up in Black Friday deals, especially when everyday items feel overpriced for what they are. Once I started 3D printing more of the simple things I use around the house, the savings began to add up quickly. These prints replaced items I would have otherwise bought, and together they saved me more than $150 without sacrificing quality or usefulness.

A humanoid robot bubble could be brewing, warned China’s leading economic planning agency on Thursday. The alert comes amid growing fears that a bubble in a related industry — AI — is about to burst. Speaking at a press briefing, National Development and Reform Commission spokesperson Li Chao said China’s humanoid robotics industry needs to balance “the speed of growth against the risk of bubbles.” Investment has been pouring into the sector despite there being few proven use cases for the bots, Li said, risking a flood of “highly similar” models as funding for research and development shrinks.More than 150 humanoid robotics companies are operating in China, Li said. More than half are startups or entrants from other industries. The warning marks a rare note of caution from Beijing for an industry it has declared vital for future economic growth. Earlier this year, China designated embodied intelligence — the technology behind humanoid robotics — a national priority. 

Setting up home internet is something anyone can do now, with a dollar-store router and an appointment with the ISP. Most service providers handle the entire setup for you as well, but there's a massive difference between setting up home networking, and doing a good job at it. It's a difference I see my friends suffer with every day, but the mistakes seem so simple and repetitive, I thought it's best to collate them here.

If you want your house to be the one everyone slows down to look at this holiday season, Philips Hue’s Festavia lights can make that happen. They aren’t cheap, but thanks to an early Black Friday sale at Amazon, you can pick up a 65-foot string for $145.19 (about $97 off) or a 130-foot strand for around $237.60 (about $158 off), which is the lowest price we’ve seen on either strand since they were first introduced.Philips Hue Festavia string lightsWhere to Buy: $241.99 $145.19 at Amazon (65-foot) $395.99 $237.6 at Amazon (130-foot) $241.99 $145.19 at Philips Hue (65-foot)The Festavia lights are impressive holiday string lights, boasting rich colors, individually addressable LEDs, and a variety of magical preset scenes that combine to create an effect that outshines most rivals. What’s great is you can use them indoors and outdoors thanks to their IP54 rating, so if you don’t want to decorate your porch or walkway, you can use them to dress up your Christmas tree or stair rails.The lights will work over Bluetooth, but with a Hue Bridge or newer Bridge Pro, you can take things even further with automations and the ability to sync the lights with your music. They also play nicely with other Philips Hue gear — like color-changing light strips, spotlights, and bulbs — so you can create a festive light show that’ll dazzle the neighbors. As a bonus, you can set schedules in the easy-to-use mobile app, so the lights can turn on and off even when you’re not home. And because they support Matter, they work with all major smart home platforms, including Alexa, Google Home, and Apple Home.Govee Christmas String Lights 2Where to Buy: $99.99 $63.99 at Amazon (66-foot) $129.99 $74.99 at Amazon (99-foot) $199.99 $129.99 at Amazon (164-foot)If you’re looking for something more affordable or additional size options, Govee’s Christmas Lights 2 are also on sale right now. You can grab a 66-foot strand from Amazon and Govee for $63.99 ($36 off), or a 99-foot strand for $11 more (Amazon / Govee). The longer 164-foot set is also available for $129.99 ($70 off) from Amazon and Govee, while the 328-foot string can be had for $249.99 ($150 off) at Amazon and Govee’s online storefront. As for how these prices stack up to prior sales, these are the best we’ve seen, regardless of strand length.Like the Festavia, the Lights 2 support Matter and can be safely used indoors or outside thanks to their IP65 rating. However, the included power adapter is only IP44-rated, and the LEDs use drop-style heads rather than bullet heads, which is fine for the roof but not nearly as striking on a Christmas tree. Govee’s companion app isn’t as intuitive as Philips Hue’s, either, and the Festavia lights still offer a better selection of preset scenes.

Where Winds Meet has been quietly rewriting the rules for what a free-to-play game should be. Having played it prior to release, and then some, I can confidently say that NetEase Studio's latest big release is a fantastically attempted free-to-play game that has a little bit for everyone, thanks to its deep ARPG combat, layered systems, and strong MMO social features. It's the kind of generosity that's become rare in modern live-service titles.

When highlighting one part of the smart home that one would recommend as the missing puzzle piece, you'd often find a mini PC or some Internet of Things (IoT) device. Not me, as I couldn't have built my dream smart home without a managed switch and Power over Ethernet (PoE). Having such a capable device available, I can connect all my smart home hardware without requiring those pesky 12V power adapters, allowing me to maintain a clean finish. It's also great for expansion, as, like a Factorio playthrough, the home lab must always grow.

No matter the job you work in, there's a good chance that the start of every day is pretty similar. You get to your computer, launch all your apps, and you start working. But that process of launching all your apps can be tedious in itself, and sometimes take longer than we'd like.

Apple’s new holiday ad stars a forest full of woodland creatures. | Screenshot: YouTube / Apple While companies like Coca-Cola turned to generative AI to create “visually jarring” holiday ads this year, Apple continues to embrace practical effects with its new festive short film called A Critter Carol featuring a forest full of tech-savvy woodland creatures.In the ad a hiker drops their iPhone 17 Pro, which is found by a curious raccoon who uses it to shoot an impromptu performance of the song “Friends” by Flight of the Conchords, along with other animals including a bear, wolf, owl, deer, squirrel, and rabbit. The phone is eventually retrieved by the hiker, who uses their Apple Watch to locate it.Similar to how the new Apple TV intro was created by filming a glass model of the logo illuminated with colored lights, Apple released a behind-the-scenes look at the practical effects used to make A Critter Carol. There were lots of blue screens and blue bodysuits used that allowed the forest set to be digitally extended and human performers to be removed in post-production, but the critters were all hand-crafted puppets brought to life by a small army of puppeteers controlling various body parts. And yes, the entire production was shot on an iPhone 17 Pro.