Category: Technologies

If you’ve been holding out for an AirPods deal worth buying this year, now’s the time to whip out your credit card. Amazon has just dropped the price of the entry-level AirPods 2 down to just $69 in an early Black Friday deal you won’t want to miss.

This deal is a match for a Walmart sale on the AirPods 2, though you’ll need a Walmart Plus membership to snag the savings there until 3 p.m. ET today, Nov. 8, when anyone can get in on the deal. Amazon hasn’t waited around on matching the price though, meaning you can score the $60 savings right now.

The AirPods 2 sell for $129 at the Apple Store and go for nearer $100 at other retailers most of the year, so either way you look at it this is a stellar deal on some of the most popular earbuds on the market. This is a new all-time low price for the earbuds, beating the $79 price we saw previously during Prime Day.

And though these are a slightly older model, the AirPods 2 remain the best AirPods for folks on a tighter budget — especially at this price. They have the same H1 chip found in the newer AirPods 3, so you get the same Siri hands-free experience and easy device switching across your iPhone, Mac and iPad. You’ll get up to 24 hours of playback time on a single charge (with the included charging case).

A subscription to Walmart Plus provides a bevy of benefits like discounted gas and rewards for spending, and the most popular might be the same-day delivery of more than 160,000 different items. But that’s not the only delivery perk you’ll get with a Walmart Plus subscription.

Read more: Walmart Black Friday Deals: Score Early Savings on Tech, Home Goods and More

Walmart Plus offers two types of shipping — free shipping with any purchase amount and free same-day grocery delivery, depending on where you live. We’ll explain below. You can also return items for free.

We’ll tell you about the benefits you get as a Walmart Plus member when it comes to shipping and delivery. For more, here’s what you need to know about signing up for Walmart Plus.

Free shipping with any purchase

If you’ve got a Walmart Plus membership, you can get free shipping on any purchase — even if it’s as low as $3 or you’ve ordered several boxes worth of products. There’s no minimum or maximum. Plus, you can get your items as early as the next day with a Plus membership.

For non-members, you have to spend at least $35 to get free shipping. So if you only need to order a set of sponges for the kitchen, you’ll either have to pay $7 in shipping or look around the house for other things you need to buy. Pickup is also a free option, but it’s not as convenient.

If you typically buy things you need as you think of them rather than stacking your cart, a Walmart Plus membership, which costs $98 annually or $13 a month, could be beneficial just to get the free shipping benefit. You can also sign up for a free 30-day trial right now.

Free same-day grocery delivery

Walmart Plus offers free same-day grocery delivery, depending on your location. For some subscribers, they’ll have to spend a minimum of $35 to get free delivery. Otherwise, they can expect to pay a $7 delivery fee for orders below $35. Check your location before signing up to find out if you’ll have to pay the fee.

When you choose same-day delivery, you’ll have the option to select a timeframe by the hour for when your groceries arrive at your home. This convenience is to ensure you’ll be home when the food arrives so it’s not sitting outside, melting in the heat.

To find items eligible for same-day delivery, you’ll need to select “delivery” before you begin shopping. Your other options are “shipping” and “pickup” so make sure you select the correct one. If an item doesn’t have “delivery” listed next to it, it’s likely not eligible for same-day delivery and you’ll instead need to have it shipped.

Free returns without going to the store

If after getting an item shipped to your home you find it’s not what you expected, you can return it to Walmart without paying a fee. But you have more options than just driving it back to the store. You can print out a label from Walmart.com and ship it back to the store, or Walmart can send someone out to pick it up from your home — even if it’s a grocery item — for free.

The option to have someone pick up a return from your home is new as of March 2023. You don’t even need to print a label when you select this option. You do, however, need to be home when the person arrives to pick up the package. To select this return method, choose Returns from home. Note that not all items are eligible for return this way.

Also, you have 90 days to return the item after it’s been delivered to your home.

For more, don’t miss out on these student-only deals from Walmart Plus and more. Also, here’s what you need to know about Target Circle rewards and hidden Amazon Prime perks.

You don’t have to spend top dollar to get a decent laptop these days — especially with early Black Friday deals in full swing at the moment. Walmart’s sale officially kicks off today, and it knocks $90 off this 15.6-inch Lenovo IdeaPad 1, which drops the price to just $249. This deal is available to Walmart Plus members starting at 12 p.m. ET, and everyone else at 3 p.m. ET. 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.

This Lenovo laptop won’t compete with pricey high-end models, but it’s a decent option if you just want something for checking your email, browsing the web and other basic tasks. It comes equipped with an AMD Ryzen 3 quad-core processor, as well as 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. It has a sleek, frameless 15.6-inch full HD display and a built-in HD webcam for video calls, along with a battery life of up to 14 hours on a single charge. Plus, it’s powered by the latest Windows 11 OS in S mode, which is optimized for security and performance. At around 3.5 pounds, it’s a little on the heavy side, but it’s also just 0.7 inches thick, so it’s still slim enough to easily slip in your bag and take on the go.

Black Friday is just around the corner, and Amazon is already offering tons of excellent early deals. But pricey tech like TVs and tablets aren’t the only things you’ll find on sale right now. This is also a great chance to snag some discounted basics, like a spare wall charger or two.

This Ugreen USB-C adapter supports 30-watt fast charging, and right now Prime members can grab it for 35% off, which drops the price down to just $13. Other colors are available at 30% off even without Prime. There’s no set expiration for these deals, so we’d recommend getting your order in sooner rather than later.

This Ugreen power adapter has a single USB-C port that supports up to 30 watts of power delivery. That’s enough power to recharge the latest high-end iPhone 15 Pro Max up to 55% in just 30 minutes. Plus, it has multiple built-in safety features, including protection against short-circuiting, overloading and overheating to prevent damage to your devices. And it has an ultracompact design with a foldable plug that makes it easy to slip into your bag or pocket and take with you on the go. You can also save an extra 5% when you bundle it with other Ugreen mobile accessories, many of which are also on sale right now.

And if you’re looking for more tech and home discounts, be sure to hit up our massive Amazon Black Friday deal roundup.

Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are some of the best earbuds on the market right now — especially if you’re a Galaxy phone user. And right now, you’ve got a chance to snag yourself a pair for less. Both Amazon and Best Buy are offering an early Black Friday deal that knocks $60 off the list price, dropping them down to $170. There’s no set expiration at Amazon, but Best Buy only has this deal available until 9:59 p.m. PT (12:59 a.m. ET) tonight, so we’d recommend getting your order in before then.

Besides the superior fit, the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro offer better active noise cancellation, which is improved by about 40%. While they don’t compete with high-end models such as the Sony WF-1000XM5, they come close. They also have an excellent transparency mode, although the Buds 2 Pro do lack more fine-tuned noise canceling levels, which is a shame.

It also comes with many other great features for Galaxy device owners. For example, you can get 24-bit audio, unless you’re on an Android device that doesn’t support One UI, in which case you get AAC audio codec, so you’ll miss out on high-res audio tracks. Even so, audio performance is excellent, as you’d expect with earbuds at this price.

In terms of battery life, you get about 5 hours with ANC on and 8 hours with it off, plus another three full charges from the case. The Buds 2 Pro also comes with an IPX7 rating, meaning they’re water-resistant. In other words, they can handle sweat or a bit of wind and rain if you like to go jogging.

The Buds 2 Pro are treated by Samsung as a Galaxy accessory, given all the Galaxy-locked features, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering how popular Galaxy devices are. Even so, that might put you off buying the Buds 2 Pro, in which case it might be worth checking out some of these other earbuds and headphone deals for alternatives. And you can check out our roundups of all the best early Black Friday deals at both Amazon and Best Buy for even more bargains on headphones, as well as TVs, kitchen appliances, smart home devices and much more.

We live in a connected world, where losing your cellphone signal doesn’t just mean you can’t check Instagram — it could be a matter of life and death. It doesn’t matter which type of phone you use or even which cellular service provider you have, it’s inevitable that you’ll run into service disruptions, either from bad weather or remote areas that can weaken your phone signal.

Travel is going to be ramping up soon for the winter holidays, and losing your cellphone signal can get you into a real jam. If you want to avoid losing signal when navigating, dropping important calls with friends and family or even missing crucial travel updates and advisories this holiday season, there are several tips and tricks you can use to improve your cellphone signal.

The tried-and-true approach of turning on Airplane mode, waiting a few seconds, and then turning it off again can definitely help with reception. But when that doesn’t work, you might need to take more drastic steps, like removing your SIM card or resetting your network settings.

Before you dive into your phone’s settings, take a few minutes to perform some basic troubleshooting steps that could get your phone working at peak performance.

Note: Although software across different iPhone models is relatively the same, Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel and other Android devices may have different software versions, and so certain settings and where they are located might differ from device to device.

To improve your cellphone service, try these steps first

The settings on your phone can help you get better cell service, but there are other tricks for improving your reception without even touching your phone’s software.

• Move yourself so that there are no obstructions between your phone and any cell towers outside. That might involve stepping away from metal objects or concrete walls, which both kill reception. Instead, get to a window or go outside if possible.
• Remove your phone case. It doesn’t hurt to remove whatever case you have on your phone, especially if it’s thick, so that the phone’s antenna isn’t blocked by anything and can get a better signal.
• Make sure your phone is charged. Searching for and connecting to a stronger signal drains power, so if your phone battery is already low on charge, you may have a difficult time getting good service.

Always start by turning Airplane mode on and off

Turning your phone’s connection off and then back on is the quickest and easiest way to try and fix your signal woes. If you’re moving around from one location to another, toggling Airplane mode restarts the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular network modems, which forces them to find the best signal in the area.

Android: Swipe down from the top of your screen — to access the Quick Settings panel — and then tap the Airplane mode icon. Wait for your phone to completely disconnect from its Wi-Fi and cellular connections. It doesn’t happen instantly, so give it a good 15 seconds before you tap on the Airplane mode icon again.

iPhone: On the iPhone, you can access Airplane mode from the Control Center, but that varies depending on which iPhone model you have. On the iPhone X and later, swipe down from the top-right corner to access the Control Center. On older iPhone models, swipe up from the bottom of the screen. Then tap the Airplane mode icon, which will turn orange when it’s enabled. Again, wait up to 15 seconds before turning it off.

If airplane mode doesn’t work, restart your phone

Our phones are miniature computers, and just like computers, sometimes you can fix issues like network connection by simply restarting them.

Android: Hold down the power button, or the power button and the volume down key (depending on your Android phone), until the on-screen menu shows up, and then tap Restart. If your phone doesn’t offer a restart option, you can simply tap Power Off to shut down your device, and then boot it back up with the power button.

iPhone: On the iPhone X and older models, hold down the sleep/wake button and either one of the volume buttons and then swipe right on the power slider to turn off the device. Wait until it fully turns off, then press down on the sleep/wake button to turn it back on.

Alternatively, you can do a force reset on your iPhone: Press the volume up button, followed by the volume down button and then press and hold the side button. Keep holding it in, after your phone’s screen goes black and until you see the Apple logo appear again.

If your iPhone has a home button, hold down the sleep/wake button until the power slider is displayed and then drag the slider to the right. Once the device is turned off, press and hold the sleep/wake button until you see the Apple logo.

Take your SIM card out of your phone

Another troubleshooting step that might help is to remove your SIM card and then place it back in your phone with the phone turned on. If the SIM card is dirty, clean it. If it has any physical defects, you may need to replace it.

You’ll need a SIM card tool — usually included in your phone’s box — or an unfolded paper clip or sewing needle to get the SIM tray out of your phone.

All phones: Remove the SIM card, check to see if it’s damaged and positioned in the SIM tray correctly, then put it back in your phone.

eSIM: For phones with an eSIM — that is, an embedded electronic SIM in your phone — there’s nothing for you to remove. The best you can do is restart your phone.

Check your carrier settings (and update your software)

Mobile carriers frequently send out carrier settings updates to help improve connectivity for calls, data and messages on their network. Although this feature is available on all iPhone models, it’s not universal on Android, so you might not find carrier settings if you don’t have a supported phone.

iPhone: Carrier updates should just appear, and you can update from the pop-up message that appears. To force your iPhone to check for a carrier settings update, go to Settings > General > About on your phone. If an update is available, you’ll be prompted to install it.

Android: As mentioned before, not all Android phones have carrier settings, so you’ll have to open the Settings app and type in “carrier settings” to find any possible updates. On supported Pixels, go to Settings > Network & internet > Internet, tap the gear next to your carrier name and then tap Carrier settings versions.

Reset your phone’s network settings

Sometimes all you need is a clean slate to fix an annoying connectivity issue. Refreshing your phone’s network settings is one way to do that. But be forewarned, resetting your network settings will also reset any saved Wi-Fi passwords, VPN connections and custom APN settings for those on carriers that require additional setup.

Android: In the Settings app, search for “reset” or more specifically “reset network settings” and tap on the setting. On the Pixel 6 Pro running Android 13, the setting is called Reset Wi-Fi, mobile & Bluetooth. After you reset your network settings, remember to reconnect your phone to your home and work Wi-Fi networks.

iPhone: Go to Settings > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network settings. The next page will warn you that resetting your network settings will reset your settings for Wi-Fi, mobile data and Bluetooth. Tap Reset Network Settings and your phone will restart.

Contact your phone carrier

Sometimes unexpected signal issues can be traced back to problems with your wireless carrier. A cell tower could be down, or the tower’s fiber optic cable could have been cut, causing an outage.

For consistent problems connecting to or staying connected to a cellular or data network, it’s possible your carrier’s coverage doesn’t extend well into your neighborhood. To help, some carriers will offer a network extender — a device that acts as a small wireless tower that relies on your internet connection, such as AT&T’s MicroCell or T-Mobile’s Personal CellSpot.

Other times, a newfound signal issue can be due to a defect with your phone or a SIM card that’s gone bad. Contacting your carrier to begin troubleshooting after you’ve tried these fixes is the next best step to resolving your spotty signal.

If all else fails, try a signal booster to improve cell reception

If after going through all of our troubleshooting steps, including talking to your carrier to go over your options, you’re still struggling to keep a good signal — try a booster. A signal booster receives the same cellular signal your carrier uses, then amplifies it just enough to provide coverage in a room or your entire house.

The big downside here is the cost. Wilson has three different boosters designed for home use, ranging in price from $349 for single room coverage to $999 to cover your entire home. To be clear, we haven’t specifically tested these models. Wilson offers a 30-day money back guarantee and a two-year warranty should you have any trouble with its products.

With your signal issues resolved, using your phone as a mobile hotspot for a backup connection is easy, but there are some things you need to know. If you’re looking for iPhone-specific tips and tricks, check out our guide to hidden features on iOS 16. And for Android fans, we have some hidden features for Android 12 as well.

It was a beautiful October wedding in 2015. The bride wore a princess-inspired ballgown and strolled down the outdoor aisle on the arm of her tuxedoed father, my husband’s cousin. I was glad to have my iPhone 5 to snap some photos. We don’t get to Arizona often, since it’s 1,500 miles away from our Seattle home.

But while standing around outside chit-chatting before the reception, I made the mistake of letting my 7-year-old daughter borrow my fairly new phone to play Plants vs. Zombies. CRASH! It slipped through her fingers and smashed to the hot sidewalk. Now, it was my phone that was the zombie.

Right up until I flipped the damaged phone over, I told myself maybe it wouldn’t be that bad — I’ve dropped my phone dozens of times, and generally, it lives to see another day.

Hey, we all gotta go sometime. This was my phone’s time. The screen was a shattered mess. That Arizona cement does not play. Just touching the screen stabbed my finger with a tiny shard of glass.

Cracked screens are still the most common way phones are damaged, according to a survey this month by Allstate Protection Plans. In the last year alone, people in the US have collectively spent more than $17 billion repairing or replacing their phones.

And while Apple has made huge strides in the technology onboard the iPhone over the years, their durability is still a thing of nightmares: Allstate’s 6-foot drop test found that the latest model, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, shattered on impact with a sidewalk.

Since it’s such a common occurrence, there are a few ways you can prepare for a broken iPhone, from AppleCare Plus to third-party insurers. Here’s what I did, and some other ways to handle a shattered phone.

The solution

When my iPhone hit the sidewalk, I figured I was done for. My phone addiction was going to have to get put on hold until we flew back home and I had the time to figure out my next steps.

I was wrong. My husband, the tech geek in our household, scoffed at the idea of waiting several days and 1,500 miles till I could use my phone again. He bet me we could get it fixed before even trekking to the airport.

I had forgotten that we had paid for AppleCare Plus on our phones, meaning we essentially had an insurance plan that covered repairs. I’m usually the kind of person who shies away the hard sell from salespeople trying to push any form of extended warranty. I don’t trust them, and if I’ve already paid big bucks for some device, I fight against any idea that I should give a store MORE of my money. Didn’t I just pay you? And kind of a large amount?

But we’d ponied up for AppleCare Plus because our phones, for good or for ill, have taken over so much of our lives. It seemed like a good risk. I don’t remember what we paid at the time, but current AppleCare Plus prices are listed here, and range from $4 a month/$80 for two years for an iPhone SE, to $10 a month/$200 for two years for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. (It costs more if you spring for theft and loss coverage.)

I’m sure I still resented the cost when we paid for it. But boy, was I thankful for it as the wedding danced on.

The save

Even something as ho-hum as getting your phone repaired seems weird outside of your own ZIP code. Where do you go, can you trust them and what if they can’t get it done before you have to leave town? There wasn’t an Apple store anywhere close to the former mining camp town (population 7,000) where the wedding took place. But we had to drive back to the Phoenix area to catch our flight, and thankfully, there were multiple Apple stores on the way.

And then, we got lucky. Back home in Seattle, I’ve had to wait as long as a week to get an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar. But somehow, the Scottsdale store had a next-day appointment. That morning, we bade farewell to the bride, groom and family, and drove the rental car 80-some miles to the store that had an opening. While the four of us — me, my husband, my still-apologetic daughter and my 80-year-old mother-in-law — strolled the connected shopping mall, those miracle workers at Apple popped out the destroyed screen and popped on a new one. Aside from one other not-so-visible chip, the rest of the phone was fine.

Not all my experiences with Apple have been this smooth. When I’ve had laptop issues in the past, Apple has had to send out my machine for repairs, and I’ve been without it for a week or more. Not ideal when you’re a writer who depends on your device for work.

But this phone repair took maybe a couple of hours — just enough time for my husband to pick out a pair of Vans at the mall, and for our daughter to ride the carousel with Mom. I had the phone back in time to use it for our online boarding passes at the airport. I think we paid $29. Without AppleCare Plus, it surely would’ve been hundreds more.

The what ifs

But what if we hadn’t had AppleCare Plus? It certainly isn’t the only option to protect your phone. In this article, CNET writer Mike Sorrentino examines whether AppleCare Plus or a cellphone insurance plan offered by some wireless carriers are the better deal. It’s going to depend on your situation. You could also go with third-party insurers like SquareTrade, an Allstate company that covers accidents to your phone and offers repairs through a variety of ways, from mail-in to drop-off at a local store, including Apple products at the Genius Bar. Another company, Asurion, offers insurance for smartphones, tablets, consumer electronics and more, with screen repairs starting at $79.

The main benefit with other insurance, it appears, is that AppleCare Plus must be purchased within 60 days of when you buy your phone. SquareTrade, however, notes on its website that it covers “any phone, old or new,” with “continuous coverage when you upgrade phones.”

I’m no shill for Apple or AppleCare Plus — I get no kickback from Tim Cook and have no stock in the company (I wish). I’m still super suspicious of extended warranties, protection plans and anything that salespeople try to ladle on to your purchase. But damn if AppleCare Plus hasn’t saved my butt on more than one occasion, including this one. This wedding had a happily-ever-after ending after all.

Editors’ note: CNET and Asurion have an advertising partnership. This story is editorially independent from that relationship.

Google Chrome has been my primary browser for as long as I can remember. From the moment I configured my first MacBook Air, I’ve been a Chrome loyalist. To be honest, even though I’ve always owned Apple products, I’ve never really paid that much attention to Safari. Chrome always seemed easier to use and, frankly, appeared to have more to offer. However, with its newest release, its safe to say that Safari has turned my head.

MacOS Sonoma dropped earlier this fall, and brought some interesting upgrades to Apple’s web browser. These changes aren’t necessarily revolutionary, but they’re a nice collection of tweaks that add up to make Safari appealing to me in a way it never was before.

These are my favorite new Safari features. For more, here are the ways MacOS Sonoma is catching up Macs up to iPhones and MacOS shortcuts you need to know.

Profiles come to Safari

While browser profiles aren’t new to the game, Safari’s are different. Profiles on other browsers are usually meant for other people — family members or guests — who would be sharing the same computer as you, or at least the same browser. Safari’s browsing profiles are more targeted at your own browsing experience, with Apple showcasing profiles for “School” and “Home.” Though, if you want to use Safari on a shared computer, you can still create separate profiles for each user.

If you want to set up Profiles on Safari, it’s easy to do. All you need to do is open Safari, click Safari in the menu bar and then click Create Profile (this will change to Manage Profile after you create your first profile) -> Start Using Profiles.

When creating a new profile, you’ll need to give it a name (optionally you can pick an icon and color for your profile) and select whether you want to create a new folder for bookmarks or use one of your pre-existing bookmark folders for the new profile.

After you’ve created your profile, you can switch between your Safari profiles by clicking the box at the top next to the search bar that says the name of the profile you’re currently browsing on.

Web apps on your Dock

Before MacOS Sonoma, if a favorite app of yours wasn’t available to download on your Mac, you couldn’t access it via an app icon in the Dock. With Sonoma, that’s not quite true anymore. If you have a favorite website, you can now create a web app version of it you can place in your dock. This allows you to open the website and use it separately from the Safari browser — think of Safari’s new web apps like bookmarks on steroids.

While the web app may look and behave like its webpage equivalent on Safari, there are differences. A web app doesn’t share browsing history, cookies, website data, or settings with Safari, Apple said. Everything stays in the web app.

It’s easy to set up web apps on your dock. Go to the website you want to turn into a web app in Safari, then just go to File > Add To Dock. Alternatively, you can click the Share button, which looks like a square with an arrow coming out of the top, and then select Add to Dock.

After you’ve selected Add to Dock you are good to go. You can tinker with some settings, like the name of the app, but otherwise, you’re all set. If you want to change the settings in your web app, all you’ll need to do is open the app, click the app’s name in the menu bar and then click Settings.