We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.Apple's AirPods Pro is one of a million post-Cyber Monday products on sale this year. If you're interested in the best tech on sale today, see our page on the best Cyber Monday tech deals that are still active for a broader view of all the best discounts you can get right now. Prices are accurate as of the time of writing, but you can expect them to fluctuate and inventory to sell out, so you may not want to hesitate if you see a sale that grabs you.There are a lot of earbuds to choose from, but if you're as entrenched in the Apple ecosystem as I am, AirPods just make sense. The second-gen AirPods Pro are especially great, albeit a bit expensive. When they drop in price like they have over the past couple weeks, it's a fantastic opportunity to buy them. AirPods Pro (2nd Gen) $169.99 at Amazon $249.00 Save $79.01 Get Deal Get Deal $169.99 at Amazon $249.00 Save $79.01 Currently, Walmart has AirPods Pro 2 available for over 31% off, dropping them to $170 from $249. That's a sizable deal, but it's not quite as much of a price drop as you might think. These AirPods tend to hover around $199 on Amazon, sometimes dipping below that price. Plus, this sale has lasted throughout most of the Black Friday season. (Remember when Black Friday was just one day?) Still, once this shopping holiday is over, these AirPods will likely jump back up to that $200 range, so this is possibly your last chance to grab them while they're this cheap.Apple might slap its "Pro" moniker on most product categories these days, but AirPods Pro at least come with a lot of features to live up to the name. For one, AirPods Pro come with excellent noise cancellation. Although, honestly, the in-ear seal from the silicone tips blocks out enough background noise that I hardly ever turn on Noise Control. In fact, because the seal is so good, you also get Transparency Mode, an option that pumps in the sounds around you, so you can be aware of your surroundingsor even have a conversation with your earbuds in. Speaking of conversations, one excellent feature exclusive to the second-gen Pros is Conversation Awareness: When you start talking while listening to something, your AirPods turn down the volume and boost the voices of the people you're talking to. When everyone stops speaking, your AirPods return to normal. It's great. Another automatic feature is "Adaptive Audio" (previously Adaptive Transparency) which can reduce any sound above 85 dB, while maintaining other sounds at the typical volume. That way, you can follow a conversation or even watch a TV show with your AirPods in, but if an ambulance races by you, its sirens will seem to be a very tolerable 85 dB. You'd think you'd get these two features on AirPods Max, Apple's flagship over-the-ear headphones, but you don't: You need the second-gen Pros for that. Like all AirPods, the Pros easily jump among all your connected Apple devices. You could be watching a video on your Mac, then take a call on your iPhone and start chatting through your AirPods. If you have an Apple TV, you can switch to your AirPods too, which I frequently do, since I prefer the experience to my soundbar. While all these features are awesome, what it really comes down to for me is sound quality: The Pros just sound great, especially for such low-profile earbuds. And because they block out so much sound on their own, I feel like I can appreciate the quality of the music I'm listening to in a variety of situations. I used to pause my music with my old AirPods whenever a loud truck or bus would drive past me on a walk. That's not a problem with the Pros.Last but certainly not least, you can now use these AirPods as hearing aids. That isn't marketing nonsense from Apple, either: The FDA cleared these earbuds to be used as hearing aids. Not a bad perk for $170. The Best Cyber Monday Deals You Can Still Shop Now Meta Quest 3S 256GB VR Headset + $30 Digital Credit (List Price $399 With Code "QUEST30") Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 64GB Wi-Fi 11" Tablet $149.00 (List Price $219.99) Bose QuietComfort Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones $199.00 (List Price $349.00) Apple Watch Series 10 (GPS, 42mm, Black, S/M, Sports Band) $329.99 (List Price $399.00) iRobot Roomba Vac Essential Q0120 Robot Vacuum Cleaner $149.00 (List Price $249.99) Samsung Odyssey G93SC 49" Dual QHD OLED Curved Monitor $949.99 (List Price $1,599.99) Deals are selected by our commerce team

You dont need to spend a fortune to stay on top of your health goals while tracking your fitness. These days, even cheap fitness trackers come packed with features that help you monitor your heart rate, track your steps and even analyze your sleep stages. Many budget options now include GPS tracking for those outdoor runs, real-time heart rate tracking to keep you in the right zone during workouts and, thankfully, most work with both iPhone and Android devices.Some even go beyond basic metrics, providing insights on daily readiness to help you decide if youre up for an intense workout or need a lighter day. From simple step counters to more advanced running watches, affordable fitness trackers offer plenty to support your journey toward better health without breaking the bank. What to look for in a cheap fitness tracker All of the best fitness trackers should have at least three features: a program to track workouts or movement of some sort, the option to monitor and collect sleep stages data and the ability to do things like heart rate tracking and blood oxygen level monitoring (though, the readings might not be super accurate). Dont set your sights too high and expect metrics like blood pressure monitoring; for that, youd need to invest in a more expensive wearable like a Samsung Galaxy Watch, which will set you back over $400. Fitness features A cheap workout tracker can be great for someone looking to keep tabs on small, achievable goals like 10,000 steps before sundown or 30 minutes of a HIIT workout to get your heart rate peaking. An experienced long-distance runner looking to train for a triathlon might opt for a more expensive device that can measure cadence or ground contact time, and can track more customizable workouts, offer different sports modes or give deeper insights into performance data. At the very least, a budget workout tracker should be able to offer fitness tracking features beyond walking and running otherwise, it would just be a pedometer. The number of activities a device will recognize varies. Some will get funky with it and consider skateboarding a workout, while others wont be able to track a jumping jack. At this price, you can expect a device to measure a mix of cardio, machine workouts and strength training. With each, you might get a numerical or visual breakdown of heart rate activity, overall pace, and calories burned per session. Although some cheap trackers can offer a really good overview of heart rate zone activity during a workout, a more technically advanced device might be able to go a step further and explain what your results mean and coach you on how to keep your heart rate in a specific bracket so that you can burn more fat per workout. I found that the more budget-friendly the device, the more likely it is that a tracker will fall short when it comes to smart counseling or offering predictive insights beyond a given workout. If a budget tracker does happen to offer some semblance of a coaching program, you can expect it to sit behind a paywall. Workout tracking and planning your recovery is just as essential to any fitness journey. A sub-$100 device should be able to tell you how long youve slept and provide a breakdown of deep, light and REM sleep stages. It's not a guarantee that you will get a sleep score or insights on how to get better rest that data is usually found on more expensive wearables. Also, because these trackers arent designed for bedtime specifically be mindful of comfort. The bands and watch face on a budget fitness tracker may not be ideal for getting some good shut-eye. Connectivity and practicality Not all activity trackers, budget-friendly or not, are designed to seamlessly integrate with a smartphone. The trackers tested for this roundup cant directly make calls or send texts to contacts on a paired iPhone or Android smartphone. They can, however, display and dismiss incoming calls and notifications via a Bluetooth connection. You can forget about checking your email or paying for a coffee from your wrist using these more affordable devices. Most cheap fitness trackers also won't include built-in GPS tracking. Instead, they usually depend on a paired smartphone to gather location data. The drawback of using a fitness tracker without GPS is that it might not provide as precise for tracking distance or pace. You also can't use a budget tracker to get turn-by-turn directions during a walk or while running errands. For the more outdoorsy consumers, having GPS could be a key safety feature if you want this kind of functionality at your fingertips. Design You also might find that an inexpensive fitness tracker is harder to navigate than a more advanced smartwatch. Whether it be a screen size issue or simply not having a smart enough interface, don't expect every feature to be one that you can engage with directly on your wrist. Oftentimes, you will need to pull out your smartphone to log information or access more in-depth health data. The quality and build of displays and bands will also vary in this category. Dont expect the highest resolution OLED displays or the fanciest materials in the bands. But you can expect some level of sweat and water resistance. Best cheap fitness trackers for 2024 Other cheap fitness trackers we tested Wyze Watch 47c I didn't have high expectations of the Wyze Watch 47c, but I was shocked at how little this tracker can do. The 47c can only track walks and runs. It has a dedicated widget, a small logo of a man running, and when you tap it, it begins measuring your pace, heart rate, calories burned and mileage. It does not auto-detect or auto-pause workouts and it doesn't differentiate between a run and walk. Most importantly, this device cant track any other exercises. Its basically a glorified pedometer. The 47c was also my least favorite to sleep with, mainly because the square watch face is so large and heavy. Even if I did manage to sleep through the night with it on, it only gave me a basic sleep report. Garmin vivofit 4 The Garmin vivofit 4 has a tiny display that is not a touchscreen and all navigation happens through one button. The watch face is impossible to read outdoors and the exercise widget is also very finicky. To start tracking a run, you have to hold down the main button and flip through some pages until you get to a moving person icon. Once there, you have to press the bottom right corner of the bar and hold down and if you press for too long or in the wrong spot, itll switch to another page, like a stopwatch. Its incredibly frustrating. Once you start a run though, it will start tracking your steps, your distance and that's pretty much it. It does not auto-detect or auto-pause workouts. It doesn't alert you of any mileage or calorie milestones.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/best-cheap-fitness-trackers-140054780.html?src=rss

Just when it seemed like PC support was Sonys final word on the PlayStation VR2, the company is showing off hand tracking for the virtual reality headset. As spotted by UploadVR, Sony has been demoing controller-free hand-tracking support on the PSVR2 at SIGGRAPH Asia 2024, an academic conference and tradeshow focused on computer graphics and interactive techniques.Sony hasnt released any official announcement explaining the new feature, but a published description of what its presenting at SIGGRAPH does mention that hand-tracking support is available with the latest development kit of PlayStation 5. Mixed noticed that Sony had filed a patent for several different hand-tracking features in May 2023, but this is the first instance of that work running on an actual headset.Besides feeling more natural than swinging around a controller, hand-tracking allows for more nuanced movements and controls in apps and games. When you press a virtual button in a game with hand tracking, you might not feel the haptic feedback youd get from gripping a controller, but what youre doing with your hand is much more like real life. A video of the demo shared on X shows hand-tracking working on a PSVR2 with a similar level of fidelity and latency to hand-tracking on a Quest 3, so it seems like Sonys feature could work well.SONYPS VR 2 #SIGGRAPHAsia2024 pic.twitter.com/KeNQryHy6Q kure (@kure_kure_zo) December 4, 2024 While its weird that the company hasnt turned this into an announcement yet, the fact that hand-tracking support exists is a good sign for headset owners that Sony is still invested. The PSVR 2 was released in 2023 as an impressive, if expensive, piece of VR hardware. Things like headset haptics, eye-tracking and a great first-party game in Horizon VR: Call of the Mountain made it stand out. But since then, the headset hasnt seen nearly the support it needs to catch on. Major internal studios havent developed many VR games, and Sony has laid off developers from studios that have, like the creators of Call of the Mountain, Firesprite. In June, Android Central reported that Sony had also severely cut its budget for future VR development.The release of the PS VR2 PC adaptor in August 2024 seemed like the final nail in the coffin. If Sony wasnt going to make more games, then at least you could play through the gigantic library of PC VR games on Steam. Hand-tracking support might not mean Sonys commitment to the VR headset has changed since then, but it is a sign that the PSVR2 can improve even if its never a priority.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/playstation-vr2-will-get-hand-tracking-support-soon-204155147.html?src=rss

Check out MPC's breakdown of some of its 310 VFX shots from Season 2 of historical drama The Serpent QueenWatch the full video on the MPC YouTube channel (includes some fairly gruesome stabbings): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shVwrA6erf8

Otoy has released OctaneRender 2026.1 in alpha. Check out the new features in the experimental tech preview of the GPU renderer, currently including native MaterialX and 3DGS support.https://www.cgchannel.com/2024/12/otoy-releases-octanerender-2026-1/

Vodafone and Threes merger has been granted approval as they set to join forced with Virgin Media O2.

Snake is the first widget released as part of a new Community Widgets project from Nothing.

Google CEO fired back at Microsoft CEO's comments aimed at Google's footing in the AI arms race.

Xreal is betting on glasses, rather than headsets like Apple's Vision Pro or the Meta Quest, to be the mass-market winners in augmented reality.

The holiday season is a perfect storm for stress. Often, there are a lot of things that need to happen in a short period of time. There are family obligations. You have to address year-end issues at work. Plus, you probably have to buy a few gifts, andif youre like meyoure never sure how well those gifts will go over.So, what can you do to minimize the stress that often comes with the holidays?Start as early as you canYou might need to save this tip for next year, but get an early jump on thinking about the holiday season. Part of what causes stress around the holidays is that you know there are things that need to be done, but they feel overwhelming. In fact, a big reason why people dont plan ahead is that they dont want to peek into the abyss. But, you generally feel better about situations when you know exactly what needs to be done. So, procrastination in your holiday planning only makes things worse.If you have to travel, lay out the dates sooner rather than later. Get to work on thinking through the work obligations you may have. Maintain a list of gifts you need to buy for others. Write it all down so that your brain doesnt think it has to keep track of everything for you.Map out your workThink through the structures you use to plan your work. Many people have a daily calendar and a running list of tasks that need to be done. But, you may not take the extra step of figuring out exactly when key things are going to get completed. And that is generally fine. As long as your work gets done, you dont necessarily need to micromanage your schedule.Around the holidays, though, there are often several deadlines that may hit all at once. If so, it can be useful to set up a calendar that lays out all those deadlines and then plays Tetris with your schedule to ensure that all the steps leading up to those deadlines can be completed in time. That way, youre not spending that last week of work hustling to take care of several weeks worth of work at the last second.Of course, if you run your own business or have to hustle to find work, the holidays are stressful for the opposite reason. Lots of people stop hiring (or making big business decisions) in December. You may have to do a lot of work in the summer and early fall to make sure youre busy in December and January. Plan your spending each year with the assumption that December and January may be slow so that you dont add money worries to the other stressors.Seek flexibilityHoliday travel sucks. Everyone is trying to get somewhere at exactly the same time. That makes the airports and roads crowded. Fares are higher. Tempers are shorter.If you have to travel to see family, work with your boss to see if you can work remotely for a few days before and after any winter holiday break you may get. If you can time your travel to avoid the biggest crowds, youll be happier, and you might even be more productive.If youre the boss, consider offering some flexibility around remote work around the holidays. A little good will goes a long way. Also, it is often your employees who make the least who are given the least flexibility around the holidays. That adds extra expense to the lives of people who can least afford it. Your flexibility becomes a gift with real value.When in doubt, askFinally, a word about gifts. Its easy to get bent out of shape when having to buy gifts for others, as its hard to know whether youre getting the right thing. It turns out, there are two things you can do to ease the gift-giving process.First, if youre buying things for colleagues at work, it really is the thought that counts. More than anything else, it is nice to know that people at work are thinking about you. So, anything you get for someone will have the desired impact. (That said, before buying food for someone, check on their allergies or dietary restrictions.)Second, if you have people youre really trying to impress with a gift, it never hurts to ask what they want. Most people (even long-married couples) have difficulty predicting what someone else wants. Thats why the folks who are most likely to give a gift someone else wants are the people who ask about the things people like to get. It may seem cheesy, but there are lots of things that people might want that they are reluctant to buy for themselves, but would be happy to get as a gift from someone else.