1+ week, 6+ day ago (300+ words) Mashable's Readers' Choice Awards give you the chance to tell us about the products you use and love. With each survey you take, you're potentially securing a Readers' Choice Award for your favorite gadgets and gear. As smart home products become more integrated into U.S. homes, they need the best smart home hub to operate successfully. Smart assistants act as the centralized brain for a smart home, connecting to various devices so you can set routines, use voice commands, and more to seamlessly operate your gadgets. We polled our readers to learn about the smart home products they use in our Readers" Choice Smartest Home survey. When it comes to smart assistants, Google was the clear winner. We asked readers to score their Google Assistant devices on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best) on multiple factors, including voice recognition, smart…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago (388+ words) Mashable's Readers' Choice Awards give you the chance to tell us about the products you use and love. With each survey you take, you're potentially securing a Readers' Choice Award for your favorite gadgets and gear. You can't have a conversation about smart home devices without including Amazon's Alexa in the picture. As of 2025, the number of Amazon Echo users is expected to reach about 69.9 million, and as of 2024, the Echo is the most popular smart speaker in the U.S., according to Electro IQ. We surveyed our readers about the smart home products they use, and Amazon's Alexa was among the top smart assistants used." In our Readers' Choice Smartest Home survey, we asked readers to score their Amazon Alexa devices on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best) on multiple factors, including voice recognition, smart home controls, and programmable actions....

3+ week, 2+ day ago (220+ words) The long-awaited Samsung mixed reality headset, formerly known by its codename Project Moohan, finally made its debut this year as the Samsung Galaxy XR. That is, if you live in the U.S. or South Korea. Samsung fans outside of those two countries are still waiting for the Galaxy XR. Fortunately, it doesn't look like they'll be waiting too much longer after the U.S. and South Korea's Oct. 21 Galaxy XR launch date. According to a new report from SamMobile, Samsung appears to be readying a 2026 launch for the Galaxy XR in Canada, France, Germany, and the UK. In addition, that list has yet to be finalized, with more countries potentially being added to the 2026 launch list soon. Samsung appears to be in favor of slowly rolling out the Galaxy XR in international markets as opposed to a wider global rollout." It's currently unclear…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago (268+ words) TL;DR: Enjoy online security and freedom anywhere with this Deeper Connect Air Portable Decentralized VPN Travel Router, on sale now for just $169 (reg. $219). Whether you're a frequent traveler or simply want to browse the web securely at home, it's good to have a reliable VPN at your disposal. This Deeper Connect Air Portable Decentralized VPN Travel Router takes things one step further, offering next-level privacy and no geographical restrictions, wherever you go. Right now, before the holiday travel season commences, you can secure one for just $169 (reg. $219) " no monthly subscriptions required. Be prepared for that trip to the in-laws or your exotic New Year's getaway with the Deeper Connect Air Portable Decentralized VPN Travel Router. It provides military-grade encryption on the go, so your data stays safe anywhere " even on public WiFi around the world. If you want to…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago (242+ words) Wearables and smart rings are trending product categories, and now two former Meta employees have launched another new smart ring brand called Sandbar. Sandbar's first product is the Stream smart ring, available for preorder for $249 and set to ship in summer 2026. The Stream doesn't track your heart rate or steps like the'Oura Ring, nor is it an'AI device like Bee, the wearable company recently acquired by Amazon. So, what does it do? The Stream has two primary functions: It acts as a voice recorder to capture and transcribe your thoughts, and it lets you control music with hand gestures. Of course, your phone and various AI chatbots can already record and transcribe notes. And most headphones and earbuds feature touch controls that allow you to control your music with your hands. The Sandbar website states that Stream is a "fast,…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago (253+ words) Mashable is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe. SAVE $150: As of Nov. 5, the Bose QuietComfort headphones are on sale for just $199 in every color. That's 43% off their usual list price of $349 and matches their Black Friday price from last year. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra are the best noise-cancelling headphones we've ever tested, but their more basic sibling " the Bose QuietComfort "are pretty great too. And they're also a whole lot cheaper, if price happens to be a top priority for you. As of Nov. 5, the Bose QuietComfort noise-cancelling headphones are on sale for only $199 in a slew of colors at Amazon. That's $150, or 43%, off their list price of $349 and matches their lowest…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago (182+ words) Mashable is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe. If you've been thinking about getting a fitness tracker but don't want to drop a ton of cash (or just don't need a super complicated smartwatch), the Fitbit Inspire 3 is probably on your radar. It's a great, straightforward tracker, and its price just dropped to a "Black Friday Deal" level. (It's also our "Best Budget" pick for 2025.) As of Nov. 5, the Fitbit Inspire 3 is on sale for $69.95 at both Amazon and Best Buy. That's a 30% discount and $30 savings. It's also the best price we've seen on this model. This is a really solid price for what you get. The Inspire 3 tracks your steps, 24/7 heart…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago (390+ words) Mashable's Readers' Choice Awards give you the chance to tell us about the products you use and love. With each survey you take, you're potentially securing a Readers' Choice Award for your favorite gadgets and gear. We recently polled Mashable readers about the smart home products they use in their homes, and the results are in. One of the easiest entry points into smart home devices is smart lighting. Smart bulbs are relatively inexpensive and easy to integrate into everyday use "whether you use a smart assistant for voice commands or just control them through an app on your phone. One of the biggest names in smart lighting is Philips Hue, which has won a Mashable Readers" Choice Award. I personally use Philips Hue bulbs in my apartment and highly recommend them, so I was happy to see that our…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago (402+ words) Pick up your iPhone, folks, because it's time to download iOS 26.1. Apple launched the newest iOS version on Monday, which means you can download it right now by going to the iPhone Settings app, hitting "General," then hitting "Software Update." The update, referred to as iOS 26.1, follows up on iOS 26 with a bunch of minor bug fixes and adjustments. However, there are also a handful of larger new features worth talking about. Here are the most noteworthy changes in iOS 26.1. Perhaps the most requested feature in iOS 26.1 is the ability to change how the new Liquid Glass user interface looks. After it was introduced in iOS 26, some people found that they didn't like Liquid Glass and wanted it turned off. Well, you can't turn it off, but you can make a small adjustment to it. Specifically, there's a new Tinted…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago (876+ words) While we're still hoping for some larger price drops on Samsung's foldables and earbuds, most categories already have standout discounts on hot ticket items. For instance, the 2025 Frame and Frame Pro TVs are at record lows, as is every iteration of the Galaxy Watch 8, Galaxy Tab S10 Lite, S10 FE, and S10 FE+, and Galaxy Tab S11. Read on for a rundown of the best Samsung deals live ahead of Black Friday, and stay tuned as the season unfolds. We'll update this list with any new discounts that pop up Note: Deals with a " next to them have dropped to record-low prices....