Grocery shopping as a game without checkout lines could make a sometimes tedious errand more bearable thanks to an AI infusion into Instacart’s Caper Carts. Instacart augmented the smart grocery carts with new AI features. They offer a touchscreen that provides navigation guidance to the products you’re looking for, as well as personalized recommendations, discounts, and even a way to make shopping into a kind of treasure-hunting game.
Instacart created the Caper Carts to skip the need for checkout lines. They have cameras, a scale, and other sensors to evaluate items placed within, while the screen lets you know what the cart thinks you just pulled from the shelf using Nvidia’s AI libraries of information about products plus its on-device AI processing platform. You can buy everything before you even get to the front of the store and simply walk out when you’re done.
The AI in the new Caper Cart offers a lot more than just a faster checkout, though. They come with real-time location tracking to note where you are and lead you to what you want to buy. You can upload your grocery list to the cart with a QR code in the Instacart app, which then displays it on the cart’s screen. It can also do the same for products on sale that pique your interest, offering discounts based on your location.
If you want more fun in your shopping tasks, there’s always gamification. The Caper Cart has a feature that creates quests for items on your shopping list as though you’re in a video game. There are real prizes, too. Adding one item to your cart can lead to products with additional discounts related to what you’re buying, such as an extra percentage off soda when buying disposable cups. Anything that leads to more purchases is likely to make grocery store owners happy, of course, even if the Caper Cart is more expensive than the traditional metal basket.
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“Caper Carts are ushering in a new era at the grocery store – making shopping more delightful while delivering a seamless experience for customers, retailers, and brands,” Instacart Chief Connected Stores Officer David McIntosh said. “With Caper Cart’s digital screen, we’re now delivering an unmatched omnichannel experience for retailers and brands in-store. Today’s news is further proof of how we’re truly transforming grocery shopping from a chore to a fun adventure, giving customers a one-of-a-kind, interactive experience in every aisle of the grocery store.”
Grocery stores might find the Caper Cart appealing not just for making shopping faster for customers but for the advertising option on the screen that they can use for in-store promotions and sponsored product recommendations from brands with products in the store. It makes for a kind of mobile impulse purchase aisle that way. More than 70 locations have rolled out Caper Carts, including big grocery chains like Fairway Market, Kroger, and ShopRite, as well as ALDI stores in Austria.
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Update 10/9/24: Prime Big Deal Days Alienware deals are happening, not just on Amazon but also from the owner of the gaming-focused brand itself – Dell. It’s starting to become difficult to keep track of all of the amazing bargains, but we’re doing our best to make sure that this page has all of the best offers for Alienware devices.
With Prime Day Big Deals now in full swing and running until midnight tonight, it’s the perfect time to pick up some great Prime Day deals on Alienware gear. If you’re not that familiar with the brand, it makes some of the best gaming laptops and desktops on the market, as well as some really excellent accessories as well. Unfortunately, Alienware is a premium brand, so most of the stuff it sells tends to be quite expensive, which is why it’s a good idea to take advantage of Alienware deals whenever possible.
To that end, we’ve gone out and collected some of our favorite Prime Day Alienware deals for you below. That said, if you didn’t quite find what you’re looking for below, then be sure to check out these Prime Day gaming laptop deals and Prime Day gaming PC deals for some alternatives.
If you’re looking for a cheap yet good headset from Alienware, this Alienware AW520H headset is the perfect option, especially since it’s going for just $78 instead of $90. It has great audio and a retractable microphone, so you can use it like normal headphones if you want.
This Alienware AW2724DM is the one of the best monitors for a 2K gaming experience, as it has a 165Hz refresh rate, both AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and G-SYNC, and even VESA Display HDR 600. You might need something like an RTX 4070 or RTX 4080 to get the most out of it, but it’s well worth it for the experience.
It’s not every day you see an ergonomic chair from Alienware, but with some great lumbar support and a flexible back, this is great for gaming and for your health. While the $50 off isn’t a lot, the discount $380 price tag isn’t too bad, especially for a higher-end gaming chair.
High refresh rates are great if you’re a competitive player, and this 27-inch monitor from Alienware can hit a truly impressive 360Hz. Not only that, but it comes with a gorgeous QD-OLED panel, so it’s great for general gaming too, and with the $150 discount, it’s worth grabbing if you want to take your monitor to the next level.
Curved monitors can add a lot of immersion, and this 34-inch wide-screen that runs at 2K resolutions is a perfect example. It has a QD-OLED panel for better picture fidelity, and it can even hit 175Hz refresh rate, all for $800 rather than the usual $1,100.
If you like the idea of a high-refresh-rate screen with an OLED panel but want something a bit bigger, this 32-inch 4K screen is the way to go. It can hit an excellent 240Hz refresh rate, and comes with both NVIDIA G-SYNC and AMD Free-Sync, as well as a nice $200 discount that knocks it down to $1,000.
When we got our hands on the Alienware x14 R2, we felt that “The Alienware x14 R2 achieves the impossible. It’s a remarkably thin laptop that never feels like it sacrifices build quality or power in the process.” This configuration comes with an RTX 4050, 512GB of storage, and 16GB of RAM, all with a whopping $500 discount.
The recent upgrade to the newer Aurora R16 made our PC hardware reporter, Jacob Roach, say that “there’s no denying the Aurora R16 is a massive leap forward for Alienware.” This configuration comes with an entry-level RTX 4060, and impressive 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, as well as a solid $300 discount.
If you’d like something a bit more powerful that can handle 2K gaming, then this configuration comes with an RTX 4070 Ti Super, which is much better suited for that and higher refresh rates. You’ll also be happy with the Intel Core i7 14700F, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage, at least to start out with, mostly because you’re getting all that for just $1,500 instead of the usual $2,100.
The Alienware m16 R2 has a pretty large screen if you prefer playing on something bigger, and it’s done a lot as our senior computer editor, Luke Larson can attest to: “It does what it sets out to do, and fixes many of the issues with the original model.” This model comes with a powerful RTX 4070, 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage with a solid 15% discount.
The Alienware x16 R2 features a premium design that adds style to a powerful gaming laptop that’s equipped with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card. Combined with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD, this is a dependable machine for gamers. It also helps that it’s on sale at 15% off, so you’ll be pocketing savings of $400.
For a massive screen on a gaming laptop, go for the Alienware m18 R2 and its 18-inch screen with QHD+ resolution. It’s also pretty powerful with the 14th-generation Intel Core i9 processor, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card, and 32GB of RAM. This 1TB model is available at 18% off, for a total discount of $500.
With an impressive $700 discount, this Aurora 16 configuration comes with an RTX 4080 SUPER and is great for 4K gaming, even with a couple of graphical comprimises. Besides that the 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage are excellent, and the Intel Core i9 14900KF CPU is one of the best on the market.
Of course, if you want the biggest laptop screen you can get, this massive 18-inch one on the Alienware M18 R2 is the way to go. While it only has a 9% discount, the specs are great, with an RTX 4070, a whopping 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage, as well as the very high-end Intel Core i9 14900HX CPU.
When it comes down to it, Alienware is targeted towards gaming, so if you’re picking up a gaming laptop or desktop, one of the most important things to consider is the GPU. For 2K gaming, the RTX 4060 and RTX 4070 are relatively good cards, although having the RTX 4080 will let you push really high refresh rates with 2K. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that mobile GPUs are one step down from the desktop versions, even if they have the same name. So, an RTX 4070m on laptops is more similar in performance to a desktop RTX 4060.
Besides that, you really want to be looking for things like a minimum of 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage since most game devs make games based on those specs, at least if you’re aiming for AA and AAA gaming. Another thing to note is that Intel has had some problems with its latest 13th and 14th gen CPUs. That said, Intel has started releasing microcode patches to fix the problem, so hopefully that shouldn’t impact your decision too much, but it’s definitely something worth being aware of. Sadly, there aren’t many, if any, AMD configurations of Alienware gear.
Alienware has several configurations for each of it’s gaming laptops and desktops, so when it comes down to it, what we have to do is look through each configuration on sale and see if it’s a good asking price. Along with that, we look at things like historical pricing and contextual prices of other items in the same category. Unfortunately, Alienware is a premium brand, which means that even with a discount, you are sometimes overpaying.
Even so, if you are specifically looking for Alienware gear, then we’ve done our best to find you the best deal and configurations so you can get the best bang for your buck.
The OPPO Find X8 family launch date is now official
Do note that the devices will become official in China. The global launch will come at a later date. The OPPO Find X8 series is coming to global markets, though, unlike the OPPO Find X7 series.
OPPO confirmed the Find X8 launch date along with confirming that the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 SoC will be used. Now, not all phones may use it, but most of them will.
We’re still not sure how many models will OPPO announced. Last year, we only got the OPPO Find X7 and Find X7 Ultra. This time around, we’re only hearing about the Find X8 and Find X8 Pro.
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So, the ‘Ultra’ model did not surface just yet. Does that mean it’s not coming, or is OPPO planning to launch it later on? Well, it’s likely either coming later on, or OPPO managed to keep things under wraps for this launch.
The ‘Ultra’ model will likely be fueled by Qualcomm’s chip, but we don’t know if it will launch this month
Either way, the ‘Ultra’ model will likely utilize the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. The OPPO Find X8 and Find X8 Pro, on the other hand, will likely use the MediaTek Dimentiy 9400 processor. It remains to be seen.
The OPPO Find X8 and Find X8 Pro have surfaced a number of times thus far. The two phones will have a large camera oreo on the back, and flat sides all around. A flat display will also be used on both smartphones, it seems.
OPPO is making a design change this time around, that much is obvious. The OPPO Find X8 series is also said to have the thinnest bezels in the industry. Those bezels will also be uniform, by the way.
Amazon’s October Prime Day sale is here, and it includes a handful of good price drops on well-regarded TVs. Not all of them are exclusive to the two-day event, and it’s entirely possible that things drop lower as we get closer to Black Friday. For now, though, we’re seeing all-time low (or at least near-low) prices on recommended sets from LG, Samsung, Sony, Hisense and more. Below we’ve rounded up the best October Prime Day TV deals we can find. We’ll update this post as we find more; just not that you need to be a Prime subscriber to access some of the discounts.
Best Prime Day TV deals
Samsung S90D (55″) OLED TV for $1,298 ($500 off MSRP): The S90D is notable for using a QD-OLED panel, which blends the typical advantages of an OLED display with a layer of quantum dots. That helps the TV display a wider gamut of more vibrant colors and broadly improve brightness. This discount marks a new low for the 55-inch model and takes $100 off the street price we’ve seen over the past couple of months. The 65-inch version is also discounted for a low of $1,498. If you want a smaller or extra large size, be aware that the 42-, 48- and 83-models use an inferior WOLED panel, so they won’t look as nice.
LG C4 (55”) OLED TV for $1,297 ($703 off): LG’s midrange OLED isn’t quite as bright or color-rich as a QD-OLED TV like the Samsung S90D, but it still offers a superb image with deep black tones, high contrast, clear motion, wide viewing angles and 4K/144Hz support. Its main advantage over the S90D is its support for the popular Dolby Vision HDR format, which isn’t available on any Samsung TV. This drop has been available for a few weeks, but it ties the lowest price we’ve found. The 65-inch set is available for $200 more, though that’s not quite the best price we’ve seen.
LG C3 (65″) OLED TV for $1,297 ($203 off): The C3 is the predecessor to the C4, having launched in 2023. It should be a slight downgrade from the C4 in terms of brightness and color performance, and it tops out at a 120Hz refresh rate instead of 144Hz, but it isn’t a big drop-off on the whole. If you really want to save a couple hundred bucks on a high-quality 65-inch OLED TV, it’s likely the better value. This discount is about $200 off the typical street price we’ve seen in recent months.
LG B4 (55”) OLED TV for $997 ($300 off): The B4 is the entry-level model in LG’s 2024 OLED lineup. It gets you most of the same features as the C4, but it’s less bright across the board, so it’ll work best away from direct sunlight and glare. This deal marks the best price we’ve seen for the 55-inch model. Other sizes are down to all-time lows as well, including the 48-inch set for $700 at Best Buy.
Samsung The Frame TV (55”) + bezel for $998 ($668 off): Samsung’s The Frame series has always been for people who care about their TV’s aesthetic more than its picture quality, as it’s designed to resemble a framed piece of wall art. It’s still pricey for a TV with no local dimming or Dolby Vision HDR, but this deal nevertheless represents the best price we’ve seen for the bundle that includes colored bezel covers. Other sizes are also on sale.
Hisense U7N (65”) QLED TV for $748 ($352 off): The Hisense U7N looks to be one of the better values among this year’s crop of TVs. According to variousreviewsaround the web, it pumps out impressive brightness and contrast for the money, plus it can play in 4K at a 144Hz refresh rate. Its image can wash out when viewed from the side, though, and for gamers, it’s limited to two HDMI 2.1 ports. We saw this deal a couple of times over the summer, but it’s still the lowest price to date for the 65-inch variant.
Sony Bravia 7 (75”) QLED TV for $1,998 ($502 off): The Bravia 7 is a relatively premium non-OLED TV with a mini LED backlight to improve contrast and quantum dots to boost colors. If other Sony TVs are any indication, it should deliver solid color accuracy out of the box and good image processing for lower-resolution content. It only has two HDMI 2.1 ports, its viewing angles are narrow, and it can’t provide the deep black tones of a good OLED set, but it does get brighter. This deal marks a new low for the 75-inch set.
Samsung QN90D (55″) QLED TV for $1,298 ($500 off): The QN90D is another premium LED TV for those willing to trade the contrast, colors and viewing angles of an OLED set for much higher brightness. Reviewssuggestit’s aclose rival to the Bravia 7: It lacks Dolby Vision and may not be as accurate, but it has two more HDMI 2.1 ports, which is helpful for gamers with multiple consoles. This deal beats the 55-inch model’s previous low by $200.
TCL QM8 (65”) QLED TV for $998 ($502 off): The latest TCL QM8 appears to be a decent alternative to the Hisense U8N — a step-up model from the U7N that’s available for the same price but isn’t significantly discounted as of this writing — if you just want a TV that’s extremely bright, though it has slightly worse contrast according to reviews. This is another discount that ties the lowest price we’ve tracked.
TCL QM7 (55”) QLED TV for $498 ($302 off): The QM7, meanwhile, is more of a competitor to the Hisense U7N. It’s still worth looking to that set’s 55-inch model first, as it should perform better in well-lit rooms. But if you see that the U7N is significantly more expensive, this matches the lowest price we could find for TCL’s model.
TCL Q65 (65”) QLED TV for $430 ($120 off): The TCL Q65 is a fairly basic LED TV in terms of picture quality, though it might appeal to gamers since it can play at a 120Hz refresh rate if you drop the resolution down to 1080p or 1440p. It technically supports Dolby Vision HDR, too, though it doesn’t have the contrast or brightness levels to truly take advantage of it. Still, for a low of $430, the 65-inch model is a decent value. Other sizes are discounted as well; just note that these sets use Amazon’s Fire TV interface.
TCL S5 (55”) LED TV for $265 ($65 off): The S5 is an even more rudimentary set with a 60Hz refresh rate, no local dimming and no HDMI 2.1 ports, but it should be OK if all you need is a usable second (or third) set for the basement or back bedroom. This deal on the 55-inch version comes with $5 of an all-time low and beats the set’s usual street price by $15 or so. It’s another one that ships with the Fire TV interface as standard.
Best Prime Day streaming device deals
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max for $35 ($25 off): All Fire TV devices tend to promote Prime Video and other Amazon services above all else, but if you can live with that, the 4K Max runs fast, works with the major HDR formats and supports all the requisite apps. It also performs surprisingly well as a retro gaming device. This deal matches an all-time low.
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K for $25 ($25 off): If you really want to save $10, the standard Fire TV Stick 4K offers the same core experience as the Max, just with a slightly slower processor, half the internal storage (8GB) and Wi-Fi 6 instead of 6E. This is another joint-low.
Roku Ultra (2024) for $79 ($20 off): Roku’s streamers have a more neutral interface than rivals like the Fire TV Stick; the company’s newest set-top box includes a faster processor, a backlit voice remote and Wi-Fi 6 support on top. This discount represents an all-time low.
Expired Prime Day deals
Roku Select Series (55”) LED TV for $260 ($70 off): The Roku Select Series has a similarly budget-level image as the TCL S5, but it might be worth a look if you’d prefer your dirt-cheap TV to run Roku’s OS instead. This is another low, and other sizes are also on sale. If this TV is out of stock at Amazon, note that Best Buy has it for the same price.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice, and stay tuned to Engadget.com for all of the best tech deals coming out of October Prime Day 2024.
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