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Arturia’s V Collection 7 plug-in synth suite is $200 off for Black Friday
Arturia creates some of the best plug-in versions of vintage synthesizers; users get authentic new wave and classic rock sounds without filling an entire room with keyboards. Musicians who want to recreate the sounds of decades past can get at least $200 off the standard price of the company's V Collection, which groups all of the individual soft-synths into one package. The Black Friday sale price of the suite is $299, but if you've bought qualifying Arturia products before, the price drops even lower to $199.
Ask Engadget: What browser plug-ins will help with holiday shopping?
The support shared among readers in the comments section is one of the things we love most about the Engadget community. Over the years, we've known you to offer sage advice on everything from Chromecasts and cameras to drones and smartphones. In fact, our community's knowledge and insights are a reason why many of you participate in the comments. We truly value the time and detail you all spend in responding to questions from your fellow tech-obsessed commenters, which is why we've decided to bring back our "Ask Engadget" column. This week's question is a useful query concerning how to make holiday shopping easier -- and cheaper. Weigh in with your advice in the comments -- and feel free to send your own questions along to ask@engadget.com! What browser plug-ins are best for saving money and checking prices while holiday shopping?
Google is putting the Pixel 4 and Stadia on sale for Black Friday
Black Friday is just around the corner, and Google is sharing a sneak peek of the sales it will offer. We've rounded up the tech deals to look out for. Most start on November 28th, but a few sales will go live on November 24th.
How to hack your holiday meal
I don't think of cooking as a production or a nuisance so much as a sporting event, and holiday meals take the place of the Super Bowl. In our house, my husband Marcus and I train for months, testing out different recipes, techniques and timings so that on the big day no one runs out of steam at 2PM when it's clearly going to take another 10 hours to serve dinner. "Who are you competing against?" a possibly saner person might ask. If it's a potluck, the answer is apparent (everyone). When you're hosting, it becomes an internal sort of competition. In the perfectionist's case you can never really win, even if everyone says they love your slightly burnt pie crust and don't at all mind eating Christmas lamb at midnight.
What to do when everything on their holiday wish list is digital
The following scenario will play out thousands of times this holiday season, and if you're buying a lot of presents for friends and family, it'll likely affect your life personally. You: What do you want for the holidays? Them: The new Akali skin for League of Legends! You: I can get you some Riot Points, but I can't wrap them. Anything else? Them: The Staccato Shotto for Fortnite! You: Same problem. Them: How about Luigi's Mansion 3? Here, just download it on my Switch. You: Ugh. With the advent of living, online worlds and digital-first storefronts, plenty of gamers' wish lists include intangible items like cosmetic upgrades, fresh weapons, extra characters and new games. Gift cards make it easy to hand out in-game currency for most major titles, and download codes mean you don't even have to put on pants to pick out a present. However, white elephant gift exchanges are pretty boring when everyone passes around nondescript envelopes. Even in the modern online age, there's something deeply unsatisfying about giving someone a fully digital present. Luckily, there's a way to give your friends and family all the in-game goodies they want and also provide something to unwrap, all without buying extra presents. It's craft time, baby.
The best true wireless earbuds you can buy this holiday season
True wireless earbuds have become a staple when it comes to audio accessories. Over-ear noise-cancelling headphones are still a thing, but many companies have turned their attention to the tiny speakers you nestle in your ears. The advantage for consumers is that there are more options than ever to choose from. New models are popping up all the time with refined designs, new features, improved battery life and other advancements. With no shortage of choices though, it can be difficult to cut through the clutter to determine which ones are worth your money. We've compiled a list of the best true wireless earbuds available, along with some tips on what to look for as you shop during the holidays.
Walmart's early Black Friday deal: 512GB 10.5-inch iPad Pro for $599
Black Friday is still a couple of weeks away but retailers are doing everything they can to get and keep your attention right now. For Walmart, that means releasing its ad now to tease Black Friday offers like a $129 Apple Watch Series 3, $99 Samsung Chromebook Series 3 or a 1080p 40-inch Roku Smart TV from its house brand onn. for $98. Deals you can jump on starting today include a 512GB 10.5-inch iPad Pro for $599 -- the lowest price we've seen. This is the 2017-era second generation model, so while it doesn't come with newer features like FaceID, A12X Bionic CPU or a USB-C connector, it still packs impressive power to multitask with Apple's new iPad OS, and at this price -- a comparable third-gen Pro costs $1,149 -- its performance is hard to beat. At the time we originally reviewed it, two problems were that it was expensive and iOS 11 wasn't out yet -- those have now been addressed. Buy 10.5-inch 512GB iPad Pro on Walmart - $599 If you have milder tablet aspirations, there's also a 7-inch 8GB Samsung Galaxy Tab A available now for $78. Walmart has more pre-Black Friday deals planned for next Friday too, so stay tuned. Buy Samsung Galaxy Tab A on Walmart - $78
The best gifts for coffee geeks
There are two types of coffee drinkers: people who drink coffee and people who are obsessed with coffee. I fall into the latter category. A few years ago I became friends with a couple roasters while living in Savannah, Georgia, and I've never looked back. I currently have five different methods for brewing coffee in my house (more if you count the multiple pour-over contraptions). It's a serious habit. And I'm not alone. Coffee culture is thriving all over the globe. It's easy to find roasters akin to your favorite local small-batch outfit anywhere in the world. However, there might not always be time to go exploring while traveling, or the people on your list could maybe use an upgrade to their at-home setup. No matter what you're looking for, we have a range options that make great coffee gifts for everyone, including travelers and aspiring coffee pros.
How to buy sneakers for the hypebeast in your life
It's hard enough to find gifts for your loved ones during the holidays, but hypebeasts in particular are a picky bunch. They only want the most hyped products and the rarest sneakers, which can be a complicated world to navigate as a shopper if you're not familiar with it. But we're here to help. Thankfully, there are many ways to find something hypebeasts might like online -- even if you have to spend more money and time than you had hoped for. Here's how you can buy sneakers, apparel and even fanny packs (they call them waist bags) for the hypebeasts in your life.
Engadget's 2019 holiday gift guide is here!
Somehow, it's November. Mid-November. Which means while you might just be gearing up to begin your holiday shopping, we're already done. At least, we're done shopping for you. After months of thinking, curating, photographing, more thinking, we've come up with a holiday gift guide that covers all the bases (and budgets), from laptops and mobile devices, to toys, to the smart home, to book and media recommendations (only on nerdy subjects, of course). All told, there are more than 150 items in our guide, spanning 13 categories, with advice from 25 of our writers and editors. You know, the people testing and reviewing this stuff all year long. And we're not done yet: We have additional picks and buying advice coming throughout this week, including gifts for coffee geeks, shopping for hypebeasts and our favorite wireless earbuds. (Because we expect those to be popular stocking stuffers this year.) To start, we have a guide to the best Switch and Switch Lite accessories. The Switch and Switch Lite itself made our list, too, but in the event your intended already has one, perhaps they could use a more functional d-pad controller? Our staff thinks so.
The best Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite accessories
By their very nature, Nintendo's Switch and Switch Lite leave room for improvement through accessories. They're not only giant boxes sitting underneath TVs but also devices gamers can conceivably take everywhere. So it's no surprise there's been a huge market of third-party peripherals, as we've seen with every other portable gadget. And let's face it, someone had to fix the glaring feature omissions in both consoles, like their lack of Bluetooth headphone support. If you have a Switch owner in your life, an accessory or two could make the perfect holiday gift.
The best tech toys and STEM kits
There once was a time when a toy section of the Engadget gift guide would have been a hodge-podge of toys that happened to take batteries, light up and make enough noise to annoy even the most patient of parents. (Yes, that means we probably would have been into the Hess truck.) But times have changed and now that everything is smart -- baby onesies, diapers -- our standards are higher. When it came time to curating our annual holiday toy list, the bar wasn't: Is this electronic? It's now: Is this thing fun? And most importantly, will this thing still be engaging after a kid has played with it for five minutes? We've had the better part of the year to answer this question. Some of the biggest toy makers have been teasing their wares since Toy Fair back in February. Since then, we've been keeping a running list of the things so clever, we might have wanted them ourselves if we were still school-age. From a lightsaber with built-in coaching to app-connected Hot Wheels, we homed in on the toys that don't just throw in tech for tech's sake, but that are actually better because of all the sensors inside.
The best fitness gadgets for the athlete on your list
Pro tip: Don't buy the athlete on your list socks. (Unless they have specific tastes and love odor-resistant wool.) Instead, consider the gadgets they may or may not have in their arsenal. For some, that means a fitness-oriented smartwatch or, perhaps, a single-purpose wearable designed to go deep on a single sport. You might also consider wireless headphones that won't fall out or malfunction in the face of sweat or raindrops. Or a Nintendo Switch game for your favorite sedentary athlete who has trouble finding motivation otherwise. Our list includes some oddball entries too, including a doo-dad that straps your phone to your sports bra while working out, and a vibrating muscle massager that pro athletes swear by. Heck, we'd even make a case for smart shoes. Not all of them, by any means, but we found a pair even us skeptics can get behind. Have a look. And seriously, don't go with socks.
The best cameras, accessories and bags to give as gifts
For a creator with ambition, a smartphone alone probably won't cut it. If you have a decent budget, their talent for street photography, cinema or portraits will be better served by a mirrorless or DSLR camera with interchangeable lenses. Luckily, we're in a golden age of excellent cameras that can handle a lot of different jobs. We found six choice models hitting all the budget categories, ranging from $500 to $1,700, to help you find just the right camera. If your giftee is into filmmaking or street photography, Fujifilm's X-T30 mirrorless camera is one the best all-around options, while Canon's M6 Mark II is a speed and resolution champ. For more budget-minded shoppers, Nikon's D3500 is ideal for DSLR purists, while Sony's A6100 is packed with the latest tech. And for filmmakers or portrait artists, take a look at Nikon's Z 6 or the Sony A6500. Of course, the photographer in your life might be very happy with the camera they already own. In those cases, we've got a selection of accessories, from bags to gimbals, picked by our staff. (There's even a phone accessory, if they're really married to shooting with their smartphone.)
The best gifts for PC gamers, from laptops to GPUs
Whether you're searching for a gift for the gamer that has everything, trying to spread the good word about PCs being "the ultimate way to play" or just hopelessly trying to make sense of the gaming laptop market in an attempt to appease your child or loved one, this is the guide for you. We quizzed our editors to come up with recommendations in a number of categories. You'll find our top picks for gaming keyboards or mice, gaming laptops at various price points, a VR headset, a GPU, headphones and a sub-$100 accessory that could be perfect for someone looking to start their career as a streamer.
Subscriptions and gift cards that make great last-minute gifts
Yes, a gift card can carry the stigma of feeling like an unthoughtful present. On the other hand, we live in a world where subscription services abound, and a virtual gift that grants someone a year of their favorite music, video or gaming service shouldn't be overlooked. When thinking about gift cards and subscriptions this year, we tried to avoid the obvious candidates like Spotify and Netflix -- most people who want those probably have a subscription already. Instead, newer options like Amazon Music HD, Apple Arcade and Disney+ might provide something fresh for the music, game and movie junkies in your life. To move away from entertainment entirely, a Masterclass subscription can help a loved one expand their mind and horizons, while Headspace can give them a much-needed mental respite from the grind of modern life. And if you're gifting someone a new game console this year, you can level up that gift by including PlayStation Plus, Xbox Live Gold or Nintendo Switch Online. For all three of those systems, an online subscription is a near-essential add-on, especially for multiplayer gaming. And in all three cases, it'll provide a happy new console-owner with some free games to download right off the bat.
The best laptops and 2-in-1s to give as gifts
For our holiday gift guide, we skipped straight to the all-purpose machines we recommend all year round, from ultraportables to gaming rigs to convertible 2-in-1s. We even have a Chromebook in there for the Chrome OS faithful (and also, people shopping on a budget, or people whose recipients require just the basics).
PC and mobile accessories that'll make great gifts
We get it: Not everyone is going around gifting phones and PCs like they're candy. But there are plenty of ways to make the devices we own better, whether it's improving how you interact with them, or just making them last longer. Engadget's staff got together to pick out some gift idea for every budget, from mouse surfaces to powerbanks. There's even a truly weird (but equally brilliant) pressure-sensitive, customizable trackpad.
The best gifts and games for console gamers
This year will mark the end of an era for console gaming. Next-generation consoles are coming in 2020, but it also means both the PS4 and the Xbox One are at the peak of their power and popularity. Not to be outdone, there's also Nintendo's Switch, which has already seen a second-generation hardware twist in the handheld Switch Lite. Our selection for this holiday season runs across all these consoles, as well as including Sega's nostalgia-baiting Genesis Mini. We've focused on tried-and-tested AAA titles like Overwatch on the Switch, and Control available on both Xbox and PlayStation, while also suggesting more under-the-radar hits like Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and Risk of Rain 2. Naturally, Pokémon Sword and Shield isn't quite out yet, but from our early impressions, we know it will satisfy any Pokémon fans you're shopping for. And, if you need even more recommendations for the gamers in your life, we have a guide for every console.
The best smartphones, tablets and smartwatches to give as gifts
A smartphone makes for one really nice but expensive holiday gift. If you're shopping for someone who deserves it (or just really needs to upgrade from a phone from way-back-whenever), we've got recommendations across iOS and Android, as well as other devices and tech that people might need on the go. Don't worry: Not everything is a new phone. This year's picks include Apple's iPhone 11, its cheapest flagship in years, and Google's Pixel 3a, whose sub-$400 price belies its amazing camera. We've also included our favorite portable battery pack from Anker and Amazon's latest Kindle Paperwhite, and the Brydge Pro remains one of the best keyboards for transforming your iPad Pro into something resembling a laptop replacement.
