The best early Prime Day deals on Amazon devices

Amazon’s new Echo Pop speaker has never been cheaper than it is today. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

It’s that time of year again. Amazon is once again throwing a Prime Day event on July 11th and July 12th, and already, the deals are starting to trickle in. As an Amazon event, naturally, some of the first — and best — discounts are on Amazon’s own devices. And while it’s likely that we’ll see even more deals arrive as we get closer to the event, Amazon is already offering some pretty good discounts on Amazon-branded TVs, streaming devices, smart speakers, and various Fire tablets.

We’ve rounded up some of the best deals currently available below, but be sure to bookmark this page because we’ll keep updating it as more deals roll in.

The best Prime Day TV and streaming device deals

• Amazon’s last-gen Fire TV Omni lineup is...

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Amazon’s iRobot Roomba acquisition under formal EU investigation

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

European Union regulators have opened an official investigation into Amazon’s proposed $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot, the company behind the popular Roomba lineup of robot vacuum cleaners.

In a press release, the European Commission said it’s concerned that “the transaction would allow Amazon to restrict competition in the market for robot vacuum cleaners (‘RVCs’) and to strengthen its position as online marketplace provider.” The European Commission is also looking at how getting access to iRobot users’ data may give Amazon an advantage “in the market for online marketplace services to third-party sellers (and related advertising services) and / or other data-related markets.”

“We continue to work through the process with the...

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Twitter warns it could sue Meta over ‘copycat’ Threads app

Image: Laura Normand / The Verge

Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over concerns about its new Threads app, according to a letter obtained by Semafor. In the letter, which is addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter lawyer Alex Spiro argues that Meta used Twitter’s trade secrets and intellectual property to build Threads.

Spiro, who is also Elon Musk’s personal lawyer and a partner at the Quinn Emanuel law firm, claims that Meta hired “dozens” of ex-Twitter employees to develop Threads, which wouldn’t be all that surprising given just how many people were fired following Musk’s takeover.

But according to Twitter, many of these former workers still have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other confidential information. Twitter alleges that Meta took advantage...

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Threads already has over 95 million posts

Threads compose window and photo picker on iOS. | Image: Meta

Instagram’s new Threads app seems like it could be a hit. Mark Zuckerberg said that the app has more than 30 million signups as of Thursday morning, and people who are checking it out are posting... er, threading... a lot, too. According to internal data I’ve seen, users have already posted more than 95 million threads (or tweets, depending on who you ask) and dropped about 190 million likes.

All that has happened in less than 24 hours. The app launched Wednesday evening on iOS and Android (significantly earlier than the original Thursday launch time), and a lot of people are checking it out; it’s currently the top free app on the App Store.

There’s still a lot missing from Threads. You can’t delete your Threads account without...

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Threads profiles can’t be deleted without removing your entire Instagram account

Image: Meta

If you’re already tired of Threads and want to delete your account, you can’t do that right now unless you delete your entire Instagram account. However, Meta is “looking into” a way for that not to be the case, according to a post from Instagram chief Adam Mosseri on Thursday.

Threads, Meta’s just-launched Twitter competitor, uses Instagram’s account system. That has the benefit of letting you bring over your Instagram username when you join the app. But it also ties the apps together in such a way that means you can’t delete your Threads account without deleting your Instagram one, which people may not want to do if they’ve been posting on Instagram proper for years.

Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

Here’s M...

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Here are the best Kindle deals right now

The latest Kindle Paperwhite is on sale as a part of a bundle. | Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

When it comes to finding a device to use to read your ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or use your phone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling on Twitter. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while niche, are designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with limited functionality.

Amazon, one of the pioneers of the e-reader, has dominated the space for years with its ever-expanding Kindle lineup, which consists of several unique models with their own pros and cons. The bulk of the devices function as simple ebook readers; however, with the Kindle Scribe, Amazon looks to be moving...

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Nothing Phone 2 camera and display specs leak days ahead of launch

Image: Nothing

The launch of the Nothing Phone 2 on July 11th is less than a week away, but a new leak spoils some of the device’s potential specs. In a thread on Twitter spotted by 9to5Google, leaker Kamila Wojciechowska shares that the Nothing Phone 2 could feature some improvements to its camera system.

According to Wojciechowska, the upcoming device could feature a 50MP Sony IMX890 main camera sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS) and in-sensor zoom. That’s the same primary sensor used by the OnePlus 11, which my colleague Allison Johnson listed as one of the positive aspects of the device in her review. It’s not clear how much this will actually affect the camera quality, though, as the Phone 1 already comes with a 50MP main sensor.

The...

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Pokémon Sleep looks adorable and sounds kind of intrusive in new video

After months of leaving us in suspense with little idea about how Pokémon Sleep would work, exactly, The Pokémon Company’s released a charming introduction video explaining more about the game and its creative, rest-focused take on filling out the pokédex.

Rather than sending you out into the world to search for monsters for your personal collection, Pokémon Sleep switches up the formula of the classic games by pairing players with a different Snorlax every week in order to conduct research with Professor Neroli, a new character who specializes in pokémon sleep research.

The new video explains how, after raising their Snorlaxes throughout the day by feeding them various kinds of berries, Pokémon Sleep players can then help their...

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The Super Mario Bros. Movie will start streaming on Peacock in August

Image: Universal Pictures

The Super Mario Bros. Movie will soon be available to stream. Starting August 3rd, you can stream the box office giant exclusively on Peacock.

The movie has been an absolute smash hit, breaking $1 billion at the box office less than a month after it hit theaters. And with good reason: it’s a new gold standard for video game films. I have to imagine that means it’ll be a popular movie when it hits Peacock, too — though if you want to own a copy for yourself, you can currently buy it on digital platforms or on Blu-Ray.

The Super Mario Bros Movie isn’t the only video game adaptation that’s headed to Peacock. Twisted Metal, a TV series based on the PlayStation vehicular combat series, debuts at the end of July. And the spooky-looking Five...

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How The Witcher explores its own history through fashion, architecture, and weapons

The Witcher season 3. | Photo by Susie Allnutt / Netflix

As The Witcher has grown beyond its first season and expanded with not only multiple seasons but prequels, too, the team behind its visual design has had to expand its ambitions as well. In particular, it’s had to think a lot about the history of the world and how it influenced the way things like fashion and architecture evolved on the Continent. That could be as simple as the material utilized to make swords in one time period or as large as a ruin in the main timeline that was once a beautiful structure in the past.

For Andrew Laws, a production and concept designer on the series, all of those details are vital for making The Witcher universe feel like a real, lived-in place. “A lot of the time, you don’t get to see all of [the...

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Honor 90 comes to Europe with a 200-megapixel camera and midrange price

Image: Honor

A little over a month after its debut in China, former Huawei subbrand Honor is launching its Honor 90 internationally. Although this is a midrange smartphone at its core, powered by a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1-based processor and priced starting from €549 (£449.99, around $573), it’s notable for having a 200-megapixel main camera, the same resolution as what you’ll find in the flagship Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Of course, more megapixels don’t necessarily mean better camera performance. But in the right scenarios, it offers the possibility of more detailed photographs. The Honor 90’s camera software can also bin as many as 16 pixels together to create pixels that are effectively 2.24μm in size in order to collect more light and produce...

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How to deactivate your Twitter account

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

Twitter was once a convenient way to get your memes, world news, and pop culture hot takes all in one place. However, being an active Twitter user also required sifting through a daily deluge of toxic characters, including QAnon, white supremacists, bots, and deepfakes. The Elon Musk circus that has been steadily crushing the formerly popular social network may have you strongly considering the advantages of bailing. And there are a bunch of new social networks vying for the role of Twitter substitute, such as Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon. (More on that later.)

Hear me out on this: you don’t actually have to use Twitter. You can just delete your account.

Don’t worry: it doesn’t have to be permanent. If you find yourself feeling empty...

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Instagram flooded Threads with celebrities and brands at launch

Screenshot by Emma Roth / The Verge

If you created an account when Instagram’s Threads app launched last night, one of the first things you might’ve noticed was the sheer number of celebrities, brands, and influencers populating your feed. From Gordon Ramsay to Michael Strahan and Jennifer Lopez, Meta pre-filled its new Twitter competitor with a boatload of well-known users to make the app feel less empty at launch.

While Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri got spots on the app ahead of time, so did big names such as Mark Cuban, Shakira, and Seth Curry. Meta also got influencers like MKBHD, Lauren Godwin, Alan Chikin Chow, and Michael Le on board early, along with brands like Netflix, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery’s Shark Week, Animal Planet, and...

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G/O Media’s AI ‘innovation’ is off to a rocky start

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Last week, G/O Media leadership had news for staffers at the many publications the company owns: AI-generated articles were just around the corner.

“We are both a leading technology company and an editorial organization that covers technology in world class fashion across multiple sites,” editorial director Merrill Brown wrote in an email. “So it is utterly appropriate — and in fact our responsibility — to do all we can to develop AI initiatives relatively early in the evolution of the technology.”

G/O’s early experiments with AI tools began on Wednesday through a couple of articles appearing on Gizmodo and The A.V. Club credited to the publications’ respective bots_._ And almost immediately, there were embarrassing mistakes.

The Gizmodo...

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Twitter alternatives for the Musk-averse

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter users (and ex-users) are still watching to see what the next chapter will be in the soap opera called “What Elon Musk will do with Twitter next.” (While this was being written, the latest drama was the institution of paywalls and the blocking of unregistered users. And that’s only the latest.)

If you’re becoming bored with the whole thing, and you want to continue following social networking without having to deal with Twitter, where do you go?

While, at least so far, nothing has become the byword that Twitter became, there are a number of services that are currently vying for the title of “Twitter Alternative of the 2020s.” So far, most don’t have the size and scale of Twitter, and it’s hard to say if any of them will attract...

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Apple’s Strange Planet animated series starts streaming in August

Image: Apple

Humans: a popular online comic strip is being adapted into a new format for your amusement.

And by that I mean that Apple TV Plus is turning Nathan W. Pyle’s Strange Planet comic into an animated series, with Dan Harmon on board as co-creator and executive producer. It’s described as an “adult” animated series, and the first episode will premiere on August 9th.

The comics follow a pair of aliens struggling to understand human life and customs and describing things in, well, alien ways. It rose to popularity through social media before becoming a hit graphic novel. Here’s an example:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Strange Planet (@nathanwpylestrangeplanet)

The series will feature some...

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Just call them tweets

This is basically an admission, right? | Screenshot: Alex Cranz / The Verge

Instagram Threads launched last night, and it’s the most commercial competitor to Twitter we’ve seen yet. While it will eventually tie into ActivityPub, the powerful decentralized network that Mastodon operates on, it’s just its own thing for now. And as with every microblogging platform that has popped up since Twitter began to shit the bed last year, one outstanding question has immediately presented itself:

What do we call these things?

No one seems to know! A number of people have been drawn to the word “post,” and post is a very accurate term. Your parents have heard of this word, and you can say it in polite company without having to explain yourself. But it’s also the name of one of these services, and frankly, it’s boring. It’s...

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VW will test its autonomous ID Buzz in the US starting this month

Image: VW

Volkswagen announced it will test autonomous vehicles in the US starting with driverless versions of its ID Buzz electric microbus. The new fleet will be tested on public roads in Austin, Texas, starting later this month.

The announcement comes months after VW, along with Ford, pulled funding for Argo AI, the self-driving startup that had planned on launching robotaxi services in the US and Europe. The loss of funding caused Argo to shut down and cast a pall over the AV industry, which had been struggling to build a business model around driverless cars for more than a decade.

VW had originally planned on using Argo’s tech to power a fleet of self-driving ID Buzz microbuses. But now, it’s developing the hardware and software in-house,...

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Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 has dropped to a new all-time low

Both the 40mm and 44mm versions of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 are discounted. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

With Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event just around the corner, the chances we’ll see a new Samsung smartwatch very soon are high. If you can’t wait until then, though, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 has hit a new all-time low at multiple retailers. Right now, you can buy the Bluetooth-enabled 40mm wearable at Amazon, Best Buy, and direct from Samsung in select configurations starting at $199 ($80 off). You can also buy its 44mm variant, which offers a larger screen and battery, starting at around $229 ($81 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart.

The lightweight Android watch offers all the standard health, fitness, and sleep tracking features you’d expect, along with some unique extras, including body composition analysis. It can also measure...

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Spotify is booting legacy subscribers still paying via Apple’s App Store

Affected Spotify Premium subscribers can re-subscribe after their account has been moved to the free membership tier. | Nick Barclay / The Verge

It’s been over seven years since Spotify stopped allowing new customers to subscribe to its Premium tier membership through Apple’s in-app purchase system, and now the streaming giant is dropping support for the payment method entirely. As reported by Variety, Spotify has recently emailed legacy Premium subscribers who are still paying through the Apple App Store to notify them that they will need to resubscribe to the service using an alternative payment system, like PayPal or a credit card, at the end of their final billing period.

“We’re contacting you because when you joined Spotify Premium you used Apple’s billing service to subscribe. Unfortunately, we no longer accept that billing method as a form of payment,” Spotify said in the...

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Instagram head says a Threads feed with just people you follow is ‘On the list’ of potential features

The Instagram head’s response to the feature request. | Screenshot: Threads.net

Instagram head Adam Mosseri has responded to calls for a Threads home feed that only contains posts from accounts you follow, saying it’s “on the list” of features the platform would like to add. Mosseri sent the message in response to a post from YouTuber Marques Brownlee requesting the feature, as well as to photographer Noah Kalina. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also chimed in, posting a thumbs up emoji in response to Brownlee’s request.

Other features that Mosseri has said are “on the list” include support for editing posts, a translation option for different languages, and options to switch between different Threads accounts.

If your early experience with Meta’s Twitter competitor is anything like mine, your home feed is likely filled...

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Aqara’s first Matter sensor for doors and windows is also a programable button

These types of sensors will alert you when the refrigerator door is left open. | Image: Aqara

Aqara’s first Matter-over-Thread sensor is now available to buy. The Door and Window Sensor P2 is priced at $29.99 / £29.99 / €32.99 and slots right into existing Matter-enabled smart homes since it doesn’t require an Aqara hub to operate. But those who choose to use the sensor with Aqara’s upcoming Hub M3 will enable extra features like a built-in programmable button.

The Door and Window Sensor P2 uses a magnet to identify if a window or door is opened or closed, a feature that can be useful in any number of smart home automations. For example, they can be used to enhance security, remind you to close a window when it starts to rain, or alert you that a freezer door has been left open too long. The Door and Window Sensor P2 comes with...

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Meta unspools Threads

Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

This is Platformer_, a newsletter on the intersection of Silicon Valley and democracy from Casey Newton and Zoë Schiffer._ Sign up here.

In early December, when word first leaked out that Meta was considering new ways to challenge Twitter, I messaged Adam Mosseri.

We were then two months into Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter, and it was clear that the social network I depended on the most was beginning to break. For my own sake, it felt important that something like Twitter continue to exist — a place to share news, jokes, and other short snippets of writing, in a chatty public place that gave me a sense of the daily conversation.

And so I told Mosseri that I hoped Meta would go through with it.

On one hand, the history of Facebook and...

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Watch this massive LED sphere in Las Vegas light up for the first time

No, that is not the Moon. That is the Sphere. | Image: Sphere Entertainment

The Sphere, aka the 366-foot-tall orb situated in the heart of Las Vegas, demonstrated what 1.2 million lit-up LEDs look like. During its first display on Tuesday night, animations showing fireworks, the American flag, the Moon, and even a giant blinking eyeball emanated from the 580,000-square-foot panel.

Las Vegas is known for some pretty wild landmarks, but this one is more than just a humongous display-on-a-ball. On the inside, it’s a spherical theater that houses 18,000 seats, along with a 16K wraparound LED screen. The whole thing cost Sphere Entertainment over $2 billion to build.

According to the company, the LED pucks on this massive screen are spaced eight inches apart and contain 48 individual LED diodes, each of which can...

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You can get $50 in Samsung credit when you reserve a Galaxy Z Flip 5 or Z Fold 5

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Samsung only just announced that its next Unpacked event will take place on July 26th at 7AM ET, but the deals are already trickling in on the company’s next slate of Galaxy devices (including the heavily-rumored Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5). Starting today, you can place a preorder reservation one of two ways, each of which entitles you to $50 in Samsung credit when you preorder one of Samsung’s forthcoming, yet-to-be-announced devices at a future date.

Like Samsung’s previous reservation promos, you won’t have to hand over your credit card details, either. All you need to do is fill out your name and email address on Samsung’s website or the Shop Samsung App before July 26th. You’ll then be able eligible to redeem the Samsung...

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Instagram’s Twitter competitor, Threads, is available now

Image: Meta

Threads, the Twitter competitor created by Meta, has finally arrived after months of rumors, leaks, and a billionaire cage fight challenge between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Now you can access the new platform from its desktop site at Threads.net or by downloading the app for iOS and Android.

On Threads, you can create text-based posts with up to 500 characters, as well as share photos and videos up to five minutes long. The app looks relatively similar to Twitter, featuring a minimal interface with the options to like, comment, repost, and share threads. Since Threads is closely tied to Instagram, you can log in with your Instagram username and easily follow all the same people you follow on the other platform.

I...

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Instagram head Adam Mosseri explains why he’s taking on Twitter with Threads

Image: Meta

The ‘volatility’ of Twitter under Elon Musk has given Instagram an opening to compete with its new app Threads. It’s a ‘risky’ bet worth trying, says Mosseri.

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Samsung’s next folding phones arrive on July 26th

If you’re planning on tuning in live from North America, you’ll want to brew a pot of coffee first. | Image: Samsung

We have a confirmed date for Hot Foldable Summer’s biggest party. Samsung has announced it’s hosting its next Unpacked on July 26th at 7AM ET — bright and early for the east coast, but it’ll be an evening affair in Seoul, where Samsung previously announced that it’s hosting the event. The image and text released with the announcement make it quite obvious that we’ll see a flip-style foldable at the event, which would naturally be the Galaxy Z Flip 5, and the Z Fold 5 is anticipated as well. We will likely see the Galaxy Watch 6, too, as well as some Galaxy Tablets. That’s quite a packed Unpacked.

The flip-style foldable in Samsung’s promotional image looks right in line with the rumors and leaks we’ve seen thus far with a lower-profile...

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Twitter is being sued by its ex-employees again

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter is being sued by its former employees again — this time for allegedly refusing to pay the expected cost of legal arbitration. As previously reported by Bloomberg, the suit was filed on July 3rd in the Northern District of California. It seeks to force Twitter to cover most of the costs in a slew of arbitration claims, which, of course, Twitter doesn’t want to do.

This latest lawsuit is part of a host of litigation between Twitter and many of the thousands of employees it abruptly fired when Elon Musk took over last year. Laid-off employees previously sued Musk for giving insufficient notice before firing them and later altered their claim to add that they were not paid what they were owed in their severance agreement.

But the...

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The best smartwatches for Android users

Photo illustration by William Joel / The Verge

Wear OS is much better than it used to be, so there’s never been a better time to consider a smartwatch.

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