Amazon’s latest Kindles are on sale for up to $30 off for Cyber Monday

The new Paperwhite is bigger, and the base Kindle comes in a new color. | Image: Amazon

It’s about that time of the year to turn on the heat, warm up some cocoa, and curl up in your reading nook. If you’re running out of space for physical books to enjoy, Amazon’s newest Kindles can hold thousands of digital ones, and some are on sale as part of the retailer’s ongoing Cyber Monday promo. This includes the 2024 Kindle, which has dropped to $84.99 ($25 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, along with the new Kindle Paperwhite, which is now just $129.99 ($30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target.

You can also get the new Kindle Kids for $94.99 ($35 off) and the Paperwhite Kids for $149.99 ($40 off), each of which includes a protective case, six months of Amazon Kids Plus, and a two-year extended warranty. Sadly, the Kindle...

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GOG’s preservation program lets you keep playing games after they’re delisted

Image: Blizzard

GOG has announced that even if games in its recently launched preservation program are delisted from its store, it will maintain compatibility with those games and offer players “a seamless experience and tech support for those titles.” The first games covered are Warcraft I and II, scheduled for delisting on December 13th.

That promise extends to Windows changes that affect how playable a game is, GOG says.

The Preservation Program launched last month, offering ongoing tech support and compatibility updates for some classic games. GOG started it with a list of 100 games, including Diablo and Resident Evil 1-3.

Warcraft I and Warcraft II are being delisted from GOG “at the publisher’s request,” the company says. Their publisher,...

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Lenovo Legion Go S leak shows renders of the cheaper handheld gaming PC

Looks like an official Lenovo rendering of the Legion Go S. | Image: Windows Central

Lenovo’s Legion Go handheld gaming PC cost $700 when it launched in the spring, and while you can get one for $484.99 right now, there have been rumors about a revised Legion Go S that starts at about $399. Windows Central has a hold of some seemingly genuine renderings of what the upcoming cheaper device will look like.

A firmware leak last week for the “Legion Go S 8ARP1” indicated the cheaper machine will have AMD’s Rembrandt APU inside.

While it’s based on a new Ryzen Z2 platform, Videocardz points out the chip will have Zen 3-plus cores that aren’t as powerful as the current generation Z1 Extreme with Zen 4 cores inside the current Legion Go.

From the images, it looks like the Legion Go S will have RGB lights, two USB-C ports up...

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GM sells stake in EV battery plant to partner LG Energy Solutions

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

General Motors is selling its stake in an electric vehicle battery facility to its partner LG Energy Solutions, the automaker announced Monday.

The nearly completed factory in Lansing, Michigan, was being developed by Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture between GM and South Korea’s LG. Following the non-binding agreement, LG will become the sole owner and complete the plant. The company will then sell the batteries to other customers. GM said it would get back the $1 billion it invested in the factory.

GM and LG already jointly develop batteries at factories in Warren, Ohio, and Spring Hill, Tennessee, where they produce batteries for the Cadillac Lyriq and Chevy Equinox EVs. The automaker also has a battery factory in joint ownership...

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Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package gets rejected — again

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package was struck down once again. In a ruling on Monday, Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick upheld her decision to block the compensation plan over concerns about conflicts of interest following its approval in 2018.

After warning shareholders in June that Musk could leave the company if his pay package isn’t approved, Tesla held a vote in hopes of reversing the judge’s decision. Shareholders voted to approve the hefty compensation, but this still wasn’t enough to convince the judge to reinstate it.

The decision states that Musk has “no procedural ground for flipping the outcome of an adverse posttrial decision based on evidence they created after trial.” It also calls claims...

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Threads’ next update is a search feature that finds the post you’re looking for

Illustration: The Verge

Threads is rolling out a search update globally over the next few weeks that will let users filter searches to a specific profile and within date ranges. The existing search built into Threads has been a basic keyword search to find trending topics, posts, or accounts, with “Top” and “Recent” sorting options.

The updated version adds a settings icon to the search bar that, when tapped, brings up “After date,” “Before date,” and “From profile” options.

I have the new filters enabled for my account already, and they seem to work as advertised.

The addition brings Threads closer to parity with competing platforms X and Bluesky, both of which support more advanced searching than this, but at least it’s a start.

Instagram head Adam...

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Cyber Monday is a great day to buy a 32-inch OLED gaming monitor

The Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDM at CES 2024. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

If you mostly play games on PC and you’re in the market for a new monitor, there’s a glut of excellent OLED options with significant discounts for Cyber Monday. Some of the best current models are 32-inch QD-OLED panels with 4K resolution, super-fast 240Hz refresh rate, and the necessary ports to take full advantage of those specs on both PC and consoles (DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1, respectively).

Here’s the rundown on these excellent monitors from MSI, Asus, LG, HP, and Alienware — each around the $900 range and saving you up to $450 on their normal prices.

• Dell’s Alienware AW3225QF is the sole curved option in this list, on sale for $899.99 ($300 off) at Best Buy and Dell. Just like the others here, it supports 4K resolution (3840...

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AT&T launches a wireless backup for fiber internet outages

Illustration: The Verge

AT&T has announced a new feature called Internet Backup that will automatically switch from a home’s wired internet to a cellular connection through a nearby smartphone should its fiber service experience a disruption. The feature is offered at no additional charge to customers with AT&T Fiber service and an “eligible AT&T unlimited postpaid wireless plan” with unlimited data.

Internet Backup is being rolled out to customers starting next week through a software update to AT&T’s BGW320 Wi-Fi gateways. The company says that fiber customers using different hardware “may need to upgrade to access this feature.”

To activate it, eligible customers must wait for a notification through AT&T’s Smart Home Manager app, letting them know their...

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Apple’s AirTags are cheaper than they’ve ever been for Cyber Monday

Apple’s AirTags are cute and convenient. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Whether you want to quickly locate your bag at the airport or keep a closer tab on your keys, Apple’s AirTags are incredibly useful. And right now, you can buy four of the versatile location trackers for an all-time low of $69.99 ($30 off) at Amazon and Best Buy. You can also pick up a single tracker at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy for $24 ($5 off), which is one of the best prices we’ve seen lately.

Apple’s AirTags are the best Bluetooth trackers for iPhone owners, primarily because they’re equipped with Apple’s ultra wideband chip and can tap into Apple’s vast Find My system. That allows for incredibly precise tracking that rivals like Tile can’t offer. iPhone owners can also take advantage of some unique software perks, like an...

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Oil giants blocked a treaty to curb plastic pollution, but countries will try again

Plastic waste on a beach in Iki, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, on Friday, October 29th, 2021. | Photo: Getty Images

International negotiations to create a legally binding treaty to stem the tide of plastic pollution ended in a stalemate on Monday — pushing talks past their initial deadline and into next year.

More than 100 countries have shown support for limits on plastic manufacturing. They’ve faced fierce opposition from other countries that are major fossil fuel producers and who want to focus on managing waste rather than tamping down plastic production.

But there’s no way to get a handle on the plastic pollution building up in our landfills, oceans, and bodies without stopping the problem at its source, according to supporters of a production cap. Setting manufacturing limits would have the added benefit of curbing the greenhouse gas emissions...

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LG’s 77-inch C3 OLED is the best TV deal you can grab for Cyber Monday

The C3 is attractively thin with an impressively rich picture quality. | Image: LG

You guys, I’m raging. Against my better judgment, I bought a 77-inch LG C2 in February 2023 for $3,200 despite knowing the price would plummet just a few months later after the C3’s launch. I was incredibly thirsty to give my 120Hz gaming consoles a proper upgrade. Imagine how I’m feeling now that Best Buy is selling the 77-inch LG C3 for just $1,499.99, which is a massive $800 off and by far the lowest price we’ve seen.

To put that into perspective, the 77-inch LG C4 is going for $2,199.99 ($600 off) at Best Buy right now. You’d need to step down to 65 inches if you want to find the same price or close on the newer C4 and other flagship OLED models from 2024. Pound for pound, it’s hard to find a better Cyber Monday TV deal.

The LG C3...

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Roblox tries to skirt app store fees by making Robux worth more on other platforms

Illustration: The Verge

Roblox is now incentivizing users to buy its in-game currency, Robux, on platforms that won’t take app store fees. You can now get up to 25 percent more Robux if you purchase the currency through gift cards, on your computer, or on the web, according to a developer forum post from last week.

As for how that might look in practice, here’s some examples from the post:

For example, users who purchase US $9.99 worth of Robux with a gift card, computer, or web would have originally received 800 Robux but will now receive 200 extra Robux or a total of 1000 Robux to spend on passes, in-experience items, and avatar items. Users who purchase a $10 gift card may now receive up to 1000 Robux when previously they would have received 800 Robux.

...

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Leaks reveal a new DJI drone with a compact folding design

New leaked videos and FCC filings have revealed a new DJI compact folding drone. | Screenshot: FCC

The next addition to DJI’s lineup of compact folding drones has been revealed in leaked images, videos, and FCC filings. The new DJI Flip, which has propeller guards similar to the DJI Neo, will have a folding design that resembles the HoverAir X1, according to a video shared by reliable leaker Jasper Ellens on X.

DJI's current folding drones, including the Mini 4 Pro and Mini 3, feature collapsing propellers and arms that fold towards the sides of each drone’s body. The guarded propellers on the DJI Flip appear to instead fold downwards in the leaked animation, resulting in all four of them being neatly stacked to help make the drone smaller and easier to transport when not being flown.

Breaking: Thanks to my friend YueYue this is the...

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Google Maps is now displaying Waze incident reports

Image: The Verge

Google Maps is now starting to show Waze incident reports while you navigate and includes the ability to contribute by confirming road conditions in the app via prompts. Google announced in July that both apps would cross-pollinate more data, delivering more Waze-sourced road closures, construction, speed cameras, and police presence information into Google Maps.

As reported by 9to5Google and Android Authority, over the holiday weekend, a Reddit user shared a screenshot of a prompt showing “Police reported ahead” based on reports from Waze drivers. As with other incident notifications in Maps, the users can then update the report to note if they still see the same thing.

Image: Reddit user Truckin_18

Very Waze-y of...

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Apple accused of snooping on workers’ iPhones in new lawsuit

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

An Apple worker is suing the company over claims it requires employees to waive their right to privacy and subjects them to surveillance, as first reported by Semafor. In a lawsuit filed on Monday, Apple employee Amar Bhakta accuses Apple of accessing employee data through company-managed devices — including personal iPhones it “actively encourages” workers to use.

Though Apple gives employees the option to use an Apple-owned device for work, the lawsuit says Apple pushes users to bring their own iPhones to work, where they’re managed by Apple’s internal software. Under company policy, the data linked to these Apple-managed devices, including emails, photos, videos, notes, and other information, are “subject to search by Apple,”...

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The Garmin Forerunner 255 is on sale for Cyber Monday

The Garmin Forerunner 255 is $100 off for Cyber Monday. | Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

Garmins can cost a pretty penny. But good news for runners looking for a deal: the excellent Forerunner 255 is down to $250 ($100 off) for Cyber Monday.

Although it’s a last-gen device, the Forerunner 255 will appeal to runners who prefer the longest-possible battery life. That’s because it has a memory-in-pixel display, meaning it lasts up to 14 days on a single charge. MIP displays also are easier to read in direct sunlight. There is the newer 265 model, but that has an OLED display with slightly less battery life at 13 days. Given that Garmin seems keen on switching most of its lineup to OLED, this is a good opportunity to snag an MIP running watch while inventory is still available.

Another neat perk is the 255 is one of the most...

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Google’s abandoned Pixel Tablet 2 had a better display and 5G upgrades

The original Pixel Tablet only had a 60Hz display. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

The Pixel Tablet 2 may never see the light of day, but new details reported by Android Authority reveal what Google may have had up its sleeve for the sophomore device, including a high-refresh display, 5G connectivity, and more.

The Tablet 2 apparently would have gotten a 120Hz 10.95-inch LCD display, doubling the refresh rate of its predecessor, while the resolution would’ve been unchanged at 2,560 x 1,600 pixels. The Tablet 2 had some camera upgrades, too: it would’ve gotten the same 10MP selfie camera as the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and Google had updated the rear camera with an 11MP shooter.

Google also reportedly planned to bring over the 5G modem from the Pixel 9 series, though while Tablet 2 models with cellular connectivity would...

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The very best Sonos speaker is on sale for Cyber Monday — and that’s rare

Image: Sonos

If you made me give up all of the Sonos products I own except for one, I’d keep the Sonos Five each and every time. Well, in my case, technically, it’s the second-generation Play:5, but that speaker sounds identical to the current iteration. Typically priced at a steep $549, Sonos positions the Five as its true hi-fi option for audiophiles and vinyl listeners. (The speaker has an aux input for plugging in a record player and other external audio sources.)

For Cyber Monday, the Five is seeing a rare discount and is 20 percent off, which brings the price to a more palatable $439. How rare? The speaker hasn’t dropped this low since 2020, according to CamelCamelCamel.

Something people occasionally say about Sonos gear is that the hardware...

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Today is your last day to get Hulu for $1 a month and other streaming deals

For the cost of a day’s lunch, it’s worth locking in a for a year even if you don’t know what to watch yet. | Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge

Once upon a time, it made sense to load up on streaming services instead of lengthy and expensive cable contracts. If you’re not careful these days, you can easily find yourself paying just as much to piece your watchlist back together, especially with prices continuing to creep up.

That’s why we’re thankful this season for streaming deals like the ones from Hulu, which sets you up with ad-supported streaming for just $1 a month over the next 12 months (normally $9.99 a month, saving $108 on the year), or lets you bundle that with Disney Plus for $3 a month over the same period ($131.88 off). That’s typically a once yearly deal, and your chance to take advantage will promptly leave the station after today.

Hulu is one of the best...

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Sony brings back original PlayStation boot screen with PS5 anniversary update

Image: PlayStation

There are certain sounds that just feel good to the over 30 set. There’s the sound of dial-up internet or the new message jingle on AIM or MSN Messenger. Most of these nostalgic noises have been replaced with new ones or lost to time, but PlayStation has revived one in celebration of its 30th anniversary. Yeah, you know the one.

Play this to immediately disarm any gamer over 30.

For a limited time, players can customize their PS5 UI using themes from throughout PlayStation’s past. Choose a theme from any of the four previous PlayStation consoles and a special 30th anniversary theme. I’m guessing most players will go with the OG PSX theme while a fair number will likely settle on the PS2.

In addition to these slick-ass PS5 themes,...

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This $89 Wi-Fi router is designed to let you run whatever firmware you want

The Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) announced last week that the OpenWrt One, a Wi-Fi router created with open-source software in mind, is now available to buy for $89 on AliExpress. The SFC says the router “will never be locked down” and gives its owners the “right to change, modify, and repair” as they like.

The OpenWrt One is aimed at giving owners a “hacker-friendly device” that doesn’t rely on private companies’ update schedules and won’t lose support over time. That the OpenWrt One uses open-source software — it comes with OpenWRT pre-installed — means, in theory, you can keep it up-to-date for as long as you care to use it.

Image: Software Freedom Conservancy

The OpenWrt One has a switch for updating...

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Tesla is launching an Apple Watch app

The Tesla app with phone key is coming to Apple Watch. | Image: Tesla

Tesla is packing some big features into this year’s Holiday Update, including a digital phone key for Apple Watch, Sentry Mode security video access from your phone, reverse cross-traffic alert safety add-in, a “Santa Mode” for Cybertruck, and more.

Tesla’s update will start rolling out next week and will finally bring Apple Watch support to the Tesla app, including native phone key access. That means you can leave your smartphone behind to run errands or quickly pop your trunk to grab something after running outside without realizing you don’t have your phone or wallet on you (I’ve done this too many times with my Model 3 than I care to admit.)

The native Apple Watch experience lets you view the charge status, pop the frunk, and...

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Bose’s fantastic SoundLink Max is finally the right price for Cyber Monday

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

I had a lot of positive things to say about Bose’s SoundLink Max when I tested the portable Bluetooth earlier speaker this year, and that praise was universal from other reviewers as well. But there was one main hangup: the price.

At its usual retail cost of $399, Bose’s flagship Bluetooth speaker gets lumped into a very competitive crowd and isn’t far off from more advanced products like the Sonos Move 2 and much larger party speakers. Even if you put those alternatives aside, it’s a lot of money to spend on a Bluetooth speaker that doesn’t offer any smarts, lacks audio playback over Wi-Fi, and has no AirPlay / Chromecast compatibility to speak of.

But as is often the case, when you slash the price by $100, it’s much easier to make an...

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Intel’s CEO is out after only three years

Image: Laura Normand / The Verge

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has retired after over four decades at the company and stepped down from the board of directors effective December 1st, 2024. Gelsinger rejoined Intel as CEO in February 2021, taking over from Bob Swan to turn around the already struggling chipmaker — an effort that hasn’t gone as planned. It’s largely missed out on the AI chip boom that fueled Nvidia’s rise, failed to launch new technology on schedule, and struggled with recent CPU instability issues.

While recent rumors had suggested that Qualcomm was considering an acquisition of Intel, that prospect appears to have cooled. When asked about the potential deal on November 20th, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said the company has “not identified any large...

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Animal Crossing’s paid mobile app launches a day early

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is making its return a little earlier than expected. The free-to-play mobile game shut down on November 28th after launching seven years ago, and Nintendo had plans to launch a new version that would allow players to transfer their campgrounds to a new app that cuts out the microtransactions but requires a one-time paid fee. Originally slated to launch on December 3rd, the paid app — called Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete — is available now on both iOS and Android, for a launch price of $9.99.

The new version is largely the same as the original, and will still feature seasonal events and all of the other content from the base game. The biggest changes are the welcome removal of microtransactions and the...

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Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares resigns from struggling carmaker

Stellanis is the parent company behind many brands and vehicles, including the Dodge Charger Daytona EV (pictured). | Image: Stellantis

Carlos Tavares is stepping down as Chief Executive Officer of Stellantis, effective immediately, following a sharp decline in the carmaker’s sales. As the Wall Street Journal notes, in July, the company reported that its net profit for the first half of the year had dropped by 48 percent compared to 2023.

The resignation comes over a year earlier than Tavares’ planned retirement in early 2026. In a statement, Stellantis senior independent director Henri de Castries said that “different views have emerged” between Tavares and the Stellantis board of directors in recent weeks that drove the decision. A special board committee headed by Stellantis chairman John Elkann will lead the company behind brands like Vauxhall, Jeep, Fiat, Dodge,...

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The company behind Arc is building a new AI web browser called Dia

Image: The Broswer Company

The Browser Company CEO Josh Miller teased in October that it was launching a more AI-centric product, which a new video reveals is Dia, a web browser built to simplify everyday internet tasks using AI tools. It’s set to launch in early 2025.

According to the teaser, Dia has familiar AI-powered features like “write the next line,” — which fetches facts from the internet, as demonstrated by pulling in the original iPhone’s launch specs — “give me an idea,” and “summarize a tab.” It also understands the entire web browser window, allowing it to copy a list of Amazon links from open tabs and insert them into an email via written prompt directions.

“AI won’t exist as an app. Or a button,” a message on the Dia website reads. “We believe...

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I can’t get over how good a deal the Pixel 8A is for $399

You’re practically making money on this phone at 400 bucks. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge

For someone who wants to spend the absolute least on a phone and not have to think about buying another one for a good long while, I’ll always recommend Google’s A-series Pixel phone. That’s doubly true now with the Pixel 8A on a $100 discount for Black Friday-ish Cyber Shopping Holiday or whatever it is we’re currently experiencing. The 8A is a solid value at its full $499 price, and cut down to $399 it’s a ridiculously good deal.

Here’s the kicker: Google is promising to update the Pixel 8A with OS version upgrades and security releases through May 2031. That means you can expect it to run Android 21. If you bought the 8A now for $400 and owned it for six years, that works out to $66 per year. You’d have to use a $1000 flagship phone...

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Gamers Nexus claims NZXT’s Flex PC rental program is a ‘scam’

NZXT’s Player: Three prebuilt gaming PC. | Image: NZXT

An hour-long video published Saturday by Gamers Nexus, a YouTube channel focused on PC gaming hardware, accuses NZXT’s PC rental program of “bait-and-switch” tactics, with prices and specs that are constantly changing.

The Flex program allows customers to rent prebuilt gaming PCs starting at $59 per month (not including a mouse, keyboard, or monitor). But Gamers Nexus shows that NZXT changes the specs and prices of PC models “day-to-day in some instances” and offers PCs with very different setups under similar model names depending on whether you are looking to buy or rent. The rapidly changing prices also obscure the potential value of listed “discounts” as the packages shift back and forth.

The video shows one instance of NZXT’s...

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Eufy’s excellent X10 Pro Omni mopping robovac hits a record low for Cyber Monday

Between extensive self-cleaning options and AI smarts, it might be even better than a pet. | Photo: Eufy

2024 has been a rough year. It might be nice to go into the new year with a robot that can take some housework off your plate. Unfortunately, there’s no telling when or if Elon Musk’s all-purpose Tesla robots will ever be ready, but in the meantime, a robot vacuum can be a great starter.

Thankfully, many robot vacuums are at all-time low prices for Cyber Monday, including the Eufy X10 Pro Omni. It’sone of our favorite midrange mopping robot vacuums, and it’s down to $549.99 (from $800) at Amazon and Eufy’s store with code WS24T2351. It’s a good deal already at its regular price, and at $250 off, it’s even more compelling.

Dustbin capacity: Unknown / Self-empty dock option: Yes / Auto-refill mop option: Yes / Mop-lift: Yes, 12mm / Mop...

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