Gadgets

Gadgets

The final days before the holidays arrive with their own particular pressure. Gift lists grow longer while time grows shorter, and the temptation to settle for whatever's left on the shelf becomes real. Yet the best stocking stuffers aren't about expense or elaborate planning. They're about finding objects that feel intentional, considered, and genuinely useful. What separates a thoughtful gift from a forgettable one often comes down to design intelligence and material honesty.

I pledged no allegiance to any faction during the console wars. But I'll admit I felt, and still feel, most at home in the Xbox ecosystem. It's the achievements, it's the controllers, it's everything. So I couldn't help but feel envy through the years as Nintendo, PlayStation, and even PC diehards all got handheld devices before Xbox. (Sorry, but Cloud Gaming isn't it.)

Also: Should you upgrade your Wi-Fi router to mesh? I tested it for a month, and here's my verdict Yes, cellular could provide faster service compared with Wi-Fi, according to the latest data from Speedtest provider Ookla. To conduct its research, Ookla analyzed Speedtest user data for median download speeds at 50 of the top US airports for the first half of 2025. The testing compared Wi-Fi coverage against that of mobile carriers AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

Some gaming monitors get touted as being "ultra-wide" but this one really earns that namesake. The Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 gaming monitor stretches an intimidating 57″ across. If you're in the market for a monitor that is just one step shy of spanning 360 degrees around you're head while you play, well, this might be exactly what you're looking for. Amazon has the Samsung monitor listed right now for a staggering $850 off. That brings it to $1,450-about 37% off its original price.

The DJI Mini 3 can fly for 38 minutes on one battery which means it can actually film instead of just hovering nervously and watching the gauge drop. With that longer flight window, you can look around, set up shots, and actually get the footage you planned without having to land in an emergency halfway through. The Fly More Combo gives you 114 minutes of airtime across three batteries which is enough time to shoot for an entire afternoon.

Phantom Chess features a hidden, silent drive system that allows pieces to move autonomously, while its exterior remains pure walnut and maple, eliminating the visible motors and toy‑like aesthetic that have defined automated chess until now. Drawing on precision sensor grids and ultra‑quiet linear actuators, Phantom turns the board itself into an intelligent interface, creating an entirely new category of connected chess experience.

If you value peace and quiet, particularly when traveling, Bose's first-gen QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are worth checking out. They're our favorite noise-canceling headphones for travel, and right now, you can snag a pair for an all-time low of $279 ($150 off) in select colors from Amazon, Best Buy, and Bose. All three retailers estimate that shipments should arrive before Christmas, with Bose saying its cutoff for free two-day shipping is December 22nd at 12PM ET.

When he was 27, snow cross racer Mike Schultz (who got the nickname "Monster Mike" because of his renowned fearlessness) drifted off course in a race, flew off his snowmobile, and obliterated his knee. It required multiple surgeries and multiple days in a coma to save his life. Ultimately, his medical team had to amputate his leg.

Holiday lighting has long relied on repeated patterns and static effects, but this music-reactive LED Christmas tree brings a new dimension to seasonal decor by turning sound into visual effects. The project is a simple wooden frame with off-the-shelf LEDs and an audio sensor to create a festive display that animates in real time with sound. Built around an ESP32 microcontroller running the open-source WLED software, the assembly combines woodworking, basic electronics, and wireless configuration into a project that is both instructive and visually striking.

Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold8 is expected to arrive next summer, and today some details about it have been outed. It will allegedly come with the same 200MP camera that its predecessor also uses. This will be paired with a 12MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, an improvement from the Fold7's 10MP shooter. The ultrawide camera will be new too, borrowed from the Galaxy S25 Ultra, with 50MP resolution. That will also definitely improve upon the Fold7's 12MP snapper.

If you're a fan of Amazon's ecosystem, whether that's asking your Alexa speaker to tell you about the weather or compulsively checking the video feed from your Ring doorbell, then it makes sense to expand and build onto the system. It's always easier to keep to one ecosystem as much as you can with smart home gear, letting you stick to a single app and single subscription if you decide to invest in one.

Shopping for thoughtful gifts that the travelers in your life will love is no small feat, so we've rounded up the 11 items you'll want to leave off your list this year-plus, the brilliant replacements that will earn a spot on their packing lists for years to come. From Loop Earplugs to a Trtl Neck Pillow, these are the worthwhile replacements for the most uninspired travel gifts, starting at just $11 at Amazon.

The Realme Neo7 made its debut in December of last year, and so you may be wondering what happened to its successor. Fret not, for the Neo8 is on the way, according to a new rumor out of China. While it's still unclear when it will arrive, when it does it will sport an 8,000 mAh battery, upping the ante from its predecessor's 7,000 mAh cell. The Realme Neo8 is allegedly powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 SoC.

According to this source, the Poco M8 Pro will be identical to the upcoming Redmi Note 15 Pro+ in every way bar one. The key difference will be in the camera department, where, the tipster says, "Poco swaps the 200MP 4x optical zoom periscope telephoto camera for a 50MP main camera on the rear". That doesn't make a lot of sense - how can you replace a telephoto camera with a main camera?

The Aloha browser, according to its site, stands for the freedom of users to be online privately. How does it achieve this? The list of features geared toward privacy and security makes it clear: Also: Looking for a Chrome alternative? My top 5 free open-source browsers More VPN locations VPN automatically connects to the fastest server VPN autostart Phone-wide VPN connection Auto kill switch to keep you protected More customizations and exclusive color themes Advanced file management with private, locked folders

Also: My favorite E Ink tablet just got an ultraportable successor - with upgrades in several ways I already loved the previous model of this tablet, the 10-inch Nxtpaper 10, but it was a Verizon exclusive that you couldn't easily buy elsewhere. The new Nxtpaper 11 Plus is an even better variation of one of my favorite tablets, and it's available at (just the tablet), or (for the tablet, stylus, and case) with Black Friday deals.

Despite its bite-sized form factor, the is a powerhouse. Lenovo first showcased this ultraportable at CES 2024, and initial impressions centered on the return of Magic Bay, a modular family of peripherals that connect to the laptop via magnetic pogo pins (think MagSafe, but for laptops). Also: Laptop battery dying too soon? How to check its health in one click But even though the Magic Bay products might be the most attention-grabbing, this Lenovo laptop has a lot more going for it under the hood. In fact, this laptop is surprisingly versatile.

Based on recent coverage regarding the arrival of Microsoft Copilot on LG TVs, we want to clarify that Microsoft Copilot is provided as a shortcut icon to enhance customer accessibility and convenience. It is not an application-based service embedded in the TV.

It's officially last-minute-panic time with just a week left to get your presents bought and wrapped, and the number of items on Amazon with the "arrives before Christmas" is dwindling, and dwindling fast. Our advice? Don't panic, and take a quick look at this awesome 36% off deal on the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ tablet. It's one of those rare tablets that's kid-friendly while not being a glorified toy, so it's a stellar $140 last-minute option for friends and family from young to old.

Choosing the right active noise-cancelling wireless earbuds under Rs 8,000 can significantly improve everyday listening. Whether you're listening to music on your daily commute, taking calls in busy surroundings, or trying to focus while working, good ANC earbuds help reduce background noise and let you hear more clearly. In this price range, factors such as comfort, sound quality, battery life, and noise cancellation performance play an important role in deciding overall value.

The IdeaPad Slim 3 laptop has an Intel 13th Gen Core i5-13420H processor inside and this octa-core chip lets you do a lot of things at once. This processor has a hybrid architecture with four performance cores that can run at speeds of up to 4.6GHz and four efficiency cores that can run at speeds of up to 3.4GHz which means it can do anything from streaming video to working on spreadsheets without any problems.

We've also had a lot of great questions and comments this year from you, our audience. It's now an annual tradition for us to turn the tables on Nilay for our final episode of the year, so we pulled together all the feedback we've received on topics like CarPlay, Monday episode guest suggestions, and - of course - AI. We also received a lot of great questions over the last few weeks asking about how Decoder is put together,

It combines the "active-loop suction" of Displace's TVs, with a rechargeable battery that can power whatever screen you mount on it and a built-in PC that runs Displace's "ambient computing platform." The Hub uses an Intel N-150 4-core CPU with an integrated GPU, 16GB RAM and 128GB of storage to run Displace's operating system, and includes a 15,000mAh battery to keep everything powered.

GaN technology makes this charger 51% smaller than Apple's original 67W MacBook adapter which means it fits in your pocket or bag without making a bulge. Silicon-based chargers make more heat and need bigger parts to safely handle high wattage. Gallium nitride, on the other hand, runs cooler and more efficiently in a smaller space. The foldable prongs make it even easier to carry around because they don't get caught on things like fixed-prong adapters do.