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Insta360 is best known for its 360-degree cameras and its innovative AI features that let you create some unique video edits, even if you don’t know a thing about editing. But Insta360 never stays in one place for too long, and now it’s adding GoPro-style action cameras to its lineup: the Insta360 Ace series. And it’s anything but a carbon copy of the competition.

There are two cameras, the $450 Ace Pro ( 430, AU$729) and the more budget-friendly $380 Ace ( 360, AU$609). The main differences between the two are sensor size, lens quality and charging speed. The Ace Pro uses a 1/1.3-inch image sensor, while the Ace has a smaller 1/2-inch one; both models have wide-angle lenses, but the Ace Pro’s was co-engineered with Leica to give it an edge in image quality; and the Ace Pro can fully charge in 46 minutes with a 30-watt charger, while the Ace takes 70 minutes.

The Ace Pro’s image sensor is the same size as DJI’s Osmo Action 4 camera and larger than GoPro’s Hero 12 Black, which is a 1/1.9-inch image sensor. In general, a larger sensor is one way to get better image quality. Although the DJI Action 4 has the same size sensor, its video resolution tops out at 4K, and the Hero 12 Black stops at 5.3K, while the Ace Pro goes up to 8K (7,680×3,272 pixels) at 24 frames per second. But, like the Insta360’s other cameras, the Ace Pro’s extreme resolution is used for much more than just straight video capture.

For example, the camera’s Clarity Zoom allows you to digitally zoom in on a subject with just a double-tap on the rear touchscreen. You can also take frame grabs from your videos at resolutions higher than what you’re shooting resolution. There’s also the option to shoot 48-megapixel photos in JPEG or DNG raw.

But the most important use of its big sensor for most people is PureVideo mode. Using a 5-nanometer AI chip for denoising, the Ace Pro can shoot cleaner, clearer low-light video with improved brightness and dynamic range. Other action cams simply don’t do well in dim or dark scenes and typically have to shoot without digital image stabilization, something that’s not an issue for the Ace Pro.

Other features include:

• 2.4-inch flip-up touchscreen: Although the Ace and AcePro have small front displays to display settings and other statuses, they aren’t selfie screens like other action cams. Instead, the whole 2.4-inch touchscreen on the back flips up so you can shoot selfies. It also makes it much easier to shoot with the camera above and below your sight line, like when it’s mounted on handlebars.
• Active HDR video: HDR video reveals more details in high-contrast scenes, so you can see things normally lost in bright highlights and dark shadows. Capturing HDR video to demanding to begin with, but if you shoot at a resolution of 4K30 or lower with the Ace Pro, it can automatically turn on HDR and can be used with image stabilization.
• Cancel recording: Ever mess up your first take when recording yourself? You can immediately cancel the recording so they don’t clutter up your microSD card and skip the whole playback-and-delete experience.
• Pause and resume recordings: This basically lets you edit while you’re recording by letting you pause and resume, so you can eliminate uneventful moments in your videos without creating a bunch of clips.
• Apple Watch and Garmin integration: Insta360 says the Ace Pro is the first action cam with dedicated integration with a Garmin device or Apple Watch to attach GPS, speed and other data that can be added to videos.

The Ace and Ace Pro have all the other features that are standard on most of the company’s other cameras. Those include a waterproof body (down to 33 feet, or 10 meters), FlowState image stabilization for shake-free video and AI editing assistance in its mobile app.

One last thing worth mentioning is the quick-release mount. It uses the same clip-on design as the mounts for its other cameras, like the smaller Insta360 Go, that just hooks into the bottom of the body and doesn’t let go. This lets you move it from one mount to another with zero effort. You will need a special mount, though, if you want to quickly switch from shooting horizontally to vertically.

My family has music playing pretty much all the time when we’re at home. From Taylor Swift to classic rock to novelty fart music (I have an 8-year-old boy, don’t judge), we’ve always got something on.

We’ve had two portable Bluetooth speakers over the last 15 years or so, and our current one, the Bose SoundLink Flex, is on sale for Black Friday for $119, $30 less than its regular list price. It’s among the best Bluetooth speakers of 2023 and a CNET Editors’ Choice winner.

Why do we love this speaker? For starters, the sound quality is top-notch. It sounds way better than it has any business being capable of for how small it is.

Our previous Bose speaker (a predecessor of the SoundLink Flex) lasted about 15 years before finally showing its age with some annoying connectivity issues. Assuming this one holds up nearly as well, we’re talking about two speakers keeping the tunes going over multiple decades. Maybe I’ll send this one with one of my kids to college.

A few other things that stand out about this speaker compared to its predecessor:

• It’s water-resistant and floats (though I haven’t tested this yet).
• You can take and make phone calls through it — this one surprised me when I got an incoming phone call shortly after getting it.
• It has technology to optimize the sound whether you use it upright, on its back or even hanging from a tree with the built-in carrying loop.
• It’s apparently drop- and impact-resistant too, though I’ve yet to confirm this myself.
• The battery life is good, and has lasted at least a few days per charge for my family.

If you need more good portable music in your life, this is a fantastic option. Or if you’re more of a soundbar family, we’ve also got a roundup of the best Black Friday soundbar deals.

Not everything this Black Friday is a super deal. Some items, like the PlayStation Portal, just need to be in stock for people to swipe their credit cards. The new Sony gaming accessory is already sold out at Best Buy and PlayStation Direct. Meanwhile, other retailers like Target, Walmart and Amazon haven’t even listed the Portal yet.

That said, we’re still seeing the PlayStation Portal in stock at GameStop at the time this is published. And while it’s not discounted, the $200 sticker price is better than the $300-plus we’re currently seeing on reseller sites like eBay and StockX.

The PlayStation Portal is Sony’s $200 PS5 accessory that looks like a Nintendo Switch, but isn’t a dedicated gaming handheld. Games stream via Wi-Fi from your PS5 to the device, allowing you to game in bed, from the sofa or wherever there’s a good connection. While the streaming quality won’t compare to when you’re playing on your PS5 on a TV, it’s still a good stopgap measure when you can’t game on the couch, for whatever reason.

Bose is one of the most respected audio brands on the market, and its top-notch SoundLink Flex has earned the overall top spot on our list of the best Bluetooth speakers of 2023 thanks to its durable build, punchy bass and overall impressive sound. And right now you can pick it up for 20% off for Black Friday. Amazon has knocked this CNET Editor’s Choice award-winning speaker down to just $119, which saves you $30 compared to the usual list price. Though there’s no set expiration for this deal, and it could sell out at any time, so we’d recommend getting your order in sooner rather than later if you don’t want to miss out on this Amazon Black Friday bargain.

Packed full of impressive features and hardware, the Bose SoundLink Flex really is the whole package. It’s fairly compact, weighing just 1.3 pounds, but still manages to deliver powerful sound for its small size, including impressive bass performance. It’s also equipped with Bose’s PositionIQ technology, which optimizes the sound based on whether you have the speaker sitting upright, lying on its back or hanging from the integrated utility loop.

The speaker is plenty durable, with an IP67 waterproof rating, plus it can survive being dropped short distances and it’s even designed to float in case it falls in a pool or river. On a single charge, it has a battery life of up to 12 hours for all-day listening, and it’s equipped with a built-in speaker so you can easily take phone calls over Bluetooth.

And if you’re looking for even more excellent audio bargains this week, you can also check out our roundup of all the best Black Friday soundbar deals available right now.

If you’re planning to travel to a relative’s house for Thanksgiving, keeping an eye on traffic is a must. Not knowing the best time to hit the road can cause unnecessary stress and make the holidays less enjoyable. But there’s good news — you can learn when is a good time to travel, and what time frame to avoid, depending on the day you decide to head out.

Also, if you plan on shopping Black Friday deals in stores rather than online, there are a few hours during the day that you’ll want to stay home to avoid the busy crowd.

Google this week shared a prediction of what the traffic will be like this week, leading up to Thanksgiving and Black Friday. We’ll tell you the best times to make your travel plans, as well as shopping plans. For more, here are some Google Maps tips you should use for your holiday travel.

The best and worst time to travel for Thanksgiving

If you’re going out of town to have your Thanksgiving meal at a friend or family member’s house, you’ll probably want to travel when you’ll experience the fewest delays. According to Google, the best time to hit the road is the Monday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving at around 8 p.m.

You should avoid traveling on Tuesday and Wednesday between the hours of 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. when Thanksgiving traffic is at its peak. Not to mention, that’s typically when the rush hour traffic happens from those leaving work.

If you can’t leave until Thanksgiving Day, you’ll want to make sure you leave before noon or after 4 p.m. Google says you should stay off the road between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Also, if you’re flying on a Saturday, add some extra time to your schedule if you need to be there around 11 a.m. — that’s typically when airports are busiest.

The best time to head home after Thanksgiving

If you’re staying a night or two at a friend or family member’s house while traveling, there’s a better time to leave to avoid getting stuck in traffic. If you’re leaving Saturday or Sunday, don’t even think about setting out between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. unless you don’t mind the congestion. Instead, try to leave at around 7 p.m. or later.

Here’s the worst time to shop Black Friday sales in store

If you’re shopping Black Friday deals, you can avoid the crowd altogether by shopping online. Many companies put some of their best sales online so you can shop from the comfort of your home. However, if it’s a tradition to go Black Friday shopping in stores, there’s a time frame you should steer clear of the roads. Peak traffic hits between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., so you may not make it in time to get those AirPods on sale if you head to the store around then.

Instead, Google says you should head to the stores before noon or after 7 p.m.

For more tips, check out this Thanksgiving cheat sheet for home and kitchen hacks. Also, here’s how to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The Apple Watch SE is one of the best wearables for people who don’t want to spend a small fortune and Black Friday is always a great time to pick up a bargain. Put those two things together and this week was always going to be a great time to pick up Apple’s cheapest watch. Sure enough, the 40mm Apple Watch SE can now be had for just $179.

The Apple Watch SE would normally sell for around $249, meaning you can now save yourself $70 with no extra coupon codes or trickery needed. However, with this being a Black Friday deal and also jumping the gun on one of Walmart’s headlining deals (set to start tomorrow), we know that this price won’t hang around for long.

The Apple Watch SE is available for this special price in a range of colors including midnight, silver and starlight, while there are also multiple bands to choose from as well. No matter which of the Apple Watch SE models you pick you’ll get a 40mm Apple Watch SE with support for Crash Detection, heart-rate monitoring and activity-tracking capabilities. Apple also says that this model is carbon neutral when you choose the Sport Loop for your new wearable.

Looking for the 44mm model? That’s also available with the same $70 discount so you’ll pay just $209 for the bigger model if that’s the one for you. Be sure to check out the best of Amazon’s Black Friday deals if the Apple Watch SE doesn’t tick all the boxes for you, too.

If you’re in the market for a new tablet or phone but don’t want to spend a ton to get a flagship device from the likes of Samsung or Apple, TCL has a lot of solid budget options. And there are some great discounts as part of ongoing Black Friday sales that you can take advantage of, including as much as 53% off regular prices in some cases. Better yet, these devices don’t require a lengthy carrier contract or trade-in to nab the savings.

If you’d like to grab a phone, one of the cheaper options is the TCL 30 Z, which is going for $80 instead of $100. It comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, both of which are on the budget end of things but for a phone that’s only $80, that’s not a bad deal at all. Of course, if you’re willing to pay a little extra, you can grab the TCL 40XL for $198 which comes with 4GB of RAM and a much larger 128GB of storage, plus it has a 90Hz display, so you’ll have a smoother experience when using it.

On the tablet front, the TCL Tab 10 has been discounted by 32% down to $119 and gives you a sizeable 10.4-inch screen running an FHD Plus resolution. That said, if you’re willing to spend an extra $42, the TCL NxtPaper 11 has a bigger 11-inch screen, and better specs which include 6GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for you to work with. It’s a great budget tablet option and you can grab it for $161 instead of the usual $290, which is a significant discount.

If the TCL devices don’t do it for you, be sure to check out our list of the best Black Friday phone deals happening this mont.

Black Friday may still be a few days away, but there are a slew of deals you can take advantage of ahead of the big day. While many sales focus on big-ticket items like deals on TVs, there are some stellar savings to be had elsewhere — including streaming services. Hulu is our favorite budget streaming service, and now it’s even cheaper. You can score a subscription to the ad-supported tier of Hulu for just $1 per month for your first year. That’s an $84 savings on the annual price and an even bigger discount than we saw during last year’s Black Friday sales.

Hulu boasts a wide variety of network shows and original content, including hits like Only Murders in the Building. Whether you’re new to Hulu altogether or have previous held a subscription, but canceled more than a month ago, you’re eligible for this incredible deal. Additionally, you can add Disney Plus with ads, too, for just $2 more each month. And you can also get even more premium content from Starz for an additional $1 per month for six months.

The ad-supported Hulu plan usually runs $7.99 per month, and at the end of 12 months, your subscription will automatically renew at the standard price until you cancel. This offer is available now through Nov. 28 at 11:59 p.m. PT, so be sure to sign up before then if you want to snag a subscription at this price.

Sometimes the best deal doesn’t always mean the best product. I scored a 65-inch 4K TV for $250 on Black Friday a few years ago, but I soon discovered some of the set’s shortcomings.

After a few months, I already had pretty major issues with the TV: The audio from the speakers was bad, the smart TV interface was lagging terribly, and lots of apps were missing from the built-in app store. You get what you pay for, but I didn’t think it would be this bad this quick.

Read more: Best Black Friday TV Deals

The TV felt almost unusable, and I was considering getting a new one, but I was still pretty happy with the size and resolution, so instead I thought it might just be better to update the aspects I felt were lacking.

And that’s where the Roku Streambar comes in — it’s currently $100 for Black Friday ($30 off).

Unlike your regular streaming player, the Roku Streambar is both a streaming device and a high-quality soundbar. The Streambar features Roku’s streaming player, which offers 4K HDR streaming for your TV, along with a library of applications like Max, Disney Plus and Netflix, and you can get live and local TV channels, as well as live sports. The Roku streaming interface doesn’t lag like the one on my TV, and it also has many of the apps that were missing, so that’s two upgrades right there.

And on the audio side, you have a four-speaker soundbar with Dolby Audio. I placed the Roku Streambar right in front of my TV, and the difference in sound is stark: the dialogue is crisper; sound effects are louder and clearer. I feel much more immersed in the shows and movies that I watch than when using the built-in speakers.

The Roku Streambar does lack a bit of the bass I wanted, so I paired it with a Roku Wireless Bass (there’s a bundle package you can get) for the low tones. You can even add multiple Roku Wireless Speakers for a full surround sound experience, but that’s overkill for my apartment, so I’m happy with just the Streambar and Wireless Bass, which have both upgraded my watching experience — and I didn’t even have to get a new TV.

Not yet, anyway.

Black Friday is on the horizon, and for those looking to cash in on a smart TV at a great price, this deal may be your best bet. Walmart is set to slash the price of this 55-inch TCL 4-Series 4K Roku TV down to just $188 — that’s a $60 savings on its usual list price and makes getting your hands on this budget-friendly model even easier.

There’s just one catch — you can’t take advantage of this deal quite yet. Walmart’s next Black Friday sale officially kicks off on Wednesday, Nov. 22, at 3 p.m. ET, which is when this offer will go live. So if you missed Walmart’s first Black Friday sales event, don’t fret. Starting next Wednesday, this deal will be available, along with plenty of bargains on tech, home goods and hundreds of other items. And don’t forget that Walmart Plus members get a jumpstart on the sale, with access beginning at noon ET.

A similar model in the TCL 4-Series is our current favorite budget smart TV, thanks to its low price and Roku smart TV system. Roku remains our favorite interface thanks to its simple, uncluttered, easy-to-use format, and this TV has the platform built into it. This model also offers 4K resolution and HDR, as well as 4K upscaling, which means it’ll offer a decent picture for a budget TV. Plus, it has four HDMI inputs, including one ARC, so that you can connect all the devices you need.

Are you looking for other brands or sizes? Walmart is offering more TV deals, and be sure to take a look at our roundup of Black Friday TV deals for more offers worth checking out.