Hasta La Gadget!

Right around the Super Bowl is typically a good time for TV deals, as the major brands often lower prices on their older models in order to clear out inventory for their newer (and subsequently more expensive) sets arriving later in the year. In many cases, though, those older TVs can still represent good value. We’re seeing this trend again this week, with well-reviewed options from LG, Samsung, TCL and others all available for all-time lows. We’ve noted a few highlights below, including a 48-inch LG C2 OLED TV for $947 and a 55-inch TCL 5-Series Roku TV for $370. Besides TVs, our weekly deal roundup includes Amazon’s Fire HD 10 for $85, plus discounts on a handful of Anker chargers and Samsung storage devices, among others. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

The 48-inch version of LG’s C2 OLED TV is down to a new all-time low of $947. While LG is promising improved brightness with its 2023 lineup, last year’s C2 should still offer an excellent image in darker or moderately-lit rooms, with the kind of high contrast, deep black tones and wide viewing angles that are expected from a premium OLED panel.

If you want a larger step up, Samsung’s S95B is generallyregarded as a superior TV overall, one that can get bright and saturated enough to look good in well-lit rooms but doesn’t sacrifice the typical benefits of an OLED display. It’s back down to $1,448 for a 55-inch panel and $1,798 for 65-inch panel; neither of those are cheap, but both deals match the lowest prices we’ve seen.

If you’re looking to pay less than $500 on a new TV, reviewers we trust at Rtings, Wirecutter and elsewhere have praised TCL’s latest 5-Series TVs for delivering impressive contrast and color performance at an affordable price. The panel tops out at a standard 60Hz refresh rate, but it has full-array local dimming and supports all the major HDR formats. Both the 55- and 65-inch 5-Series TVs are down to new lows at Amazon and Best Buy this week, coming in at $370 and $500, respectively.

Just note that these are Roku TVs. If you prefer the Google TV interface, Hisense’s U6H is a good alternative that’s available for the same prices, but it doesn’t get as bright as TCL’s model.

Amazon’s entry-level Fire HD 10 is on sale for $85, which is $10 more than the 10.1-tablet’s previous low at the retailer but still about $30 below its typical street price in recent months. This is the slate to get if you just want something competent for less than $100: Its hardware is nowhere near as nice as an iPad, but its 1920×1200 display is perfectly serviceable, it gets 12-ish hours of battery life, and it’s performant enough for basic streaming and web browsing. Just remember that, like all Amazon tablets, it it comes with lockscreen ads unless you pay extra and lacks (official) access to Google’s Play Store.

Anker’s Nano II 65W is an ultracompact GaN charger with enough power to charge most phones, tablets and even some laptops at full speed. Right now it’s on sale for $35, which is $3 above the lowest price we’ve seen but $15 off its usual going rate. This deal comes as part of a wider range of discounts on Anker charging gear going on this week; other standouts include a multi-port variant of this charger for $46 (with an on-page coupon), and a MagSafe-compatible wireless charging pad for $45.

The 512GB version of Samsung’s Evo Select microSD card is currently on sale for $47, which is only about $2 more than the lowest price we’ve tracked. Typically, it retails closer to $55. The U3- and V30-rated Evo Select isn’t the absolute fastest microSD card in a vacuum, but it’s still more than capable of handling 4K video or storing games with minimal fuss. At this price, it’s a good value if you just want to dump a bunch of storage into a GoPro, Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck or the like.

Along those lines, the 2TB version of Samsung’s 980 Pro SSD is on sale for $180, which is roughly $25 below the NVMe drive’s average street price over the last few months. If you don’t need that much space, the 500GB model is also on sale for $75, which matches an all-time low. A PCIe 4.0 drive like this isn’t essential for most, and the 980 Pro is technically an older model now, but we note it here because it meets Sony’s requirements for expanding the PlayStation 5’s storage. You’ll just need to add a cheap heatsink along with it. (Samsung sells a variant with an integrated heatsink, but it costs more.)

If the 980 Pro runs out of stock, note that the WD Black SN850X is also on sale for $10 more at Best Buy. That one is a bit faster than the 980 Pro, though its gains aren’t as noticeable in the context of a PS5. If you’re looking to upgrade an old computer’s HDD to a cheap SSD, meanwhile, Crucial’s MX500 is a dependable SATA drive, and it’s currently down to an all-time low of $62.

The bird-themed board game Wingspan is down to $39 at Amazon, which matches the lowest price we’ve tracked. We’ve previously recommended this one in past gift guides; apart from being gorgeous to look at it, it’s a thoughtful engine-building game that is welcoming to less experienced players. Games typically last between 40 minutes to just over an hour, and up to five players can join in, so it should be a worthy addition to any family game night rotations you put together.

There always seems to be at least one PC game sale going on at any given time, but if you’re looking for something new to play, that’s not a bad thing. This week it’s Humble’s turn, as the digital storefront has kicked off a “Winter Sale” that’s scheduled to run until February 7. 

There are too many games included in the sale for us to list them all here, but some personal picks include the open-world Western Red Dead Redemption 2 for $20, the tricky 2D platformer Celeste for $5, the classic JRPG Persona 4 Golden for $14, the relaxing puzzle game Unpacking for $14 and the charming 3D platformer Psychonauts 2 for $20. 

All of those are deals we’ve seen before, but all match or are close to the lowest prices we’ve seen. If you prefer to buy on Steam, a number of the sale’s discounts are also available there. Steam has a few others of note, too, such as the co-op friendlyHalo: The Master Chief Collection for $16 and the wild FPS Titanfall 2 for $3.

We gave LG’s latest CineBeam ultra short-throw projector, the HU915QE, a review score of 87 earlier this week, praising its contrast and color performance, decent built-in speakers and classy design. Our main complaint was that its asking price is too high, but a new deal at Wellbots alleviates that concern a bit, as you can now grab the projector for $4,297 if you use the code ENGTV700 at checkout. 

Clearly, that’s still not cheap, but it at least brings the HU915QE closer to other UST projectors we like such as the Formovie Theater. For reference, this device has typically retailed closer to $5,000 in recent months. If you do take the plunge, just be aware that we found the CineBeam’s input lag to be a bit too high for gaming and that there’s no support for Dolby Vision HDR.

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Shinichiro Watanabe is responsible for making the coolest anime of all time—so cool, in fact, it’s been regularly airing on Adult Swim for the last two decades, and is still being watched. It’s a testament to how great Cowboy Bebop is that it still enraptures audiences all these years later—something Netflix’s…

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Swiss scientists have developed a proof-of-concept method to collect environmental DNA (eDNA) from high-arching forest canopies, an under-observed habitat. Rather than hiring skilled climbers to risk their lives to grab a little bug and bird DNA, the team flew a collection drone into the trees to capture genetic material — giving them a clearer picture of the area’s organic breakdown.

The researchers used a quadcopter equipped with a sticky collection cage. But since tree branches can bend at the slightest touch — and the drone needs to touch the branches to collect DNA — it has a haptic-based control scheme using force sensors to measure the pressure between the drone and the branch. Then, it adjusts its landing accordingly, leaning against the branch gently enough to avoid flinging valuable material to the ground.

The drone’s cage then grabs samples with a sticky surface made from “adhesive tape and a cotton gauze humidified with a solution of water and DNA-free sugar.” The cage spends around 10 seconds leaning on each branch and collecting eDNA before zipping back to the base, where the scientists retrieve the samples and ship them to a lab. The experiment’s drone successfully collected enough genetic material to identify 21 animal classes ranging from insects and mammals to birds and amphibians.

Science

However, the scientists make it clear this is a work in progress. For example, on the last research day, the team noticed a drop in eDNA detection because of rainfall the night before — suggesting the method only tells them which creatures visited since the last downpour. Additionally, they noted unexplained differences in the performance of their two collectors, highlighting the need for more research on equipment variations.

The researchers hope their work will make it easier and cheaper for environmental biologists to learn which critters live in some of the hardest-to-reach places. The approach could eventually help the scientific community understand how environmental changes affect biodiversity, perhaps helping identify endangered or vulnerable species before it’s too late.

Apple’s iOS hides much of its functionality for iPads under contextual menus that users access by tapping and holding icons, menus, and other elements.