We have roundups of the best smart speakers, Google speakers, soundbars, and smart displays.
Sony XB501G Speaker for $100 ($200 off): We’re fans of Google Assistant, and we particularly love this speaker for parties, which we can hopefully start having again soon. It has two drivers and a subwoofer in a small 9-inch cube. It’s also water-resistant (IP65) and has 16 hours of battery life. You can connect it to your Wi-Fi if you’re home, or use it with Bluetooth if you’re not. Plus there are LEDs and mini strobe lights.
Facebook Portal Mini for $90 ($39 off): We have to try to separate this cool little device from the social network that makes it. If you think you can do that, we think you’ll like it.
Nixplay 10.1-inch Smart Photo Frame for $135 ($45 off): We like Nixplay frames a lot and I prefer the matte finish of this one over its shiny 9.7-inch version. Read all our digital picture frame picks here.
Amazon Echo Show 8 (1st Gen) for $80 ($50 off): Stock has been fluctuating for this deal, so if you don’t see the sale price, try checking back again later. This isn’t the newest release, but it’s still a good smart display. You can also save on the first-generation smaller Echo Show 5. Keep in mind that both of these are cheaper around bigger shopping holidays. You can learn more about their features in our guide.
Roku Deals
Roku Ultra
Photograph: Roku
If you aren’t sure what you’re looking for yet, check out our guides on the best soundbars and on which Roku is right for you.
Roku Ultra for $88 ($12 off) at Amazon: The updated Ultra is more expensive that most of the options besides the Roku soundbars, but it has stronger Wi-Fi and the ability to stream in Dolby Vision. It also has an Ethernet port and comes with earbuds that plug into the remote for private or nighttime viewing when you’re trying to be quiet.
Roku Express HD for $25 ($5 off) at Amazon: This is a perfectly fine Roku if you have a standard HDTV. It has the basic Roku offerings, without some extras like voice search, and the remote can’t control your TV’s power or volume.
Apple Watch Series 6 for $329 ($70 off) at Amazon,Best Buy: We have seen this deal a few times recently, but it’s still a good one. This is the best fitness tracker for iPhone owners. The Series 6 has several helpful functions, like automatic fall detection, blood oxygen monitoring, and workout tracking. Here’s our full review.
Fitbit Charge 4 Fitness Tracker for $100 ($50 off): This is the best fitness tracker. Despite being affordable, the Charge 4 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) has features you’d typically find in much pricier gadgets, like GPS and sleep monitoring. This price is a match of the best we’ve seen.
Garmin Venu SQ Fitness Tracker for $149 ($51 off): Another bright, attractive fitness tracker, the Garmin Venu SQ (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a budget-friendly option that doesn’t skimp on features. Things like blood oxygen monitoring are usually limited to more expensive wearables, meaning the value is great. The Venu SQ Music Edition is also on sale, but we don’t like it as much.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 for $220 ($50 off): This smartwatch (7/10, WIRED Review) is a better option for Android users than iOS users, and even better for folks with Galaxy devices. While it’s a little bulky and we don’t particularly love its battery life, it is a perfectly capable fitness tracker and it looks great to boot. Just know that Samsung is switching to a new operating system later this year for its smartwatches.
Obvus Solutions Laptop Tower Stand for $70 ($10 off): Out of all the models we’ve tested so far, this is the best laptop stand. It’s lightweight yet sturdy. You can adjust it from a seated position to a standing one pretty easily. If you still don’t have a solid desk for your remote working setup, a stand like this can help you convert another surface into a more ergonomic workspace.
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 for $699 ($260 off): The Surface Pro 7 is a great 2-in-1. It’s makes a great laptop alternative with full access to Windows 10, and it makes a decent laptop for watching Netflix in bed. This deal includes the keyboard, though you may want to invest in the Surface Pen too (also on sale). It’s also available for cheaper from Amazon, but the keyboard isn’t included (it’s essential).
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano for $1,500 ($200 off):Use code CLEAR10 at checkout to save. This is one of the best laptops you can buy. It feels like a MacBook, but has Lenovo’s features and keyboard. For specs, we recommend the Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM, and 1 TB SSD model (part number 20UN005JUS), but every iteration is on sale with the code.
Nikon D750 DSLR Camera—Body Only—for $1,496 ($200 off): This full-frame camera is a bit older now, but it’s still a fantastic option for anyone looking to get into photography or videography. We reviewed the newer version of it here. It was the same price around this time last year; it’s safe to assume that it’ll drop further in the future if you feel like waiting.
Sphero Specdrums for $40 ($10 off): We really like these colorful STEM toys, which transform surfaces into musical instruments. The tiny rings are adorable, educational, and they’ll entertain kids (and by “kids” we mean anyone over the age of 3). They’re a vast improvement over pots, pans, and a wooden spoon.
If you aren’t sure what you’re looking for yet, check out our guides on the best soundbars and on which Roku is right for you.
Roku Streaming Stick+ for $39 ($10 off) at Amazon,Target: This sale price is fairly common for the Streaming Stick, but it’s still the best price to nab it at. It’s our choice for most people looking for a new streaming device. It sticks right into your TV’s HDMI port, and a second cable plugs into the USB port for power. There’s dual-band Wi-Fi that has a longer range and can connect to 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz networks—this is particularly handy for apartment dwellers, where the many nearby Wi-Fi networks can interfere with your signal.
Roku Streambar for $99 ($30 off) at Amazon,Target: The Streambar is a very capable mini soundbar with Roku built right in. It’s pretty compact at just 14 inches long, so it should fit most people’s TV setups.
Roku Ultra for $69 ($31 off) at Amazon,Target: The updated Ultra is more expensive that most of the options besides the Roku soundbars, but it has stronger Wi-Fi and the ability to stream in Dolby Vision. It also has an Ethernet port and comes with earbuds that plug into the remote for private or nighttime viewing when you’re trying to be quiet.
Roku Express HD for $25 ($5 off) at Amazon,Target: This is a perfectly fine Roku if you have a standard HDTV. It has the basic Roku offerings, without some extras like voice search, and the remote can’t control your TV’s power or volume.
Amazon Fire Stick 4K for $40 ($10 off) at Amazon,Target: If you can’t tell, we much prefer Roku, but if you’re an Amazon fan, you should like the 4K Fire Stick. It works well, but just remember that the menus are heavily geared towards Amazon Prime content.
Electric Toothbrush Deals
Philips Sonicare for Kids
Photograph: Philips
See our guide to our favorite electric toothbrushes before deciding.
Philips Sonicare for Kids for $40 ($10 off): Our kid tester liked using brush to keep her brushing for two minutes. She didn’t love the kid-specific app, but your kid might.
Oral-B Pro 1000 Electric Toothbrush for $45 ($5 off) at Walmart,Amazon: This is a classic toothbrush without all the smart bells and whistles that can be overwhelming when you just want to clean your teeth. It’s not the biggest discount, but it’s a good brush nonetheless.
It’s National Masturbation Month! I know that sounds weird, but basically, this is a month for some self-reflection about the highly stigmatized but nearly universal act of self-love. It all started when President Bill Clinton fired then surgeon general Joycelyn Elders in 1994 for suggesting that masturbation should be a part of sex education. The retailer Good Vibrations marked May 7 as National Masturbation Day in her honor, but it has since expanded into a monthlong international extravaganza.
Everyone should feel safe and comfortable spending time on self-love and talking about it openly. Strip the stigma, talk about it, and celebrate it. It’s 2021! We’re living through a global pandemic. Who has time for Victorian social norms?
Due to the holiday, May has become a good time of year to pick up sex toys at a steep discount. There’s a lot to sort through, but we did our best to highlight the best sex toy deals from some of our favorite brands.
Updated May 20: I removed several toys that are no longer on sale and added Lora DiCarlo Tension Tamer deal, Lelo’s Ina 2 and Tiani 24K, and Tenga’s storewide deal.
Special offer for Gear readers: Get a1-Year Subscription to WIRED for $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com and our print magazine (if you’d like). Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.
Catch the best deals on the best products, picked by our editors.
If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism.Learn more.
Sex Tech Deals
MysteryVibe Crescendo for $149 ($50 off): The Crescendo is one of my favorites. It’s a versatile toy for all kinds of play, all kinds of genitals, and all kinds of body parts. It has six internal motors, and that doesn’t just mean it’s powerful. This toy can deliver handcrafted vibration patterns up and down the entire length. You can customize them or select from preset patterns.
MysteryVibe Poco for $99 ($30 off): The Poco is a small toy, like a travel-size version of the Crescendo. It’s flexible, you can easily bend it into a position uniquely suited to your body, and it features two separate motors for powerful vibrations no matter how you bend it. It’s a good choice for vulvas and penises.
Lora DiCarlo Tension Tamer Bundle for $130 ($30 off): This bundle includes Lora DiCarlo’s unique “tapping” toy, which simulates the tapping of a fingertip. It’s a great choice for clitoral stimulation and definitely an experience worth checking out. The bundle includes coconut oil–based lubricant and massage oil Fluid Coco.
Most of the early smart home inventions used automatic controls, making it possible to turn something or off without lifting a finger. But they didn’t connect to anything else, and their functionality was limited. That would begin to change in 1983 when ARPANET, the earliest version of the internet, adopted the internet protocol suite (also known as TCP/IP). The protocol set standards for how digital data should be transmitted, routed, and received. Essentially, it laid the groundwork for the modern internet.
The first internet-connected “thing” to make use of this new protocol was a toaster. John Romkey, a software engineer and early internet evangelist, had built one for the 1990 showfloor of Interop, a trade show for computers. Romkey dropped a few slices of bread into the toaster and, using a clunky computer, turned the toaster on. It would still be a decade before anyone used the phrase “internet of things,” but Romkey’s magic little toaster showed what a world of internet-connected things might be like. (Of course, it wasn’t fully automated; a person still had to introduce the bread.) It was part gimmick, part proof of concept—and fully a preview of what was to come.
The term “internet of things” itself was coined in 1999, when Kevin Ashton put it in a PowerPoint presentation for Procter & Gamble. Ashton, who was then working in supply chain optimization, described a system where sensors acted like the eyes and ears of a computer—an entirely new way for computers to see, hear, touch, and interpret their surroundings.
As home internet became ubiquitous and Wi-Fi sped up, the dream of the smart home started to look more like a reality. Companies began to introduce more and more of these inventions: “smart” coffee makers to brew the perfect cup, ovens that bake cookies with precision timing, and refrigerators that automatically restocked expired milk. The first of these, LG’s internet-connected refrigerator, hit the market in 2000. It could take stock of shelf contents, mind expiration dates, and for some reason, came with an MP3 player. It also cost $20,000. As sensors became cheaper, these internet-connected devices became more affordable for more consumers. And the invention of smart plugs, like those made by Belkin, meant that even ordinary objects could become “smart”—or, at least, you could turn them on and off with your phone.
Any IoT system today contains a few basic components. First, there’s the thing outfitted with sensors. These sensors could be anything that collects data, like a camera inside a smart refrigerator or an accelerometer that tracks speed in a smart running shoe. In some cases, sensors are bundled together to gather multiple data points: a Nest thermostat contains a thermometer, but also a motion sensor; it can adjust the temperature of a room when it senses that nobody’s in it. To make sense of this data, the device has some kind of network connectivity (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, or satellite) and a processor where it can be stored and analyzed. From there, the data can be used to trigger an action—like ordering more milk when the carton in the smart refrigerator runs out, or adjusting the temperature automatically given a set of rules.
Most people didn’t start building an ecosystem of “smart” devices in their homes until the mass adoption of voice controls. In 2014, Amazon introduced the Echo, a speaker with a helpful voice assistant named Alexa built in. Apple had introduced Siri, its own voice assistant, four years prior—but Siri lived on your phone, while Alexa lived inside the speaker and could control all of the “smart” devices in your house. Positioning a voice assistant as the centerpiece of the smart home had several effects: It demystified the internet of things for consumers, encouraged them to buy more internet-enabled gadgets, and encouraged developers to create more “skills,” or IoT commands, for these voice assistants to learn
The same year that Amazon debuted Alexa, Apple came out with HomeKit, a system designed to facilitate interactions between Apple-made smart devices, sending data back and forth to create a network. These unifying voices have shifted the landscape away from single-purpose automations and toward a more holistic system of connected things. Tell the Google Assistant “goodnight,” for example, and the command can dim the lights, lock the front door, set the alarm system, and turn on your alarm clock. LG’s SmartThinQ platform connects many home appliances, so you can select a chocolate chip cookie recipe from the screen of your smart fridge and it’ll automatically preheat the oven. Manufacturers bill this as the future, but it’s also a convenient way to sell more IoT devices. If you already have an Amazon Echo, you might as well get some stuff for Alexa to control.
By 2014, the number of internet-connected devices would surpass the number of people in the world. David Evans, the former chief futurist at Cisco, estimated in 2015 that “an average 127 new things are connected to the internet” every second. Today, there are over 20 billion connected things in the world, according to estimates from Gartner. The excitement around the brave new internet-connected world has been matched with concern. All of these objects, brought to life like Pinocchio, have made the world easier to control: You can let the delivery man in the front door, or change the temperature inside the house, all with a few taps on a smartphone. But it’s also given our objects—and the companies that make them—more control over us.
