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My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: This Bose Smart Soundbar

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We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Bose Smart Soundbar wasn't very well received by reviewers when it came out last year, citing small improvements for a larger price tag. But now with a $100 discount, we can have a serious conversation about who it's good for. You can get the Bose Smart Soundbar for $399 (originally $499), the lowest price it has been, according to price-tracking tools . Bose Smart Soundbar $399.00 at Amazon $499.00 Save $100.00 ...
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This Last-Minute Sale on the Switch 2 Bundle Is Available at Best Buy Today

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We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Nintendo Switch 2 with Mario Kart World bundle is in stock at Best Buy after running out of stock very quickly on Amazon . The deal includes the new console with the new Mario Kart for the same price as the standalone console. You can get this one for $449 (down from $499)—the lowest price it has reached yet, according to price-tracking tools . (Note that you can only see the price once you've signed in and it's in your cart, as Nintendo restricts retailers from promoting anything below the "minimum advertised price" of $499.) To top it off, Best Buy is somehow promising to have it delivered to your home by 9 p.m. tonight, Dec. 24—a true Christmas miracle. Not all locations will be available, so make sure you see the "shipping get it by 9 p.m. today" note above "add to cart." You can also pick it up within an hour if...
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What Is VO2max?

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The more you work out, the fitter you'll get. Your VO2max, sometimes described on wearables as a "cardio fitness" score, is a number that tends to be higher among people who are more cardiovascularly fit. But it's not the only measure of fitness, and you should know what it really means. What VO2max really is (as measured in a lab) Smartwatches and fitness trackers don't actually measure VO2max; they just estimate it. To actually find your VO2max, you'd need to go to an exercise lab and do a test on a treadmill or cycle while hooked up to equipment that measures your heart rate and the air you're exhaling. I did exactly this kind of test to compare my real VO2max to the numbers reported by nine different devices. You can read about my experience, and why it matters, here . VO2max, properly rendered VO 2 max , is the maximal volume (V) of oxygen (O 2 ) your body can use per minute during exercise, scaled to your body size because larger people will natu...
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Valve Officially Discontinued the LCD Steam Deck

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There are a lot of gaming handhelds to choose from right now , but the Steam Deck is undoubtedly a fan-favorite . Just as the Nintendo Switch introduced the world to console gaming on the go, the Steam Deck was the pioneer in bringing PC gaming to a handheld form factor—even if it pushes the definition of "handheld." Part of the initial appeal of the Steam Deck is its price: While you could choose a souped-up model with an OLED display and expanded internal storage, you could also pick up an LCD model with a 256GB SSD at a reasonable $399. For less than the price of a Switch 2, you could have something that plays the entire Steam library, with its huge variation in games. It's a great deal—perhaps too great. If you go to Valve's official Steam Deck site , and scroll down to see your hardware choices, you'll notice something interesting: While there appear to be many 512GB and 1TB OLED Steam Decks in stock, ready to buy, the entry-level LCD model is "out of...
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I Tracked My Health With Whoop, and This Is What I Liked (and What I Ignored)

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We may earn a commission from links on this page. When I reviewed the Whoop 5.0 and MG (and, earlier, the Whoop 4.0 ) , I kept it to the basics—how the strap looks, works, and charges, and what activities it can track. But that's only part of it: Now, I’m going to dive in to all the metrics Whoop reports and offer a reality check on what I've found most useful and what isn’t worth paying attention to.  I haven't worn the Whoop band as regularly as I do the Oura ring, for which I was able to give a four-year retrospective . But to research both this article and my reviews, I’ve worn the Whoop for a couple of stints of at least a few weeks each, tracking my workouts and sleep regularly. With that said, here's a deeper dive into what it’s actually like to wear the Whoop strap on a daily basis, using it to judge and guide your habits and performance.  (I'll leave out the activity tracking features here, since I covered them in more depth in the re...
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Bricking My iPhone Is My Tech 'Upgrade of the Year'

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My concentration is shot. I know this because I've checked my phone four times while writing this opening paragraph. I'm addicted to my phone in a way that feels both embarrassing and completely normal, which is perhaps the most damning part. My phone feels essential for everything: my job requires Slack and email responsiveness, my hobbies live in apps and group chats, and even my downtime involves scrolling through feeds I don't actually enjoy. These days, we tend to think of upgrades (in life, in tech, wherever) as adding features, but sometimes the real upgrade is eliminating. So I did something a little radical this year: I bricked my iPhone. Well, sort of. And it's been the best tech decision I've made in years. What I actually did to fix my concentration We talk about phone addiction like it's a personal failing, but cut yourself some slack. Every app, every notification, every infinite scroll is designed by engineers whose job is to keep us locked in. ...
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This Tool Can Tell You If Your Home Network Has Been Compromised

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There are warning signs that your home network may have been compromised, such as unusual traffic patterns and slowdowns in system performance, but now there's a simple tool to help determine if your router or connected devices are being used to conduct malicious activity . IP Check , from threat monitoring firm GreyNoise, will alert you if your IP address has been observed scanning the internet as part of a botnet or residential proxy network. As GreyNoise outlines , residential IP compromise often isn't obvious to the user because you're still able to conduct business as usual, such as streaming, emailing, and web browsing. All the while, though, threat actors are routing malicious activity through your home IP address and can potentially exploit your network for everything from account takeovers to malware distribution. Check your IP address for suspicious activity To use IP Check, you simply need to open the tool in a browser window, and you'll get one of several...
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