The Venu 3, our favorite Garmin smartwatch, is on sale for $50 off through September 1st. Just because temperatures are dropping and the days are getting shorter doesn’t mean it’s time to hibernate. Fall is a perfect time to get outside, and it’s also a great opportunity to save on gadgets and gear designed for the outdoors. To celebrate the unofficial end of summer, REI is offering up to 30 percent off during its Labor Day sale, with many of these deals set to expire on September 1st.Right now, you can save on our favorite Garmin smartwatch, emergency backup power, a great pair of open-ear headphones, and a miniature satellite communicator. We’ve tested or reviewed all of the products below, so you can shop with confidence before you hit your favorite national park. Keep in mind that if you’re an REI member, you can also take an additional 20 percent off one REI Outlet item when you use promo code LABORDAY2025.Garmin Venu 3SThe Venu 3S remains our favorite Garmin smartwatch. It’s a comfortable wearable with up to 10 days of battery life and a vibrant 1.2-inch OLED display, not to mention solid sleep tracking, Atrial Fibrillation detection, and a built-in EKG reader. Read our review.Where to Buy: $449.99 $399.99 at Amazon $449.99 $399.99 at Best Buy $449.99 $399.99 at REIYou can also save on the Garmin Venu 3, which is currently on sale at REI, Amazon, and Best Buy for $399 ($50 off), the lowest price we’ve seen in weeks. The smartwatch is similar to the Venu 3 but features a larger 1.4-inch OLED display and up to 14 days of battery life. Otherwise, the two models are identical; both offer a suite of advanced features, including sleep coaching and nap detection, along with the same heart rate sensors that support EKG readings for detecting atrial fibrillation.Garmin inReach Mini 2Garmin’s palm-sized inReach Mini 2 satellite communicator provides off-the-grid two-way messaging, built-in navigation capabilities, and powerful mapping features, such as the ability to set waypoints when paired with Garmin’s Explore app. A subscription plan is required to access the Iridium network, with prices starting at $7.99 a month.Where to Buy: $399.99 $349.99 at Amazon $399.99 $349.99 at REI $399.99 $349.99 at GarminGarmin’s inReach Messenger is down to $249 ($50 off) at REI, Amazon, and Best Buy. The rugged communication device also supports two-way text messaging and the ability to trigger emergency SOS alerts, but it lacks support for advanced mapping functionality. That being said, it offers better battery life than the inReach Mini 2, along with a patch antenna design, which promises better connectivity. Just note that an active satellite subscription is required, with plans starting at $7.99 a month.EcoFlow River 3 Plus Portable Power StationThe River 3 Plus is a relatively compact but mighty portable power station with an output of up to 600W. It weighs 10 pounds, features app support, and can double as an uninterruptible power supply in emergencies.Where to Buy: $299 $175.99 at REI $299 at Amazon $299 at EcoFlowInsta360 X5The Insta360 X5 is a powerful 360-degree camera that offers a larger sensor and new image processing. It can capture 4K footage at up to 120fps or 8K footage at up to 30fps, producing sharp video with rich colors. It also features more durable lenses than prior models, which you can swap out if they get damaged. Read our review.Where to Buy: $549.99 $519.99 at REI $549.99 $519.99 at Amazon $549.99 $519.99 at Best BuyShokz OpenRun Pro 2The OpenRun Pro 2 are Shokz’ best bone conduction headphones yet, with better sound and more bass than their predecessor. Our reviewer Victoria Song praised their cozy fit as well as their USB-C charging (goodbye, proprietary charger!). Read our review.Where to Buy: $179.95 $139.95 at REI $179.95 $139.95 at Amazon $179.95 $139.95 at Best BuyThe Shokz OpenFit 2 offer a nice upgrade over the original model, and they’re currently down to an all-time low of $139.99 ($40 off) at REI, Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy. Each bud features two speakers: one dedicated to bass and another to mids and highs. The ear hooks have also been redesigned to be thinner, so the OpenFit 2 fit better while wearing glasses. Meanwhile, physical buttons were added to each bud, making it easy to control your audio. Read our hands-on impressions.The original Shokz OpenFit are also currently on sale for $119.93 (about $40 off) at REI, which is a new low price. The wireless earbuds feature an open-ear design, so instead of going into your ear canal, they sit just outside it. That means you can still hear your surroundings while listening to music and podcasts, making them a safe option for exercising outdoors. They’re also lightweight, feature an IP54 rating for water resistance, and offer up to seven hours of battery life.If you own an older iPhone with a Lightning port, you can grab InfinityLab’s InstantGo 5000 Power Bank for just $29.93 (about $20 off) at REI. The portable battery features a 5,000mAh capacity and a built-in Lightning cable, making it a solid all-in-one option for days when you won’t be near an outlet. It also supports passthrough charging, allowing you to charge your phone and the power bank at the same time.LifeStraw Peak Series StrawLifeStraw’s redesigned Peak Series Straw features a durable, leakproof design that’s great for backcountry treks. It can remove unwanted viruses, bacteria, and microplastics as you drink — just like the base model — but benefits from an increased flow rate and more premium materials.Where to Buy: $24.95 $18.69 at REI $24.95 $18.71 at Amazon $24.95 $18.71 at LifeStrawThe JetBoil Stash Cooking System is a compact, lightweight cooking system that’s currently down to $123.69 (about $41 off) at REI — one of the lowest prices we’ve seen all summer. It features a standalone stove with a titanium burner and a 0.8-liter cooking pot, allowing you to boil water or heat food at your campsite. The pot comes with a lid and a pour handle, and everything can be stowed inside the pot when you’re finished, making packing easy.MSR’s TrailShot Pocket-Sized Water Filter is currently going for around $48 (about $16 off) at REI and Amazon, which is the lowest price we’ve seen in months. The 5.2-ounce water filter is small enough to fit in your pocket and easy enough to use one-handed, letting you quickly remove 99 percent of bacteria, protozoa, and particulates. You can use the water filter to drink directly from a water source or fill a 1-liter bottle in just 60 seconds. And it’s easy to clean, too — just give it a few shakes to restore the flow rate.REI’s Co-op Half Dome 2 Tent, a classic that offers enough room to comfortably fit two people, is currently on sale for $224.19 (about $85 off) at REI. It’s easy to set up and pack down, and it features two D-shaped doors, providing ample room to get in and out. It has ample headroom, ventilation, and the interior features multiple storage pockets and hang loops for your gear. It also offers a rain cover to keep you dry when the weather suddenly turns.Kelty Low LoveseatThe Kelty Low Loveseat is a sturdy, low-profile camp chair built for two. It features a steel frame, a padded seat, and extra-large cup holders for your drinks or gear. It also includes a padded roll-tote storage bag, making it easy to transport when it’s folded down.Where to Buy: $129.95 $97.39 at REI $129.95 $97.46 at BackcountryREI Co-op’s Flexlite Camp Chair is a more compact seating option that’s down to $55.89 (about $24 off) right now at REI. It features an aluminum frame, a stable four-leg design, and a ripstop polyester seat with water and stain resistance. When you’re done, it can also quickly fold down into a drawstring bag, so you can throw it in your car or tent.REI’s Magma 30 Down Trail Quilt will keep you warm when temperatures drop, and it’s now available for $246.69 (about $82 off) at REI. It can be used flat or cinched into a footbox, and it features cords to securely connect to a sleeping pad. The quilt comes with water-resistant, 850-fill goose down, along with insulated draft tubes that help prevent heat loss.Patagonia Black Hole Duffel 70LPatagonia’s Black Hole Duffel features a spacious 70-liter capacity, making it an ideal choice for extended trips. The bag features a durable construction that can withstand everyday wear and tear, while padded shoulder straps allow you to carry the bag like a backpack.Where to Buy: $199 $118.99 at Patagonia $199 $138.93 at REIThe Exped MegaMat Duo Sleeping Pad provides comfort at your campsite or in your car, and currently, you can purchase it for as low as $277.39 at REI. The 4-inch, self-inflating mattress features an open-cell polyurethane foam and generous padding, so you won’t “bottom out” while sleeping. A side handle makes it easy to move around, and two deflate valves allow you to quickly deflate the sleeping pad. It also makes for a nice air mattress at home, so guests don’t have to sleep on the floor.The Therm-a-Rest Z Lite Sol Sleeping Pad is a lighter, more compact option that features an accordion-style design, allowing you to attach it to your backpack. Right now, you can get it at REI for as low as $37.39 (about $13 off). The closed-cell foam provides comfort after a long day of hiking, while the sleeping pad’s surface helps reflect radiant heat back to your body, so you can stay warm in the cool fall weather.Hydro Flask’s Travel Tumbler is available from REI, Amazon, and Hydro Flask starting at $29.89 (about $10 off), which is the best price we’ve seen in months. The 40-ounce water bottle is made of pro-grade stainless steel and features double-wall vacuum insulation, ensuring your beverage stays hot or cold for hours. It also features a press-in straw lid and can fit most cupholders, making it a great road trip companion.Sea to Summit Hanging Toiletry BagSea to Summit’s small toiletry bag lets you keep all of your essentials close at hand for weekend getaways. It features a water–resistant fabric and a convenient hanging hook, along with internal mesh pockets so you can quickly find whatever it is you need.Where to Buy: $49.95 $37.39 at REI $49.95 $37.39 at Amazon $49.95 at Sea to SummitHumangear’s Stax stacking container set, which provides easy storage for your snacks, is currently down to $9.69 (about $4 off) at REI. The four-piece, interlocking design keeps the containers connected, with a cylindrical shape that’s easy to slip into a backpack or a water bottle pocket. Meanwhile, the silicone lid gasket in each container ensures a watertight seal, so your snacks won’t get drenched while you’re attempting your next stream crossing.GoPro Hero 13 Black Specialty BundleThe GoPro Hero 13 features in-camera noise reduction and a new burst slo-mo mode that can record 5.3K video at 120fps. The camera has been updated with Wi-Fi 6 (an upgrade from its predecessor’s Wi-Fi 5), though it still offers many of the same specs as the Hero 12, including the same 8:7 sensor. Read our review.Where to Buy: $430 $329.99 at REIThe JBL Vibe Beam 2 are are at an all-time low price of $39.99 ($25 off) at REI, Amazon, and Best Buy. They offer noise cancellation and a helpful transparency mode that allows outside noise to pass through, so you can stay aware of your surroundings. An IP54 rating provides water- and dust-resistance, and the wireless earbuds promise up to 10 hours of continuous listening, or 30 hours with the included charging case.The DJI Osmo Mobile 7 is the perfect accessory for capturing steady footage with your phone — and it’s down to an all-time low of $74.99 ($15 off) at REI, Amazon, and Best Buy. The budget steadicam offers 3-axis gimbal stabilization, a built-in tripod, and a magnetic mount, so you can quickly connect and disconnect your device. The Mobile 7 features a foldable design, too, making it easy to pack in a bag.Mpowerd Luci Solar String Lights: ColorMpowerd’s solar-powered string lights are perfect for camping or a backyard shindig. The 18-foot string can display six colors and last up to 15 hours on a single charge; it also doubles as a charger.Where to Buy: $54.95 $32.93 at REI $54.95 $32.97 at AmazonHydro Flask’s Food Jar is available starting at $29.89 ($10 off) at REI, Amazon, and Hydro Flask’s online storefront, the lowest price we’ve seen in weeks. The 20-ounce container is made of durable stainless steel that won’t impart a metallic flavor to your food, and the double-wall vacuum insulation provides hours of temperature retention. It also features a leakproof design, meaning you won’t have to worry about your food ending up in your bag.If you’re planning to go on a night hike, you’re going to need a headlamp. Luckily, the Petzl Tikka Headlamp is on sale at REI for $27.73 (about $7 off). The headlamp is a great basic option that features a max output of 350 lumens, tilt functionality, and an IPX4 rating, making it safe to use in light rain. It also features a lock function, preventing it from accidentally turning on when packed.The Chapter MIPS Bike Helmet is on sale starting at around $111 ($37 off) at Amazon and REI, nearly matching its second-best price to date. The lightweight bike helmet features a hidden PopLock for securing it with a U-lock or chain, along with a sleek visor and a rechargeable USB taillight that offers 30 lumens of brightness. The latter will even automatically turn on when magnetically attached to the helmet or Thousand’s multi-use adapter.

The processing capabilities of server rigs, NAS units, and mini-PCs make them quite tantalizing, but there are tons of other devices that can level up your computing setup. And I don’t just mean a new CPU or a powerful graphics card, either. Network stacks, when armed with the right devices, can turn painfully slow setups into lightning-fast home labs capable of transferring files in the same amount of time it takes to finish reading this sentence.

When I come across a recommended open-source editor, I have to try it. Not too dissimilar from testing proprietary software, it can be a hit or miss, so I’ve learned not to expect too much. A lot of them sound promising, but either the interface feels dated or the feature set doesn’t quite cover what I need. Shotcut wasn’t one of them. At first, I went in expecting something basic, similar to OpenShot’s simplicity, but Shotcut turned out to be a far more capable editor.

During Gamescom 2025, Bethesda Games confirmed that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would be ported over to the Nintendo Switch 2. While there was no given release date, most people believe the game could arrive on Switch 2 sometime in 2026. For many players, the lines separating the big three consoles continue to blur with announcements like this, making what was once thought impossible quite possible. The news about Indiana Jones marks one of the first major recent Xbox titles to come to the Nintendo Switch 2 after its initial release. However, certain Xbox games have also made the transition to Nintendo platforms before, such as with Grounded. Additionally, other Xbox Series X/S games have been rumored to be coming to Nintendo platformsin the near future.

Hello and welcome to Regulator, a newsletter about the collision between Big Tech and Washington (last week of summer edition). If you enjoy this, consider subscribing to get this newsletter weekly and everything The Verge has to offer.Ever since the US Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. FEC that corporations had the right to free speech and therefore could make political donations, American billionaires are constantly finding new ways to dump money into politics. Sure, there are technically legal limits to how much they can directly donate to candidates, parties, and causes. But that's old-fashioned, analog, and 20th-century thinki …Read the full story at The Verge.

Nuclear fusion is on the upswing, as more companies pile into the space to achieve what’s often described as the Holy Grail of clean energy, according to an updated map from the Clean Air Task Force (CATF). Nuclear fusion aims to replicate the way the Sun produces light and heat, generating a tremendous amount of energy when atomic nuclei fuse together. Figuring out how to do that in a controlled way on Earth would unlock an energy source that avoids the greenhouse gas pollution from fossil fuels and radioactive waste from existing nuclear fission reactors that split atoms apart. That’s all easier said than done, of course. Researchers have been chasing the dream for nearly a century. The biggest breakthrough yet took place in 2022, when researchers were able to reach a net energy gain from a fusion reaction for the very first time. That took place at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and other initiatives are still trying to replicate that success with the goal of one day being able to generate electricity from a fusion power plant.The number of companies developing fusion technologies has grownThose efforts are ramping up, according to CATF citing publicly available resources and its own discussions with individual companies and investors. The number of companies developing fusion technologies has grown, particularly in North America and Europe. You can take a look at CATF’s fusion map to see where this is all happening, including government-supported programs. In Washington state, Microsoft inked a deal with Helion Energy to purchase electricity from a fusion generator they think will be ready by 2028. In a similar move, Google announced an agreement in June to purchase 200 megawatts of “future carbon-free power” from Massachusetts-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a company in which Google is also an investor. Other experts The Verge has spoken to over the years say it could take decades longer before fusion energy becomes commercially viable, assuming developers ever overcome the engineering challenges. “There is still a lot of scientific and engineering work that these companies need to complete before they produce net energy, but these companies have created a clear roadmap to commercialization for investors and the market is responding,” says Patrick White, group lead for fusion energy and safety regulation, in an email to The Verge.Fifty-three fusion companies have received a total of $8.9 billion in private funding and $795 million in public funding, according to a 2025 survey by the Fusion Industry Association. That’s compared to just 23 respondents who reported a combined total $1.9 billion in private and public funding in 2021.

Planning and building out a home lab can be an incredibly exciting project, but it can also come at a cost. Classified websites are a goldmine for used enterprise hardware, enabling anyone to pick up Intel Xeon-powered rack servers at a steep discount. While these do provide playgrounds to tinker, I'm guilty of buying a few myself. They're great for running various services and apps until you glance at the monthly utility bill statement. That's usually when the migration to mini PCs and custom systems takes place.

When I first installed this free Steam game, I got a tiny cat on my taskbar that started tapping its paws every time I typed. I expected a cute distraction, a novelty game that would soon become a dusty relic in my Steam library. Instead, Bongo Cat quietly turned into my favorite productivity tool.

Somehow, Red Notice was once the most-viewed movie Netflix had ever released, but the streamer announced today that the honor now belongs to KPop Demon Hunters. Following its initial debut back in June, the Sony-produced animated musical quickly became a cultural phenomenon whose songs have been sitting pretty at the top of the Billboard charts basically ever since. The movie’s undeniable success came as something of a surprise, given how Sony opted to basically sell the project to Netflix rather than trying to distribute it with a traditional theatrical release.Netflix was able to capitalize on the KPop Demon Hunters’ hype with a limited theatrical run that turned it into the number one movie at the US box office this past weekend. And because the film had already screened in select theaters right after it hit Netflix, it’s pretty much a given that we’ll see Huntri/x at the next Oscars.

If you're looking for plenty of screen real estate, along with impressive performance, look no further than the Samsung Odyssey G93SC gaming monitor. The biggest draw of this monitor is going to the fantastic 49-inch QD-OLED panel with impressive colors and black levels. On top of that, you get a steep $700 discount from Amazon that brings it down to its best price yet. This top-rated ultrawide monitor is hard to ignore if you're looking for something new, so get it while you can.

Redmond police outside Microsoft’s building 34 | Image: No Azure for Apartheid Microsoft has temporarily locked down a building at its headquarters after protesters managed to get inside the office of the company's president. Current and former Microsoft workers held a sit-in protest inside Brad Smith's office in Building 34, demanding that the company cut ties with the Israeli government.The protesters live streamed themselves on Twitch entering Building 34, a building that houses Microsoft executives, and heading to Smith's office, before unfurling banners during the sit-in protest. "Brad Smith you can't hide, you're supporting genocide!" shouted some of the protesters inside Smith's office. Noisemakers were also b …Read the full story at The Verge.

Anthropic has settled a class action lawsuit with a group of US authors who accused the AI startup of copyright infringement. In a legal filing on Tuesday, Anthropic says it has negotiated a “proposed class settlement,” allowing it to skip a trial that would have determined how much the company owes for allegedly training its AI models on pirated work.The terms of the settlement still aren’t clear, but it stems from a copyright lawsuit filed by writers Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson last year, which claimed Anthropic trained its Claude AI models on an open-source dataset filled with pirated materials.Anthropic scored a major victory in June when Judge William Alsup ruled that training AI models on legally purchased books counts as fair use, but he left the door open for further litigation. In July, Judge Alsup approved a class action lawsuit from US authors that accused Anthropic of violating copyright laws “by doing Napster-style downloading of millions of works.” Anthropic was set to go to trial over the piracy claims in December, where it could’ve faced billions or more than $1 trillion in penalties, according to Wired.The settlement is expected to be finalized on September 3rd. “This historic settlement will benefit all class members,” Justin Nelson, an attorney for the authors, said in a statement to The Verge. “We look forward to announcing details of the settlement in the coming weeks.” Anthropic declined to comment.