Technology

Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders are starting this week, and it's the perfect time to have a look at your console gaming setup, be it PS5 or Xbox Series X or S, and think about any upgrades you might want to make. It'll be the perfect way to ensure your setup is up to date with new gear that you're used to by the time the game arrives on your doorstep.

Be it upgrading your console to get the best performance, embracing a new display to make Vice City shine, getting a premium controller to ensure you have every action at your fingertips, or taking a step up audibly to ensure you get can hear all the sounds, there's likely to be something worth mulling over before GTA 6 comes in November.

As a result, I've taken it upon myself to suggest some brilliant products in key console setup areas that will make a difference to your GTA 6 experience, while also fielding some suggestions from the rest of our TechRadar experts. You'll find US and UK prices for each below, and if you're not in those regions, you can head to the bottom and find a list of the best prices available in your region as presented by our price-finding tech. If you're looking for an early retailer page to sit on for the game itself, then the below ones are worth bookmarking, too.

• US GTA 6 pre-order retailer search links: Amazon | Walmart | Best Buy | Target | GameStop
• UK GTA 6 pre-order retailer search links: Amazon | Currys | Argos | Very | EE | ShopTo | The Game Collection | John Lewis

Consider a beefy console

Yep, it'll be a big purchase to consider at any time of the year, but if you're going to be a GTA 6 player who wants the best possible experience with the game and be able to have all the bells and whistles it can offer, then it might be time to consider some more horsepower.

In terms of those rocking a last-gen console still (a PS4 or Xbox One) then this should be of great interest, and if you're already a regular PS5 owner or a Series S owner, then making the jump up to the PS5 Pro or Series X, respectively, might ensure you get the most out of GTA 6's likely graphical and technical prowess.

This is even more the case if you own a 120Hz-capable TV or monitor, as that'll help you get even more out of such a machine, especially the PS5 Pro.

Annoyingly, there are no cracking deals on the PS5 Pro in the US right now, but we still want to recommend it as perhaps the best console to get for GTA 6 given its spec sheet, PSSR, WiFi upgrade, and 2TB hard drive.View Deal

Sadly, there are no truly excellent prices on the ordinary Series X console in the States either, so the best 'value' pick — even though it's a bit more of an investment — is the 2TB Galaxy Black Special Edition version here. Plus, its massive storage upgrade compared to other Xbox consoles might come in handy if the rumors of GTA 6's file sizes are to be believed...View Deal

The premium PS5 Pro is best acquired at EE right now in the UK, with the retailer knocking 45 pounds off the console's list price. We predict the PS5 Pro could be the definitive way to play GTA 6, given Rockstar's close relationship with Sony, so this is our top pick for the console to play the game on. View Deal

It looks like Very is the best place to go for a Series X console right now in the UK, with a neat 20 quid off the list price. If you're committed to the Xbox ecosystem and brand, and are either on Series S or Xbox One right now, then this is the UK upgrade to go for.View Deal

Let the game shine

GTA 6 is likely to be a visual marvel of the video game medium, trumping almost all other video game worlds, environments, and aesthetics (well, nearly all, surely) and what better way to make sure you catch every detail and enjoy every colour, stripe, and crack in the sidewalk than by upgrading to a new and superior display.

The LG C5 is our single pick for those looking to go big for a Grand Theft Auto 6 big screen experience, as it has the best feature set, image processing, and picture detail for the price right now. It offers extraordinary bang-for-buck value, especially in the face of the newer C6 being out now.

For those looking for a monitor, the Alienware AW32255QF is a 4K curved beauty that is perfect for both PS5 and Xbox players, offering all the connectivity and specs you need, while also giving you a brilliant QD-OLED panel with a gorgeous curve to pull you into games.

I asked James Davidson, our resident TV expert, for his one single pick for those looking to go big for GTA 6 with a TV purchase, and this was his precise pick for US readers. It's a superb TV and offers exceptional value in the face of its new brethren, the C6 being out right now too. A great TV to cruise the streets of Vice City on.View Deal

James also recommended this precise variant of the brilliant LG C5 for UK readers too. And it's great value for money this week. To get this deal at Crampton and Moore, simply use code LG10 at checkout. View Deal

Sadly, there's no discount running on my favorite console monitor in the US right now, but it might be one to keep an eye on at retailers, including parent company Dell, linked here, over the rest of the week for Prime Day.View Deal

This is a good price on one of my absolute favorite monitors to buy right now, and it's the lowest price on the monitor —using Amazon data — since December, so now is a great time to strike!View Deal

Feel the burn

If you want to have all the tools and weapons available to you at all times in GTA 6 and want the utmost level of versatility and 'at your fingertips' control for GTA 6, then going for a better controller, one that offers more than the standard offerings, is a brilliant move.

It's an easy choice for both consoles for me, here, with Sony's DualSense Edge, especially when on offer, giving PS5 players a familiar and effortless way to upgrade their controller, while those on Xbox should definitely go for the Asus ROG Raikiri II, which is perhaps the very best third-party Xbox controller going.

You can save a neat 10 bucks off the brilliant DualSense Edge pad over at Walmart right now. Now that we're out of Sony's own Days of Play sale, this is a good price, but it's also one worth keeping an eye on over Prime Day week.View Deal

This is a wonderful price for the high-end first-party controller that will let you fully unleash in Vice City later this year.View Deal

Definitely one to keep an eye out for and price drops this week, but this is one of our absolute favorite premium Xbox (and PC) controllers and is absolutely excellent for anyone looking to get loads out of their pad.View Deal

It looks like the Asus ROG Raikiri II is a little hard to find at the obvious retailers in the UK, but Overclockers has it in stock — but sadly with no discount right now. Worth keeping an eye on this week though.View Deal

Hear every detail of Vice City

Upgrading your audio by going with a fantastic set of quality earcups from a trusted brand is one of the most tangible ways to improve your gaming experience in one fell swoop — and without having to do any huge sweeping changes to a set up.

The Audeze Maxwell 2, with its fantastic planar-magnetic drivers, is my favorite gaming headset for pure audio quality right now, and it will be perfect for anyone looking to hear every detail in Vice City.

It also comes in PlayStation and Xbox-facing variants so it's a cross-platform recommendation, and you'll find links for both below.

Sadly, no discount on the brilliant Audeze Maxwell 2 at the time of writing, but it's seriously good, so you won't regret it even at full price. Having said that, it's Prime Day week so that could bring deals, and the Maxwell 2ANC has been announced so might put pressure on the 'ordinary' Maxwell 2's price.

Xbox variant: $349 at AmazonView Deal

This is a pretty good price for the Audeze Maxell 2 in the UK as it often sells for north of £300. The sound is seriously so, so, good from this headset, you'll be wondering how you survived without it beforehand.

Xbox variant: Peter Tyson - £369View Deal

Give it room to breath on console

Rumors have abounded about the potential file size of Rockstar's next behemoth, and if even some of them come partially close, some extra storage space is likely to be very welcome indeed! However, we've all seen the price rises happening, so it's a bit of a struggle finding great value for money in any kind of memory right now. I've picked out the best prices on some great value offerings below though.

By far the best solution on PS5 — and perhaps even more acutely for those rocking a launch PS5 with its smaller hard drive — is an internal SSD. As for Xbox, there's only really one storage device to recommend, and that's the bespoke model for Series X or S that's made by Seagate or WD_Black — I've recommended the WD_Black variant below as it's always better value for money.

While not bombastic value for money, if you want a PS5 SSD to commit to right now or want to keep an eye on one from a trusted brand, this is it.View Deal

Acer's GM7000 is a trusted PS5 SSD with heatsink you can go for right now, and given the discount is probably the best deal on a 1TB drive I can find right now for a PS5 SSD.View Deal

Sadly, another one that's not on offer right now in the US, but offers decent value at its list price, and is also one to keep an eye on this week. It's a great drive, though, and the bespoke design means it connects straight to the console's motherboard for best performance.View Deal

Not a new price on this variant of the C50 by any means, but this offers robust value for money and was still selling at the list price of £150 in April.View Deal

Your library card is all you need.

• ALPR (Automated License Plate Recognition) camera tech is getting smarter
• A new company is bridging the gap between cameras and connected tech
• Tools to avoid ALPR cameras are rapidly gaining popularity

More than 5,000 law enforcement departments across the US use Flock Safety cameras to track billions of license plates every month, according to a report from NBC news, helping them build an enormous database of the movements of everyday people.

But Flock is just one company working on such tech, with hundreds of new automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras and devices springing up daily.

More recently, 404Media has highlighted a new tech firm that aims to add phone, AirPod and Smartwatch location data to license plate readers in order to build a clearer picture about who was driving what… and when. Understandably, rebellious drivers are now fighting back thanks to a new website called DeFlock.

Leonardo's SignalTrace system is designed to scan the airwaves for signals left by myriad Bluetooth and wireless connected devices in order to link these to a license plate as it passes, potentially placing an individual in a vehicle at a specific time and place.

Leonardo says its technology uses "non-intrusive intelligence gathering" to detect publicly broadcasted device identifiers, feeding this data into an advanced algorithm so that multiple devices traveling together could link an individual to a vehicle and vice versa.

The police and other law enforcement agencies are then able to access this data, but concerns have been raised about the potential for hacking or misuse by the authorities to track personal relations.

Analysis: Privacy advocates are pushing back

(Image credit: Deflock.org)

In a move that aims to hand back some control to the individual, a website called DeFlock has surfaced that allows anyone to plan routes that actively avoid Flock’s ALPR cameras altogether and generally provide a more privacy-focussed alternative.

Just like most digital route-planners, users plug in a start and end point for their journey, changing how aggressively they want the software to avoid cameras, according to Carscoops.

The site will then compare a normal route to the more private alternative, suggesting how many miles and minutes a detour would take.

Website user numbers are on the increase, as organizations, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have warned that Flock’s surveillance camera systems are designed to enable “mass surveillance” and are susceptible to “grave abuses”, according to its own investigations.

Last year, the EFF reported on how more than 50 federal, state, and local agencies ran hundreds of searches through Flock's national network of surveillance data in connection with protest activity over a ten-month period, for example.

With news that ALPR cameras could soon be linked to connected devices, some sectors of the general public are understandably concerned, with one Reddit user commenting: “the only hope for anything is a Digital Civil Rights movement”.

If you want the most capable 16-inch laptop available right now without compromise, the Acer Predator Helios 16 AI (PH16-73) is $3000 (was $3500) at B&H Photo. This is an absolute beast of a machine for video editing, 3D workflows, gaming, and just about any demanding workload you can throw at it. And it's the cheapest RTX 5090 laptop I've come across.

The RTX 5090 laptop GPU is the headline here, and it earns it. Based on Nvidia’s Blackwell architecture with 10,496 CUDA cores and 24GB of GDDR7 memory, it’s the most powerful consumer laptop GPU ever made.

The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX is an Arrow Lake chip with 24 cores — 8 performance cores running up to 5.4GHz and 16 efficiency cores — and it’s a serious processor by any measure. Overall, the Acer Predator Helios 16 AI is as close as laptops get to a no-compromise flagship right now.

Today's top RTX 5090 laptop deal

This is the full-spec configuration: Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX (24 cores, up to 5.4GHz), RTX 5090 laptop GPU at 175W with 24GB GDDR7, 32GB DDR5, and 2TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD split across two drives. The 16-inch OLED display runs at 240Hz, 2560×1600, 100% DCI-P3, with G-SYNC support. Connectivity is exceptional: Thunderbolt 5 (120Gbps), 5GbE wired Ethernet, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, HDMI 2.1, and USB-A ports. Acer’s InfiniteRing RGB lighting and MagKey 4.0 keyboard round out a machine that means business. Free 2-day shipping. Also includes $129 in free accessories.View Deal

The 240Hz OLED display at 2560×1600 with 100% DCI-P3 coverage is outstanding for both visual work and high-refresh gaming. The combination of OLED’s infinite contrast and perfect blacks with a 240Hz panel and G-SYNC adaptive sync gives you a display that serves creative professionals well.

The connectivity package is where the Helios 16 AI pulls significantly ahead of most competitors. Thunderbolt 5 at 120Gbps is a generational leap over Thunderbolt 4 — it can drive an 8K display, transfer a 4TB SSD backup in under 10 minutes, or connect multiple high-bandwidth peripherals simultaneously. The 5GbE wired Ethernet port is fast enough to eliminate network bottlenecks entirely for anyone on a 2.5G or 5G home or office network. Wi-Fi 7 handles wireless connectivity with the same class-leading bandwidth.

Acer’s 6th Gen AeroBlade 3D fans and liquid metal thermal compound keep the system stable under sustained load.

Now, when I call this a beast, I mean it. It weighs around 2.6kg and the 330W power brick is substantial. This is a desktop replacement that travels, not an ultra-portable laptop. If you can live with those realities — and many professionals absolutely can — the Helios 16 AI delivers desktop-grade performance in a form factor that fits in a backpack.

• Shop all laptops at B&H Photo

The early Amazon Prime Day deals have started to arrive, but the best Nintendo Switch 2 deal isn't actually on the main Amazon shopping site. Instead, you'll need to head over to Woot (a lesser-known Amazon brand), where you can use code CHEAPSWITCH2 to score a discount of up to $100 off the console.

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

Right now the Nintendo Switch 2 is listed for just $449 (was $499.99), but using the code lets returning Woot! shoppers bag an extra $30 off to take the price down to just $419. That's not all, though, as site newcomers get a generous $50 off instead, which sends the cost plunging to only $399.

This is the cheapest I've ever seen Nintendo's latest console go in the US, and I expect it to sell out fast, so make sure to take advantage of this discount while you can. Remember, you have to input CHEAPSWITCH2 for the best price!

Today's best Nintendo Switch 2 deal

Use code CHEAPSWITCH2

The Nintendo Switch 2 is already discounted to just $449 at Woot, but using code CHEAPSWITCH2 at checkout nets returning customers an extra $30 off and newcomers a whopping $50 additional discount. This is an absolutely ridiculous sale, so I'd grab it while stock is still sticking around.View Deal

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

• 79% of data centers are exposed to climate hazards, 54% face chronic heat or drought
• Higher temperatures lead to more cooling demand, creating a vicious circle
• Component longevity is also at risk from heat and other impacts

According to new First Street research, four in five (79%) or the world's data center capacity is exposed to climate hazards like flooding, wildfire and winds, with more than half (54%) of data centers located in areas that face chronic heat or drought stress.

With hyperscalers investing billions to keep up with demands created by AI, First Street stresses that today's decisions could impact cloud computing for years to come.

But even without further investments, rising temperatures and the effects of climate change could put existing facilities under further pressure.

Hyperscalers are building data centers in at-risk areas

Besides the obvious risk of component damage, higher temperatures also mean that data centers need more cooling than they previously did, driving up electricity and water consumption. Because chips and other components operate best at an optimal temperature, higher temperatures could even cause them to fail sooner.

Flooding, winds and storms also threaten electrical systems, network connectivity and fiber networks, potentially leading to outages.

The revelation comes just weeks after a separate study from insurer MS Amlin found that half (56%) of all new projects are being located in disaster-prone areas.

"Most underwriting for real assets still uses historical data, but the climate is no longer behaving the way the historical record would predict," CEO Matthew Eby said.

But with part and utility costs soaring, companies are being forced to reduce costs elsewhere, including locating campuses in cheaper areas that are often more at-risk. With companies already having to consider compute capacity, power availability, connectivity and local opposition, "climate risk is becoming an increasingly important determinant of long-term performance," First Street warns.

"Together, these risks affect NOI stability, cash flow durability, and long-term asset performance," the company added.

Govee teamed up with HBO to show how its TV backlights and smart home lights react to fire-breathing dragons on screen.

• The country of Georgia has finally arrived on Google Street View
• Google has highlighted several major sights worth seeing
• The imagery is available in Google Maps and Google Earth

Street View is still expanding, almost 20 years after Google first launched it, and the East European country of Georgia is the latest to be added to the platform — with some spectacular sites and landmarks included, besides all the roads and highways.

"Georgia is a country defined by the scale of its history and the dramatic diversity of its landscapes," says Google, who worked with the Georgian government to get the country on the Street View map.

Some 13,000 kilometers (8,078 miles) of roads have been added, and can be found in Google Maps and Google Earth. You can check out the Jvari Monastery (part of an UNESCO World Heritage Site), the medieval stone towers of Ushguli, and the Bridge of Peace that crosses the Kura River in the capital Tbilisi.

There's also Telavi in the Kakheti region, the center of a wine-making tradition in Georgia that goes back 8,000 years. Grapes from these vineyards are still fermented in traditional clay jars called qvevri, which are buried underground.

Another GeoGuessr level

The Ushguli medieval villages can now be accessed via Street View (Image credit: Future)

Another sight worth seeing: the Jvari Pass, high up in the mountains, part of the Greater Caucasus range. Spend a few minutes clicking around on the new Street View images and you'll find plenty of fantastic views.

Of course, you don't have to check out the biggest tourist spots or the most well-known roads. In Google Maps on the web, just drag the little yellow pegman (lower right) into the map somewhere — as you hover with your mouse cursor, Street View roads will turn blue, and that now includes Georgia.

As well as checking out potential spots to travel to, the new imagery is also a boon for GeoGuessr players trying to name the country from a Street View picture. One poster calls it a "beautiful country" that's a "great addition".

While many of us will be well used to Street View imagery in our part of the world, it isn't everywhere yet. Countries including Cyprus and Paraguay were only added last year, while it's missing in China and many African and Middle Eastern nations.

Prime Day may start tomorrow, but there’s an awesome OLED TV deal already live that you need to check out: and it’s not at Amazon. The 55-inch Samsung S95F is available for a record-low £1,237.50 (was £1,375) at Currys in the UK.

• Browse the full Currys sale in the UK
• Browse the full Best Buy sale in the US

If you’re in the US, the 55-inch S95F is available for $1,597 (was $1,999) at Best Buy: another record-low price. The S95F is ideal if you’re looking for an OLED for a bright room, with its high brightness and seriously effective anti-reflection matte screen. It also delivers excellent motion handling, making it a perfect OLED for the World Cup.

Amazon Prime Day is sure to bring on some great TV deals, but you might not need to wait. For a flagship OLED, this is a fantastic price.

Today's best Samsung S95F deals

The Samsung S95F delivers superb picture quality, with high brightness, vibrant colors, and effective reflection handling thanks to its anti-glare screen — it really is a fantastic World Cup TV upgrade. This deal takes the 55-inch model down to £1,237.50, a record-low for this phenomenal five-star OLED. View Deal

If you've been holding out for a premium World Cup TV upgrade, this deal on the Samsung S95F 55-inch might be perfect. Dropping to a record-low $1,597 at Best Buy, the S95F's bold colors, high brightness and brilliant anti-reflection screen make it a prime companion for the World Cup. View Deal

One of the ultimate bright room OLEDs

(Image credit: Future)

OLED’s main weakness has always been reflections. Trying to watch a glossy OLED screen in a bright room can be a real challenge, which is why I’m delighted that Samsung introduced its OLED Glare Free screen in 2024. While this tech initially had a negative effect on black levels, giving them a raised look, it was refined in 2025 with Glare Free 2.0, which debuted on the Samsung S95F flagship OLED.

When I tested the S95F, I was blown away by its picture quality. Its color reproduction is superb, and vivid tones really shine on screen. In the Wizard & I scene from Wicked, pink flowers in a tree pop with brilliant vibrancy, while the greens of trees and Elphaba’s skin appear impressively natural. Contrast is also excellent on the S95F, delivering rich black tones and punchy highlights that worked great for dark scenes in The Batman, such as the fight on the subway and the first crime scene in Mayor Mitchell’s house.

What makes the S95F a good option for the World Cup? It’s a combo of its high brightness — which measured at 2,132 nits peak HDR and 380 nits full screen HDR in Standard mode (the mode I’d recommend for sports) — the effective anti-glare screen that I mentioned before, and its solid motion handling. Mix these elements together and you get an awesome World Cup TV.

Outside of watching movies and sports, the S95F is also one of the best gaming TVs around. Kitted out with four HDMI 2.1 ports, it supports 4K 165Hz, FreeSync and G-Sync, ALLM and HDR10+ gaming. It has a measured 9.5ms input lag time, meaning it has razor-sharp performance — even for some of the most demanding games.

Recently, in a showdown between the LG G6 and the S95F, I did say that the G6 pipped the S95F as the best OLED TV for bright rooms, mainly because its black tones looked richer. But, as the G6 recently launched, you’ll be looking at paying a much higher price compared to the S95F, meaning the Samsung is the one I’d pick for Prime Day.

More Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: sign up for a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire TV, Ring & Blink from £24.99
• Amazon Haul: up to 30% off
• Apple: AirPods Pro 3 for a record-low price
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja, Tefal & Sage
• Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
• Essentials: household goods from under £10
• Fashion: up to 50% off
• Headphones: up to 50% off
• Laptops: from £149.99
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £125
• Toys: up to 25% off Lego and Tonies
• TVs: from £129.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Eufy & Roborock
• Wearables: Garmin & Huawei from £36.99

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

• A leaker claims there will be a Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 this year instead of a Watch 9 Classic
• They shared renders of the Ultra 2 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9
• They also claimed there will be beige, black, and silver colors for them

This year it looks like we might get a successor to the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, as a new leak has revealed fresh details along with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9.

Over on X (via 9to5Google), leaker Galaxy Techie has claimed that these are the two new Samsung smartwatches we’ll see this year — and that there won’t be a Classic. That post has also now suspiciously been removed.

That’s at odds with some earlier leaks which suggested we might get a Classic instead of or as well as a new Ultra, so we’d take this with a pinch of salt. But it would make sense, since Samsung usually only launches new Classic models every other year, and we already got one last year with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic.

A successor to the 2024 Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is certainly due — and according to this source, the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 will have a slightly boxier design than its predecessor, along with thinner bezels and an orange outline on the side button, rather than it being all orange.

Three colors and some software changes

(Image credit: Future)

The leaker also claims that both the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 and the Watch Ultra 2 will have new band designs and colors, listing beige, black with a bluish band, and silver with a green band variants — though it’s unclear whether they mean both models will come in all three of those shades.

Finally, they’ve also shared some renders which — while lacking in detail — do give us a look at the possible design of these wearables, along with the redesigned Samsung Health app and what looks to be a new watchface picker, as you can see above.

In any case, we probably won’t have to wait much longer to get an official look at whatever wearables Samsung is cooking up, as this year’s Galaxy Watches will probably launch in July.

Running a one-person business means doing the job of an entire company by yourself. You're closing a deal in the morning and debugging the product by lunchtime. Every hour spent on admin is an hour not spent on the part of the business that actually grows revenue.

That's the gap a new generation of AI agents is built to close. OpenClaw and Hermes Agent are open-source tools that run in the background, hold memory of your business, and act on tasks without waiting for you to ask twice. Pair either one with a handful of supporting tools, and you get something close to a small team, for the price of a few subscriptions.

Why solo founders need an agent, not another app

Most AI tools you've used so far live in a browser tab. You open Claude or ChatGPT, ask a question, get an answer, then close the tab. The assistant stops existing the moment you stop typing.

An agent works differently. Once you set up OpenClaw or Hermes Agent, it keeps running, checking a task list, remembering what happened yesterday, and acting on a schedule instead of waiting to be prompted. For a solo entrepreneur with no employees, that difference matters more than which model sits underneath.

An agent doesn't replace you. Ideally, it should absorb the tasks that would otherwise eat your day, things like triaging support email, drafting a weekly update, or chasing an unpaid invoice. That frees you up for the work only you can do.

OpenClaw or Hermes Agent: Picking your AI co-founder

Two open-source projects dominate this space right now. They take different approaches to the same problem.

OpenClaw is the older, larger, and more battle-tested of the two. It started as a weekend project by Austrian developer Peter Steinberger in late 2025.

In February 2026, Steinberger announced he was joining OpenAI and that OpenClaw would move to an independent foundation rather than staying tied to any single company. The project's GitHub repository now sits at 373,000 stars and 77,300 forks.

Hermes Agent takes the opposite bet. It launched in February 2026 from Nous Research, the lab behind the Hermes, Nomos, and Psyche model families. By mid-June, it had crossed 190,000 stars of its own.

Instead of chasing breadth, it focuses on depth. After every task, it evaluates how the work went, turns whatever worked into a reusable skill file, and pulls from that file the next time a similar job comes up rather than reasoning from scratch.

How they measure up

OpenClaw

Hermes Agent

First released

November 2025, as Clawdbot

February 2026

Built by

Peter Steinberger, now an independent foundation

Nous Research

GitHub stars (June 2026)

373,000+

190,000+

License

MIT, open source

MIT, open source

Setup time

Under 30 minutes with Docker

A few hours for a full local setup

Memory model

File-backed, you write and edit what it remembers

Self-improving, it writes its own skills from experience

Messaging channels

20+, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord

Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, email, native desktop app

Best fit

Fast setup, the largest skill library, broad channel reach

An agent that gets sharper at your repeat tasks over time

In our experience, the honest answer comes down to setup time versus patience. OpenClaw's web search and file tools tend to work immediately after a Docker setup, often the same day. A full Hermes Agent setup with memory and tools configured typically takes a few hours instead.

Start with OpenClaw if you want results fast. Choose Hermes if you're willing to spend a weekend up front for an agent that keeps improving at your specific workflows.

A growing number of operators don't pick just one. Some experienced users run OpenClaw as the orchestrator for planning and multi-step coordination, then hand fast, repeatable task loops to Hermes as an execution specialist, with the two agents communicating over a shared protocol. That setup is overkill for a first attempt, but it's worth knowing the option exists once a single agent starts to feel limited.

What this looks like in practice

The clearest public example of an agent running a one-person business is Felix, an OpenClaw agent built by entrepreneur Nat Eliason. In January 2026, Eliason gave the agent $1,000 in startup capital and its own X account, then told it to build something and sell it overnight. Felix responded by writing a playbook on how to hire an AI agent, building a website to sell it, and launching its own social presence.

Three weeks in, Felix had generated $14,718 in revenue. Within about two months, that figure had grown to roughly $177,000 across the original product, a skills marketplace called Claw Mart, and custom agent deployments built for other businesses.

Eliason still holds the API keys and reviews what the agent does. Day-to-day decisions, from pricing to outreach, run through Felix rather than through him.

Felix is an extreme case, built specifically to test how far one agent could go without a human in the loop. Most one-person businesses won't hand over a Stripe account on day one.

That's the right call for most of them. Even so, the same pattern applies at a smaller scale: give an agent its own accounts, a narrow task, and enough room to act without you checking in every hour.

Building the rest of the stack around your AI agent

An agent is only as useful as what it can plug into. Most one-person stacks pair OpenClaw or Hermes Agent with a handful of tools that already expose an API, a webhook, or an email address the agent can act through. None of these need to cost much.

Scheduling and communication

Calendly remains a common default for letting people book time on your calendar without the back-and-forth, with a free plan for individual use and paid plans starting at $10 per month. Point your agent at the same calendar so it can answer "when am I free" without you checking manually.

For day-to-day messages, the agent typically lives wherever you already work. Both OpenClaw and Hermes Agent connect natively to WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, and Discord, so you're adding a contact to a conversation you're already having, not a new inbox to check.

Invoicing and bookkeeping

Wave and FreshBooks cover most solo founders here. Wave's core invoicing and accounting tools are free, with charges kicking in only if you use its built-in payment processing. FreshBooks costs a monthly fee but adds time tracking and client portals, useful once you start billing by the hour.

Either way, give your agent read access to the invoice list rather than write access to your bank account. Letting it flag an overdue invoice and draft a reminder is a reasonable task. Letting it move money on your behalf is not, at least not yet.

Customer relationships and leads

HubSpot's CRM is free, with no time limit on the core plan. For a founder tracking a few dozen leads, that's enough to replace a spreadsheet without adding a subscription. As the pipeline grows, the agent can sit on top of it, drafting follow-ups, logging calls, and flagging deals that have gone quiet.

Content and social media

This is where an agent earns its keep fastest, because content work is repetitive and time-stamped. Point it at your newsletter platform, whether that's beehiiv, MailerLite, or ConvertKit. Give it a standing instruction to draft, not send, a weekly update from your week's notes.

You stay the editor. The agent stays the drafter.

Contracts and signatures

For anything that needs a signature, tools like PandaDoc or SignNow handle the legal side. Your agent can handle the busywork around it instead, generating the draft from a template, sending it out, and nudging a client who hasn't signed after a few days. We'd still keep a human checking the final terms before anything goes out the door.

AI guardrails you need before you go all-in

Running an autonomous agent is not the same as running a chatbot. The security record so far reflects that. A 2026 audit of OpenClaw's skill marketplace found 341 malicious entries out of 2,857 skills checked, traced largely to a single supply chain campaign known as ClawHavoc.

A separate vulnerability, CVE-2026-25253, scored 8.8 out of 10 on the severity scale and involved unsafe automatic connection behavior that could expose authentication tokens. Cisco has publicly described personal AI agents in this category as a serious risk for enterprise environments, specifically because of how much access they're given by default. Hermes Agent has reported no known critical vulnerabilities as of mid-2026, though that partly reflects its smaller install base rather than proven hardening over time.

Three habits cut most of that risk down to size:

• Give the agent its own accounts. A separate email address, a separate cloud storage folder, and separate API keys mean a mistake stays contained instead of spreading into your personal accounts.
• Start with one channel and one task. Let it manage a single Telegram conversation or a single invoicing workflow before connecting it to your bank, your CRM, and your domain registrar all at once.
• Keep it updated and keep it behind authentication. Both projects ship fixes quickly once a problem surfaces, but only if you're running a current version rather than an old build exposed to the open internet.

Treat the access you grant an AI agent the way you'd treat access for a new hire — useful from day one, but earned in stages rather than handed over all at once.

Getting started without breaking anything

Pick one agent and one task before you do anything else. People who've run these setups for months consistently recommend starting on the computer you already own rather than buying dedicated hardware, then moving to a small server later if the agent earns a permanent home.

Give it its own email address and a single connected channel, such as Telegram, before anything else. Ask it to handle one real task for a week: drafting follow-up emails, summarizing your inbox each morning, or chasing one recurring invoice. Once that task runs reliably without daily intervention, add the next one.

Treat the agent like a new employee rather than an extension of yourself. Give it accounts you'd be comfortable revoking, not your own logins.

That one habit prevents most of the damage a misconfigured agent could otherwise do. By the time you've added a second and third task, you'll have a clearer sense of which platform fits your workflow than any comparison article could give you, including this one.

The bottom line

Hiring your first real employee usually means payroll, onboarding, and months before they're fully useful. Setting up OpenClaw or Hermes Agent costs a few hours and, in OpenClaw's case, nothing beyond compute.

Obviously, the output won't match a skilled human on judgment calls, but for the repetitive parts of running a business, the gap is closing fast enough that a solopreneur can get their business out the door without overhiring before they are ready.

Start small, watch what the agent actually does with the access you give it, and expand from there. We've noticed the founders getting the most out of this approach aren't running the most complicated stack. They picked one agent, gave it one real job, and let it prove itself before adding the next.

Sugar season 2 has returned to Apple TV, with the pilot episode available to watch now.

Sugar is considered to be one of the best Apple TV shows and we've had a two year wait to dive back in to the sleek and sophisticated neo-noir drama series.

In the season premiere, our protagonist John Sugar (Colin Farrell) was feeling dejected because his investigation into his sister's disappearance has hit a dead end. So he picks up a new case, and this is where episode 2 will continue.

Here's what you need to know about Sugar season 2, episode 2.

What time can I watch Sugar season 2 on Apple TV?

Kirby Howell-Baptiste has a supporting role in season 2. (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

The US can expect the second episode of Sugar season 2 to be available on Apple TV on June 26 at 12am PT / 3am ET. Episodes will then drop weekly until the finale on August 7.

Internationally, look out for the below times:

• US – 12am PT / 3am ET
• Canada – 12am PT / 3am ET
• UK – 8am BST
• India – 12:30pm IST
• Singapore – 3pm SGT
• Australia – 6pm AEST
• New Zealand – 8pm NZDT

When do new episodes of Sugar season 2 come out on Apple TV?

Episode 1: Out now

Episode 2: June 26

Episode 3: July 3

Episode 4: July 10

Episode 5: July 17

Episode 6: July 24

Episode 7: July 31

Episode 8: August 7

• Cloudflare and web browsers to develop new internet protocol
• PACT protocol will help to verify legitimate web access from human and bots
• Users will be given an anonymized "personhood" token to show they have a real reason to access a website

Now that bot traffic on the internet has officially surpassed human HTTP requests, both web browsers and web infrastructure providers agree something needs to be done, especially as AI agents enter the fray.

Today, Cloudflare has announced a joint initiative with Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge to launch a new internet protocol designed to verify if web access is legitimate or malicious - without intruding on user privacy.

Private Access Control Tokens (PACT) will act as anonymous tokens that verify legitimate access by both humans and authorized agents without the need for user logins or CAPTCHAs that cause friction and harm the browsing experience.

Cloudflare establishes PACT with web browsers

To start, PACT won’t deny access to automated traffic completely. According to Cloudflare, the protocol is designed to recognize legitimate access from certain bots. As consumers and businesses turn to new automations provided by AI agents, there is still a legitimate case for allowing certain bots to access websites.

For many AI agents, there is still a human at some point in the loop with a real reason for accessing a website. PACT offers an anonymous “personhood” token that is attached to the user’s browser. This token uses “trusted information from contexts that have authentic relationships with people” to verify legitimate access “while keeping that information private.”

StatCounter places the combined market share of Chrome, Firefox, and Edge at around 77%, meaning that the PACT protocol will likely roll out to the majority of internet users.

“PACT will further empower businesses to identify genuine visitors, ensuring they can focus their resources on the traffic that matters to them,” CloudFlare said in the announcement. “Using PACT on Cloudflare’s network raises the bar for trustworthiness and integrity online without the traditional costs.”

“In commerce, every extra challenge, delay, or false positive can turn a purchase into an abandoned cart. Merchants need effective protections against automated abuse, but buyers shouldn’t have to pay for them with unnecessary friction or invasive tracking,” said Ilya Grigorik, Distinguished Engineer at Shopify.

“Shopify is proud to help develop PACT as an open, privacy-preserving standard that can help the millions of businesses on our platform distinguish legitimate shoppers and authorized agents from abusive traffic while preserving buyer privacy."

Disabling my antivirus for a week taught me that the most important security tool you have isn't software.

Electric toothbrushes are popular buys every year in the Amazon Prime Day deals, so much so that the website is absolutely flooded with the things. Not only do you have vast amounts of models from the old guard of Oral-B, Philips, Colgate, and more, but you have newer upstarts like Suri, Ordo, and Supermouth to browse, as well as Amazon's usual slew of no-name dupes.

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

All the while, they're all packing different features, be they pressure sensors, multiple modes, AI brushing guidance, or reward points. It's getting harder to choose between them due to all the noise!

That's where I come in. I've reviewed plenty of electric toothbrushes in my time as TechRadar's resident health tech editor. I've curated our best electric toothbrushes buying guide, and I've picked out a trio of products that are a) all discounted during Prime Day, and I believe are going to be good value for money. For comparative purposes, I've grouped them into three categories: under $50, under $100, and under $200. Let's get started!

Under $50: Ordo Sonic Lite

(Image credit: Future)

I liked this electric toothbrush when I reviewed it in 2024, calling it 'simple and feature-light, but terrific value'. Therefore, even though it's a tiny discount (the Ordo Sonic Lite was $38.47, but is now $34.99 at Amazon), the brush is such a good value normally that I still feel comfortable recommending it.

The USB-C charging port is convenient, battery life and brushing power impressed, and it comes in a nice variety of colors. The sonic handset (which simply means 'vibrating' in this case) has two modes (soft and hard), a two-minute timer, and a pulse every 30 seconds to remind you to switch 'zones'. That's all most people need out of an electric toothbrush.

A tiny discount, but the brush is still a great value and everything most people need out of a toothbrush. A five-week battery life, USB-C charging, and built-in timer ensure a no-fuss, easy-to-use brush, and it comes in a choice of four lively pastel colors. View Deal

Under $100: Suri 2.0 Sustainable toothbrush

(Image credit: Future)

The Suri electric toothbrush range is built with quality and sustainability in mind. The recyclable heads are comprised of bamboo, while the aluminum handle can actually be taken apart, allowing the device to be repaired in order to reduce electronic waste.

It's also a very good toothbrush, with a powerful motor, month-long battery life, head cover for travel, an optional case with UV light for killing bacteria, and a pressure sensor to prevent you from pushing too hard on your teeth. Our reviewer awarded it 4.5 stars, claiming it "cleans up on all fronts". It even comes with a sticky-backed magnet, allowing you to easily mount it on your bathroom wall.

Right now, you can get the Suri 2.0 sustainable electric toothbrush (no case) discounted from $105 to $84 at Amazon, a 20% discount.

A USB-C rechargeable sonic (vibrating) brush with a month-long battery life, Suri's main gimmick is its sustainability. The brush is repairable, and the heads are recyclable, so in theory, this is the last toothbrush you'll ever need to buy. Save 20%. View Deal

Under $200: Philips Soniclean Diamondcare 9000

(Image credit: Future)

A powerful premium electric toothbrush, the Philips Sonicare Diamondclean 9000 is packed with features most of us would never even think of, with 12 brush settings, a powerful motor delivering 62,000 bristle movements per minute, smart tooth-cleaning, coaching via the Sonicare app, a USB charging travel case, and lots more.

In our review, we said it was a "powerful, good-looking electric toothbrush with a wide array of modes and intensity settings so you can tailor it to suit you". Although we didn't think it was smart enough for the asking price, you can now get the Philips Sonicare Diamondclean 9000 two-pack at 50% off, discounted from $399.99 to just $199.99 for two brushes, charging cases, and stands. At this price, I'd recommend it if it's in your budget.

A powerful do-it-all toothbrush which is said to remove up to 2000% more plaque than a manual brush. A powerful motor, 12 settings for various sensitivities, smart coaching via the Philips app, and matching charging cases. A great buy for a couple. View Deal

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

Tablets make the perfect first device for a kid. They're much better suited to static, supervised use than a smartphone, can shrug off damage that would leave a laptop in pieces, and can be used as easily for watching YouTube or playing Minecraft as they are for schoolwork or other more practical activities. So all you have to do is pick which one makes sense for you.

You could of course just pick up one of the best iPads. Apple's had the whole tablet thing sorted for years at this point, even on the standard model we recommend in this guide. But you should also check out the offerings below from Amazon and OnePlus - for their value and versatility respectively.

It's hard to know what your kid will need from a tablet as they get older, but these options will go the distance if you need them to. Check our main best tablets and best Android tablets guides if you need more recommendations, but here are the best kids tablets you can buy right now.

Best tablet for kids

(Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future)1. iPad (11th-gen)

The best overall tablet for kids

Price: $349 / £329 / AU$599 | Display: 10.9 inches (2360 x 1640) | OS: iPadOS 18 (upgradable to iOS 26) | Chipset: Apple A16 | Storage: 128GB / 256GB / 512GB | Battery: 28.93Wh | Rear camera: 12MP | Front camera: 12MP Ultra Wide | Dimensions: 24.9 x 17.95 x 0.7mm | Weight: 475g

A16 chip is very capableNow starts with 128GB of storageiPadOS 18 runs smoothly hereNo major changes over the previous generation

It's hard to think of a tablet without immediately picturing an iPad. And fortunately, when shopping for a kid-friendly slate, the 11th-gen iPad is indeed the best option for most people.

Even though it is Apple's cheapest, most basic tablet model, the standard iPad has more than enough power, storage and battery performance to last your kid for years, even if they start to need a device for schoolwork as well as entertainment. Just grab one of Apple's own keyboard cases and Apple Pencil styluses (or one of the many third-party options) and bam, you basically have a laptop.

There are no Apple Intelligence AI features present due to this slate's older chipset, but that probably won't bother your child that much. It's also the most expensive option on this list, which may feel a risky option depending on how your child likes to treat their tech. But rest assured that for older, more careful kids, the iPad 11 would be a smart investment.

Read the full iPad 11 review

• ^ Back to the top

Best budget tablet for kids

(Image credit: Future)2. Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023)

The best cheap tablet for kids

Price: $139.99 / £149.99 | Display: 10.1-inch 16:10 FHD | OS: Fire OS 8 (based on Android 11) | Chipset: Mediatek MT8186A | Storage: 32GB/64GB (expandable up to 1TB) | Battery: "up to 13 hours" | Rear camera: 5MP | Front camera: 5MP | Dimensions: 246 x 164.8 x 8.6mm | Weight: 433.6g

Cheaper than many rivalsIncredibly hardyHandy Alexa command centerTiny changes from 2021 modelStuck to Amazon ecosystemLots of unremovable apps

Although it's a couple of years old, the Fire HD 10 is still Amazon's latest and best option for an affordable tablet that will give you or a younger user all the basics.

As well as the price being appealing, the rugged plastic design hopefully means even the standard non-Kids edition will survive even the roughest treatment. Amazon's built-in kids apps provide a perfect child-ready entertainment suite, and if you want to use it yourself, you may find the strong integration with Alexa and your smart home gadgets rather handy too.

The main limitation is the Fire OS operating system; you get all the basic streaming apps you could want, but the gaming experience leaves a lot to be desired due to limited compatible titles and an old low-powered chipset. Plus there's a bunch of bloatware apps that you cannot remove if you decide you don't want them, not to mention the adverts you are subjected to unless you pay to remove them. If you can live with this though, you are unlikely to find a better value tablet for your family to use.

Read the full Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) review

• ^ Back to the top

Best Android tablet for kids

(Image credit: Future)3. OnePlus Pad Go 2

A well-priced Android slate for kids and adults alike

Price: $399.99 / £319 | Display: 12.1-inch 2800 x 1980 LCD, 120Hz | OS: OxygenOS 15 | Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 7300-Ultra | Storage: 128GB/256GB | Battery: 10,050mAh | Rear camera: 8MP | Front camera: 8MP | Dimensions: 266.01 x 192.77 x 6.83 mm | Weight: 597g

The perfect feature set for entertainment and productivityOpen Canvas is a huge win for a tablet in the mid-range sectorBig leaps in performance and battery lifeThe design isn’t much funCharging remains unchanged from the original Pad Go

The closest you can get to an iPad running Android is the OnePlus Pad Go 2. But OnePlus' tablet has more going for it than just its resemblance to an Apple product.

You won't be wanting for screen space with the Pad Go 2's big 12.1-inch, 2.8k resolution display. Streaming video and games look and run brilliantly, as does the Android-based OxygenOS operating system. OnePlus' Open Canvas system being a great productivity tool as well, letting you open multiple apps across its spacious display - ideal if this needs to be a tablet for studying too.

Our only complaints are the rather plain design, which may also be a little too big for small hands to use comfortably, and the charging speed remaining a slow 33W. But keep the OnePlus Pad Go 2 topped up regularly, and you'll likely have no trouble from the tablet's primary user.

Read the full OnePlus Pad Go 2 review

• ^ Back to the top

How we test tablets

Our reviewers test the best tablets at home and in the office, and work with Future Labs to test them in our performance laboratory; specifically for tablets with US availability.

We use tablets in our daily lives every day, and will replace our work laptop computers with a tablet for regular use and testing. We travel with tablets and use them extensively for work and personal travel. We use tablets for fun, for games, for creating art, for getting work done, and for doing nothing at all.

• Windscribe CEO warns social media quizzes can harvest data to bypass knowledge-based authentication
• The 'fun' prompts often perfectly mirror bank security questions
• Experts advise users to treat them as a second password by lying

We've all seen them pop up on our feeds: "What's your 90s sitcom character?" or "Discover your stripper name!" But while these social media quizzes might seem like a bit of harmless fun, they are actually acting as a massive phishing net.

That's the warning from Yegor Sak, the founder of one of the best VPN providers, Windscribe. According to Sak, these viral personality tests are carefully crafted to harvest the exact answers that financial institutions use to verify your identity.

By wrapping standard bank security questions, like your mother's maiden name, your first pet, or the street you grew up on, into a gamified social media post, attackers are tricking users into willingly handing over the keys to their accounts.

The dangers of Facebook quizzes

The success of these quizzes comes down to psychology rather than advanced hacking techniques. The questions are cleverly disguised to disarm your natural skepticism.

"If a stranger walked up to you on the street and asked for your mother's maiden name, your first pet, and the street you grew up on, you'd walk away," Sak explained. "Wrap those same questions inside a 'Which 90s sitcom character are you?' quiz, and people happily type the answers into a database owned by someone they'll never meet."

Sak describes every completed quiz as "a credential reset form for a stranger."

Asking for a mother's maiden name directly puts people on the defensive, but asking for a silly combination of a first pet and childhood street gets a laugh.

"Same data. One feels like an interrogation. The other feels like a game. That gap is the entire attack surface," said Sak.

This isn't just a theoretical threat. Back in 2020, a major investigation by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) confirmed that personality-style apps on social platforms were harvesting data from tens of millions of users, many of whom had no idea their information was being collected.

"Most people have been quietly handing over the keys to their bank accounts for the better part of a decade," Sak noted, "and they think they're just having fun on Facebook."

How to protect yourself (and why you should lie)

So, how do you spot a trap? Sak says the danger lies in the type of information requested.

"Any quiz asking for a name plus a memory is a red flag," he warned. "First pet, first car, first school, the street you grew up on, mother's maiden name, favourite teacher. If a quiz is collecting four or five of those in one round, it's not a personality test. It's a security questionnaire with stickers on it."

Because a leaked password can be changed in seconds but the name of the street you grew up on cannot, Sak recommends a simple but drastic fix for knowledge-based authentication: lie.

If you've ever filled out one of these quizzes, you should immediately update the security questions on your bank, email, and brokerage accounts. Treat the answers like a secondary password by using random, fictional responses.

"The data is gone," Sak concluded. "The only thing left to do is change your security answers everywhere, and stop using questions whose answers exist on the internet."

Prime Day kicks off tomorrow, running from June 23-26, but we’re already seeing some early deals. One of these is on the TCL C8K (known as the QM8K in the US), one of 2025’s best mini-LED TVs. The 65-inch C8K is down to £1,079.10 (was £1,199) at Currys. This is a model that I've personally tested, and it’s easily one of the best-value mini-LED TVs I’ve used, over-delivering in terms of features and performance vs price. Get the discount by applying code TV10 at checkout.

• Browse Currys full epic deals sale
• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day US sale

If you’re in the US, the equivalent 75-inch QM8K is back down to its record-low price of $1,397.99 (was $1,999.99) at Amazon US 65-inch C8K is down to £1,079.10 (was £1,199) at Currys.

While the step-down TCL QM7K/C7K tends to be one of the big stars of Prime Day, the 8-series delivers that extra brightness and punchiness to its picture, plus a meatier built-in sound system. Amazon Prime Day will bring about more TV deals, but you may not even need to wait that long with this offer already live.

Today's best TCL C8K deal

The TCL 65-inch C8K has dropped to a record-low price of £1,079.10 at Currys. It's a brilliant option for a World Cup upgrade, delivering serious brightness and bold colors, as well as solid motion handling. It also has a decent built-in sound system and great gaming performance. View Deal

Today's best TCL QM8K deal

The 75-inch TCL QM8K has dropped back to a record-low price of $1,397.99 ahead of Prime Day. If you're looking for a TV for the World Cup, the QM8K delivers the bright, punchy picture quality you need, plus a solid built-in sound system. View Deal

Mini-LED greatnessTCL C8KFutureTCL QM8KFuture

While affordable mini-LED should sometimes come with a warning label (as what’s on paper can be too good to be true), this wasn’t the case when I tested the TCL C8K.

Its picture quality is up there with the best TVs. It delivers punchy, vibrant colors that looked sensational when I watched Elemental, really giving the reds, oranges and purples of Ember and her vase serious pop on screen. High brightness also makes this an excellent TV for watching in a bright room. With figures measuring 3,417 nits HDR peak brightness in Standard mode and 3,050 nits in Movie mode, this TV is seriously striking.

With a measured full screen HDR brightness of 776 nits and full screen SDR brightness of 791 nits, both in Standard mode, this TV is an excellent candidate for the World Cup — especially if you’ve been holding off on an upgrade. Coupled with its excellent colors and solid motion handling (after setting judder reduction to 5 and blur reduction to 3 in the settings), this is a great TV for enjoying the rest of the World Cup.

The C8K also impressed me with its contrast and backlight control. Often the kryptonite of cheaper mini-LED TVs (as they don’t have good enough local dimming to deliver accurate contrast), the C8K made high contrast scenes from movies such as The Batman look great. Its backlight control was also superb, showing very little blooming compared to similarly priced rivals.

Sound quality can be hit-and-miss on TVs, but the C8K’s was better than I thought it would be. With audio by Bang & Olufsen, the C8K supplied surprisingly hefty bass, perfect for the rumble of the Batmobile engine in The Batman.

The C8K is also up there with the best gaming TVs, offering 4K 144Hz, FreeSync Premium Pro, Dolby Vision gaming and ALLM support. With a 13.2ms input lag time, you can expect smooth gameplay. When I played Battlefield V, chaotic battle sequences were well-handled and never felt like a strain for the C8K.

Check out our full review of the equally brilliant TCL QM8K in the US, which we described as 'TCL's best mini-LED yet'.

More Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: sign up for a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire TV, Ring & Blink from £24.99
• Amazon Haul: up to 30% off
• Apple: AirPods Pro 3 for a record-low price
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja, Tefal & Sage
• Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
• Essentials: household goods from under £10
• Fashion: up to 50% off
• Father's Day: up to 50% off gifts & drinks
• Headphones: up to 50% off
• Laptops: from £149.99
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £125
• Toys: up to 25% off Lego and Tonies
• TVs: from £129.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Eufy & Roborock
• Wearables: Garmin & Huawei from £36.99

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

No other 4K drone is easier to get started with than the DJI Neo. Anyone can be airborne with it in minutes, capturing 4K selfies with smart subject tracking. And the good news is that you really don't need all the costly extras that I usually recommend to first-time pilots — the drone-only package for £113.05 at Amazon UK is a great option to take your first flight.

Yes, the beauty of the Neo is its versatile flight options; it works with or without a controller, and with goggles for FPV flight. However, you really can enjoy its best feature — automated subject tracking — in its simplest controller-free form.

If you're feeling flash, the Fly More Combo is available for below £200 for the first time, now just £198.55 at Amazon UK (was £299), with which you'll get the drone, a controller, three batteries and charging hub, while the price of the Motion Fly Combo, which includes the goggles and motion controller for FPV flight, now costs just £309 at Amazon (was £449).

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

These are excellent prices over Amazon Prime Day for one of the most compelling beginner drones that I've had the pleasure of testing.

With single-push take-off, you don't actually need a controller to use the DJI Neo (Image credit: James Abbott)A DJI drone at this price?

We gave the DJI Neo 4 stars in our review when it was launched in September 2024 as the cheapest DJI drone that shoots 4K video. It has since been upgraded to the Neo 2 in November 2025 — I've highlighted five key differences in my DJI Neo 2 vs DJI Neo explainer so you can be sure what you may or may not be missing out on should you opt for the older model.

Yes, the Neo 2 is a decent upgrade and worth the extra outlay for some people, but there are many similarities between the two selfie drones. For first-timers, I think the original model offers the best value, especially at the new low prices.

If aerial photography is your chief concern, however, you might be better off looking at other DJI quadcopters; the Neo has a small 1/2-inch sensor and is limited to 12MP JPEG-only photos and 4K video with standard color profile (no D-Log). The Neo 2 has much the same image quality, but drones such as the recent DJI Lito X1 give an image quality step up. I've included the best deals for other beginner DJI drones below, though none come close to the extraordinarily low price of the Neo.

The DJI Neo is the easiest 4K drone you'll ever fly, and a fantastic gateway for beginners. You're not buying a Neo for its 12MP photo and 4K video quality, but its host of beginner-friendly features like one-tap takeoff and automatic return. Being just 135g, no registration is required, and, thanks to today's low price at Amazon, both the standalone drone and combo packages are available for very cheap indeed. This deal is for the Fly More bundle which includes a controller, three batteries and charging hub.

See our DJI Neo review for more detailsView Deal

Usually I would all out recommend the Fly More Combos, but of any beginner drone, the autonomous Neo is possibly the one where you can get away with the single-battery, drone-only bundle.

On the flipside, if you'd like to try immersive FPV flight, the Neo can be purchased with goggles in the pricier Motion Fly Combo for $449 (was $529). View Deal

Today's best DJI Neo deals

Usually, I recommend Fly More Combos for first-time buyers because you get a controller, extra batteries, and a charging hub, but of any beginner drone, the autonomous Neo is possibly the one where you can get away with the single-battery, drone-only bundle.

There's a huge price drop for the Neo drone-only option, with more than £50 off the original price. By my reckoning, this is the lowest price ever in the UK for a DJI drone that shoots 4K video. View Deal

The DJI Neo is the easiest 4K drone you'll ever fly, with one-tap takeoff, subject tracking, and automatic return. Weighing just 135g, no registration is required, and, thanks to today's low price at Amazon, both the standalone drone and combo packages are available for well below the list price. This deal is for the Fly More bundle, which also includes a controller, three batteries, and a charging hub.

You're not buying a Neo for its 12MP photo and 4K video quality, but its ease of use, beginner-friendly features, and versatile flight options. If you want better quality aerial images, check out the deals listed below for the Mini 4K, Lito X1, and Mini 5 Pro.

See our DJI Neo review for more detailsView Deal

More of the best beginner DJI drone deals todayMore Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: sign up for a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire TV, Ring & Blink from £24.99
• Amazon Haul: up to 30% off
• Apple: AirPods Pro 3 for a record-low price
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja, Tefal & Sage
• Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
• Essentials: household goods from under £10
• Fashion: up to 50% off
• Father's Day: up to 50% off gifts & drinks
• Headphones: up to 50% off
• Laptops: from £149.99
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £125
• Toys: up to 25% off Lego and Tonies
• TVs: from £129.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Eufy & Roborock
• Wearables: Garmin & Huawei from £36.99

Audio-lovers, Prime Day — and in fact any big sales event — is always a savvy time to buy. But right now I think we need good quality portable music in our lives more than ever. And thankfully, I can help you make it affordable too, as Prime Day is practically upon us, and it seems the retail giant simply couldn't wait!

The headphones and earbuds I'm recommending here all really are good quality and all come with a TR review — and the discounts are either a new lowest-seen price, or a return to the lowest asking fee we've ever seen.

Essentially, I've been doing this full-time since 2019 and if I don't love the product and the saving, I won't list it here. OK? I test headphones all day every day, so I know great sound, I know the market, and I know a fantastic deal when I see it.

• Shop more early Prime Day deals at Amazon US
• Shop more early Prime Day deals at Amazon UK

One quick thing: please don't read this roundup, click through to Amazon or another one of the big retailers, take a left (or a right, in fact) and buy a set of buds or cans that do not feature here — and that neither myself nor the wider TechRadar team has mentioned or reviewed. Or, if you do, just don't comment here and compel me to recommend what you just bought retrospectively, because unfortunately I probably won't do that.

These deals (and only these deals) are the ones I've reviewed and tested. And that's why I'm recommending them to you this Prime Day. Think this roundup's a little short? That's because my standards are high, friends…

The best early Prime Day headphones / earbuds deals, US

These are the new new March 2026 edition, with the H2 chip and all of the upticks in performance that brings. And though many might have predicted an Apple-style $50 saving (yawn), this $150-off steal is crazy! Nobody had this on their bingo card for Prime Day. Let me be abundantly clear: the noise cancellation here is absolutely fantastic — and I know, because I reviewed them… View Deal

The ANC quality from the QuietComfort Ultra (Gen 2) is better than any other other wireless over-ear headphone on the market. Let that sink in. And yes, you can pay a lot more for premium headphones. This is a return to their lowest ever price too! You’re also getting a lightweight and comfortable pair that are perfect for long-haul flights, and it doesn’t hurt that they look really sleek with the addition of a metallic trim. View Deal

This might just be the best early Prime Day tech deal, especially if you want Apple's iconic buds (and you'd be in good company; they're the most popular earbuds in the world for a reason). Apple's AirPods Pro 3 for a record-low price of $169? Come on! Apple's newest premium buds feature improved Active Noise Cancellation, outstanding audio, a comfortable in-ear design, and new features such as live translation and heart-rate tracking. These do-it-all buds really are 100% flagship audio, and the noise-canceling quality is outstanding.View Deal

This is the cheapest these have ever been! They've been $59 before, but this chops an extra $3 off that – hurrah! Amazon's listing their most recent $79 fee as a comparison, but make no mistake, their original MSRP is the one you see in this deal. A top saving! Highly recommended. View Deal

In terms of wireless hi-res and audiophile watchwords, you name it, it's within these over ear headphones: LDAC, Snapdragon Sound, Planar Magnetic, aptX Adaptive, and aptX Lossless… and this is as cheap as I've ever seen them. No ANC, but if you want great sound (or someone you know does), this is the deal for you, I'm telling you. Don't believe me? See our full Edifier Stax Spirit S5 review.View Deal

The excellent EAH-AZ80 that came before this model basically tore up the rule book on sound quality and features in wireless earbuds – and the AZ100 are even better. Released in January 2025, these little beauties are still the only earbuds to offer multipoint to three devices simultaneously, plus excellent sidetone tech for hearing your own voice in calls, as well as some of the most neutral and detailed audio in an even smaller, even more premium-feel design. Oh, and the deal? It's a return to their lowest-seen price ever. Highly recommended. View Deal

We said in our review of the WF-C510 that these are among our favorite low-cost earbuds thanks to their punchy, high-quality sound, comfortable fit and ultra-affordable price. We rated them 4.5 stars at full price, and said they're preferable even to Apple's more expensive AirPods 4 as great budget buds. At this discounted price they're an absolute steal, as long as you're happy going without active noise cancellation.View Deal

Bose is one of the biggest names in the world of headphones, and that reputation for quality is shown in these earbuds. The Ultra Open boast incredible sound, supreme power, and excellent battery life, making them a seriously premium pair of all-around buds. Now at a record-low price (as long as certain finishes work for you), so there's no better time to buy.View Deal

On the face of it, a 28% saving isn't the most headline-worthy sale you'll see on Black Friday. But this is Bose – and it's also the first ever saving I've seen on this set of 5-star, 2025-release noise-cancelling earbuds. They basically walk all over anything else on the market for noise cancellation (except maybe Apple's AirPods Pro 3 – but if you don't own an iPhone I don't recommend those, however good the deal). A lowest-seen fee on a truly excellent set of new earbuds from Bose? Yes please. View Deal

No, it's not a massive discount, but it's the first real one we've had, and it's a decent one, taking 12% off the usual price of Apple's newest and most advanced ANC earbuds. The main difference between the Pro 3 and Pro 2 is the addition of heart rate sensing and Live Translation using Apple Intelligence, and the ANC is vastly improved, as I covered at length in my AirPods Pro 3 review – which is no small statement given that the ANC in the AirPods Pro 2 was already excellent. View Deal

This is the lowest price we've ever seen for the AirPods Pro 2, and it's an astounding value for earbuds this good. They sound superb, they have high-tier noise cancellation, they have an unlosable case, and they have the newer Live Translation and hearing aid features that also feature on AirPods Pro 3 – these are only missing the heart-rate sensors of the new model in terms of major features.View Deal

Sony's newest mid-range wireless earbuds for less than $80 in Amazon's early Black Friday sale? Yup: this is a real bargain. For this money, you're getting Sony quality for the kind of money you'd expect to pay for a much lesser brand. In our Sony WF-C710N review, we heaped praise on these buds for their bolstered battery life, fantastic sound quality and upgraded ANC. At this price point, my recommending them is a no-brainer – at a third of the price of the high-end Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds, we think these are the better-value buy.View Deal

Apple's most affordable AirPods are currently at their lowest ever price on Walmart, and that makes them an even better buy. At under $70, these are great: they have personalized spatial audio, better-than-promised battery life (based on our testing), and fantastic integration with Apple's other devices.View Deal

Amazon is running an unbelievably good deal on the AirPods 4 with ANC. Everything I've said above about these AirPods applies here: they're the best earbuds for iPhone users who want Apple's excellent device integration and ANC without having to shove anything into your ear canals.View Deal

This is a very solid deal on some great clip-on open earbuds. They only arrived in May 2025, so this is one of the first few times our price trackers have ever spotted a discount on them. How good are they? Very very good, as out glowing Shokz OpenDots One review proves. Again, this deal won't last long though – quick! View Deal

A $55 saving on the Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 (bone conduction headphones that don't actually go into your ear) is not to be sniffed at, especially as it's the biggest discount these headphones have ever had – they briefly dropped to $139 before now, but never this low! Available in both standard and mini sizes in three colors, the Pro 2 uses bone conduction and air conduction to deliver great sound on multiple fronts, all while keeping you aware of your surroundings. Calling someone? An AI noise reduction algorithm filters out 96.5% of background noise.View Deal

And a wired set! I love my own personal set of IE 600 (and the wider TechRadar team has written odes to their pairs), so I really want you to know about this saving. For clarity, it's an excellent deal too: the cheapest they've ever been on Amazon is $499 to date, so if you want to check to see if they fall this low again, Black Friday weekend is probably the time – at this very link. They're fashioned from a metal called ZR01 amorphous zirconium. Sounds premium, right? That's because it is – it's the same metal used for the drilling head of NASA's Mars Rover. And the sound? Oh, don't get me started (but do go to our Sennheiser IE 600 review if you need to know more). View Deal

The best early Amazon Prime Day headphones / earbuds deals, UK

The excellent EAH-AZ80 that came before this model basically tore up the rule book on sound quality and features in wireless earbuds – and the AZ100 are even better. Released in January 2025, these little beauties are still the only earbuds to offer multipoint to three devices simultaneously plus excellent sidetone tech for hearing your own voice in calls, as well as some of the most neutral and detailed audio in an even smaller, even more premium-feel design. Highly recommended. View Deal

This is a new record-low price for Apple's newest buds. The AirPods 4 feature a new design for all-day comfort and pack Apple's H2 chip, which supports personalized spatial audio and voice isolation. You also get a redesigned case with 30 hours of battery life and support for USB-C for wireless charging. Just be aware that this cheaper version does not support active noise cancellation, so it may be worth paying the extra to get that benefit with the deal below.View Deal

Willing to spend a bit more? Amazon's early Prime Day deals feature the AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation for their lowest price ever. These AirPods 4 feature a new comfortable design, handy controls, and Apple's H2 chip, which supports personalised spatial audio and voice isolation. There's also that all-important ANC to block out distracting noises and outside sounds, which is great when you want to focus at work or are commuting.View Deal

In terms of wireless hi-res and audiophile watchwords, you name it, it's within these over ear headphones: LDAC, Snapdragon Sound, Planar Magnetic, aptX Adaptive, and aptX Lossless… and this is as cheap as I've ever seen them. No ANC, but if you want great sound (or someone you know does), this is the deal for you, I'm telling you. Don't believe me? See our full Edifier Stax Spirit S5 review View Deal

These open-fit, clip (or ear cuff) style buds arrived in May 2025, and this is the lowest price our deals trackers have ever spotted on them. How good are they? Very very good, as out glowing Shokz OpenDots One review proves. Again, this deal won't last long though – quick! View Deal

This is the first discount I've ever seen on Anker's over-ear headphones, after being released towards the beginning of the year. It's unlikely they'll see a bigger price cut when Prime Day truly begins, and for my money, the noise cancellation here is excellent. Not the audiophiles' choice, you understand, but no slouch either… View Deal

Yes, you can get Sony's newest affordable wireless earbuds for less than £75 in Amazon's early Prime Day sale – talk about a bargain! This is a return to their lowest ever fee and for this money, you're getting Sony quality for non-brand money. In my Sony WF-C710N review, I heaped praise on these buds for their bolstered battery life, fantastic sound quality and upgraded ANC. At this price point, my recommending them is a no-brainer.View Deal

I adore these headphones, and provided the white finish suits, there is a huge saving to be had here — one that's never been seen by our price trackers 'til now. B&W's headphones look stunning and the sound is more than worth the reduced outlay here. Comfort levels? Fantastic. ANC? Very decent. They gained a glowing five-star review from this very publication at their full price. For this money? A solid bargain. View Deal

Again, on the face of it, this saving isn't the most headline-worthy sale you'll see on Black Friday. But this is Bose – and it's also the first ever saving I've seen on this set of 5-star, 2025-release noise-cancelling earbuds we've ever seen. They basically walk all over anything else on the market for noise cancellation (except maybe Apple's AirPods Pro 3 – but if you don't own an iPhone I don't recommend those, however good the deal). They're currently dipping below £270, but only in certain colourways. A new lowest-seen fee on a truly excellent set of new earbuds from Bose? Yes please. View Deal

My five-star Nothing Ear (a) review is the place for the full scoop on the fun, energetic sound of these buds, but know that they have great noise cancellation, a compact design, and a truly eye-catching look – especially in my favourite yellow colour (also in the deal at the time of writing). This is a record-low price for them, and there are simply no better earbuds you can buy for under £60.View Deal

Before we get super carried away, the JLab Go Air Pop are not the last word in sonic brilliance – if JLab had managed that for around the price of a round, we could all go home. But they're extremely good value – in fact they're alarmingly good for this asking fee, and they absolutely, categorically are not junk. If this is truly where your budget maxes out, you'll get reliable Bluetooth connectivity, killer battery life, comfortable and light earpieces, and solid musicality on the go. It would be churlish to expect more. I've been testing earbuds since 2019 and I love them. Secret Santa gift with a £20 spending cap? You could do a lot worse…View Deal

This is £10 cheaper than we've ever seen AirPods Pro 2 available for before. In the UK, the price difference between these and AirPods Pro 3 is much closer than in the US – the newer model are £50 more at £219 – but I think a lot of people will be more than happy with the sound quality and noise cancellation of these models, and £50 left in your wallet. And they have practically all the same features as AirPods Pro 3, except for the heart-rate sensors.View Deal

I'm not being dramatic here: at this price, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 are an absolute steal. By making them £127, Amazon is selling them cheaper than they've ever been – and honestly, it's a lot less than you'd pay for many far less capable capable earbuds. At full price the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro get four out of five stars. At this price (and now with added Google Gemini smarts), they basically get six out of five. View Deal

OpenRun Pro 2 (a set of bone conduction headphones that don't actually cover the ears so are almost like open earbuds!) are among the very best running headphones available right now, at the lowest price they've ever been – a solid Black Friday no-brainer for the long-distance runner in your life. View Deal

And finally, a wired set! I adore my own set of IE 600 (and the wider TechRadar team has written odes to their pairs), so even though the deal is available only on Sennheiser's website at the time of writing, I'm listing it here because I want you to have at the saving. For clarity, it's an excellent deal, if you're prepared to start another online shopping cart: the cheapest they've ever been on Amazon is £449 to date. They're fashioned from a metal called ZR01 amorphous zirconium. Sounds premium, right? That's because it is – it's the same metal used for the drilling head of NASA's Mars Rover. And the sound? Oh, don't get me started (but do go to our Sennheiser IE 600 review if you need to know more). View Deal

When is Prime Day 2026?

Amazon has officially confirmed that Prime Day 2026 will run from June 23 to Jun 26, extending the event to four full days for only the second time (last year, the event took place in July but for the same amount of days). It gives shoppers a full 96 hours to take advantage of exclusive discounts, which is twice as long as the traditional 48-hour format we typically see for most sales events

For those hunting headphone deals, it's worth noting that new offers will go live at midnight PDT in the US and midnight GMT in the UK. Each day will likely bring a fresh wave of limited-time lightning deals, and we’re expecting to see solid discounts on everything from premium noise-canceling models to budget-friendly earbuds.

Do you need Amazon Prime to buy Prime Day headphone deals?

Simply put, yes. An Amazon Prime membership is required to take full advantage of Prime Day headphone deals, although some later deals will be available to all. While there are often listings open to everybody on Prime Day, the best deals are usually reserved for prime members only. If you're not a member, don't worry – you can sign up for a free 30-day trial. That will give you access to all the offers – and you can cancel the trial at any time within 30 days.

We also typically see plenty of other retailers offering competing Prime Day headphone deals. In the US, Best Buy and Walmart often price match some of the record-low prices on big-ticket items, and in the UK, Currys often honors price matches from Amazon as well.

Amazon Prime: 30-day free trial
If you've never signed up before you can get a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime to get access to this year's Prime Day deals. You get the same benefits as paid members, including free delivery, and access to other services such as Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Gaming and more. You can cancel at any time during the trial to avoid paying the regular fee, which is $14.99 / £8.99 per month.