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Amazon’s latest storewide sale for Prime members, dubbed Prime Big Deal Days, has brought several discounts on the company’s Fire tablets. We’ve rounded up the best Fire tablet deals of the event below, with lower-than-usual prices on the Fire HD 8, Fire Max 11 and more. Many of the offers are available to everyone, not just Prime subscribers, but note that we aren't seeing any discounts on the recently refreshed Fire HD 10 as of this writing.

As a refresher, a Fire tablet is worth considering if you just want a slab for basic media consumption at a low price. None of them is as fast or well-built as an iPad, and Fire OS's app support is much weaker than iPadOS and Android, with Google apps omitted entirely. It also displays lock-screen ads unless you pay an extra fee. But if you frequently use Amazon services like Prime Video or Kindle and only need a large screen for the essentials, a Fire slate can provide decent value — especially when it's on sale.

Amazon Fire HD 8

The Fire HD 8 is down to $60 for Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days event, which is $5 more than its all-time low but still $40 off its list price. This discount applies to the model with 32GB of storage; if you need more space, the 64GB version is on sale for $75. Either way, the Fire HD 8 is likely the cheapest competent tablet for most people: It’s slower than the Fire HD 10 and its display is limited to a 1,280 x 800 resolution, but it’s lightweight, it can last more than 10 hours on a charge and it’s still quick enough for basic streaming and reading. It’s not the best value at its standard going rate, but for $60, it’s hard to do better.

Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus

The base Fire HD 8 is good enough for most budget buyers, but if you’re willing to spend a little more, the Fire HD 8 Plus adds an extra gigabyte of RAM (3GB total) and wireless charging support. It’s down to $70 for a 32GB model, which is $5 more than the lowest price we’ve seen but $50 off its typical going rate. The Plus model still isn’t outright fast or capable of serious gaming, but the extra GB can make navigating Fire OS just a bit smoother. The wireless charging support, meanwhile, is best utilized with Amazon’s own dock, which helps if you want to use the tablet like a pseudo smart display.

Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids and Kids Pro

The Fire HD 8 Kids and Kids Pro are each down to $75, which matches the best prices we’ve tracked. Normally, these tablets retail for $150, with occasional drops to $100. The Kids versions of each Fire tablet have the same base hardware as the standard models, but add a large protective case with a built-in kickstand, a longer two-year warranty, and a one-year subscription to Amazon’s Kids+ service, which includes a selection of child-friendly apps, books and games. They also ship with a simplified, kid-friendly UI by default, with a range of robust parental controls and no lock-screen ads. (If you already own a normal Fire tablet, note that you can still set up a child profile on those devices as well.)

Between the two, the Kids model comes with a large rubbery case, while the Kids Pro has a slimmer hard plastic case designed for older children. Both devices have the same middling performance and limited app library as the standard Fire HD 8, but they’re decent options if you can’t trust your little one to handle an iPad carefully, or if you just want to save cash.

Amazon Fire Max 11

The Fire Max 11 is Amazon’s largest and most performant tablet, with an 11-inch 2,000 x 1,200 resolution display, an aluminum frame, a respectable octa-core processor and 4GB of RAM. It has the same software limitations and lock-screen ads as any other Fire tablet, so it’s a tough sell at its usual $230, but now it’s on sale for $150, which matches its all-time low. If you already use a bunch of Amazon services and don’t want to shell out for an entry-level iPad, it could make sense — just don’t expect to get any real work done with it.

Amazon Fire HD 10 (2021)

The last-generation version of the Fire HD 10 is on sale for $75, which ties its all-time low. We can’t recommend this one too forcefully, as Amazon released an updated model of its 10.1-inch tablet just last month with faster performance, a lighter design, slightly improved cameras and stylus support. The new model isn’t discounted as of this writing, though we wouldn’t be surprised to see a deal by Black Friday. If you just can’t wait until then, however, the old Fire HD 10 is still an upgrade over the Fire HD 8, with a more spacious 1080p screen and snappier performance. It’s typically retailed around $120 in recent months.

Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids and Kids Pro

The last-gen Fire HD 10 Kids and Kids Pro are also on sale for $120 each, which matches their all-time lows. As with the base Fire HD 10, Amazon recently launched new versions of these devices, so Amazon is offloading old stock here. Nevertheless, if you need a large tablet for a child today, these two come with all the same features (and shortcomings) as the Fire HD 8 Kids series, plus larger displays and improved performance.

Amazon Fire 7

The Amazon Fire 7 is down to $40 for Prime Big Deal Days, which is another all-time low and $20 below its typical street price. We strongly recommend paying extra for the Fire HD 8 if you can; by comparison, this 7-inch tablet has a lower-resolution (1,024 x 600) display, a slower processor and less RAM. But if you just want a second screen for dirt cheap, this is a $40 tablet that’s actually functional, so it might work for (very) light use cases.

Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

When winter rolls around, a new ereader may make the gray skies easier to bear — they also make excellent gifts. During July’s Prime Day sale, many Kindles dropped to the lowest prices we’ve seen yet, and October’s Prime sale is doing it again, with sizable deals on the company's e-readers. The company is also promoting a free trial on Kindle Unlimited, which gives you access to a selection of around four million titles. We found a few deals on non-Kindle ereaders, too. Here are the best Amazon October Prime Day deals on Kindles (and other ereaders) we could find.

Kindle (2022)

If you’re on a budget (or looking for a relatively affordable gift) the standard Kindle is an excellent entry point to buying or borrowing ebooks and audiobooks. Usually $100, the October Prime sale has dropped it to $75, which is $10 more than it went for during July's Prime Day. We named this one the best budget option in our guide to ereaders. The latest model saw healthy improvements over the previous generation. You now get a crisper 300 ppi screen and the capacity is up to 16GB, which will come in handy if you want to keep audiobooks on your device.

Kindle Paperwhite

The Kindle Paperwhite gives you a few extra perks over the standard version, such as a bigger 6.8-inch screen, a warm front light and a waterproof build. Right now the 8GB model is down to $95 which is $5 more than it went for last Prime Day, but still $45 off the $140 MSRP. That's the price on the ad-supported version (which displays ads for Kindle books and services on your lock screen). If you want no ads on your device, you’ll pay around $20 more.

Kindle Paperwhite Signature

When Engadget’s Nathan Ingraham reviewed the Signature edition Kindle Paperwhite, he called it “the best ereader. Period.” For the sale it’s down to $140 instead of its standard $190. It went for $125 last Prime Day. You get the warm light, larger screen and waterproof build of the regular Paperwhite, but the capacity jumps to 32GB, it’s ad-free by default and the front lights automatically adjust according to the lighting around you.

Kindle Scribe

The Kindle Scribe is Amazon’s newest ereader. It introduces the ability to read and write on your Kindle and comes with a large 10.2-inch screen and a stylus for just that purpose. The model with 16GB of storage and the Basic Pen typically goes for $340 but October Prime drops it to $265, or about $10 more than last Prime Day. We think the Scribe is the best E Ink tablet that’s also an ereader and awarded it an 85 in our review.

Kindle Essentials Bundles

A number of Essentials Bundles that combine Kindles with covers and charging accessories are on sale for October Prime. You can get a Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition with a fabric cover and wireless charging dock for $194, which is $64 less than buying the three separately at the MSRP.

Kindle Kids

With the Kindle Kids edition, you get the standard Kindle with a colorful protective case, a two-year warranty, and a year of Amazon Kids+, which grants access to thousands of kid-appropriate titles and hundreds of audiobooks. The Kids edition also syncs up with a handy parent dashboard that lets you set time limits, add books and track your kid’s reading progress. It usually goes for $120, but now it’s $80 instead. That's $5 more than last Prime Day, but the lowest price we've seen outside of that sale. 

Kindle Paperwhite Kids

For a kids version with a few more features, you can grab the Kindle Paperwhite Kids for $110, which typically goes for $160. In addition to the case, two-year warranty and free year of Amazon Kids+, the reader itself features a larger 6.8-inch screen, a waterproof build and a warm front light, which tends to be easier on the eyes when reading at night.

Kindle Unlimited

To ensure that you never run out of things to read on your new Kindle, Amazon is also offering Prime members a month of Kindle Unlimited for free. It’s usually $12 per month and will auto-renew once the trial is over (so set a reminder if you don't want that to happen). A subscription lets you read as many ebooks as you want from a selection of four million ebooks. Bigger new releases and some of the more popular bestsellers aren’t included. It also includes a few thousand audiobooks, which all models of Kindle support via Bluetooth and headphones.

Kindle Oasis

Kindle Oasis has a seven-inch screen, a waterproof build and is the only Amazon ereader with page turn buttons. Typically $250 for the 8GB model, it’s $200 right now. You can get the 32GB model for $220 instead of $280. It came out in mid-2019 so it’s not the newest reader on the scene, but the auto-rotating screen and handy buttons may make it more comfortable as you read.

Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

There's no shortage of headphones and earbuds on sale for October Prime Day, and included among them aire Apple's AirPods. Whether you need to pick up a pair as a holiday gift for a loved one or you need to replace an aging pair of your own buds, AirPods are some of the best options out there for iPhone users. These are the best deals we found on AirPods for Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days event.

Apple AirPods Pro

The second-generation AirPods Pro with USB-C have dropped to $189 for Prime Day, which is a new record low. Apple made a ton of small but noticeable improvements to these models, so now they have better sound quality, noise cancelation and Transparecy Mode. There remains no competition if you have an iPhone and live within the Apple ecosystem — these are the best earbuds to get if you fall into that category.

Apple AirPods (3rd gen)

Apple's third-gen AirPods are on sale for TK right now. These buds are leaps and bounds better than their precedessor, with big improvements in sound quality, battery life and overall comfort. While they lack ANC, they are a good option for any Apple lover who just wants a reliable pair of wireless earbuds.

Apple AirPods (2nd gen)

The second-generation AirPods have dropped to $89 for Prime Day, which is close to their record-low price. These earbuds are a bit old at this point, but if you have less than $100 to send and want a pair that work seamlessly with iPhones and other Apple devices, they fit the bill. They fit similarly to Apple's EarPods and they have decent wireless range, but we ultimately recommend spending a tad bit more and getting the 3rd-gen AirPods if you can afford them.

Apple AirPods Max

Apple's high-end AirPod Max headphones are on sale for TK right now. While there are better wireless headphones out there at prices that won't empty your wallet, the AirPods Max are good for Apple lovers and those who want a comfortable yet unique design, excellent sound quality and good battery life. And since they cost $550 normally, it's always better to wait until they're on discount like they are now to buy them.

Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

Amazon's second Prime Day-like sale event is here, and if you're a Prime member, you could use it to get some of your holiday shopping done early. Arriving about three months after the main Prime Day in July, this year's "Prime Big Deal Days" has brought back some of the steep discounts we saw during the summer as well as some new sales that are worth considering. The holidays are right around the corner, so if you see things like headphones, tablets, TVs, video games and other gadgets on your gift list on sale today, now's a good time to pick them up so you won't be pressed for time or funds when Black Friday and Cyber Monday come around next month. If you're a Prime member and want to take advantage of tech deals now, here are all of the best deals we found for October Prime Day.

Apple AirPods Pro

The second-generation AirPods Pro have dropped to $189 for Prime Day. Apple made a ton of small but noticeable improvements to these models, so now they have better sound quality, noise cancelation and Transparency Mode. There remains no competition if you have an iPhone and live within the Apple ecosystem — these are the best earbuds to get if you fall into that category.

Apple Watch SE

The Apple Watch SE is on sale for $199 right now. It's the best smartwatch to get if you're new to the wearable world, or you just want a basic, relatively affordable watch that has all of the basic features you'd need. On top of comprehensive health and fitness tracking, iPhone notifications and dozens of fun watch faces, you'll get features like crash and fall detection, noise monitoring and Emergency SOS.

Apple 10.2-inch iPad

Apple's most affordable tablet, the 10.2-inch iPad, is on sale for $249 right now. It may have an old-school design, but it's certainly the best iPad for people on a budget and it has most crucial features you'd expect in an Apple tablet. It earned a score of 86 from us for its solid performance, sharp screen, TouchID-capable Home button and good battery life. The only major downside to this model right now is that it still sports Apple's old Lightning port rather than USB-C.

Apple iPad mini

The Apple iPad mini has dropped to $400 for October Prime Day. It's the best small tablet on the market right now and really your only option if you want a true one-hand-friendly iPad. It's powered by Apple's A15 Bionic chip and sports a Touch ID-toting power button, solid cameras, a good battery life and a USB-C port for charging.

Sony WF-1000XM5

Sony's WF-1000XM5 wireless earbuds are on sale for $278 for Prime Day, which is their best price yet. These are the best wireless earbuds on the market right now, and Sony improved upon it's already remarkable buds with a more comfortable fit, better sound quality and features likes adaptive sound and Speak-to-Chat.

Bose QuietComfort 45

The Bose QuietComfort 45 headphones have dropped to $219 for October Prime Day, which is even cheaper than they were in July. These cans earned a spot in our best wireless headphone guide thanks to their comfortable, if a little dated, design, excellent ANC and balanced audio.

Google Pixel Buds Pro

The Google Pixel Buds Pro have dropped to $120 for Prime Day. The company got a lot of things right after years of making pretty standard earbuds; the Pixel Buds Pro are Google's best wireless earbuds yet. These will be great for Android users who want buds with punchy bass, good ANC, reliable touch controls and wireless charging.

Amazon Echo Dot

Amazon has knocked the price of the latest Echo Dot down to $23 right now. It’s one of the best smart speakers you can get thanks to its orb-like design, surprisingly good sound quality for its size and handy Alexa integration. The Dots can also act as Eero WiFi boosters, adding up to 1,000 square feet of coverage to your existing Eero system.

Amazon Echo Show 5

The latest Echo Show 5 is on sale for a record low of $40. The Show 5 has been one of the best smart displays available for quite some time, and it’ll be particularly good for anyone who wants an Alexa-capable smart display that won’t take up a lot of space. It also makes for a good alarm clock thanks to its sunrise alarm and tap-to-snooze features.

Amazon Kindle

The standard Kindle has dropped to $75 for October Prime Day. This model saw a lot of improvements when it was updated in 2022. Capacity was doubled to 16GB and the screen resolution jumped up to 300 ppi for much clearer text. We named it the best budget option in our ereader guide because its perfect entry point to reading and borrowing ebooks and audiobooks.

Amazon Fire 11 Max

Amazon's powerful Fire Max 11 tablet is on sale for $150 right now. It came out this May and sits at the top of Amazon's Fire tablet lineup. The slab has an 11-inch 2000 x 1200 touchscreen, an octa-core processor, 4GB of RAM, up to 128GB of built-in storage and up to 14 hours of battery life.

Google Pixel 7a

The Google Pixel 7a is down to a new low of $399 for this sale event. It's the best midrange phone you can get right now thanks to its speedy Tensor G2 chip, smooth 90Hz display and support for wireless charging. The 7a also has solid cameras and an IP67 water-resistant design.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

The entire Samsung Galaxy S23 series is on sale for Prime Day, including the S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra. These are some of the best Android phones you can buy right now, and we recommend springing for the S23 Ultra if you want all of the latest features from Samsung. The Ultra runs on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip and has a big, bold 120Hz display, built-in S Pen and an excellent main camera.

Roku Streaming Stick 4K

Our favorite streaming stick, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K, has dropped to $38 for this sale. It packs a ton of features into an affordable package, including 4K HDR streaming capabilities, Dolby Vision, AirPlay 2 and private listening when you have a pair of headphones. And since it's so small, it makes a great travel entertainment device, too.

iRobot Roomba 694

iRobot's Roomba 694 has dropped to $199 for Prime Day. It's our favorite cheap robot vacuum thanks to its strong suction power, attractive design and easy to use app. It'll be a good option for robo-vac novices, or anyone that doesn't want to fuss too much with an automatic dirt sucker. It clears hard and carpeted floors well, and it automatically returns to its base once a cleaning job is finished so it can recharge.

Samsung Pro Plus microSD

The Samsung Pro Plus microSD card is on sale for $20 right now. It's our top pick in our best microSD card guide because it was the most consistent of the ones we tested, with some of the best overall speeds and all of the important ratings that a good card should have: U3, V30 and A2. It'll be a great pick for your tablet, smartphone or Nintendo Switch, and it comes with a full-sized adapter in case you need to use it with a camera or connect it to your computer.

Crucial MX500

The Crucial MX500 internal drive is on sale for $46 right now. It's been an Engadget favorite for a while thanks to its sequential read speeds of 560MB/s and a standard 2.5-inch design that should make it easy to swap in for your desktop's or laptop's used-up drive.

Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

Google released the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro models less than a week ago, but we're already seeing a leak of the upcoming budget version. According to renders from OnLeaks and Smartprix, the Pixel 8a shares the rounded design of the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, while retaining the camera module from the current Pixel 7a. 

The Pixel 8a should be a bit smaller and slimmer than before, but will carry the same 6.1-inch display. The rear module houses two cameras, while the front has a hole-punch camera design as before. The bezels appear to be relatively thin, with just a small chin on the bottom. 

Onleaks

The design shown may be based on CAD drawings, but it looks identical to a leaked physical model shown last month by Abhishek Yadav. If both end up matching the real model, we're seeing a premium design on a phone that should be considerably cheaper than the $800 and $1,000 Pixel 8/Pixel 8 Pro models (the Pixel 7a cost $500 at launch). If Google follows the same script as before, it will also carry the same Tensor G3 chips as the more expensive models. As far as what other features it will share (or lack), we'll have to wait for the announcement — or further leaks. 

Another day, another X update that limits what you can do on the site without paying Elon Musk for a verification checkmark. A post from the official X account announced that you can now restrict replies to just verified users — any tagged accounts can also comment. The new restriction is available whether you're verified or not, joining the existing options to allow replies from everyone, only accounts you follow or people mentioned.

Musk launched what is now X Premium in November 2022 — only a few weeks after becoming the company's official owner — providing anyone with a blue checkmark by their name for $8 per month or $84 per year. Verification was initially available on Twitter to confirm the identity of notable figures, but the paid system led to impersonations and the approval of bots. 

Many X Premium users have been shamed for choosing to fork over money for a checkmark and additional features like editing a post for up to an hour and cutting ads in half. As a result, X rolled out the option to hide that once-coveted checkmark and limit other users' awareness of your subscription status. Of course, visible verification or not, now anyone who replies to a restricted post will be outed as a subscriber. 

Game Pass subscribers will have to wait a bit more before they're able to play Diablo IV and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III on the service. Activision Blizzard has announced on X, formerly Twitter, that it doesn't have plans to add those games — among other upcoming and recent releases — to the service anytime this year. Based on its explanation, it's waiting for Microsoft's acquisition of the company to be finalized, which is expected to happen within this month. 

"As we continue to work toward regulatory approval of the Microsoft deal, we've been getting some questions whether our upcoming and recently launched games will be available via Game Pass," the gaming giant wrote. It added that it expects to start working with Xbox and add its titles to the Game Pass service once the deal closes, and that the process would begin "sometime in the course of next year."

Microsoft first announced that it was buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in early 2022 and that it was hoping to close the deal by June 2023. However, several regulators moved to block the purchase over concerns that it would harm competition and stifle innovation. The European Commission rubberstamped the acquisition in May with the condition that Microsoft offers its games on other cloud gaming services. Meanwhile, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority blocked the deal until the companies promised to sell "cloud streaming rights for all current and new Activision Blizzard PC and console games released over the next 15 years to Ubisoft Entertainment... in perpetuity." In the US, courts denied the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) request to issue an injunction on the purchase. However, the FTC announced in September that it plans to restart its in-house trial against the acquisition. 

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Google has successfully convinced a California federal judge that it did not infringe on Sonos' multi-room audio patents. As Reuters reports, US District Judge William Alsup has thrown out a previous verdict that slapped the tech giant with a $32.5 million fine for infringing on patents held by Sonos related to managing groups of speakers. 

The judge explained that Sonos' patents for the lawsuit "ostensibly descended from [a] 2006 provisional application." However, the company apparently didn't file the applications for the patents in question until 2019, and it didn't roll out the technology to its own products until 2020. That's years after Google, in 2014, presented Sonos with a plan to use multi-room audio technology while exploring a collaboration. 

Since Sonos connected its patents to a 2006 provisional application, they appeared to have predated Google's products. But Judge Alsup said that the early application failed to disclose the actual invention, and that in 2019, Sonos amended the specification of its patent application to insert new matter. "This was not a case of an inventor leading the industry to something new," Alsup wrote in his decision. "This was a case of the industry leading with something new and, only then, an inventor coming out of the woodwork to say that he had come up with the idea first — wringing fresh claims to read on a competitor’s products from an ancient application."

Sonos sued Google in federal court in early 2020, accusing it of violating five of its speaker patents. Patrick Spence, the company's CEO, said back then that Google had been "blatantly and knowingly" duping Sonos tech and refusing to cooperate on a "mutually beneficial solution." Earlier this year, a California federal jury had ruled that Google did infringe on a patent Sonos holds and ordered the tech giant to pay $32.5 million in penalty. Alsup also served as the judge for those proceedings, but in his newer decision, he said "trial brought to light what happened here."

In a statement, a Sonos spokesperson told Reuters that the new ruling was "wrong on both the facts and the law." Based on that, Sonos is clearly not going to accept the newer verdict: The spokesperson said that the company is planning to appeal the decision. 

Unity game developer said that John Riccitiello will step down as president and CEO of the company after nine years in leadership, effective immediately. James Whitehurst, who previously served as senior advisor and president at IBM, will fill in as interim CEO. The leadership transition comes during a turbulent time for the company.

Just a month ago, Unity rolled out some significant concessions to its developer pricing model after widespread backlash over its plan to charge developers for game installations. The move will directly impact developers, publishers and distributors. The upheaval of Unity’s business model came at the same time as a series of massive layoffs. In 2023, the company reduced its headcount three times in an attempt to cut costs.

Despite the recent controversy, Unity said it expects third-quarter revenue to fall somewhere between $540 million to $550 million, which is up 67 to 70 percent from last year.