Today’s best tech deals: AirPods Pro, Fitbit trackers, Lenovo ThinkPads, and more

Dealmaster also has deals on the MacBook Air, OLED TVs, and lots of video games.

Today’s best tech deals: AirPods Pro, Fitbit trackers, Lenovo ThinkPads, and more

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Today's Dealmaster is headlined by a solid discount on Apple's AirPods Pro, as the wireless earbuds are currently down to $190 at Amazon subsidiary Woot. That's not the absolute lowest price we've ever seen, but it's $60 off Apple's MSRP and about $20 off the average street price we've seen across most online retailers in recent months. The deal also includes free shipping for Amazon Prime members. While various reports suggest a second-generation AirPods Pro could arrive sometime this year, the current model is still a recommended pick for those who want active noise cancellation in a true wireless pair today, and it's still a comprehensive upgrade over the standard AirPods model.

Our deals roundup also includes notable discounts on Fitbit's new Inspire 2 fitness tracker and Versa 3 smartwatch; various laptops we like, including the M1 MacBook Air, 8th-gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon, AMD Ryzen-equipped Acer Swift 3, and Microsoft Surface Laptop Go; recommended over-ear noise-cancelling headphones from Sony and Anker; hit video games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Super Mario 3D All-Stars; and more. You can take a look at the full rundown below.

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Bildung: Schon Kindergartenkinder an Computer und Smartphone gewöhnen

Kinder sollen den Umgang mit digitalen Medien schon früh lernen. Das sei so wichtig wie das Üben mit der Schere, meint das Sozialministerium in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. (Digitale Bildung, Internet)

Kinder sollen den Umgang mit digitalen Medien schon früh lernen. Das sei so wichtig wie das Üben mit der Schere, meint das Sozialministerium in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. (Digitale Bildung, Internet)

The next Open Book DIY eReader will be Raspberry Pi Pico-powered (and simpler to build)

The Open Book Project from developer Joey Castillo is an ongoing effort to design open hardware eBook readers that anyone can assemble from parts and program on their own… but it does take a fair bit of know-how to actually build a device that h…

The Open Book Project from developer Joey Castillo is an ongoing effort to design open hardware eBook readers that anyone can assemble from parts and program on their own… but it does take a fair bit of know-how to actually build a device that has as many as 114 different parts. So Castillo has been […]

The post The next Open Book DIY eReader will be Raspberry Pi Pico-powered (and simpler to build) appeared first on Liliputing.

Huawei’s HarmonyOS: “Fake it till you make it” meets OS development

No discernible difference between Huawei’s “all-new” OS and Android.

Android's robot mascot has tried to disguise himself with fake glasses and a mustache.

Enlarge / What a lovely little green robot! Have we met before? (credit: Aurich Lawson)

Huawei is China's—and formerly the world's—largest smartphone vendor, and over the past 18 months, it learned an important lesson: the company can't rely on the US supply chain. In 2019, the US government banned US exports to Huawei, which cut the company off from access to most chip and software suppliers. Building a phone is hard without access to key parts and apps. Huawei's latest Q4 2020 numbers show its phone sales in free fall, dropping 42 percent year-over-year.

Because of this, Huawei wants independence from the worldwide smartphone supply chain. While hardware independence is something the company needs to work on, Huawei also needs to get free of Google's software. So, as many companies have tried to do before it, Huawei hopes to make an Android killer.

The company's attempt at an in-house OS is called "HarmonyOS" (also known as "HongmengOS" in China). "Version 2" was released in December, bringing "beta" smartphone support to the operating system for the first time. Can Huawei succeed where Windows PhoneBlackberry 10Sailfish OSUbuntu TouchFirefox OSSymbianMeeGoWebOS, and Samsung's Tizen have all tried and failed?

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Gewerkschaften fordern 1.200 Euro Mindest-Kurzarbeitergeld. Für 450-Euro-Kräfte mit vollständigem Verdienstausfall haben sie in der Corona-Krise keine schnelle Lösung parat

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