Loot boxes, influencers, and addictive features face an EU crackdown
Gaming, social media, and e-commerce platforms are facing a fresh wave of sweeping European Union rules that aim to make "your online experience fairer." The newly proposed Digital Fairness Act (DFA) published by the EU Commission on Wednesday is designed to tackle practices that exploit consumers into spending more of their time and money online, including misleading prices or availability, addictive design features like gaming loot boxes, undisclosed influencer marketing, and more.
"The Act will protect consumers of all ages shopping and browsing for goods or services online," the EU Commission said in a news bulletin. "It will also mean …
Toyota’s Scion is back, starting with an American-made, 25-mph kei truck
Toyota is dusting off the Scion badge for a radically different mission. Rather than targeting youth-market hatchbacks, "Scion by Toyota" is being positioned as an experimental mobility incubator - and its first vehicle is an authentic Japanese-style kei truck built in Indiana.
Kei vehicles, which are built to satisfy Japan's light vehicle regulations, are enjoying surging popularity around the world, including here in the US. More than 30,000 used kei trucks have been imported into the US since 2020, with roughly 7,500 units entering the country each year. Even President Trump is a fan, telling reporters last year that he authorized the De …
Google’s Tabletop AI experiment lets you build custom collaboration apps
Google has cooked up a new experimental AI tool called Tabletop that generates customized collaborative hubs to help you coordinate with family, and friends. The Tabletop platform shares some visual similarities with workplace management apps like Asana and Monday, but with a built-in AI feature that allows you to vibecode personalized interactive tools by describing them, such as savings trackers, chore charts, event plans, and more.
"Just add in your links, files and ideas, then prompt @tabletop - or pick a starter template - to generate custom interactive trip itineraries, dinner polls, expense splitters and tournament brackets," Google …
The best early Black Friday deals you can already shop
The countdown to Black Friday is on, and the first discounts are starting to appear. Although the shopping holiday isn’t officially until November 27th, retailers are already dropping early deals on some of our favorite tech. Of course, with prices rising across the board, a good discount doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting a historically low price. But we’re still seeing worthwhile discounts on a host of tried-and-tested gear, with more expected in the coming weeks.
Below, we’ve rounded up the best early Black Friday deals we’ve found so far. Prices could drop further as Black Friday approaches, as is always the case, but these deals are worth considering if you’d rather shop early and beat the holiday rush. We’ll continue to update this guide as more retailers launch their holiday sales, too, so be sure to check back regularly as we get closer to the main event.
Ember Mug 3 (14-ounce)
Ember’s latest smart mug is designed to keep your coffee at the ideal temperature for up to three hours, with five temp settings between 120 and 145 degrees Fahrenheit. The third-gen version is similar to prior models; however, you can now adjust the heat settings directly on the mug and throw it in the dishwasher, which wasn’t the case before.
Where to Buy:
Hisense CanvasTV (2026)
Hisense’s 2026 CanvasTV is a 4K QLED TV that doubles as wall art when you’re not watching. It features a matte, anti-glare display and runs on Google’s excellent TV software; it’s also a great pick for gamers thanks to its snappy 144Hz variable refresh rate and a pair of HDMI 2.1 ports.
Where to Buy:
Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 Combo
The Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 Combo is a beginner-friendly 3D printer that supports four filament spools. It features an enclosed build chamber, automatic bed leveling, and a large touchscreen, making it easy to produce reliable prints.
Where to Buy:
Moft Trackable Tripod Wallet
Moft’s Trackable Tripod Wallet is a MagSafe-compatible wallet that holds two cards and folds into an adjustable phone stand or small tripod. It also supports both Apple’s Find My network and Google’s Find Hub, offers Qi wireless charging, and includes a detachable shutter remote for taking photos.
Where to Buy:
Govee Christmas String Lights 2
Govee’s Christmas lights offer over 130 preset lighting effects, though you can also create your own custom light displays. The IP65-rated lights feature Matter support, so they’ll work with any major smart home platform, and are sold in lengths up to 328 feet with up to 1,000 LED beads.
Where to Buy:
Govee Table Lamp 2
Govee’s Table Lamp 2 is way more fun than your average table lamp. The color-changing device boasts built-in scheduling and more than 60 dynamic lighting effects, including preset scenes for various holidays. You can even create custom color combos for when “Dandelion” and other presets just aren’t cutting it.
Where to Buy:
Birdfy Feeder Metal 2 4K
Birdfy’s metal smart bird feeder features a wide-angle 4K camera that lets you get an up-close look at visiting birds, along with a 1.8-liter seed capacity and a built-in solar panel for charging. It also offers free AI-powered recognition of more than 6,000 bird species.
Where to Buy:
Tessan Voyager 205 Universal Travel Adapter
Tessan’s universal travel adapter delivers up to 205W of combined USB charging power and can charge up to eight devices, including a pair of laptops, at the same time. It features six USB-C ports, including two that can deliver up to 140W individually, a USB-A port, and an AC outlet. It also works in over 200 countries and regions.
Where to Buy:
Bambu Lab P2S Combo
Bambu Lab’s P2S Combo is a 3D printer that can print in multiple colors and automatically dry its materials to help improve print quality. It also features a 5-inch touchscreen, a built-in camera for monitoring prints remotely, and AI-powered tools that can detect printing problems.
Where to Buy:
Dreame X60 Ultra
The Dreame X60 Ultra is a powerful robot vacuum and mop that does a great job of cleaning carpets, thanks to its dual roller brushes and 35,000Pa of suction. It can climb over tall thresholds, squeeze under low furniture, and automatically detach its mop pads when vacuuming carpets.
Where to Buy:
Eight Sleep Pod 6
Eight Sleep’s Pod 6 automatically adjusts your bed’s temperature based on your sleep patterns, heart rate, and breathing. It features a redesigned hub that’s half the size of its predecessor and adjusts temperatures faster. The system also tracks sleep quality, detects snoring, and lets couples control the temperature on each side of the bed independently.
Where to Buy:
Flextail Zero Pump 2
Flextail’s Zero Pump 2 might weigh a mere 1.7 ounces, but it can quickly inflate and deflate a sleeping pad. It comes with six nozzles and a replaceable battery that recharges via USB-C, allowing you to inflate up to 30 pads on a single charge.
Where to Buy:
Litter-Robot 4 Starter Bundle
The last-gen Litter-Robot 4 can monitor your cat’s visits, track their weight, and automatically separate waste from clean litter after each use, so you can go up to eight days without emptying your cat’s litter box. The so-called starter bundle also includes 20 pounds of litter, 25 waste drawer liners, a host of odor-control accessories, a litter-trapping mat, and a three-year warranty.
Where to Buy:
Headspace subscription
Headspace makes it easier to build mindfulness into your everyday life, whether you’re looking to manage stress, improve focus, or get a better night’s sleep. An annual subscription gives you access to hundreds of guided meditations, breathing exercises, and other tools for beginners and experienced users alike.
Where to Buy:
Casetify Moonaries illo Edition 2 phone case
Part of Casetify’s early Black Friday sale, which offers up to 50 percent off select phone case styles, this Moonaries Illo case features playful artwork from the illustrator behind Mocha Cat. It’s available for the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro, and other iPhone models.
Where to Buy:
Sharge Icemag 3 Power Bank
The Icemag 3 can wirelessly deliver up to 25W of power to compatible smartphones and up to 35W wired charging via USB-C. The 10,000mAh Qi2 charger can also act as a foldable kickstand, comes with an integrated USB-C cable that serves as a lanyard, and sports a transparent design with colorful RGB lighting.
Where to Buy:
Sharge’s eye-catching MacBook charger is over 25 percent off
Looking for a MacBook and device charger that’s as stylish as it is capable? Both Amazon and Sharge are selling the Pixel 140W GaN charger for $69.88 and $69.90, respectively, a $24 discount on its usual price. If you’re not in need of that much wattage but like the style, Sharge is also selling the 67W version for $19.90 ($30 off) or the 100W version for $59.90 ($16 off).
The Pixel 140 delivers up to 140W of power when using only one of its three USB-C ports, which Sharge says is capable of taking a 16-inch MacBook Pro from a flat battery to 50 percent charge in just 25 minutes. It’s 47 percent smaller than the MacBook’s included charging brick as well, which is great if you’re tight on bag space or travel frequently. The pixel display on the side has configurable brightness and orientation, and displays your current charging wattage.
Other deals to consider
- Halo fans looking for a fun weeknight project can grab Mattel’s Brick Shop Warthog on Amazon for $62.99 ($12 off), which is the lowest price we’ve seen on the brick-ified UNSC replica. The 935-piece set lets you recreate a 1:22 scale model of the iconic land vehicle, and includes a 1:64 scale metal version as well.
- Windows users with Mac Mini envy might consider the Lenovo Yoga Mini, which is currently discounted to $599.99 ($460 off) at Best Buy as part of the retailer’s early Black Friday promo. The compact desktop PC features an Intel Core Ultra 5 processor, 16GB of LPDDR5X memory, and 512GB of storage; it also has several fun features, including automated lighting around the system and Wi-Fi presence sensing.
- While modern smartphone camera stabilization has improved dramatically, there are still plenty of situations where a motorized gimbal can help you capture a smoother shot. Fortunately, the DJI Osmo Mobile 8 is currently on sale at Amazon for $89 ($20 off), nearly matching its best price to date. It features 360-degree horizontal panning and over 10 hours of battery life on a single charge.
Ocarina of Time is even better if you use a smartphone app
I never liked hunting for Golden Skulltulas in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The game has 100 of them tucked all over Hyrule, and even over my many hours with the N64 classic growing up, I can't remember ever actually finding all of them, or even wanting to. Jumping into the Ocarina of Time remake, I expected to ignore the Golden Skulltulas once again. But while poking around Nintendo's Zelda Notes companion app, I discovered that its maps are a huge help to tracking down all of the elusive golden spiders - and pretty much every other collectible in the game - and now I find myself constantly opening up the app to make sure I haven't …
Google’s AlphaGenome 2 zooms in on the cellular roots of disease
Researchers at Google DeepMind have unveiled a new AI model designed to unravel how changes in our DNA affect different cells, giving scientists a more detailed view of a notoriously difficult problem that could hold important clues to the causes of disease - and point the way to new treatments.
AlphaGenome 2 is the successor to DeepMind's genome-predicting AI model AlphaGenome, which was released last year. While nearly every cell in the human body carries the same DNA, different types of cells - from heart muscle cells and skin cells to immune cells fighting an infection - switch different genes on and off, and those patterns can change d …
Sony’s latest Pulse wireless headset packs planar magnetic drivers at a good price
It's tempting to seek out the do-everything wireless gaming headset with noise cancellation, phenomenal sound quality, multiplatform connectivity, swappable batteries - you name it. But if you just want the basics done well, Sony's new $99.99 PlayStation Pulse headset is worth considering. It has very good sound and just enough extras, even if you use more gadgets than just your PlayStation 5.
Inside the Pulse's nondescript ear cup shells are custom planar magnetic drivers, which deliver clean, detailed sound whether you're gaming, listening to music, or both. They aren't bass-heavy or too shrill; their default equalizer is pleasing and pun …
Adobe’s AI experiments let you walk around in photos and interview your characters
Some of the most impressive tech that Adobe showcases at its annual Max conference each year is the experimental features it's developing, and the latest of those tools are being announced today: they can transform images into explorable 3D scenes, design AI characters by talking to them, and turn photo editing into a copy/paste process.
The first (and weirdest, in my opinion) is Project Screen Test, which is designed to make AI-generated characters easier to develop and use for video content. Instead of just describing how the character should sound and behave in text prompts, the tool lets you talk to the character and direct them in an a …
Streaming is still trying to be TikTok
At Skydance's first employee town hall after it acquired Warner Bros. Discovery in October, CEO David Ellison told staff that the company behind Paramount Plus and HBO Max was competing for people's attention with some of the world's biggest tech companies. Months earlier, he'd singled out a way to get viewers to spend more time with Paramount's programming. A feed of short vertical videos, he said, was "critical to our future."
On Skydance's earnings call Monday, Ellison put a name to the competition. Add up all of Paramount's and Warner Bros. Discovery's broadcast, cable, and streaming properties, he said, and they still trail YouTube in …