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alisxThe problem is that, years on from the Arab Spring, we’re all a little wiser about the idea that information will set us free. The opposite of a lack of news and information is not truth or justice or even transparency, it’s chaos.
Information flows through platforms owned and controlled and manipulated for their ends by these same men. And shocks to the system are exactly what the disaster surveillance capitalists want.
Carole Cadwalladr on .
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lh_wayfarer_feedI may be home all the time, but I'm enjoying Nest's Gemini-aided summaries, even if they're not always on the mark. The new summaries let me easily glance at a notification to see if it's worth getting up for. They've become a metronome of my day, as I see that the local feral cat is on its rounds of mouse hunting in my backyard. And the daily Home Brief is good at summarizing the relative chaos coming in and out of my house.
I'm not even using the latest Nest hardware. I have a mix of first- and second-generation cameras, including two 2012-era indoor Nest cameras and a blend of 2021-era releases. It's been interesting to see how the Gemini infusion has revived the aging hardware, though it's still far from being the future-facing smart home tech it's been billed it to be—especially at this price. There's still work to be done before it becomes the trustworthy, contextual assistant Google wants it to be. Here's what to expect as Gemini becomes a core part of the Nest camera experience, and what you can do to make it work better for you.
I've been actively testing Gemini in the new Google Home app since it launched last month. It's available after a significant, years-long overhaul of the app. However, most of the features discussed in this piece are only available with the Advanced tier of the Google Home Premium subscription, which costs $200 per year. That tier unlocks Gemini's Home Brief, the Ask Home video history search, detailed event descriptions and notifications, and 60 days of scrubbable event history. You can choose to pay only for the Google Home Premium Standard plan, which includes 30 days of event history and costs $100 per year, but it does not include the Home Brief and other AI-led features mentioned here.
Gemini's smart home features are an additional cost on top of using the regular Gemini chatbot, unless you pay for the Google One AI Pro tier (so many subscriptions). The summary and search capabilities have been time-savers when they work, though they've yet to justify their cost. Right now, the price is only worth it if you're after the colorful, detailed AI-generated notifications and 60-day event history.
On both Android and iOS devices, the app has been consolidated into three main tabs: Home, Activity, and Automations. The Gemini summaries live in the Activity tab and are refreshed every morning with the lowdown of the day's prior events. You can filter notifications by device, if you're more interested in what the doorbell camera caught than in the one facing the backyard, or read all the summaries at once.
Summaries are generally a variation of the same thing each time. They're simple and succinct, often reading like dispatches of what's happening rather than alerts that a device has detected motion. Reports read like, "a person and a child walked by the front, followed by another person approaching the door." Package notifications will include whether FedEx or UPS is specifically making the drop, and if it can't figure it out, it simplifies it to "delivery person." In most cases, if it's properly labeled, Gemini will mention the camera that caught the action. "Two different people walked by the Front Door, and a cat was seen walking by the Side Door camera." If it identifies people it knows through Familiar Faces, the Home Brief's summaries can be even more dynamic, bordering on narrative. "Flo was seen interacting with a child, lifting them, and later sitting with them on the couch."
While it can get repetitive reading the same thing over and over again, that familiarity makes it possible to scroll through and find a standout event. Typically, I check the summary before I delve further. If there's something of note—"an unrecognized person approached the porch, looked at the camera, and shined a flashlight before leaving"—I tap on the Gemini icon to start a chat about the day's events. It'll pull up the camera clips associated with the devices I selected to review, along with events from that day, and then I can type or dictate my concerns.
There's no granular control over the Home Brief in its current implementation and you can't decide whether Gemini flourishes the narrative or keeps it simple. You can ask Gemini to focus on "certain things," broadly speaking, like whether you want it to ignore vehicles or animals. You cannot get more specific than that, like asking for it to hone in on cats over opossums. Push notifications are managed the standard route, through the Google Home app and each individual camera.
While Gemini excels at differentiating an opossum from a cat, and a dog from a raccoon, it's still tripping up on arguably one of the most important recognition tasks and a core part of the paid Google Home Premium features: identifying the humans who actually live here. Gemini isn't always aware of who is at the door or inside the house. It's only named my husband and me twice since I started testing everything. It's been pretty good at pointing out that my kid is a child, though a few times it's identified her as "children," plural, which creeped me out the first time I saw the notification. It's never referred to her by her name, though she's a registered Familiar Face. Even when Gemini does provide detail—"a person departing, followed shortly by a person and a child"—it fails to note that it's the same person walking in and out of the house in succession.
I've read through Reddit threads in the last month complaining of similar woes. A quick look at Google's support pages shows Familiar Faces wasn't always consistent, even before Gemini. We know that AI generally has a history of hallucinations, and there are even instances of Gemini's Nest camera summaries making stuff up. But it's even more obvious now that it's part of a daily summary. And while I appreciate the responsible way the AI generally refers to unknown people as just "persons," Gemini's failure to signal that it's the same face, one after the other, makes the Nest cameras feel more like overactive motion detectors.
The other problem is that the Gemini summaries' descriptions are not always correct. The Google Home activity summary brought up a person with a flashlight looking into the front doorbell camera. Naturally, I was struck by the description when I read it. After some scrubbing in the timeline and talking to my husband, it turns out we'd had a nighttime Amazon delivery—common now that daylight savings time is over where I live—and the person leaving the package was using a flashlight to ensure the address matched the house. While I don't expect Gemini to handle that level of detail quite yet, leaving out the delivery person's role only added to the confusion.
Perhaps most egregious of all, Gemini missed someone stealing all our candy on Halloween night. It didn't even alert me to the fact that people were in the frame. A little less than an hour before the incident, the first-gen Nest doorbell picked up my family and me returning from trick-or-treating, down to the colors of our costumes. But when two adults and a kid walked up to the edge of the walkway outside my front door, it didn't even register as an event. The Google Home app had only denoted it as a "sound."
I scanned the timeline many times before I saw the moment the candy theft occurred. The lack of an incident report tied to a clip made it hard to pinpoint exactly when it happened. Eventually, I took a screen recording of a several-minute video stream around the time the "sound" had been detected. That's when I saw one of the adults in the group stand in front of the candy bowl, I assume to hide the dumping of its entire contents into the bag. Were it not for the physical blockade, the first-generation Nest doorbell camera might have caught the whole thing. Still, it failed to tell me there were people outside my door for a prolonged period, which is the essential information that should have been summarized.
While Gemini still requires significant refinement on Google's part, you can do a couple of things on your end to optimize the Nest cameras so that the AI summaries aren't consistently off base. The Gemini summaries rely on the quality of data the cameras collect, so refining the Familiar Faces library can help immensely. This helps improve Gemini's "confidence," so to speak, so it's not simply defaulting to "a person."
When I went in to curate Familiar Faces, I noticed that Nest has been bundling my face in with our sitter's, and my husband's face with our daughter's. It's neat that the AI can pick up on subtle similarities here, but it's not super helpful for revealing exactly who is at the door. If the camera mistakenly included the wrong picture, or even a blurry photo, you can delete it from the Familiar Faces library. While you're here, check if the camera has created multiple profiles for the same person. You can merge them to make the data more comprehensive and reduce Gemini's risk of faltering.
If you've got a Google Home full of aging Nest devices, ensuring the camera lenses are clean and the hardware itself is properly mounted can do wonders. Google support says doorbell cameras should be about four feet off the ground, while general cameras can be mounted six to eight feet. Most people are captured within 10 feet of the camera. You'll also want to pay attention to light and shadows. Pop in to learn what the cameras see at varying times of day. You're supposed to avoid placing the camera where the sun or bright external lights can backlight a face, but unfortunately, my front door faces west, and the sun loves to hover on that side for the better part of the afternoon.
Activity zones are also crucial to getting Gemini to tell you what's going on. If a camera faces a wide area with lots of irrelevant motion, like trees swaying in the wind, use Activity Zones to specify exactly where packages are dropped in the camera preview. The AI will skip over plants and focus more on the area highlighted. If I had this engaged to look off in the distance, maybe the doorbell camera would have caught the Halloween candy heist.
While aging Nest hardware is getting a tiny boost in utility now that Gemini summaries are a core part of the experience, it still struggles with context. The Nest cameras are good at general motion detection, but Gemini struggles to distinguish people and determine when a human-driven event needs to be addressed.
I reached out to Google with the very specific case of my Halloween candy escapade to figure out what criteria were needed to get the AI to catch on. I received a response with tips on what I could do on my end to improve Gemini's chances of getting summaries. Unsurprisingly, I didn't get a more specific answer than that. The new Gemini infusion is in its nascent stages, which means it's still just the beginning of the road for it. Google wants you to send feedback so it can learn what to tweak to improve the integrated Gemini experience over time.
The Gemini-led Nest summaries in the Google Home app are a valuable tool for reducing notification fatigue and checking quickly on what's happening at the door. But until AI can reliably distinguish between a family member, a delivery person with the right intentions, and an unusual human action as a high-priority event, you'll need to continue to perform your own due diligence. That's not to say the foundation isn't there. But for now, Gemini is still learning.
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Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over.
Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find.
Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more.
Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.
Black Friday is no longer a one-day sale—now, you can find impressive deals on tech products like headphones, e-readers, and speakers all week. If you're looking to shop on a budget, I shared Black Friday tech deals for under $25 and even more under $50 earlier this week. If your budget is a bit higher, here are the best tech deals under $100.
lh_wayfarer_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over.
Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find.
Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more.
Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.
Amazon's Black Friday sales are in full swing, running now through Cyber Week. Amazon will have an early Black Friday sale that will run up to the actual Black Friday, followed by a Cyber Monday sale that will last a few days. They will also have new flash daily deals throughout the events with Today’s Big Deals.
Amazon has deals on categories like home, electronics, beauty, apparel, and more where people can shop deals of up to 50% on artificial Christmas trees, seasonal decor, Amazon devices, and select electronics. Here are some deals Amazon has already said people will be able to take advantage of starting Nov. 20:
Amazon Devices: Save up to 50% on select Amazon devices, including new releases like Echo Dot Max, Fire TV Stick 4K Select, Fire TV 50" 4-Series, Blink Mini 2K+, and Blink Outdoor 2K+. Customers can also save on favorites such as Echo Show 11, Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10 tablets, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Scribe Essentials Bundle, and Ring Indoor Cam.
Seasonal: Save up to 50% on artificial Christmas Trees from National Tree Company and Fraser Hill Farm. Customers can also find up to 40% on ornaments from Lenox, and up to 20% on holiday gift wrap, bags, and bows from Hallmark.
Grocery: Save on complete holiday meals including Butterball turkeys at $0.69 per pound, pre-made sides like homestyle stuffing, mashed potatoes, and traditional fixings from select brands—all online for same-day delivery where available and at Amazon Fresh stores. Customers can also enjoy great prices on a wide selection of fresh grocery ingredients like carrots, green beans, and gold potatoes, plus wine enthusiasts can save 20% when purchasing six or more bottles through Amazon Fresh (valid through 11/30). Visit amazon.com/grocery for the full selection of grocery items available in your area.
Electronics: Save up to 50% on select electronics from JBL and Canon, and up to 45% on select Bose audio and PC hardware from ACER and ASUS. Customers can also get up to 40% on select home entertainment from LG, TCL, and Hisense, and up to 35% on select Samsung and Google products.
Home: Save up to 55% on select home products from Shark and up to 40% on select floorcare from BISSELL and iRobot. Customers can also find up to 35% on select floorcare from Dyson and select furniture from Signature Design by Ashley, and up to 25% on select luggage from Away and select fitness equipment from NordicTrack.
Kitchen: Save up to 50% on select kitchen appliances from Ninja and up to 40% on select kitchen essentials from Bentgo, Vitamix, Staub, and Nespresso, including deals on Nespresso Original Line Capsules. Customers can also enjoy up to 35% on select espresso and coffee machines from Keurig and De'Longhi, and up to 25% on premium kitchen brands like Breville and Our Place.
Beauty: Save up to 50% on select premium beauty products from Lancôme and luxury fragrances from Armani Beauty and Maison Margiela. Customers can also get up to 30% on skincare and bodycare essentials from Kiehl's, ELEMIS, Sol de Janeiro, and medicube, makeup from NYX PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP, Milk Makeup, and Tarte; plus select beauty tools from Drybar and Shark.
Fashion: Save up to 50% on select fashion from NAADAM, GAP, Levi's, Cinq A Sept, and Derek Lam 10 Crosby. Customers can also get up to 40% on apparel from Theory, AllSaints, New Balance, Carhartt, and ASTR the Label, plus up to 25% on select styles from Shopbop featuring brands like LE BOP, PAIGE, and FRAME.
Toys: Save up to 40% on select toys from MAGNA-TILES, Melissa & Doug, Little Tykes, Play-Doh, and NERF. Customers can also get up to 30% off select classic toys from Hasbro Gaming, Fisher-Price, and American Girl, plus character favorites featuring Disney, WICKED, Barbie, Star Wars, Marvel, and Harry Potter.
Books: Save up to 80% on Kindle books and up to 65% on print books, including Editor favorites from Amazon’s Best Books of the Year lists of the past 25 years, including A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, and The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Customers can also get three months of Kindle Unlimited for just $0.99, unlocking millions of titles across every genre. Terms and conditions apply. See here for details.
Yes, you will need to be a Prime Member to shop the exclusive sales during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Prime membership starts at $14.99 per month. While only you can decide if buying a yearly Prime membership is worth it for you, remember you can always sign up and then cancel your Prime membership once the sale is over: Amazon offers a free 30-day trial, so you can shop during both events (and even get some early Black Friday deals) before canceling without being charged. Here's how to sign up for a Prime account and all of the benefits that come with it.
The other major retailers doing sales are Best Buy, Target, and Walmart. Currently, Best Buy is offering one of the largest early Black Friday sales, with new deals available every Friday. Target has some week-long deals and a Deal of the Day. Nowadays, both large retailers and small businesses compete for Black Friday shoppers, so you can expect practically every store to run sales through Monday, December 1, 2025. The “best” sales depend on your needs, but in general, the biggest discounts tend to come from larger retailers that can afford lower prices: think places like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Home Depot. You can find all the best sales from major retailers on our live blog.
If this will be your first Black Friday shopping at Amazon, there are some basic things you need to know about Amazon sales:
You can share your Prime membership with family members even if they don't live with you.
You can set price alerts for products you want and your Alexa devices can notify you when they go on sale.
There are usually some "Invite-Only" deals that you can sign up for.
There are tools you can use to see if the deal you're looking at is good or not.
But if you only take one bit of advice for shopping on Amazon, let it be this one: Don't buy anything you weren't going to buy anyway. A good way to make sure you do this is by making a list of the products you do want, and only having eyes for those.
Black Friday used to be bigger for major retailers and more expensive tech and appliances, while Cyber Monday was for cheaper tech and gave smaller businesses a chance to compete online. Nowadays, though, the distinction is almost meaningless. Every major retailer will offer sales on both days, and the smart move is to know what you want, use price trackers or refer to guides like our live blog that use price trackers for you, and don’t stress over finding the perfect timing.
lh_wayfarer_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over.
Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find.
Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more.
Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.
Apple Watches aren't the company's most expensive product, but that doesn't mean they're cheap. The Series 11 starts at $399, while the Ultra 3 runs for $799. Even the company's "affordable" watch, the SE 3, starts at $249.
But ahead of Black Friday this year, most of Apple's new and last-gen smartwatches are on sale. If you've been waiting for an opportunity to pick up a new Apple wearable, now is the time.
Apple's current mainline Apple Watch is $60 off from Amazon. This smartwatch comes in either a 42mm or 46mm models, and while it doesn't reinvent the wheel when compared to last year's Series 10, it does come with a few new features, including 5G for the cellular model, improved battery life (to 24 hours from 18 hours), and upgraded quick charging (8 hours of use after 15 minutes of charging). It also comes with some great perks carried over from past models, like display that can reach 2,000 nits of brightness, an ECG sensor, Blood Oxygen sensor, and a built-in speaker.
Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS): $339.99 at Amazon (was $399)
Apple Watch Series 11 (46mm, GPS): $369.99 at Amazon (was $429)
Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm, GPS + Cellular): $439.99 at Amazon (was $499)
Apple Watch Series 11 (46mm, GPS + Cellular): $469.99 at Amazon (was $529)
Apple's least-expensive smartwatch is even less expensive ahead of Black Friday. All models of the SE 3 are currently $50 off, which means you can pick one up for as low as $199.
In order to keep the costs down, Apple does make some cuts to this watch, so you'll miss out on features the other models provide. The display only gets half as bright as the Series 11, and a third as bright as the Ultras. You don't get hypertension alerts or an ECG reader. There's no blood oxygen monitor, nor do you get the Ultra Wideband chip used for precise finding if you misplace the watch.
But for most people, those are small sacrifices. The SE 3 is more than enough smartwatch for the average user. It has the same S10 chip as the latest Series 11 and Ultra 3; it tracks your sleep, body temperature, and cycles; you can swim with it; there's a built-in speaker; and, if you buy the cellular model, it's 5G-compatible.
Apple Watch SE 3 (40mm, GPS): $199 at Amazon (was $249)
Apple Watch SE 3 (44mm, GPS): $229 at Amazon (was $279)
Apple Watch SE 3 (40mm, GPS + Cellular): $249 at Amazon (was $299)
Apple Watch SE 3 (44mm, GPS + Cellular): $279 at Amazon (was $329)
Apple's latest Apple Watch Ultra, the Ultra 3, is sadly not on sale ahead of Black Friday. Amazon does list it for $20 less than Apple's $799, but that's been the case for most of the past two months. But the previous model, the Ultra 2, is on sale, and still very capable in 2025. While it's obviously missing some of the features Apple included with the Ultra 3, you might feel the savings is worth the trade-off.
That said, this is an expensive smartwatch, even on sale. The Ultra 2 is currently marked down to $599, which is considerably pricier than some of Apple's other watches. However, this watch is 49mm, the largest you can buy from Apple, and has cellular connectivity built-in (though this model isn't compatible with 5G). It's a little more fair to compare this to the price of the cellular 46mm Series 11, versus, say, the standard 40mm SE 3.
The Ultra 2 comes with the S9, Apple's last-gen Apple Watch chip. It does, however, have a display that can reach a whopping 3,000 nits of brightness, a built-in siren, double the water resistance of the other watches (100m vs. 50m), and 36 hours of battery-on time (72 hours when using Low Power Mode).
Apple Watch Ultra 2: $599 at Amazon (was $779)
Yes, Apple participates in Black Friday, though you may want to compare their sales with other retailers like Best Buy and Walmart. Apple is offering an exclusive $250 gift card for eligible purchases, but so far, the best Black Friday sale on an Apple product is the M4 MacBook on sale for cheaper than ever.
Black Friday sales officially begin Friday, November 28, 2025, and run throughout “Cyber Week,” the five-day period that runs from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, December 1, 2025. But Black Friday and Cyber Monday dates have expanded as retailers compete for customers. You can get the same Black Friday sales early, and we expect sales to wind down by December 3, 2025.
Black Friday used to be bigger for major retailers and more expensive tech and appliances, while Cyber Monday was for cheaper tech and gave smaller businesses a chance to compete online. Nowadays, though, the distinction is almost meaningless. Every major retailer will offer sales on both days, and the smart move is to know what you want, use price trackers or refer to guides like our live blog that use price trackers for you, and don’t stress over finding the perfect timing.
lh_wayfarer_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over.
Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find.
Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more.
Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.
The holiday season sales have officially started. This year, Best Buy is having a whopping six holiday sales that started on Halloween and will lead up to Christmas. The early (OK, very early) Black Friday deals are already live, and every Friday, Best Buy is releasing new Doorbuster deals—and they're good. Here are the best ones I've found so far.
jl_pvt_fh_feedHappy U.S. holidays everyone, and best wishes for a wonderful feast day. We will be enjoying the day off tomorrow, November 27, and be back on fire again on Friday.
Profound thanks, today, tomorrow, and every day, to all who read Flaming Hydra.
Today: Trevor Alixopulos, who draws comics and illustrations and lives in California.
Armed with Gratitude
Trevor Alixopulos
![1. The "First Thanksgiving" taught to last centuryâs schoolchildren had the merits of being a true story of humans behaving themselves, with mercy and decency... [LINUS FROM PEANUTS IN AN AUTUMNAL SETTING WITH WOODSTOCK THE BIRD FLYING NEARBY SAYING] âAlso self interest!â ...but as history, it's a ret-con, the holiday as we know it was started hundreds of years later, by totally different people.](https://flaminghydra.com/content/images/2025/11/Gratitude01REVISED.png)
![2. Essentially a regional folk-holiday before, Thanksgiving was lobbied into national status by writer Mary Josepha Hale, the author of "Mary Had A Little Lamb.â [MARY SAYING] âletâs agree on cider and Pie.â Nominally an abolitionist, Hale's main focus was on a sort of 19th Century Martha Stewart career, which brought her a national platform (and Abe Lincoln's ear.)](https://flaminghydra.com/content/images/2025/11/Gratitude02REVISED.png)
![3. [CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS, ONE WEARING BLUE, ON GRAY, IN BRUTAL COMBAT OVER A THANKSGIVING TABLE SETTING] Lincoln's 1863 proclamation gave thanks, that despite the homicidal family feud taking place, most of the country away from the battlefield was free from injury, want or fear.](https://flaminghydra.com/content/images/2025/11/Gratitude03-1.png)
![4. [A WOMAN WITH CHILD, FEARFULLY HUDDLED UNDER A TABLE STREWN WITH SIGNS OF VIOLENCE AND A DEAD BODY] That said, Lincoln was clear that the ongoing mayhem was the nationâs just deserts, and until the Lord finished serving them, we may as well sit tight and attend to those among us who had lost the most. The "widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers" who can only thank that the worst has already come and gone, leaving them only with breath to draw and love to give. [SIGNED] 2025 TOA](https://flaminghydra.com/content/images/2025/11/Gratitude04.png)
for Flaming Hydra subscribers. Check out the rules here!
There is still time to compose and enter your best Hydranym in game No. 26.
lh_wayfarer_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over.
Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find.
Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more.
Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.
If you like to do your own home projects like installing trim or building shelves, a brad nailer can make things much easier. I've used my brad nailer to build inserts for my kitchen cabinets, to fix the trim on my garage door, and for repairing some decorative pieces on my deck.
For smaller jobs, a cordless nailer can be effective, but for larger projects, sometimes using a compressor will work better because it has more power and can handle tougher material. That's why getting something like this Craftsman brad nailer and air compressor combo kit, which is on sale for Black Friday, is a great buy—especially for $149 (originally $239).
Craftsman has a longstanding reputation for manufacturing durable, reliable tools, and its U.S.-made tools tend to be made from good-quality steel, so they last longer than tools made with cheaper materials. The compressor that comes with this set is light and portable, so it’s convenient to move around or take with you to job sites, and it has two couplers installed for using multiple tools simultaneously. The nailer takes 18-gallon brad nails, and can accommodate up to a two-inch nail for installing large, chunky trim or exterior decorative pieces. I’ve found the Craftsman brad nailer to be comfortable to use and I don’t need to stop very often to clear jams.
The set comes with an 18-gauge brad nailer, an air hose, and an air compressor with a six-gallon tank. The hose has its fittings already installed, and the tank has two fittings if you want to use more than one tool at a time. The compressor also has a cord wrap and carrying handle that make it simple to pack and travel with.
You’ll obviously need 18-gauge brad nails to use your nail gun. I recommend these Porter cable nails because the quality of the nails can also affect how often your nail gun jams. A project pack to go with the nailer comes with a few sizes that will be useful for most projects around the house. You should also invest in a good set of safety glasses before you fire up your compressor. Compressed air can drive nails through two by fours if the pressure is high enough, so imagine what it could do to your eyes if they aren’t protected. I wear these glasses from 3M because they have a little foam strip that makes them more comfortable and they're less likely to fog up from moisture in your breath. I also find that they have less of a likelihood to creep down my nose while I don’t have any hands free, which is a constant struggle with safety glasses for me.
Nowadays, both large retailers and small businesses compete for Black Friday shoppers, so you can expect practically every store to run sales through Monday, December 1, 2025. The “best” sales depend on your needs, but in general, the biggest discounts tend to come from larger retailers that can afford lower prices: think places like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Home Depot. You can find all the best sales from major retailers on our live blog.
In short, yes, Black Friday still offers discounts that can be rare throughout the rest of the year. If there’s something you want to buy, or you’re shopping for gifts, it’s a good time to look for discounts on what you need, especially tech sales, home improvement supplies, and fitness tech. Of course, if you need to save money, the best way to save is to not buy anything.
Black Friday used to be bigger for major retailers and more expensive tech and appliances, while Cyber Monday was for cheaper tech and gave smaller businesses a chance to compete online. Nowadays, though, the distinction is almost meaningless. Every major retailer will offer sales on both days, and the smart move is to know what you want, use price trackers or refer to guides like our live blog that use price trackers for you, and don’t stress over finding the perfect timing.
lh_wayfarer_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over.
Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find.
Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more.
Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.
When Garmin watches first went on sale for Black Friday last week, I was a little bummed that the Forerunner 570 and 970 didn't seem to have been discounted. But sometimes a company saves a few special things for later, and that turned out to be the case here: These two brand-new watches, released earlier this year, are now both $100 off.
I've used and reviewed the Forerunner 570, and found it a step up from the earlier Forerunner 265 (which I also loved). The 570 adds a microphone and two different types of voice assistants, plus some new software features like heat acclimation and the ability to trim your activity if you didn't press "stop" when you crossed the race finish line. My only complaint is (or was) that the price seemed a bit steep in comparison to the previous model. But with the current deal, it's a lot closer to the original price of the 265: The 570 is now going for $449.99.
The Forerunner 970 is also $100 off, which brings its current price to $649.99. The biggest thing the 970 has going for it over the 570 is that it can show you maps while you run. Both watches can do breadcrumb tracking (drawing a line showing where you've been), but with a fully map-enabled watch, you can see important details like where your hiking route crosses roads or turns along them. The 970 also has an LED flashlight, which is incredibly handy for getting around in the dark—whether that means snuggling into your sleeping bag at a campsite or just sneaking out of your kid's room at bedtime.
Black Friday sales officially begin Friday, November 28, 2025, and run throughout “Cyber Week,” the five-day period that runs from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, December 1, 2025. But Black Friday and Cyber Monday dates have expanded as retailers compete for customers. You can get the same Black Friday sales early, and we expect sales to wind down by December 3, 2025.
In short, yes, Black Friday still offers discounts that can be rare throughout the rest of the year. If there’s something you want to buy, or you’re shopping for gifts, it’s a good time to look for discounts on what you need, especially tech sales, home improvement supplies, and fitness tech. Of course, if you need to save money, the best way to save is to not buy anything.
Black Friday used to be bigger for major retailers and more expensive tech and appliances, while Cyber Monday was for cheaper tech and gave smaller businesses a chance to compete online. Nowadays, though, distinction is almost meaningless. Every major retailer will offer sales on both days, and the smart move is to know what you want, use price trackers or refer to guides like our live blog that use price trackers for you, and don’t stress over finding the perfect timing.
lh_wayfarer_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over.
Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find.
Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more.
Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.
Bose is known for its warm, bass-y sound quality, and this Black Friday has some great deals to bring that signature soundscape into your home. The Bose SoundLink Revolve+ (Series II) is available at 40% off during Amazon's Black Friday 2025 sale, and it's a really good product at that price. I have the original SoundLink Revolve speaker, and I love its minimalist looks, how small it is, and how easily it slots into any corner of my room. I don't always like speakers that have a flashy design, so this Bose product is great for me.
With the Revolve+, Bose has kept the same design language as the original, but now there's a convenient strap for you to pick it up and carry it around, making it even more portable. The sound quality is pretty good for the price, too, and you can actually link two of these speakers together to create an easy stereo setup. If you're looking for a fuss-free Bluetooth speaker with good sound quality, the Bose SoundLink Revolve+ is a great choice.
My only major complaint is that it still uses an ancient micro-USB port for charging, which is a big oversight from Bose. Fortunately, you can rectify that annoyance by buying the Bose SoundLink Revolve charging cradle ($30). With that, you can drop the speaker on the cradle to charge it, which is a lot easier than fiddling with a micro-USB cable.
I'll also say that, being smaller, this isn't the best product if you want the loudest speaker on the market. You'd probably want to go towards Bose's SoundLink Max for that (but good news: it's also on sale). Instead, this is a great speaker for those who live in compact spaces and want something that can play relaxing, bass-y music just loud enough to fill the room they're in. Or, if you have two of them, they also work well for movies. Note that the Revolve+ also has an aux port, which means that you can use it as a wired speaker with your laptop or PC.
Nowadays, both large retailers and small businesses compete for Black Friday shoppers, so you can expect practically every store to run sales through Monday, December 1, 2025. The “best” sales depend on your needs, but in general, the biggest discounts tend to come from larger retailers that can afford lower prices: think places like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Home Depot. You can find all the best sales from major retailers on our live blog.
In short, yes, Black Friday still offers discounts that can be rare throughout the rest of the year. If there’s something you want to buy, or you’re shopping for gifts, it’s a good time to look for discounts on what you need, especially tech sales, home improvement supplies, and fitness tech. Of course, if you need to save money, the best way to save is to not buy anything.
Black Friday used to be bigger for major retailers and more expensive tech and appliances, while Cyber Monday was for cheaper tech and gave smaller businesses a chance to compete online. Nowadays, though, the distinction is almost meaningless. Every major retailer will offer sales on both days, and the smart move is to know what you want, use price trackers or refer to guides like our live blog that use price trackers for you, and don’t stress over finding the perfect timing.
lh_wayfarer_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over.
Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find.
Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more.
Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.
Apple's AirPods remain the benchmark standard for sleek wireless earbuds that perform really well (provided you're in the Apple ecosystem). And right now, the Apple AirPods 4 are significantly cheaper than I've even seen them—a record-low $70 (originally $130). Around 47% off for a current generation Apple product is wild.
The AirPods 4 have Apple’s H2 chip, relocated to the stem to improve acoustics and airflow and deliver better sound (they offer “Personalized Spatial Audio,” which enables a more immersive experience). They also have design upgrades from their predecessor, like a more angled contour and a smaller charging case.
While they don’t have the active noise cancellation or advanced features of the pricier AirPods 4 with ANC, PCMag notes that they deliver excellent sound and bass response compared to other buds on the market, with clever features like a Personalized Volume function that gradually adjusts sound level based on how noisy your environment is, and hands-free Siri with gesture-based interactions.
Battery life is around 5 hours (closer to 4.5 for talk time), and the charging case will add another 25 hours to that. A five-minute charge provides up to an hour of playback, or 45 minutes of talk time. There’s no dedicated app for these earbuds as they work natively with iOS, which is a big perk for Apple users (and really, who else is buying AirPods?).
Nowadays, both large retailers and small businesses compete for Black Friday shoppers, so you can expect practically every store to run sales through Monday, December 1, 2025. The “best” sales depend on your needs, but in general, the biggest discounts tend to come from larger retailers who can afford lower prices: think places like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Home Depot. You can find all the best sales from major retailers on our live blog.
In short, yes, Black Friday still offers discounts that can be rare throughout the rest of the year. If there’s something you want to buy, or you’re shopping for gifts, it’s a good time to look for discounts on what you need, especially tech sales, home improvement supplies, and fitness tech. Of course, if you need to save money, the best way to save is to not buy anything.
Black Friday used to be bigger for major retailers and more expensive tech and appliances, while Cyber Monday was for cheaper tech and gave smaller businesses a chance to compete online. Nowadays, though, distinction is almost meaningless. Every major retailer will offer sales on both days, and the smart move is to know what you want, use price trackers or refer to guides like our live blog that use price trackers for you, and don’t stress over finding the perfect timing.
lh_wayfarer_feedWe may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over.
Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find.
Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more.
Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.
Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.
If you're new to the world of fitness wearables, you might be a bit overwhelmed by all the trackers and watches that are on sale for Black Friday. Here I'll pick out the ones that are best for beginners, and help you choose among them. There are tons of great options from Fitbit, Garmin, and more.
sga_storyfinders_feedoursinWhat I read
After Hours at Dooryard Books was really good - set in 1968 in a used bookstore in Greenwich Village - this was so not a Summer of Love - but lots of Unhistoric Acts - also I really liked that what I feared was going to be one of those three-quarter way through Exposure of Dark Thing/Arising of Unexpected Crisis in Relationship actually didn't go angst angst angst wo wo wo.
Slightly Foxed #88: 'Pure Magic': pretty good selection, though rather irked by the guy fanboying over Room at the Top and all he can say about the sexism side of things is that the protag's behaviour to women 'may be less than admirable but he is not a cad'. O RLY. What do you call putting the local rich guy's daughter in the club and then chucking your older woman mistress, who dies horribly in a car accident?
Robert Rodi, Fag Hag (1992) - of its period perhaps. I think there may be works of his I remember more fondly than this one? Don't really recommend.
Dick Francis, Hot Money (1987): this is one in which I was waiting for the narrator to get, as per usual for a DF protag, nastily done over, probably by one of his siblings or in-laws in this convoluted tale of seething envies within the family of a much-married tycoon. He did get blown up but that was not personal and so did his father. No actually woodsheds but there was a glasshouse and various other nooks and crannies to see something nasty in.
On the go
Back to Lanny Budd - O Shepherd, Speak! (#10) (1949) - Lanny as ever finds himself where it's happening in the final stages of WW2 - have got to the aftermath of the war, and thinking about peace. Quite a way to go.
Up next
No idea.
shinyhappygoth_feedthe road OUT of hell is also paved with good intentions. Thatâs just kind of the main road weâve got
shinyhappygoth_feedwhy does uber give me notifications like âhey⊠do you wanna take an uber rn?â As if Iâm ever just chilling like yeah a $40 car ride would go crazy right now
alisx - chaos.infolh_wayfarer_feed - Gemini's Nest Camera Reports Aren't That Helpful Yet, but You Can Improve Themxkcd_feed - Satellite Imageryalightbuthappypen - Write Every Day: Day #26lh_wayfarer_feed - The Best Black Friday Tech Deals Under $100lh_wayfarer_feed - Everything You Need to Know About Amazon's Black Friday and Cyber Monday Salelh_wayfarer_feed - Almost Every Apple Watch Is On Sale for Black Fridaylh_wayfarer_feed - The Second Round of Best Buy's Early Black Friday Deals Are Live, and They're Goodjl_pvt_fh_feed - True thankslh_wayfarer_feed - I Use This Brad Nailer and Air Compressor Combo, and It's $90 Off for Black Fridaycorvidology - For mates who might be interested in this low anxiety challengelh_wayfarer_feed - Garmin's Newest Running Watches Are Already on Sale for Black Fridaylh_wayfarer_feed - This Fun-Sized Bose Portable Speaker Is 40% Off This Black Fridaylh_wayfarer_feed - I've Never Seen the AirPods 4 This Cheaplh_wayfarer_feed - The Best Beginner-Friendly Fitness Trackers on Sale for Black Fridaysga_storyfinders_feed - Rodney Gets the Love He Deserves/John is a Dumbassoursin - Wednesday is annoyed that a seminar, booked as being online, turned out to be in-person onlyshinyhappygoth_feed - Happy possumshinyhappygoth_feed - the road OUT of hell is also paved with good intentions. That’s just kind of the main road we&shinyhappygoth_feed - why does uber give me notifications like “hey… do you wanna take an uber rn?” Asbranchandroot
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