It’s not that I was especially anxious to go shopping – I hate shopping. But I’m as big a sucker for a great deal as the next person, and there are already some extraordinary offers on some must-have gadgets – and my assumption is that they’re ‘while stocks last,’ and that when they’re gone, they’re gone, so why wait?
Okay, one thing I might wait on is the
new iPhone Pocket from Apple. It looks like a sock for your favorite phone, and it costs more than many decent iPhone cases (several of which I do recommend).
Sticking with that theme, I don't know if you should wait or jump when it comes to iRobot’s line of Roomba robot vacuums. The products are good, and the Black Friday deals might be grand, but the
company is struggling in a major way. Wait and see might be the best course of action there.
One thing that’s not waiting, for anyone, is AI. It just keeps getting better, and you might be pleased (or not) to learn that
GPT 5.1 makes ChatGPT a bit more personable again. It's amazing how quickly we’ve gone from “What is AI?” to “My AI doesn't feel like a friend anymore – please fix.”
AI is a big part of one of the best phones the TechRadar team has ever reviewed,
the new OnePlus 15 – my colleague Phil Berne calls it “a cure for the common phone”. It’s an affordable, tough, and powerful smartphone that could teach Apple a thing or two.
The biggest tech story of the week, though, was not about a deal, or AI, or even a ‘phone sock’. Valve stunned us with a
new Machine console and
Frame VR headset. These are exciting devices that could transform two major tech categories – it’s too bad we don’t have any price info yet.
We discuss much of the above, and much more besides, in the latest episode of
the TechRadar podcast, so make sure you check it out.
Finally, I hope to spend some of my downtime this weekend catching up with the buzziest new streaming show from Apple TV+:
Pluribus. I haven’t watched a single episode, so please, no spoilers!
Have a great weekend!
Lance Ulanoff, Editor at Large
