While we've had weeks of early Black Friday deals already, Thanksgiving has brought additional sales, some of which we expect to continue through Black Friday proper. This has been a trend for the past few years — if you happen to be online and searching for Black Friday deals a few hours before the day arrives, you can expect at least a handful of solid early sales. And that strategy may pay off this year even more than others as supply chain issues continue to push back shipping estimates. The sooner you grab the items on your gift list, the better the chance they'll arrive on time. To make your search a bit easier, we gathered the best early Black Friday tech deals we could find here.

Sony WH-1000XM4

Billy Steele / Engadget

Our favorite pair of Sony headphones, the WH-1000XM4, are down to $248 right now, which is just about $100 off their regular price. We gave these cans a score of 94 for their powerful ANC, immersive sound quality and multi-device connectivity.

AirPods Pro

Billy Steele / Engadget

The updated AirPods Pro with the MagSafe case are on sale for $159 at Amazon and Walmart right now. If you're a Sam's Club member, you can grab the Pros for $150 with $70 of Scan & Go Savings beginning on Black Friday. These offer the best sound quality and fit of any of Apple's earbuds, and now they have a magnetic wireless charging case that's compatible with MagSafe accessories.

Apple Watch SE

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

The Apple Watch SE has been knocked down to $219, or about $60 off its normal price. This is the best Watch for wearable newbies as well as those with tight budgets. We gave it a score of 88 for its responsive performance, comfortable design and solid feature set for the price.

One-day SanDisk, Lexar, PNY storage sale

Lexar

Amazon's latest 24-hour sale knocks up to 25 percent off drives from Western Digital as well as up to 30 percent off microSD cards, thumb drives and more from SanDisk, Lexar, PNY and others. Some of the highlights include the the SanDisk Extreme portable drive in 2TB, which is 60 percent off and down to $185, Lexar's 1TB Play microSD card, which is down to a record low of $128 and a 64GB Lexar Professional 2000x SD card, which is on sale for $60.

Bose QuietComfort 45

Billy Steele/Engadget

Bose's new QuietComfort 45 headphones remain on sale for $279 right now, or $50 off their normal price. We gave them a score of 86 for their clear, balanced audio, improved ANC and long battery life.

Sony WF-1000XM4

Billy Steele/Engadget

Sony's excellent WF-1000XM4 earbuds are down to $248. We gave them a score of 86 for their great sound quality, powerful ANC and improved battery life.

iRobot Roomba 694

Valentina Palladino / Engadget

The Roomba 694 is $95 off for Black Friday, bringing it down to $179. This model came out earlier this year and works well on both hard and carpeted floors, supports WiFi connectivity for Alexa and Google Assistant commands and can be controlled via the iRobot mobile app.

Samsung EVO Select microSD

Samsung’s EVO Select microSDXC card in 128GB is down to $16, or 20 percent off its normal price. This is the latest model and while you can find microSD cards for less, EVO is a reliable brand and you're getting a full-sized adapter with this one.

Elgato Streamdeck

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

Elgato's Streamdeck is on sale right now for $100, or $50 off its normal price. If you or someone who know wants to break into the game-streaming world, the Streamdeck is one of those gadgets that can make it much easier to do so. It's a small desktop controller with 15 LCD keys that you can customize to manage programs like OBS, Twitch and others. It makes multitasking while on stream much easier and it'll make your entire setup feel more professional, too.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3

David Imel for Engadget

The Galaxy Z Flip 3 smartphone is on sale for $850 right now, and you can get a free pair of Galaxy Buds 2 when you buy. This was the most impressive Samsung foldable to come out this year and we gave it a score of 82 for its striking, flexible screen, attractive build and water-resistant design.

OnePlus 9 Pro

Chris Velazco/Engadget

OnePlus' latest flagship, the 9 Pro, has dropped to $799 for Black Friday, which is a whopping $270 off its normal price. The OnePlus 9 is also on sale for $599, or $130 off its normal price. We gave the Pro a score of 88 for its fantastic display, stellar performance and improved camera setup.

Kindle

Engadget

Amazon's standard Kindle has been discounted to $50, which is its best price yet. We gave this e-reader a score of 91 for its improved contrast display, extra front lights and sleeker design. If you buy two Kindles, you'll get an extra $20 off as well, bringing the price for each down to $40.

Sony WH-CH710N

Billy Steele / Engadget

Sony's affordable WH-CH710N wireless headphones are even cheaper right now at $78. We like these cans for their deep, punchy bass, solid ANC and 35-hour battery life.

Instant Pot

Instant Pot

The six-quart Instant Pot Duo Plus is down to $60 for Black Friday, which is half off its normal price. This model supports pressure cook, warm, sauté, rice cook, sous vide and more modes, and its mid-size capacity makes it good for preparing food for many people.

Google Nest Audio

Engadget

Google's Nest Audio is down to $60, or $40 off its normal price. This is one of the best smart speakers you can get, especially if you already use the Google Assistant. We gave it a score of 87 for its solid audio quality, attractive design and good performance.

Amazon Echo

Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

Amazon's Echo smart speaker is on sale for $60 right now. We gave it a score of 89 for its solid audio quality, attractive design and inclusion of a 3.5mm audio jack.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 and S7+

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Both the Galaxy S7 and S7+ tablets have been discounted for Black Friday, down to $499 and $699, respectively. Either would be good options for Android lovers looking for a new tablet — we were impressed by their beautiful build, vibrant 120Hz displays, long battery lives and S Pen support.

Beats Studio Buds

Billy Steele/Engadget

The Beats Studio Buds have been discounted to $100. These are some of the best Beats buds for most people and we gave them a score of 84 for their balanced sound, hands-free Siri controls and quick pairing with both iOS and Android.

Jabra Elite 85t

Engadget

Jabra's Elite 85t earbuds are on sale for $150, which is $80 off its normal price. These earbuds impressed us with their strong ANC, comfortable size and wireless charging case.

Fitbit Charge 5

Valentina Palladino / Engadget

You can pick up the Fitbit Charge 5 for $130, or $50 less than usual. This is Fitbit's most comprehensive fitness band and it earned a score of 82 from us for its full-color touchscreen, built-in GPS, onboard EDA sensors for stress tracking and multi-day battery life.

Chromecast with Google TV

The Chromecast with Google TV has dropped to $40, which is $10 cheaper than usual. We gave the device a score of 86 for its 4K HDR streaming capabilities, Dolby Vision and Atmos support plus its much needed and very handy new remote.

Roku Streambar

Valentina Palladino / Engadget

The Roku Streambar is down to $80 right now, or $50 off its normal price. It's a compact soundbar that will upgrade any living room relying on an old TV with weak audio. We gave it a score of 86 for its solid audio quality, Dolby Audio support and built-in 4K streaming technology.

NVIDIA Shield TV

Engadget

NVIDIA's Shield TV has dropped to $129, or roughly $20 cheaper than usual. This is one of the more powerful streaming devices available today thanks to its Tegra X1+ processor, support for Dolby Vision HDR, Dolby Atmos, Chromecast 4K and AI-powered 4K upscaling.

Samsung T7 SSD

Samsung

The Samsung T7 SSD in 1TB is down to a record low of $110, which is 35 percent off and the best price we've seen. You can also get the 1TB T7 Touch with a built-in fingerprint reader for 21 percent off, or $150. It has reads speeds up to 1,050 MB/s and write speeds up to 1,000 MB/s, plus it has a shock-resistant unibody and support for Dynamic Thermal Guard to control heat levels.

Crucial MX500 internal SSD

The compact Crucial MX500 internal drive in 1TB is down to $85, which is just a couple of dollars shy of its all-time-low price. We like its sequential read speeds of up to 560 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 510 MB/s, along with its standard 2.5-inch design and integrated power loss immunity feature.

55-inch Sony X950H

Sony's X950H LED smart TV is on sale for $800, which is 33 percent off. While not an OLED set, this TV has local dimming LED backlighting along with the Android TV operating system, Google Assistant and Alexa support, Game Mode and AirPlay 2 and HomeKit compatibility.

55-inch Vizio OLED 4K TV

Vizio's 55-inch H1 OLED TV is $300 off right now, bringing it down to $1,000. This is a solid price for a mid-sized OLED set that supports Dolby Vision HDR, Vizio's IQ Ultra processor, 120Hz gaming with VRR and built-in AirPlay and Chromecast technology.

Philips Hue White and Color smart bulbs (3 pack)

Amazon

A three-pack of Philips Hue White and Color smart lights is on sale for $100, or about $30 off its normal price. While not a record low, it's a good sale price on smart bulbs that rarely see deep discounts. These can be controlled via the Philips Hue app and almost any voice assistant including Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri, and they support thousands of colors as well as 50,000 shares of warm and cool white light.

Adobe All Apps Plan

grinvalds via Getty Images

First-time subscribers to Adobe CC can get the All Apps plan for 40 percent off right now, bringing the monthly charge down to $30. If you're a student, it's even cheaper — just $16 per month for first-time customers. These programs are considered standard in most creative fields, so it's worth grabbing this deal if you know you'll be using things like Photoshop or Illustrator in the future.

Headspace

Headspace

The meditation app Headspace is down to $5 per month for new and returning customers for Black Friday. That's 60 percent off the normal price, and those who want to pay for a year upfront will get 50 percent off and pay only $35 for the year. Headspace has a bunch of guided meditation sessions along with sleep stories, calming ambient music, guided yoga sessions for stress management and more.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The UK has introduced the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) Bill, a suite of new regulations designed to improve security on smart home devices, the government announced. The rules will ban easy-to-guess default passwords, require disclosure of security update release dates and more — under penalty of hefty fines. 

The new rules were originally proposed last year, following a long period of consultation, and are largely unchanged. The first one is a ban on easy-to-guess default passwords, including classics like "password" and "admin." All passwords that come with new devices will "need to be unique and not resettable to any universal factory setting," the law states.

"Most of us assume if a product is for sale, it’s safe and secure. Yet many are not, putting too many of us at risk of fraud and theft," said UK Minister Julia Lopez. "Our Bill will put a firewall around everyday tech from phones and thermostats to dishwashers, baby monitors and doorbells, and see huge fines for those who fall foul of tough new security standards."

Next, manufacturers must tell customers at the point of sale and keep them updated about the minimum time requirement for security patches and updates. If the product doesn't come with them, that fact must be disclosed. Finally, manufacturers must provide a public point of contact for security researchers to they can easily disclose flaws and bugs.

The government is hoping to curtail attacks on household devices, citing 1.5 billion attempted compromises of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in the first half of 2020 alone. As examples, it cited a 2017 attack in which hackers stole data from a casino by attacking an internet-connected fish tank. It added that "in extreme cases, hostile groups have taken advantage of poor security features to access people's webcams." 

The rules will be overseen by a regulator that will be appointed once the bill comes into law. Fines could hit up to £10 million ($13.3 million) or 4 percent of a company's gross revenue — with up to £20,000 a day levied for ongoing infractions. The law applies not only to manufacturers, but also businesses that import tech products into the UK. Products include smartphones, routers, security cameras, games consoles and home speakers, along with internet-enabled appliances and toys. 

A ton of Razer accessories are on sale on Amazon for Black Friday, including mice, headsets, keyboards and a gaming chair. There are all-time lows on a bunch of products too. One of the better deals is for the Viper Ultimate wireless mouse. The price has dropped to $90, which is $60 off the regular price. The Viper Wireless is available in both black and white. It's an ambidextrous mouse that has Razer's optical switches, a 20K DPI optical sensor and low-latency HyperSpeed wireless tech.

Another wireless mouse worth checking out in the sale is the DeathAdder v2 Pro. It too has a 20K DPI Optical Sensor and optical switches. You'll get up to 120 hours of battery life over Bluetooth or 70 hours via HyperSpeed, according to Razer. It's available for $70 at the moment, which is the lowest price we've seen to date. The mouse typically costs $130.

Also hitting all-time-low prices are the iOS and Android versions of the Kishi controller. It's a gamepad that you can clip your phone into. Along with playing native mobile games, you can use it with the likes of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna and GeForce Now for cloud gaming, as well as games streamed from your console or PC. The Android version of the controller is $45 ($35 off) and the iPhone model is currently $60 (down $40).

Elsewhere, the Kraken X Ultralight wired gaming headset is worthy of attention. It has a bendable, noise-canceling mic and is compatible with PC and all consoles. The classic black verison of the headset, which is typically $50, currently costs $30, another all-time low.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Virgin Galactic has announced the winner of its Omaze giveaway. Announced in July, the sweepstakes saw the company give everyday people a chance to earn two tickets to the edge of space. The winner is Keisha S, a health coach from Antigua and Barbuda. She plans to give the second ticket to her daughter, who, it turns out, is an astrophysics student.

“I’ve always had a lifelong love of flying and a fascination with space, and this is truly a dream come true for me,” said Keisha. “It means the world to me. I hope to share this experience with my daughter, so together we can inspire the next generation to follow their dreams.”

While the sweepstakes was free to enter, you could also donate to Space for Humanity, a charity devoted to making spaceflight more accessible, to earn more entries. Virgin Galactic estimates it raised about $1.7 million in grants for the organization’s Citizen Astronaut Program in that way.

As we noted when the company first announced the sweepstakes, it was a way for Virgin Galactic to drum up hype for its space tourism efforts. At the same time, it was something of a moment for private spaceflight. The idea of winning tickets to space wasn’t something a person could dream of when government-funded agencies were the only organizations flying to space.

Roblox is suing a person it banned years ago for allegedly terrorizing the gaming platform and its community of developers. The Roblox Corporation wants Benjamin Robert Simon to stop his alleged harassment of employees and users on Roblox and elsewhere, and to pay $1.65 million in damages.

In the filing, which was first reported by Polygon, the company claims Simon, an alleged "cybermob" leader, “commits and encourages unlawful acts designed to injure Roblox and its users.” Roblox banned him years ago, allegedly for using homophobic and racist slurs, harassing others and sexual harassment. Simon is said to use accounts created by others and hacks to maintain access to the platform.

The suit contains several examples of purported misconduct on Simon's part. Among them is an allegation that he posted "false and misleading terrorist threats" last month that led to a temporary shutdown of the Roblox Developers Conference in San Francisco. Roblox claims it cost $50,000 to investigate the threat and secure the venue.

In addition, Simon is accused of "glamorizing the April 3, 2018 active shooter and murder at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California and threatening/taunting a copycat act of terrorism at Roblox headquarters in nearby San Mateo, California." Roblox also claims he tried to upload a mostly nude photo of himself and images of Adolf Hitler, and attempted to upload a sex game to the platform.

Simon, a popular YouTuber known as Ruben Sim, allegedly profited from videos of stunts that were uploaded to that platform and Patreon. The Roblox Corporation is suing him for, among other things, breach of contract, fraud and allegedly violating both the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.

Roblox has tens of millions of daily users, many of whom are kids. Keeping trolls as far away as possible from the platform is important to help protect the platform's young audience. The lawsuit follows an outage that knocked Roblox offline for three days.

Pinterest will no longer enforce former employees' nondisclosure agreements when it comes to cases of racial and gender-based discrimination, according to NBC News. That's part of the terms the company has agreed to in order to settle the lawsuit filed by its shareholder, the Employees' Retirement System of Rhode Island, for allegedly enabling a culture of discrimination. In addition, it has committed $50 million towards increasing diversity and inclusion within the company.

The shareholder sued Pinterest after allegations made by former employees Ifeoma Ozoma and Aerica Shimizu Banks became public. In a series of tweets, Ozoma detailed how she fought for a year to be paid and treated fairly. She said Pinterest responded inadequately when one of her white male colleagues shared her name and phone number to racist/misogynistic parts of the internet. Her colleague reportedly doxxed her after she suggested adding a warning on content from Ben Shapiro, whom she'd described as a "white supremacist."

Meanwhile, Banks said her manager made disparaging comments about her ethnicity (she's Black and Japanese) in front of colleagues. Both Ozoma and Banks said they were paid less than their manager, a white man, despite having similar workloads. 

The Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island argued that by allowing those events to take place, executives perpetrated or knowingly ignored "the long-standing and systemic culture of discrimination and retaliation at Pinterest." Thus, they breached their fiduciary duty. Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner said:

"We pushed for these sweeping reforms to support Pinterest's employees with a fair and safe workplace, and to strengthen the company's brand and performance by ensuring that the values of inclusiveness are made central to Pinterest's identity." 

As NBC News notes, the fact that Pinterest agreed to release employees from their NDAs reflects the work Ozoma has accomplished since she left the company. She co-sponsored the Silenced No More Act that will make it easier for workers to speak out about racism and harassment in the workplace even if they had previously signed NDAs. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it into law in October, and it will be enforced starting on January 1st. 

Ozoma and Banks aren't the only former employees who spoke out against Pinterest. Former COO Françoise Brougher also said that she was fired after she told CEO Ben Silbermann that she was being given gendered feedback and was being paid less than her male counterparts. She sued the company last year and settled for $22.5 million.

If you want to make music on your computer, you’ll need a digital audio workstation or DAW. One of our favorites is Ableton Live and it’s currently on sale for Black Friday. Until Monday, November 29th, you can get 25 percent off all of the company’s music-making software. That includes all three tiers of Ableton Live 11. The “Intro” tier currently costs $74, down from its usual price of $99, while the “Standard” and “Suite” versions are priced at $337 and $562 at the moment. Abelton has also reduced the cost of Standard and Suite upgrades by 25 percent. You can also get that same discount on packs.

We’ve seen Ableton offer a 30 percent discount on its software a couple of times in the past, but it doesn’t do so frequently. Students and teachers can get Ableton Live 11 for 40 percent off. If you don’t fall in that category, this may be the best deal you can get on the DAW for the foreseeable future.

When it comes to audio production tools, Ableton Live is one of our favorites, particularly after the recent version 11 update. The interface can be intimidating at first, but once you learn to find your way around, you’ll discover that it will encourage you to experiment. If you want to try the software before you commit any money, Ableton offers a 90-day trial. That’s enough time to get a good sense of what it’s all about.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

It's now that much easier to use Arturia's softsynths on your brand new MacBook. Arturia has released a free V Collection 8.2 update that adds native support to the (currently discounted) suite for Macs with M1 processors. That should improve performance, as you might guess, but it could also help with battery life if you need to play unplugged.

Other speed updates are in store. The update boosts the performance of 4K interfaces through a new framework, and presets from the V Collection factory libraries now load up to twice as quickly. You'll also find ODDSound MTS-ESP microtuning compatibility for the Clavinet V, DX7 V, Piano V and Stage-73 V.

This might be an important update if you use softsynths for music-making. Arturia has a reputation for virtual instruments that are both meticulous and relatively accessible. This both makes V Collection more viable on M1 Macs and gives you more incentive to rely on digital synths instead of hunting down their costlier real-world counterparts.

Streaming devices are pretty affordable nowadays, but there are some benefits to opting for a more expensive model like the Apple TV 4K. We consider it to be the best high-end streaming box, and right now it's on sale for $160, which is one of the better prices we've seen. Amazon has the device for $169, but an automatically applied coupon will knock the price down to $160 at checkout.

Apple modestly upgraded its set-top box this year with the biggest improvement being the new Siri remote. The previous remote that came with the Apple TV 4K was clunky to use, but this new model is a huge improvement. It's larger and has a touch-sensitive directional pad that makes it much easier to swipe and scroll between content on your screen. It's reminiscent of the iPod scrollwheel of yesteryear, and that's a good thing.

If you're familiar with the previous generation Apple TV 4K, you may not notice too much of a difference when it comes to performance. The new model has an A12 Bionic chip that helps the gadget run smoothly, and we appreciate its support for Dolby Vision at 60 fps, Dolby Atmos sound and AirPlay 3. This model even supports HomeKit, so you can ask Siri to show you things like video camera feeds and they'll pop up right on your TV screen. We also found Siri to be quite useful for executing entertainment commands like "show me Christmas movies" or "play the latest episode of Ted Lasso."

The biggest drawback to the Apple TV 4K is price — it's normally $180, so it's worthwhile to wait for the (rare) sales in which it drops even slightly lower than that. But it's by no means the only streaming box out there — we also like the Roku Ultra and, even though it's not technically a box, the latest Chromecast with Google TV is another solid option that also has an updated, handy remote.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

If you're an Xbox or PC gamer, there's a pretty high probability that you've taken a peek at Microsoft's Xbox Elite Series 2 controller. The customizable peripheral comes in its own case, offers interchangeable thumbsticks and paddles, and delivers up to 40 hours of gaming thanks to its integrated battery pack. 

The only problem is that the controller can often retail for $180 and rarely gets a significant price cut. With Black Friday gaming sales starting to ramp up, Woot is hoping to tempt those looking to upgrade their controller experience by offering the Elite Series 2 for just $135, one of the lowest prices we've seen.

The Elite Series 2 comes complete with a USB-C port, Bluetooth connectivity and can charge inside its carrying case. It also supports programmable profiles, allowing you to select between three stored configurations using the Profiles button on its front. 

If you're looking for a solid controller upgrade during the holidays, you may have just found it. However, you'll need to move quickly as the Elite Series 2 will only remain at $135 for 24 hours or until it sells out, whichever comes first. 

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.