Author: Admin

The new school year is right around the corner, so it’s time for the all-important back-to-school shopping. As a recent grad, I know that a good Chromebook or laptop can be helpful with classwork. Even having a reliable tablet or iPad can make going back to school a bit less painful. And a few carefully chosen accessories to go with your tablet or laptop can make a huge difference.

I’ve listed a handful of back-to-school tech accessories I’ve found to be the most useful during the school year, particularly if you’re still remote all or part of the time. The picks here are ones I’ve used as a student. This of this as a list of solid suggestions for accessories to make the return back to school a bit easier.

For more, here are our picks for heading back to school and essentials to keep in your college backpack.

More back-to-school recommendations

• 8 Back-to-School College Essentials to Keep in Your Backpack
• Our Favorite Back-to-School Picks for 2023
• Great Back-to-School Gifts for Your Teacher
• Free Apps You Need to Download Before Starting College
• Best Back-to-School Gear for $100 or Less
• Best Deals, Discounts and Freebies for Students 2023

Fall classes will be starting soon, which means it’s time to start getting everything you need to head back to campus this year. And one of the most important tools for any college student is a dependable laptop. Dell makes some of our favorite Windows laptops on the market in 2023, and right now, you can snag one for less at its ongoing back to school sale.

Dell is offering up to $500 off select laptops and two-in-ones, as well as desktops, monitors and other accessories. And to help you make the most of these bargains, we’ve rounded up some of the best values available at this sale below. Just note that these deals are only available through Aug. 31, so be sure to get your order in before then if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.

More great Dell back to school deals:

• Dell Latitude 5530 laptop: $969 (save $977)
• Dell Vostro 16 laptop: $849 (save $250)
• Dell XPS desktop: $1,250 (save $330)
• Dell S2721HN 27-inch monitor: $120 (save $70)
• Dell Pro wireless keyboard + mouse bundle: $45 (save $15)

• Dell dual-charging dock: $100 (save $87)
• Dell G16 gaming laptop: $1,000 (save $300)
• Dell 14 portable monitor: $270 (save $90)

There’s a huge selection of other laptops, PCs and accessories on sale, so be sure to shop around for even more great back to school bargains.

Xiaomi unveiled its latest foldable phone Monday, as part of an annual event that saw CEO Lei Jun take the stage. The Mix Fold 3 is a book-style foldable phone designed to compete with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5, except it will not be available globally. As usual, Xiaomi is releasing it only in China, where it will start at 8,999 yuan, which converts to approximately $1,240, 980 or AU$1,920.

The Mix Fold 3 has two screens: a 6.56-inch cover screen that opens up into an 8-inch tablet-like display. When closed, the device measures 10.86mm (versus 11.2mm last year), making it among the slimmest commercially available book-style foldable phones. That’s significantly thinner than Samsung’s recently launched Galaxy Z Fold 5, which is comparatively chunky at 13.46mm. However, the title of lightest and slimmest book-style folding phone is retained by Honor’s Magic VS 2, which measures 9.6mm thick when folded.

Xiaomi credits its upgraded hinge for helping achieve the slim design, which allows for a tighter fold on the flexible display panel. The company also says the hinge’s new rod structure improves durability and flexibility of the phone. Xiaomi says 14 micro-hinges “significantly” improve the hinge’s degree of freedom and reduces the risk of damage if dropped. Xiaomi says the Mix Fold 3 has been tested to withstand 500,000 folds, which handily beats the 200,000 folds promised by Samsung for the Z Fold 5.

There’s still no official IP rating for water and dust resistance, however. By comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 has an IPX8 rating for water resistance.

The Mix Fold 3 runs on the Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, the same one found in Samsung and Motorola’s latest foldable phones. It also has quad camera setup, a 4,800-mAh battery complete with support for superfast wired and wireless charging.

Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 key specs

• Outer display: 6.56-inch AMOLED, 2,520×1,080 pixels, 2600 nits peak brightness, 120Hz.
• Inner display: 8.02-inch AMOLED, 2,160×1,916 pixels, 120Hz.
• Processor: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
• Camera: 50-megapixel wide, 12-megapixel ultrawide, 10-megapixel telephoto, 10-megapixel periscope-style telephoto.
• Battery: 4,800 mAh (67-watt wired charging, 50-watt wireless charging).

You don’t need a bulky pair of over-ear headphones to get premium sound. These Sennheiser Momentum 3 earbuds earned a spot on our list of the best headphones overall thanks to their top-notch sound and impressive noise-canceling capabilities. And while they’re certainly not cheap at full price, right now you can snag a pair at a serious discount. Amazon currently has white and graphite models on sale for just $150, which saves you a whopping $130 compared to the usual price. There’s no set expiration for this deal, so get your order in sooner rather than later if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.

These Sennheiser earbuds are packed full of advanced hardware and features that make them one of the most competitive pairs you’ll find at this price. They’re equipped with 7mm TrueResponse transducers and support aptX Adaptive codec audio for stunning, premium sound quality. CNET’s headphone expert David Carnoy, in his review last year, found them “tonally really pleasant to listen to, with smooth yet lively sound with nice detail. They work well with a variety of music genres and I didn’t experience any listening fatigue even over longer sessions.”

They also boast top-of-the-line adaptive noise canceling that automatically adjusts to the environmental noise around you, and have a transparency mode for when you need to be more aware of your surroundings. Plus, you can personalize your listening experience using the equalizer in the companion app. They’re also protected against splashing with an IPX4 resistance rating, and boast an impressive 28-hour battery life for all-day listening.

If you’re in the market for a different pair, you can check out our full roundup of all the best earbuds and headphones deals for even more bargains.

Are high airfare prices putting a damper on your future vacation plans? There’s an easier way to score cheap plane tickets than spending hours online comparing prices and hunting for bargains. A Dollar Flight Club subscription can help save you hundreds of dollars, along with a lot of time and effort, and right now, you can score two memberships at a pretty incredible price.

StackSocial is currently offering a bundle deal that scores you two lifetime DFC Premium Plus memberships for just $100, which saves you hundreds compared to the $14-a-month subscription. This was already a pretty incredible bargain when it only included one membership at this price, so getting two at this price is a deal you won’t want to miss.

It’s hard to catch a break these days. Between many of us staying busy and living on a budget, saving both time and money is important. Instead of having to hunt down the best fares yourself, Dollar Flight Club will do it for you, making it much easier to book your dream vacation, prepare for a visit to see loved ones or find an excuse to take off for a last-minute weekend getaway.

As mentioned above, the Dollar Flight Club Premium Plus plan gives you access to savings on flights in business, premium economy and economy seating, and includes both domestic and international deals. Once you sign up and add your home airports, you’ll get instant alerts via email and can book whenever and wherever using the web or the app, which is available on both iOS and Android devices.

Plus, you can get perks and discounts of up to 50% off from various partners, including Babbel, Acanela Expeditions and Huckberry, as well as access to a variety of travel tips from DFC experts to help you plan your next adventure.

If high flight prices have been stopping you from booking the vacation of your dreams, now’s a great time to invest in a service that can help you find the best discounts, curated and delivered directly to you. There’s no set expiration for this offer, so we’d recommend getting your order in sooner rather than later if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.

Read more: Best Luggage Deals

Adding a pair of well-reviewed wireless earbuds doesn’t have to cost a small fortune, nor does getting your hands on some of the best wireless earbuds available. Right now you can put a pair of Jabra Elite 7 Pro earbuds into your listening holes for just $120.

That special price is a very solid discount of no less than $80, with 40% slashed off the original $200 asking price. What’s more, you even get to choose between two different colors when placing your order; Gold Beige and Titanium Black. The former is much nicer to look at than that name might sound, too.

Both of the two colors are functionally identical of course, so you can look forward to things like the aforementioned active noise cancellation technology as well as a compact design with a charging case that tops the battery life up all the way to 30 hours. The earbuds themselves can play audio for up to eight hours between charges as well.

Other features of note include Jabra’s MultiSensor Voice technology, a system that uses four different microphones to make for better voice calls while on the go. Buyers can also look forward to HearThrough, a technology that listens to what’s going on around the listener and then pipes it into their ears using microphone magic. It’s a feature that’s perfect for walking the streets, ensuring wearers can always hear traffic and other commuters even when listening to music and whatnot.

This 40% discount doesn’t require any codes or coupons, but it’s one that Amazon hasn’t published an end date for as well. Delay your order at your peril!

Going to offline stores to shop for clothes is a pain. It’s time consuming because you can spend hours you likely don’t have trying to find that hidden gem among the clothing racks. That’s why we prefer online shopping, and probably you do too with clothing subscriptions enter the scene. But finding the best online clothing subscription for your needs can be tricky. We’re here to help. There are plenty of options for spicing up your wardrobe, including many that are on trend for your specific lifestyle and fashion sense. Some of the best clothing subscription boxes focus on many varieties of clothing for all types of bodies.

A quick Google search returns dozens of clothing subscription services — many of which you’ve never heard of. Each one has its own unique features, but the services ultimately all work the same way.

Deciding on a particular service comes down to your needs, style preference and budget. Do you want a monthly box? Or will something quarterly do? Do you want to buy the clothes or use a rental service? Do you want a personal stylist or an algorithm? Do you want brand-new clothes or are you OK with curated thrift? Are you avoiding fast fashion in favor of something more sustainable? Do you have favorite brands you want to stick to?

These questions all matter, but the most important thing to know about any of these services is that even expert stylists can’t read your mind. The more information you can provide about your personal style and what you like (and don’t), the better your curated box of clothing will be.

I tried several clothing subscription boxes; here are the best of the bunch.

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No summer adventure is complete without some tunes. And if you’re looking for a portable speaker that can handle just about anything you throw at it, then we’ve got a deal you won’t want to miss. The JBL Flip 6 is one of our overall favorite Bluetooth speakers of 2023, and right now you can snag one at a discount. Amazon currently has several color variants on sale for $90, which saves you $40 and matches the all-time lowest price we’ve seen on this speaker. But get your order in soon if you don’t want to miss out on these savings because there’s no telling how long this deal will last.

The JBL Flip 6 combines powerful audio with a compact and rugged design for versatile speaker that you can take just about anywhere. It boasts an IP67 weather-resistance rating, which means it’s fully protected against both water and dust, and the durable fabric and rubber housing help protect it against drops as well. Internally, it’s equipped with a 45mm driver and dual passive radiators for crisp, balanced audio with rich, full bass tones, and it’s easy to pair with Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity. And with an impressive 12-hour battery life, you can keep the party going all day or all night without having to worry about running out of juice.

NuPhy’s Air96 could be the one and only mechanical keyboard you’ll need for work and play, wherever you do those things. Its low-profile design makes it super easy to pack away, and its sturdy aluminum frame gives you peace of mind knowing it can survive a bumpy morning commute. This keyboard’s minimalistic design fits everywhere from your work-from-home setup to your office desk to a cafe table with a tablet.

The model I tested came with NuPhy’s Aloe linear switches that provide a smooth typing experience paired with NuPhy’s Ionic White keycaps. I swapped the original keycaps with the company’s shine-through keycaps to increase the visibility of the letters in low light; they were hard to see at times when gaming at night. This also created a nice contrast between the white base and black keycaps and grabbed the attention of more than a few people who saw it and asked about the keyboard with interest.

NuPhy offers a number of other keycap sets that I can see adding a touch of color while maintaining its simple aesthetic. The keyboard’s switches are hot-swappable, too, and NuPhy has a variety of switch options to mix and match with the keycaps to customize the Air96 to your liking.

But if you are looking to customize this keyboard with other keycaps, that’s where things get tricky. Technically, the keyboard is compatible with any keycap that uses a cherry stem, but this is a low-profile keyboard, which is why it’s so travel-friendly, and depending on the profile and height of the keycaps you choose, they might not be able to press the key down far enough for the keystroke to register.

When it comes to switches, the same low-profile hitch applies, and your options get even slimmer with only NuPhy’s selection of their own four switches, eight from Gateron and another six from Kailh. That’s a fair amount, but still more limiting than full-height switch options. Similar to standard switches, though, the slim selection of low-profile switches range from $26 to $54 to complete the 100-key Air96. Right now low-profile mechanical keyboards aren’t as popular — or plentiful — as standard-profile mechanical keyboards, so the variety in them is still very limited.

The keyboard is wireless via Bluetooth or 2.4GHz with the included USB dongle, and is powered by a 4,000mAh battery. It’s big enough that you’ll type a long time between charges. When you’re not actively using it, the Air96 disconnects after a few minutes of no use and reconnects quickly to allow you to resume whatever you’re doing.

I mainly used it wirelessly via Bluetooth for work, but it can be used wired with the provided USB-C-to-USB-A braided cable. Connecting wirelessly and switching from my MacBook for work to my Windows computer for gaming was easy with a key command and a flick of a switch.

One of the most enjoyable features of the Air96 is its dedicated MacOS shortcut keys. Most mechanical keyboards offer only a swappable Windows and Command key, so having dedicated keys like a screenshot and Launchpad key helped increase productivity. Sure you can customize macros with Nuphy’s Console software, but here it’s already given to you.

For $120, the Air96 is well worth it for its sturdy, low-profile design, battery life and features that are typically found in many other full-sized mechanical keyboards that start at $200.

With an estimated 220 million subscribers, Spotify is arguably one of the most popular music and audio streaming platforms in the world. CNET also ranks Spotify as one of the best music streaming services on the market and gave it a 2022 Editors’ Choice Award.

Spotify lets you listen to music wherever you are, recommends new songs based on your activity and provides fun, personalized streaming data at the end of every year in its Spotify Wrapped experience. You can also make and share collaborative playlists with friends on social media or with the whole world through the app.

If you feel like something is missing from your listening experience, though, Spotify lets you take control of various settings to make your music sound more superb. That way whether you’re in a quiet library, on your morning commute or pumping some iron in the gym, your music will always fit the mood.

Here’s how to adjust and perfect your Spotify listening experience no matter what the situation.

Adjust your base volume to match your environment

Volume is pretty easy to figure out, but did you know Spotify lets premium users adjust the base volume of the app depending on their environment? You can select either Quiet, Normal or Loud, and each has its own benefit.

Quiet will make songs a little quieter and sound cleaner, making it a good choice if you’re relaxing at home. Normal makes songs play at a medium base volume, and the sound is less crisp than Quiet. This is a good choice for most people and situations. Loud is — you guessed it — louder, but you might lose some audio quality because of the loudness. This option is good if you’re at the gym or other similarly noisy environments.

Here’s how to adjust the base volume on your iPhone:

1. Open the Spotify app and tap on your profile picture in the upper left corner.
2. Tap the gear icon to open the Setting and privacy menu.
3. Tap Playback.
4. Under Volume level there are three options: Loud, Normal and Quiet. Pick whichever option works for you, and Spotify will adjust the sound accordingly.

If you’re using the Spotify app on a Mac, here’s how to adjust the base volume:

1. Open Spotify.
2. Click on your profile picture, then select Settings.
3. Under Audio Quality, you should see Volume level.
4. Click the drop-down bar to the right of Volume level.
5. From here, you see the same Loud, Normal and Quiet options.

Here’s how to adjust the base volume if you’re using the Spotify app on an Android device:

1. Open Spotify.
2. Tap the gear icon to access Settings.
3. Under Playback you should see Volume Level.
4. Next to Volume Level you should see the Loud, Normal and Quiet options. Pick the one you want.

Finally, here’s how to adjust the base volume in Spotify while on a Windows computer:

1. Open Spotify.
2. Click your account name in the top-right corner.
3. Click Settings.
4. Under Audio Quality, you should see Volume level. Click the drop-down bar to the right.
5. Select either Loud, Normal or Quiet.

Use the Spotify equalizer for more control

If you prefer being more hands-on with how your bass and treble come across in each song, you can adjust the in-app equalizer. Adjusting your bass affects lower-frequency sounds, making your music sound deeper with increased bass or flatter with less bass. Treble affects the higher sound frequencies, making your music sound brighter and crisper with increased treble, or duller and kind of muddied with less treble.

Here’s how to access the equalizer on your iPhone:

1. Open Spotify.
2. Tap your profile picture in the upper left corner to access Settings and privacy.
3. Tap Playback.
4. Scroll down and tap Equalizer.
5. Read below about how to find the perfect fit.

Here’s how to access the equalizer on your Android device:

1. Open Spotify.
2. Tap the gear icon to access Settings.
3. Under Audio quality, tap Equalizer.

How to find the right equalizer setting

iPhones and Android devices both feature a manual equalizer slider and a handful of premade genre-based equalizers.

You should see the manual equalizer slider, which looks like a line graph with six dots. When you first get to this page, the equalizer should be flat.

Each dot on the graph can be adjusted for more or less sound. The far left bar represents your bass, the far right bar controls your treble and the middle bars control — you guessed it — your midrange. You can tweak the bars as you see fit.

There are also genre-based equalizers on this page. You can pick which genre you’re listening to and the app automatically adjusts the sliders to optimize for that style of music. After picking one, you can further adjust the sliders for the perfect listening experience.

If you want to reset the equalizer, there’s a genre-based equalizer called Flat. This will reset the equalizer to its default.

You can also access the equalizer on your Windows computer. Here’s how.

1. Open the Spotify app.
2. Click your profile in the top right corner of the window.
3. Click Settings.
4. Click the slider next to Equalizer.

Now you can adjust the equalizer slider as you see fit. You can also click the dropdown menu next to Presets to access the genre-based equalizers.

The Mac version of Spotify doesn’t have an in-application equalizer. But you can search for an equalizer application to help you in your journey to find the best sound.

Adjust the quality of your music for a clearer sound

You can also adjust the audio quality of your music. This is handy if you’re using mobile data and want to save money on your phone bill, as reducing the audio quality takes up less bandwidth and uses less data. Increasing the quality of your music should let you hear the finer details of the music and give you a clearer listening experience.

Here’s how to change the audio quality on mobile and tablet:

1. Open the Spotify app.
2. Tap your profile picture to access Settings.
3. Tap Audio Quality.
4. Under WiFi streaming and Cellular streaming, you can select Automatic, Low, Normal or High. The Automatic option adjusts the audio quality to whatever your signal strength is. If you’re a paid subscriber, you’ll see a fifth option under both WiFi streaming and Cellular streaming called Very high.

How to change the audio quality on your desktop:

1. Open Spotify.
2. Click on your profile picture to access Settings.
3. Under Audio Quality, click the drop-down menu next to Streaming quality.
4. Choose between Low, Normal, High or Automatic options, and paid subscribers also have the Very high option.

You can also adjust the audio quality of your music. This is handy if you’re using mobile data and don’t want to bump up your phone bill. Reducing the audio quality will use less data.

For more on Spotify, see which Spotify plan is best for you and how Spotify stacks up against Apple Music.