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Holiday sales are in full swing, and if you’re looking to check some must-haves off your shopping list ahead of the festivities, Best Buy has a ton of discounts available on TVs, laptops, headphones, kitchen appliances and much more during its three-day weekend sale. Snag great gifts or splurge on something to treat yourself. Just note that these deals are set to expire Sunday, Dec. 10 at 9:59 p.m. PT (12:59 a.m ET), so be sure to get your order in before then if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.

To help you make the most of these holiday bargains, we’ve gone through the sale and have highlighted some of the best offers. For example, you can score a $100 discount on the GoPro Hero 11 bundle that includes two extra batteries, a quick clip, a headstrap, a handler and a carrying case, bringing the price to just $300 — though this particular deal is exclusively available today, Dec. 8.

Other big bargains that we expect to see throughout the weekend sale include a rare $41 discount on the Sonos One SL smart speaker that brings the price down to $159, as well as a massive markdown on the 48-inchLG A2 Series TV with an OLED screen, which drops the price from $1,300 to just $550. And anyone looking to add some home security cameras for extra peace of mind can get the 12-piece Arlo 4 Spotlight Camera security bundle for $270 — that’s a $330 savings on its usual list price.

You’ll also find deep discounts on new kitchen appliances like the Bella Pro Series 8-quart air fryer for just $45 instead of $110 and the Keurig K-Select coffee maker for just $70 instead of the usual price of $150. There’s also an $80 discount on the ninth-gen Apple iPad, which makes a great holiday gift.

Here are some more of our top picks from Best Buy’s three-day sale:

• Asus Zenbook 14X OLED laptop (512GB): $700 (save $300)
• JBL Clip 3 Bluetooth speaker: $40 (save $30)
• Apple Watch SE (2nd gen): $199 (save $50)
• Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite: $100 (save $60)
• Sony 75-inch X80K 4K Google TV: $900 (save $300)
• Acer Predator Helios Neo IPS gaming laptop (1TB): $1,000 (save $580)
• Samsung HW-B650/ZA 3.1-channel soundbar: $200 (save $200)
• Beats Solo 3 wireless headphones: $100 (save $100)
• Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 laptop (512GB): $700 (save $300)
• Insignia 43-inch N10 Series: $130 (save $40)
• Samsung 50-inch TU690T Crystal TV: $280 (save $100)
• Blink Outdoor 3 security camera (2-pack): $90 (save $90)
• NordicTrack Commercial S15i exercise bike: $650 (save $650)

• HP 2-in-1 XGA Chromebook Plus laptop (256GB): $379 (save $320)
• Bose QuietComfort 2 earbuds: $200 (save $100)
• LG 27-inch FHD FreeSync monitor: $100 (save $120)
• Amazon Echo Show 8 (2nd gen): $55 (save $75)
• KitchenAid 5.5-quart stand mixer: $300 (save $150)

• Dyson Pure Hot and Cool Link purifier: $380 (save $250)
• PlayStation 5 bundles: $500 (save $70)

The holidays are here, which means lots of quality time with loved ones. If you’re the resident tech whiz in your family, however, it also means getting bombarded with requests for support. Your grandpa can’t figure out how to attach photos to an email. Your nephew wants help setting up the new video game console that Santa brought him. And your aunt somehow downloaded a virus while looking up pumpkin pie recipes.

As both our homes and lives become increasingly digital, users who aren’t as tech savvy often don’t know how to get the most out of their purchases. According to Deloitte’s Connected Consumer survey released earlier this year, the average household has 21 devices, 41% of consumers said they disliked managing their tech and 28% said this management was “overwhelming.”

There’s another way to help your loved ones get the tech support they need. Asurion has been helping consumers get the most out of their devices for over 30 years. With a network of over 10,000 tech experts, Asurion helps customers, both at home and on the go.

Asurion protection plans often come with a device purchase, which is why you might recognize the name. But you can also purchase a standalone plan at any time, such as Asurion’s Phone Protect plan starting at $4.99 per month or its HomeDevice connect all your devices plan starting at $11.99 per month, in partnership with CNET.

Here are some examples of the kinds of problems an Asurion expert can help you and your loved ones overcome.

Get the most out of your smart TV

Big-screen TVs are popular holiday gifts, but figuring out how to connect all your devices such as gaming consoles, streaming sticks and cable boxes can be a headache.

If you need more help, Asurion’s experts can walk you through the ins and outs of that new big-screen TV, whether it involves figuring out the HDMI ports, connecting soundbars or mirroring your phone screen onto the display. They’ll even stick with you to ensure all your devices talk to each other by the end of the call.

Set up and integrate new home gadgets

Did your parents get new smartphones, tablets or smart home gadgets, such as video doorbells or smart speakers? Take the time to learn your way around these new devices from the start to prevent headaches down the road. Asurion’s team can help you set up devices, connect them to Wi-Fi, customize settings, install apps and answer any other questions about getting started and using them. Some extra support during setup can help your loved ones get the most out of these gifts.

Streamline your computer for faster, more secure performance

If your parents mention their computer is “acting funny”, you know it’s probably worse than it sounds. Innocent mistakes like clicking on phishing links or keeping all your files on your device can result in slow or compromised performance.

Asurion’s tech team can diagnose issues like malware, viruses and storage drive problems. They can walk you through scanning for viruses, cleaning up unneeded files and popups, adjusting settings to boost speed and troubleshooting mysterious crashes or error messages.

Troubleshoot Wi-Fi dead zones and slow internet speeds

Sluggish internet and Wi-Fi dead zones can ruin holiday video calls or prevent loved ones from enjoying their smart home tech in every room of the house. Understand how Wi-Fi works and whether your current router is enough to meet your home connectivity needs.

Asurion’s experts can analyze issues like modem problems, weak signal strength, device interference, incorrect router settings and more. They can suggest tips related to Wi-Fi extenders, the ideal router location or adjusting channels. They can also help you optimize your network settings for faster speeds and fewer dead zones.

Bring it all together

To get the most out of your smart home, take the time to get support and learn about how to integrate your home tech. This can include setting up solutions such as:

• How to set up and manage different device permissions for adults and kids.
• Printing documents wirelessly at home from your computer, tablet or phone.
• Controlling your home’s smart lighting settings with Alexa.
• Pairing smart locks and security systems with your video doorbell.
• Streamlining voice command technology for your different devices.

Asurion’s team can share countless tips for getting more out of your devices. Your family will love discovering new features.

Give yourself or a loved one the gift of tech support. You’ll ensure you’re getting the most out of devices you’ve paid for, and you’ll free up more quality time along the way. Asurion’s friendly, knowledgeable experts can help you handle tech troubleshooting, and their plans include options in the event your device breaks. Learn more about Asurion’s Phone Protect plan or HomeDevice plan today to ensure your loved ones have the support they need all year long.

Looking to upgrade your TV experience? Adding a soundbar can go a long way to improving your audio, but having the right streaming system is also a major factor in your enjoyment. Amazon is combining the best of both worlds at an affordable price with this incredible bundle. The company has slashed the price of the Roku Streambar and Wireless Bass bundle by $100, meaning you’ll pay just $150 while this holiday deal is available.

The Roku Streambar is our favorite smart soundbar on the market and won an Editors’ Choice award this year. It’s compact, sounds great for its size and offers Dolby Audio. It also plugs right into your TV’s HDMI ARC port, which makes for easy setup. Plus, this soundbar doubles as a media streaming device, adding the Roku interface with its wide selection of apps to your existing TV. It’s our favorite streaming interface, hands down — and it streams in 4K resolution.

This bundle further sweetens the deal by adding Roku’s Wireless Bass subwoofer into the mix, which will enrich your sound quality without distortion. You’ll also get a Roku Voice Remote with TV controls, which makes searching for your favorite content a breeze.

This bundle makes a great holiday gift for anyone, especially at this price. But if you’re looking for other stocking stuffers to delight your loved ones for even less, we’ve got more streaming device options worth checking out, as well as a roundup of gifts under $30.

Christmas is in a couple of weeks, so you may be looking for ways to get into the merry mood. In addition to splurging on festive coffee drinks and shopping for worthy gifts, you can greet the holidays by streaming movies and TV shows.

If you’re dashing full speed into the holidays, streaming services have content to go with your enthusiasm. I sifted through the seasonal fare on services like Netflix, Disney Plus and Peacock and saw tons of titles that could please crowds this season. Movies are a major source of cheer, but you could also find a TV show or special you want to unwrap.

Where to Stream Holiday Content

This year the iPhone, Apple Watch and Mac all got big interface changes. You may have found yourself relearning how to use your device which, to me, is the least enjoyable part of a software update.

If you found yourself suddenly confused as to why swiping doesn’t change Apple Watch faces or if you’ve tried to text someone a photo from your iPhone and got caught off guard by the new iOS 17 giant floating circle icons, you’ll know what I mean.

It’s not always “change” just for the sake of change, even if the change feels pointless, because everything was working just fine before. There’s usually a reason for Apple switching things up or how they work that ties into its grand plan — which may be shifting us to think more about augmented reality.

WatchOS 10 and iOS 17 are getting our Apple Watches, iPhones and, most importantly, us closer to a Vision Pro mindset.

StandBy mode conditioning

This year the biggest change to the iPhone’s operating system was StandBy mode. If your phone is locked, charging and propped up horizontally, your display changes to show either the time, weather, photos, widgets or music that is playing. StandBy mode has a few different views and some minor customizations.

No other iOS 17 feature changed the way I use the iPhone more than StandBy mode. Just being able to make my phone into a little bedside clock has me living that MagSafe charger life. I now have MagSafe stands around the house instead of having to play the ol’ “searching for the right charging cord” game. Who needs a Lightning cable or USB-C cord when you can just slap your iPhone onto a MagSafe stand?

Read more: Best Wireless Charger of 2023

As a result, I use my phone more as a smart display around my home so there’s less reason to use other smart home displays from Google or Amazon. Apple convinced me to spend more on special magnetic charging stands, and use its competitors’ devices less.

But there’s another layer to this. Our brains might be working differently because we’ve got iPhones displaying info propped up around our homes. It’s like having widgets floating around in our real life space.

Widget-washing our brains

This year, Apple added widgets everywhere. MacOS Sonoma has interactive desktop widgets you can put anywhere on the screen. In iOS 17, you can interact with a home screen widget without opening the app. WatchOS 10 brings widgets to your watch face to glance at info.

Getting used to working with tiny windows of information floating all around you is like being in augmented reality, where relevant info sits in your space around you. Wherever you look, your Apple screen has widgets. And soon you won’t need a screen in order to have widgets in your field of vision. Soon you’ll just be able to use the Vision Pro.

iMessage has child-like Vision Pro buttons

With iOS 17, Apple blatantly put some of the Vision Pro’s software design into iMessage. When you text someone, there used to be a tray of icons above the keyboard. There were icons to open the camera to take a picture, to add photos, insert GIFs, along with other shortcuts.

Now it’s all tucked away into a plus sign on the bottom left side of the screen. Clicking it brings up a simple bulleted list of really big circle buttons. They’re in your face, floating and blocking whatever you were doing before.

The Vision Pro has this same flavor of child-like circular icons in front of your space. They wait there for you to make a decision on what app you’ll select.

Steve Jobs: ‘God gave us 10 styluses. Let’s not invent another’

Double Tap on the Apple Watch is another move on Apple’s part to get us thinking in a Vision Pro mindset. The Apple Watch Series 9 and the Ultra 2 can be controlled with double tapping your finger and thumb together, like you’re tapping whatever the main button is on the screen, such as answering or ending a call, or skipping a song.

The Vision Pro is also controlled by tapping your fingers. The mechanics are different from the watch, as the headset uses cameras to detect your finger movement. But, nevertheless, Apple is getting us to think more about controlling devices with hand gestures. And this hand control push goes beyond the Apple Watch.

This year, your hands could trigger visual effects in video calls. Apple calls these Reactions. They work on FaceTime calls and even Zoom calls when you’re on a Mac. The effect is on by default — which I was surprised to learn when I was on a Zoom chat with my colleague, Scott Stein. Animated balloons kept going off accidentally across the screen when he talked with his hands, and it was the most ridiculous thing.

You get different animations depending on how you hold up different fingers and thumbs, or if you make a heart shape with your hands.

Apple made a mistake by having it on by default because a lot of people talk with their hands. A lot of people use Zoom professionally, and it’s not always a good time for party balloons to appear on screen, as we saw happen to an ESPN commentator during a live video chat who happens to talk a lot with his fingers.

Mad Dog is not happy with Iowa for not being able to hit the first half over of 2.5 points which he bet.
Also, there are virtual balloons flooding his screen like it’s his birthday on Twitter for some reason? pic.twitter.com/RkOwPS3IYx

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 4, 2023

But yeah, controlling computers with your hands: It can be awkward, but it’s all part of the bigger plan.

Using Snoopy as a gateway drug

My absolute favorite thing that Apple did this year was Snoopy.

Snoopy is on the Apple Watch. There was a ton of work that went into making this cartoon run around your screen. Apple made 148 different animations of Snoopy and Woodstock for the watch face that can pop up throughout the day. There’s also a number of animated sequences that were sourced directly from Charles M. Schulz’s original Peanuts comic strips.

Why, you might ask, did Apple put so much effort into putting Snoopy on its watch? Back in 2018, Apple struck a deal to make Apple TV Plus the home of Peanuts content. And it’s not just the holiday specials. There are new shows like Snoopy in Space and The Snoopy Show. Apple just announced there will be a new Peanuts movie starting production in 2024 starring Snoopy and Charlie Brown. (Snoopy gets top billing.)

But this Snoopy watch face has done something very interesting in my home. My 4-year-old loves seeing what Snoopy is doing on mommy’s watch. And now he gets excited whenever he sees Snoopy anywhere. You can bet now that I’m going to watch more Snoopy content with my son and keep that Apple TV Plus subscription going, all because I have this silly cartoon doggie always hanging out with me. Good grief!

Is this the ultimate dream for media companies and their intellectual property? In Disney’s video pitch for the Vision Pro, it showed Mickey Mouse hopping around someone’s living room. I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually see Snoopy and Woodstock chilling on your desk in Vision Pro. They’re just doing their thing, floating in your space. Media icons suddenly just live inside your everyday world, beside you in all screens and mediums. The future is maximum Snoop.

CNET’s Patrick Holland contributed to this story.

Sonos makes some of the best consumer-grade audio gear on the market. Unfortunately, that also means that it’s quite expensive, and there are rarely any deals on its products. That’s why it’s incredible to see a massive holiday sale across all Sonos products, with some items going as low as $119. If you’ve ever wanted a Sonos product, now is the perfect time to grab one.

If you don’t have the room to fit a whole surround sound system, then a soundbar is an excellent option, and if you’re going for a Sonos one, the cheapest is the Sonos Ray, which is going for $223, down from $279. For a mid-range option, you’ll be happy to see the Beam Gen 2 discounted down to $399 from the usual $499. Of course, the highest end soundbar from Sonos is the Arc, although it costs a whopping $899, which is luckily discounted down to just $719. You might also want to pair these with either the a subwoofer, such as the Sub Mini for $343 instead of $429 or the Sub Gen 3 for $639 instead of $799.

On the other hand, if you’re interested in a more traditional speaker, the Era 100 is a solid option, and while it’s not a portable speaker you can take outside, it does have some excellent audio. The Era 100 is going for $199 instead of $249 so it’s a great price. If you want something fancier, then the Sonos Five is the one to go for as it has a lot more power and audio fidelity, as well as a higher price tag of $549, although it’s discounted down to $439.

If you’d like a portable option, then the Sonos Roam is a good pick going for just $134 instead of $179. That said, we’d probably go for the Roam charging set that includes the wireless charger since it’s only an extra $15 at $149.

If it’s premium audio on the go you are after, then check out our roundup of the best earbud and headphone deals.

These days, everyone has a smartphone but there’s still something special about capturing precious moments on an actual camera. If you or someone on your gift list is into photography, right now is a great time to snag some gear at deeply discounted prices. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, you’re sure to find something that fits your needs on this list.

Looking for more discounts? CNET has the best deals from B&H Photo & Video, GoPro, Canon and many others, along with promo code offers — all updated and verified daily.

Welcome to CNET Coupons, the first stop before you shop, featuring a multitude of deals and discounts from top online retailers. Simply head over to our coupon page and type in your favorite store or brands to find all the deals available for the week.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the best smartwatch that the company has made to date. It’s only been around for a few weeks but that seemingly isn’t going to stop Amazon from offering a huge discount on a product that never quite got this low even during the recent Black Friday and Cyber Monday madness. That means that this price might not stick around for all that long which means placing an order soon is absolutely the right way to go if you want to lock this deal in.

And lock it in, you will want to. Right now you can put an Apple Watch Ultra onto your wrist for just $730 so long as you make sure to clip the on-screen coupon before adding anything to your cart. There are multiple color combinations to choose from at this $69 discount, so be sure to select the one that best fits your vibe first.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the latest and greatest wearable that Apple has to offer, and it comes with a huge 49mm display and high-precision GPS for use when you’re out in the wilderness or just want reliable data for your workouts. The extra-long battery life ensures you get multiple days from a single charge, and the rugged titanium case is strong yet light, perfect for your next adventure. This is the most rugged Apple Watch, but you still get access to all the usual features including fitness and activity tracking, heart rate monitoring, and more.

Not sure whether an Apple Watch Ultra 2 is for you? Don’t worry if that big, rugged look doesn’t suit you — there are often plenty of Apple Watch Series 9 deals to be had, too.

If you’re an iPhone user, then you probably know that your phone’s display brightness can automatically adjust depending on the amount of light in your environment. While this can be a pretty useful feature to combat eyestrain and make your screen easier to see, auto-brightness is not always as helpful as it could be.

The problem can be that your display automatically dims down even when you’re out in the sun. If you’re partially in the shade, your phone might get tricked into automatically dimming your screen, even if it doesn’t need to. This can make it difficult to see what’s on your screen. If you manually increase the brightness, it’ll just go back down again because of auto-brightness. Fixing this issue isn’t always as easy as toggling off the necessary settings — but that’s a good place to start.

We’ll show you two settings you need to disable to help prevent your iPhone from automatically dimming. Be advised, your iPhone might still auto-adjust its brightness, even when those two settings are disabled.

While you’re here, you should also check out everything we know about the iPhone 15, and what you need to know about the iOS 17 Beta.

First, disable auto-brightness

Yes, this may seem a bit obvious, but the first thing you want to do is to make sure that you have automatic brightness disabled in your settings. The feature is pretty self-explanatory — it automatically adjusts your brightness depending on the light in your environment. If you want to prevent your display from always trying to adjust, you must disable this feature.

In the Settings application, go to Accessibility > Display & Text Size and toggle off Auto-Brightness at the bottom of the page. You would think that this setting would exist in Display & Brightness, so it’s not uncommon that auto-brightness would be enabled without you knowing since it’s tucked away in Accessibility.

If your brightness continues to automatically adjust, there’s another setting you need to disable.

You also need to turn off True Tone

If you have an iPhone SE (2nd generation) and later, the True Tone feature measures the color temperature and brightness in your environment and then adjusts its display to match it. True Tone is useful when you want it — it not only helps show more accurate colors across various lighting situations, but it’s also easier on the eyes, which you need if you’re constantly reading on your phone.

Again, if you don’t care about the feature, don’t use it or are simply annoyed that your brightness continues to automatically adjust, you need to disable it. In Settings, go to Display & Brightness and toggle off True Tone under the Brightness header. As long as auto-brightness is also disabled, turning True Tone off should prevent your iPhone from automatically adjusting your brightness.

One exception applies.

Don’t let your iPhone overheat

Your iPhone has several ways of protecting its internal components, and that includes automatically dimming your display. Even if you have both auto-brightness and True Tone turned off, if your iPhone is overheating, it will automatically adjust the display intensity.

According to Apple, to help prevent this from happening, you should use your iPhone in temperatures between 32 to 95 degrees F (zero and 35 degrees C) and store it in temperatures between 4 and 113 degrees F (between 20 below zero and 45 degrees C). If you leave your iPhone in your car or on the sidewalk on a hot day, or even if you try to use it by the pool or beach on a hot day, there’s a good chance that it will overheat and cause your display to automatically dim.

Overheating doesn’t occur only because of a sunny day. A faulty battery can also cause your iPhone to overheat: Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health and check if your battery needs to be replaced. Another reason could be buggy software: Go to Settings > General > Software Update and more sure to always be on the latest update to deal with any software bugs and issues.

A new cybersecurity report commissioned by Apple paints a dire picture of consumer data leaked through breach after breach. In this climate, the tech giant is nudging users to activate the Advanced Data Protection feature for iCloud it introduced a year ago, which end-to-end encrypts most data uploaded to and sent between Apple’s apps and devices.

Cybersecurity breaches of company systems that expose consumer data are on the rise, says the report, which was written by MIT information technology professor Stuart Madnick — 1.1 billion personal records were exposed in 2021, which has grown to 1.5 billion records exposed in 2022. Malefactors are increasingly using “vendor exploitation attacks” to infiltrate businesses through other businesses they’ve partnered with or the software systems provided by vendors.

The Advanced Data Protection feature doesn’t explicitly protect users from these breaches; rather, Apple is urging owners of its devices to use the feature to keep their personal devices from being vectors of attack and exposure. Turning it on is easy on iOS: open the Settings app, tap on your iCloud account, tap iCloud, then tap Advanced Data Protection and follow the instructions to set up account recovery options — you’ll need them once end-to-end encryption is activated for more data categories.

iCloud already protects 14 sensitive data categories including health data and passwords in the iCloud keychain through end-to-end encryption. Advanced Data Protection is an optional feature that adds seven additional protected categories for a total of 23, including iCloud backups, Notes and Photos.

Apple declined to state how many users have activated Advanced Data Protection.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital privacy advocacy group, lauded the Advanced Data Protection feature for protecting consumer data — especially for encrypting iCloud backups, which had been potentially exposing user information.