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Garmin is a trusted brand in tech for workout and sports enthusiasts, but that level of quality often comes with a premium price to match. If you’re looking for deals on Garmin products like smartwatches, dash cams, GPS navigators and other gear, Woot has a number of factory-refurbished options available for less than you’d pay for brand-new items. That means these products have been returned, inspected and restored to fully working condition, making them as close to new as you can get without actually being new. These offers are only available today, April 7, while supplies last.

Exercise enthusiasts looking for more than just a tracker can grab the updated version of one of our favorite smartwatches for 2023, Garmin’s Venu 2 Plus. The original Venu 2 won a CNET Editors’ Choice Award in 2021 and the Venu 2 Plus won an Editors’ Choice Award in 2022. This smartwatch works with both Android and iOS devices, making it a great choice for just about anyone. Plus, it has an AMOLED display, offers activity tracking and gives you insight into other health data. It also has speaker and microphone support (unlike other models) and gets up to eight days of battery life per charge. Originally $450, Woot has gray, black and ivory variations on sale for just $300.

Another solid option is the Fenix 6 smartwatch, which is also available for just $300 right now. While it’s not the newest model in the Fenix line, it’s a decent smartwatch with GPS, fitness and sleep tracking. It has a 1.3-inch display and includes convenient features like Garmin pay for contactless payments and also sports solar-charging capabilities, which can extend the battery life as you’re enjoying the outdoors. You can also grab the 6X Pro edition for $30 more.

Dash cams are also a good investment, because they can record your adventures or collect evidence if you ever encounter road hazards or get into an accident while traveling. There are a couple of dash cams available in this sale, starting as low as $110.

Cyclists can score Garmin’s Edge 130 Plus GPS bike computer for just $100, or splurge on the Edge 830 for $280. These devices can track your distance, offer training guidance and record other data that can offer you insights on your performance. And golf enthusiasts can snag savings on a couple of items, too. The Approach Z82 GPS laser range finder, which is down to $400 — a $200 savings on the regular list price of a brand-new version. And the Approach S12 golf watch — which comes preloaded with over 42,000 golf courses worldwide — is just $110 at Woot. That’s a $90 savings over the current price at Garmin.

There are a ton of other options available, and each product comes with a warranty, just in case — so be sure to shop the entire sale selection at Woot and cash in on these deals before they’re gone.

T-Mobile said Thursday that it’ll continue to offer its customers free MLB.TV subscriptions through 2028 as part of the company’s latest deal with Major League Baseball. T-Mobile wrote that this deal has been its most popular offer for the past eight years.

Plans for MLB.TV start at around $150 a year. The service gives customers access to livestreams for out-of-market home games and away games. Customers get access to pre- and postgame shows, and they can pause and rewind games.

MLB TV Subscriptions

See at MLB

CNET’s Matt Elliott found MLB.TV’s blackout restrictions frustrating, but out-of-market baseball fans can still find plenty to enjoy about the streaming service.

Though MLB.TV is a nice perk for T-Mobile customers, the nation’s second-largest wireless carrier disclosed earlier this year that data from 37 million of its customers was stolen in a breach. The hack was the fifth data breach in five years, raising concern over the carrier’s security.

T-Mobile on Thursday also said that it’ll test an automated ball system at some Minor League games using the carrier’s 5G network. The carrier will continue its T-Mobile Little League Call Up Grant Program, too.

For more, check out CNET’s best sports streaming services of 2023, what to know about Apple’s Friday Night baseball games and how to watch the Yankees if you’re a cord cutter.

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Apple Watches monitor activity and biorhythms using sensors on the smartwatch’s underside that press against a user’s wrist. But future versions of Apple’s wearable could use sensors in the watch band to track hand gestures too, a new patent suggests.

When an Apple Watch wearer makes a hand gesture, muscles and tendons in the wrist shift, sending electrical signals that could be tracked by electrodes threaded through the watch band, the patent proposes. Figures show the range of movement such a band could track, including palm up and down, rotating the wrist clockwise or counterclockwise, and lateral motions (like when waving).

Apple Watches already have accessibility features that allow users to control their watches by pinching a thumb and finger or clenching their fist, as pointed out by AppleInsider, which reported earlier on the new patent. Increasing gesture recognition capability could expand accessibility in general.

Having more ways to track body movement could lead to improvements in fitness and health monitoring, too, by using your flexed arm position for more precise workout measurements. If the gesture detection is sensitive enough, it could lead Apple to find ways for its wearables to control other devices, whether to play games or navigate around Apple TV menus.

That’s far in the future, when — or if — such a sensor-laden wristband ever makes it to production. While Apple has been able to include more sensors and harness existing ones in its smartwatches to track more metrics like blood oxygen level and skin temperature, it remains to be seen whether they can make a flexible band that can add more bio-tracking to the Apple Watch’s body-monitoring arsenal. We’re still years away from getting smart wearables that function well enough to replace our existing wardrobes.

Roku on Wednesday said its customers can now access Disney Plus Basic. The announcement comes four months after Disney launched the plan in December.

Disney Plus Basic costs $8 a month, and people can access Disney’s full content catalog of shows and movies with the subscription. However, ads play during shows and movies, and customers can’t download content.

After testing the plan, CNET’s Kourtnee Jackson found that sometimes Disney Plus Basic’s ads don’t play while watching some shows and movies. She did find that the ads that do play are about one-minute long.

Disney Plus Basic with Ads

See at Disney+

Other streaming services, like Netflix and HBO Max, have ad-tier plans similar to Disney Plus Basic. Those plans cost $7 a month and $10 a month, respectively. Roku has over 70 million active accounts worldwide, and is the No. 1 TV streaming platform in North America.

For more, check out whether Disney Plus Basic is worth it and CNET’s best streaming services of 2023.

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Thinking of spring cleaning? Whether you’re finally cleaning up the junk drawer or upgrading your tech, don’t condemn your old device to your in-home gadget graveyard — or worse, the garbage. We all hang onto outdated tech for our own reasons, but there are also multiple ways to repurpose old devices for your smart home, using them as security cameras and more.

Whatever the tech, when it’s finally time to say goodbye, there’s a right way to dispose of your old gadgets — and there are a lot of wrong ways. We’ll show you which is which.

What to do before you get rid of a device

When you’re finished with a gadget, make sure it’s also finished with you. Make sure to back up anything you want off the device — photos, videos, songs — and then perform a factory reset. Here are a few CNET articles to help clarify the finer points of wiping a device:

• How to Wipe Your Phone or Tablet Before You Sell It
• The Best Way to Completely Wipe Your Android Device
• What to Do With Your iPhone or Android Phone Before Donating It
• How to Reset and Clean My Laptop to Give to Someone Else?

Here are the best places here in the US to recycle, repurpose or give new life to your old technology.

How to recycle smartphones

Smartphone Recycling lets you print a free FedEx shipping label or request a recycling kit. Ship your old smartphone and you might even get paid, depending on the device’s condition and age. Smartphone Recycling accepts devices in bulk, so you have to ship a minimum of 10. Depending on how long you’ve been hoarding phones, you might meet this quota on your own. If not, check with friends and family and make it a group effort.

What you can recycle: Smartphone Recycling accepts smartphones, cell phones, MacBooks, tablets, iPhones, iPads, iPods and Apple Watches, as well as batteries attached or installed in devices.

Best Buy

Best Buy accepts a wide range of tech products and generally takes three items per house per day. Specifics may vary depending on where you live, but you can check with the state-specific recycling information dropdown menu on the site.

Best Buy also offers a haul-away option for larger appliances like TVs, dishwashers, freezers, microwaves, treadmills and exercise bikes. If you’ve ordered a new product, Best Buy will take away your old one for recycling. There’s also a stand-alone haul-away option that costs $200. You can have two large items hauled away as well as an unlimited number of smaller items, with some exceptions.

What you can recycle: Best Buy can take TVs, cables and chargers, media players, projectors, laptops, hard drives, webcams, cellphones, calculators, radios, landlines, headsets, vacuums, fans, ink and toner cartridges, alarm clocks, speaker systems, e-readers, video game consoles, memory cards, camcorders, digital cameras, GPS devices and more.

Staples

Office supply store Staples also offers free recycling options for old technology. Staples accepts up to seven items per customer per day. The company also has various haul-away options, driver pickup and pallet pickup, as well as prepaid address labels available.

What you can recycle: Staples can recycle accessories, adapters, cables, computers, cordless and mobile phones, digital cameras, laptops, routers, tablets, webcams, ink and toner and other office tech items.

Home Depot

Home Depot has an explainer on its website about how to safely dispose of dead batteries, old paint, electronics and other items, as well as tips for upcycling and repurposing. According to RecycleStuff.org, the services are drop-off only for residential customers.

What you can recycle: According to RecycleStuff.org, Home Depot accepts household alkaline batteries (AA, AAA, C, D, 9V), lithium-ion batteries, nickel-cadmium batteries, rechargeable household batteries, cell phones and LED light bulbs.

US Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA doesn’t handle recycling and drop-offs the same way other businesses do, but it does have a handy guide that makes it easier to get the information you need. The EPA’s directory breaks down donation and recycling by electronic device, company name, logo and any additional details.

What you can recycle: Again, the EPA’s directory links you out to specific companies and their policies, but according to the list, you can recycle and donate mobile devices, PCs and TVs as well as imaging equipment and supplies.

Electronics Take-Back Coalition

Like the EPA, Electronics Take-Back Coalition makes it easy to find manufacturer take-back programs in the US. You can browse over 25 companies’ take-back program summaries, including Acer, Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Panasonic, Sony and more.

The Electronics Take-back Coalition doesn’t handle the recycling, but it can direct you to the proper resource for your needs.

What you can recycle: Depending on the company, you can find places to turn in iPhones, iPads, smartphones, monitors, computers, printers, keyboards, mice, DVD and VHS players, cameras, TVs and more.

EcoATM

EcoATM gives you a price estimate for your old phone that you can lock in on the mobile app using your old device’s IMEI number. EcoATM will ask a few questions about your device like brand, model, memory, carrier and condition before generating a quote. From there, you can visit one of the organization’s kiosks, located at stores like Kroger, Walmart and Dollar General.

What you can recycle: EcoATM can help with iPhones, Samsung smartphones, tablets and MP3 players, Google Pixel phones, LG phones and tablets, Motorola phones and ZTE phones. You can also recycle chargers and cellular accessories like cases, but you won’t be paid for them.

Earth911

Earth911 lets you search by device and ZIP code to find appropriate nearby locations to turn in old phones. When you visit the organization’s website, click Where to Recycle at the top of the page to get started. Earth911 works with well-known businesses like Lowe’s and Target, as well as local waste and recycling centers.

What you can recycle: Earth911 helps you find locations to recycle, but it will also note the materials the location accepts, whether it allows drop-off or pickup for residential or businesses, as well as any additional information.

Recycling for Charities

Recycling for Charities accepts technology donations, but gives a percentage of the device’s value to the charity of your choosing. Scroll through a directory of charities, select one, enter the required information and click donate. Charities receive anywhere between 25 cents and $100 from your items.

What you can recycle: Wireless cell phones and corresponding batteries, iPhones, wireless pagers, digital cameras, iPods, PDAs and Palm Pilots.

Call2Recycle

Call2Recycle is a battery-focused recycling program. The organization offers drop-off options at locations like Home Depot, Lowe’s and Staples, as well as shipment boxes for batteries and cell phones. Drop-offs are free, but recycling kits and shipment boxes cost between $45 and $115, depending on the size.

What you can recycle: Rechargeable batteries like Nickel Cadmium, Nickel Metal Hydride, Lithium Ion, Nickel Zinc and Small Sealed Lead Acid weighing up to 11 pounds. Call2Recycle also accepts single-use batteries like AA, AAA, 9V, C, D and button cell batteries weighing up to 11 pounds. The organization also accepts cell phones and their corresponding batteries regardless of size, make, model or age.

For more information, check out five things you can recycle (and five things you can’t) and the right way to recycle plastic and the dos and don’ts of recycling metal cans.

Apple’s latest software update, iOS 16.4, brings more than a batch of new emoji to your iPhone. The iOS update also brings Voice Isolation, a handy FaceTime feature, to phone calls. Apple introduced Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum to FaceTime calls with the release of iOS 15 in 2021, but only Voice Isolation is available for phone calls too.

When enabled, Voice Isolation muffles distracting background noises that interrupt your phone call. That way, if you’re on a business call or catching up with friends, you won’t be interrupted by your dog’s barking or construction outside your home.

To enable Voice Isolation, you have to be on a phone call, and you won’t find the feature in Settings. But once you turn Voice Isolation on, it will stay on for all subsequent phone calls until it’s turned off.

Here’s how to activate and disable Voice Isolation for phone calls.

How to enable Voice Isolation

1. Start or answer a phone call.

2. Swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen to access your Control Center.

3. Tap Mic Mode near the top-right corner of your screen.

4. Tap Voice Isolation.

Pro tip: Instead of turning this feature on during a call with someone else, you can call yourself and enable Voice Isolation by following the steps above.

To disable Voice Isolation, follow the same steps above and tap Standard in Mic Mode. This will return your microphone back to its default setting.

What is Wide Spectrum?

Alongside Voice Isolation in Mic Mode is Wide Spectrum. Unlike Voice Isolation — which muffles background sounds — Wide Spectrum amplifies background sounds without affecting your voice.

Wide Spectrum is useful for calls with multiple people on one phone line. That way, everyone can be heard, not just the person holding the phone.

Currently, Wide Spectrum is only available for FaceTime calls, not phone calls. But, since the feature is still present in Mic Mode when accessed during a phone call, this feature might become available for phone calls in the future.

For more, check out other new features in iOS 16.4, how to turn Voice Isolation on in FaceTime calls and what might be coming to iOS 16.5.

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If you’re one of the millions of Mac users, you’ve probably come across a few Mac features that have surprised you. According to the digital inclusion consultancy Digital Unite, macOS is considered easier to use than other operating systems such as Windows and Linux. Despite macOS’s ease of use, there are plenty of hidden features in the operating system that Mac users might not know about, like taking a screen recording on your Mac without additional software.

Here are 10 Mac features, tips and tricks you don’t want to miss out on.

Use Split View

Split View lets you have two apps running side-by-side on one Mac screen without having to resize either window. This saves you from switching between apps and losing your place if you’re working in two different programs.

Here’s how to enable and turn off Split View.

1. Open two apps and place them on opposite sides of the screen.

2. In the top left corner of one app’s window, hover over, or click, the green bubble to open a dropdown menu.

3. Select either Tile Window to the Left of Screen or Tile Window to the Right of Screen. That app will fill that side of the screen.

4. Click the other app on the opposite side of the screen for the app to fill the remainder of the screen.

To exit Split View, click the green bubble again or press Esc on your keyboard. This only exits one app from Split View — the other app will now be in full screen mode on its own Desktop.

Force quit with Option

If an app on your Mac has frozen or isn’t working properly, you can use the Option key to quickly force quit the app. Press and hold Option, then in the dock across the bottom of your screen click with two fingers the app causing you issues. Then click Force Quit to shut down the malfunctioning app.

Use Spotlight for conversions and simple math

You can use your Mac’s built-in Spotlight feature to perform searches as well as conversions or do simple math. To open Spotlight, press Command + space bar or click the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner of your screen in the menu bar. Then, type in a math problem or what you want to convert — like gallons to liters — and Spotlight will do the rest. No Google needed.

Try different shortcuts to take a screenshot

Screenshots are an easy way to maintain receipts for digital purchases or have extra copies of tickets for flights or sports games. On a Mac, there are a few different shortcuts to take screenshots.

Pressing Command + Shift + 3 takes a screenshot of your entire screen. This is a useful way to screenshot a video quickly so you don’t miss a frame.

Press Command + Shift + 4 turns your mouse into a crosshair. This lets you click and drag the frame for your screenshot part of your screen or an app’s window.

If you press Command + Shift + 4 and then press your space bar, your mouse turns into a camera icon and it can take screenshots of the window, application or other element your mouse is over. When your mouse is over a specific element for a screenshot, that element will have a light-blue filter over it to show it’s being selected. Taking a screenshot this way also makes the screenshot look cleaner and gives it a nice shadow.

Easily take a screen recording

Sometimes people learn better by watching a video than reading instructions. In these instances, taking a screen recording is better than any detailed list you might write.

Press Command + Shift + 5, then in the toolbar that appears near the bottom of your screen, click either of the icons highlighted below. The icon with the dashed border on the right will allow you to set a border to what you’re recording, and the icon on the left will record your whole screen. When you’ve selected which you want to use, click Record. To stop recording, click the Stop icon in your Menu bar across the top of your screen, or you can press Command + Control + Esc.

Save screenshots and recordings in a different location

Screenshots and recordings save to your desktop by default, and they can quickly clutter your workspace. But you can choose a new location to save these files so you can keep your desktop nice and tidy. Here’s how.

1. Press Command + Shift + 5.

2. Click Options.

3. Under Save to, click one of the preselected destinations, like Documents or Messages, or Other Location to save your screenshot and recordings somewhere else, like a specific folder.

Easily preview files

If all your files in Finder or on your Desktop are named something similar or look the same, you can preview your content without opening them. Click a file once and then press your spacebar. Your file is now viewable without opening the Preview app. To close the file, press your spacebar again.

You can also quickly view and exit a file by selecting a file, holding the spacebar to preview it and then releasing the spacebar.

Copy text while previewing files

If you’ve got a document or screenshot full of text, you can copy the content from those files while previewing them. Preview the file by selecting it and hitting the spacebar, then move your mouse over what you want to copy and your pointer will transform into the cursor icon. You can now select and copy text like you normally would. This can be especially helpful if you’ve taken a text-heavy screenshot, like a recipe, and want to convert it into a document for better organization.

Write with emoji online and in apps

Emoji are a fun way to communicate with people in text, online chats and comments. Most people know how to access their emoji keyboard on their iPhone, and you can access the same keyboard on your Mac, too. You can use the emoji keyboard in certain apps, like Notes, social media chats online and search tools, like Google. However, this doesn’t seem to work on certain sites, like Google Docs.

To access the emoji keyboard in most places on your Mac, click into a text box or other location you’d type a message and press either Function — the Fn key — or Control + Command + spacebar. Both will pull up your emoji keyboard where you can search for the emoji you want, as you would on your phone.

Easily rename files

Renaming files can help keep your folders organized and easily searchable. To easily rename items, select a file and press Return. The file name will be highlighted and you can start typing your new file name.

For more Apple news, check out what’s new on your iPhone with iOS 16.4, the highs and lows of Apple’s Classical Music app and the rumors around Apple’s AR/VR headset.

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Big-screen Chromebooks began to emerge last year. The 16-inch Acer Chromebook 516 GE was released last fall as one of the first gaming-focused Chromebooks. And before that, the 17.3-inch Acer Chromebook 317 from last spring still holds the crown as the world’s biggest Chromebook. It is certainly large, but the model we tested was based on a low-end Pentium processor and, thus, underpowered — especially when held up against a gaming Chromebook. The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook slots in between these two extremes. It boasts a modern, 16-inch, 16:10 display powered by a modern, 12th-generation Core i3 chip but lacks the extra hardware found on a gaming Chromebook.

What prevents the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook from being included among this new breed of gaming Chromebook? For one, its display has the standard 60Hz refresh rate rather than a speedy 120Hz for smoother motion in games. For another, it lacks an anti-ghosting keyboard that can register every keystroke, even during the most furious action in a game. What you are left with, however, is a highly capable, roomy Chromebook for home use, whether you are working from home or just need an extra laptop for browsing the web and watching shows and movies. Just don’t stray too far from a wall outlet.

8.0

Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook (82V90001US)

$420 at Lenovo

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Like

• Roomy 16-inch 16:10 display
• Strong, Core i3 performance
• Solid build quality
• 1080p webcam

Don’t Like

• Short battery life
• No keyboard backlighting

Our IdeaPad 5i Chromebook test model costs $550 from Lenovo but is currently discounted to $420. It costs 550 in the UK and isn’t available in Australia, but the UK price converts to AU$1,020. That pricing puts it in the midrange of the Chromebook scale, and it offers excellent value with a 12th-gen Core i3 CPU, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of local storage. The roomy, 16-inch display features a crisp, 1,920×1,200-pixel resolution with 16:10 aspect ratio and is rated for a sufficient 300 nits of brightness. And above the display resides a sharp 1080p webcam with a physical privacy shutter.

The Core i3-1215U might be a bit underpowered in a workhorse Windows laptop and have you pining for a more powerful Core i7 or even a midrange Core i5 chip. But in this Chromebook, the i3 has plenty of muscle to run Google’s lightweight ChromeOS without a hitch. Apps open quickly, and I was able to multitask with more than a dozen tabs running in Chrome without experiencing any lag.

Its 3D graphics performance is lackluster as indicated by its poor 3DMark result, but it performed well on Google’s Octane 2 benchmark, which measures its ability to run a variety of web applications. It managed to last only 5 hours and 21 minutes on our online streaming battery drain test, however, which is a great deal shorter than competing Chromebooks and a bit shocking given that the system is based on an efficient U-series Intel Core processor.

Capacious Chromebook

Despite its large, 16-inch, 16:10 display, the IdeaPad 5i Chromebook remains quite portable, weighing a reasonable 4.2 pounds. That’s nearly a pound lighter than the 5-pound, 17.3-inch Acer Chromebook 317 but slightly heavier than the 3.8-pound, 16-inch Acer Chromebook 516 GE. It might be a bit too big to carry to class each day, and the below-average battery life also keeps it from being a top pick for campus life.

Like most mainstream Chromebooks, the IdeaPad 5i features a plastic enclosure. But this one looks and feels better than the typical plastic Chromebook. The dark gray color gives it an understated, classy look. Even better is the firm feel of the plastic chassis; there is very little flex in the keyboard deck and lid protecting the display.

The display features a fine, 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution with a 16:10 aspect ratio that’s taller than a traditional 16:9 widescreen display. The added vertical space means you need to scroll less through long documents and web pages. The display really feels roomy and provides ample space for multitaskers to juggle open windows. The display is rated for a sufficient 300 nits of brightness, and my own measurements confirmed that rating. The display looked washed out under direct sunlight but provided enough brightness in every indoor scenario, including a sun-drenched breakfast nook.

The display features a standard 60Hz refresh rate, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play games on it. Browser-based games ran smoothly in Chrome and looked great on the big display. The speakers produce underwhelming, muddied audio, so keep your headphones or Bluetooth speaker nearby for playing games and watching shows and movies.

Along with the modern display and modern CPU comes a modern webcam in the form of a 1080p camera. It produces a clean, well-balanced image that’s night and day compared to the image you’re likely accustomed to from a 720p webcam. The webcam also has a physical privacy shutter, which lends peace of mind when the camera isn’t in use.

Asus squeezes in a number pad that Excel jockeys and other data-entry types might enjoy, but its inclusion doesn’t ruin the rest of the keyboard. The keys feel well-spaced and offer a soft and quiet but responsive feel. The keyboard lacks backlighting, making typing more difficult than need be in a dark room. We see some budget models with a lack of keyboard backlighting but expect to see this useful feature on a mainstream model.

The IdeaPad 5i Chromebook lacks an HDMI port, but it does supply a pair of USB-C ports for your external monitor, data and power connection needs. There are also two USB-A ports for connecting a mouse or older USB devices, and you also get a microSD card slot for easy local storage expansion if you fill up the 128GB eMMC flash storage.

With its roomy display, a powerful-for-a-Chromebook Core i3 processor and an attractive, well-built chassis, the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook is a great pick as a WFH Chromebook or an extra family entertainment device for your home. It’s inexpensive and provides snappy performance and ample screen space for multitaskers to get you through the busiest parts of the day and watching shows and movies at night. And the full-HD webcam will allow you to appear crisp and clear to your video conference mates, too. For students trekking to class each day, however, a smaller and more portable Chromebook with longer battery life such as the Acer Chromebook Spin 513 or Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook is a better choice.