The AirPods Pro 3 are a fantastic deal at $179
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a good discount on the Apple AirPods Pro 3, but like the latest iPad Mini and the M5 MacBook Airs, a great one is happening now for October Prime Day. You can snag a pair of the noise-canceling earbuds that include five ear tip sizes, live translation, and fantastic sound for $179 at Amazon (originally $249). I expect other retailers to offer a similar price in the coming days.
This is the first time the price has gone below $190 since Prime Day in June. Since then, Apple launched the AirPods 5, and the most feature-complete version with a wireless charging case costs $149.99. Those are great if you prefer earbuds that don’t form a seal in your ears, but for everyone else, the AirPods Pro 3 are a much better value at just $30 more right now.
AirPods Pro 3
The AirPods Pro 3 have a new design that improves their fit, superior noise cancellation, better bass, and fairly accurate heart rate sensors. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
Read our AirPods Pro 3 review.
The MacBook Air M5 is $200 off for the first time in months
Amazon’s October Prime Day has effectively chopped off Apple’s June price increases. Usually $1,299, the 13-inch MacBook Air with the M5 chip and 512GB of storage is on sale for $1,099 at Amazon. That’s a more palatable price for a machine that’s significantly faster than Apple’s $699 MacBook Neo.
The 15-inch version, also with 512GB of storage, is $1,299 at Amazon (was $1,499). In addition to the larger screen, it has two additional speakers, for a total of six, and two additional GPU cores for better overall graphical performance.
Apple MacBook Air (M5)
Apple’s 2026 MacBook Air has an M5 chip and starts with 512GB of storage that’s significantly faster than previous generations. It’s still as excellent as ever despite a higher base price. Read our review.
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The latest update to Apple’s midrange laptop includes a noticeable improvement to the speed of both the processor and storage. Even without flashy new features compared to the last-gen model, it’s still one of our favorite laptops, thanks to its long battery life, bright screen, and excellent speakers.
Read our Apple MacBook Air (2026, M5) review.
The iPad Mini is slightly cheaper again during Prime Day
Apple bumped up prices on several of its devices in June, and we haven’t seen a good discount on the iPad Mini since. Just ahead of Amazon’s October Prime Big Deals Days, however, both Wi-Fi only and cellular-connected models are $100 off. The Wi-Fi version with 128GB of storage is currently $499, the 256GB model is $599, and the cellular model with 128GB of storage is $649.
This base configuration of this tablet often sold for around $400 throughout 2025, so we get it if $500 for a tablet from late 2024 is still too much. But it’s the best price since late June, and if there’s a new version coming out later this year, it might be significantly more expensive.
iPad Mini (2024)
The seventh-gen iPad Mini comes with Apple’s A17 Pro chip and support for Apple Intelligence. It’s also compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro and offers faster Wi-Fi and USB-C speeds. Read our review.
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We reviewed this version of the iPad Mini when it launched in 2024, and while we appreciated the processor upgrade and Apple Intelligence features, it felt lacking in some of the quality-of-life improvements found in the larger iPads that launched around the same time.
Read our Apple iPad Mini (2024) review.
The forgotten Chromebook that started it all
Google didn't even call the first Chromebook a "Chromebook." The Cr-48 had no interesting design and no bright logos - it wasn't even designed to be a product you could buy. Instead, it was a portal to a big new idea about computers.
In this week's episode of Version History, The Verge's Nilay Patel and MKBHD's Marques Brownlee join David Pierce to help explain the history of ChromeOS and Chromebooks, and discuss whether Google's approach to computer hardware was the right one.
This has been an exciting season of Version History, as we've been exploring the most iconic school tech. Last week's episode explored Nicholas Negroponte …
The rise, fall, and rise of portable MP3 players
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the collapse and the resurgence of the portable media player, follow Terrence O'Brien. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.
How it started
We are spoiled for choice, musically. Most of us walk around with access to hundreds of millions of songs in our pockets. But it wasn't until 1998 that portable digital music was even a thing. Before that we lugged booklets full of CDs on the bus or stashed a handful of cassettes in our backpacks. With the advent of the MP3 player in …
Amazon’s colorful and sturdy new Kindles
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 146, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, it's October already?, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, I'm wishing I could do Walmart potato drone delivery in Portland, watching Mike Tomlin explain his incredible Minecraft city, pondering if the Gears of War pizza cutter is awesome or terrible, exploring Craig Mod's walks, nodding along with MKBHD's video about YouTube's A/B video testing feature, hoping that more concerts ban phones, and celebrating soup season. It's here!
Programming note: David is back ne …
Capcom is preparing for a ‘future where we create games together with AI’
Capcom's Pragmata might be all about the horrors of AI, but in practice the studio doesn't seem so down on the tech. During the Capcom Open Conference RE: 2026 programmer Satoshi Ishida gave a presentation with the mouthful of a title: "The Outlook and Future of the REX Project, Further Evolving the RE Engine for the Next Generation." During the talk he laid out the challenges facing studios producing games at the scale of Resident Evil, which can make even simple tasks extremely time consuming. The solution Ishida said is "successfully integrating AI technology into development workflows."
Capcom has said previously that it will not use AI …
The best early October Prime Day deals happening now
It’s not even October yet and Amazon is already offering some Prime Big Deal Day discounts on its own hardware, along with plenty of other popular products. It’s all to hype up October Prime Day, which starts October 6th at 3AM ET and lasts through 3AM ET on the 8th if you’re on the East Coast (12AM PT).
October Prime Day offers a glimpse of deals that will likely be available again during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. So, with the holiday shopping season officially underway, you can get some of your shopping out of the way before things get busier as we approach the holidays.
The most recent update to this post on October 3rd added a couple of Bose speakers, building on what was added on October 1st (a couple of Belkin deals, plus a discount on a capable 1440p USB-C monitor). This post will be updated ahead of October 6th as new deals become available.
Bose SoundLink Plus
While the Max is an awesome, powerful speaker, the Plus packs a ton of performance into a more portable form factor. It has an IP67 rating, and it’s easy to clean, too. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
Bose SoundLink Max
Bose’s SoundLink Max improves on the smaller Flex with true stereo sound — and very powerful sound at that. It’s got a removable handle for easy transport, and there’s an aux input for playing audio when you want to listen at a higher quality than what Bluetooth can deliver. Read our review.
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Belkin Qi2.2 25W 2-in-1 foldable charging dock
Slap a recent iPhone onto this charging pad and it’ll charge at fast 25W speeds. It can also charge AirPods, and includes a cord and wall adapter.
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Belkin Charging Case for Nintendo Switch 2
The case features an integrated power bank and a small pocket to stow an AirTag (or other similarly sized Bluetooth tracker).
Where to Buy:
Asus ProArt 27-inch 1440p USB-C monitor
An affordable color-accurate monitor that can easily connect to a MacBook or Windows machine that has USB-C video support. It’s a good price for a fully-featured 1440p monitor.
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Belkin MagSafe 15W 2-in-1 wireless charging dock
A slick 2-in-1 charger that can charge your magnet-friendly iPhone or Pixel at a relatively speedy pace. Its extra charging pad supports AirPods, the Apple Watch, and other Qi-ready accessories.
Where to Buy:
Ring Battery Doorbell 2K
At more than half-off, the second-gen version is a good deal if you want 2K video and easy installation. However, its battery is built-in, so you’ll need to disconnect the doorbell to charge via USB-C.
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Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolution Pet Pro Plus carpet cleaner
Bissell’s Little Green is handy, but doesn’t cut it for big jobs. If you have pets and a lot of carpet to clean, this is one of the most powerful upright carpet cleaners in its price range.
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Ring Floodlight Cam 2K
This model requires wired power, and provides 2K resolution (with AI tuning) and 6x digital zoom. It’s bright (2,000 lumens), and provides a loud alarm if you need to use it.
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Ring Battery Doorbell 4K Pro
The highest-end battery-powered option of the lineup. It can record in 4K with 10x digital zoom, and its battery can be swapped for another as it recharges.
Where to Buy:
Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet
The eight-inch tablet with lockscreen ads has 4GB RAM (respectable for streaming apps and mobile games), plus 64GB of storage and a microSD slot for viewing locally-stored media. This model doesn’t support Google Play Store, though it’s easy to sideload it.
Where to Buy:
Ecovacs Deebot X12 OmniCyclone
The X12 OmniCyclone uses AI to identify and blast stains to help ensure they’re properly cleaned with minimal passes. It includes a dock, which empties the vac, washes its rolling mop with heated, pressurized water, and refills its reservoirs.
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Blink Mini pan and tilt camera
The panning and tilting accessory gives the Blink Mini some new powers, including 360-degree control via the Blink app. Also included is the camera, which is usually $25 by itself.
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Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus
The latest version of Amazon’s zippy Fire TV Stick 4K streams in 4K resolution, as its name suggests, and features support for Wi-Fi 6, Dolby Atmos / Vision, and HDR10 Plus.
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Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2023, latest model)
Amazon’s highest-end streaming stick supports Wi-Fi 6E and offers double the storage of its predecessor. It also displays widgets and artwork when idle, while continuing to offer a terrific selection of streaming apps. Plus, it runs on the new and improved Fire TV OS, which makes it easier to find something to watch.
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Amazon Fire TV Cube (2022, latest model)
The hybrid Echo and Fire TV is faster than its predecessor with extensive hands-free voice control capabilities, support for Wi-Fi 6E, and excellent performance. Read our review.
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Amazon Echo Spot
Amazon’s smart speaker-meets-alarm clock has a 2.83-inch squared-off display for showing the time, weather, album art, and other bits of info you may want at your bedside. Unlike the original, there’s no camera to worry about having in your bedroom — though it does have a mutable mic for Alexa voice controls. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
Amazon Echo Dot Max
The Echo Dot Max is an elegant redesign of Amazon’s orb-shaped smart speaker, with high-quality knit fabric, a flat face, a new LED ring, and touch controls. It’s the first Echo Dot with Amazon’s improved two-way speaker system and support for its new AI-powered assistant, Alexa Plus, which is enabled out of the box.
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Amazon Echo Dot (Fifth-Gen)
Amazon’s Echo Dot is an affordable way to add a smart speaker to your space. The small, powerful speaker offers surprisingly robust sound, and it’s great for controlling smart home devices, including those compatible with Matter. The Dot also offers faster response times than its predecessor, and it can act as an extender for an Eero Wi-Fi system. Read our review.
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Amazon Echo Show 11 (2025)
The Echo Show 11 features an 11-inch screen and 1080p resolution. It includes Alexa Plus and can be used as a smart home hub with support Thread, Matter, and Zigbee smart home protocols. Read our review.
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Amazon Echo Show 15
The new year is the perfect time to reset your routines and get organized, and the Echo Show 15 is a great tool for doing just that. Designed to function as a shared household hub, it keeps calendars, schedules, reminders, to-do lists, and notes visible at a glance, making it easier to keep on top of things. As an Alexa-enabled smart display, you can also add events by voice and control compatible smart home devices.
Where to Buy:
Eero Pro 6E tri-band router
Eero’s Pro 6E mesh router is the Amazon-owned company’s last-gen model. It supports the 6GHz Wi-Fi band with speeds of up to 1.3Gbps and covers up to 2,000 square feet with one unit. Wired speeds can go up to 2.5Gbps. Read our review.
Where to Buy:
Samsung 32-inch Movingstyle smart display
Similar to LG’s rollable StanbyME display, the Movingstyle Essential is a 32-inch 4K display on a base that’s height-adjustable (and supports swiveling, pivoting and tilting). Unlike LG’s model, though, this one has no built-in battery.
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Dreame X50 Ultra
With high suction power, an improved brush system, and the ability to scale thresholds up to 6cm, the X50 Ultra stands out as a great robot vacuum and mop hybrid.
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Splice CEO Kakul Srivastava thinks AI emails are killing conversations
Kakul Srivastava is the CEO of Splice, the sample platform countless producers rely on for one-shots and melodic loops. Samples pulled from the service have found their way into massive hits like Lisa's "Money" and "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter. (The original samples are here and here, for the curious.)
Before that, Kakul held executive roles at Flickr, Yahoo, GitHub, and Adobe. Throughout her career, Kakul has found herself at the intersection of Silicon Valley and creatives. That's been especially true at Splice, where she's not just expanded the platform's footprint by acquiring Spitfire Audio, but also overseen its forays into the wor …
An OpenAI safety employee has quit and is sounding the alarm
David Robinson used to write the safety reports that accompanied every major model release at OpenAI. This week, he resigned from his position and is now speaking out in an editorial in The Atlantic.
It's understandable if you're feeling a bit cynical about everyone suddenly coming out of the woodwork to warn about how dangerous the thing they helped build is. They did, after all, make this mess. But that doesn't mean we should discount their warnings.
Robinson says that the culture in industry is fundamentally broken. That this is a deeper issue than simply slapping a few new rules or regulations on how we handle training models. Silicon …